# Back to Godhead Magazine #50 *2016 (04)* Back to Godhead Magazine #50-04, 2016 PDF-View ## A Pause for Prayer [This is Sudama Vipra thinking after he finds that Kṛṣṇa has transformed his house into a palace. We have a couple of paintings of Kṛṣṇa and Sudama in Dwaraka, but using just Kṛṣṇa alone would be ok.] I pray to have the friendship of Lord Kṛṣṇa and to engage in His service, and to surrender fully unto Him in love and affection, life after life. I do not want any opulence. I only desire not to forget His service. I simply wish to be associated with His pure devotees. May my mind and activities be always engaged in His service. The unborn Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, knows that many great personalities have fallen from their positions because of extravagant opulence. Therefore, even when His devotee asks for some opulence from Him, the Lord sometimes does not give it. He is very cautious about His devotees. Because a devotee in an immature position of devotional service may, if offered great opulence, fall from his position due to being in the material world, the Lord does not offer opulence to him. This is another manifestation of the causeless mercy of the Lord upon His devotee. His first interest is that the devotee not fall. —Sudama Vipra ## Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Chapter 81 *King Prthu Commands Mother Earth to Produce* The earth having assumed the form of a cow, King Prthu threatens to kill her if she continues to withhold food grains from the citizens. > amūṣāṁ kṣut-parītānām > ārtānāṁ paridevitam > śamayiṣyāmi mad-bāṇair > bhinnāyās tava medasā *amūṣām*—of all of them; *kṣut-parītānām*—suffering from hunger; *ārtānām*—of the distressed; *paridevitam*—the lamentation; *śamayiṣyāmi*—I shall pacify; *mat-bāṇaiḥ*—by my arrows; *bhinnāyāḥ*—being cut to pieces; *tava*—of you; *medasā*—by the flesh. Now, with the help of my arrows, I shall cut you to pieces and with your flesh satisfy the hunger-stricken citizens, who are now crying for want of grains. Thus I shall satisfy the crying citizens of my kingdom. PURPORT: Here we find some indication of how the government can arrange for the eating of cow flesh. It is here indicated that in a rare circumstance when there is no supply of grains, the government may sanction the eating of meat. However, when there is sufficient food, the government should not allow the eating of cow's flesh just to satisfy the fastidious tongue. In other words, in rare circumstances, when people are suffering for want of grains, meat-eating or flesh-eating can be allowed, but not otherwise. The maintenance of slaughterhouses for the satisfaction of the tongue and the killing of animals unnecessarily should never be sanctioned by a government. As described in a previous verse, cows and other animals should be given sufficient grass to eat. If despite a sufficient supply of grass a cow does not supply milk, and if there is an acute shortage of food, the dried-up cow may be utilized to feed the hungry masses of people. According to the law of necessity, first of all human society must try to produce food grains and vegetables, but if they fail in this, they can indulge in flesh-eating. Otherwise not. As human society is presently structured, there is sufficient production of grains all over the world. Therefore the opening of slaughterhouses cannot be supported. In some nations there is so much surplus grain that sometimes extra grain is thrown into the sea, and sometimes the government forbids further production of grain. The conclusion is that the earth produces sufficient grain to feed the entire population, but the distribution of this grain is restricted due to trade regulations and a desire for profit. Consequently in some places there is scarcity of grain and in others profuse production. If there were one government on the surface of the earth to handle the distribution of grain, there would be no question of scarcity, no necessity to open slaughterhouses, and no need to present false theories about over-population. > pumān yoṣid uta klība > ātma-sambhāvano 'dhamaḥ > bhūteṣu niranukrośo > nṛpāṇāṁ tad-vadho 'vadhaḥ *pumān*—a man; *yoṣit*—a woman; *uta*—also; *klībaḥ*—a eunuch; *ātma-sambhāvanaḥ*—interested in self-maintenance; *adhamaḥ*—lowest of humankind; *bhūteṣu*—to other living entities; *niranukrośaḥ*—without compassion; *nṛpāṇām*—for the kings; *tat*—of him; *vadhaḥ*—killing; a*vadhaḥ*—not killing. Any cruel person—be he a man, woman, or impotent eunuch—who is only interested in his personal maintenance and has no compassion for other living entities may be killed by the king. Such killing can never be considered actual killing. PURPORT: The planet earth is actually a woman in her constitutional form, and as such she needs to be protected by the king. Prthu Mahārāja argues, however, that if a citizen within the state—be he man, woman, or eunuch—is not compassionate upon his fellow men, he or she may be killed by the king, and such killing is never to be considered actual killing. As far as the field of spiritual activities is concerned, when a devotee is self-satisfied and does not preach the glories of Kṛṣṇa, he is not considered a first-class devotee. A devotee who tries to preach, who has compassion upon innocent persons who have no knowledge of Kṛṣṇa, is a superior devotee. In his prayer to the Lord, Prahlada Mahārāja said that he was not personally interested in liberation from this material world; rather, he did not wish to be liberated from this material condition until all fallen souls were delivered. Even in the material field, if a person is not interested in others' welfare, he should be considered to be condemned by the Personality of Godhead or His incarnation like Prthu Mahārāja. > tvāṁ stabdhāṁ durmadāṁ nītvā > māyā-gāṁ tilaśaḥ śaraiḥ > ātma-yoga-balenemā > dhārayiṣyāmy ahaṁ prajāḥ *tvām*—you; *stabdhām*—very much puffed up; *durmadām*—mad; *nītvā*—bringing into such a condition; *māyā-gām*—false cow; *tilaśaḥ*—into small particles like grains; *śaraiḥ*—by my arrows; *ātma*—personal; *yoga-balena*—by mystic power; *imāḥ*—all these; *dhārayiṣyāmi*—shall uphold; *aham*—I; *prajāḥ*—all the citizens, or all the living entities. You are very much puffed up with pride and have become almost insane. Presently you have assumed the form of a cow by your mystic powers. Nonetheless I shall cut you into small pieces like grain, and I will uphold the entire population by my personal mystic powers. PURPORT: The earth informed King Prthu that if he destroyed her, he and his subjects would all fall down into the waters of the *garbha* ocean. King Prthu now replies to that point. Although the earth assumed the shape of a cow by her mystic powers in order to be saved from being killed by the king, the king was aware of this fact and would not hesitate to cut her to pieces, just like small bits of grain. As far as the destruction of the citizens is concerned, Mahārāja Prthu maintained that he could uphold everyone by his own mystic powers. He did not need the help of the earthly planet. Being the incarnation of Lord Vishnu, Prthu Mahārāja possessed the power of Saṅkarṣaṇa, which is explained by the scientists as the power of gravitation. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is holding millions of planets in space without any support; similarly, Prthu Mahārāja would not have had any difficulty supporting all his citizens and himself in space without the help of the planet earth. The Lord is known as Yogesvara, master of all mystic powers. Consequently the planet earth was informed by the king that she need not worry about his standing without her help. > evaṁ manyumayīṁ mūrtiṁ > kṛtāntam iva bibhratam > praṇatā prāñjaliḥ prāha > mahī sañjāta-vepathuḥ *evam*—thus; *manyu-mayīm*—very much angry; *mūrtim*—form; *kṛta-antam*—death personified, Yamarāja; *iva*—like; *bibhratam*—possessing; *praṇatā*—surrendered; *prāñjaliḥ*—with folded hands; *prāha*—said; *mahī*—the planet earth; *sañjāta*—arisen; *vepathuḥ*—trembling in her body. At this time Prthu Mahārāja became exactly like Yamaraja, and his whole body appeared very angry. In other words, he was anger personified. After hearing him, the planet earth began to tremble. She surrendered, and with folded hands began to speak as follows. PURPORT: The Supreme Personality of Godhead is death personified to miscreants and the supreme beloved Lord to the devotees. In *Bhagavad-gītā* the Lord says, *mtyu sarva-haras caham*: "I am all-devouring death." Faithless unbelievers, who challenge the appearance of God, will be delivered by the Supreme Personality of Godhead when He appears before them as death. Hirayakasipu, for example, challenged the authority of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the Lord met him in the form of Nṛsiṁhadeva and killed him. Similarly, the planet earth saw Mahārāja Prthu as death personified, and she also saw him in the mood of anger personified. Therefore she began to tremble. One cannot challenge the authority of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in any circumstance. It is better to surrender unto Him and take His protection at all times. > dharovāca > namaḥ parasmai puruṣāya māyayā > vinyasta-nānā-tanave guṇātmane > namaḥ svarūpānubhavena nirdhuta- > dravya-kriyā-kāraka-vibhramormaye *dharā*—the planet earth; *uvāca*—said; *namaḥ*—I offer my obeisances; *parasmai*—unto the Transcendence; *puruṣāya*—unto the person; *māyayā*—by the material energy; *vinyasta*—expanded; *nānā*—various; *tanave*—whose forms; *guṇa-ātmane*—unto the source of the three modes of material nature; *namaḥ*—I offer my obeisances; *svarūpa*—of the real form; *anubhavena*—by understanding; *nirdhuta*—not affected by; *dravya*—matter; *kriyā*—action; *kāraka*—doer; *vibhrama*—bewilderment; *ūrmaye*—the waves of material existence. The planet earth spoke: My dear Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, You are transcendental in Your position, and by Your material energy You have expanded Yourself in various forms and species of life through the interaction of the three modes of material nature. Unlike some other masters, You always remain in Your transcendental position and are not affected by the material creation, which is subject to different material interactions. Consequently You are not bewildered by material activities. PURPORT: After King Prthu gave his royal command, the planet earth in the shape of a cow could understand that the King was a directly empowered incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Consequently the King knew everything—past, present, and future. Thus there was no possibility of the earth's cheating him. The earth was accused of hiding the seeds of all herbs and grains, and therefore she is preparing to explain how the seeds of these herbs and grains can be again exposed. The earth knew that the King was very angry with her, and she realized that unless she pacified his anger, there was no possibility of placing a positive program before him. Therefore in the beginning of her speech she very humbly presents herself as a part and parcel of the Supreme Personality of Godhead's body. She submits that the various bodily forms manifest in the physical world are but different parts and parcels of the supreme gigantic body. It is said that the lower planetary systems are parts and parcels of the legs of the Lord, whereas the upper planetary systems are parts and parcels of the Lord's head. The Lord creates this material world by His external energy, but this external energy is in one sense not different from Him. Yet at the same time the Lord is not directly manifest in the external energy but is always situated in the spiritual energy. As stated in *Bhagavad-gītā* (9.10), *mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ*: material nature is working under the direction of the Lord. Therefore the Lord is not unattached to the external energy, and He is addressed in this verse as *guna-atma*, the source of the three modes of material nature. As stated in *Bhagavad-gītā* (13.15), *nirguṇaṁ guṇa-bhoktṛ ca*: although the Lord is not attached to the external energy, He is nonetheless the master of it. The philosophy of Lord Caitanya, upholding that the Lord is simultaneously one with and different from His creation (acintya-bhedābheda-tattva), is very easily understandable in this connection. The planet earth explains that although the Lord is attached to the external energy, He is *nirdhuta*; He is completely free from the activities of the external energy. The Lord is always situated in His internal energy. Therefore in this verse it is stated: *svarupa-anubhavena*. The Lord remains completely in His internal potency and yet has full knowledge of the external energy as well as the internal energy, just as His devotee remains always in a transcendental position, keeping himself in the service of the Lord without becoming attached to the material body. Śrīla Rupa Gosvami says that the devotee who is always engaged in the devotional service of the Lord is always liberated, regardless of his material situation. If it is possible for a devotee to remain transcendental, it is certainly possible for the Supreme Personality of Godhead to remain in His internal potency without being attached to the external potency. There should be no difficulty in understanding this situation. Just as a devotee is never bewildered by his material body, the Lord is never bewildered by the external energy of this material world. A devotee is not hampered by the material body, although he is situated in a physical body that runs according to so many material conditions, just as there are five kinds of air functioning within the body, and so many organs—the hands, legs, tongue, genitals, rectum, etc.—all working differently. The spirit soul, the living entity, who is in full knowledge of his position is always engaged in chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare and is not concerned with the bodily functions. Although the Lord is connected with the material world, He is always situated in His spiritual energy and is always unattached to the functions of the material world. As far as the material body is concerned, there are six "waves," or symptomatic material conditions: hunger, thirst, lamentation, bewilderment, old age, and death. The liberated soul is never concerned with these six physical interactions. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, being the all-powerful master of all energies, has some connection with the external energy, but He is always free from the interactions of the external energy in the material world. > yenāham ātmāyatanaṁ vinirmitā > dhātrā yato 'yaṁ guṇa-sarga-saṅgrahaḥ > sa eva māṁ hantum udāyudhaḥ svarāḍ > upasthito 'nyaṁ śaraṇaṁ kam āśraye *yena*—by whom; *aham*—I; *ātma-āyatanam*—resting place of all living entities; *vinirmitā*—was created; *dhātrā*—by the Supreme Lord; *yataḥ*—on account of whom; *ayam*—this; *guṇa-sarga-saṅgrahaḥ*—combination of different material elements; *saḥ*—He; *eva*—certainly; *mām*—me; *hantum*—to kill; *udāyudhaḥ*—prepared with weapons; *svarāṭ*—completely independent; *upasthitaḥ*—now present before me; *anyam*—other; *śaraṇam*—shelter; *kam*—unto whom; *āśraye*—I shall resort to. The planet earth continued: My dear Lord, You are the complete conductor of the material creation. You have created this cosmic manifestation and the three material qualities, and therefore You have created me, the planet earth, the resting place of all living entities. Yet You are always fully independent, my Lord. Now that You are present before me and ready to kill me with Your weapons, let me know where I should go to take shelter, and tell me who can give me protection. PURPORT: The planet earth herein exhibits the symptoms of full surrender before the Lord. As stated, no one can protect the person whom Kṛṣṇa is prepared to kill, and no one can kill the person whom Kṛṣṇa protects. Because the Lord was prepared to kill the planet earth, there was no one to give protection to her. We are all receiving protection from the Lord, and it is therefore proper that every one of us surrender unto Him. In *Bhagavad-gītā* (18.66) the Lord instructs: > sarva-dharmān parityajya > mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja > ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo > mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ "Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear." Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura sings: "My dear Lord, whatever I have—even my mind, the center of all material necessities, namely my home, my body and whatever I have in connection with this body—I now surrender unto You. You are now completely independent to act however You like. If You like, You can kill me, and if You like, You can save me. In any case, I am Your eternal servant, and You have every right to do whatever You like." > ya etad ādāv asṛjac carācaraṁ > sva-māyayātmāśrayayāvitarkyayā > tayaiva so 'yaṁ kila goptum udyataḥ > kathaṁ nu māṁ dharma-paro jighāṁsati *yaḥ*—one who; *etat*—these; *ādau*—in the beginning of creation; *asṛjat*—created; *cara-acaram*—moving and nonmoving living entities; *sva-māyayā*—by His own potency; *ātma-āśrayayā*—sheltered under His own protection; *avitarkyayā*—inconceivable; *tayā*—by that same *māyā*; *eva*—certainly; *saḥ*—he; *ayam*—this King; *kila*—certainly; *goptum udyataḥ*—prepared to give protection; *katham*—how; *nu*—then; *mām*—me; *dharma-paraḥ*—one who is strictly following religious principles; *jighāṁsati*—desires to kill. In the beginning of creation You created all these moving and nonmoving living entities by Your inconceivable energy. Through this very same energy You are now prepared to protect the living entities. Indeed, You are the supreme protector of religious principles. Why are You so anxious to kill me, even though I am in the form of a cow? PURPORT: The planet earth argues that there is no doubt that one who creates can also annihilate by his sweet will. The planet earth questions why she should be killed when the Lord is prepared to give protection to everyone. After all, it is the earth that is the resting place for all other living entities, and it is the earth that produces grains for them. > nūnaṁ bateśasya samīhitaṁ janais > tan-māyayā durjayayākṛtātmabhiḥ > na lakṣyate yas tv akarod akārayad > yo 'neka ekaḥ parataś ca īśvaraḥ *nū*na*m*—surely; *bata*—certainly; *īśasya*—of the Supreme Perso*na*lity of Godhead; s*amīhitam*—activities, plan; *ja*na*iḥ*—by people; *tat-māyayā*—by His potency; *durjayayā*—which is unconquerable; *akṛta-ātmabhiḥ*—who are not sufficiently experienced; *na*—never; *lakṣyate*—are seen; *yaḥ*—he who; *tu*—then; *akarot*—created; *akārayat*—*ca*used to create; *yaḥ*—one who; *an*ekaḥ**—many; *ekaḥ*—one; *parataḥ*—by His inconceivable potencies; *ca*—and; *īśvaraḥ*—controller. My dear Lord, although You are one, by Your inconceivable potencies You have expanded Yourself in many forms. Through the agency of Brahma, You have created this universe. You are therefore directly the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Those who are not sufficiently experienced cannot understand Your transcendental activities because these persons are covered by Your illusory energy. PURPORT: God is one, but He expands Himself in a variety of energies—the material energy, the spiritual energy, the marginal energy and so forth. Unless one is favored and especially endowed with grace, he cannot understand how the one Supreme Personality of Godhead acts through His different energies. The living entities are also the marginal energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Brahma is also one of these living entities, but he is especially empowered by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Although Brahma is supposed to be the creator of this universe, actually the Supreme Personality of Godhead is its ultimate creator. In this verse the word *mayaya* is significant. Maya means "energy." Lord Brahma is not the energetic but is one of the manifestations of the Lord's marginal energy. In other words, Lord Brahma is only an instrument. Although sometimes plans appear contradictory, there is a definite plan behind all action. One who is experienced and is favored by the Lord can understand that everything is being done according to the Lord's supreme plan. 1. In what rare circumstance may meat-eating be allowed? 2. Why can the opening of slaughterhouses not be supported at the present time? 3. Why is the distribution of grain restricted today? 4. What are the characteristics of a superior devotee? 5. On what condition did Prahlada Mahārāja wish to be liberated from the material world? 6. What was King Prthu's response to the earth's saying that if he destroyed her, he and his subjects would all fall down into the waters of the *garbha* ocean? 7. How does God make His appearance before the faithless nonbelievers? 8. What did the earth understand about King Prthu after he gave his command? 9. According to Śrīla Rupa Gosvami, what devotee is always liberated? 10. What are the six "waves," or symptomatic material conditions? ## Gopa-kumara Coddled by Laxmi Overwhelmed after hearing Lord Mahapurua instruct Lord Brahma, Gopa-kumara faints in ecstasy. TEXT 134 > atho tad ākarṇya catur-mukhaṁ ca > pramoda-sampad-vivaśī-bhavantam > anūdya nīcair anumodamānaṁ > muhus tad-aṅghrīn abhivandamānam *atha u*—then; *tat*—that; *ākarṇya*—hearing; **ca*tuḥ*-*mukham*—four-headed Brahmā; *ca*—and; *pramoda*—of joy; *sampat*—by the vast treasure; *vivaśī*—overwhelmed; *bhavantam*—becoming; *anūdya*—repeating; nī*ca*iḥ—quietly; *anumodamānam*—agreeing; *muhuḥ*—repeatedly; *tat*—His; *aṅghrīn*—to the feet; *abhivandamānam*—offering respects. Hearing these matters, four-headed Brahma, overwhelmed by a vast treasure of transcendental joy, quietly repeated and agreed with each point he was taught, and then offered his respects again and again at the feet of the Lord. Commentary: After relishing the wonder of the Supreme Lord speaking intimate instructions to His devotee, Gopa-kumara turned his attention to Brahma, whom he saw was receiving the lesson with great ecstasy. To show understanding of the Lord’s words, Brahma dutifully repeated each point, and confirmed that he agreed completely, before the Lord continued with the next. When the lesson was over, Brahma profusely thanked the Lord. For Brahma to bow down while sitting on his lotus seat would have been difficult, but at least he showed his respects with his words and joined palms. TEXT 135 > pramoda-vegāt patitaṁ visaṁjñaṁ > vilokya sā mām abhigamya lakṣmīḥ > nināya saṁjñāṁ bahu lālayitvā > sva-bāla-vat pārśvam uta sva-bhartuḥ *pramoda*—of joy; *vegāt*—by the force; *patitam*—fallen down; *visaṁjñam*—unconscious; *vilokya*—observing; *sā*—she; *mām*—me; *abhigamya*—coming toward; *lakṣmīḥ*—the goddess Lakṣmī; *nināya*—bringing back; *saṁjñām*—to consciousness; *bahu*—much; *lālayitvā*—coddling; *sva*-*bāla*-*vat*—like her own child; *pārśvam*—to the side; *uta*—indeed; *sva*-*bhartuḥ*—of her husband. Lakmi saw that by the force of ecstasy I had fallen into a swoon. So she coddled me like her own son to restore me to consciousness and then brought me to the side of her husband. Commentary: Now Gopa-kumara speaks of himself. When the Supreme Lord’s devoted wife noticed him, she knew he had fainted in ecstatic devotion for her husband, so she treated him like a son. She touched him with her cooling hand and sprinkled him with water to bring him back to consciousness. TEXT 136 > bhagavantaṁ muhuḥ paśyan > praṇamann avadaṁ manaḥ > nijepsitāntam adyāgā > niścalaṁ tvaṁ mudaṁ bhaja *bhagav*antam**—at the Supreme Lord; *muhuḥ*—repeatedly; *paśyan*—looking; *praṇaman*—bowing down; *avadam*—I told; *manaḥ*—my mind; *nija*—your; *īpsita*—of the desires; *antam*—the ultimate fulfillment; *adya*—today; *agāḥ*—you have attained; *niścalam*—being steady; *tvam*—you; *mudam*—joy; *bhaja*—please experience. Gazing at the Supreme Lord and repeatedly bowing down before Him, I told my mind: “Today you have attained the ultimate fulfillment of all your desires! Be steady and joyful. Commentary: In texts 136 through 140, while offering repeated obeisances, Gopa-kumara preaches to his own mind. TEXT 137 > aśeṣa-śoka-santrāsa- > duḥkha-hīnam idaṁ padam > paramarddhi-parānanda- > nicitaṁ jagad-arcitam *aśeṣa*—all; *śoka*—of sorrow; *santrāsa*—fear; *duḥkha*—and pain; *hīnam*—devoid; *idam*—this; *padam*—abode; **para*ma*—supreme; *ṛddhi*—with riches; *para*—and supreme; *ānanda*—with bliss; *nicitam*—filled; *jagat*—by the entire world; *arcitam*—worshiped. “This abode, free from all sorrow, fear, and pain, is worshiped by the entire world. It is filled with the greatest opulence and bliss. Commentary: Satyaloka is the highest material abode, filled with inconceivable wealth and a happiness unequaled by any other sensory experience in this universe. Greater than any other place in the universe, Satyaloka is honored everywhere. TEXT 138 yādṛśaḥ sambhaved bhrātar jagad-īśaś ca tādṛśaḥ bhāty aśeṣa-mahattāyāḥ parāṁ kāṣṭhāṁ gataḥ sphuṭam *yādṛśaḥ*—as; *sambhavet*—is; *bhrātaḥ*—dear brother; *jagat*-*īśaḥ*—the Lord of the universe; *ca*—and; *tādṛśaḥ*—so; *bhāti*—it is manifest; *aśeṣa*—all; *mahattāyāḥ*—of excellence; *parām*—extreme; *kāṣṭhām*—to the limit; *gataḥ*—gone; *sphuṭam*—visibly. “Dear brother, this planet shines forth with as much perfection as the Lord of the universe Himself. It displays the final limit of complete excellence. Commentary: In the material world, persons and things have varieties of relative excellence. One person has a well-proportioned body, another is charming, another virtuous or powerful. But the world of Satyaloka manifests all kinds of excellence to the greatest degree possible in the material universe. No other place is in any way as great. TEXT 139 > sneham anvabhavo lakṣmyā > dṛgbhyāṁ paśyādhunā prabhum > māthura-vraja-bhū-śokaṁ > yiyāsāṁ cānyato jahi *sneham*—affection; *anvabhavaḥ*—you have experienced; *lakṣmyāḥ*—of the goddess Lakṣmī; *dṛgbhyām*—with your two eyes; *paśya*—see; *adhunā*—now; *prabhum*—the Lord; *māthura*—in the district of Mathurā; *vraja*-*bhū*—be*ca*use of the land of Vraja; *śokam*—your lamentation; *yiyāsām*—your desire to go; *ca*—and; *anyataḥ*—somewhere else; *jahi*—please give up. “You have felt the affection of Lakmi. Now see her Lord with your own two eyes. Give up your thoughts of going away from here and give up your grieving over the cow pastures of Vraja in Mathura. TEXT 140 > jagad-īśād vidhāteva > lālanaṁ ced abhīpsasi > tan mahā-puruṣādiṣṭa- > mantra-śaktyā phaliṣyati *jagat*-*īśāt*—from the Lord of the universe; *vidhātā*—Brahmā; *iva*—like; *lālanam*—pampering; *cet*—if; *abhīpsasi*—you desire; *tat*—that; *mahā*-*puruṣa*—by the great soul; *ādiṣṭa*—taught; *mantra*—of the *mantra*; śaktyā—by the power; *phaliṣyati*—will be achieved. “If you want to be pampered like Brahma by the Lord of the universe, that also you can achieve by the power of the *mantra* taught to you by the great soul.” Commentary: The Personality of Godhead is present in Brahmaloka as Lord Mahapurua, but in Govardhana Gopa-kumara had met another *maha-purua,* the great devotee who had initiated him into the chanting of the *gopala-mantra.* For Gopa-kumara to be as familiar as Brahma with Lord Mahapurua will be difficult, but we shall see how an arrangement is made for him. TEXT 141 > nidrā-līlāṁ prabhur bheje > loka-padme ’sya nābhi-je > sṛṣṭi-rītiṁ vidhir vīkṣya > sva-kṛtyāyābhavad bahiḥ *nidrā*—of sleep; *līlām*—His pastime; *prabhuḥ*—the Supreme Lord; *bhe*je**—took to; *loka*-*padme*—in the universal lotus; *asya*—His; *nābhi*-*je*—born from the navel; *sṛṣṭi*—of creation; *rītim*—the business; *vidhiḥ*—Brahmā; *vīkṣya*—noting; *sva*-*kṛtyāya*—for doing his duties; *abhavat bahiḥ*—came outside. The Supreme Lord turned to His pastime of sleep. And Brahma, sitting on the universal lotus born from the Lord’s navel, realized what he had to do to re-create the universe, and so came outside to do his work. Commentary: The transcendental Lord never sleeps, but He enjoys His pastime of pretending to sleep. Brahma’s seat is the lotus that grows from the navel of Garbhodaka-sayi Vishnu and bears the original subtle forms of the fourteen created worlds. While sitting on that lotus, Brahma could see within it the entire plan for creating the universe. Without wasting time, he studied it thoroughly and then came out to discharge his responsibility. He got down from the lotus, left Lord Mahapurua’s residence, and went to his own. TEXT 142 > paśyan prabho rūpam ado mahādbhutaṁ > tan-nābhi-padme yugapat tathā jagat > gūḍhopadeśa-śravaṇāc catur-mukha- > prema-pravāhaṁ ca sukhaṁ tato ’vasam *paśyan*—seeing; *prabhoḥ*—of the Lord; *rūpam*—form; *adaḥ*—that; *mahā-adbhutam*—very wonderful; *tat*—His; *nābhi*—from the navel; *padme*—within the lotus; *yugapat*—at the same time; *tat*hā—also; *jagat*—the universe; *gūḍha*—confidential; *upadeśa—*instructions; *śravaṇāt*—due to hearing; **ca*tuḥ*-*mukha*—of Brahmā; *prema*—of love; *pravāham*—the flood; *ca*—and; *sukham*—happily; *tat*aḥ—then; *avasam*—I lived. I lived there happily for some time, seeing the very wonderful form of the Lord, observing the universe within the lotus grown from His navel, and witnessing the waves of love flowing over Brahma as he heard confidential instructions from the Lord. Commentary: Gopa-kumara was even more satisfied on Satyaloka than on Svargaloka and the planets of the sages. TEXT 143 > kṛtsne loka-traye naṣṭe > rātrāv ekārṇave sati > śeṣopari sukhaṁ śete > bhagavān brahmaṇā samam *kṛtsne*—entire; *loka*-*traye*—the three worlds; *naṣṭe*—when they are destroyed; *rātrau*—during the night; *eka-arṇave*—a single ocean; *sati*—being; *śeṣa-upari*—on Śeṣa Nāga; *sukham*—comfortably; *śete*—lies; *bhagavān*—the Personality of Godhead; *brahmaṇā*—with Brahmā; *samam*—together. During the dark of night, when the three worlds are totally destroyed and the universe becomes a single ocean, the Personality of Godhead lies comfortably on Sesa Naga, together with Brahma. Commentary: After each cycle of a thousand *yugas,* Brahma’s day ends, and Brahma joins the thousand-headed Mahapurua in going to sleep. TEXT 144 > stūyate citra-vākyaiḥ sa > jana-lokādi-vāsibhiḥ > tan mahā-kautukaṁ vīkṣye > brahma-loka-prabhāvataḥ *stūyate*—is praised; *citra*—choice; *vākyaiḥ*—with words; *saḥ*—He; *jana*-**loka*-ādi*—of Jana*loka* and other planets; *vāsibhiḥ*—by the residents; *tat*—those; *mahā*-*kautukam*—most curious events; *vīkṣye*—I saw; *brahma*-*loka*—of Brahma*loka*; *prabhāvataḥ*—by the influence. The residents of Janaloka and other higher planets praise the Personality of Godhead with choice words. I saw these fascinating events by the powerful influence of Brahmaloka. Commentary: While Lord Mahapurua sleeps, sages from Janaloka, Tapoloka, and Satyaloka come to recite His glories. Gopa-kumara’s previous encounters with the nighttimes of Brahma on the planets Mahar, Jana, and Tapas had been less pleasant than this; he had been unaware of how Lord Mahapurua and Brahma enjoy their sleep. TEXT 145 > antardhāya kadācic cet > kutrāpi bhagavān vrajet > śokaḥ syād āgate cāsmin > sa-mūlaḥ kṣīyate sa naḥ *antardhāya*—di*sa*ppearing; *kadācit*—sometimes; *cet*—if; *kutra api*—somewhere; *bhagavān*—the Lord; *vrajet*—would go; *śokaḥ*—unhappiness; *syāt*—there would be; *āgate*—upon returning; *ca*—and; *asmin*—He; *sa*-*mūlaḥ*—to the root; *kṣīyate*—would be cut; *sa*ḥ—that; *naḥ*—our. When the Lord sometimes went elsewhere, He would disappear, and I would be unhappy. But that painful feeling would be cut to the root as soon as He returned. Commentary: Unaware of where the Lord was going, Gopa-kumara was distressed by the Lord’s absence. But when the Lord would return after a short while, Gopa-kumara would at once forget his distress, and even forget that the Lord had left him. Thus his feelings of unhappiness on Satyaloka were of little account. The one small reason for unhappiness that sometimes arose was short-lived and so did not affect his overall mood. TEXT 146 > ittham ahnāṁ katipaye > prayāte prātar ekadā > kautukād brahmaṇā spṛṣṭaḥ > pheṇa-puñjo ’suro ’bhavat *ittham*—in this way; *ahnām*—days; *katipaye*—several; *prayāte*—being spent; *prātaḥ*—in the morning; *ekadā*—one day; *kautukāt*—out of curiosity; *brahmaṇā*—by Brahmā; *spṛṣṭaḥ*—touched; *pheṇa*—of foam; *puñjaḥ*—a mass; *asuraḥ*—a demon; *abhavat*—became. After I had spent some days in this way, early one morning, out of curiosity, Brahma touched a mass of foam, and it turned into a demon. Commentary: Gopa-kumara was harboring the desire to become Brahma so that he could enjoy Brahma’s special relationship with the Lord of the universe. He thought of this desire while chanting his *japa,* and thus, after only a few of Brahma’s days, Gopa-kumara was given what he wanted. A large residue of foam was left from the previous ocean of devastation, and Brahma touched it, unmindful of any serious consequence. The foam turned into a terrible demon, huge and extremely strong due to being born from the vast water of devastation. TEXT 147 > tad-bhītyālīyata brahmā > daityo bhagavatā hataḥ > bhayākrānto vidhir naiti > tat-pade ’yuṅkta māṁ prabhuḥ *tat*—of him; *bhītyā*—out of fear; *alīyata*—fled; *brahmā*—Brahmā; *daityaḥ*—the demon; *bhagavatā*—by the Personality of Godhead; *hataḥ*—was killed; *bhaya*—by fear; *ākrāntaḥ*—overcome; *vidhiḥ*—Brahmā; *na eti*—did not come back; *tat*—his; *pade*—in the post; *ayuṅkta*—appointed; *mām*—me; *prabhuḥ*—the Supreme Lord. Terrified of him, Brahma fled. The Personality of Godhead killed the demon, but Brahma, overcome by fear, did not come back, and the Lord assigned me to his post. Commentary: Brahma hid in a place where no one could find him. His fear prevented him from returning, even after Lord Narayana had killed the demon. TEXT 148 > ahaṁ tu vaiṣṇavān eva > sṛjaṁs tad-bhakti-vṛddhaye > nyayuñjam adhikāreṣu > vaiṣṇavān eva sarvataḥ *aham*—I; *tu*—and; *vaiṣṇavān*—Vaiṣṇavas; *eva*—indeed; *sṛjan*—sending forth; *tat*—His; *bhakti*—the devotional service; *vṛddhaye*—for increasing; *nyayuñjam*—I engaged; *adhikāreṣu*—in various positions of responsibility; *vaiṣṇavān*—Vaiṣṇavas; *eva*—only; *sarvataḥ*—everywhere. I sent Vaisnavas into the creation to increase devotional service to the Lord. Indeed, I engaged only Vaisnavas everywhere, in all responsibilities. Commentary: Material creation is called *s?i* because the world and the living entities, rather than being created from nothing, are “sent forth” (*sjan*) in each new creation. When Gopa-kumara took up the position of creator, he brought many advanced Vaisnavas into his universe and assigned them to the posts of Indra, Surya, Candra, the Prajapatis, and other demigods. TEXT 149 > itas tato mahā-yajñair > aśvamedhādibhir vibhum > sampūjayan mudāṁ pūrair > brahmāṇḍaṁ samapūrayam *itaḥ* *tataḥ*—here and there; *mahā*-*yajñaiḥ*—with great sacrifices; *aśvamedha-ādibhiḥ*—the Aśvamedha and others; *vibhum*—the almighty Lord; *sampūjayan*—worshiping; *mudām*—of joy; *pūraiḥ*—with floods; *brahmāṇḍam*—the universe; *samapūrayam*—I filled. Arranging for the almighty Lord to be worshiped in all directions with great sacrifices like the Asvamedha, I flooded the universe with joy. Commentary: Lord Brahma is responsible for creating the worlds and the bodies of all the species of life and for teaching the living beings in each class their proper work according to the injunctions of the *Vedas.* Gopa-kumara enthusiastically promoted Vedic sacrifices for the pleasure of the Personality of Godhead. TEXTS 150–151 > pārameṣṭhyena saṁruddho > vedair mūrti-dharair makhaiḥ > purāṇair itihāsaiś cā- > gamais tīrthair maharṣibhiḥ > brahmarṣibhiś ca bahudhā > stūyamāno mahā-madaiḥ > grasyamāno ’pi muñcāmi > na smākiñcanatāṁ nijām *pārameṣṭhyena*—with the supreme position of authority; *saṁruddhaḥ*—encumbered; *vedaiḥ*—by the *Vedas;* *mūrti*-*dharaiḥ*—in their personal forms; *makhaiḥ*—by the sacrifices; *purāṇaiḥ*—the *Purāṇas; itihāsaiḥ*—the *Itihāsa* epics; *ca*—and; *āgamaiḥ*—the *Āgamas* (Pañ*ca*rātras); *tīrthaiḥ*—the pilgrimage places; **mahā*-ṛṣibhiḥ*—the great sages; *brahma-ṛṣibhiḥ*—the sages among the brāhmaṇas; *ca*—and; *bahudhā*—in various ways; *stūyamānaḥ*—being glorified; *mahā*-*madaiḥ*—by great delights; *grasyamānaḥ*—being seized; *api*—although; *muñcāmi na sma*—I did not give up; akiñ*ca*natām—my simplicity; *nijām*—natural. Even though I was encumbered with the post of the supreme authority in the universe, even though I was glorified in various ways by the maharṣis, the brahmarṣis, and the personified Vedas, Āgamas, Purāṇas, Itihāsas, sacrifices, and pilgrimage sites, and even though I was surrounded by great sources of delight, I did not give up my natural simplicity. Commentary: Without the strong spiritual qualifications of true humility and devotion to the Supreme, no one could avoid becoming intoxicated by the material power and facility for enjoyment given to Gopa-kumāra. He now had the highest position in the universe, with seemingly unlimited opulences. The greatest sages and the revealed scriptures and the sacrifices personified all attended him in his court, singing his praises and presenting themselves for service at his pleasure. Nonetheless, he did not think of himself as someone special, as anything other than a humble devotee of the Lord of the universe, Śrī Madana-gopāla. TEXT 152 > tathāpi brāhmya-kṛtyābdhi- > bhaṅga-magno na pūrva-vat > lebhe bhagavato bhakti- > sukhaṁ cintāturāntaraḥ *tathā api*—nonetheless; *brāhmya*—of Brahmā; *kṛtya*—of the duties; *abdhi*—of an ocean; *bhaṅga*—in the waves; *mag*na*ḥ*—immersed; *na*—not; *pūrva*-*vat*—as before; *lebhe*—I obtained; bhaga*vat*aḥ—of the Lord; *bhakti*—of the devotio*na*l service; *sukham*—the enjoyment; *cintā*—with anxieties; *ātura*—disturbed; *antaraḥ*—my mind. Even so, I was immersed in the waves of the ocean of Brahma’s duties, and therefore unable to enjoy devotional service to the Lord as I had before. My mind was too disturbed by anxious concerns. Commentary: Once again Gopa-kumara encountered circumstances that awakened within him a desire to go to an even better place. With so much responsibility on his shoulders, life on Satyaloka was troublesome. Brahma’s unavoidable duties were unlimited and deep like an ocean, and Gopa-kumara felt himself drowning in the churning waves. TEXT 153 > dvi-parārdhāyuṣi svasya > śrūyamāṇe ’pi kālataḥ > bhayaṁ syāt kriyamāṇe ca > jape bhūr iyam ārti-dā *dvi*-*parārdha*—consisting of two very long periods of time; *āyuṣi*—the life span; *svasya*—my; *śrūyamāṇe*—being heard of; *api*—and; *kālataḥ*—of time; *bhayam*—fear; *syāt*—there would be; *kr*iyam*āṇe*—while being done; *ca*—and; *jape*—the chanting of my *mantra; bhūḥ*—Vraja-bhūmi; *iyam*—this; *ārti*-*dā*—giving distress. Hearing that I would die at the end of a life span of two parardhas, I was afraid. And as I chanted my *mantra*, remembrance of this Vraja-bhumi gave me more distress. Commentary: To avoid being frightened by thinking about his imminent death, Gopa-kumara Brahma relied on his *mantra.* But chanting only stirred memories of Vraja, giving him a different kind of distress. TEXT 154 > jagad-īśvarataḥ putra- > lālanaṁ tu mahā-sukham > mamānubhavataś citta- > vaikalyaṁ tad vinaśyati *jagat*-*īśvarataḥ*—by the Lord of the universe; *putra*—like a son; *lālanan*—being pampered; *tu*—however; *mahā*-*sukham*—a source of great happiness; *mama*—of me; *anubhavataḥ*—who was experiencing; *citta*—of the mind; *vaikalyam*—the agi*tat*ion; *tat*—that; *vinaśyati*—would be destroyed. But I would derive great happiness from being pampered like a son by the Lord of the universe, and thus the mental agitation I was going through would be dispelled. Commentary: Satyaloka is such a pure place that unhappiness cannot persist for long. Lord Mahapurua Himself would see to this; by showering affection on His devotee, He would wash away distress in a flood of bliss. TEXT 155 > atyanta-sannikarṣeṇa > pitṛ-buddhyā ca sevayā > kadāpy āgāṁsi jātāni > mṛṣyante prabhuṇā mama *atyanta*—too much; *sannikarṣeṇa*—be*ca*use of proximity; *pitṛ*—like a father; *buddhyā*—be*ca*use of considering Him; *ca*—and; *sevayā*—by serving; *kadā api*—sometimes; *āgāṁsi*—offenses; *jātāni*—*ca*me about; *mṛṣyante*—they were tolerated; *prabhuṇā*—by the Lord; *mama*—my. Because of being too close to the Lord and serving Him as if He were my father, I would sometimes commit offenses against Him, but He tolerated all those offenses. Commentary: Staying close to a great person for an extended time can be dangerous. As the saying goes, “Familiarity breeds contempt.” For Gopa-kumara in the role of Brahma, this danger was compounded by his thinking himself the son of Lord Vishnu. Often a son has no fear of dissatisfying his father, because he knows that his father loves him too much to reject him. Indeed, Lord Mahapurua acted like a doting father, tolerating the childish offenses of Gopa-kumara. TEXT 156 > tathāpy antar-mahodvegaḥ > syāt tato vyañjite śriyā > snehe mātreva hṛṣṭaḥ syām > evaṁ tatrāvasaṁ ciram *tathā api*—still; *antaḥ*—within; *mahā-udvegaḥ*—great distress; *syāt*—there would be; *tataḥ*—then; *vyañjite*—being manifest; *śriyā*—by the goddess of fortune; *snehe*—affection; *mātrā*—by a mother; *iva*—as if; *hṛṣṭaḥ*—joyful; *syām*—I would become; *evam*—thus; *tatra*—there; *avasam*—I lived; *ciram*—for a long time. Still, at times I felt great distress in my mind. But when the goddess Lakmi showed me motherly affection, I would again become joyful. Thus I lived there a long time. Commentary: Although the Lord showed no sign of taking offense, Gopa-kumara, realizing that he was not serving with the proper attitude, sometimes became disturbed. Embarrassed by his own behavior toward his father, he would be consoled by his mother, Lakmi. Thus he lived happily in Satyaloka, even when facing causes of distress. ## ISKCON Vladivostok: Lord Kṛṣṇa's Home in Russia's Far East *by B.V.V. Narasimha Swami* *Despite many challenges, the intrepid devotees in this remote city 5,700 miles from Moscow built a suitable temple to worship the Lord.* The city of Vladivostok ("Ruler of the East") is situated in the far east of Russia, a few hundred kilometers north of China. The region was long under Chinese rule, but Russia acquired it through the Treaty of Beijing in 1860. In time Russians migrated from the western part of the country, and it is now an important port serving the eastern region of Russia. In the late 1980s, when the USSR gave up its communist regime and opened its doors to other ideals, the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement established centers across Russia, Vladivostok being one city where the people were immediately interested. The first devotee to arrive was Abhimanyu Dāsa. He was soon joined by Vrajendra Kumara Dāsa, who went on to become ISKCON's regional secretary for Russia's far eastern region. Under his leadership many people took up Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and today there are more than eighty-five initiated devotees in the area. The first center was in a rented building. Later, as the community grew, the devotees had to relocate. They found a disused building owned by the city. With the city's permission, they moved in, renovated the building, and gradually made into a suitable center. But the local government decided they needed the property back, so the devotees relocated again. They started to look for a new building, but rising property prices made the search a great challenge. Finally, they decided to build a temple, and with help from the congregation, they formed a committee and began raising money. A major source was the devotee-run restaurant Ganga, which has been in operation or many years and has gained the respect of the local people. Baked samosas filled with cheese or fruit jams are a favorite with customers. As many as fourteen thousand samosas have been sold in one day. In 2007, the Vladivostok temple was honored by ISKCON's Governing Body Commission for outstanding service in the field of *prasādam* distribution, specifically through the Ganga restaurant. Another major contributor to the temple was Kṛṣṇa Kesava Dāsa, a devotee since the year 2000. He operates a window-framing business and donated a major portion of his profits. He also daily supplies his staff with lunch boxes of *prasādam* from Ganga. *Construction Begins* With the support of the congregation, gradually enough money was raised to buy land, and construction of the temple began in the summer of 2011. In line with Vedic principles, a Deity of Ananta Śeṣa, the serpent-bed of Lord Vishnu, was placed eight meters below the ground to support the temple. The head of the construction team was Dvarakadhisa Dāsa. A young, energetic, courageous Russian, he soon found his task difficult. Money was in short supply, and the Russian climate complicated the work. In addition, the land is on a steep slope overlooking the bay. While laying the foundation for the temple, the contractors gave up, saying it was impossible. But Dvarakadhisa stuck it out and kept trying. Finally he was able to get the basic structure up. But then it was winter, so he had to stop and wait for summer to return. To minimize building expenses, the devotees showed their own technical skills by building a goods elevator running from the warehouse in the basement to the kitchen on the second floor and on to the *pujari* and Deity rooms on the third floor. They bought standard mechanical parts and assembled them, drastically reducing the cost. The year 2012 was special for the people of Vladivostok because the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference (APEC) summit was held there, bringing political leaders from twenty-one Pacific Rim countries. To prepare, the Russian government made massive improvements to the city, which became a construction site. A new airport, new roads and bridges, new hotels, and a new university were all under construction. This only made building the temple even more difficult, as the prices of building materials increased and the traffic became even more intolerable. Finally the construction neared completion, and the devotees prepared for the grand opening. They had been holding daily programs at Ganga, with morning and evening classes. They had rented an apartment to continue the Deity worship, and they had had to find their own accommodations. Still, they kept in high spirits and continued their daily *harinama-Sankirtana,* which has become well known to the residents of Vladivostok. The devotees chant outside in public places throughout the year, even when temperatures drop to –30 F. The driving force behind the *Sankirtana* is a husband-and-wife team, Śrī Vigraha Dāsa and Jai Śrī Devī Dāsī. Śrī Vigraha has been leading *kirtanas* through the streets of Vladivostok for more than twenty years. His harmonium playing and melodious voice set the pace and bring life to the devotees' hearts. Jai Śrī leads the women in dancing and encourages them to invite onlookers to join in. Korean and Chinese tourists, common in Vladivostok, often take part in the dancing party. *For Śrīla Prabhupāda's Pleasure* In November 2014 the temple construction was completed and the opening took place. Many senior devotees gathered and spoke, praising the efforts of those who worked together to build ISKCON's largest center in Russia. GBC representative Bhakti Vaibhava Swami spoke of the pleasure Śrīla Prabhupāda would certainly have in knowing that the devotees had built a temple in far-eastern Russia, and he mentioned scriptural statements about how devotees involved in such efforts will be raised to the eternal abode of the Lord. Prabhaviu Dāsa, who has been teaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness in Russia for many years, described how ISKCON Vladivostok has always been successful in recruiting new devotees but over the years many have left the region for milder climates. He appreciated that despite their departure, the number of devotees in Vladivostok is still growing and it is to their credit that they could build such a wonderful center, at a cost of over a million dollars. *B.V.V. Narasimha Swami, initiated by Śrīla Prabhupāda in London in 1971, has been teaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness the Far East since 1984.* ## Śrīla Prabhupāda's Legacy Lives On *by Caitanya Carana Dāsa* *Though Prabhupāda was present for only the first eleven years of ISKCON's fifty-year history, he continues to guide and inspire his followers to expand what he began.* "It's an astonishing story. If someone told you a story like this, you wouldn't believe it. Here's this person, he's seventy years old, he's going to a country where he's never been before, he doesn't know anybody there, he has no money, has no contacts. He has none of the things, you would say, that make for success. He's going to recruit people not on any systematic basis, but just picking up whomever he comes across and he's going to give them responsibility for organizing a worldwide movement. You'd say, 'What kind of program is that?' There are precedents perhaps. Jesus of Nazareth went around saying, 'Come follow me. Drop your nets, or leave your tax collecting, and come with me and be my disciple.' But in his case, he wasn't an old man in a strange society dealing with people whose backgrounds were totally different from his own. He was dealing with his own community. Bhaktivedanta Swami's achievement, then, must be seen as unique." —History of religion professor Thomas Hopkins in *Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa: Five Distinguished Scholars on the Kṛṣṇa Movement in the West* This astonishing story has continued for many decades after Hopkins's insightful observation, made in the early 1980s, though of course not at the same dramatic scale or pace. In this article I will try to document how the legacy of *bhakti-yoga* that Śrīla Prabhupāda brought to the world is continuing and expanding even now. Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted to share his love for Kṛṣṇa with the whole world, and to fulfill that divine aspiration, he urged his followers to distribute more and more books, build more and more temples, and inspire more and more people to take to the practice of **bhakti*-yoga.* Therefore, the movement he started, popularly known as the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement, has often used success in these activities as its definition of success. And rightly so, because these activities have been and will continue to be pivotal in shaping the movement's composition, outreach, and trajectory. But the movement often gets reduced to these highly visible activities alone, and much has already been written on them. Therefore I will dwell on other ways in which the *bhakti* legacy moves on. I will not attempt a comprehensive analysis of the entire movement, a task best left to a historian. Nor do I claim that my examples of ongoing legacy are the most important or the most representative; these are just the examples that strike me from my limited perspective as a second-generation Indian member of the movement. *1. Emergence of a vibrant congregation* Perhaps the single most striking feature of the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement's history is its shift from a temple-based movement to a *congregation*-based one. The word *congregation* conventionally refers to any group of people who come together, including for religious purposes. Within the ISKCON lexicon, however, it generally refers to people who worship at the temple but live independently, outside the temple management structure. Though the term *congregation* member is not used uniformly throughout the ISKCON world, when I use it here I'm referring to both initiated devotees and people who have not yet made that commitment. ISKCON started in America and then spread to other countries, mainly in the Western world. Its devotional culture was so utterly different from mainstream Western culture that devotees felt the only way they could practice their adopted spiritual culture was by moving into the temple, which offered a safe haven from the materialistic outside world. Predictably, many of the movement's early members were renunciants. Even many married couples, sometimes with children, lived and served in the temple, which provided for their basic needs. But as the years passed, most devotees found their initial zeal of having joined an exotic movement cooling down. And more and more devotees got married, started families, and pursued careers, thus leaving the temple environment. For its first decade or so, more than ninety percent of ISKCON's members lived in the temple. Now more than ninety percent of its members live outside. Among some of the movement's leaders, this dramatic shift in demography initially caused some concern that ISKCON's spiritual standards would be diluted. But what emerged was not so much dilution as consolidation—the movement became stabler as devotees settled to a level of practice they could sustain throughout their lives. Indeed, dedicated congregation members now manage temples. They also occupy the highest ecclesiastical positions in the movement, including those of *gurus* and Governing Body Commission (GBC) members. As the composition of the movement has changed from temple-supported renunciants (including families) to financially independent householders, its mode of interaction with the world has changed from renunciation to penetration. In its first few decades, *dhoti*- or *sari*-clad devotees dancing and distributing literature were the movement's defining face. They exist even now, but they no longer represent the movement's cross-section. The well-educated, influential professional is as much integral to the movement as to modern society. The tech-savvy colleague in the office may well be a Hare Kṛṣṇa, a modern *bhakti-yogi* who has both penetrated into and integrated with the mainstream culture. According to individual nature and commitment, each member performs a delicate dance of balance between tradition and modernity. *2. Establishment of robust systems of education* Śrīla Prabhupāda emphasized that devotees should systematically study the Vedic scriptures he translated and commented on. Such study would deepen their philosophical conviction and fine-tune their spiritual practices. Accordingly, ISKCON temples diligently conduct a daily morning class on the sacred *Śrīmad-Bhagavatam.* Additionally, ISKCON has come up with programs for systematic scriptural study catering to all its members, from newcomers to seasoned practitioners. Most centers periodically conduct introductory courses on the *Bhagavad-gītā* that give newcomers an overall grasp of its coherence and relevance. For regular practitioners, many temples and educational centers offer the *Bhakti* *Sastri* course, which provides progressive study of the movement's essential literature. Thousands of students all over the world have availed themselves of the course, the teaching of which is supervised by the ISKCON Board of Education. Additionally, many devotee communities have started schools to provide their children with a holistic education that teaches not just material knowledge and skills that secular schools offer but also spiritual wisdom and values that the tradition offers. Further, for youth studying in universities, several temples have started customized youth centers near colleges. These centers provide students havens for community and spirituality where they can de-stress from the competitive tension of their academic careers. *3. Evolution of diverse community-support systems* The movement has developed other community-support systems as well. ISKCON has been at the forefront in reaching out to the larger community through its extensive food-relief programs. Hare Kṛṣṇa Food for Life is the world's largest vegetarian food-relief organization. With projects in over 60 countries, it provides more than 1.5 million free meals daily, including in disaster areas in various parts of the world. The Indian wing of this initiative, ISKCON Food Relief Foundation, runs a Mid-day Meal program, providing nutritious and delicious *Kṛṣṇa-prasada* every school day to over 1.2 million students from all backgrounds. To provide philosophical and practical guidance to members, devotee communities in various parts of the world have developed devotee-care systems, such as the counselor system. To help devotees find compatible spouses, leaders of several devotee-communities have set up marriage boards and other matrimonial portals, physical and digital. To help train talented and dedicated young devotees to take up the mantle of the movement's leadership and thereby enable a smooth succession from one generation of leaders to the next, various leadership-training forums have also been established. Devotee professionals have also set up hospitals and hospices. The *bhakti* tradition places great importance on departing from the world in a spiritually conducive circumstance and consciousness. Accordingly, devotees have set up a hospice in the holy land of Vrindavan, where committed practitioners can prepare to face life's final exam—death—in a setting that is medically and spiritually favorable. As the body takes its inevitable course towards destruction, the soul takes its conscientious course towards spiritual elevation, if not liberation. Similar hospices are planned for other places, including Māyāpur, West Bengal, home to the movement’s world headquarters. *4. Spreading of eco-friendly culture* Śrīla Prabhupāda repeatedly stressed the principle of simple living and high thinking, and he wanted to demonstrate it through self-sufficient communities that featured God-centered eco-friendly living. In his cutting critique of materialistic civilization's reckless encroachment on nature, Śrīla Prabhupāda proved prescient. Over the last four decades since Prabhupāda's critique, many studies have shown how indiscriminate exploitation of the environment has jeopardized the future of humanity, indeed of the earth itself. As the world is becoming increasingly aware of the staggering ecological and economic costs of our past centuries of environmental exploitation, green consciousness is rising. *Bhakti-yoga* takes this ascent of human consciousness towards its zenith in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, which re-envisions the universe as a cosmic family, with God as the father, nature as the mother, and all living beings—not just human beings—as children. This inclusive vision provides an additional impetus towards raising eco-awareness—vegetarianism. Studies have shown that producing and consuming nonvegetarian food harms the ecology much more than the pollution from all the world's vehicles. ISKCON has been a global pioneer in spreading vegetarianism, especially in the West. This pioneering is philosophical, offering a more spiritual and dignified conception of our nonhuman brothers and sisters. But it is also practical. Through many outlets, ISKCON provides an array of delectable vegetarian dishes of *Kṛṣṇa-prasada* to a world that mistakenly equates vegetarianism with a diet of vegetables alone. Besides contributing to the mainstreaming of vegetarianism, ISKCON in various parts of the world has developed eco-friendly communities that subsist on, as Śrīla Prabhupāda would say, "the land, the cow, and Kṛṣṇa." Initially these communities tried to avoid all modern things, but in time each arrived at its own balance, using nature's resources and modern amenities. Today many of these communities serve as not just serene spiritual sanctuaries but also as crucibles of ecological research. They demonstrate that prosperity achieved by living in harmony with nature is a viable, even preferable, alternative to prosperity by exploiting nature. *5. Presence in academia* No movement can exist in a social vacuum, oblivious to the intellectual and cultural trends of the larger society of which it is a part. A major place where such trends are understood is academia, its study of religion being especially relevant to religious organizations. The university significantly shapes public perceptions of a religion, especially where it is a minority religion and so, for the mainstream society, is more learned about than lived. This principle was relevant to ISKCON in the Western world, where the *bhakti* culture ubiquitous in traditional India was seen as utterly foreign, if not incomprehensibly alien. To help correct such perceptions, some devotee intellectuals felt inspired to enter the academy to gain formal training to respectably present the tradition's voice in today's multicultural milieu. Such an outreach of the tradition to scholars has important precedents. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvati Ṭhākura, the spiritual master of Śrīla Prabhupāda, sent one of his scholarly disciples, Sambidanand Das, to London to write his doctoral thesis on the history and literature of the Gaudiya Vaisnavas. Religious traditionalists often find academia's approach to studying religion distressingly unsympathetic to insider perspectives. The output of academic study can sometimes be summed in the epitaph "Operation successful, patient dead." Yet discerning traditionalists know that academia will continue to shape how the public perceives the tradition. Scholars are often not privy to insider perspectives. Therefore, if public perception is to reasonably reflect the reality of the tradition's contributions, the onus falls on insiders to academically train themselves to present the insider perspective in a way intelligible to the outsider. The late Tamala Kṛṣṇa Goswami, one of the movement's most prominent leaders and a *sannyasi* and *guru*, gave a major boost to the tradition's academic penetration by entering the academy and writing a seminal thesis on Śrīla Prabhupāda's theological contributions. Other devotee scholars have written defining books on the modern-day leaders of the tradition—Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvati Ṭhākura and Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura—and on the foundational books of the tradition, namely the *Bhagavad-gītā* and the *Śrīmad-Bhagavatam.* Satyaraja Dāsa has founded the Journal of Vaishnava Studies, now a major voice in the deep study of the Vaava tradition. Devotee scholars joined hands with the broader Hindu community to set up the Oxford Center for Hindu Studies (OCHS) at Oxford to create a vibrant example of contemporary scholarship. In an academia shaped by Abrahamic stereotypes of religion and dominated by nondualist perceptions of Hinduism, devotee scholars have done pioneering work in ensuring that insider perspectives and the *bhakti* tradition are given their due place in the academic study of Hinduism. Of course, the legacy of love that is the *bhakti* tradition continues most vibrantly beyond the external structures and systems. It lies in the hearts of the thousands of practitioners for whom Kṛṣṇa becomes an increasingly intimate reality through their daily devotional and meditational practices. And as they resourcefully share that reality with others, they provide serenity amid anxiety, spirituality amid materialism, and purposefulness amid pointlessness. *Caitanya Carana Dāsa*,* a disciple of His Holiness Rādhānath Swami*,* holds a degree in electronic and telecommunications engineering and serves full time at ISKCON Mumbai. He is a BTG associate editor and the author of sixteen books. To read his other articles or to receive his daily reflection on the* Bhagavad-gītā*,* "Gita-Daily*,*" *visit thespiritualscientist.com.* ## Welcome When Hare Kṛṣṇa devotees bought an old Italian villa in the 1980s, they created a temple, offices, living quarters, storage places, and so on. But Villa Vrindavan, as it’s called, is a big place, and some spacious rooms were long left unused or underused. In this issue, Tattvavit Dāsa tells us what’s been done with them—stunning results that grew from a great idea. Followers of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, the founder-*ācārya* of the International Society for Kṛṣṇa Consciousness and the founder of this magazine, have been honoring 2016 as the fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of his Society in July 1966. For this July/August issue, we’re presenting a summary of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s legacy, written by Caitanya Carana Dāsa. Suresvara Dāsa’s series “Śrīla Prabhupāda: Our Founder-Ācārya” continues with part seven. And Dr. A. D. Śrīragapriya Ramanujadasan, a disciple in the line of the great spiritual master Śrī Ramanujacarya, praises Śrīla Prabhupāda by pointing out many similarities between the lives and teachings of these two exemplary devotees. This issue also coincides with Janmastami, the celebration of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s appearance in this world. Satyaraja Dāsa presents what for many is sure to be a new perspective on this divine event. Hare Kṛṣṇa. —*Nagaraja Dāsa, Editor* ## e-Kṛṣṇa One of the benefits of Internet technology is that a large volume of information in many locations and formats can be brought together and made accessible in one easy-to-use format. With the advent of mobile computing on tablets, laptops, and cell phones, this information can be accessed almost anywhere. In the *Caitanya-caritāmṛta* (*Antya* 4.130) Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, “Maintenance of the Vaisnava etiquette is the ornament of a devotee." This makes it important for all devotees to be well versed in matters of etiquette. To provide a go-to source for the understanding and practice of Vaisnava etiquette, www.vaishnavaetiquette.com brings together information from across many of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books, other Vedic literature, and lectures by senior devotees. There are two menus, on either side of the homepage. Three buttons in the right column allow you to browse the site for audio, video, and articles. The right column also has a tag cloud, a box with a number of words inside, some larger than others. Information posted to the site is tagged with a word that categorizes the information. The larger the word in the tag cloud, the more information in that category. Each word is a link to a list of articles on the site. This allows you to easily browse the site for information in these categories. A search box allows you to find information about the particular term you are looking for. Above the search box you can also enter you email address and subscribe to receive notice when new material is added to the site. In the left column you can browse information on the site in a range of categories. The topics include how we should interact with others, how we should serve and honor *prasādam*, how we should carry ourselves in the temple and other holy places, and much more. Clicking on each of these buttons brings you to a list of lectures you can choose from. In the center column is a list of links to seminars by senior devotees who go in to great detail about the many facets of Vaisnava etiquette. If you type the word “manual” into the search box and click on the link that says “download” in the search results page, you can download a PDF copy of the book “A Manual of Vaisnava Etiquette and Lifestyle.” This book discusses many of the etiquette issues discussed on the website. —Madhumagala Dāsa (aka Antony Brennan, now an initiated disciple of His Holiness Janananda Goswami) ## From the Editor *Radical Revolution* A revolution was taking place when Śrīla Prabhupāda arrived in America in the sixties. Or at least some people thought of it that way. Young people were challenging the status quo in various areas of life. In some ways there was nothing new about young people rebelling. America's post-war Baby Boomers were doing what the youth of generations before them had done—disagree with their parents. The Baby Boomers were just more serious about it, and they did in fact bring about significant changes in America and the rest of the world. Still, although the sixties might have won some freedoms and opened some minds, today's endless list of evils in the world raises doubts about the overall success of that decade. The word *revolution* means an overthrow, but it also means a turning that takes a thing back to where it started, as in one *revolution* of the earth in twenty-four hours. Overall, after the sixties and all the clamor, the world ended up in the same place—predominantly a place where the default position is to believe in material solutions, whether social, political, economic, cultural, psychological, or technological. Whatever the sixties' *revolution* gave us, its reliance on solutions drawn from these areas guaranteed failure in the quest to achieve truly meaningful change. Another word associated with the sixties is *radical*. Radicals turned peaceful protests into violent ones to insure that "the Establishment" understood the seriousness of their demands. Some *radical*s proposed doing away with all positions of authority and turning to anarchy. The word *radical* comes from the Latin word for *root*. A truly *radical* solution goes to the *root* of the problem. Sixties so-called *radical*s who promoted anarchy thought they were going as far as they could. Apparently they didn't know that the only solution that gets to the *root* of all problems is the spiritual one. Śrīla Prabhupāda was the true radical revolutionary of the sixties. Accompanying him on his journey to America were two hundred sets of his three-volume translation, with commentary, of the First Canto of the *Śrīmad-*Bhagavatam**—a book "full of transcendental words directed toward bringing about a revolution in the impious lives of this world's misdirected civilization" (*Bhagavatam* 1.5.11). The millions of words generated during the sixties couldn't bring about real change. But because the transcendental words of the *Bhagavatam* go to the root of the problem, it could. The lives of those who accepted its wisdom improved at the deepest level. In the middle of the sixties—September 17, 1965—Śrīla Prabhupāda arrived in Boston on board the ship *Jaladuta* on his way to New York. While in port, he wrote a Bengali poem to Lord Kṛṣṇa in which he prayed for His blessings to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness in America. The poem includes these lines: "The words of *Śrīmad-Bhagavatam* are Your incarnation, and if a sober person repeatedly receives it with submissive aural reception, then he will be able to understand Your message." Lord Kṛṣṇa's essential message, revealed in the *Bhagavad-gītā*, *Śrīmad-Bhagavatam,* and other time-honored books of India, is that each of us is an eternal spiritual being with an unbreakable connection to Kṛṣṇa, who is God Himself. Having forgotten that connection, we suffer endless problems, ignorant of the solution within easy reach. The glowworms of material solutions can never overcome abject darkness, but the sunlight of the revolutionary books Śrīla Prabhupāda valiantly delivered can light up the world. —Nagaraja Dāsa ## BBC Meditation 4 *by Kṛṣṇa Dharma Dāsa* The author has been a regular British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) contributor since 1998. BBC Radio 2, where these meditations are aired, attracts from one million to eight million listeners, depending on the time of day. Thoughts from different contributors on topics assigned by the BBC are aired three or four times a day. This is the fourth in a series of eight meditations. *Journeys* Life today is full of journeys, it seems. I know that I enjoy the freedom of my car and think nothing of a fifty- or sixty-mile trip, a good two-day walk in olden days. Daily there’s the morning and evening commute to consider, which here in London where I live is less of a journey and more of a battle to the near death. Thankfully I only have to go twenty or so miles, but a lot of people nowadays have to commute as much as a hundred miles and back every day. Life can be quite hectic, but in the midst of all our moving around it’s important not to forget that our whole life is itself a journey. All of us are traveling continuously through life, observing so many changes as we go. In fact, the *Bhagavad-gītā* suggests that by carefully considering this we can understand that we are eternal beings. We go from childhood to youth to old age, but through all these changes of external body we remain the same unchanging spiritual person. For me the most important journey is the one within, the search for my true self. This is truly a voyage of discovery, but I don’t have to go anywhere to experience it. It is the practice of yoga, which means to reconnect with the spirit. Each day then, before embarking on the furious rush of daily life, I sit down for a couple of hours to journey within myself, to peacefully meditate and contemplate my real existence, beyond the ephemeral world. Vedic teachings tell us that this fleeting life is but one small part of a great journey. It ends when we reach God, where we are said to really belong. We are thus enjoined to prepare for that end by cultivating our inner life. By such practice, which I do by the simple method of chanting God’s holy names, we can ultimately perceive our true existence. The *Bhagavad-gītā* describes that existence as eternity and bliss, and the *Bhagavad-gītā* promises us that when we finally achieve it, our stressful travels in this world will be over. ## Letters *Wanting to See Kṛṣṇa* I want the *darsana* [audience] of God, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. When will He show His grace? I have been chanting for two years, and now I am becoming bored to chant because I am not getting *darsana* of God. When will He come in front of my eyes and by this I will be free from *maya*? When will that day come? In fact, my mind says that chanting is useless, because I am not seeing any love towards God. Will it be possible to see Kṛṣṇa in this life? Or how much time will it take? Vijay Via the Internet *Our reply:* It is good that you are anxious to see Kṛṣṇa. We must remember, though, that we left Kṛṣṇa out of envy and have been in the material realm for thousands of lifetimes, sunk in our selfishness. It will take some time to get out of the mode of expecting a quick result for our work. We can't expect to be purified in a couple of years, as we are covered by all kinds of contamination. Kṛṣṇa has given us the process of chanting His glories as the means to clean up the mess in our heart and mind. We must stick to the process even though it may be taking time. Keep being anxious to serve Him. That is the proper attitude that will attract Him to reveal Himself to you. Kṛṣṇa is waiting for us to be pure and fixed on pleasing Him, without wanting anything in return. As new devotees just beginning to connect with Him again, we need to go deep inside and find the dirty spots and work on them. This is done while chanting. We are praying; "O Lord, O energy of the Lord, please engage me in Your service. Please accept me." We have to prove to Kṛṣṇa that we are willing to serve Him without motive. As neophytes, we are in a mixed position—doing some for Him and some for us. That is natural. A change of consciousness has to take place, and the process is gradual. It won't happen overnight. By the mercy of the *guru* we will ultimately become free from impurity, so we have to follow the *guru*'s instructions and pray for his mercy. Keep up the hankering to see Kṛṣṇa, increase your hearing and chanting, be careful not to commit offenses, and beg for His mercy. Surely He will help you and eventually show Himself to you. *Work or Renunciation?* My wife and I want to devote twenty-four hours a day to chanting and meditating on Kṛṣṇa. We feel that if we keep working to earn money, we will not be able to see Kṛṣṇa in this life. We spend our leisure time in reading spiritual books and chanting. But when time comes to go to the office, we feel sad. We fear that if we leave our job, how will we earn our bread and butter? But at the same time we want to devote more time to Kṛṣṇa. What should we do? Varun Ratanpal Via the Internet *Our reply:* It is nice to hear that you have strong attraction for service to Kṛṣṇa. You will be able to give up your material obligations when the time is right. Make sure the time is right and that everything is in place to be able to continue serving and keeping body and soul together. You may have to make a plan to gradually "close shop," in order not to inconvenience other family members and dependents. But if you are free to go, then you should pray to Kṛṣṇa to help you find a comfortable situation to merge yourselves in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It would be good to consult your spiritual master or senior devotees you know at your temple. They will be able to advise you in a more personal way. *Remembering Birth* Why do we not remember the pain of our birth? I think that if we remembered it always, then we could naturally surrender to God. We forget it, so we don't give attention to future pains. Vijay Vishwakarma Via the Internet *Our reply:* Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that the trauma of birth wipes out our remembrance of the pain. Yes, if we could remember, that would be an impetus for taking up spiritual life and getting out of here for good. Kṛṣṇa also arranges that we forget our past lives as animals and so on. Otherwise, the memory would be too much to handle. The *Śrīmad-Bhagavatam* describes that the child in the womb, if lucky, will remember at about seven months that he is there again and will have to take another birth. He prays to God and promises that he will do things right this time and not end up in this situation again. Unfortunately, most forget that promise. But the devotees of the Lord try to remind everyone that the goal of life is to serve Kṛṣṇa. Even if we can't remember the horror of life in the womb and the pain of birth, the scriptures and devotees tell us that these sufferings are real, and they teach us how to avoid undergoing them again. *Meditation on Kṛṣṇa’s Feet* In the Second Canto of *Śrīmad-*Bhagavatam** it is written that one should meditate upon the limbs of Kṛṣṇa beginning from the feet. It is also stated there that one should not meditate on Kṛṣṇa above his legs because His smiling face is like the Tenth Canto of the *Bhagavatam*. Unless one is sufficiently cleansed he should not meditate above the legs of Kṛṣṇa and also not read more than the first two cantos of the *Bhagavatam*, which constitute His legs. Please enlighten me. Should I now forget His smiling face with His flute and so on and just concentrate on His legs? Adam Tati Via the Internet *Our reply:* When we consider all of Prabhupāda’s instructions on this point, it seems that the best way to apply this instruction is to begin your meditation at Kṛṣṇa’s feet and go up from there. Śrīla Prabhupāda encouraged us to meditate on the full form of the Lord, including His face. He gave us the "Govinda Prayers" to sing while viewing the Lord after His dressing. These prayers describe Lord Brahma's beautiful vision of the Lord's features. Prabhupāda wanted us to see Kṛṣṇa's smiling face and His lips playing the flute. But it is proper to start with seeing His feet, and then continue on with respect. As for reading the *Bhagavatam*, Prabhupāda did want us to start with the first cantos and read progressively. This practice helps us clearly understand the Lord’s position, His incarnations, powers, forms, expansions, and so on—all to fix in our minds that He is the Supreme. With that foundation, we'll properly understand and respect His intimate pastimes described in the Tenth Canto. Early on, Prabhupāda gave us the book *Kṛṣṇa*, his summary study of the Tenth Canto. He didn't know how long he would live, and he wanted to make sure we had access to all of *Kṛṣṇa*’s pastimes recounted there. He also wanted to make sure the pastimes were mixed with lots of philosophy, so that we would maintain the proper understanding of *Kṛṣṇa*'s position. Prabhupāda expected us to read *Kṛṣṇa*, and to distribute it to nondevotees as well. So please take advantage of meditating on all the features of the Lord and become captivated by His pastimes in the *Bhagavatam*. ## The Dual Stories of Kṛṣṇa’s Birth *By Satyaraja Dāsa* *Yes, Kṛṣṇa appeared as a newborn in a prison cell, but there's a lesser-known fact of His birth.* Last year on Janmastami, the celebration of Kṛṣṇa’s appearance in this world, numerous Indian newspapers and magazines reminded readers that two years earlier they had celebrated the 5,125th anniversary of Kṛṣṇa’s birth. The *New Indian Express* (October 1, 2015), echoing reports found throughout the subcontinent, boldly proclaimed that through archaeoastronomy and similar technologies, scientists and theologians could ascertain when Kṛṣṇa was born: July 27, 3112 BCE, according to the Gregorian Calendar. Whether or not their methods are adequate or their findings accurate, a far more important consideration is who Kṛṣṇa is and what His birth and activities really mean. Of course, first and foremost, Kṛṣṇa, or God, is ultimately “unborn,” and therefore His appearance in the world is less about when and more about why: His “birth” should be seen as an act of grace, a show performed for our benefit. His appearance in the material world is meant to cure us of our spiritual amnesia by reminding us of our real life in the kingdom of God and encouraging us to return there. As commonly understood, Kṛṣṇa appeared over fifty centuries ago in Mathura, India, as the divine child of Devaki and Vasudeva in the jail cell of the tyrant Kamsa, a demon in human guise. Why were they in a jail? King Kamsa, while transporting his sister Devaki and her new husband by chariot after their wedding, heard a voice from the sky, telling him that her eighth child would kill him. His initial response was to kill Devaki outright, thus nullifying the chance that any of her children might slay him. But Vasudeva pleaded for her life, saying that he would deliver any child she bore into Kamsa’s hands. The demonic king agreed to this proposition but went one step further: he locked them in his prison, so there would be no possibility of their deceiving him and letting their children go free. The Lord chose to begin His earthly sojourn in a prison, but we should never think that His situation is like ours. Our life in the material world is tantamount to a prison sentence, and we are trapped until we develop love for God. Only then can we know release from material suffering and attain the freedom to return to our spiritual home. Kṛṣṇa’s birth, on the other hand, was not ordinary: He not only appeared before His parents as God—first in His majestic four-armed Vishnu form, in full regalia, and then in the form of a divine baby—but He was also not forced to take birth by the laws of material nature. He appeared according to His own sweet will. As soon as Vasudeva and Devaki began to delight in their newborn, by Kṛṣṇa’s mystic potency the jail guards fell asleep and the heavy prison doors flew open. Vasudeva knew what to do. He picked up baby Kṛṣṇa and carried Him across the Yamuna, from Mathura to Gokula (in the Vrindavan area). Entering his stepbrother Nanda Mahārāja’s house, he saw that Yasoda (Nanda’s wife) had just given birth to a baby girl, Subhadra, also known as Yogamaya, the Lord’s spiritual energy. By Kṛṣṇa's arrangement, Yasoda and everyone else in her house were fast asleep. Leaving baby Kṛṣṇa in the girl’s place, Vasudeva took the female child and returned to Mathura. He reentered the prison and shackled himself as before, so no one would know he had gone. When Kamsa learned that Devaki had given birth, he viciously burst in to kill the infant. With intense desperation, he tried to smash the baby against the stone floor. But the baby girl manifested a frightening eight-armed form. Yogamaya turned into Mahamaya—or Durga, the goddess of the material spheres. “Fool!” she said. “You can’t kill me. And know this too, Kamsa: The child who will be your undoing is already born.” *With these frightening words, she disappeared.* Kamsa soon sent numerous demons, one by one, to hunt down Kṛṣṇa and kill Him. Some of them found Him in Nanda and Yasoda’s safe hamlet across the Yamuna, but the Lord easily destroyed them. The pastimes of Kṛṣṇa's subduing the demons convey the truth of good conquering evil. While they are literal stories of Kṛṣṇa’s manifest actions, they also provide metaphors by which devotees live. We generally understand that Nanda and Yasoda were Kṛṣṇa’s foster parents, a notion that, while true, is only part of the story. *The Full Version* According to Vaisnava tradition, it is important to hear these stories, not only because of the philosophical points they convey but also because they free us from the cycle of birth and death. As Kṛṣṇa Himself says in the *Bhagavad-gītā* (4.9), “One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.” The word *janma* (birth) is used in this verse in relation to Kṛṣṇa’s appearance. In other words, devotees are mandated not only to learn the mysteries of the Lord’s activities, but also how He appears in this world. His “birth” is instructive, telling us about His true nature and thus liberating us from material existence. But we must know His birth and activities in truth, and this is where one would do well to hear them from a master in disciplic succession, one who has “seen” this truth. If one does so, one becomes privy to esoteric nuances that would otherwise remain hidden. While the common narrative related in the *Śrīmad-Bhagavatam* and other traditional texts tells us what happened on the face of it, there is also an “inside story,” a deeply philosophical reading that highlights Kṛṣṇa’s true nature. The more common narrative tells us that Kṛṣṇa was born in Mathura and was transferred to Vrindavan when Vasudeva carried Him across the Yamuna. But this contradicts the notion that Kṛṣṇa never leaves Vrindavan, as articulated by *Śrī*la Rupa Gosvami in *Śrī* *Laghu-bhagavatamrta* (1.5.461) and quoted by Kṛṣṇadasa Kaviraja Gosvami in *Caitanya-caritāmṛta* (*Antya* 1.67): > kṛṣṇo ’nyo yadu-sambhūto > yaḥ pūrṇaḥ so ’sty ataḥ paraḥ > vṛndāvanaṁ parityajya > sa kvacin naiva gacchati “The Kṛṣṇa known as Yadukumara is Vasudeva Kṛṣṇa. He is different from the Kṛṣṇa who is the son of Nanda Mahārāja. Yadukumara Kṛṣṇa manifests His pastimes in the cities of Mathura and Dvaraka, but Kṛṣṇa the son of Nanda Mahārāja never at any time leaves Vṛndāvana." With this as a backdrop we could legitimately ask, how is it that Kṛṣṇa takes birth in nearby Mathura if He never leaves Vrindavan? Wouldn’t being born in Mathura mean that He was at one point—at least during birth and soon thereafter—outside His sacred village? But before going on to explain this, a few words are in order about what Śrīla Rupa Gosvami is saying in the above verse. It is not that there are “many Kas,” as some scholars have mistakenly theorized and as a superficial reading of this verse might indicate. Rather, what is being referred to here is the complex topic of expansion and incarnation, so thoroughly detailed in Vaisnava texts. Śrī Rupa’s verse tells us that the original form of Kṛṣṇa, i.e., Vrindavan Kṛṣṇa, expands into plenary forms and other manifestations for specific purposes. Thus, when the Lord apparently ventures out of Vrindavan, He actually remains there in an unmanifested state. Meanwhile, He continues on in His unfolding pastimes in one of His other forms, such as Vasudeva Kṛṣṇa (Kṛṣṇa, the son of Vasudeva). Now, having understood Śrī Rupa’s comment according to the tradition itself, let us reexamine the story of Kṛṣṇa’s birth in light of the fact that He never leaves Vrindavan. According to the *acaryas*, Yasoda had actually given birth to twins, a boy and a girl. The boy was Kṛṣṇa in His original form, and when Vasudeva arrived with *his* baby, an expansion of Kṛṣṇa (Vasudeva), the expansion merged into Kṛṣṇa’s original form, the son of Yasoda. After t*his*, Vasudeva returned to Kamsa’s cell in Mathura with the baby girl, as the traditional story reveals. This unique version comes to us, once again, from Gaudiya Vaisnava theologian Rupa Gosvami. In his *Śrī Laghu-bhagavatamrta* (1.5.452–456) he writes: To give pleasure to His loving associates and even to relish His own wonderful pastimes, Śrī Kṛṣṇa manifested in Vraja [Vrindavan]. Because the parental love of Nanda and Yasoda is without parallel, Lord Kṛṣṇa eternally thinks Himself their son. In ancient times, devotees revealed that the Lord appeared in His Vasudeva expansion in the home of King Vasudeva, and at the same time He appeared in His original form in the village of Vraja. It was thus said that Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Yogamaya were the twin children of Yasoda in Vrajabhumi. When Mahārāja Vasudeva arrived there, he entered Yasoda's maternity room, seeing only Yasoda's daughter. The Vasudeva expansion that King Vasudeva had brought with him from Mathura entered the body of the original Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who had just taken birth as the son of Yasoda. In this way the two forms of Vasudeva and Kṛṣṇa became one. Because this pastime is very confidential, it is not conveyed in *Śrīmad-Bhagavatam* and other texts. Nevertheless, Sukadeva Gosvami and other great devotees have indirectly described it in their writings. There are hints of these truths in Sanatana Gosvami’s *Brhad-bhagavatamrta*, where the *gopis* deny that Vasudeva and Devaki are Kṛṣṇa’s actual parents (2.6.287), and where Akrura says outright that Kṛṣṇa is simply not Vasudeva’s son (2.6.304, Sanatana’s own commentary). But once Rupa Gosvami fully articulates it, as seen above, the complete story can be found throughout the Gaudiya canon, most famously in the third chapter of Jiva Gosvami’s *Gopala-campu* and in Visvanatha Cakravarti’s Tenth Canto commentary, *Sarartha-darsini* (Chapter Three, verses 47–55). In two particular verses of his *Śrī Kṛṣṇa-sandarbha* (*Anuccheda* 149), Śrīla Jiva Gosvami is emphatic: (3) “Kṛṣṇa became the son of Nanda and Yasoda. He was not the son of anyone else”; (16) “Nanda and Yasoda, and not Vasudeva and Devaki, are the real parents of Śrī Kṛṣṇa.” *Confirmed by Śrīla Prabhupāda* As the greatest ambassador of Gaudiya Vaiṣṇavism in the modern world, His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda supports the conclusions of his predecessors. The subject at hand is no exception. For example, in commenting on the *Śrīmad-Bhagavatam* (10.3.47), he writes: Śrīla Visvanatha Cakravarti Ṭhākura discusses that Kṛṣṇa appeared simultaneously as the son of Devaki and as the son of Yasoda, along with the spiritual energy Yogamaya. As the son of Devaki, He first appeared as Vishnu, and because Vasudeva was not in the position of pure affection for Kṛṣṇa, Vasudeva worshiped his son as Lord Vishnu. Yasoda, however, pleased her son Kṛṣṇa without understanding His Godhead. This is the difference between Kṛṣṇa as the son of Yasoda and as the son of Devaki. This is explained by Visvanatha Cakravarti on the authority of *Hari-vasa.* The late Gour Govinda Swami, one of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s prominent disciples, lectured on this subject in Bhubaneswar (August 18, 1995) and elsewhere: Exactly at the same time when Yasoda-mata gave birth to Kṛṣṇa in Vrindavan, Devaki also gave birth to a child in the prison house of Kamsa. That is described in the Tenth Canto of the *Bhagavatam.* On one hand, the son of Nanda and Yasoda is Svayam Bhagavan, the original Supreme Personality of Godhead . . . . On the other hand, manifesting from the womb of Devaki came the four-handed form Vasudeva, who is a *prabhava-prakasa* expansion of Kṛṣṇa. In other words, the Ādi Purusa complete original Supreme Personality Kṛṣṇa took birth from mother Yasoda, while [an expansion as] Lord Narayana (Vishnu) simultaneously manifested from the womb of mother Devaki. As Vasudeva was leaving the prison of Kamsa, Yasoda-mata gave birth to yet a second child, a daughter. So, Yasoda-mata gave birth to one son and one daughter. Vasudeva Mahārāja arrived in Vrindavan, put down the *prakasa* expansion, and then picked up the daughter. While he was doing those things, he did not see Yasoda’s son, Kṛṣṇa. How could such a thing happen? Well, by her own potency, Yogamaya kept the son of Nanda hidden, and Vasudeva could not see Him. Vasudeva only saw the daughter. The son of Vasudeva and Devaki is a four-handed plenary portion of Kṛṣṇa. So when Vasudeva put Him on the lap of Yasoda, that plenary portion entered into the child, Syamasundara Kṛṣṇa, who already was lying there. Prabhupāda again refers to the dual birth in his commentary on *Śrīmad-Bhagavatam* 10.5.1–2, when describing Nandotsava, the birth celebration that took place in Nanda Mahārāja’s home: The *jata-karma* ceremony can take place when the umbilical cord, connecting the child and the placenta, is cut. However, since Kṛṣṇa was brought by Vasudeva to the house of Nanda Mahārāja, where was the chance for this to happen? In this regard, Visvanatha Cakravarti Ṭhākura desires to prove with evidence from many *sastras* that Kṛṣṇa actually took birth as the son of Yasoda before the birth of Yogamaya, who is therefore described as the Lord's younger sister. . . . According to the opinion of some authorities, Kṛṣṇa was actually born as the son of Yasoda. In any case, . . . we can accept that Nanda Mahārāja's celebration for the ceremony of Kṛṣṇa's birth was proper. This ceremony is therefore well known everywhere as Nandotsava. From the time of *Kṛṣṇa* to the present, Nandotsava is celebrated on the day after Janmastami. Chapter Five of Prabhupāda’s book *Kṛṣṇa* (and thus the fifth chapter of *Śrīmad-Bhagavatam’s* Tenth Canto) elaborates on the significance of this day, explaining that when *Kṛṣṇa* was born, Vrindavan’s many saintly villagers came to see Him and congratulate the new cowherd parents. Nanda Mahārāja, taking advantage of the auspicious occasion, gave many valuables in charity to all his guests, such as clothes, ornaments, and cows. The festival is considered the most glorious moment associated with the day of *Kṛṣṇa*’s appearance. In fact, Nandotsava is in some ways the real Janmastami because it is the initial celebration of *Kṛṣṇa* in His original form. In 1896, Prabhupāda himself appeared in this world on Nandotsava, the day after Kṛṣṇa’s appearance day, thus infusing an already auspicious day with even greater potency. For members of the International Society for Kṛṣṇa Consciousness, while Janmastami is one of the most important days of the year, Nandotsava will always have special meaning, not only because of its relation to the original Personality of Godhead, but because it is the appearance day of the person who gave us that Supreme Personality. Indeed, without Śrīla Prabhupāda, the secrets and mysteries of Kṛṣṇa’s appearance would remain far, far away. *Satyaraja Dāsa, a disciple of Śrīla Prabhupāda, is a BTG associate editor and founding editor of the* Journal of Vaishnava Studies. *He has written more than thirty books on Kṛṣṇa consciousness and lives near New York City.* Founder's Lecture: The Key to Understanding the Supreme December 27, 1966, New York City *Understanding the Supreme Truth is not difficult for one who accepts the words of scripture and pure souls.* > tvāṁ śīla-rūpa-caritaiḥ parama-prakṛṣṭaiḥ > sattvena sāttvikatayā prabalaiś ca śāstraiḥ > prakhyāta-daiva-paramārtha-vidāṁ mattaiś ca > naivāsura-prakṛtayaḥ prabhavanti boddhum > [Cc Ādi 3.87] “O my Lord, those influenced by demoniac principles cannot realize You, although You are clearly the Supreme by dint of Your exalted activities, forms, character, and uncommon power, which are confirmed by all the revealed scriptures in the quality of goodness and the celebrated transcendentalists in the divine nature.” *— Stotra-ratna* 12, by Śrī Yamunacarya, quoted as *Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Adi-līlā* 3.87 Those who are of the atheistic mentality, atheistic consciousness, have decided not to believe in God, so it is very difficult for them to believe. Those who have decided in favor of the atheistic conclusion will never accept any argument for God. Otherwise, to understand the science of God is not very difficult. If one is simple, he can understand. Everything required is there. *Tvāṁ śīla-rūpa-caritaiḥ parama-prakṛṣṭaiḥ.* When God comes as an incarnation or sends His representative, they perform wonderful acts. They are not ordinary, common men. Whether God or God's representative, they act in ways not possible for any common man. That is the particular symptom of God and God's representative. *Parama* means the highest class of superiority, which is not possible for ordinary men. People take the acts of God and His representatives as miracles, stories, or allegories. But actually they are not so. For example, when Lord Ramacandra appeared, He made a bridge between India and Ceylon. There is no history in the world that one has made a bridge over the ocean, the Indian Ocean. And how was the bridge made? Not in the present, modern way. Not by pouring concrete into the ground and then adding pillars and so on. No. The stones were floating. Ramacandra's assistants were monkeys. What kind of engineers are they? They could order, "Bring some stones." They had very good health, so they brought big, big stones, which began to float. Now, one may question, "How can a stone float?" But why can't a stone float? If this big, big lump of matter—the earth planet—and other planets are floating in the air, why can't a stone float? If God likes, it will float. That is God desire. It is God's plan. Now, you can see that a ship on the ocean carrying fifty thousand tons is floating. But if you take, say, a small needle and put it on the ocean, it will sink at once. It is simply a question of arrangement. A small needle will go down immediately to the depths of the sea, and a ship with a load of fifty thousand tons will float. If a man can make an arrangement some way or other so that he can float a fifty-thousand-ton ship, is it not possible for God to float a stone on the ocean? Is there any reason to disbelieve it? There is no reason. And we can see. By God's energy these big, big lumps of matter, these planets, are floating in the air. That is called omnipotence. If He likes, one thing will float. If He does not like, it will go down. There is a very nice verse in *Śrīmad-Bhagavatam* (7.9.19) where Prahlada Mahārāja prays, "The parents' care for their children is not sufficient to protect them. Medical help for a patient is not sufficient to cure a disease. And a ship on the sea is not sufficient to protect a man from drowning." In this way he has given different examples. "Whatever counteraction we use against the impediments to our progress is not sufficient if there is no will of God. If there is no will of God, then it is not sufficient protection." Perhaps you know, every one of you. It happened to your country. The British manufactured a ship, the Titanic. It was considered the safest ship; it would never sink. On the first voyage, with many important men onboard, it sank. Is it not a fact? So your arrangement is not sufficient—unless God's desire is there. *Depend on the Supreme Will* The common saying is "Man proposes, God disposes." Therefore a devotee never depends on himself. He never considers, "I am independent." He simply depends on the supreme will of the Lord. That is devotion. "If God desires . . ." "If Kṛṣṇa desires . . ." Whenever we used to ask our Guru Mahārāja, "Is such and such going to happen?" he never said, "Yes, it is going to happen. Yes, we are going to do it." No. "Yes, if Kṛṣṇa desires, it may be." He never said positively. He would say, "If Kṛṣṇa desires." Actually this is the fact. If Kṛṣṇa desires, if God desires, anything wonderful can be done. If He does not desire, it will never be done, however much you may try. We are praying to Kṛṣṇa, and if He desires, we'll have a nice house. If He does not desire, we may remain here. It doesn't matter. But we shall prosecute our business, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. There is nothing to stop our devotional service, in whatever condition we may be. *Ahaituky *apratihata.** Devotional service is without any impediment, *apratihata.* Nothing can check it. That is devotional service. It continues in any circumstance. No material circumstances can check your Kṛṣṇa consciousness. When you are firmly convinced and situated in that position, that is real *bhakti-yoga.* Nothing can disturb you. Nobody can say, "Oh, because of this condition, now I am unable to prosecute Kṛṣṇa consciousness." That means he was never in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Nothing can check Kṛṣṇa consciousness. *Tvāṁ śīla-rūpa-caritaiḥ parama-prakṛṣṭaiḥ.* When the incarnation of God comes, He performs wonderful acts. Kṛṣṇa performed wonderful acts. Leaving other things aside, simply consider the *Bhagavad-gītā.* It is such wonderful philosophy. Nobody can deliver such philosophy. There is no comparison in the history of the world. It is full of information about the science of God. And in childhood Kṛṣṇa did so many wonderful things. Those who are surrendered believe, and therefore they receive the desired result. *The Authority of Scripture* And where are the activities of God and His representative described? In the *sastras,* or scriptures, which are books of authority. Vyasadeva had no business, Sukadeva Gosvami had no business, to present some fiction, some allegory. Fools interpret the *sastras—*"This means this. This means that"—according to their own opinion, as if God left something unclear for some foolish commentator to clarify. For example, in the beginning of the *Bhagavad-gītā* (1.1) it is stated, **dharma-kṣetre *kuru-kṣetre** samavetā yuyutsavaḥ.* Now, some eminent politician has interpreted *dharma-kṣetre *kuru-kṣetre** to be the body. There is no dictionary in the world where it is stated that *kuru-kṣetre* means the body, but still this politician is interpreting in that way, as if Kṛṣṇa left it for him—"In the future the meaning of *kuru-kṣetre* will be disclosed by that fool." These things are going on. And people are captivated by nice explanations. The theory is "Everyone can interpret in his own way, everyone is free, everyone is God." This is all nonsense. We should give up that nonsensical way of realizing God. We should learn from the authorized scriptures. *Sattvena sāttvikatayā prabalaiś ca śāstraiḥ.* In the scriptures the science of God is described. And the scriptures are to be accepted without any argument. I have given the example of cow dung. In the *sastra* cow dung is stated to be the purest substance. In one place it is stated, "The stool of an animal is impure. If anyone touches it, he will have to bathe and then purify himself." But for cow dung it is stated, "If there is any impure place, just smear it with cow dung, and it will be all nice." Now, the argument is "How can you say that the stool of an animal is impure and cow dung is pure?" But that is not a contradiction. That is actually the fact. And modern scientists have analyzed cow dung and found that it is full of antiseptic properties. It is God's wish. Now, consider the cow. What does the cow eat? Dry grass. And what does it produce? Milk, which is full of vitamins. Now, if you think, "Oh, since dry grass contains many vitamins, let me eat dry grass," you will die. It is God's arrangement. The cow can produce nutritious foodstuff by eating dry grass. It is God's desire. The cow will eat at least twenty pounds of grass. The elephant will eat a hundred pounds of branches and twigs. Everything is God's arrangement. The activities of God are mentioned in the authoritative **sastra*,* and they are practically demonstrated when God is present. And *prakhyāta-daiva-paramārtha-vidāṁ mataiś ca. Mata* means opinion. We take the opinion of a person who is accepted. For example, you are selling *Back to Godhead* by using Ginsberg's name because he is popular. Similarly, there are popular representatives, popular authors, like Vyasadeva, Narada, Asita, Devala, Kumara, Kapila, Manu. They have accepted what the *sastra* teaches about God. Even in the modern age, Sankaracarya accepted Lord Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And the Vaisnava *acaryas* naturally accept Kṛṣṇa. We have to follow them. So we have the opinions of great scholars and stalwarts, we have the authority of the *sastra,* and we have the practical demonstration of Kṛṣṇa's activities. These things are there. And still, those who are atheists will not accept Kṛṣṇa. *The Lord's Characteristics* Now, also quoted here is a related verse by Śrī Yamunacarya (*Stotra-ratna* 13): > ullaṅghita-trividha-sīma-samātiśāyi- > sambhāvanaṁ tava parivraḍhima-svabhāvam > māyā-balena bhavatāpi niguhyamānaṁ > paśyanti kecid aniśaṁ tvad-ananya-bhāvāḥ “O my Lord, everything within material nature is limited by time, space, and thought. Your characteristics, however, being unequaled and unsurpassed, are always transcendental to such limitations. You sometimes cover such characteristics by Your own energy, but nevertheless Your unalloyed devotees are always able to see You under all circumstances.” (*Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi* 3.89) God may hide Himself by His *yogamaya,* as stated in the *Bhagavad-gītā* (7*.*25): nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yogamāyā-samāvṛtaḥ*.* In the *Īśopaniṣad (Mantra* 15) also we find that the Supreme Lord is hidden within the **brahma-jyoti*,* His all-pervading spiritual energy: "Please remove this covering so that I can actually see You*.*" So within the *brahma-jyoti* is the Supreme Personality of Godhead*.* Ordinarily people are amazed simply with the *brahma-jyoti**.* They do not go deeper into the matter*.* *Ullaṅghita-trividha-sīma-samātiśāyi.* God is beyond the limitation of our thinking and philosophical speculation. *Sambhāvanaṁ tava parivraḍhima-svabhāvam:* "Your very grave and confidential activities are very difficult for ordinary men to understand." *Māyā-balena bhavatāpi niguhyamānaṁ paśyanti kecid aniśaṁ:* "Although *yogamaya* covers all Your activities, someone can see You." Not sometimes or accidentally, but *anisam:* "Continuously he can see You." *Ananya-bhava* means "those who have unflinching devotion unto You." They can see. There is a very good example in the *Śrīmad-Bhagavatam.* While Kṛṣṇa was dancing with the Vraja **gopis*,* the cowherd girls of Vrindavan, He all of a sudden disappeared, and all the *gopis* became mad after Him and began to search in the forest: "Where is Kṛṣṇa?" So Kṛṣṇa, at one place, situated Himself as Vishnu, with four hands. Then the **gopis*,* in their search for Kṛṣṇa, saw, "Here is Vishnu sitting." They did not care. "Oh, He is Vishnu. We don't want Him." Now see. They are seeing Vishnu sitting, but they do not care for Vishnu: "Oh, we don't want this." They do not care for even Vishnu. They are searching after Kṛṣṇa. And when Rādhārāṇī came, Kṛṣṇa could not hide Himself as Vishnu with four hands. He had to become two-handed. Rādhārāṇī's love was so forceful that Kṛṣṇa could not retain His hiding in His feature of Vishnu. For other *gopis* He could hide Himself as Vishnu, but they did not care. They simply offered their respects. "Oh, Vishnu. All right." But they want Kṛṣṇa. But when Rādhārāṇī came, Kṛṣṇa could not hide Himself with His four hands. He immediately became two-handed as Kṛṣṇa. *Only by the Force of Love* It is the force of love, the force of ecstasy, that will help you understand the science of Kṛṣṇa, not any other way. You cannot speculate. What is your power of speculating? Your senses are limited. In the conditioned stage our power to acquire knowledge through the senses is limited. By limited senses you cannot understand the science of Kṛṣṇa. It is *acintya,* beyond the jurisdiction of our thinking, our understanding. There is no alternative to following the opinion of the **acarya*,* or spiritual master. *Ācāryopāsanam.* In the *Bhagavad-gītā* (13.8) it is stated, "If you want to make progress in knowledge, then you have to worship the *acarya*." In *t*he *Veda* i*t* is said, ācāryavān puruṣo veda. *Veda* means knowledge or one who knows. Who knows? "One who has an *acarya* *t*o guide him." Therefore *t*his Vedic sys*t*em gives us *t*he injunc*t*ion *t*ad vijñānār*t*haṁ sa gurum evābhigacche*t**:* "To learn *t*he *t*ru*t*h one mus*t* go *t*o *t*he au*t*hori*t*y." (*Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad* 1.2.12) How to become an authority? There is no question of research. In the material world one earns a doctorate by research work, but here there is no question of research. You simply have to accept what is stated in the *Veda.* That's all. That makes you all right. The research is already done. There is no question of taking trouble yourself. You simply accept. Kṛṣṇa says, *sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja:* "Give up everything and surrender unto Me." (*Gita* 18.66) We cannot foolishly go on saying, "Oh, why shall I surrender?" as some so-called learned commentator suggests when he says, "Not to Kṛṣṇa, but to somebody else." Not like that. Kṛṣṇa says, "Surrender." Surrender yourself and you will see how you are making progress. That is the thing. Kṛṣṇa says, "Surrender." You surrender. That will make you happy. There is no question of "All right. Let me research whether by surrendering to Kṛṣṇa I shall be happy." If you want you can go on researching, but you will never be successful. In the *Brahma-saṁhitā* (5.34) it is stated, > panthās tu koṭi-śata-vatsara-saṁpragamyo > vāyor athāpi manaso muni-puṅgavānām > so 'py asti yat-prapada-sīmny avicintya-tattve > govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi "I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, only the tips of the toes of whose lotus feet are approached by the *yogis* and *jnanis,* who travel for billions of years at the speed of the wind or mind." If you research the Supreme at the speed of the mind or the wind for ten million years or more, still you will find that you have not reached the goal. *Avicintya-tattva:* still it will be inconceivable. So the best course is to believe in Kṛṣṇa by accepting the opinion of the authorities and by the evidence of His activities in His incarnations. To understand the Supreme, submit yourself, that's all. Thank you very much. ## Śrīla Prabhupāda Speaks Out Where Is Your Freedom? *This conversation between His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda and some of his disciples took place at ISKCON's farming village in New Vrindaban, West Virginia, on June 24, 1976.* Śrīla Prabhupāda: Thanks to modern so-called education, people have become asses—no sense of the distinction between the body and the soul. Are our children here getting enough milk? Disciple: Yes, as much as they want. Śrīla Prabhupāda: Yes. Children must get at least two cups of milk a day. If they drink plenty of milk, their body becomes stout and strong, and they develop a keen brain for understanding the distinction between their body and their soul. Do people see how our simple, natural way of life benefits society? Do they see we are not killing our children through abortion, but rather maintaining them with buckets and buckets of milk? Is this not a better civilization? Just consider. Due to selfishness, or fear of "overpopulation," people are killing children—mothers are killing their own children. Is that civilization? Disciple: In the *Bhagavad-gītā* Kṛṣṇa says that those in the mode of ignorance take irreligion to be religion, and religion to be irreligion. Śrīla Prabhupāda: Religion? For these modern rascals, there is no religion. And there is no morality. For instance, here we have so many children, but never do we say, "We cannot maintain these children—kill them." We never say that. So many children? Never mind. Let them all be trained as Kṛṣṇa conscious, God conscious citizens. Let them live comfortably and drink their milk. So, which is the better civilization? Running around in motorcars—*put-put-put-put-put—*and killing your own child. Is that civilization? Disciple: In a sense, many of the children here are not even our own. When, say, a mother with no husband comes here to live with us, naturally we also welcome her children. Śrīla Prabhupāda: That is compassion. We welcome children—and the modern rascals kill children. So why do people not see the distinction between our traditional civilization and their so-called modern civilization? Disciple: They don't have any good argument against our civilization and our compassion, except that they want to be free to do as they like. No hindrances. Complete freedom. Śrīla Prabhupāda: But they're not free. Rather, they're fools. They're not free. Who can be free of nature's law? But still they're thinking, "We're free." This is simply foolishness. If you were actually free, that would be another thing. But by nature's law you are not free. You are responsible for even your tiniest act. Commit even the tiniest misdeed, and you are responsible. So where is your freedom? *Ahhaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā kartāham iti manyate:* "Identifying falsely with his material body, the bewildered soul thinks himself freely doing activities that the body and nature's modes carry out by themselves." [*Gita* 3.27] Of course, because the soul wants to think himself the independent doer, because he wants to take credit and be "responsible," he becomes responsible. Because he chooses to act not on God's account but on his own account, he becomes accountable. Again, where is your freedom? The Lord's material energy—this energy we call "nature"—goes on working, with or without your approval. If you are free, then why is your body growing old and preparing to die? If you are free, then do not die. No one wants to die—unless he's a madman. So how can these modern rascals think they're free when they have to die? What is the answer? Disciple: They will spout some nonsense. "I accept death as part of life." Śrīla Prabhupāda: Death is "part of life"? Disciple: Yes. "It's natural." Śrīla Prabhupāda: Well then, rascal, when there is some danger of death, why do you go away? Sit down and die. [*Laughter.*] In truth you don't accept death. You're simply bluffing, talking foolishly. You don't want to die. That is a fact. You're talking foolishly—"I accept death"—but you don't accept it. No, not at all. But because you have no choice, then you say, "I accept death." The real fact is this: You do not wish to die. Unfortunately, you find you have no alternative. "Oh, then I accept. All right." [*Laughter.*] So you can talk like that—foolishly. [*Laughing.*] But an intelligent man does not want to die. He wants to become spiritually realized and then return to the spiritual world and live with God. He wants to find the way to avoid death forever. Disciple: One time a college student bragged to me, "Death? I'm not afraid of death." But when I made as if to strike him, naturally he cringed in fear. "See?" I told him. "You are afraid." Śrīla Prabhupāda: Even a dog is afraid of death. What to speak of a man. When animals are taken to be slaughtered, they wail with fear. Even animals are afraid of death. So of course man is afraid of death. Everyone is afraid of death. Disciple: Sometimes people say, "We're enjoying life. Why are you always bothering us about death?" Śrīla Prabhupāda: Why? Because I love you. And I am intelligent enough to understand that when you die, when you leave your body, you may get a degraded body and spend your next life as a dog. I have concern for you: "Please, friend, don't become a dog." Let's say a child is flying a kite from the roof of some building, and a gentleman sees him—running carelessly this way and that, coming closer and closer to falling over the edge. Naturally the gentleman will say, "Hey! You're going to fall!" That is his duty. Now, the child may scream, "Leave me alone! Why are you bothering me? [*Laughter.*] Why are you bothering me?" "Because I am a human being," the man will say, "and you are a foolish child. Therefore, I am bothering you." ## How I Came to Kṛṣṇa Consciousness *An Accident . . . Or Maybe Not* *by Śrī Caitanya Candra Dāsa* A decision at the scene of an auto accident leads to a small reward and a life-changing purchase. One day during my student years at MIT Pune (Maharashtra Institute of Technology), I was strolling on the streets of Kothrud at dusk. I was superficially observing shops, restaurants, people, and vehicles, but my mind was absorbed in other thoughts. From my childhood I had always deliberated on subjects like the mind, consciousness, suffering, and death. After I became at student at the engineering college, my thoughts on these topics intensified. I used to think, Why am I suffering? Was there any time when I was not suffering? What is the purpose of the universe? How long will the universe continue to exist? Is there any way to get out? *The Accident* While walking on the road that evening, I was again delving into thoughts of suffering, disease, and death. Is there any way out of the miseries of life? Is anyone free from suffering? What is ultimate goal of life? Suddenly I heard loud *bang*! There had been a car accident, and people gathered around. When I went near, I saw two young girls lying on the ground in a pool of blood. I pushed myself nearer out of curiosity. One girl was half conscious, and the other unconscious. Despite seeing the girls' precarious condition, nobody was ready to go near and help. People stopped an auto rickshaw passing by. Seeing the tangle, the driver understood the seriousness of the situation and was reluctant to get involved. But people quickly loaded the two girls into his rickshaw. Now who will go with them? They saw me, another young person, and urged me to go. I was caught in a dilemma. I thought, *I might have to face the police and get caught up in their investigation.* A series of quandaries flashed through my mind. I was about to refuse, but suddenly a voice from within commanded me to help. So I relented. I told the rickshaw driver to take to us to nearby Kṛṣṇa Hospital. The unconscious girl's head was on my lap, her blood drenching my clothes. Her sister was crying bitterly, and I was trying to solace her, though I myself was in shock and dismay. At the hospital the girls were taken inside to the emergency ward. I got the phone number of their parents and called them. Their mother answered, but I asked for the father, feeling more comfortable to speak to him on such a delicate matter. I informed him of the situation and urged him to reach the hospital as soon as possible. Then I left. *Meeting Again* After a week I called the father again. He earnestly requested me to visit their house and gave me the address. When I went to there the next day, I saw the two girls sitting with their parents. They were twins! I hadn't realized it before. The parents thanked me a lot. I asked the girls what exactly had happened during the accident, but they couldn’t recall anything. The parents gave me an envelope as a token of gratitude. When I came back I found a hundred rupees in it. Because of my religious family background, I understood that I should use the money in God’s service; otherwise I might get the *karma* of the donor. *My First Bhagavad-gītā* I had a friend who used to go to the ISKCON temple, so I asked him to get a copy of B*hagavad-gītā* for me. He bought B*hagavad-gītā* As It Is, by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda—for exactly a hundred rupees. After I read this B*hagavad-gītā*, a paradigm shift occurred: I became serious about spiritual life. The unanswered questions I'd had for many years about suffering, the universe, the mind, and death were answered beyond expectation. I understood from *Bhagavad-gītā* that this world is like a hospital. We are admitted here because we have the disease of forgetfulness of God. In the *Bhagavad-gītā* (8.15) Kṛṣṇa describes this ephemeral world: > mām upetya punar janma > duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam > nāpnuvanti mahātmānaḥ > saṁsiddhiṁ paramāṁ gatāḥ "After attaining Me, the great souls, who are *yogis* in devotion, never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have attained the highest perfection." If we want to get free from suffering, we have to get out of this hospital. We cannot expect a peaceful stay as long as we are in the hospital. To get cured from the disease of material existence we have to serve the Lord with love and devotion. And the best way to do this in the current age is by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. There is another world, called the spiritual world, where we originally belong. When we purify ourselves by chanting the holy names of Lord, we will soon attain the spiritual world, where there is no misery but only unlimited bliss in close association with God. Once we go there, we never return to this miserable world, as Lord Kṛṣṇa describes: > na tad bhāsayate sūryo > na śaśāṅko na pāvakaḥ > yad gatvā na nivartante > tad dhāma paramaṁ mama “That supreme abode of Mine is not illumined by the sun or moon, nor by fire or electricity. Those who reach it never return to this material world.” (*Gita* 15.6) I had been searching for such a world since my childhood. After a few more years of education and then a job, I joined the ISKCON Pune temple full time. Later I understood who had inspired me from within to board the auto rickshaw after the accident and help the girls. > īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ > hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati > bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni > yantrārūḍhāni māyayā “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.” (*Gita* 18.61) I admitted the girls into Kṛṣṇa Hospital, but they admitted me into the Kṛṣṇa temple. For the twins it was an accident, but for me it was not an accident, but Kṛṣṇa’s wonderful arrangement. Kṛṣṇa is so kind that even if we have a slight desire to know the answers, He arranges circumstances inconceivably to help us find the answers. When one is serious about finding the truths of life, the Lord from within guides in miraculous ways. *Śrī Caitanya Candra Dāsa has been a* brahmacari *at the ISKCON Pune temple since 2007. He currently serves as a temple manager at the New Vedic Cultural Center (NVCC), Pune.* ## Reasons to Get Along *by Dr. A. D. Śrīragapriya Ramanujadasan* *Some remarkable correlations between the lives and philosophies of Śrīla Prabhupāda and Śrī Ramanujacarya.* This is Kali-yuga, the age of quarrel, when even good people are looking for a fight. Yet Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the *yuga-avatara* (the incarnation for this age), looked for reasons to get along rather than reasons to argue. Emphasizing our natural fellowship in God, He took on Kali’s divisive influence without affronting even a blade of grass. His corresponding peace process was a philosophy of inconceivable oneness in difference—*acintya-bhedabheda-tattva—*a mandate for self-respect and not megalomania, freedom and not anarchy, individuality and not alienation. Śrīla Prabhupāda was Mahāprabhu’s main man, Gaudiya Vaiṣṇavism’s most illustrious ambassador, and everybody’s ever well-wisher. In 1965 he left his spiritual oasis, crossed the Atlantic, and wound up on skid-row. The ultimate legal alien. A Vaikuṇṭha-man in New York. From there, he galvanized the International Society for Kṛṣṇa Consciousness to (as the Society's incorporation papers read) "achieve real unity and peace in the world" and "teach and encourage the *Sankirtana* movement." Prabhupāda showed that *acintya-bhedabheda* was not only a unity of ideas; it was a unity of people. This article acclaims Prabhupāda’s mission from a Śrī Vaisnava viewpoint. When Kevala-advaitins (Mayavadis) were bullying everyone by saying that *bhakti* was okay for the intellectually challenged but impersonalism was for real men, Prabhupāda riposted: No. India’s greatest thinkers have adored Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Consequently, he did not just inspire thoughtful or disillusioned Westerners; he championed all Vaisnavas. We all owe him gratitude. But why should Śrī Ramanujacarya, Śrī Vaiṣṇavism’s greatest philosopher, interest Gaudiya Vaisnavas themselves? *Because Prabhupāda liked him.* Prabhupāda was totally devoted to Kṛṣṇa. Prabhupāda’s books, which explain and safeguard Kṛṣṇa’s teachings, are complete in themselves. There is no need to look any further. And yet within his chaste purports, Prabhupāda cites Ramanujacarya’s tradition over a hundred times. Also, Prabhupāda had helped produce *Prapanna-jīvanāmṛta,* an anthology replete with Śrī Vaisnava quotations. Two of Śrī Vaiṣṇavism’s classic poems, *Mukunda-mala* and *Stotra-ratna*, were among Prabhupāda’s favorites. He sang them to himself and in public. Similar Lives Prabhupāda definitely had a soft spot for Ramanujacarya. Their congruent lives indicate why. Both had an unconventional schooling that foretold their awaiting missions. Ramanujacarya’s parents were Kṛṣṇa devotees yet had him taught by a renowned Mayavadi. While other children were playing marbles, Ramanuja was rehearsing the arguments that would later leave Mayavada in tatters. Similarly, though Prabhupāda’s father wanted Abhay to remain a devout follower of Rādhārāṇī, he did not send Abhay to a traditional *gurukula,* but to a British college. Home was practically a medieval temple, yet Abhay was being tutored by the Empire. He studied Shakespeare and Keats and developed a fluency and love for the global language—English. Kṛṣṇa had it all planned. From childhood, both had friendship circles broader than normal. Teenager Ramanuja empathized with tribals and later saluted a "lower-caste" as his mentor. Similarly, Abhay mingled cordially with Calcutta’s many religious and racial communities. Both endured incompatible wives before renouncing marriage to make the world their family. Each had little time with his *guru*, but the moments were decisive. One glimpse and Yamunacarya knew that Ramanuja would look after Śrī Vaiṣṇavism. Likewise, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvati intuited immediately that Abhay Caran would fulfill Mahāprabhu’s global mission. For both Ramanujacarya and Prabhupāda, genius was not for winning arguments, but friends—bringing people to Kṛṣṇa. To attract the masses both stretched the mores. Ramanujacarya’s outreach transcended caste, communal, and gender boundaries. When temple priests scolded the common people to stay out, Ramanujacarya said, "Please come in." Hitherto, the erudite had rejected all but spartan savants; Ramanujacarya taught any newcomer. He marveled at a young woman’s scholarship, adopted a Turkish princess, and had a pious homeless woman enshrined. Ramanujacarya had the love and courage to initiate outsiders into the Śrī Vaisnava aristocracy. Prabhupāda too was the people’s champion. Class, race, or sophistication was immaterial. As Satsvarupa Dāsa Goswami writes in *Śrīla Prabhupāda-līlāmta* (Chapter 20), "Never mind whatever sinful things they were doing, these people were perfect candidates for Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Tompkins Square Park was Kṛṣṇa's plan; it was also part of the earth, and these people were members of the human race." Prabhupāda did not see *mlecchas* (persons considered uncivilized by Vedic standards), but only spiritual potential, and whatever a born *brahmana* could do, they could do—better too. His Western disciples would take Vedic culture into modernity and beyond. He empowered women to worship Deities, recite confidential *mantras*, lead *kirtanas*, record albums, manage temples, and give lectures. These initiatives irked the orthodoxy. Ramanujacarya faced jealous persecution, and Prabhupāda’s godbrothers neglected him. As Prabhupāda’s movement flourished, their neglect sometimes degenerated into uncomplicated envy. Evil Duryodhanas are easily faced, but when even Bhimas fight you, it is demoralizing and difficult to stay focused on your duty. Both Ramanujacarya and Prabhupāda did. Gloriously. Both were "green." Ramanujacarya promoted the universe as God’s body, clarified that He incarnates in all species for their welfare, and always fitted temples into the countryside. Similarly, Prabhupāda’s eco-friendly farming communities exemplified a simple, more natural way of life. He emphasized God’s love for all creatures, and consequently humankind’s responsibility towards them. You have seen Kṛṣṇa’s picture. He’s embracing the calf also, and He’s embracing Rādhārāṇī. Not that He’s simply attached to Rādhārāṇī and the *gopis.* He’s attached to everyone, every living entity. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is the best friend of everyone. (Lecture, 16 October 1972) These were the empathies, revolutions, and risks of forthcoming preachers, not reticent gnostics. Ramanujacarya and Prabhupāda did not rest in cozy holy places. They traveled till exhausted. As a cow’s milk is not for herself, so too their every excellence was for saving others. *Philosophical Kinship* Their similar lives reflected their congruent philosophies. Vaiṣṇavism is timeless. Yet by the eighth century she was suffocating under the miasma of Kevala-advaita (Mayavada). This doctrine alleges that ultimate reality is a Thing without form, qualities, or personality. Creation is an illusion, and liberation is realizing total identity with the impersonal absolute (*aha brahmasmi*). Ramanujacarya (eleventh century) faced the whole "I am the Brahman" psychosis head on and said: Get real. The soul is not the center of the spiritual universe; God is. Our oneness with God lies in our essence—in our servitude and love—not in absolute equality. What followed was Vedanta’s heavyweight clash, the rumble in the scriptural jungle. First Ramanujacarya meticulously summarized Kevala-advaita, and then he refuted it. His conclusions remain foundational: (a) Ultimate reality is neither impersonal nor formless. He is the Supreme Person, with a body, immaculate excellences, and devoid of blemish. (b) God is Narayana; all things exist in Him and He in them. He is the material and efficient cause of everything, which He ubiquitously ensouls (*antaryami*). (c) His indwelling presence sustains and rationalizes the plurality of souls. Matter, time, and space too are real, and the cosmic cycles are His majestic sport. The infinite One enjoys both being the many finites and transcending them. (d) The Lord cannot be attained through knowledge (*jnana*) or works *(karma)*. Surrender (*saranagati*) evokes His salvific grace. To know God, love God (*ananya-bhakti*). (e) The soul never equates to God. Even liberated souls are His servants. Nevertheless, God shares everything and keeps everyone happy. (f) As body is to soul (*sarira-sariri bhava*), servant is to master (*sea-sesi bhava*), and protected is to protector (*rakya-rakaka bhava*), just so we are inseparable fractions of His glory (*mama teja asa sambhavam*). Thus individuality and variety (*viśiṣṭa*) coexist within the one (*advaita*) Supreme Person, i.e. *viśiṣṭa*-*advaita*. Ramanujacarya and other stalwart Vaisnava *acaryas* such as Visnusvami (eighth century), Nimbarkacarya (twelfth century), and Madhvacarya (thirteenth century) do occasionally differ. But all concur resolutely that God is a person and we are His eternal servants. A mellow new wave comes with Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu (fifteenth century). Consolidating and amplifying preceding truths, His *acintya-bhedabheda-tattva* celebrates diversity while highlighting harmony in God. This applies to the souls, universes, peace, happiness. Prabhupāda clarifies: The varieties are one and at the same time different. This is the philosophy of *acintya-bhedabheda-tattva.* The conclusion given in *Brahma-saṁhitā* is this: > īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ > sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ > anādir ādir govindaḥ > sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam “Kṛṣṇa, known as Govinda, is the supreme controller. He has an eternal, blissful, spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin, for He is the prime cause of all causes.” Because the Lord is the supreme cause, everything is one with Him, but when we consider varieties, we find that one thing is different from another. (*Śrīmad-Bhagavatam* 7.9.31, Purport) *Bhagavad-gītā* [15.7]: *mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke jīva-bhūtaḥ—*the living entities are part and parcel of God. So we are one with God, since we have God's qualities in minute degree. But God is the master, and we are always subordinate. *Eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān:* we are protected, we are maintained, we are predominated. (*Civilization and Transcendence,* Chapter 11) The *brahmanas,* the universes, exist during the duration of a breath of the Supreme Lord. . . . Thus they are also within the womb of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Maha-Vishnu. Nothing, therefore, is separate from the Supreme Lord. (*Śrīmad-Bhagavatam* 7.3.32, Purport) *Acintya-bhedabheda,* simultaneous oneness and difference. The living entity cannot enjoy life in opposition to the Supreme Lord; he has to dovetail his activities with the Lord by practicing *bhakti-yoga.* (*Śrīmad-Bhagavatam* 3.29.35, Purport) Clearly, *viśiṣṭa-advaita* (variety within the one) and *acintya-bhedabheda* (simultaneous oneness and difference) are akin. Mahāprabhu Himself gave Ramanujacarya both an esoteric preview of His mission and approval of *viśiṣṭa-advaita*. Further, He regarded the Śrī Vaisnava principles of *ananya-bhakti* (exclusive devotion) and *bhagavata seatva* (service to the devotees) as especially meritorious. (See Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura's *Navadvipa-dhama-mahatmya.*) So trusted is the relationship, that Prabhupāda used *viśiṣṭa-advaita* to explain the divinity of Mahāprabhu as Kṛṣṇa, the embodiment of oneness in diversity. Prabhupāda cherished the affinity. Culturally also, Śrī and Gaudiya Vaiṣṇavism match. In home or temple, Deity worship defines the milieu—what Kṛṣṇa likes, devotees like. Hence diet, morals, routines, music, dress, art, literature, festivals, and pilgrimage places are shared. *Mantra* meditation pulsates through both communities. Ramanujacarya enjoined constant utterance of the esoteric *dvayam* *mantra*, and Mahāprabhu evangelized the Hare Kṛṣṇa maha-*mantra*. Both incantations emphasize that service is life’s singular goal, achieved through the mediation of the Lord’s beloved consort (either as Śrī Mahalakmi or Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī). Her recommendation is guaranteed (via the disciplic succession) through fidelity to one’s own *guru*. Where the shepherd, there the flock. Hence in both traditions service to the *guru* naturally extends to the entire community. The *Śrīmad-Bhagavatam* lauds the heartlands of Śrī Vaiṣṇavism. In Mahāprabhu’s time, a small community of Śrī Vaisnavas lived genially in Navadvip, and He always found Śrī Vaisnavas most agreeable. Indeed apart from Navadvip, Jagannātha Purī, and Vrinadvan, Śrī Rangam was the only place where Mahāprabhu stayed for long. Prabhupāda appreciated South India’s traditional values, learning, and devotion. *Limits to Tolerance, No Limits to Love* With so many reasons to get along, Śrī and Gaudiya Vaiṣṇavism also share a singular antagonist. Ramanujacarya saw impersonal monism (Kevala-advaita/Mayavada) as the public enemy number one. Better gross materialism than "liberated" impersonalism. Atheism and hedonism deny or ignore God, and so are silly and unfortunate; Mayavada tries to usurp His position, making it worse than everything else. Gaudiya Vaiṣṇavism concurs. Mayavada is the definition of offensiveness (*māyāvādī kṛṣṇe aparādhī*). The Mayavadis propaganda spoils everything (*mayavadi-bhaya sunile haya sarva-nasa*). Wherever Caitanya Mahāprabhu preached, everybody immediately liked Him—except Mayavadis. When even God cannot escape its envy, we must be clear on what is so bad about Maya*vada*. Ramanujacarya’s critique is very technical. The Gaudiya tradition astutely employs the term *maya*vada** to easily name, shame, and explain Kevala-advaita’s hidden agenda. Kevala-advaita’s contention (*vada*) is that under illusion (maya), the impersonal absolute mirages as a personal God, individual souls, and the physical world. Reversing the tape, Maya*vada* would have God collapse back into emptiness while we leapfrog over the illusion of God back into the original Thing. With no God and no devotee, devotion becomes meaningless, and only nebulous bliss remains. Mayavada’s slander could but be hurtful to a pure devotee like Prabhupāda, who knows Kṛṣṇa personally. They love each other and share their thoughts, possessions, and indeed their lives. Thus, Mayavada is nauseating—the Supreme Personality of Godhead becomes an impersonal Thing. Mayavada is ungrateful—all the Lord’s salvific incarnations and pastimes reduce to mere allegories. Mayavada is arrogant—its megalomaniacal campaign seeks parity with God. Mayavada is not just another faith—it destroys devotion and ends all true religion. Mayavada’s pogrom will destroy you too. Ramanujacarya clarifies at *Bhagavad-gītā* 2.12 that personality and individuality are eternal, cherishable, and divine gifts. Prabhupāda specifically mentions him when emphasizing the same point. Conversely, Mayavada’s proposal that God is not a person would mean that (sharing of Its nature) neither are we. By denying Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, we deny our own personality and life itself. In reality, Kṛṣṇa wants to enjoy with us all His flavors of love. He is there for everyone, but Mayavadis incorrigibly alienate themselves from His salvific grace. Theologically, Mayavada is attempted murder; personally, it is spiritual suicide. Consequently, Mayavadis endanger others and themselves. If you really love a Mayavadi, get him off the impersonalist wagon. Stern love. You don’t sympathize with an alcoholic by pouring him another drink; you break the bottle to save the boozer. Love the Mayavadi by shattering his annihilating Mayavada; hate the sin but not the sinner. In the town of Melukote, Ramanujacarya not only wrote his critique of Mayavada but also engaged Advaitins in the devotional community. Similarly, for all his scathing criticism, Prabhupāda was sensitive, humble, and kind towards Mayavadis. Landing in America, Prabhupāda befriended Swami Ramamurti Mishra. This retired medic was not just a *yoga* instructor; he was an ordained Mayavadi minister. Yet when Swami Ramamurti Mishra was ill, Prabhupāda tended, cooked for, and fed his ideological nemesis. Dr. Mishra: "His Holiness Prabhupāda Bhaktivedanta Goswamiji really knocked me down with love. He was really an incarnation of love. . . . He saved my life." Correspondingly, throughout ISKCON centers globally, Mayavadis might be lambasted in the lecture only to be affectionately and sumptuously fed at the love feast to follow—and invited to come back soon. Ultimately, it is not how sweetly you talk, but how you treat people that really matters. There were clear limits to Prabhupāda’s ideological tolerance, but there was no limit to his love. *The Yuga Dharma* As ardently as both Śrī and Gaudiya Vaiṣṇavism combat Mayavada’s moribund and escapist doctrines, so too Vaiṣṇavism is refreshingly world-affirming. Both Śrī and Gaudiya Vaiṣṇavism value life, pluralism, and modernity. In Kali-yuga, discord becomes increasingly normal. Nations fight nations, and within one nation religions clash. In the same religion sects brawl, and within sects are warring factions. Happy families are increasingly rare, and schizophrenia and multiple personality are increasing. Insightful people from different cultures are terrified by what is trending in Kali-yuga. As the poet W. B. Yeats wrote, Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world . . . Still, both *viśiṣṭa-advaita* and *acintya-bhedabheda* heartily face life’s opposites: an infinite God and His finite creatures, a flawless heaven and a corrupted earth, a faithful Master with prodigal servants, vivacious spirit trapped in insentient matter, and a yearning for eternal pleasure in a temporal world full of pain. Both philosophies urge us to resist Kali’s disruptive and depressing tendencies by remembering the unifying, rampant, and triumphant force of divine love—the falconer will never abandon the falcon, things will never fall apart, the center will always hold. Both unity and diversity are an eternal fact because God keeps everything together. *Viśiṣṭa-advaita* sanctifies all creation as a coherent body with God as its central Soul. Similarly, *acintya-bhedabheda* always chooses harmony over exclusion. Whether it is (seemingly) contradictory scriptural texts, alternative moods and modes of worship, or social, gender, or lifestyle diversities, both *viśiṣṭa-advaita* and *acintya-bhedabheda* emphasize the deepest transcendental unity in God. Even Mayavadis, the ultimate anti-socials, are allowed to enjoy the perversity of their solitary confinement. There is room for all in God. While Ramanujacarya is Śrī Vaiṣṇavism’s unifying theologian, Nam-alvar is her bard of hope. He is foremost among those pure devotees of Vishnu prophesized to be born in South India. Nam-alvar came but days after Kṛṣṇa left this world, and this left him traumatized. Nonetheless he sees the early days of dark Kali-yuga as a golden era of opportunity. Modern people are going from bad to worse, but their perversity cannot prohibit God’s grace; astonishingly, His mercy is quickened. The reprobates will be given a break. "Triumph!" Nam-alvar roars. ‘Swept away are pain and hell as globally people will chant, leap, and dance. International minstrels will conquer Kali with music. Serve them, all you lovers of God!" (*Tiruvaimoli* 5.2.1–10) Later, Periya-alvar prayed that people everywhere, in cities and the countryside, would feel the chorus "Surrender to Narayana." His daughter, Śrī Aal, gathered all her girlfriends to praise Kṛṣṇa’s holy names, and King Kulasekhara implored the citizens of the world to do likewise. Gaudiya Vaiṣṇavism reveals that Kṛṣṇa Himself incarnated as Caitanya Mahāprabhu and prophesied a pivotal and global future for the holy names. Every town and village will resound with the chanting of God’s names; in the age of Kali there is no other way. Mahāprabhu’s *Sankirtana yajna* reminds us not to obsess about our own salvation but to be a blessing to the world. Robustly and all together, take it to the streets: God is Narayana, who resides in all beings and in whom all beings reside, and He is Kṛṣṇa, the all-attractive centripetal force who holds everyone together. Prabhupāda encapsulated Vaiṣṇavism’s cohesive form and function brilliantly: “Everything is part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa.” Kṛṣṇa consciousness recognizes the world as a divine confederation. The love of the world is fickle and selfish; Kṛṣṇa’s transcendental amour is unconditional. Soul to soul, Kṛṣṇa is not liberal—He is promiscuous. He will if you will. Even if you don’t believe in Him, He won’t stop believing in you. Kṛṣṇa is the only friend who will always be there. Since Kṛṣṇa is friendly to all, we too should wish everybody well. Śrīla Prabhupāda encouraged all devotees to be this world’s true and effective peacemakers. In *Dharma: The Way of Transcendence,* he writes, "'Here is a spirit soul,' he thinks, 'part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa.' That kind of vision is the basis of universal brotherhood. . . . Then there will be love, brotherhood, equality, and fraternity." Kṛṣṇa is everybody’s reason to get along. What to speak of the need of the hour, Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the savior for the age. Kṛṣṇa consciousness begins with chanting Kṛṣṇa’s names and blossoms in doing things His way and not ours. “Hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven”: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. *Dr*.* A*.* D*.* Śrīragapriya Ramanujadasan, who lives in England, studied under traditional Śrī Vaisnava teachers*.* He lectures at schools, universities, and interfaith forums from a Hindu (particularly Vaisnava) perspective*.* While orthodox Śrī Vaisavas, his family members love and respect Śrīla Prabhupāda and ISKCON, which they regard as the global and authentic voice of all Vaisnavas and* sanatana-dharma*.* ## Śrīla Prabhupāda: Our Founder-Ācārya *Finding Our Mission in His Mission* *by Suresvara Dāsa* *To make our best contribution to the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement takes time, thoughtfulness, and guidance from experienced devotees dedicated to serving Śrīla Prabhupāda’s mission.* To honor the fiftieth anniversary of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s incorporation of the International Society for Kṛṣṇa Consciousness, BTG presents Part Seven of a ten-part series celebrating Śrīla Prabhupāda’s unique, transcendental position in ISKCON, as well as every follower’s foundational relationship with him. Only twice in the *Bhagavad-gītā* do two verses begin with the same Sanskrit line. In 9.34 and 18.65 Kṛṣṇa highlights our need to always think of Him, and in 3.35 and 18.47 He stresses the importance of doing our own duty. Indeed, acting dutifully for Kṛṣṇa, according to our nature, helps us remember the Lord, the perfection of life. Confused about her duty, a disciple once complained, “You know Kṛṣṇa, Prabhupāda—what does Kṛṣṇa want us to do?” “That is not the point,” Prabhupāda chided. “Kṛṣṇa wants to know what you want to do!” (*Prabhupāda-līlā*, Satsvarupa dasa Goswami, Seattle, 1968) Since Kṛṣṇa knows us better than we know ourselves, knowing what Kṛṣṇa wants us to do takes spiritually guided thoughtfulness. “A devotee is as thoughtful as a nondevotee is speculative.” (*Śrīmad-Bhagavatam*, 4.24.59, Purport) To find our mission in Śrīla Prabhupāda’s mission, let’s first look at the challenge of knowing who we are and what our duty is. *Who Am I?* “Know thyself,” the philosopher Socrates admonished his students, for “the unexamined life is not worth living.” And who am I? “Immortal soul,” Socrates asserted. When the court at Athens sentenced him to death for disrespecting “the gods,” Socrates was unafraid. "How shall we bury you?" a tearful friend asked. "Any way you like," replied Socrates, "that is, if you can catch me, and I don't slip through your fingers." (from Plato's *Phaedo*, 115b.) Nearly two millennia later another now-famous “self” appeared in Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “This above all, to thine own self be true,” Polonius advises Laertes. But it is one’s worldly interests, not the immortal soul, that Polonius has in mind—an earthly “self.” The downgrade continues today with *Self* magazine displaying well-built flesh as the self. Photo captions are enough to convey this “philosophy.” To think of the body as the self, to compete to satisfy its demands, and then to die is hardly better than animal life. Our capacity for higher consciousness should tell us something: we have a higher calling. *Mixed-up* In Vedic times different classes of human beings were born and raised to cooperate in devotional service to the Supreme. Lacking that spiritual focus, today’s classes often conflict, and today’s individuals are often conflicted. As Prabhupāda told the World Health Organization, such a population is called “v*ara-sakara*, mixed population.” (Lecture, World Health Organization, Geneva, 6 June 1974) In a word, “mixed-up.” Small wonder that professions like life coaching and occupational therapy have become so popular. By and large, modern materialistic culture is unaware that life has a sacred purpose. To understand what God is calling us to do, we moderns, largely disconnected from a culture of self-realization, need help. In a spiritual society, the first help is spiritual parents. *Spiritual Parents* According to the *Śrīmad-Bhagavatam* (5.5.18), we should not become “a spiritual master, a father, a husband, a mother, or a worshipable demigod” unless we can deliver our “dependents from the path of repeated birth and death.” Quite a responsibility. “That is the real contraceptive method,” Prabhupāda wryly observed. “That we are married, undoubtedly, husband and wife, but unless we are competent to give protection to [our] children—no more death—we should not beget children. This is the real contraceptive.” (Lecture, Māyāpur, 26 February 1976) By contrast, modern groups like the International Planned Parenthood Federation are committed to providing “services” like contraception and abortion. “This is Kali-yuga,” Prabhupāda would remark. “Even in the womb they are coming after you with a knife.”1 Consigning themselves to a similar fate, such people kill the human opportunity to escape the nightmare of birth and death. In a letter to a disciple, Prabhupāda underscored the responsibility that comes with that opportunity: “These children are given to us by Kṛṣṇa, they are Vaisnavas [devotees] and we must be very careful to protect them. These are not ordinary children, they are Vaikuntha children,2 and we are very fortunate we can give them a chance to advance further in Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. That is a very great responsibility.” (Letter to Arundhati Dasi, 30 July 1972) *Spiritual Teachers* Spiritually-minded parents naturally want their children educated by spiritually-minded teachers. Such a partnership helps children grow up to be all they can be in devotional service. But knowing what’s best for a child takes time and perseverance, even for great teachers. Consider Dhruva Mahārāja's talks with Narada Muni. From saints to serpents, the sage Narada engages all kinds of embodied beings in devotional service, yet few have been as precocious as five-year-old Prince Dhruva. Forbidden by a spiteful stepmother to sit on the lap of his father, King Uttanapada, Dhruva angrily approached his natural mother for help to avenge the insult. Convinced that no one but the Supreme Lord could pacify her son, Dhruva’s mother inspired the boy to seek God in the forest and follow the mystic path. Meeting Dhruva in the wilderness, Narada advised him to go back to his mother and return when he was grown-up. In the meantime, Dhruva should live undisturbed and satisfied with his lot as ordained by the Supreme. Good advice, acknowledged Dhruva, but because "I am covered by ignorance . . . this kind of philosophy does not touch my heart." In his commentary, Prabhupāda writes, “Dhruva Mahārāja indirectly informed the great sage Narada that there are four kinds of human spirit”—the saintly spirit, the warrior spirit, the mercantile spirit, and the worker spirit. What are appropriate instructions for one spirit are not necessarily appropriate for another. Further, “unless a child is trained according to his tendency, there is no possibility of his developing his particular spirit. It was the duty of the spiritual master or teacher to observe the psychological movement of a particular boy and thus train him in a particular occupational duty.” (*Śrīmad-Bhagavatam* 4.8.36, Purport) With Dhruva’s help, Narada was able to determine how to best engage him in devotional service. Although Dhruva’s intent was to achieve a kingdom greater than his father’s, by Narada’s expert guidance he came face to face with the Lord Himself within six months, fulfilling the mission of human life. Since spiritual teachers play such crucial roles in helping us find and develop our life’s mission, how can we meet them? *Mystical Meetings* As Lord Caitanya instructed Śrīla Rupa Gosvami: “Out of many millions of wandering living entities, one who is very fortunate gets an opportunity to associate with a bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Kṛṣṇa. By the mercy of both Kṛṣṇa and the spiritual master, such a person receives the seed of the creeper of devotional service.” (*Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya* 19.151) When we’re serious and sincere, we attract the mercy of Kṛṣṇa, who sends a genuine spiritual master to help us come home to Him. How the Lord does this is mystical and unique for each person, yet to protect all concerned, the Vedic literature cautions prospective *gurus* and disciples to thoroughly examine one another before formally entering into a relationship. Śrīla Prabhupāda: “In *Hari-bhakti-vilasa*, by Sanatana Gosvami, it is directed that the spiritual master and the disciple must meet together at least for one year, so that the disciple may . . . understand that ‘Here is a person whom I can accept as my *guru*,’ and the *guru* also can see that ‘Here is a person who is fit for becoming my disciple.’” (Lecture, Honolulu, 21 January 1974) In Prabhupāda’s ISKCON, before the mutual examination begins it is important that senior devotees ground a newcomer in the life, teachings, mood, and mission of our founder-*ācārya*. Indeed, even when Prabhupāda was traveling as the movement’s sole initiator, he depended on his local leaders to train and test aspiring initiates. In ISKCON’s multiple-*guru* culture today, the grounded aspirant will be better able to approach initiation with a cool head: “Who will best guide and engage me in Śrīla Prabhupāda’s mission?” By following Narada’s instructions, Dhruva mystically met the Lord. Prabhupāda offers his followers a similar opportunity: “When one becomes serious to follow the mission of the spiritual master, his resolution is tantamount to seeing the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” (*Śrīmad-Bhagavatam* 4.28.51, Purport) As Prabhupāda’s own spiritual master would say, “Don’t try to see God. Work in such a way that God will see you.” (Lecture, New York City, 16 November 1966) *How Shall We Work for the Lord?* Seeing the Lord through our service to Him is more than an inference or figment; it is an ongoing experience. Prabhupāda writes: “By intense service of the Lord, one can experience the presence of the Lord transcendentally. Therefore seeing the Lord means being engaged in His service because His service and His person are identical.” (*Śrīmad-Bhagavatam* 1.6.22, Purport) Once again, to know how to serve the Lord, the guidance of the spiritual master is essential. Śrīla Prabhupāda: “Just like in the school, college, somebody is being trained up as a scientist, somebody is trained up as an engineer, as a medical man, as a lawyer. According to the tendency, practical psychology of the student, he is advised that ‘You take this line.’" (Lecture, Vrindavan, 29 September 1976) At the same time, “Kṛṣṇa wants to know what you want to do.” As Dhruva helped Narada understand how to engage him in devotional service, by being introspective we can also help our spiritual masters engage us so we can see the Lord in the direction of our service. What follows are a few pointed questions we can ask ourselves before our spiritual masters do: 1. To what service am I most drawn? 2. If I had all the money I needed, what would I do? 3. If I had all the time I needed, what would I do? 4. If I knew I only had one year to live, what would I do? 5. Doing what service do I most forget time? The answer to any one of these questions may give us a hint of our mission. “A devotee is as thoughtful as a nondevotee is speculative.” The more thoughtful and introspective we are about ourselves, the more our spiritual masters can help us be all we can be—and more—in Prabhupāda’s mission. *Pure Devotee’s Meditation* How can we be more than we are? That happens when we completely connect our tiny self to the Supreme Self, Kṛṣṇa. Such was the case with Prince Dhruva, whose meditation on the Lord was so “heavy” that the entire world felt its weight. Prabhupāda explains with an analogy: When hundreds of persons are sitting in an airplane, although they remain individual units, they each share in the total force of the airplane, which runs at thousands of miles per hour; similarly, when unit energy is identified with the service of the total energy, the unit energy becomes as powerful as the total energy. . . . Dhruva Mahārāja, because of his spiritual advancement, became almost the total heaviness, and thus he pressed down the whole earth. Moreover, by such spiritual power his unit body became the total body of the universe. Thus when he closed the holes of his unit body to firmly concentrate his mind on the Supreme Personality of Godhead, all the units of the universe—namely all the living entities, including the big demigods—felt the pressure of suffocation, as if their breathing were being choked. Noting the power of Dhruva’s intense meditation on the Lord, Prabhupāda then expressed his personal realization about the pure devotee’s power to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness: This example of Dhruva Mahārāja's . . . clearly indicates that a devotee, by his personal devotional service, can influence all the people of the whole world to become devotees of the Lord. If there is only one pure devotee in pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he can change the total consciousness of the world into Kṛṣṇa consciousness. (*Śrīmad-Bhagavatam* 4.8.80, Purport) *Our Foundational Inspiration* In the years since Prabhupāda spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness worldwide, his personal example has continued to be the foundational shelter and inspiration for all generations of his followers. In a tribute to His Divine Grace, a granddisciple once wrote: Śrīla Prabhupāda, you “walked through fire” to establish ISKCON. The risks you took are legendary and beyond the call of duty. Leaving the transcendental shelter of the holy *dhama*, you crossed the ocean, suffered heart attacks, and put yourself in the association of uncultured Westerners. You tolerated the struggle and loneliness of a stranger in New York, the toll of world travel at the age of seventy, the criticism of your godbrothers, and the foolish mistakes of young disciples. No one took greater risks than you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, to save us by establishing this International Society for Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. (Devaki Devī Dāsī, entry in the 1999 *Vyasa-puja* book on behalf of the ISKCON temple in Riga, Latvia) In his book *The Siksa-*guru*,* ISKCON leader Sivarama Swami observes that all **guru*s* and disciples are dependent on their founder-*ācārya* “as a building is dependent on its foundation.” As neglecting the foundation eventually collapses a building, so neglecting our founder-*ācārya*, our foundational spiritual master, eventually collapses *guru*-disciple relationships, with—as history has shown—“devastating consequences.”3 Absorbing ourselves in Prabhupāda’s life, teachings, mood, and mission—with the intent to cooperatively serve—is the best foundation for pursuing genuine *guru*-disciple relationships, as well as finding our mission in his ISKCON mission. As singular and selfless as his own sacrifice was, Prabhupāda would be happy simply to see everyone do what they love to do for Kṛṣṇa: It does not matter what one is. One must dedicate everything in the service of the Lord. If one is a learned scholar, scientist, philosopher, poet, etc., then he should employ his learning to establish the supremacy of the Lord. . . . Similarly, if one is a businessman, an industrialist, an agriculturist, etc., then one should spend his hard-earned money for the cause of the Lord. . . . One should try to engage in the service of the Lord everything for which one has specific attraction, and that is the way of peace and prosperity. (*Śrīmad-Bhagavatam* 1.5.32, Purport) If we engage everything we love in Kṛṣṇa’s service, day by day Kṛṣṇa will show us how to serve with unalloyed love for Him—the perfection of our mission in Prabhupāda’s mission. *NOTES* 1. In Vedic cosmology, the present age of quarrel, hypocrisy, and ignorance. 2. Children who achieved a high degree of spiritual advancement in their previous life. 3. For more about the foundational position of the founder-*ācārya*, see *The Siksa-guru: Implementing Tradition Within ISKCON,* Chapter 7, “The Distinctive Role of the Founder-Ācārya,” Sivarama Swami, The Bhaktivedanta Institute, Hungary, 1999) ## Villa Vrindavan: Kṛṣṇa's Home in Tuscany *by Tattvavit Dāsa* *Lord Kṛṣṇa's Renaissance estate has become a Vrindavan temple—and more.* Villa Vrindavan, in Italy, almost looks too old to have a future, but the humble devotees there are confident it will. ISKCON’s oldest building probably, the villa is four centuries old. Naturally, not everything works. A sunken semicircular fountain does not spout. The front roof nobly displays a stopped clock; the bell over it no longer chimes times. When devotees moved in with Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, putting their faith in the Lord’s names and graces they named the hundred-and-twenty-acre estate after India’s transcendent village where Kṛṣṇa enacted a humanlike childhood. How and why is the project now moving ahead? Reasons why include the villa’s historical worth and lovely location. It faces Florence, five miles away, due north. Long ago, trees at the front blocked the view of the city, even from a roomy rectangular balcony held twenty-five feet high by a row of sandstone columns. Yet through branches at one spot on the long driveway you can see a tiny image of Florence’s landmark: Santa Maria del Fiore’s six-hundred-year-old dome. Six years ago, I read *Brunelleschi’s Dome*, Ross King’s award-winning book about Filippo Brunelleschi’s expertise in constructing the cathedral’s pointed dome. Michelin's guidebook says that Brunelleschi's and the Florentine architects' elegant works recreated the natural harmony of the countryside—the Chianti hills. Tall cypresses, the silver of olive groves, and the vineyards’ aligned, green geometry harmoniously please the human eye. Panoramas of the low-lying hills and valleys unfold from the northeast to the southwest of Villa Vrindavan, some mornings layered with fog. Across the region of Tuscany, the Renaissance architects built villas or redid some castles as mansions. In the early fourteen hundreds stood a small palace belonging to the Machiavelli family, which was purchased almost two centuries later and taken down by the architect Joannes Baptistae Michelozzi to build what is now Villa Vrindavan, according to *Le Ville di Firenze di Qua d’arno*, by G.L.O. Cardini. The architect’s name is inscribed on the balcony wall, beneath two busts of Michelozzi. It is a historic neighborhood—I walked to Niccolo Machiavelli’s house in five minutes. After fourteen years of government service, he lived there, exiled from Florence (replaced by Michelozzi), and in 1513 wrote *The Prince*. He informs readers that in politics the ends justify the means—even good leaders act unethically. Machiavelli also indicates the attrition of human life’s spiritual value; as it wears away or is removed from people, they are no longer thought of as souls worth saving or as made in God’s image. This justifies war, because people are then no more than animals. The Catholic Church banned the book. I imagined comparing *The Prince* and *Bhagavad-gītā*: Kṛṣṇa teaches the prince Arjuna about the soul and dharma, prescribing a theocentric life that boosts true happiness in relation to worldly duties and ultimate spiritual aims. To shut down destroyers of dharma, Kṛṣṇa drove Arjuna’s chariot at Kurukshetra, a place of dharma. Kṛṣṇa says that the resolute determination for dharma does not arise in the minds of rulers and others too attached to worldly power and pleasure (*Gita* 2.44). Among humans, Kṛṣṇa’s divinity is sublimely present as the ruler who protects the people (*Gita* 10.27). Eventually, Michelozzi’s villa was sold seven times, starting in 1715. The third owner, the Fenzi family (possessing banks and railroads), enriched the villa to the point that Cardini says it “encapsulated the aspiration to opulence and elegance of the second half of the nineteenth century.” During World War II, the Machiavellian Nazi army occupied Florence; an Allied bombardment on July 26, 1944, nearly destroyed San Casciano, a town near Villa Vrindavan. In 1979, ISKCON became the villa’s notable, uncustomary owner. *Under Kṛṣṇa’s Supervision* Matsya Avatara Dāsa (Marco Ferinni) contributed to purchasing and renovating the villa. He was the temple president and one of Italy’s largest furniture designers in 1981, when he was profiled in this magazine. His father, Caitanya-Nitai Dāsa, a retired director of a construction firm, repaired the villa and remodeled the ground floor of a two-story adjunct farm building—the long *limonaia*, a winter storehouse for lemon trees—as a Vrindavan temple, with chandeliers, a marble altar and floor, marble-embellished walls, and marble-framed windows and mirrors. For thirty-five years, people have congregated in the temple to hear talks about Kṛṣṇa and sing the Hare Kṛṣṇa *mantra*. The upper floor of Villa Vrindavan’s temple is used for Kṛṣṇa’s cooking, paraphernalia, and clothes. Karuna Rasa Dasi, a determined but gentle devotee, has dedicated a decade to supervising the Deity services that she and the devotees perform. She is married to Rohini Kumara Dāsa, who supervises the forest, cuts logs for the community’s stoves, and sells logs. The devotees care for five cows and a calf, a service that includes cutting, drying, and baling hay grown on the villa property. In October, picking olives and making olive oil start. The villa takes the service of idealistic young volunteers in WWOOF, a worldwide network helping organic farms. People trek and cycle on the villa’s forest roads, which are old and wide, with drains and stone walls. Via Romea, the ancient road to Rome, runs near the villa, intersecting its forest roads, and now mayors, along with Villa Vrindavan, are seeking funds to revive it as an outdoor attraction. David, who is developing the forest for tourists and may start renting bicycles to them, informed me that Mediterranean trees retain their leaves all winter. Villa Vrindavan's first president, Matsya Avatara, no longer lives there, but he visits on special occasions from his home about an hour away. He lectures on many topics these days, including the composite topic of Dante, the *Bhagavad-gītā*, and human psychology. In 2009 I saw him speak on Dante at Palazzo Vecchio, Florence’s seven-hundred-year-old town hall—the Italians have a particular regard for Dante. For years as a boy, before going to sleep Matsya Avatara learned the *Commedia* by hearing his paternal grandfather recite it. (I happened to start reading it, in Laurence Binyon’s rhymed translation, when I was thirty-six—myself “*midway through life*,” as the opening line went, announcing Dante’s spiritual crisis.) In Matsya Avatara's hometown, Ponsacco, Pisa, his Center for Bhaktivedanta Studies has a wide, even international, outreach: pastoral, academic, governmental. One of the Center’s graduates, Pietro Leemann (Matsya Avatara’s disciple Paramesvara Dāsa), is a teacher of new cooks and a respected farmer-chef. His Swiss parents were schoolteachers and advocates of a natural diet. He owns a natural-cuisine restaurant in Milan—Joia (try the recipes at joia.it)—rated “one star” by Michelin. That's good—and a rarity for a vegetarian restaurant. The English title of his fourth book is *The Spice of Life: A Vegetarian Cook in Search of Truth*. I met him one sunny Sunday afternoon at Villa Vrindavan after he spoke on food to an outside group that confers about values for peace. Recently, the villa converted parts of its east and west wings into a guesthouse, providing rooms for visiting devotees and members of groups who rent large rooms in the villa for such activities as shiatsu and tai chi. Attendees at classes, forums, meetings, seminars, conferences, and chanting festivals—and the Sunday visitors, some with leashed dogs—gather for meals and conversation in the hillside park on the south side, created by Emanuele Fenzi, or sit in basement rooms with arched ceilings off the park, including a cozy three-room, family-run restaurant, located beside the neat new bazaar called Magic India. In the high season, a restaurant near Machiavelli’s house draws one to two hundred cultural tourists daily, a restaurant worker told me—a number the villa’s restaurant could also handle. One weekend, forty Indian-dance students and teachers simultaneously used three renovated halls for different dance practices. The halls are also used for exhibitions, *yoga* practice, martial arts. Murari-Caitanya Dāsa and his wife, Monica, teach the Vedic martial arts. Their classes promote safety in devotee communities, inspire law-enforcement agents in liaison with the couple, and introduce their students to Kṛṣṇa consciousness via a moral code for *katriyas*, extracted from Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books. *Time to Fill the Villa* A few years ago, the Italian devotees finally arrived at an answer to a very important question that lingered for decades: What will give the villa an inner identity again? Its two main floors both have one immense room and four large rooms, all with high ceilings. These floors connect by a wide, arched, thirty-step stone staircase. Could all ten rooms be integrated? For their answer, the devotees harked back to the early eighties, when about ten Bhaktivedanta Book Trust (BBT) artists lived in or around Villa Vrindavan. A few senior artists from America taught new painters, and an art professor from Florence also taught at the villa. Besides forming an art academy, the BBT artists met dozens of established Italian painters and began a gallery by hanging paintings in some of the villa’s rooms and the temple room. But everything stopped in the mid-eighties, after an impasse due to managerial setbacks. Twenty-five years later, Kṛṣṇa transformed Villa Vrindavan into a stunning art gallery by a stroke of serendipity. This was the effect of the synergy among several devotees: Jnananjana Dāsa (a BBT painter), Pandu Putra Dāsa (Jnananjana's patron), Mahāprabhu Dāsa (director of the Museum of Sacred Art in Belgium), and Parabhakti Dāsa (Villa Vrindavan’s president). [*See the on page 50.*] Before the ribbon-cutting at the villa doors, on September 24, 2015, I saw Jnananjana beaming with a smile. His twelve-year project—a collection of twenty-four grand paintings of **Mahābhārata*’s* episodes and intrigues—fit perfectly into the ground floor, without anyone having planned the match. An average framed *Mahābhārata* painting is six feet high, and there are five rooms of them. The gallery displays sixteen sculptures. The upper floor holds thirty-one paintings, by various artists, of Rama, Kṛṣṇa, and Caitanya, plus a room for Śrīla Prabhupāda’s *murti* and three beautiful paintings of his predecessors by the Italian artist Prasanta Dāsa. In a speech at the opening, Massimiliano Pescini, San Casciano’s mayor, said, “The gallery is auspicious for the future of Villa Vrindavan, because it makes it an important cultural center. This challenges the people in the area to work closely with the Hare Kṛṣṇa community, and it shows them the importance of dialogue with the Indian community—both of which point to a better future for the devotee community.” Visiting from Rome, Basant Gupta, India’s ambassador to Italy, called the art gallery—dedicated to Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord Rama—unique. He complimented ISKCON on its fiftieth anniversary of learning and teaching the *Bhagavad-gītā* worldwide. He even quoted some of its verses. Weeks later, Jnananjana told me how and why his art keeps pace with the Renaissance aesthetic: Italy is the source of Renaissance art. Surrounded by Renaissance art while growing up, I became sensitive to this artistic sensibility. It’s a manner of figurative painting that is lifelike and three-dimensional. It creates an illusion of depth. Renaissance painters treated the painting as a window into space. Śrīla Prabhupāda called our BBT paintings "windows into the spiritual world." They show the loveliness of the highest reality. Prabhupāda thought that Indian art looked either mythological or too regional (Odishan art, for instance). Since this was the first time Westerners were learning that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Prabhupāda thought that Kṛṣṇa should be realistically shown. All reality comes from Kṛṣṇa, so just as we paint real trees and persons, we should show Kṛṣṇa as a person. It’s challenging for artists to naturalistically render a transcendental figure whom they’ve never seen. Kṛṣṇa’s body is not subject to nature, with muscles, bones, and skin. He needs to be drawn as a gentle form, with gentle lines. Realistic lighting helps in doing this sort of art. Divine bodies are self-effulgent—the sun is the only experience we have of that. So shadows on Kṛṣṇa have a bright or light color to give the idea that His body is spiritual. Christian art was once Gothic, and transcendence was represented by a gold background. A divine image occupied the foreground and merged with the golden spiritual background. Renaissance painting introduced the representation of space through perspective. This and other innovations signified a secularization—compared with earlier methods—of how spiritual content was painted. Christian artists began painting naturalistic representations of God and heavenly beings. Renaissance artists sometimes used the human figure to represent perfect or mystical bodies, with a sky, a landscape—everything. Later came the highly ornate Baroque art. These two forms of Italian art, grounded in realism, were pictorially ideal for the new Kṛṣṇa art. Renaissance and Baroque art also dealt with sentiments and relationships. Sometimes the realism yields to showing relationships and expressions of behavior in a poetic way. This is conducive to representing Kṛṣṇa’s *rasas*, His loving relationships and personal pastimes with His devotees. Of course, Indian decorative elements stylize the realism of the transcendental figures. I followed the *Mahābhārata* tradition and used ethnic references in my portraits of the characters. The *Mahābhārata* is full of descriptions of opulence, so gold is really highlighted in this collection. The warriors’ effulgent costumes, chariots, weapons, and property are elaborately painted to signify their advanced status and opulence. Florence is the root of the Renaissance and is said to have the greatest concentration of art, in proportion to its size, in the world. And Villa Vrindavan embodies Renaissance architecture. Now Kṛṣṇa art, by our adapting the Renaissance aesthetic, has entered Western culture and fit into it. A generalization about the artist’s concluding point is that contextual factors support Kṛṣṇa consciousness and can build bridges to it. These themes were discussed at an academic conference held at Villa Vrindavan in July 2010. The Swedish scholar Jan Olof Bengtsson presented a paper saying that Westerners “need subjectively to feel that the Hare Kṛṣṇa religion is their own, not just in terms of its attractive novelty, and not even just in terms of its universal truth, but also in terms of something that connects to or is, if possible, identical with their own existing cultural identity, their own past, their history and traditions.”* Kṛṣṇa is the source of all beauty, Jan Olof said, so anyone visiting San Marco, San Lorenzo, the Duomo, the Uffizi, and the Palazzo Pitti in Florence is perchance close to Kṛṣṇa. Besides seeing Michelangelo’s seventeen-foot-tall David—in the classical pose known as *contrapposto*, with one leg holding the figure’s full weight and the other leg forward, causing the “hips and shoulders to rest at opposing angles,” the Accademia Gallery says, “giving a slight s-curve to the entire torso”—anyone who also views the all-beautiful form of the Lord of Vrindavan will be much closer to Kṛṣṇa. David resembles Kṛṣṇa: both famous youths killed gigantic opponents to protect the people they lived with. Kṛṣṇa, the source of everything, says He is the prowess and ability in man (*Gita* 10.8, 7.8), be he hero or sculptor. The Villa Vrindavan experience complements the cultural tourists’ visits to Italy, and Florentines can have an inner experience of Kṛṣṇa’s all-attractiveness through art, books, dance, music, meals, walking, shopping, farming, and a variety of classes. Buses from Florence stop at Villa Vrindavan’s entrance. *Jan Olof Bengtsson, “The Hare Kṛṣṇa Movement and Western Cultural Identity: Education, Preaching, and Conversion,” *ISKCON Studies Journal*, Vol. 2 (2014): p. 28. (Online: http://isi.sdgaudio.org) *The Combined Force Behind the Art Gallery* Mahāprabhu Dāsa is the director of the Museum of Sacred Art (MOSA) and the director of ISKCON Communications in Europe. MOSA is an international visual-arts project within ISKCON that aims to promote ISKCON’s and India’s devotional arts in both ISKCON and museums worldwide. It has galleries in Rādhādesh and Villa Vrindavan. MOSA has helped the Paris, Brussels, and Antwerp temples acquire high-quality art. Mahāprabhu redid both Villa Vrindavan and its chapel as art galleries. The chapel is for temporary exhibitions. The first one was “Illuminations from the *Bhagavad-Gita,*” an art collection by Kim and Chris Murray. Pandu Putra Dāsa is the art director of Villa Vrindavan’s MOSA. He joined ISKCON in 1975, and in the 1980s he headed Villa Vrindavan’s book distribution. In 2009 he sold his house and became the patron of Jnananjana’s *Mahābhārata* project. Jnananjana painted in Pandu Putra’s picture-frame workshop. They planned a traveling exhibition, and even went to India to scout for galleries. Later they agreed with Mahāprabhu to install the collection permanently in the villa. Because the paintings are large, Pandu Putra's son, Pandu Raja, assembled the frames inside the villa and assisted Prema-sukha Dasi, his mother, in gilding and painting frames and painting the gallery walls, which are almost fifteen feet high. Parabhakti Dāsa is the president of Villa Vrindavan. The art gallery fits well with his approach to spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness. “I don't present ISKCON as a minority religion with a big philosophy but no value to people in general," Parabhakti says. "Rather, I give the message that what devotees are doing is useful for everyone. I'm not one-dimensional in my outreach. I use all the possibilities to inform people about Kṛṣṇa's teachings: spiritual, cultural, ecological, even medical. I regularly speak at interfaith and intercultural programs at local and national institutions.” In Rome, Parabhakti and members of various groups began celebrating Diwali by floating candles on the River Tiber. At the Diwali celebration held at La Sapienza University, Parabhakti's friend Basant Gupta, the Indian Ambassador, spoke on the value of spirituality, highlighting ISKCON’s contributions to society. Around Diwali, at a four-day meeting organized by Religions for Peace at Castel Gandolfo, the Pope’s summer-holiday residence (on loan from the Vatican), Parabhakti managed a youth workshop and offered a lamp to Lord Kṛṣṇa before five hundred people. He was in China for ten days on another initiative of Religions for Peace. He is on the Advisory Board of an Oxford-born movement called Evidence Based Medicine. EBM provides physicians with the expertise to take into consideration the psychological and religious aspects of personalized care. Medical students now study the issue of euthanasia and the treatment of depression by *mantra*. Parabhakti’s daughter, Giorgia, is certified to teach *yoga*, and she studied communications at Warwick University in Coventry and in Italy. Her fiance, Francesco, is a video animator. They plan to conduct Villa Vrindavan's tourist program, centered on the new art gallery. [Yama, put the accent on the final "e" in "fiance" in the next to last sentence.] *Tattvavit Dāsa lives in Europe and has written seven* Back to Godhead *articles—and edited or contributed to four more—about Kṛṣṇa consciousness in Switzerland, France, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Belgium, Greece, England, and now Italy.* *Visit tvdas.tumblr.com to read his blog.* ## Vedic Thoughts One must understand the transcendental birth of the Lord and the devotee. The purpose of the Lord's taking birth is to establish devotional service, which is the perfect system of religion, and the purpose of the birth of a devotee is to broadcast the same system of religion, or the *bhakti* cult, all over the world. His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda *Śrīmad-Bhagavatam* 4.20.34, Purport O learned Uddhava, those who fix their consciousness on Me, giving up all material desires, share with Me a happiness that cannot possibly be experienced by those engaged in sense gratification. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa *Śrīmad-Bhagavatam* 11.14.12 The Supreme is eternal, self-effulgent, always free from material contact, supremely pure, and the sole all-pervading, all-knowing witness and overseer of the entire universe. No reasonable person can present any evidence that these words may also be a description of the individual spirit soul. These words are a thunderbolt that strikes the tree of impersonalist monism and fells it. Śrīla Madhvacarya *Śrī Tattva-muktavali* 61 By rendering service to Syama [Kṛṣṇa] one attains His transcendental abode, which is full of spiritual bliss and astonishing, variegated pastimes. And within that spiritual world, one attains the eternal shelter of Syama. *Chandogya Upanisad* 8.13.1 Śrī Kṛṣṇa's transcendental body is composed of eternity, consciousness, and bliss, without even a trace of material qualities. He is not subject to material time or space. On the contrary, He exists fully at all places and in all times simultaneously. His form and existence are the embodiment of absolute nonduality. Narada-pancaratra Quoted in *Jaiva Dharma,* Chapter 13 O my Lord! O unlimited one! Although I was merged in the ocean of nescience, I have now, after a long time, attained You, just as one may attain the seashore. My dear Lord, by getting me, You have obtained the right person upon whom to bestow Your causeless mercy. Śrīla Yamunacarya *Stotra-ratna* 21 Though living within the material world, in bodies composed of the five elements, persons expert in relishing devotional service to the Lord are always worshipable for persons like me. Lord Siva *Śrī Brhad-bhagavatamrta* 1.3.54 Whenever pure topics of the transcendental world are discussed, the members of the audience forget all kinds of material hankerings, at least for the time being. Not only that, but they are no longer envious of one another, nor do they suffer from anxiety or fear. The Pracetas *Śrīmad-Bhagavatam* 4.30.35