# Back to Godhead Magazine #44 *2010 (04)* Back to Godhead Magazine #44-04, 2010 PDF-View ## Welcome In this issue, Mathuresa Dāsa's "Time and Again" presents a detailed account of time and creation according to the Vedic scriptures. The Kṛṣṇa conscious view of the world is highly personalized. Devotees of Lord Kṛṣṇa recognize Him as the Supreme God who easily accomplishes everything He desires, including creating universes. Without diminishing Himself, Lord Kṛṣṇa appears in various forms to attend to the task of creation while He enjoys with His devotees in His eternal spiritual abode. Everything Kṛṣṇa does, including creating this word, is called **līlā*,* or pastime. His devotees find special satisfaction in recalling the **līlā*s* He enacts when He comes to this world. In "Lord Nityānanda Delivers the Thieves," Mohini Rādhā Devī Dāsī recounts a *līlā* of Lord Nityānanda, a form Balarāma, who is Kṛṣṇa’s first expansion, equal in power to Him. Like Kṛṣṇa Himself, His pure devotees are also transcendental to this world, and their activities are also considered **līlā*.* Though many *Back to Godhead* readers are familiar with the *līlā* of Śrīla Prabhupāda's voyage to the West, in "Passage from India" Satyaraja Dāsa tells us more about the woman who no doubt reaped great spiritual benefit for helping Prabhupāda begin his momentous journey. Hare Kṛṣṇa. —*Nagaraja Dāsa, Editor* ## Letters *Finding God* God is everywhere, but how can I realize Him? Achinta Via the Internet *Our reply:* Yes, God, Kṛṣṇa, is everywhere. In various aspects He pervades everything. He is in everyone's heart as Paramatma (Supersoul), your greatest friend. He has been waiting for you to turn to Him so He can reveal Himself to you. *Bhakti* is the process of calling out to Him, recognizing Him especially in His name. He has incarnated, so kindly, in the Hare Kṛṣṇa *maha-mantra.* That is why we recommend chanting constantly—to help us remember Him and to attract Him. We have neglected Him for many lifetimes, and now we have a simple method to revive our consciousness of Him. So please take advantage of hearing His instructions in Śrīla Prabhupāda's *Bhagavad-gītā As It Is,* associating with Kṛṣṇa’s devotees, worshiping Him in the temples, and chanting His glories and names. As you get purified, qualified for His association, then He will reveal Himself to you in many ways. He is a person, your best friend, and is anxious for you to return to Him. He will take many steps toward you if you take some toward Him. Don't waist this human life with sense enjoyment, but learn the art of *bhakti,* which is how to please Him. *Scared and Anxious* Why do I feel scared, and why do I have anxiety? Mitu Via the Internet *Our reply:* Anxiety comes from a lack of knowledge. In *Bhagavad-gītā* Kṛṣṇa says that our weapon is knowledge of our real self and our relationship with Him. He says that peace comes when we understand that He is the supreme controller, the supreme proprietor, and the supreme friend. With that knowledge, we shouldn't be in anxiety. Chanting Kṛṣṇa’s name helps us remember Him and should free us from all anxiety. When you are scared or in anxiety, call out to Him with faith and conviction. But it's best not to wait for those times. Practice daily calling out to Him by chanting the *maha-mantra,* which means "Please accept me; please engage me in Your loving service." *Cult Rumors* I am new to Hare Kṛṣṇa, and I have heard rumors that there is a cultish aspect to it. I would love to hear your opinion on this. Seth Leonard Via the Internet *Our reply:* When His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda introduced Kṛṣṇa consciousness in the Western world back in the '60's and '70's, various groups that sprang from the hippie revolution were referred to as cults. This nomenclature carried a socially negative connotation, and because the spiritual knowledge given by the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement was outside the norms of Western civilization at the time, it was considered a cult. Nowadays, words like reincarnation, karma, meditation, and yoga are part of the vernacular and are readily accepted. Although the word *cult* has a negative connotation, the dictionary defines it as any system or community of religious worship or ritual. If you seriously and sincerely investigate the philosophy and practices of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, you will find a wealth of transcendental knowledge that is completely satisfying both intellectually and spiritually. *Why a peacock feather?* Why does Kṛṣṇa wear a peacock feather in His hair? Anil Baddi Via the Internet *Our reply:* One of the unique features of Lord Kṛṣṇa is His divine pastimes with His most intimate devotees in the pleasure groves of Vraja. In this transcendental playground the Supreme Lord exchanges loving pastimes free of the reverential and opulent mood inherent in typical worship of the Lord. Free from the encumbrance of even His being the Supreme Lord, His most intimate associates enjoy the topmost loving exchanges of servitude, friendship, parental affection, and romantic attraction. Kṛṣṇa’s transcendental attire as a simple cowherd boy decorated with forest flowers and peacock feathers attests to His comfortable enjoyment in this transcendental realm. *Why suffering?* Why do we suffer in this world? Since everything is there for us, why are we not happy? Poonam Via the Internet *Our reply:* We suffer because we are eternal, spiritual beings but have forgotten our spiritual nature. In that state of forgetfulness we are trying desperately to enjoy this temporary, material world. But matter is subject to death and dwindling and therefore can never satisfy the soul. So although we try and try again to get the eternal enjoyment the soul craves, we never find it because we are looking in the wrong place. Because of this we always feel frustrated and hanker for more and more. But the more material things we get, the more frustrated we become, since these things do not make us happy. They make us miserable. They make us hanker and lament, fight, and become jealous, envious, angry, and violent. People always want what others have and are ready to fight and even kill for it. The only way you will find happiness is if you seek out your relationship with Lord Kṛṣṇa. Taking only what you need, live simply, and spend the majority of your time and energy absorbed in getting to know and love God. Once that relationship is established, you will be satisfied and happy. It is the only thing that will really satisfy you, the soul. *Replies were written by Krishna.com Live Help volunteers. Please write to us at: BTG, PO Box 430, Alachua, FL 32616, USA. Email: [email protected].* Founder's Lecture: Liberation Through Chanting *Vrindavan, India, November 14, 1976* Chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa can deliver us from material entanglement at once, provided the chanting is pure. > mano-vaco-drk-karanehitasya > saksat-krtam me paribarhanam hi > vina puman yena maha-vimohat > krtanta-pasan na vimoktum iset [Lord Rsabhadeva said:] "The true activity of the sense organs—mind, sight, words, and all the knowledge-gathering and working senses—is to engage fully in My service. Unless his senses are thus engaged, a living entity cannot think of getting out of the great entanglement of material existence, which is exactly like Yamaraja's stringent rope." —*Śrīmad-Bhagavatam* 5.5.27 Entanglement in material nature is caused by the senses. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has sung *sarira avidya-jal:* "The body is a covering of ignorance." Everyone has a material body, and everything is going on according to the body. This is *maha-vimoha,* "the great illusion." There are 8,400,000 forms of body according to *mano, vaca, drk, karana:* "mind, words, sight, senses," and so on. The body is the entanglement, the senses are the instruments, and we are acting with the senses to create another type of body for our next life. Therefore the first business of life is to purify the senses. *Bhakti,* devotional service, means purifying the senses. In the *Bhagavad-gītā* (3.42) it is said, > indriyani parany ahur > indriyebhyah param manah > manasas tu para buddhir > yo buddheh paratas tu sah "The working senses are superior to dull matter; mind is higher than the senses; intelligence is still higher than the mind; and he [the soul] is even higher than the intelligence." And the soul is a very minute part of the Supersoul. That is also mentioned: > kesagra-sata-bhagasya > satamsa-sadrsatmakah > jivah suksma-svarupo ’yam > sankhyatito hi cit-kanah "If we divide the tip of a hair into a hundred parts and then take one of these parts and divide it again into a hundred parts, that very fine division is the size of but one of the numberless living entities." (Quoted in *Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā* 19.140) From this verse you can get an idea of the size of the soul. Living entities are all *cit-kana,* particles of spirit, not matter. Intelligence is working, then the mind is producing the senses, and the senses are transforming into a gross body. This is material existence. How finely organized it is! Where is the science to understand this? The rascals do not know anything except the body. In our country Carvaka Muni has advised, *bhasmi-bhutasya dehasya kutah punar-agamano bhavet:* "Why are you thinking of your next birth? Another birth is not possible. We see that the gross body is burnt into ashes. And where is the soul? Who is coming back again? Don't care for all these things." *Yavaj jivet sukham jivet:* "Live happily. Eat, drink, be merry, and enjoy." This philosophy is going on. "There is no mind, there is no intelligence, there is no soul, only this gross body, and as long as we possess this gross body, let us enjoy the senses." This is called *maha-vimoha,* the greatest bewilderment. People have no education about how we are existing in the material world, how nature is working. They are thinking there is no life after this one, but that is not the fact. They are living in a very great entanglement. The spirit soul is a person, as Kṛṣṇa is a person. Because the father is a person, the child is also a person. It cannot be otherwise. Or if the child is a person, the father must be a person. Kṛṣṇa says, *aham bija-pradah pita:* "I am the father of all living entities." (*Bhagavad-gītā* 14.4). We experience that all living entities are persons. Even a small insect, a small ant, is a person. If an ant is going in a certain direction and you stop it, it will struggle—"Why you are stopping me?" That shows that it is a person. It will try its best to go this way and that way to avoid your checking it. You can see this by practical experience. Even a small ant has all the propensities of a person. *Ahara-nidra-bhaya-maithuna.* These propensities—eating, sleeping, sex, and fearing—you will find everywhere. **Visaya*,* material enjoyment, is not only for the rich man. *Visaya* means enjoyment of the senses. And that is available to all living entities. Locana Dāsa Ṭhākura has sung, *visaya chāṛiyā, se rase majiya, mukhe bolo hari hari*. We can have success in chanting when we give up sense enjoyment. This is the instruction. We must chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa **maha-mantra*,* the holy name of the Lord, purely, without offense. If we can chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa *maha-mantra* purely even once, then immediately we become liberated. *Pure Chanting* The Lord's holy name is so powerful that chanting it even once immediately vanquishes the accumulated sinful reactions of millions of lives. Even a person who was sinful will fail to sin again. But the difficulty is that we cannot come to the pure stage of chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa *mantra*. Due to our past habits our mind is disturbed. We cannot concentrate. Therefore I have fixed a minimum requirement for my disciples: They must chant at least sixteen rounds on their beads every day. We cannot imitate Haridasa Ṭhākura, who was chanting day and night—300,000 holy names daily. That is not possible. Some people make a show of imitating Haridasa Ṭhākura, but we see that they are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa but also smoking. We can understand their position. That kind of offensive chanting is going on. We should try to avoid the ten offenses. [See the "The Ten Offenses in Chanting."] Of course, in the beginning the offenses will continue. But by chanting repeatedly, the core of our heart will be cleansed. People do not know what position they are in. They have dismissed everything—all the instructions of the scriptures, all the instructions of Kṛṣṇa, all the instruction of the *guru*. "Oh, these are all mythology. There is no life after death." This is going on. We should understand our position. But people have become dull, just like a stone or a tree. If you cut a stone, it does not respond; it does nothing. But if there is life, there is a response. If I pinch you, you will ask, "Why are you pinching me?" That is the difference between life and a dead body. As long as one is not conscious, he's as good as stone or wood. People have created such a strong heart in material existence that it does not respond even after suffering so much. This is the position. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is meant to bring people to the right consciousness. When consciousness is covered, dull, it cannot respond. But it can be brought into the proper existence, and the process for that is to hear spiritual sound repeatedly. Kṛṣṇa has given us one chance: our ear. We must properly use it. *Aural Reception* Vedic knowledge is meant to be heard. It is therefore called *sruti,* that which is heard. The Vedic instruction must be gotten from the right person through aural reception. > srnvatam sva-kathah krsnah > punya-sravana-kirtanah > hrdy antah stho hy abhadrani > vidhunoti suhrt satam "Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead, who is the Paramatma [Supersoul] in everyone's heart and the benefactor of the truthful devotee, cleanses desire for material enjoyment from the heart of the devotee who has developed the urge to hear His messages, which are in themselves virtuous when properly heard and chanted." (*Śrīmad-Bhagavatam* 1.2.17) We should engage our ears to receive Vedic knowledge very attentively. We have to approach the proper person to inquire and hear from, and we must serve that person. Then our knowledge will develop. That is the process. As today's verse says, we can worship the Lord by the mind, by words, by seeing, and by all the senses. The mind is one of the senses. With the mind and the senses, we are trying to be happy in the material world, but there is no happiness, simply struggling. We have been put into the material nature. The *jiva,* the living entity, although part of Kṛṣṇa, wanted to enjoy life separately or independently, without Kṛṣṇa. The material world is where, without Kṛṣṇa, we struggle for existence. Therefore if we want to stop the struggle for existence with the mind and senses, then we must come to Kṛṣṇa. That is the natural position. But people are not taught about Kṛṣṇa. They are already in ignorance, and they are kept in ignorance. Rascals do not know that their real self-interest is to approach Visnu or Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa comes personally to show His causeless mercy upon them, to exhibit Himself and show how He can be the friend of everyone. Kṛṣṇa is not only the friend of Arjuna. Arjuna is the symbolic friend. In the *Bhagavad-gītā* Kṛṣṇa instructs Arjuna, His friend, but He is the friend of everyone. *Suhrdam sarva-bhutanam:* "I am the friend of all living entities." (*Bhagavad-gītā* 5.29) We must take advantage of the instructions of *Bhagavad-gītā.* They are not meant for Arjuna. Arjuna is already liberated, but he is placing himself as one of us just to take the lessons of Kṛṣṇa for the benefit of the whole world. Arjuna is always with Kṛṣṇa. He cannot be in ignorance. As one who is constantly living with Kṛṣṇa, Arjuna has no ignorance, but he's putting himself forward as ignorant. We also have the example of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He was inquiring from Ramananda Raya, His disciple. Does that mean that Caitanya Mahāprabhu did not know the answers? No. He was showing how we can get knowledge by hearing from the authorities. Similarly, Arjuna's ignorance was like that of an actor. Actually he is liberated. When Arjuna was advised to practice hatha-yoga, he said, "Kṛṣṇa, it is not possible for me." > cancalam hi manah Kṛṣṇa > pramathi balavad drdham > tasyaham nigraham manye > vayor iva suduskaram "For the mind is restless, turbulent, obstinate and very strong, O Kṛṣṇa, and to subdue it, I think, is more difficult than controlling the wind." (*Bhagavad-gītā* 6.34) "I cannot do this." He was frank enough. Or on behalf of us he said frankly, "It is impossible." At least in the current age, Kali-yuga, to control the mind by meditation is not possible. Even five thousand years ago, during a more suitable age, Arjuna was unwilling to accept this yogic process. "It is not possible. I am a politician. I am a military man. I have to fight. I have to see so many things. How can I control my mind? It is not possible." That is the fact. Controlling the mind by the yogic process, by meditation, is impossible. *Chanting Is the Essence* To make spiritual advancement, however, we must control the mind. In this age we can control the mind and attain all spiritual success by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa *maha-mantra.* That is the essential teaching of the **sastra*s,* or scriptures. Everyone is in ignorance—fools and rascals. And it is the duty of the spiritual master to present the essence of the *sastra* to everyone. Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, "My guru found Me to be a great rascal." He was not a rascal, but He presented Himself as a rascal because we are rascals. The people of this age are all rascals. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, "My *guru* saw Me to be a great rascal; therefore he forbid me to read the *Vedanta.*" Even for learned persons, the *Vedanta*, which contains the essence of Vedic philosophy in concise verses, is very difficult to understand. What will the rascals of this age understand about *Vedanta*? They will simply misrepresent it. They will simply mislead people. You see so many big, big politicians and scholars simply misleading people by quoting *Bhagavad-gītā. Bhagavad-gītā* is spoken on the battlefield, and they want to prove that it is about nonviolence. In this way people are being misled. Therefore avoid this rascal process of reading something and misinterpreting it. We should not try to become very learned scholars by misreading the Vedic literature. Take the instruction of Caitanya Mahāprabhu: > harer nama harer nama > harer namaiva kevalam > kalau nasty eva nasty eva > nasty eva gatir anyatha "In this age of Kali there is no other means, no other means, no other means for self-realization than chanting the holy name, chanting, the holy name, chanting the holy name of Lord Hari [Kṛṣṇa]." Lord Caitanya has quoted this verse from the *Brhan-naradiya Purana* (3.8.126). The **sadhu*,* the saintly person, will not speak anything that is not in the *sastra.* That is the qualification of the **sadhu*.* The *sadhu* cannot manufacture anything. So follow Lord Caitanya's instruction: Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa as many times as possible and be liberated. Thank you very much. ## Ten Offenses in Chanting (1) To blaspheme the devotees who have dedicated their lives for propagating the holy name of the Lord. (2) To consider the names of demigods like Lord Siva or Lord Brahma to be equal to or independent of the holy name of Lord Visnu. (3) To disobey the orders of the spiritual master. (4) The blaspheme the Vedic literature or literature in pursuance of the Vedic version. (5) To consider the glories of chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa imagination. (6) To give some interpretation on the holy name of the Lord. (7) To commit sinful activities on the strength of chanting the holy name of the Lord. (8) To consider the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa one of the auspicious ritualistic activities offered in the *Vedas* as fruitive activities (*karma-kanda*). (9) To instruct a faithless person about the glories of the holy name. (10) To not have complete faith in the chanting of the holy names and to maintain some material attachment, even after understanding so many instructions on this matter. It is also an offense to be inattentive while chanting. ## Śrīla Prabhupāda Speaks Out *"The Truth Is Always the Same"* The following conversation between His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda and some of his disciples took place in March 1974 on an early-morning walk in Perth, Australia. Disciple: [*Taking the part of a scientist*] Why do you call Kṛṣṇa consciousness a science? It seems like it's only a belief. Śrīla Prabhupāda: Your so-called science is also belief. If you call your way science, then our way is also science. Disciple: But with our science we can prove our beliefs. Śrīla Prabhupāda: Then prove that chemicals make life. Your belief is that life is made from chemicals. So prove it; then it is science. But you cannot prove it; therefore it remains a belief. Disciple: Well, you believe in the soul, but you can't prove that it exists. Since we cannot see the soul, we have to conclude that life comes from matter. Śrīla Prabhupāda: You cannot see the soul with your gross senses, but it can be perceived. Consciousness can be perceived, and consciousness is the symptom of the soul. But if, as you say, life comes from matter, then you must demonstrate it by supplying the missing chemicals to make a dead body live again. This is my challenge. Disciple: We will require some time to find the right chemicals. Śrīla Prabhupāda: That is nonsense. Your belief is that life comes from chemicals, but you cannot prove it. Therefore you prove yourself to be a rascal. Disciple: But you accept the *Bhagavad-gītā* on faith. How is that scientific? It's only your belief, isn't that correct? Śrīla Prabhupāda: Why isn't the *Bhagavad-gītā* scientific? The *Bhagavad-gītā* says, *annad bhavanti bhutani parjanyad anna-sambhavah:* "All living entities subsist by eating food grains, and grains are produced from rain." Is that belief? Disciple: That must be true. Śrīla Prabhupāda: Similarly, everything in the *Bhagavad-gītā* is true. If you think carefully about what Kṛṣṇa says in the *Bhagavad-gītā*, you will find that it is all true. For example, Kṛṣṇa says that in society there must be an intelligent class of men, the *brahmanas,* who know the soul and God. They are civilized men. But where is such a class of men in today's society? Disciple: Throughout the world there are many priests, ministers, and rabbis. Śrīla Prabhupāda: But what do they actually know about God? They speculate about God as much as the scientists speculate about material nature. Just try to see this one point clearly: You are not independent; therefore, there must be some authority over you. And ultimately you have to accept that a supreme authority exists. So if you claim to have knowledge of the supreme truth but you do not know the supreme authority, what is the value of your knowledge? Suppose a man does not know about the government of his country. What kind of man is he? He is simply a third-class man, a rascal. A civilized man knows about his country's government. Similarly, there is a government of the whole universe, but if you do not know it you are a third-class, uncivilized man. That is why Kṛṣṇa teaches in the *Bhagavad-gītā* that there must be an intelligent class of men who know God and who understand the whole universal management—how it is running under the order of God. Kṛṣṇa devotees know these things. Therefore they are the real *brahmanas* and the real scientists. Disciple: But the *Bhagavad-gītā* is five thousand years old, so it doesn't pertain to our modern world. Śrīla Prabhupāda: The *Bhagavad-gītā* is not five thousand years old; it has always existed. Have you read the *Bhagavad-gītā*? Disciple: Yes, several times. Śrīla Prabhupāda: Then where do you find in the *Bhagavad-gītā* that it is five thousand years old? Kṛṣṇa says, *imam vivasvate yogam proktavan aham avyayam:* "I spoke this imperishable science of *Bhagavad-gītā* to Vivasvan more than 120 million years ago." You do not know this? What kind of reader of the *Bhagavad-gītā* are you? The *Bhagavad-gītā* is *avyayam,* eternal. So how can you say it is five thousand years old? [*Pointing to the rising sun with his cane*] Here we see the sun just rising. But it is always there, in space. The *Bhagavad-gītā* is like that: it is eternal truth. When the sun rises we don't say, "Oh, the sun is just now coming into existence." It is always there, but we can't see it until it rises. Men used to think that at night the sun died and in the morning a new sun was created. They also used to believe the earth was flat. This is your scientific knowledge: every day a new opinion. Disciple: This means that we are discovering the truth. Śrīla Prabhupāda: No. It means you do not know what the truth is. You are only speculating. Now you accept something as true, but after a few days you say it is not true. And you call this science! Disciple: Yes, you're right. Many of the scientific textbooks that were written just a few years ago are outdated now. Śrīla Prabhupāda: And the scientific books you are now using will be useless in a few years. This is your science. Disciple: But at least what we know now is more true than what we knew before, and if we keep trying we will know more. Śrīla Prabhupāda: This means you are always in ignorance. But the *Bhagavad-gītā* is not like that. Kṛṣṇa says to Arjuna, "I first instructed this science 120 million years ago, and today I am teaching you the same thing." That is scientific knowledge: the truth is always the same. But you scientists are always changing—"discovering the truth," you call it. That means you do not know what the truth is. Disciple: [As himself] The problem is, everyone is a cheater. Everyone is speculating and presenting his own knowledge as the truth. Śrīla Prabhupāda: Yes. Therefore we accept Kṛṣṇa, who does not cheat. And since I am presenting only what Kṛṣṇa has said, I am also not a cheater. That is the difference between the scientists and us. ## Walking Through Fiji for Kṛṣṇa *By Bhaktimarga Swami* While no match for his three trans-Canada hikes, a Hare Kṛṣṇa *sannyasi's* six-day Fiji trek was still a success in delivering Śrī Caitanya's mercy. In my opinion, walking is the best mode of transportation even when we live in the age of automation. Śrīla Prabhupāda used to walk every day. For thousands of years **sannyasi*s,* renounced men of India, have walked. A *sannyasi* myself, I took inspiration from Śrīla Prabhupāda and others and decided fifteen years ago to trek, not in ancient India just then, but in a portion of the New World, Canada, which doesn't yet have a reputation for pilgrimage. By the grace of Kṛṣṇa I have now crossed Canada three times to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness. I've also walked in Ireland (from Belfast to Cork) and in Guyana. When I received an invitation to go to Fiji, that distant and exotic place in the South Pacific, it became my latest frontier for pilgrimage walking. Before I set off on the Queen's Road from Suva on the southeast coast of the main island to Lautoka in the northwest, my Fiji hosts and I decided to produce a handout. The message highlighted the need for us all to relate more as spirit souls and less as the body, such as this or that type of Fijian. The spiritual message *aham brahmasi*—"I am spirit"—challenges the false notion of bodily identity that is often a point of contention, whether in Fiji or anywhere else. We included in bold print the *maha-mantra* for inner peace: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. We gave this translation: "O beautiful Creator, please allow me to joyfully contribute to serving You and Your creation." Armed with this message, as well as *japa* chanting beads, my orange robes, a reliable pair of Croc footwear, and a whole lot of moral support from the Fiji devotee community, I began my walk through Fiji. *Day One* Sunday, August 23, 2009 Suva Kṛṣṇa states in the *Bhagavad-gītā,* "I am adventure," and so, here it is. I'm groping around in the dark at 4:30 A.M. with some walking companions, people I met only the night before. I'm in a strange country, trekking down a coastal road bordering a coral reef, dodging the odd drunken driver. I don't know what's around the corner. As dawn comes, so too come the people. My sponsor for this trip, Fiji-born Rādhā-Madhava Dāsa, taught me how to address people. "*Bula!*" is the way to say hello. You never find anyone who doesn't respond with warmth. Geraldine Panapasa from the *Fiji Times* caught up with me at a brunch break. I explained to her that life in the modern world, with its excessiveness and consumerism, poses a great imbalance in our lives. "There is a need to reserve a part of our day for spiritual activities," I said. "For physical and spiritual well-being we can fuse walking and *mantra* meditation to check this imbalance." I showed Geraldine my beads and recited the *maha-mantra.* She liked my program and decided she had a story. By midday I had another break, this time at the Suva temple, where I led a *kirtana.* The attendees were accustomed to chanting but enjoyed learning some simple dance steps to accompany the song. *Day Two* Monday, August 24 Nauva As the day wore on, fatigue struck. Exhaustion. Too much sun. Uneven ground and a stony shoulder to the road made walking uncomfortable for my feet. But I took it as a challenge. Austerity is a veritable obligation for a *sannyasi.* It is a type of self-imposed inconvenience that converts into a pleasurable experience in this "less is more" lifestyle. It brings you closer to Kṛṣṇa. The two men I started trekking with today gave in after 15 km of the austerity. I'll admit, they did their best. So I walked alone. Fortunately none of us are ever alone. Kṛṣṇa is always in the heart. Yogis in the past would perform *dhyana* (meditation) alone in the forest and sustain a level of contentedness, knowing of the presence of Paramatma, God in the heart. The hours passed by. The heat persisted. One kind soul saw that I was parched. He got out his bamboo rod and knocked off a coconut from the top of one of his trees. He came forward with a beaming smile, eager to offer this refresher. In this small way—by giving to a *sannyasi* walking in service to Kṛṣṇa—his devotional life began. *Day Three* Tuesday, August 25 Pacific Harbour As we walked along the route, Rādhā-Madhava, my stalwart associate, was telling native folks, "*Talatala,*" which means "priest." Fijians seem to have a natural reverence for the spiritual person. At some of these villages you just stand there in devotional garb and the people come out of their homes to greet you. So imagine what the response would be with the added features of chanting, drumming, and dancing, as was done during the time of Śrī Caitanya, the *sannyasi* and incarnation of Kṛṣṇa who inspired *sankirtana* (group chanting) early in the sixteenth century. A young man, Elike, 15, came forward to tell us that his brother Daniel had lived in ISKCON's Lautoka temple. Daniel had left and become much like a recluse, residing in a tent on the beach. Rādhā-Madhava sought him out and brought him to the road to join us. He decided to stay for the duration of the Fiji walking mission and became enthusiastic to have Kṛṣṇa back in his life. Distance walked: 31 km. *Day Four* Wednesday, August 26 Sigatoka Daniel and I, along with Rasa Mandala, a *brahmacari* (young male student) from the Suva temple, took to the road shortly after 4 A.M. to enter into what is called "the salad bowl of Fiji," where you find orchards of papaya and fields of sugarcane, cassava, and taro root. Upon entering the city of Sigatoka, our party increased in number and we perform *sankirtana,* singing the Hare Kṛṣṇa *maha-mantra* for the benefit of onlookers. A farmer invited us to his stall inside a huge farmer's-market building where we could perform. Rasa played the drum, and everyone else synchronized with instruments and voices. Vendors, visitors, tourists, and shoppers froze, looked, and listened with delight. Once we stopped, people came forward—Hindus, Christians and Muslims alike—to offer their appreciation. It was a great moment. We felt the presence of Śrī Caitanya. Distance walked: 30 km. *Day Five* Thursday, August 27 Nadi By now many people had become aware of the monk walking, as national TV and newspapers covered the story, but I met two fellows who didn't have a clue who I was or what I was about. Our nighttime sleep took place in a farmer's home, which the owners had graciously opened up to us. At 3 A.M., while my three companions were showering and preparing to catch up to me, I began walking down a quiet country dirt road leading to Queens Road. I carried a small flashlight for that two-kilometer stretch and startled two natives squatted at the edge of a sugarcane field. The light shone in their eyes. Feeling threatened, they demanded, "What are you?" "*Bala!* I am a walking *talatala.*" They were either intoxicated or superstitious or both. One of them came forward cautiously. He looked at my bald white head, the *tilaka* mark on my forehead, and my robes. He was particularly taken by the robes. "Do you have legs?" he demanded, shivering in fear. I showed him my ankles to let him know I wasn't a ghost. He was relieved, and his skepticism subsided. I felt it my duty to share with him the spiritually elevating words "Hare Kṛṣṇa !" Eventually he shook my hand and asked, "Where are you from?" "Canada!" "Take me there!" he insisted. "No, no! We need to work our way back to God. Agreed?" "Yes!" said the chap. Śrīla Prabhupāda would always say that our aim in life is to return to our spiritual home, the abode of Kṛṣṇa. Distance walked: 40 km. *Day Six* Friday, August 28 Lautoka It has been my experience that in the course of marathon walking, the heart softens just upon seeing and meeting people. Essentially we are all servants of the same supreme spirit. We are all part of the same universal family, despite differences in lifestyle and activity. While in stride I saw powerful images: a group of men firing stones for a lovo (an outside roast of cassava or perhaps mongoose), a woman watering her outdoor plants with utmost care, calves eagerly suckling from their mother's udder. I also spotted men toiling in sugarcane fields. They put in many hours under a blazing sun, day after day, and for the most part without complaining. You can't help feeling for them. In the Vedic scriptures the appropriate phrase is *para-duhkha-duhkhi,* which means you feel some anguish over the anguish of others. Life is indeed a hard struggle when one must contend with problems from the body and mind, other living beings, and the elements. Standing alongside the highway was one of those sugarcane workers. He looked a bit depressed, so I asked him what was wrong. "I lost my job." he replied. "Sorry to hear that," I said, sympathizing. "What are you doing?" "I'm a pilgrim, and I'm walking for God," I said. He introduced himself as Tuks. Deciding to join me, he set aside his duffle bag of clothes and sleeping gear and set it in the bushes to gather later. Onward we marched. Tuks asked if I believe in Christ, and I said, "Yes, Jesus is the son of God. Kṛṣṇa is the father. In the sacred book *Bhagavad-gītā* Kṛṣṇa identifies Himself as the father of all. Their father and son relationship is very strong. Kṛṣṇa and Christ are very compatible." Tuks told me that he was a father. We walked and talked the rest of the day. Daniel joined us for the last leg of the journey. The heat was intense, and the last few steps were somewhat grueling. But that's just that sweet austerity kicking in again. Our finish line was at ISKCON's famous Kṛṣṇa Kaliya temple. There we met the mayor of Lautoka, who congratulated us for "a marvelous feat." Our six-day journey across Fiji came to a close. Distance walked: 40 km. Legs and Mouth Serving the Absolute I find there is no better or more personal way to meet people than with the low-tech, high-organic approach of using your legs. These legs were made for walking. And the mouth was meant for speaking about the Absolute. What a perfect combination! These legs are also meant for dancing. In the few days to follow this six-day venture, two most helpful devotees, Jaya Rama and his son Visvanatha, arranged for Daniel's village, Navutulevu, to receive piping-hot *prasādam.* Rasa and Daniel beat drums. The village chief danced to the beat, signifying the approval for others to dance to the sound of the drums and the *maha-mantra.* Food, singing, dancing, and a few words about Kṛṣṇa—that's culture! Cannibalism was once a way of life here. People have come a long way from that. It was good see the fun, with Śrī Caitanya's mercy evident in the happy faces. ## The Complete Social Service *By Caitanya Carana Dāsa* Why the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement offers a better solution to social problems than ordinary welfare programs. Does spirituality benefit society in any practical way, as social service does? I will address this question by analyzing a widespread social problem, starvation, and then generalize the principles understood by that analysis. The Causes of Starvation On seeing a beggar starving, a sensitive person will want to give some food. This will offer immediate relief, but a thoughtful person may ponder: "A few hours from now he will be hungry again. What causes have brought this beggar to starvation? And how can we remove those causes?" *Following are so7me causes of starvation.* (1) Wanton living and self-destructive behavior among the poor. Many people who earn enough to make ends meet squander their earnings on alcohol, tobacco, and drugs. Families often lose everything because the head of the family drinks too much. It is common to see beggars refuse food because they only want money—to buy, say, cigarettes. Natural disasters like earthquakes are big business opportunities for alcohol peddlers because many of the disaster-afflicted people tend to use the relief money to forget their suffering by intoxication. Is providing material relief to addicted people not like pouring water into a leaky bucket? No matter how much they are helped materially, their situation will not truly improve till they rectify their habits. Neither governmental nor non-governmental organizations have succeeded much in helping people avert the tragedy of self-destruction caused by bad habits. (2) Greed and exploitation. Mismanagement of resources is a greater cause of starvation than a shortage of them. Mahatma Gandhi put it well, "There is enough in this world for everyone's need, but not for everyone's greed." In the well-researched book *Food First,* Francis Moore Lappe points out that much of the world's best land is being misused for production of cash export crops. Therefore it is greed among the affluent that's at the root of the resulting starvation. Starvation does indeed result from factors beyond human control, such as drought, but even then, the human response to the natural calamity often compounds its impact. Food First reports a study of famines in Africa showing that during every drought the affected nation had within its own boundaries the food resources to feed its starving citizens, but relief was withheld because of economic or political motives. The merchants wanted to hoard the grains, cause artificial inflation, and earn more profit. Or the politicians wanted to deprive regions supporting the opposing politicians and thus settle old scores or gain the upper hand. Sometimes the food-grains rotted in the storehouses while people all around starved. Or worse still, crops were burned or grains sunk into the ocean. The same sad story of Africa often repeats itself in various parts of the world wherever natural calamities strike. Thus greed is an invisible cause of starvation. Can material welfare work counter greed? A social worker may get charity from a wealthy person and use it for offering some relief. But as long as greed impels the haves to exploit the have-nots, the relief that social welfare offers will not be much more than a drop of water in a desert. *Vedic Insights* The Vedic texts of ancient India offer a holistic welfare program based on a profound philosophical understanding of life. To appreciate how these books would tackle the problem of starvation, let's have a quick overview of the basic Vedic philosophy. The Vedic teachings assert that we are eternal souls covered by temporary material bodies. (*Bhagavad-gītā* 2.13) We belong to an immortal realm where we enjoy everlasting happiness in a loving relationship with the Supreme Person, God, most fully identified by the name Kṛṣṇa (meaning "all-attractive"). To enable us to wholly experience the joy of love in the spiritual world, Kṛṣṇa gives us the free will to choose to love and serve Him. When we misuse our free will and desire enjoyment separate from Him, we are placed in the material world. Here we forget our spiritual identity and misidentify with our material body, which offers us the sensory apparatus to interact with the foreign material environment. Within the framework of bodily misidentification, we seek material relationships, experiences, possessions, and positions according to our dreams and schemes. But our desires for enjoyment are unlimited, whereas the resources of this world are limited. Consequently, the pursuit of enjoyment leads to an intense struggle. Worse still, being spiritual by constitution, we can never become happy by gratifying our body, just as a driver can never be nourished by fueling his car. So, whether or not we succeed in our plans for material enjoyment, we remain mostly dissatisfied. And ultimately all our dreams turn into nightmares as our bodies—the very basis of all our enjoyment—are battered by disease, wrecked by old age, and destroyed by death. After each death in a human body, our desires and activities earn us another body, human or subhuman, and our struggle continues. Only the souls in the human form have sufficiently evolved consciousness and intelligence to understand and remedy their terrible predicament in material existence. Therefore, the Vedic texts urge all humans to dedicate themselves to promoting spiritual well-being, a cause more complete and effective than promoting material well-being. *Ending Starvation the Spiritual Way* Let's now return to the problem of starvation and see how promoting spiritual well-being can help tackle it. (1) Self-restraint. Surveys show that the religiously committed are less likely to succumb to bad habits. Dr. Patrick Glynn writes in his book *God: The Evidence,* "It is difficult to find a more consistent correlative of mental health, or a better insurance against self-destructive behaviors, than a strong religious faith." Spiritual practices can help cure the addictions that lead to starvation. (2) Compassion. A spiritual vision of life increases compassion and decreases greed. When a reporter asked Mother Teresa about the secret of her compassion, she pointed to her rosary beads. Devotion to God naturally arouses compassion for all His children, our brothers and sisters, and inspires us to selflessly work for their holistic uplift. When wealthy people are God conscious, their compassion is not restricted to an occasional act of charity; rather their whole life becomes dedicated to helping the deprived in every possible way, materially and spiritually. When the heads of state are spiritually enlightened, they care for all the citizens like their own children—not for political expediency, but out of spiritual love. They create socio-economic structures to provide employment for all in normal situations and adequate relief during emergencies. Thus godliness automatically engenders goodness; a godly person naturally develops good qualities like self-restraint and compassion, which are essential to the effectiveness of any social welfare program. (3) Natural prosperity. The Vedic texts explain that harmonizing with God leads to well-being not just in the next world, but also in this world. Our very existence depends on God's grace. Despite our scientific progress, we still need God for our heat, light, air, water, and food. Despite our hard work in sophisticated factories, our food is still made in God's factory, nature. When we disobey the Lord's injunctions, through material nature He withholds life's necessities. When we live in harmony with God, He instructs Mother Nature to profusely supply all the necessities of life to His obedient children. Material prosperity through divine harmony is not a fantasy; the God-centered society of Vedic India offers a historical demonstration. The amazing prosperity of traditional India is well documented in the Vedic texts themselves, by traveling medieval historians like Fa Hein and Hseun Tsang, and even by modern Indologists like A. L. Basham. In fact, the wealthiest country in the world today, America, was discovered by Europeans searching for a new ocean route to the wealth of India. *Are Good Intentions Good Enough?* Śrīla Prabhupāda illustrates the pitfalls of well-intentioned but ill-informed welfare work through an incident in his life: Once while in Calcutta, he saw a neighboring woman scolding her youngest son. The woman's slightly older son had typhoid, and the doctor had strictly forbidden him to eat solid food. While the mother had been away shopping, her sick son had begged his younger brother to give him some *parathas* (a fried food), which he did. When the mother returned to find that her son's sickness had worsened, she scolded her younger son for his harmful "kindness." Imagine an alcoholic who routinely squanders all his earnings and abuses his family members in his drunken stupor. When he falls sick, he receives free medical care, which cures his illness but not his addiction. He resumes his habitual intoxication and abuse. The intentions behind the free medical care are good in that they relieve him of his illness, but they are not good enough to offer a solution to the deeper problem. Śrīla Prabhupāda would often compare social welfare efforts devoid of spirituality to blowing on a painful boil. The good intention fails as a lasting solution. The Vedic texts say that suffering is an impetus to raise our consciousness to the spiritual plane, where we automatically reclaim our right to eternal happiness. Śrīla Prabhupāda writes, "The miseries of material existence serve to indirectly remind us of our incompatibility with matter." To understand this better, we need to swallow a bitter pill: acceptance of the fact that this world is like a prison and everyone here is like a criminal, imprisoned for rebellion against God. Hardship in this world is meant to rectify us. Consider a welfare worker who zealously works for the transfer of a criminal from a low-class prison cell to a high-class cell. If the welfare worker doesn't help the inmate reform, the inmate will not gain release, which should be the reformer's goal. His actions are shortsighted and incomplete. Ultimately they serve neither the purpose of the prison (reformation of the prisoners) nor the long-term interests of the prisoner (freedom from captivity). The Vedic texts prompt us to ponder whether providing material improvement without spiritual enlightenment is much different. The gift is at best incomplete. In the ultimate analysis, it serves neither the purpose of the material world (rectification of the rebellious mentality of the souls) nor the souls' ultimate interests (freedom from the inevitable sufferings of material existence, including repeated birth and death). The foregoing discussion is not meant to suggest we turn a blind eye and develop a cold heart toward the sufferings of our fellow human beings. Compassion is undoubtedly a noble quality, and the Vedic texts urge us to use it to its maximum effectiveness by becoming instruments of God's compassion. *The Complete Welfare Program* God being the most loving father feels pain to see His children in pain, no matter what their transgressions. He creates a cosmic justice system to bring about their gradual reform. But being much more than just a neutral judge, He also creates a mercy system to offer quick relief to sincerely repentant souls. Through His representatives, the saintly devotees, He disseminates genuine spiritual knowledge. By learning the cause of suffering, intelligent human beings can voluntarily reform themselves and learn to live in loving harmony with God. Then God, out of love for them, waives their karmic punishment partly or fully, according to the degree of their repentance. And ultimately God helps them return to their eternal home to live happily with Him forever. (*Bhagavad-gītā* 10.10–11) Therefore Vedic scriptures call upon all intelligent social workers to become agents of the Lord's compassion and do the highest good to everyone. Suppose you are the friend of a millionaire. One day you see your friend's estranged son wandering on the streets, drunk, disheveled, diseased, distressed, and starving. When someone offers him food, he gulps it down and continues his aimless wandering. Then someone else comes and gives him a new set of clothes. He happily wears the clothes, but still remains lost and forsaken. Someone else gives him free medicine, which provides him some relief but no permanent solace. Then you seat him in your car, take him home, bathe and feed him, and treat his ailments. When he has sobered, you talk with him lovingly, explaining his father's great affection for him. You clarify and remove the misunderstanding that strained their relationship. And when he is ready, you take him back to his father's mansion, where he is fed the best food, given an entire wardrobe of clothes, and attended to by a team of expert doctors. His reunion with his father has solved so many problems. Material welfare workers are like the people who offered food, clothing, and medicine to the lost son, whereas the devotee is like the father's friend, who took the son back to his father. We are beloved children of the Supreme Lord, the master of the goddess of fortune. Therefore we are all like princes in the kingdom of God. But our causeless misuse of our free will drives us from the shelter of our all-loving father and forces us to struggle for paltry pleasure in the material world, like the lost son of the millionaire. *ISKCON's Service to Society* Most people are so spiritually uninformed they don't even know they are the beloved spiritual children of the supreme father and that an eternal, joyful life is their birthright. In a world bedeviled by such spiritual bankruptcy, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness: • Provides systematic spiritual education free to everyone, irrespective of caste, race, gender, religion, nationality, and so on. • Offers an attractive alternative culture that enables people to practice spirituality in a practical yet potent way and thus lead deeply meaningful and fulfilling lives. • Propagates the nonsectarian, universal, time-tested chanting of the holy names of God, especially the Hare Kṛṣṇa *maha-mantra.* Chanting enables millions of people to easily harmonize themselves with God, thus paving the way for them to return to His kingdom. • Helps millions of people break free from the self-destructive drives of meat-eating, illicit sex, intoxication, and gambling by offering them a higher happiness and thus saving from immense karmic suffering in this and future lives. • Runs the world's largest vegetarian food-relief program, Food for Life, and offers free nutritious sanctified food (*prasādam*), which nourishes the body and awakens the soul. *Prasadam* reaches millions of people all over the world, including war-torn areas. ISKCON works tirelessly at the grassroots level to help people return to harmony with their own true nature as beloved children of God. Thus harmonized, they can find and distribute the treasure of love, peace, and happiness that lies hidden in their own hearts. Henry David Thoreau pointed out, "For every thousand hacking at the leaves of evil, there is one striking at its root." Among the various welfare measures offered by different organizations, ISKCON's propagation of pure spiritual education and culture strikes at the root of suffering and helps people become truly happy forever. Caitanya Carana Dāsa, a disciple of His Holiness Rādhānatha Swami, is the author of six books and a BTG associate editor. His free ezine, “The Spiritual Scientist,” gives a scientific presentation of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. To subscribe, register at www.thespiritualscientist.com. ## In Your Own Words *What are some of the things you do to nurture Kṛṣṇa consciousness in your children?* I often read to my two sons from Śrīla Prabhupāda's books. Then we discuss the subject matter. When they were very young, we used to read mostly stories from the book *Kṛṣṇa*: *The Supreme Personality of Godhead.* Now that they are teenagers, we usually read from the *Bhagavad-gītā* or *Śrīmad-Bhagavatam.* I try to set a good example by chanting the holy names of Kṛṣṇa, offering our food, reading Prabhupāda's books, and treating all others with respect. Occasionally we visit the Chicago temple, and we always attend Chicago's Rathayatra festival. Bill Helminger Kenosha, Wisconsin Children try to imitate the elders, so it's our responsibility to follow Vaisnava etiquette at home, and the children will follow. I try to apply this principle in my life, and my son has already started his devotional service at the age of five by chanting one round, reading *Bhagavad-gītā,* waking up the Deities, chanting prayers, talking about Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes, and watching devotional videos like *Ramayana* and *Mahābhārata* instead of mundane videos. If we have sincere desire, of course, Kṛṣṇa will help us and our children advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We need to spend time with children; otherwise they do whatever they feel like doing. If we spend even thirty minutes a day to teach them Kṛṣṇa consciousness in their childhood, they will follow better than us. I've seen this practically: My son told me I should not talk while chanting. Vedavit Kṛṣṇa Dāsa Shippensburg, Pennsylvania All children ever want is some quality time. Spending time reading stories to them, chanting together, or playing games in relation to Kṛṣṇa can help them get attached to the Lord more intimately. Most of all they need heartfelt encouragement. That goes a long way, and time and again they'll want to go back to those Kṛṣṇa conscious activities. Getting distracted by mundane things is natural, but instead of telling me "Don't do that!" my mother would always distract my attention, telling me how beautiful it is to instead try dressing up little Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa dolls. Sonika Bakshi Dubai, UAE My daughter is six months and has just begun eating solids*.* I offer her meal to Kṛṣṇa first, and then when I place it in front of her I say the Sanskrit prayer that begins *maha-prasada govinde**.* During all *aratis* I make her sit on my lap and do *arati*.** Every morning as soon as she is up I wish her "Hare Kṛṣṇa " and first take her for *darsana* or our Jagannatha Deities*.* While singing ABC to her, I say "A for Adikesava, B for Balarāma, C for Caitanya Mahāprabhu," and so on through Z. I sing songs like "The sky is blue; the water is blue. Who else is blue? Kṛṣṇa is blue." So in all things I try to keep Kṛṣṇa at the center, so that she will be acquainted with Him from the beginning. Shipra Goel Singapore Little minds are very "concrete." Everything is clear-cut or black and white to them. It is so important for little ones to be able to see examples of the Lord and His energy in everything around them. In *Bhagavad-gītā* Lord Kṛṣṇa tells us who He is. "Of bodies of water, I am the ocean. Of aquatics, I am the shark. Of mountains, I am the Himalayas," and so forth. Making these examples a part of the children's daily lives, and reminding them frequently, helps them to see the Lord and all His reflections as vivid and evident. When children are taught to see Kṛṣṇa and His energy around them, they actually see it. I will never forget the five-year-old girl who when riding past a shopping mall displaying a fifty-foot-high balloon of Santa Claus immediately exclaimed to me, "Look, it's Śrī Advaita!" Mahavisnupriya Dasi La Crosse, Florida As a young devotee I would say that the best thing you can do to nurture Kṛṣṇa consciousness amongst my generation is to allow us to have fun in this movement. If you start hammering us with *slokas* and sixteen rounds a day, etc., being very strict on us right from the beginning, that will really scare us off. We youngsters have a natural inclination to want to have fun. You can encourage us to play and learn instruments for Kṛṣṇa, lead *bhajanas,* etc. My temple has a drama group where children and teenagers can come and act out pastimes of the Lord. When you allow us to have fun like this in a Kṛṣṇa conscious way, then you will certainly be nurturing our hearts and minds to forever stay in this movement. Manisha Tribhangi Dev London The best way to introduce children to Śrī Kṛṣṇa is firstly telling them to decorate and take interest in dressing the Deities of the Lord. At first they will consider it just a game, but slowly they will develop a relationship with the Lord. The story of Meera Bai is a perfect example. Secondly, tell them that Kṛṣṇa is the most true and helping friend in the whole world and that He will protect them from their fears if they remember Him in their hearts. Thirdly, tell them stories of the Lord and assure them that He is always there with them. These three measures will help develop a relationship between our children and Lord Kṛṣṇa. And if He wills, very soon this relationship will develop into love and finally Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Kamal Nayan Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India After cooking, I call my two-and-half-year-old son, Lakshman, to come and offer the meal to the Lord with me, and he happily bows down and starts muttering: "Hare Rama, Hare Rama." Another one of his favorite things to do is to dance with his arms raised and sing/yell, "*Haribol! Haribol!*" We also sing together and play *mrdanga* and harmonium. This, I always feel, is profoundly effective for both him and me. Reading the kids' version of *Kṛṣṇa : The Supreme Personality of Godhead* is another interesting, thought-provoking activity that we both enjoy. He asks questions and I answer, and as he grows older I am sure this will increase. Whenever I take him to the temple, I try to make sure he really has a good time and will gladly remember going to see the Deities and devotees for years to come. Recently I bought him a Kṛṣṇa doll during our visit to the temple, and the doll has become a new favorite. Most importantly, I often pray to Kṛṣṇa that He may bring Lakshman closer to Him, that He may, out of His endless kindness, bestow on Lakshman the kind of devotee association and experiences that will connect him deeply with Kṛṣṇa and give him a taste for chanting throughout his life. Krsangi Dasi Hillsborough, North Carolina To inspire my children in Kṛṣṇa consciousness I have to demonstrate my complete dependence on my own Guru Mahārāja (Śrīla Prabhupāda) by worshiping him, following his instructions daily, associating with devotees, engaging in temple activities, and reading Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes in *Śrīmad-Bhagavatam.* I have to demonstrate being generous, tolerant, and kind towards other living beings. I have to teach them the primary instruction: Kṛṣṇa is all in all. And I have to measure my own progress and theirs periodically and make adjustments accordingly. Jai Sharma Begusarai, Bihar, India I consistently feed my children *prasādam.* To ensure that the food offered to the Lord will turn into *prasādam,* I am careful not to take interest in gossip and I avoid watching television or listening to the radio. I sometimes play a *Bhagavad-gītā* recitation on the CD, but normally I chant the *maha-mantra* or recite the *Braham-samhita.* When my grandson comes into the kitchen to get something to eat, I stop cooking, put the food on Kṛṣṇa’s plate, and offer it to the Deities. My grandson knows he has to wait two minutes after asking for food, because I pick him up and let him hold the plate to offer the food to Kṛṣṇa first. This he willingly does. Very often he asks me questions about Kṛṣṇa. At night he loves to listen to Kṛṣṇa stories until he falls asleep. Vrajakisori Devī Dāsī London Next question: Name one quality of Śrīla Prabhupāda's that you find particularly inspiring and illustrate it with an example from his life. ## How I Came to Kṛṣṇa Consciousness *Looking for the Supreme God* "Whom are we worshiping in the temple? This query of mine was unanswered till I reached ISKCON." *By Manali D. Bijlani* I was born and brought up in a Hindu family in Delhi, and we used to go to various temples and offer prayers before the gods. Two questions, however, always tickled my mind: Why do we worship so many gods, and who is the real God? As I never got answers to my questions, I considered all the gods equal, and in my teenage years all religions and faiths became one for me. Be it Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Islam, or Christianity, all pointed towards one God. But I could not find out who this God is. During my school days, when I badly needed the help of God I would cry out to Him, but no name would come on my lips. Sometimes I wondered whether God has any name, and slowly and steadily I felt that God has no form or name but is a supernatural power—a powerful light we cannot see but can only feel. Then whom are we worshiping in the temple? This query of mine was unanswered till I reached ISKCON. *Receiving the Gita* After completing graduate degrees in microbiology and law, I earned a masters degree in company law. In the meantime I married a close friend I had met while pursuing my masters degree. Soon I started working for a multinational corporation in Delhi. My office was about two kilometers from the ISKCON temple. Even though I passed the temple on numerous occasions, my feet never took me inside to see the Lord. After four years, in the year 2000, I joined another company, which was farther away. I left there within two years, after I got pregnant. While leaving the job, one of my colleagues, an ISKCON member, gave me a copy of Śrīla Prabhupāda's *Bhagavad-gītā As It Is.* This was the first time I ever read the *Gita.* As I could not understand this scripture, I kept the book in my study and left it untouched for the next seven years. Today, however, I feel that because of this book, in November 2002 I was blessed with a baby girl, Gaurika, who showed spiritual inclinations from an early age. *A Life-Changing Invitation* In March 2008, my daughter and I were visiting the local temple in the evening to say our prayers. While coming out of the temple, I saw Hare Kṛṣṇa devotees passing out pamphlets. When I eagerly approached them, I learned that they would be conducting a six-day *Bhagavad-gītā* program in April. The venue was at a short distance from our residence. “This is a life-changing program,” a devotee told me, and she suggested I register at the earliest. I took the pamphlet containing a list of contact numbers. “I will check with my husband and get back to you shortly,” I said. I kept the pamphlet on a side table in our home, planning to discuss it with my husband, Deepak, when he returned from the office. He has a hectic job, working from 9:30 in the morning till 11:00 at night. Because of this, he had been pretty disturbed for the past two or three years. He was looking for peace and happiness but couldn't find it even with the best salary. Because my husband arrived home late, I could not discuss the program with him for the next ten days. But unknown to me, he had read the pamphlet and had made up his mind to attend the program. In the meantime I forgot both the pamphlet and the program. Then one morning my husband asked me to get him registered for the program and also gave me the option to attend. Initially I thought, “Let him attend the course, and if he finds it useful, I will attend at a later date.” I called up the devotee to check the availability of a seat for my husband. She mentioned that a few seats were still available and advised me to attend the course with him. I made all sorts of excuses for not attending, but the devotee convinced me to attend and even bring my daughter for all six days. The next morning the devotee visited our residence and registered us for the course on payment of a nominal fee. On the day before the program was to begin, I had an argument with my husband and did not want to attend the course with him. I decided to attend at a later date and to go to my mother's house for the next three days. But I felt confused, because I wanted to attend the course. At 5:00 o'clock in the evening I called the devotee and said, “Please cancel my registration.” She was surprised with this last-minute development. “What is problem?” she asked. I made all sorts of lame excuses, but she would hear nothing of it. She finally convinced me to attend. So, along with my husband and daughter, I attended the course, which changed my life. *Confusion Removed* On the first two days of the seminar, I was full of confusion. But as the seminar progressed I learned there is a difference between the Supreme Lord and the various demigods. Eventually I got answers to my query as to why at times we suffer due to our karma and on other occasions we are blissful. Lord Kṛṣṇa has explained in the *Bhagavad-gītā* that this place is *duhkhalayam,* full of miseries, and we can never find the real happiness we are searching for. Until we realize that Lord Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality and we are part of Him, we can never be happy. By rendering devotional service at the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa, we can be freed from the material entanglements and go back to Godhead. I was amazed to discover that although God was always there in front my eyes, I could not recognize Him. Even though I was born in a Hindu family, it took thirty-six years of my life to know that Lord Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme God, the cause of all causes. As I was growing up, whenever my family was in distress we would worship one of the demigod to cancel the ill effects. We would go to the temple with a long list of demands. But when my husband and I attended the ISKCON seminar, we were taught to become pure devotees and to surrender unto the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa. In the *Bhagavad-gītā* (18.66) Lord Kṛṣṇa says, "Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear." Watering the roots of a tree will satisfy its leaves, branches, twigs, and trunk. Similarly, when we take the shelter of Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme God, we satisfy all the demigods. If out of fear we fail to surrender, we get entangled in the vicious cycle of birth and death. At the end of seminar, the devotee teaching us advised us to chant the holy name daily and gave a formula to remember: A: Association of devotees B: Books by Prabhupāda C: Chant the holy name D: Diet should be only *prasādam,* vegetarian food cooked for and offered to Lord Kṛṣṇa. After the six-day seminar, my thoughts were clear. It seemed a layer of dust had been removed from my eyes and I could finally see. I started attending weekly classes and reading *Bhagavad-gītā.* Vicitra Kṛṣṇa Dāsa would stress the ABCD formula. I was not totally convinced about chanting, and hence did not start it immediately. Instead I took up reading small books written by Prabhupāda and associated with devotees every Sunday. Then one day I read *Chant and Be Happy,* where the famous musician George Harrison gave a candid interview on how chanting changed his life. I was totally moved by his story and understood the power of chanting. *A New Life* I took up chanting one round on beads every day, and gradually increased it to six or seven rounds, and soon to sixteen rounds. Part of my inspiration for chanting sixteen rounds was that I wanted to help cook the Sunday feast at the temple and cooks are required to chant sixteen rounds. I was soon given the service of calling participants for the Sunday program. I enjoyed that service a lot. It gave me a chance to speak to various devotees and hear of their progress in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. These conversations motivated me and helped me realized how important it is to associate with devotees. My life has changed in a short time. As I need to arrange the breakfast and midday meal for my daughter and prepare her for school, I get up at 4:30 A.M., bathe, and perform *tulasi puja.* I leave for a walk by 5:15 and chant six rounds while walking. After returning, I wake up my daughter and prepare her for school. She chants one round a day, and when we visit Śrī Vrindavan Dhama, she chants more than sixteen rounds. I definitely feel that due to the *Bhagavad-gītā* I received during my pregnancy, I was blessed with a Kṛṣṇa conscious daughter. I feel that due to her devotion in her previous birth, we were brought into the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Though it took me thirty-six years to realize who Supreme Lord is and to chant His holy name, my daughter started chanting when she was five and a half years old. *Spreading the Message with Gratitude* Today, by the mercy of Lord Kṛṣṇa and the guidance of senior devotees in ISKCON, I am able to chant sixteen rounds and follow the principles laid down by Śrīla Prabhupāda. I attend *Bhagavad-gītā* classes every Sunday, organized by Vicitra Kṛṣṇa Dāsa. I am reading various books printed by the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, and I have subscribed to *Back to Godhead.* I am thankful from my heart to the devotee who at every step insisted I attend the seminar. I am highly obliged to all who are guiding us to understand our relationship with the Supreme Godhead and the mission each one of us has in our life—to go back to Godhead. In today's life we are all so occupied in our professions that we hardly wish to know ourselves and our relationship with God. Not very long ago I used to think, “Why do I need to understand all this? I am only thirty-six years old, with a daughter of five years. I can learn this subject later in life.” I had made knowing God part of my retirement plan. But today my views have changed. I feel I am already very late in life and should have understood these things much earlier. King Prahlada became a devotee at the age of five. Devotion is not a retirement plan. To change this understanding in others, I write about Kṛṣṇa consciousness and send emails to friends and family every day. If I can change the mindset of even one person, I will be successful in helping Śrīla Prabhupāda spread his message. *The author invites interested readers to email her at [email protected].* ## Time and Again *By Mathuresa Dāsa* Being God, Kṛṣṇa has no work to do and simply enjoys in His original abode, while His expansions and energies, such as time, take care of the material creation. As working men and women we typically leave home in the early morning and spend eight or nine hours on the job. Life at work sustains life at home. Official dealings at work contrast with family intimacies at home. However diffuse and overlapping the boundaries between the two, our work persons differ from our home persons. Kṛṣṇa, the supreme person, has no work to do. He is always home in His own abode, an expansive, eternal, and endlessly varied estate beyond the material world known as *Goloka* *Vṛndāvana*. Kṛṣṇa fills His home life as we fill ours, with His loving friends and favorite belongings. Our own proclivity for home life derives from His original personality, because as minute individual souls we come from Him and from His transcendental abode. Since Kṛṣṇa is partial to cows and to the Tulasi tree, His pristine abode has a wealth of both. *Goloka* means “abode of cows,” and *Vṛndāvana* means “forest of Tulasi" (Vrnda being another name for Tulasi). The forests, rivers, streams, hills, mountains, fields, and village dwellings of *Goloka* *Vṛndāvana* are an eternal setting for the blissful recreations of Lord Kṛṣṇa and His confidential devotees. With no work to do, Kṛṣṇa is under no obligation to create our temporary material world. He does so out of kindness to provide material estates for those of us who prefer to live independent of Him, or to have the illusion of doing so. Kṛṣṇa entrusts the work of creation to His expansion Lord Maha-Visnu, who is Kṛṣṇa’s original “work person.” Unlike our own work persons, Maha-Visnu, while an expansion of Kṛṣṇa’s personality, is also an individual with distinct initiative and identity. He works on His own, leaving Kṛṣṇa, the original home person, unbothered. This ability of Kṛṣṇa’s to expand without leaving home, entrusting work to His individual expansions without so much as a thought to the stereotypical functions of God-as-puppeteer, is a unique and essential feature of the Supreme Being. While Lord Kṛṣṇa enjoys the informality of intimate dealings at home with devotees who are in the mood of family and friends, in the office of creator Lord Maha-Visnu attracts worshipers who prefer a God primarily endowed with grand, omnipotent, awe-inspiring features. Maha-Visnu’s caliber is inconceivable. To illustrate, the *Bhagavad-gītā* and other texts say that not only are we not alone in the universe, but the universe itself is not alone. Past the enormously distant shell of our own universe are an uncountable number of others. These innumerable universes, in a form described variously as seeds and golden eggs, float from the pores of the skin of Maha-Visnu as He lies sleeping on the Causal Ocean, a body of transcendental water that separates the spiritual and material realms. Maha-Visnu breathes out, and the universes come into being for trillions of years. He breathes in and absorbs all the universes and their inhabitants back into His body until His next exhalation in the cycling of creation. Work for Lord Kṛṣṇa, or for Maha-Visnu, is therefore not a matter of great effort. He does it in His sleep. And like all His other activities, His work is a voluntary, sportive pastime to please and accommodate His devotees. Maha-Visnu’s transcendental creative slumber is said to parody our own unconsciousness under the spell of matter. Here we are forgetful of Kṛṣṇa, Maha-Visnu, the spiritual world, and of our own eternal individual natures. The technical term for Lord Maha-Visnu’s sleeping is *yoga-nidra,* a term Vaisnavas also employ to denote the coating of intellectual, scientific, and quasi-spiritual knowledge that, in perpetuation of our forgetfulness, directs our waking activities. Lying on the Causal Ocean, Lord Maha-Visnu wakes to cast a radiant glance at material nature, which is the shadow of the spiritual nature, represented by His own consort the goddess Rama Devi. While Lord Visnu is always in the direct company of Rama Devi, He contacts material nature only by His glance. Since Rama Devi consorts with Maha-Visnu both as His beloved partner and as His power of knowledge, the implication is that both knowledge in the material nature and the material nature itself have a shadowy quality. The material nature is not false, however. It is real. But its fleeting, cyclic reality should, like the shadows in Plato’s cave, leave us to wonder at the substance, vitality, freedom and variety of the original, spiritual nature. *The Glance of Time* The words used for Maha-Visnu’s glancing are *tyakta *kala*m,* indicating that His effulgent glance and time (*kala*) are one and the same. The radiant time glance carries us minute eternal individual souls into the womb of the shadow material nature, where we acquire temporary bodies according to our activities in the previous creation, the previous breath of Maha-Visnu. The universes, too, having risen from the pores of Maha-Visnu’s skin in seed form, enter (in Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvati words) the "unlimited accommodating chamber" of material nature, where they enlarge to house the embodied souls. Being ever-present, without beginning or end, time monitors and records everything. Time brings with it to the current creation the results of our activities and desires in previous creations, so that we are daily awakened and impelled by time and time-borne circumstances to deal with our past desires and activities. Like a tape-recorded voice, time represents the will of Kṛṣṇa and Maha-Visnu while appearing to be separate from Them. According to the **Brahma-saṁhitā*,* even Maha-Visnu’s glance does not directly touch material nature. There are intermediaries. The first is Rama Devi herself, who “carries the function of His glance” to her shadow nature. (*Brahma-saṁhitā* 5.7) And at the point where this transported, effulgent time-glance touches the material nature, a reflected halo appears that is known as Sambhu, or Lord Siva. It is Sambhu who impregnates material nature by direct contact. Lord Siva is thus identified with time, its destructive aspect in particular, and is sometimes known as Kala. His consort, the material nature, is often portrayed as the dark destructive goddess Kali. As Maha-Visnu’s glance and Lord Siva are both identified with time, all three are practically identical. Śrīla Prabhupāda therefore states at various points, without contradiction, that Maha-Visnu touches material nature only with His glance, only with His time energy, and only in the form of Lord Siva. Lord Siva is, in short, Lord Maha-Visnu in contact with material nature. “Lord Visnu acts through Lord Siva in the creation of the material world," Śrīla Prabhupāda writes. "When Kṛṣṇa says in the *Bhagavad-gītā* that he is the seed-giving father of all living entities (*aham bija-pradah pita)*, this refers to actions performed by Lord Visnu through Lord Siva. … When material activities are to be performed, Lord Visnu performs them through Lord Siva. When Lord Visnu is untouched by the external energy He is Lord Visnu, but when He is in touch with the external energy, He appears in His feature as Lord Siva.” (*Śrīmad-Bhagavatam* 8.7.22) *Lord Brahma's Creations* Having set the creation in motion by impregnating material nature with the time-bound souls, Lord Maha-Visnu and Lord Siva expand to individually reside in each universe. Lord Brahma, who is born from a golden lotus flower growing from Lord Visnu's navel, joins them. Lord Brahma is first-born of the time-bound souls in every universe. Like the rest of us and unlike Lord Visnu and Lord Siva, Lord Brahma, though very powerful, is here in the universe, as a result of his past activities, or karma, in pursuit of enjoyment apart from Kṛṣṇa. Elaborating on the imagery of the lotus, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvati states that not only Lord Brahma but every living being has a place on the “superior plane” of this lotus and has a connection to God through its golden form, which represents pure knowledge. Sitting in meditation atop the lotus, Lord Brahma, impelled by impressions from his previous life, as are all of us, turns his mind to creating the planetary systems, the species of life, and other features of the universal layout. In this way the rest of us individual souls are provided bodies in species that match the mentality we developed in our past lives. During one lifetime of Brahma we rotate in the cycle of birth and death, acquiring and giving up bodies according to the consciousness produced from our chosen activities. Figures given in the *Bhagavad-gītā* show that Lord Brahma’s day, or his twenty-four hours, is equal to approximately eight and one half billion solar years. One hundred years of such days is Brahma’s lifetime, which in turn is equal to one breath, one exhalation and inhalation, of Lord Maha-Visnu. While empowering Lord Brahma to create and Lord Siva to destroy, Lord Visnu Himself takes charge of maintaining each universe. All activities in the material nature fall into these three broad categories of creation, maintenance, and annihilation under the administration of these three Deities. We create our dwellings, families, institutions, nations, and civilizations, maintain them and destroy them, and watch as they are destroyed. Outside of human influence as well, all material bodies, plants and animals, as well as natural bodies like mountains and planets and universes, have their creation, their duration or maintenance, and their ultimate demise under the supervision of the triumvirate headed by Lord Visnu. As the contact point with material nature, Lord Siva is initially an instrument of creation. *Sambhu* means parent or progenitor. The accounts of universal history contained in the *Puranas* also have him assisting Lord Visnu in maintenance by diverting or battling villainous elements in the universal population. But Lord Siva is best known as the destroyer. He is said to perform the *tandava nrtya,* a wild, gesticulating dance, crushing not only the universes themselves, but everything within them, great and small. Everything material disappears in due course, trampled by the unrelenting dance of time. Within each universe Lord Siva is known as *Rudra*, and his wife as *Rudra*ni, names indicating that these two cry loudly, and that, with their violent, destructive natures they cause all of us to cry as well. *Rudra* also denotes reddish blue, said to be the color of anger. In the form of Lord Maha-Visnu’s glance, time envelops and directs the entirety of the material manifestation, including creation, maintenance, and annihilation. Time’s overall material effect, however, is destruction, implemented by Lord Siva and his *Rudra* expansions. *Time in the Spiritual Nature* Creation, maintenance, and destruction in the course of time are not features of the spiritual nature. The *Upanisads* say that before the creation there was no Brahma and no Siva, no sun, stars, or sky. There was only Visnu, His expansions, and the pure souls who have no desire for a life separate from Him. With only Visnu, and no Siva or Brahma, there is only maintenance, with no creation or destruction. Time exists in the spiritual nature without its destructive side, and without the type of creative side that is merely destruction’s necessary counterpart. And yet the spiritual nature is said to be full of activity, more so than its material reflection. Lord Visnu and His devotee servants expand spiritually there to enrich, vary, and perpetually increase the pastimes of blissful loving devotion. While all this still takes place under the watchful eye of time, in the spiritual nature time only maintains, by the sole influence of Lord Visnu, or in other words everything there exists eternally. Our experience of the three-fold and ultimately destructive nature of time is only the material experience. The *Brahma-saṁhitā* refers to spiritual time as a “concentrated all-time presence” and as “transcendental ever-existing time.” It also describes Kṛṣṇa’s abode Goloka as a place “where there is eternal existence of transcendental time, who is ever present and without past or future and hence is not subject to the quality of passing away even for the space of half a moment.” As working men and women the process of breaking away from the tearful conditions of material nature and material time begins with using both our work life and our home life as a means to meditate upon and worship the Supreme Person. The *Upanisads* state that spiritually inclined persons, from Lord Brahma on down to human society, always look to the supreme abode of Visnu with all their hearts and minds: *om tad visno paramam padam sada pasyanti yat suryayah.* From this perspective there is no question of inactivity because we act ceaselessly, whether in the material or spiritual natures. In pursuance of our ideals, whatever they may be, we are constantly busy. Our entrance into the material nature came about by a desire for the illusion of independence from the Supreme, and the entire nearly immeasurable material creation appeared to satisfy that desire. Redirecting both desire and activity towards Visnu and Kṛṣṇa can bring about changes at least equally immeasurable. The practices of *bhakti-yoga* detailed in the *Bhagavad-gītā, Bhakti-rasamrta-sindu,* and other books center on hearing about and describing the attributes and glories of the Supreme Person and of the spiritual nature. These methods, even approached with theoretical caution, can turn both our work persons and our home persons back into pure, transcendental, spiritual individuals by awakening us from our slumbering condition in material nature. *Mathuresa Dāsa, a disciple of Śrīla Prabhupāda, has written many articles for* Back to Godhead *over the last thirty years. He lives and works in Gainesville, Florida.* ## Lord Nityānanda Delivers the Thieves A gang intent on stealing Lord Nityānanda's jewelry eventually surrenders to Him, and He mercifully awards them pure love of God. *By Mohini Rādhā Devī Dāsī* When I was eight or nine years old, my parents took me to the Smithsonian museums in Washington, D.C. After meandering through myriad halls and galleries, we came across an exhibit of valuable gemstones in the Museum of Natural History. I remember being particularly struck by the famous Hope Diamond, a large bluish diamond pendant surrounded by small white diamonds. I was surprised that something could be so beautiful and so valuable. Although I’ve forgotten most of what I saw during my weeklong visit to the Smithsonian, I vividly remember my sense of wonder upon seeing such a unique jewel. Lord Kṛṣṇa likes jewels too. Scriptures explain that He adorns His body with jewelry. He is famous as the wearer of the Kaustubha gem, and scriptures describe other forms or incarnations of the Lord as decorated with exquisite valuable jewels. But these ornaments are not like those within the Smithsonian display cases, because everything directly related with the Lord—His clothing, paraphernalia, associates, abode, name, activities—possesses the same spiritual potency as the Lord Himself. In other words, the Lord’s ornaments are expansions of His personal energy. Although they appear to be material, they are not different from the Supreme Lord Himself. The Supreme Lord is called Bhagavan, which indicates that He possesses six primary opulences (beauty, strength, fame, wealth, knowledge, and renunciation) to an unlimited degree. He possesses these qualities eternally, but sometimes one or more remain hidden from ordinary view so that He can achieve specific purposes. Five hundred years ago, Lord Kṛṣṇa appeared in Navadvipa, West Bengal, in the form of His own devotee, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He came to relish being a devotee and to teach the process of devotional service so that we can achieve the highest spiritual treasure, pure love of God (*kṛṣṇa-prema*). Mahāprabhu personally inaugurated the *sankirtana* movement (the congregational chanting of the Lord’s holy names) to uplift the sinful souls of the current Age of Kali, the Age of Quarrel and Hypocrisy. *Balarāma as Nityānanda* Lord Balarāma, Kṛṣṇa’s first spiritual expansion, plays the role of Kṛṣṇa’s elder brother. Lord Balarāma appeared with Caitanya Mahāprabhu as Nityānanda Prabhu. He assisted Lord Caitanya with His mission to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness freely, distributing pure love of God without regard to caste, color, or creed. In the second half of His life, Caitanya Mahāprabhu entered the renounced order of life (*sannyasa*). He decided to live in Jagannātha Purī, Orissa, and He ordered Lord Nityānanda to preach in Bengal. Lord Nityānanda enjoyed an especially opulent mood. In *Śrī Caitanya-bhagavata*, Śrīla Vṛndāvana Dāsa Ṭhākura, a disciple of Nityānanda Prabhu, vividly describes how Lord Nityānanda adorned His body with beautiful blue silk garments, valuable jewels, and many flower garlands. Once, He sat upon a golden throne while His followers offered Him *abhiseka*, bathing His body with milk, yogurt, juices, and other paraphernalia as described in scriptures pertaining to Deity worship. By demonstrating His opulence and grandeur, He revealed His divinity and attracted many souls to pure devotional service. Lord Nityānanda is *visnu-tattva,* that is, He is God and not an ordinary living entity (*jiva-tattva*). But the chief purpose of His appearance was not to showcase His wealth and beauty, but rather to distribute His inconceivable mercy to the suffering souls in material bondage. Out of His supreme compassion, He traveled from door to door to ask everyone to chant the holy names of the Lord and thus achieve spiritual perfection. Lord Nityānanda did not distinguish between qualified and unqualified souls, and delivered the most degraded and sinful. Once, when a gang of thieves wanted to rob Him of His ornaments, Lord Nityānanda not only purified them of their sins, but ultimately awarded them pure love of God. *A Greedy Gang of Thieves* Śrīla Vṛndāvana Dāsa Ṭhākura has narrated this astonishing pastime in *Caitanya-bhagavata* (*Antya-khanda* 5.527–706). The leader of the gang, who had been born in a *brahmana* family, had rejected religious principles to associate with wicked, materialistic people and lead a sinful life of cheating, stealing, and even murder. Fortunately for him, he dwelled in the holy land of Navadvipa when Lord Nityānanda was performing His pastimes there. Lord Nityānanda was residing with a devotee named Hiranya Pandita. Although Hiranya Pandita was poor, his heart was rich with pure love of God, and Lord Nityānanda appreciated his company so much that He left His other associates to stay in Hiranya Pandita's home. Unlike Hiranya Pandita, the thief lacked such appreciation for the spiritual wealth of Lord Nityānanda's company. He simply coveted others' material assets under the illusion that these would somehow make him happy. One day, the thief spied Nityānanda Prabhu near Hiranya Pandita’s house. He saw that the Lord wore golden bracelets, armlets, and earrings set with pearls. Necklaces made of gold, coral, jewels, and pearls adorned His beautiful body. Enchanted by such dazzling splendor, the thief craved the Lord’s wealth. He stealthily followed the Lord to ascertain His residence, and informed his companions of his great discovery. “My dear brothers,” the thief announced. “Our days of suffering are about to end. I have seen the most valuable jewels all together in one place, on the body of Nityānanda. He is staying alone in the house of Hiranya Pandita, so tonight let us go there and rob everything.” Equipped with daggers, swords, and tridents, the thieves gathered near Hiranya Pandita’s house that evening. They were blinded by boundless materialistic ambition, and their minds were overpowered by an insatiable greed. Because of their demoniac mentality, they did not consider Nityānanda Prabhu’s true identity as the Supreme Personality of Godhead or His jewelry as an expansion of His spiritual energy. Instead, they considered Him an ordinary man and His ornaments merely matter to be conquered. The thieves camped near Hiranya Pandita’s house and sent a spy to investigate the feasibility of their plan. The scout returned and informed the others that Nityānanda was eating and His associates were awake. He could no comprehend the activities of the Lord’s associates, who were intensely engaged in *sankirtana*, the congregational chanting of the holy names of the Lord. They exhibited symptoms of deep spiritual ecstasy, such as shivering, crying, rolling on the ground, and standing up of the bodily hairs. The spy could see these activities only as a momentary impediment to his sense gratification. The thieves decided to wait a few hours and approach the house later, when they presumed the Lord would be asleep. In the meantime, they dreamed of the wealth they expected to attain, each claiming a different ornament as his own. *The Thieves Fall Asleep* Lord Nityānanda, being the Supreme Personality of Godhead Balarāma, is fully endowed with spiritual strength (*bala*). As the first expansion of Kṛṣṇa’s spiritual energy, Nityānanda has all of Kṛṣṇa’s potencies, and so He perfectly understood the thieves’ sinful intentions. Through His mystic power, He caused them to fall asleep, and they slept deeply through the night. When they awakened suddenly to the squawking of crows, the sun was already high in the sky. The thieves furtively returned to their homes and then quarreled, each accusing the other of falling asleep and ruining their plan. Then their leader pacified them, attributing everything to the will of Goddess Durga, the demigoddess in control of the material nature. He conjectured that Durga had bewildered them because they neglected to worship her. Thus, the thieves offered meat and wine to Durga and then again set out to rob Lord Nityānanda, unaware that Mother Durga is merely an agent of the Supreme Lord. When the thieves approached Hiranya Pandita’s house, they saw fierce giant soldiers guarding the four directions and loudly chanting the holy names of the Lord: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. The thieves observed that each soldier wielded many weapons and was powerful enough to kill a hundred people in an instant. Utterly mystified, they quickly left the vicinity and sat down together to discuss this strange sight. “Where have these giant soldiers come from?” the thieves wondered. Someone suggested that Nityānanda might have arranged for His own protection, since many people said that He was very wise. Their leader scoffed at the idea and determined that the guards must be the entourage of an influential government official, and he decided to wait a few days before making another attempt. After ten days, the thieves gathered together for a third time, each carrying five or ten weapons. As soon as they approached Hiranya Pandita’s house, they went blind—which seems appropriate when one considers that they were already spiritually blind. Then they fell into various situations that made them cry out of agony and fear. Some of the thieves fell into a ditch and were bitten by leeches, mosquitoes, and bees. Others fell into a heap of garbage and were stung by swarms of scorpions. Others fell on thorns, which pierced their bodies so that they couldn't move, while others fell into a hole and broke their limbs. Then Indra, the king of the demigods, sent a fierce storm with heavy rains, lightning, and sharp hailstones, and the thieves shivered with extreme cold. Although Indra holds a high post as a universal administrator, he is but a servant of the Supreme Lord. He realized that the thieves had come to rob Nityānanda, and punished them out of anger. *A Change of Heart* Suddenly, in the midst of this terrifying storm, the leader of the thieves experienced a change of heart. He understood that Nityānanda Prabhu is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and regretted his plans to harm Him. He prayed for forgiveness and took complete shelter of the Lord’s lotus feet. “Who can protect me from this great danger?” the thief prayed. “I have no shelter other than Nityānanda.” He declared that his only desire was to become the servant of the Lord, whether he lived or died. Upon seeing the thief’s sincerity, Lord Nityānanda relieved the gang from their suffering and restored their eyesight. The head thief returned to Hiranya Pandita’s house. When he saw the glorious form of Nityānanda Prabhu, he cried out to the Lord for protection and fell at His feet. Because Lord Nityānanda had blessed him with ecstatic love of God, the hairs of his body stood on end, and he laughed, cried, and rolled on the ground, unable to speak. Eventually, he came to external consciousness and confessed everything to Lord Nityānanda. He marveled how the Lord had delivered all the thieves from their suffering, and then acknowledged that the real benefit of remembering the Lord was not relief from physical pain but liberation from a materialistic mentality. Lord Nityānanda blessed the thief and promised to nullify all his sins if he agreed to renounce all sinful activities from then onward. The Lord commanded the thief to preach among the criminals, showing them the path of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then the Lord gave His own flower garland to the thief and placed His lotus feet on the thief’s head. The thief was purified of all sinful reactions and empowered to influence other criminals to take up Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Ultimately, by Lord Nityānanda’s mercy, the thief and all of his followers became intoxicated with pure love of God. *The Original Spiritual Master* Lord Nityānanda’s mercy defies description. He delivered the notorious sinners Jagai and Madhai, who were so degraded and offensive that even Lord Caitanya—the most charitable form of the Lord—refused to save them after Madhai injured Nityānanda’s forehead. When Lord Nityānanda pleaded on their behalf, however, Lord Caitanya saved both brothers and awarded them pure love of God; therefore, Nityānanda is the protector of the devotees and their intercessor. He is the original spiritual master, and through His mercy one can get the mercy of Lord Caitanya and achieve the ultimate goal of life: pure love of God. Kṛṣṇa asa Kaviraja Gosvami, the author of *Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta*, praises Lord Nityānanda’s great compassion toward the fallen: Who in this world but Nityānanda could show His mercy to such an abominable person as me? Because He is intoxicated by ecstatic love and is an incarnation of mercy, He does not distinguish between the good and the bad. He delivers all those who fall down before Him. Therefore He has delivered such a sinful and fallen person as me. (*Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi* 5.207–209) Kṛṣṇadasa Kaviraja Gosvami is a pure devotee of Kṛṣṇa, and so he embodies true humility. Out of such feeling, he considered himself sinful and fallen, completely reliant on the Lord’s mercy. We cannot imitate such a great soul, but his words teach us how to approach Lord Nityānanda: with a mood of sincere gratitude, cognizant of our utter dependence on His mercy. The pastime with the thieves demonstrates Lord Nityānanda’s inconceivable compassion and readiness to deliver the most fallen and sinful souls. Even though the thieves’ original intention was to harm the Lord, He nonetheless accepted them as soon as their leader surrendered. He mitigated their suffering at once and, more important, awarded them the highest spiritual perfection of *kṛṣṇa-prema*. In an instant the thieves’ initial greed for material wealth became spiritual yearning for the Lord’s mercy. The critical turning point in this pastime is the moment of the thief’s surrender. By Lord Nityānanda's mercy, the thief realized the Lord’s position and his relationship with Him. He regretted his attempts to plunder the Lord’s wealth and decided his only recourse was to take shelter of the Lord’s lotus feet. The thief's decision indicates the necessity of surrendering to the spiritual master (*guru*), who represents the Lord and makes His mercy accessible. The thief’s surrender to Lord Nityānanda not only saved him (and his companions) from immediate danger, but also nullified the results of his heinous sins and granted him pure love of God. Additionally, he was empowered to be a spiritual master in his own right by becoming the dispensary of Nityānanda Prabhu’s mercy to countless criminals. By following the thieves’ example and surrendering to Lord Nityānanda, we can get the mercy of Lord Caitanya and thus easily gain the most elevated spiritual treasure of pure love of God. As Śrīla Vṛndāvana Dāsa Ṭhākura states, “The shelter of the Supreme Lord was not easily attainable in other incarnations, but Nityānanda always induced everyone to surrender to Lord Caitanya.” (*Caitanya-bhagavata,* *Antya* 5.700) We must approach Kṛṣṇa through the merciful form of Lord Caitanya, and we must approach Lord Caitanya through the even more merciful form of Lord Nityānanda. The (misnamed) Hope Diamond in the Smithsonian can only increase our materialistic desire and greed, but Lord Nityānanda—and His enchanting jewelry—offers us actual hope for true, everlasting bliss. Are we ready? *Mohini Rādhā Devī Dāsī, a disciple of His Holiness Gopala Kṛṣṇa Goswami, lives in India with her husband, Narada Rrsi Dāsa.* ## Passage from India: Sumati Morarjee and Prabhupāda's Journey West *By Satyaraja Dāsa* *How a leader in Indian shipping helped deliver the message of Lord Caitanya to the western world.* In 1965 the Scindia Steam Navigation Company was one of the oldest, largest, and most respected shipping establishments in India. Its cargo consisted generally of food, clothing, farming equipment, and medical and educational supplies, which were packaged in boxes, cases, pallets, and barrels. In August of that same year, however, one of its cargo ships carried a passenger onboard, and he carried spiritual cargo that would change the world. ISKCON devotees know the story well: During that fateful voyage from Calcutta to New York, the sole passenger cabin of the Jaladuta ("sea messenger") was occupied by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda. At the time, he was a relatively unknown Vaisnava *sannyasi.* At age sixty-nine, he boarded the ship, tightly clasping his complimentary ticket. Prabhupāda's followers know the story of how he procured that ticket, but details of the story have remained obscure. And for many devotees, the special soul who helped Prabhupāda journey West is merely a name: Sumati Morarjee. In this article I'll explore the details of the story and further acquaint the Vaisnava world with the woman who played so vital a role in bringing Kṛṣṇa consciousness to Western shores. While I've relied on *Śrīla Prabhupāda-līlāmrta,* by Satsvarupa Dāsa Goswami, for much of what follows, I've also referred to additional material in a publication called *Sumati Morarjee Felicitation Volume (Service to India Shipping),* edited by N. G. Jog and published by Scindia House in 1970, which I discovered on a recent trip to India. *Sumati Morarjee* Born into the wealthy family of Mathuradas Gokuldas and his wife, Premabai, in Bombay on March 13, 1909, Sumati was named Jamuna, after the sacred river associated with Kṛṣṇa in Vrindavan. As it turns out, her destiny would involve other large bodies of water as well, since she would be the first woman in the world to manage a vast shipping concern. Although she had six highly qualified brothers, none of them would know the success that would fall upon their distinguished sister. As was the custom in India, while still a young girl she was betrothed to Shanti Kumar, the only son of Narottam Morarjee. Narottam had made a name for himself in the textile industry in Bombay and Sholapur, garnering untold riches for his offspring. Thus, Jamuna went from wealthy to wealthier. Since these were two of the most affluent and well-known families of the region, the marriage was among the biggest social events in Bombay. The festivities lasted more than a week, with newspapers covering its major processions, fireworks, and banquets for months to follow. Observing his daughter-in-law's keen wisdom and ingenuity, Narottam renamed her Sumati ("she of superior intellect"). She spoke Hindi, Marathi, and English and showed ability and interest in all facets of her father-in-law's business. When Narottam's wife died early on, Sumati became the lady of the extended household, gradually developing expertise in both domestic and business affairs. Sumati was deeply religious. Born into the Vallabha *sampradaya* (lineage) of Vaisnavism, she was a dedicated devotee of Śrī Nathaji, a Deity of Kṛṣṇa popular in that line. She was also highly dedicated to the veneration of Tulasi, the plant incarnation of the *gopi* Vrnda Devi, who is among the greatest of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s eternal devotees. Later in life, even when she traveled abroad she would worship Tulasi daily, if only offering incense to a photograph. She was known among her peers as a balanced person who harmonized her deep spirituality with family and business. It was no surprise, therefore, when Narottam put her in charge of his fledgling shipping concern, inherited from his great-grandfather Jeevanji. An enterprising young man, Narottam eventually parlayed a few vessels into the Scindia Steam Navigation Company, which became the model for modern Indian shipping. Sumati built the company from humble beginnings and eventually even received praise from Mahatma Gandhi for it. Her relationship with the Mahatma, in fact, developed over the years, and she enjoyed a regular correspondence with him. Their exchange was documented in newspaper reports. He counted her among his closest friends. *Scindia Steam Navigation Company* Established in 1919, Narottam's business was the first large-scale Indian-owned shipping company that catered to an exchange of goods between India and Europe. By the time the company sold off its fleet and ceased trading in the 1980s, it had ships sailing to the U.S.A., the U.K., Singapore, East Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and the Persian Gulf. In 1946, just prior to Scindia's relationship with the United States, Sumati took full charge of the company, managing over six thousand people. She was already on the board of directors, and her rise to prominence had been just a matter of time. All involved knew her passion for the sea and her expertise in the shipping trade, developed over many years. In 1956 Sumati enjoyed the distinction of being elected president of the prestigious Indian National Steamship Owners' Association, an honor repeated during the next two years and again in 1965, just prior to Prabhupāda's request that she send him to New York. These awards earned her independence as the sole decision maker over her ships. *The Meeting* Sumati Morarjee first saw Śrīla Prabhupāda in the 1950s at Kurukshetra, where Lord Kṛṣṇa spoke the *Bhagavad-gītā.* She later told an audience of his followers that he was sitting under a tree, chanting on beads. Sensing that he was a distinguished *sadhu,* she approached him, hoping to receive his blessings. At the time he hadn't yet taken *sannyasa,* the renounced order of life, and was thus still a married man. Nonetheless, she was impressed with his humility and devotion, and she mentioned this to him when they met again in Bombay. By that time Prabhupāda was a swami asking her for help in getting to America. He had met a gentleman named Mr. Agarwal, a Mathura businessman, and had mentioned that he wanted to go to the West to fulfill the order of his spiritual master to preach the message of Lord Caitanya in English. This meeting led to a sponsorship in America through Agarwal's son Gopal, an engineer in Pennsylvania. Soon Prabhupāda received permission from the Ministry of External Affairs to travel to the U.S. Gopal Agarwal had solemnly declared that he would bear any and all expenses during Prabhupāda's initial stay in the United States. Prabhupāda then traveled to Bombay with a plan: He would seek assistance in getting to America by approaching Sumati Morarjee, who he had learned was head of the Scindia Steamship Line. After all, he had met her at Kurukshetra, and she had subsequently donated a considerable amount of money for printing Volume Two of his life's work, his translation, with commentary, of the *Śrīmad-Bhagavatam.* Concerned for his health and welfare, Sumati Morarjee declined to give him assistance. She feared that the lengthy journey by sea would kill him, since he was elderly and had never been outside India. Not one to be deterred from his goals, Prabhupāda persuaded her secretary, Mr. Choksi, to speak up on his behalf, coaching him in exactly what to say: "I find this gentleman very inspired to go to the U.S.A. and preach Lord Kṛṣṇa’s message to the people there." But again she said no, determined in her decision to protect him in spite of himself. Prabhupāda persistently demanded a personal interview, but it was not to be. Time passed. She ignored him, for his own good, she believed. Eventually, due to his tenacity, she acquiesced. When he entered her room, he simply said, "Please give me one ticket!" She could see the total commitment and longing in his eyes, his determination to please his spiritual master and to fulfill the desire of Lord Kṛṣṇa. It was simply not possible to deny him, and so she scheduled a place for him on the ship Jaladuta, which was sailing from Calcutta on August 13, 1965. With deep concern in her heart, she saw to all his needs, making sure he would travel on a ship whose captain understood the needs of a Vaisnava vegetarian. Captain Arun Pandia made it a point to carry extra vegetables and fruits for the Swami onboard. A couple of days before setting sail, Prabhupāda arrived in Calcutta, just to go to Māyāpur and visit the *samadhi* (tomb) of his spiritual master, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvati Ṭhākura. He wanted to pray and to ask for his guru's blessings. Prabhupāda was accompanied by several trunks, two hundred three-volume sets of his *Śrīmad-Bhagavatam,* First Canto, his personal baggage of a small suitcase, an umbrella, and a supply of dry cereal, in case he couldn't find suitable food in a land so far from home. Almost seventy years old, he would now embark on a journey and a mission that would be daunting for a man half his age. *The Journey* After ten days of travel, the ship approached the Red Sea, where Prabhupāda encountered great difficulty. He noted in his diary: “Rain, seasickness, dizziness, headache, no appetite, vomiting.” The symptoms persisted, but it was more than seasickness. The pains in his chest made him think he would die at any moment. In two days he suffered two heart attacks. But he tolerated the difficulty, meditating on the purpose of his mission. One night Prabhupāda had a dream. Lord Kṛṣṇa and His incarnations were rowing a boat, and Kṛṣṇa told Prabhupāda that he should not fear, but should come along. Prabhupāda felt assured of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s protection, and the violent attacks did not recur. By September 10 Prabhupāda was becoming accustomed to life at sea. He wrote in his diary: "The ship is plying very smoothly. I feel today better. But I am feeling separation from Śrī Vrindaban and my Lords Śrī Govinda, Gopinath, Rādhā Damodar [Deities of Lord Kṛṣṇa ]. The only solace is Śrī Chaitanya Charitamrita in which I am tasting the nectarine of Lord Chaitanya’s līlā [pastimes]. I have left Bharatabhumi [India] just to execute the order of Śrī Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswati in pursuance of Lord Chaitanya’s order. I have no qualification, but have taken up the risk just to carry out the order of His Divine Grace. I depend fully on Their mercy, so far away from Vrindaban." The ocean voyage was the calmest the captain had ever seen. Prabhupāda said that the calmness was Lord Kṛṣṇa’s mercy. He wrote in his diary, “If the Atlantic would have shown its usual face, perhaps I would have died. But Lord Kṛṣṇa has taken charge of the ship.” After a thirty-five-day journey from Calcutta, the Jaladuta reached Boston’s Commonwealth Pier at 5:30 A.M. on September 17, 1965. The ship stopped briefly in Boston and proceeded to New York City. After spending less than two months in Pennsylvania, Prabhupāda arrived in New York's Lower East Side, where he launched his worldwide movement. *India's Best Export* Over the years, Prabhupāda stayed in touch with Sumati Morarjee, mainly through letters, keeping her informed about himself and the progress of his movement. She would sometimes offer advice, and Prabhupāda enjoyed corresponding with her, acknowledging her contribution in sending him West. They wrote to each other until Prabhupāda's passing in November 1977. Her own death occurred twenty-one years later. Newspapers throughout India reported her passing: This first lady of Indian, nay world, shipping passed away on June 28, 1998, largely unwept, unhonoured and unsung. When shall we see such another like her? She was the first woman of Indian shipping and a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi, dying in Bombay on Sunday following a cardiac arrest. She was 91. Daughter-in-law of the founder of Scindia Steam Navigation, Narottam Morarjee, Sumati Morarjee held important responsibilities in the Indian and world shipping scene, which has been traditionally a male bastion. Sumati Morarjee once wrote, "It is not purely for business motives that we today concentrate on shipping. We want our people to travel abroad and the foreigners to see our ancient land. It has been the Indian tradition to export the best to foreign countries. We did business in merchandise for centuries, but our most precious cargo has been ideas of universal brotherhood and deep spirituality. . . . Our tradition of such transcendent goodwill to all has continued throughout." This was never truer than when she helped Prabhupāda travel to Western shores, thus exporting to foreign countries the best India has to offer. ## Vedic Observer Avatar: The Film and the Reality *Avatar: The Film and the Reality* *by Urmila Devī Dāsī* Avatar. The Sanskrit word, so familiar to devotees of Kṛṣṇa, jumped at me from the newspaper headlines. I wondered if the film of that name had any relation to the incarnations of the Supreme Being. When the Lord comes to this world the technical term for His manifestation is *avatara,* meaning "one who descends." So I wondered whether there was now a major commercial film about Kṛṣṇa’s avatars. Watching mundane films is generally a distraction from spiritual life. We want to absorb our mind and heart in the spiritual, in the beautiful and charming ultimate personal manifestation of Truth, Kṛṣṇa. Most films are almost a form of non-chemical intoxication that manipulates the viewers' emotions and carries away their consciousness to the depths of the material modes of passion and ignorance. Would this film be an exception, a spiritually uplifting movie? Curious because of the title, I read reviews and looked online at several trailers. I found that the movie made headlines mostly because of its extensive use of new technology that evidently gave audiences a deeper immersion experience into a fantasy world than most films can accomplish. Many reviewers also discussed the plot of man's exploitation of nature and themes that included philosophies of the spiritual. *Total Absorption* The human urge to enter through drama or books into a world beyond the ordinary has always been part of civilization. *Avatar* seeks to intensify such an experience through vibrant computer effects presented in an illusion of three dimensions. *Bhakti-yoga* also aims at total absorption in a reality beyond our human-made cities and even the natural world. The *Bhagavad-gītā* and *Śrīmad-Bhagavatam* tell us that this world, while real, is a temporary shadow of an eternal spiritual reality full of a vibrancy of color, sound, movement, activity, and personality that exceed by millions of times what we perceive through our ordinary senses. An accomplished *bhakti-yogi* can directly contact this transcendent reality in his or her heart. Such a pure devotee of Kṛṣṇa can see, hear, smell, touch, and taste all the aspects of the spiritual world with the purified spiritual senses of the original body of the soul, the real self. Unlike a movie, it's not a passive experience. The *bhakti-yogi* enters the spiritual world and engages in activities of loving service to Kṛṣṇa, even while continuing to move and act in this world. How pale is an ordinary movie, even with the most sophisticated technology, compared to the ultimate spiritual goal! It is also unfortunate that absorption in such movies is likely to reduce a person's desire to persevere in the search for the genuine. *Avatar's* theme of respect for nature as the energy of a divine being is a valuable message. I read, however, that the characters who are supposed to exemplify such respect and harmony are carnivorous. It is more than a bit incongruous to say to an animal that I respect you as a soul equal in importance to me, yet I will hurt and kill you to satisfy my taste buds. One of the symptoms of those who truly live in harmony with nature is a vegetarian diet, which respects the construction of the human body. Beyond a vegetarian diet, one of the symptoms of those who truly see the world as the divine energy of the Supreme Being is offering all food to Him as a sacrifice. Most religious and spiritual philosophies teach a view of nature that makes it difficult to harmonize the world with spirituality. If a philosophy teaches that God is only transcendent, separate from the world, then the material energy is seen as evil. It cannot then be used in the service of spirit. People with such a philosophy tend either to become materialistic sense enjoyers, or to live completely separate from any activities of the world. If a philosophy teaches that God is only imminent, or in the world without a separate personal existence, then the material energy is seen as divine. But without a separately constituted Supreme Being to whom to offer that energy, the tendency is also to become a materialistic sense enjoyer but imagine that one is being very spiritual. Followers of these philosophies tend to see themselves as God and believe that all their activities are divine. Thinking one can kill and eat animals in a spiritual way is a typical manifestation of these ideas. The philosophy of Śrī Caitanya, an avatar of Kṛṣṇa, is that God is simultaneously one with and different from His energy, including the material energy. This philosophy naturally leads to *bhakti-yoga.* A practitioner views all living beings and matter as divine and meant for the purposes and pleasure of their source, the Supreme transcendent person. A loving relationship with that person, Kṛṣṇa, then expands into love and service for all His parts and energies. If we really want to stop greedy exploitation, only a comprehensive spiritual philosophy and way of life will serve our purpose. *Body and Soul* *Avatar* obviously has a theme about the difference between the body and the soul. Themes where a person's body changes but the same personality continues to exist abound in traditional tales, fantasies, and science fiction. Whether a person's body changes into a dog or an alien being, viewers or readers seem to be able to easily grasp the idea that there can be a consistent sense of identity even if the body the person inhabits is completely different. It is ironic that themes in the media and literature of a person inhabiting various bodies are both common and intuitively understood as reasonable. After all, we are now in a world where scientists and school teachers tell us there is not even a mind separate from the brain, what to speak of a soul distinct from both mind and body. Perhaps no amount of materialistic propaganda can completely erase the inner sense each of us has that we are an eternal person merely temporarily inhabiting a machine of bones, fat, blood, and skin. Sacred books such as *Bhagavad-gītā* take us to a deeper understanding of the nature of the real self, teaching both how and why we inhabit material bodies, and how we can gain release to awaken our real spiritual form. My brief study of *Avatar's* reviews and trailers convinced me that although seeing the film might give me some fleeting thrill or even inspiration, my time, energy, and money would be better spent gaining deeper, eternal, and more complete happiness and insight through *bhakti-yoga.* Perhaps someday all the intelligence and technology that went into this film could be used to connect us with a real avatar. ## From the Editor *Learning to Dance* Soon after I joined the *Back to Godhead* staff in the 1980s, I wrote an article entitled "Won't You Join the Dance?" It was about my typical day as a Hare Kṛṣṇa devotee. My inspiration to write the article came from a book on writing I was reading at the time. The author made the point that an aspiring writer must experience life fully, and she quoted the line "Won't you join the dance?"—a refrain from a song in the book *Alice in Wonderland.* She said that a writer can't sit on the sidelines but must take part in the "dance of life." She mentioned her own willingness to eat a raw oyster—she just wanted to see what that was like. I have to admit that eating an oyster, raw or cooked, is one thing I've never experienced, and I'm sure I never will. But I don't feel that disqualifies me from the dance of life. The point of the article I wrote back then was that despite what others might think, devotees of Kṛṣṇa are not sitting on the sidelines. We have full lives; we too are dancing, just to a different song. And we're convinced, on Kṛṣṇa’s authority, that we're dancing in time with the music of reality. I was reminded of that article recently when I read something about how our brains work. Neuroscience, or brain science, is one of the hot topics of the day, and by now most of us are aware of the discovery that the two hemispheres of the brain serve different functions. The terms *left-brained* and *right-brained* are becoming part of everyday language. To call someone *left-brained* is to say that the person lacks such qualities as creativity, imagination, and the ability to see things holistically. The right-brain, left-brain concept struck me as an apt, though admittedly limited, metaphor for the Vedic concepts of *jnana* and *bhakti,* where the left brain would represent *jnana*, and the right, *bhakti. Jnana* is the attempt to understand everything solely through the intellect, while *bhakti,* or devotional service to God, is a nurturing of the heart that leads to full knowledge as a byproduct of the soul's loving connection with God. *Bhakti* takes one to heights of realization far beyond the reach of *jnana*. From the perspective of the *Bhagavad-gītā,* we might say that it's hard to dance with Kṛṣṇa, figuratively or literally, if you have two left brains. *Bhakti* includes **jnana*.* But that *jnana* is different from the *jnana* of persons who rely exclusively on their own intellects to attain knowledge, whether aided by traditional Vedic methods or by scientific research. The *jnana* associated with *bhakti* comes directly from Kṛṣṇa, through the scriptures and His pure devotees, and includes knowledge of our relationship with Him, intimate knowledge that the process of *jnana* can never uncover. Just as traditional *jnanis* hoped to get complete knowledge through their speculative intellectual endeavors, the greatest minds in science today are pursuing a Theory of Everything (note: they're not even close). But for those willing to listen, Kṛṣṇa has already revealed everything. By taking advantage of His revelations, we can dance happily in this world, in a life of service to Him, and ultimately return to dance with Him in His abode. There, every step is a dance, the music never stops, and our spiritual brains function perfectly in the natural state of loving Kṛṣṇa. —Nagaraja Dāsa ## Vedic Thoughts Any amount of mental speculation on the strength of material science and knowledge without any bona fide touch with the Absolute Truth is sure to be a mundane untruth and failure, simply due to not being in touch with the Absolute Truth. Such godless, unfaithful words and actions, however materially enriched, are never to be trusted. … A grain of devotion is more valuable than tons of faithlessness. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda *Śrīmad-Bhagavatam* 2.6.34, Purport The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone's heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy. O scion of Bharata, surrender unto Him utterly. By His grace you will attain transcendental peace and the supreme and eternal abode. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa *Bhagavad-gītā* 18.61–62 When one thinks of Kṛṣṇa constantly, love for Him manifests within the heart. Even though one may be ignorant, one can reach the far shore of the ocean of transcendental love by Lord Kṛṣṇa’s mercy. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu *Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā* 19.236 A devotee should always try to hear about spiritual matters and should always utilize his time in chanting the holy name of the Lord. His behavior should always be straightforward and simple, and although he is not envious but friendly to everyone, he should avoid the company of persons who are not spiritually advanced. Lord Kapila *Śrīmad-Bhagavatam* 3.29.18 Even though one may have gone to the other side of all the *Vedas,* and even though one is well versed in all the revealed scriptures, if one is not a devotee of the Supreme Lord, he must be considered the lowest of mankind. *Garuda Purana* (Quote in *Śrīmad-Bhagavatam* 2.9.36, Purport) All the bodies of the Supreme Soul are eternal and unchanging. They never undergo loss or gain, and they are never creations of material nature. In all conditions they are full of the greatest intense bliss and pure consciousness, endowed with all auspicious qualities, and devoid of all faults. The bodies of the Supreme are free from defects, unsurpassed in excellence, and full in all transcendental qualities. Thus the supreme controller's body and soul are never different from one another. *Maha-varaha Purana* (Quoted in *Brhad-bhagavatamrta* 2.2.160)