Archive for the ‘Lecture in English’ Category

Making Sure the Foundation is Strong!

Lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam 3.25.16-18/Teachings of Lord Kapila, the son of Devahuti

by Sri Srimad Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Swami

on Oct.28, 1988 in San Francisco, CA

“So these verses are extremely important for making a deeper understanding and also commitment to our even day to day activity of devotional life. It is said that unless one is freed from, it’s called, kama and lobha, kama means this lusty desire, lobha means greedy, greedy desire, so unless these are purified from the mind it will be extremely difficult to be engaged in any steady type of devotional service. So this is the background of Krsna conscious activity. You can say that I’m trying to become a devotee but this is the foundation where to start with, where to start that devotional activity. So this kama/lobha, the root cause of being attracted to kama and lobha is that the living entity is somehow so much under the influence of the modes of material nature, especially raja guna and tamo guna, the passion and ignorance. When passion and ignorance dominate a person then he is generally, the symptoms are like this kama and lobha, attraction to kama and lobha, kama means lusty desires and lobha means greedy desires. So these are very strongly mentioned here. So, by practice of devotional process, devotional service, one must try to be purified of these attractions. That is actually the background. One’s mind must become purified. In that pure state, when the mind becomes purified from kama and lobha, then what happens is that then he transcends all these material hankerings and he’ll be situated properly.  So he’s no more influenced by either happiness or distress, in other words he’s becoming equipoised. The mind becomes very steady. That is the beginning platform of Krsna consciousness. So unless we can’t even do that then we are far, far, far and long, long, we are long, long behind or far, far behind our practice of Krsna consciousness. Then what is the result? It says, once one begins that as the basic foundation. Tada purusam atmanam. At that time the soul can see himself to be transcendental to material existence. In other words the quality of atma is called svayam-jotir. Svayam jotir means self-effulgent. He’s shining. The self is shining. This atma, the nature of atma is shining with this transcendental consciousness. But the pure nature of the atma can only be visible, can only be understood, can only realized when you are completely free from kama and Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 66% [?]

by Srila Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Svami Sripada Maharaja

Bedugul, Bali, Indonesia, Dec 28, 2005

Hare Krsna, I d like to thanks all of you for your coming from different great planets…

So, Bhaktivonoda Thakur says, that in most people sleeping, so therefore it is good to understand that we are waking up from deep slumber…slumber mean sleep. So by the blessing of Prabhupada that so…we given this wonderful understanding that we have to get up from this deep sleep. To wake up means…what do we do when we wake up? just like the sun rising in early in the morning and then …we see everything is look up a beautiful life and we can see around, also we can remember the beautiful  birds and so many wonderful things happening when we wake up in the morning. So this understanding of waking up of from deep sleep, deep sleep means one completely in the mood of ignorance, darkness, tamoguna.  When tamoguna is influenced the individual, we just like in a deep slumber or deep sleep. But Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 55% [?]

by
Dr. T. D. Singh
(H. H. Bhaktsvarupa Damodar Swami)

In order to accommodate the different desires of living entities, material nature manifests in variegated qualities by the will of the Lord.  This material nature is broadly divided into three categories called three modes of nature (gunas) – sattvam (goodness), rajah (passion) and tamah (ignorance).  The living entities behave differently when they interact with these modes.  The mode of goodness is purer than the other two modes and all living beings are influenced to different degrees by the different modes of nature.

Any activity that the living entity performs is called karma.  The cosmic manifestation is full of different activities.  All living entities are engaged in different activities.  These activities are being carried out from time immemorial and the living entities are enjoying or suffering the fruits of these activities.  Based on these different activities of living beings, there is a natural law called the Law of karma in Vedantic tradition.  The law of karma states that every living entity has a predestined happiness and distress in his/her present body according to the actions performed by the living entity in his/her previous and present life.  The concept of karma is similar to that of action and reaction in Newton’s Law.

Karma has a close link with the free will of the individual.  According to the Law of karma, free will is a property of fundamental life particle spiriton and by exercising free will a person performs various actions and is implicated in various reactions.  The use of free will rightly or wrongly will decide the course of life.  When the living being reaches the human form of life, the free will is fully manifest and from human life the chain of karma can be cut off by choosing the right action, the spiritual action.
Thus karma is not eternal.  We can change the results of karma by using the free will rightly.  This change depends on the perfection of our knowledge.  Hence, in Vedanta, the importance of human form of life is emphasized.

Source:

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Forum_For_Vedanta_And_Science/message/40

Popularity: 31% [?]

BSDS: raja vidya raja guhyam pavitram idam uttamam, pratakshyagamaman dharmam su-sukham kartam avyayam. Jai Guru Maharaj Srila Prabhupada ki,

Jay Bali Bhakta Vaishnava Vrinda ki

Nitai Gaura Premananda ki

Devotees: Jai Sripad Maharaj ki

BSDS: So understanding the distinction between matter and spirit as well as devotional service, so this is called raja vidya, means the king of education. And also not only the king of education, it is the most confidential. Confidential means, in our case means open confidential, you keep things very carefully. So we have to keep this in mind. So when you practice our devotional life with, then you will become very strong internally. So we have deep internal spiritual strength and then you depend on the blessings of the acharya and vaishnavas and then our devotional life will become –  protected by the blessings of guru and Krishna. So this is very simple, here in this book the distinction between matter and life, so very simply, we give the example that matter – the particle of matter is called electron, right? You have all heard electron? So what is meant by email? Electronic mail, right? That electronic is the same as this electron. Electronic mail, right? But then what is the example of life? So the example of life is called spiriton. Electron and spiriton. So therefore Krishna says the distinction, to understand the distinction, what is the distinction between the electron and the spiriton? What is the distinction?

Devotee: Electron is unconscious, but spiriton is conscious, chetana.

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 59% [?]

Devotee: tad viddhi pranipatena…[i]

BSDS: Very good. So what does Krishna say in Bhagavad Gita? Man mana bhava mad bhakto, mad yaji namaskuru[ii], so Krishna says, our Vaishnavas say, Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita bhaktya mam abhijanati[iii], when the scientists, most of the scientists do not come to the understanding of the personal form of the Lord because they are still not having bhakti, bhaktya mam, means He can only be understood by devotion. So this Professor Townes and William Phillips, although they don’t have formal practice in the pure bhakti program, by their previous karma, so they are intuitively understanding the devotional principles. So therefore they say ‘God is a person.” So Phillips said “I do not understand why Einstein could not recognize that God is a person. Why was he so much attracted in the glamours of this universe. But why couldn’t he recognize that God is a person.” He says in this interview, you open it, you can see. But then he says that, but intuitively he had personal ideas, Einstein also had personal ideas of God. In a metaphor, Einstein said, I do not understand why the old man, he called God as an old man, why the old man is making everything hidden. So he said that is a very personal thing, otherwise how could he say “the old man.” So intuitively he had these personal ideas , but somehow he was externally behaving like he was only talking about impersonal. He said he had personal ideas also. So this is very interesting that they argue that God is a Person. Here we say subtitle “Reflections of two Nobel Laureates.” Reflections means they are thinking along that line, that is their realization, understanding. There are some very nice quotes from well known scientists in the history of science. You see Copernicus, he says “The universe has been brought for us by a supremely good and orderly creator.” Creator means a person. That means God is a person.

Now, Keppeler- Keppeler is a very famous cosmologist. He says, “I endeavour to gain for human reason.” By his geometrical system. An insight into   understanding  how does He create this universe. Then he makes a prayer like this: “May the creator of the heavens themselves, the Father of all reason to whom our mortal senses owe their existence. May He who is Himself immortal keep me in His grace”, means we seek blessings from the Lord and he says, look at that, this is very important. “Guard me from reporting anything about His work that cannot be justified before His magnificence.” So this means we pray that we do not make mistakes which may misguide. If I make a wrong report that will misguide our powers of reason and “May he cause us to aspire to the perfection of his works of creation by the dedication of our lives.” So that means he is addressing God as a person. So he calls the Lord “He”, the person.

Then what did Newton say? Newton said “This most beautiful system of the sun” Because of sun we can see each other, we can see you are all smiling, we can see the very happy faces. From the sun. We also see the planets and sometimes we also  see comets. “All these things could only proceed from the council and dominion of an intelligent and powerful being.” So that means Newton is addressing God as a person.

Then lets go to the  beginning of  18^th century and 19^th century. This was addressed by Faraday. You know Faraday? You know what did he do?  Faraday do anything with electricity? So Faraday said “We owe to value the privilege of knowing God’s truth so far beyond anything we can have in this world.” So this can mean God in various aspects. Similarly this James Clark Maxwell, he said also “God is a person” James Maxwell, with a long beard, see this is Maxwell.

Let me see, ok, what did Einstein say? He says, Einstein says, “My religion consists of a humble admiration for this inimitable superior spirit that reveals itself in the slight details that we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble minds.” In other words we can have very slight understanding, very slight understanding. He says “God is unlimitied.” So that’s what he is saying. “But that deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power which is revealed in the comprehensible universe forms my idea of God.” This is what Einstein said. You can understand. “That deeply emotional conviction.” That means the feeling that you have. . . about the presence of a superior reasoning power. That superior reasoning power that you have. Like that you can have some sense from the comprehensible universe,.like we know a little bit about [indistinct words]. So then he said ““This idea forms my idea of God.” That’s what Einstein said. So sometimes therefore we say, “Einstein had a very impersonal conception of God.” He said “The universe is very orderly.” Order. Like always the river is flowing from the uphill to the downstream. Unless you have a tsunami. (laughter) Tsunami is not natural thing. So therefore, but naturally it will flow from the higher to the lower plane. So therefore the idea of order is good. But then when one understands God as a person, there must be a person behind that order. So that’s what Einstein said. This is Einstein and this is Max Born. These are called Fathers of Quantum Physics. So I am going to make all of you scientists today (laughter). So Einstein said at the turn of the century when there was a poll, the most famous scientist or individuals of the world, so Einstein was selected by the Times as number one. He was the most famous person in the 20^th century. And Einstein is more famous today. After his death he has become more famous. Now people are working on “Einstein’s God.” Einstein’s cosmic religion [inaudible words] And therefore said Prabhupada said to present Krishna Consciousness in a scientific way. So he said “This is the most important preaching arm of ISKCON.” Because of science and technology we are able to come and sit down here together.

Devotees: Jaya

BSDS: Otherwise I was just there a few days ago. Then if I had to come by swimming it would be very difficult. (laughter) Because of science and technology we have all these mobile, cell phones are singing in the pockets. So even our Dina, see who is standing there, is Dina from Malaysia. He is originally from Singapore, so we just had a talk day before yesterday. I requested that Dina, please why don’t you come to Bali, but now he just appeared yesterday, because of science and technology (laughter). So I understand that he has a nice program with all of you on Gita Jayanti, that was what last year?

Devotee: Last two months Maharaj, three months back.

BSDS: Oh three months back. So therefore you must all be familiar. He is doing wonderful preaching service. So someday I will join him, we will do a very nice Gita Jayanti

Devotees: Jaya

BSDS: In Singapore actually he started and that was a few years ago, nine years, that was the first time? And that was not last year, before last year it was in Malaysia right?

Devotee: Four years now Maharaj

BSDS:  Then he asked me “Maharaj please come to Malaysia”, Oh that was the tsunami time right? I was in Penang during the tsunami, after the jayanti. I came from the United States but in Singapore my ticket was there from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur but I didn’t have any visa so then they said visa can be arranged.  I had a ticket but then the passport, in the counter they said, “no you cannot go to Malaysia”

But that day was the Gita Jayanti day, I was planning to go from Singapore, but I was in Singapore then I telephoned that I cannot come because my visa is not ready, I had to miss. But then from the Malaysia side so they went to the Prime Ministers Office. It was already closed, 3 or 4 oclock in the afternoon. So one person came flying with a letter from the Prime Minister’s office, Prime Minister of Malaysia for my visa because in Singapore it was already closed. That Malaysian embassy in Singapore, but this letter from the Prime Minister, they ran and knocked the door.  And it was already 3 or 4 o’clock in the afternoon and the embassy is already closed, but they knocked the door and they said there is a very important word from the Prime Minister’s office. They opened immediately and my visa was given immediately (laughter). But my ticket was already another airline, so then the fellow from Malaysia he managed a ticket from Japan airlines, Japan airlines was flying and I so I took the flight immediately so that fellow and me we flew together directly to Kuala Lumpur and joined the Gita Jayanti, they were halfway, I was joining after, when they already went to halfway. From there I went to Penang and in Penang the next day when I was giving a class in that new center of Penang around 8 o’clock in the morning, in the Bhagavata class, then my chair was rocking like this. Tsunami –  that was the tsunami. Then we did not know that was the tsunami because we thought there was a mild earthquake, it was not so strong but the wave was very, you know, moving like this. There was a Jagannath temple there, after that program I went to Jagannath temple and I did a little program. And after coming back I had to take a flight from Penang to Johore Bahru, and so there our devotees were saying that, “Maharaj, we heard that there is a big wave coming. And so we have to cross, you know there is a some kind of a bridge there, also you can cross by ferry, but if it is done by ferry it is a little bit faster. But the wave, they said if you go by the bridge, it may take longer, then I said please do whatever because I do not know. So then the driver said maybe it is better to go by bridge because we heard some big wave is coming somewhere. And so we did that by the bridge, we went up to the airport. So in this way there was a very experience that we had was [indistinct word]. So in a way Dina is doing all kinds of very mystical things (laughs) but for preaching, for preaching Krishna consciousness. Oh prasadam is ready? This time we only brought prasadam and some friends and like that. This is the lightest flight that I had in this part of the country.

Devotees: Jaya.

BSDS: I also sent some prasadam to Singapore yesterday.
So yeah, this is a little bit about our preaching work.  See, I like this Max Born, as, he is a very nice person. His writings are, the quote that I have is not very representative, but Max Born is a devotee of the Lord, called Max Born.  He said “I saw within the atom the key” In the Vatican if you go, in Rome, their symbol is also the key. They open the door to the Vaikuntha planets by this key (laughter). So he said “I saw within the atom the key to the deepest secret of nature.” And he said “It revealed to me the greatness of the creation and the Creator.” He has written some wonderful books. So this is very nice and so therefore I tried to find one Indian, lets say, well known Indian scientist and he is called Srinivas Ramanujan, well-known mathematician. He was born in 1897 and he passed away in 1920. So He says “any mathematical equation, any equation,” you know equation means E is equal to, Einstein’s equation, E is equal to mc squared. That we all know right? That is called an equation, means the left side is equal to the right side. Just like 10 dollars or one thousand rupiah is equal to? One dollar. This is an equation. So that is the definition of equation. One thousand rupiah is equal to one US dollar. So he said “An equation for me has no meaning unless it represents a thought of God.” In other words God is behind all the modes of nature. Similarly, people like Heisenburg in Quantum, these are the leaders in Quantum physics. Therefore this is very important to read, so you translate. What is our boy here, and translator, our scientist, medical scientist doctors and – So this is, I have given one copy here and I have three, four copies left.

There is another book, this is a book for the medical doctors. You can see a child is doing some experiment. Prabhupada said ‘Life comes from Life”. And this child is  doing some experiment, “where do I really come from?”. You see that, child is a very nice scientist.

Devotee: Looks like Maharaj when he was a child

BSDS: Yes, My color has been changed

(Laughter)
BSDS: So it is “life, matter and interaction”. So this is very important and it is very simple. Here there is Darwin, whether Darwin was crazy or he was a good man. This is also said there.  Darwin was worried , see look at this (laughter). So Darwin said when he was young, when he was young and growing up, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, because his father was a priest, so he used to learn choir singing, in the church, you know where the children go and they have the beautiful singing. And he said in growing up he used to read the works of Shakespeare. He was very interested in the poems by Wordsworth, Byron. These are British poets, Keats, Some of you might have studied in English right? These are very famous poets. So he used to enjoy reading and he was very much afraid but when he started thinking about this evolutionary conception that -so there was an experiment that he did called “The Voyage of the Beagle”.

Devotee: What is the name?

BSDS: It’s called the name of the ship he was touring in South America to explore all the wonders of, Galapogas.

Devotee: Africa

BSDS: No no South America. So he collected all these information, he studied all the informations for fifty years and then after that when he published his book called “The Origin of Species” So that is called “Darwin’s Evolutionary Theory.” So after that he said, he was getting old. He lost all the taste of beauty, love, feelings and he was very sad, because he didn’t see any meaning in life, lost all. And he was lamenting greatly, “Why? What happened?” Because he removed God from his theory. So therefore we say Darwin’s mistake was that he could not understand about the difference between life and matter. So therefore this book is a short presentation about how to correct Darwin’s mistake. So therefore this is a very interesting thought. This is for all of you. And Prabhupada instructed us to distinguish what is life and what is matter. These are some of the wonders of life. Actually a male crocodile, when the male crocodile is in the Nile river in Egypt – what happens is there is a crocodile there and the crocodile lays eggs and when the eggs hatched, see this male crocodile how does it do is that the egg is taken between the two jaws and then he rubs very gently so the young one is not hurt, called hatchling, or young one, this, at the same time crocodile is so powerful that he can crush the leg of a an elephant just like you see with Gajendra. Like that but he is very gentle, very loving because there is a child there. So therefore these are called the wonders of life. Therefore, we have given some example.  So these are wonders, now in science there is a very wonderful thing here. This molecule is called C60 molecule, there are 60 carbon atoms in this molecule. Its like, exactly like a football, soccer. This is available in nature. This is so strong it cuts diamonds. So these are some of the wonders by which you can distinguish, but this is only matter. But behind this matter, what exists, you can [indistinct words]. . .

So there are distinctions therefore between life and matter, these are the tables that you have to memorize, you have to read. Distinction between life and matter, then what is the property of matter and life. You can have a look at it. So then you know that the Upanishad says “aham brahmasmi” What does that mean? Aham brahmasmi means you are jivatma. You are jivatma, you are beyond atoms and molecules. So that means you are spiriton. You know spiriton? Spiriton means “aham brahmasmi” Now, so spiriton, so these are the properties, we have two different colors but it came to one color here. Then we are interacting with the matter and the spirit, our body, there is spirit there and also matter there. So we are products of interaction. But how does it interact? How to get out of this material interactions? All filled up with devotion, devotional science begins.

So this is the preliminary study of how to become a devotee of Krishna. So without understanding the distinction between life and matter you become angry very quickly. So in this way, but once you understand the distinction and you develop all the good qualities. Therefore Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, what does Krishna say? Krishna says raja vidya raja guhyam pavitram idam uttamam, pratakshyagamaman dharmam su-sukham kartam avyayam[iv], .  So this knowledge, understanding the distinction between life and matter, also the devotional service, so this knowledge is called the king of education. Raja vidya and also such knowledge, Krishna says raja guhyam, confidential, this means most important. Most important. When he says confidential it means you have to treat very very carefully and you have to keep it intact. Say for example I have 1 kg of gold, from Bali. All the Bali devotees have donated 1 kg of gold for finishing Manipur temple for next year, I will keep it very carefully, I will make sure that nobody sees it and I will keep it very very carefully. So I will make sure that the devotees will not tell to the airport people that this Swamiji has got 1 kg of gold, (laughter) so please, so he said, you said please give your blessings so that Maharaj can take this to India to finish the temple. So in this way you will be very careful whether I am carrying this is ok or not, so in this way.

[Gajapathi Maharaj  comes ]

BSDS: Hare Krishna, (laughs).

Devotee: Have a nice stay Maharaj

Gajapati Maharaj: Take rest

BSDS: I am resting by talking. To Kuta beach? Make sure that he goes before sunset. Jai Gajapati Maharaj ki

Devotees: Jaya!

---

[i] tad viddhi praṇipātena,paripraśnena sevayā , upadekṣyanti te jñānaḿ, jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ (BG 4.34)

Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized souls can impart knowledge unto you because they have seen the truth.

[ii] man-manā bhava mad-bhakto, mad-yājī māḿ namaskuru, mām evaiṣyasi satyaḿ te, pratijāne priyo ’si me (BG 18.65)

Always think of Me, become My devotee, worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend.

[iii] bhaktyā mām abhijānāti,yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ, tato māḿ tattvato jñātvā, viśate tad-anantaram (BG 18.55)

One can understand Me as I am, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, only by devotional service. And when one is in full consciousness of Me by such devotion, he can enter into the kingdom of God.

[iv] rāja-vidyā rāja-guhyaḿ, pavitram idam uttamam, pratyakṣāvagamaḿ dharmyaḿ, su-sukhaḿ kartum avyayam (BG 9.2)

This knowledge is the king of education, the most secret of all secrets. It is the purest knowledge, and because it gives direct perception of the self by realization, it is the perfection of religion. It is everlasting, and it is joyfully performed.

Recorded by: Balinese Devotee

Transcribed by: Amala Gaura Das

Edited by: Rupachandra Das

Popularity: 51% [?]

by Srila Sripada Maharaj

(The Following Lecture is an informal lecture given by Srila Sripada Maharaj at the gardens of Sri Sri Radha Rasesvara Asram. this is the last lecture of Srila Sripada Maharaj in Bali. Sripada Maharaj accompanied by King of Puri and Rajguru of Jagannath Puri on this last Visit to Bali. Sripada Maharaj affectionately called all the devotees-at that afternon-ti sit near his lotus feet as if he want to tell this is my last visit here in Bali and then speak as follows)

Bali (August 2006)

BSDS: So everybody is well?

Devotees: Yes!

BSDS: I wanted to come earlier around June, July then my program changed.  But I was told that we had a very nice festival of Jagannath. So your son, he is a son? Your son is very nice. What is the name?

Devotee: Guru Maharaj give name “Guru Das”

BSDS: Oh acha, that is not too long ago right?. Haribol Guru Dasa <laughter>

Devotee: you slept there, in Krishna Balaram mandir?

BSDS: Yeah. It is very peaceful in the forest. Maybe we should all have ashrams in the forest

Devotee: Now winter is nice here Maharaj

BSDS: Yes.  You come in large numbers next year. You come in many numbers I will come very often.

(Devotees cheer and clap loudly)

BSDS: I will put in my notebook who all comes. (laughter). Our Gajapati Maharaj is telling to our Damodar Pandit today “you come to Jagannath Puri but if they say anything you say you are all from Manipur.” He was telling in the car, right Damodar Pandit? Then what about the language? You speak your language, they don’t know Manipuri, you say this is Manipuri (laughter).  You can have a tour of India, Mayapur, Vrindavan, Jagannath Puri, and our Maharaj will welcome you. We will go to his house, he has a very nice restaurant just in front of the Jagannath Puri, no onion. no garlic. and have nice darshan and from there go to the south, see Tirupati and Rameshvaram and you can make a tour of Andhra and some ashrams like Shri Rangam Ashram and you come but November you cannot go to Badrinath but you can go Madhvacharya’s ashram and so there you have a good tour of India. It will be a very nice program. November is a good season for traveling in all parts of India including South, it won’t be hot. Of course if you like the hot climate then but still you know it is very good. So make some effort, you see, practically if you have about one thousand five hundred dollars that will be quite sufficient for [traveling]. You won’t spend much money in the train. That you can manage, one thousand five hundred and you can live for about one month. This includes the ticket, ticket included.

Devotee: One month, maybe not enough for one month.

BSDS: One month means there will be some help from buying tickets.  Tickets from , we came for $600. $600 is round trip ticket from Kolkata to Bali. From Kolkata to Imphal nowadays there are many cheap flights and it is not very expensive.

Devotee: How much is the ticket from Kolkata to Imphal?

BSDS: Kolkata to Imphal, see sometimes we have these new flights now, so that is about 4000 to 5000 rupees and if you go by train it will be about Rs. 3000. You can also go by train.

Devotee: How long it takes Maharaj, Kolkata to Assam

BSDS: By flight, one hour

Devotee: If we go by train?

BSDS: By train it will be one and half days. You go through the mountains. Yeah, if you do not fight with the wild elephant (phone given to Maharaj) Oh, acha acha.  This is voice from the spiritual world. (Laughter)

BSDS on phone: Haribol, so when are you coming? When are you coming to America. Yes I wanted to see you in America and our Gadadhara told me that he has brought some prasadam for you. Oh acha acha.  My health? My health, I was up and down and now I am ok. In Bali I am always alright. Yes. Oh I see, where is it available? I see, ok. I will try, you send me some. Oh, now the line is cut.

BSDS: This for you? So what I was talking?

Devotee: About the time for travelling Maharaja.

BSDS: If you try then the Lord will bless you and Lakshmi Maharani  will come

Devotees:  Jaya!

BSDS: We have to be sincere in prayer. You can try this time, you pray from today. Maharaj is requesting to come to Manipur.  My dear Lord please bless me, then everybody will get.  Also you have to work, not just pray (laughter). So that power of prayer. You see the scientists today, many scientists are studying about the power of prayer. Just a few years ago, twenty Nobel laureates prayed about the healing process. If a person is sick, how the person can be healed by prayer. Twenty Nobel laureates did experiment

BSDS on phone: So Dinanath, ok so are you coming next year? I am talking to our devotees here so that they come to Manipur for temple opening on November 21 next year. Yes, it may be possible. You can make some prayer and its possible. Right and you earn some money and if our devotees don’t have enough money, you can supply them (laughter). Is that ok? Yeah. Ok ok, thank you.

Devotee: Because his name is Dinanatha, the master of the poor

BSDS (still on the phone): Yes that is fine for this time, but for next year our devotees in Bali, some poor brahmacharis they might not have enough laxmi to come to Manipur so you make some special arrangement. I am going to request a few of you to arrange like that. You are one of them ok?. Ok very good, very good. The rest maybe Gunavatar, [indistinct] I want many to come next year. And whatever balance left over in India, I will take care (laughs).  So yeah, that will be nice. So your tour in America was useful? Ok, ok. You come next year again. I also wanted to see you but you are very tight and my program was already fixed. Yeah yeah, ok now I am with our devotees, very happy. I was busy for the last 2-3 days.  Alright stay well,  give our blessings, begging Prabhupada’s blessings for the devotees there, ok. So alright, day after tomorrow, yes I will stay one night in Singapore with our Maharaj, (Jagannath) Puri Maharaj and two days our Singapore devotees are taking care of them and so they are very happy to be here in this part, the first time they came to this part of the world and they liked the prasadam, they liked the culture. They say there is a lot of similarity between Bali and Orissa. Yeah, so Maharaj is inviting all of you to Jagannath Puri. Yeah and also Maharaj will be there in Manipur next year for the temple opening. If you come this year in Puri, I am doing program in Puri, our birthday program is there and followed by two days conference in Puri, the hall and everything is hired. Its called Town Hall in Puri and we expect many students and scholars from India and abroad on December 9 and 10. Oh, you got it from Internet? Ok, I see.  Maybe if you have, anyone of you, because its far away and also its – Many of you may not be able to come this year but those who have some energy to go then you can go, otherwise if you save for next year that is also fine. Ok, you save, that’s fine. So ok, you take care. Yeah (puts phone down) Priyasakhi is here?

Devotee: Yes

BDDS: Yes she is sitting here.

Devotee: She is not lost yet.

BSDS: OK, yes, you take care, ok, you take care, Hare Krishna (puts phone down)

BSDS: This is yours? This is different color, it looks darker,

Devotee: New one

BSDS: Oh new one? Gunavatar gave me one of these last year and my boys, my boys are very expert in computer, on the internet they do everything and so its useful.  Actually I also brought it here. From here I didn’t change the SIM card, its very expensive, I just.

Devotee: If you do phone by internet it’s very cheap Maharaj

BSDS: I see

Devotee: Have to have the same address like Yahoo

BSDS (to all devotees): So now I should hear from you.  I’d like to hear from you, your story, I haven’t heard for some time. How many times you are talking to Krishna? (laughter) Before I hear from you, this is a book “God is a Person” So during my conversation with Prabhpuada, Prabhupada always told me “What is good is your PhD as a scientist if you cannot prove about the existence of God from the scientific background. So he said “Write book, prove that God is a person.” So therefore this is a small humble offering to Prabhupada. This is a dialogue, means discussion, these are two Nobel laureates, Charles Townes, he is 90 years old, he is the one who discovered laser, just like we have laser photography, laser eye surgery, and laser printing and all these things, laser oven. He was the one who invented, for this he got Nobel prize, from Berkeley California. Last year his birthday was celebrated in October. I was invited as one of his friends. There were twenty nobel laureates, the most well known nobel laureates in physics from all over the world for this conference. So for the first time in history in a scientific conference, to honor his 90^th birthday, a three day conference by 20 nobel laureates and about thousands of people discussed about the importance of spirituality in our life. For the first time in history. The next one is Phillips, William Phillips. And he got Nobel prize, he is also Physics. He got Nobel Prize for discovering the cooling down of atoms. It is called laser cooling of atoms. So cooling is done like this. Suppose I have a box, this box is filled with gases, gases means atoms and molecules. So then you bring a laser beam and shine it on this box and the motion, you see the atoms and molecules are all moving, they slow down, they cool. When you shine by laser, the atom, the molecules cool down, and from that cooling you can say that a very useful product can be formed. The cooling down, from that you can make, its called atomic clock.

Atomic clock is much more accurate than this watch. So in a few years all our watches will be replaced by atomic clock, these will be thrown away. Just like all the IBM typewriters are thrown away, by small small computers, replaced. For that discovery he got Nobel Prize. And he was one of the organizing secretaries of Charles’ 90^th birthday last year. This Phillips is younger than me by about 2-3 years. But he is a very nice person. And he used this technique in the Srimad Bhagavatam, you see there is a chapter called calculation of time from the movement of the atoms. Calculation of time from the movement of atoms, so this is exactly what he is using to make this atomic clock.  So this is very interesting work, even for the devotees, for all of us it is something very very wonderful. So lets see what they say.  Charles Townes says, “God is very personal,” like our boys are very personal, our friend is very personal, our photographer is very personal. The foundation of our Vaishnava philosophy is based on personhood, everything is a person. So behind this wind blowing there is a person. What is the name of the person?

Devotees: Varun?   Marut. Vayu

BSDS: What is the name of the person behind the wind?

Devotees: Vayu

BSDS: Ok, so you do your research (laughter). Scientific research. So Charles says “God is very personal. He has very personal interactions with us.” Because of that interaction he could make this type of discovery – scientific discovery.  He says “I think there is continuous interaction between God and this universe, the universe and God.”  Just like Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita “aham sarvasya prabhava[i] – He is the source of everything.” So especially with us personally. With us means we are living entities, God is there and so we have personal interactions. So where is that person whom you can interact with (God)? Where is that person?

Devotees: Bhakta, Premi Bhakti

BSDS: Bhakta? No suppose you can have interaction with God, but where is He? Where does He stay?

Devotee: In our heart

BSDS: In the heart. How does he stay in the heart?

Devotee: (laughter)

BSDS: So who said Parmatma? He stays as Paramatma. What is another name of

Paramatma?

Devotee: Spiriton

BSDS: Spiriton? (laughs), No, Spiriton is the Jivatma (laughs)

Devotee: Kshirodakashay..

BSDS: Kshirodakashayi Vishnu, right? Vishnu has three expansions called Purusha Avatar, So in this way Charles Towne says we have personal relationship, but he doesn’t say Kshirodakashayi Vishnu. He said “I have direct personal connection.”  He said this understanding is very important to our lives. Then we say according to the Bhagavata culture there are three categories of God realization. So what are those three aspects of God?

Devotee: Brahman

BSDS: Brahman, what is the Brahman? What is Brahman realization?

Devotees: Impersonal

BSDS: Can you talk to Brahman? Accha, so the Brahman is impersonal, right? That is correct, Brahman means you cannot talk. So if you cannot talk then what will you do?

Devotees: Silence

BSDS: So you do further research, this is topic for all of you. Brahman. What is the next realization?

Devotees: Paramatma

BSDS: Paramatma, we said before, what does Paramatma do with you? If you are hungry do you talk to Paramatma, “My dear Paramatma, please bless me to get some prasadam?” (laughter) Because Paramatma is the closest that you have. Actually you don’t have to talk to Paramatma like that. Paramatma knows what you have. Immediately He knows what you are thinking, what you have in your mind and  therefore Paramatma is called the caitya-guru. In dwelling spiritual teacher. He knows immediately this boy is very hungry so I will give him prasadam. In this way all the living entities, they don’t even know what paramatma is, like the birds and the [animals?]. They all have something because Paramatma is providing. And what is the next stage? What is the third stage of God realization?

Devotees: Bhagavan, personal God.

BSDS: Bhagavan, right? So therefore this Bhagavan is not so easy to realize. But Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, in order to realize Him, what does Krishna say in Bhagavad Gita? Anybody can say what does Krishna say in Bhagavad Gita?

to be continued in Part 2

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[i] ahaḿ sarvasya prabhavo , mattaḥ sarvaḿ pravartate, iti matvā bhajante māḿ, budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ (BG 10.8)

I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds.  Everything emanates from Me.  The wise who perfectly know this engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts.

Recorded by: Balinese Devotee

Transcribed by: Amala Gaura Das

Edited by: Rupachandra Das

Popularity: 50% [?]

Lecture on Bhagavad-gītā As It Is 9.27. France 2005

By Sri Srimad Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Swami Srila Sripada

(DR. T.D. Singh, Ph.D)

(Sent by Rupachandra Das Of Singapore)

We are reading from Srimad Bhagavad gita as it is, Chapter 9, the most confidential knowledge, Text 27.

Om Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya

Om Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya

Om Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya

(BG 9.27):

yat karoṣi yad aśnāsi

yaj juhoṣi dadāsi yat

yat tapasyasi kaunteya

tat kuruṣva mad-arpaṇam

Translation by His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada: Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer or give away and whatever austerities you perform, do that O son of Kunti as on offering to Me.

So this is a very wonderful verse of Bhagavad-gītā. Here Lord Krishna is explaining in a very simple way what is Krishna Consciousness. So Krishna Consciousness in a way is very simple. But then we have to be very anxious how to be Krishna Conscious. And this knowledge – the knowledge of Krishna Consciousness- you can get in the human form of life. Because in the human form of life, you can inquire what is right and what is wrong, and what is good and what is bad. And you can also inquire about many deeper meanings of life. For example why we are born in this world? Why we suffer in this material life? And why we die? Also we can further inquire when we die where the soul will go. So in this way, these many different questions we can inquire in the human form. But other forms of life, for example the animals, the birds and all other forms of life below the human platform cannot inquire those deeper questions. In this way the scriptures say the human form of life must be utilised very very properly. Otherwise if it is not used properly this wonderful gift of God, of Krishna, in the form of human beings will be wasted. Therefore we have to be extremely careful.

So in order to do this, Lord Krishna says, yat karoṣi means whatever you do, because since we are all living beings, we have always to do something. For example we work and we sing, then we travel, and we have a family, and then we are concerned about the well being of our children, we are concerned about the well being of our parents, and we are worried about our society. So in this way we are very busy in so many different ways. So therefore Krishna says here ‘whatever you do’. Say in our professional life, we work as professors and we work as artists and we work as monks. So Krishna says, all this, whatever you do, Krishna says tat kuruṣva mad-arpaṇam. Tat kuruṣva means he’s calling, he’s instructing Arjuna, “My dear Arjuna, you do that as an offering to the Lord, the supreme Lord Sri Krishna”. So, that point here is very simple. Simple in the sense that we have to learn this culture. This culture to offer and to learn how to offer this culture for the satisfaction of the Supreme Lord. This everybody can do. Everybody can do this. Tat kuruṣva mad-arpaṇam, Krishna says “do that as an offering to me”, to me means to Krishna. As an offering to the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna.

And Krishna says also, yad aśnāsi, whatever you eat. Say we have to take mahaprasadam to sustain – to maintain our body. Every day we have to take mahaprasdam but Krishna says, whatever you eat. Sometimes we eat halva, sometimes we eat gauranga potato, sometimes we have nice pakoras, sometimes we have chappati and nice bread and sometimes we have to drink lassi, mango lassi. But Krishna says whatever you eat yes you do that as an offering to the Lord to remember Him.  So we have to orient our mind thinking like this, “My dear Lord, You are very merciful. So you have kindly sent this nice mahaprasadam”. So in this way whatever we take is mahaprasadam, whatever we eat is mahaprasdam, we have to remember the mercy of Lord Krishna. And therefore we have to always thank the Lord. Just like we have this wonderful prayer, “

śarīra abidyā-jāl, jodendriya tāhe kāl,

jīve phele visaya-sāgore tā’ra madhya jihwā ati,

lobhamoy sudurmati, tā’ke jetā kaţhina samsāre

kŗsņa baŕo doyāmoy, koribāre jihwā jay,

swa-prasād-anna dilo bhāi sei annāmŗta pāo,

rādhā- kŗsņa -guņa gāo, preme dāko caitanya nitāi…

Jai Mahaprasadam Ki..Jai! Gaura premanande..Haribol![i]

So this is the meaning of saying, “ Radha krishna guna gau”,  we have to sing the glories of Radha Krishna for sending this mahaprasadam so mercifully. So therefore Krishna says whatever you eat, do that as an offering to the Supreme Lord.

And the next Krishna says, yaj juhoṣi. Juhoṣi is actually, also offer, whatever you offer, and dadāsi whatever you give away. Krishna says yaj juhoși dadāsi yat. Dadāsi mean offering, offering means out of love, as a service to please the Supreme Lord. Then we offer the flower, we offer so many wonderful preparations, we offer the temple for the Lord, for the pleasure of the Lord. So in this way there are so many activities we can render. Yaj juhoṣi – whatever you offer and dadāsi yat means give away. Just like sometimes we give dhāna. Dhāna means we offer donations or we give as gifts to the different friends, to different people. So therefore Krishna says that you do this as an offering to Him, to the Supreme Lord.

So similarly, yad tapasyasi.  Tapasyasi is we do taspasya. Tapasya means discipline, austerity.  We perform a certain tapasya, austerity. Yad tapasyasi, we do tapasya say for example in trying to understand Krishna consciousness we perform as a tapasya – no meat eating. This is a form of tapasya. And then we perform no intoxicants, and no gambling and also we have see no improper relations between the boys and girls beyond the marriage circle. So this is some kind of tapasya that we have to perform. And also we have to chant our Hare Krishna Mahamantra all the time. It is called śravaṇaḿ, kirtanam, smaranam[ii].śravaṇaḿ means we have to hear, chanting this Hare Krishna mahamantra. We should also hear. And kirtanam means we have to chant so that we can hear it. And smaranam means we also have to remember always. So in this way we have to practice all these things. And then we have to remain very steady in our attempt to understand Krishna. We have to learn how to control anger, and so this is also tapasya. And we have to learn how not to find fault with other, this is also tapasya. And we have to learn to be tolerant because we have to realise that in this life, in this material world sometimes there will be ups and a downs in life’s journey. But then we have to be tolerant like the tree, like the tree is growing there but the tree never complains. So this is called to become tolerant. And this is some kind of a tapasya. And because we have to take tapasya so that we make progress in our spiritual knowledge. By following all the rules and the regulations and by keeping ourselves neat and clean. Neat and clean not only physically but also mentally. Mentally we should be clean. So this is also some kind of a tapasya. So therefore Krishna says all this things that we do, this tapasya, that we should do as an offering to the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna. Yat tapasyasi kaunteya. Kaunteya is Arjuna, O Arjuna.  So if you do all these things as an offering to Lord Krishna, that will be called Krishna Consciousness.

That verse is very important.

yat karoṣi yad aśnāsi

yaj juhoṣi dadāsi yat

yat tapasyasi kaunteya

tat kuruṣva mad-arpaṇam

So arpaņam means as an offering, mad-arpaņam. Tat kuruṣva means do it. Do it as an offering to Me, to the supreme Lord Sri Krishna. So in this way Krishna Consciousness is very easy, very simple. Krishna says whatever you eat, whatever you want to do, do it as an offering to Me, So therefore, I can become a business man but then if I offer whatever result is coming, for the service of the Lord, the Lord is pleased. And if I am a student then I study so many things but if I orient my life that you know that this knowledge that I will be acquiring will be used to serve the Lord, so that is an offering. And if you are a housewife then you do the household duties. But those househld duties will be arranged in such a way that whatever you are doing is an offering to Sri Sri Radha and Krishna. That means the house is made like a temple. The house will be clean, you keep everything neat and clean. Because, you know, this is the house of the Lord. You have a small little altar in the house, in some part of the house and then the housewife cooks the very nice offering for the Lord. And you offer that whatever you prepared to the Lord. And in this way the kitchen is kept neat and clean. Only fresh vegetables are bought and because (it is done) for the pleasure of Krishna you make everything wonderful. And in this way, but Krishna is so merciful that Krishna will give everything  to his devotees back. And you honour it as mahaprasadam. So if the housewife is like that, then there will be a lot of Lakshmi Maharani coming to the house. So in this way the house, housewife can maintain very nice activity in the house. And the children in the house they will also be trained very nicely so that they will become good children. So therefore it is simple in the sense that everyone can be engaged in the service of the Lord. So tat kuruṣva mad-arpaṇam, do that as an offering to Me, to the Supreme Lord. So therefore we have to imbibe this culture that everything belongs to the Supreme Lord. In the Upanisad, we always chant, Isa vasam idam sarvam, everything belongs to the supreme Lord.

Isa vasam idam sarvam.
yat kim ca jagatyam jagat.
tena tyaktena bhunjitha
ma grdhah kasya svid dhanam

So Upanisad says that everything belongs to the supreme Lord. So since everything belongs to the supreme Lord, that a whole, everything means the whole thing, the whole world, my family, my own world, all whatever you have,  belongs to the Lord. Your family, your bank balance, your property, your car, your house, everything belongs to Krishna. Because when we leave this body we cannot take anything. So everything belongs to the Lord. Also the Lord is very merciful that he gives everyone the share, the enough share so that the individual can sustain his or her life. Therefore instruction says we should not encroach any other’s property. In other words we should be satisfied with whatever we have. We should not hanker after something which I cannot have. So whatever the Lord has given according to my karma so I should learn to remain satisfied. So in this way, one can develop his Krishna Consciousnes and life will become very happy. And we will not be influenced by the ups and downs of material world. And we can remain very peaceful. Very shanti – that is peaceful calm in life. So that’s what we all want, we want to be happy, all of us. But there can be no happiness without Shanti, without peace. Therefore we have to be peaceful within ourselves, and also have to be peaceful in relationships with others, with the environment, with nature, and so therefore we should not give trouble to anyone. So in this way we can remain happy and make progress in our spiritual life.

Jāi Krishna Bhagawān Ki….Jāi!

Nitai Gaura premanande ….Hari Haribol!

---

[i]

śarīra abidyā-jāl, jodendriya tāhe kāl,

jīve phele visaya-sāgore tā’ra madhya jihwā ati,

lobhamoy sudurmati, tā’ke jetā kaţhina samsāre

kŗsņa baŕo doyāmoy, koribāre jihwā jay,

swa-prasād-anna dilo bhāi sei annāmŗta pāo,

rādhā- kŗsņa -guņa gāo, preme dāko caitanya nitāi…

Jai Mahaprasadam Ki..Jai! Gaura premanande..Haribol!

O brothers!  This material body is a place of ignorance, and the senses are a network of paths to death.  The senses throw the soul into this ocean of material sense enjoyment and, of all the senses, the tongue is most voracious and uncontrol-lable; it is very difficult to conquer the tongue in this world.  O brothers!  Lord Krsna is very kind to us and has given us such nice prasada, just to control the tongue.  Now let us take this prasada to our full satisfaction and glorify Their Lordships, Sri Sri Radha and Krsna and, in love, call for the help of Lord Caitanya and Prabhu Nityananda.

[ii]

śrī-prahrāda uvāca

śravaṇaḿ kīrtanaḿ viṣṇoḥ

smaraṇaḿ pāda-sevanam

arcanaḿ vandanaḿ dāsyaḿ

sakhyam ātma-nivedanam

iti puḿsārpitā viṣṇau

bhaktiś cen nava-lakṣaṇā

kriyeta bhagavaty addhā

tan manye ‘dhītam uttamam

Prahlāda Mahārāja said: Hearing and chanting about the transcendental holy name, form, qualities, paraphernalia and pastimes of Lord Viṣṇu, remembering them, serving the lotus feet of the Lord, offering the Lord respectful worship with sixteen types of paraphernalia, offering prayers to the Lord, becoming His servant, considering the Lord one’s best friend, and surrendering everything unto Him (in other words, serving Him with the body, mind and words) — these nine processes are accepted as pure devotional service. One who has dedicated his life to the service of Kṛṣṇa through these nine methods should be understood to be the most learned person, for he has acquired complete knowledge. (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 7.5.23-24)

[1]

śarīra abidyā-jāl, jodendriya tāhe kāl,

jīve phele visaya-sāgore tā’ra madhya jihwā ati,

lobhamoy sudurmati, tā’ke jetā kaţhina samsāre

kŗsņa baŕo doyāmoy, koribāre jihwā jay,

swa-prasād-anna dilo bhāi sei annāmŗta pāo,

rādhā- kŗsņa -guņa gāo, preme dāko caitanya nitāi…

Jai Mahaprasadam Ki..Jai! Gaura premanande..Haribol!

O brothers!  This material body is a place of ignorance, and the senses are a network of paths to death.  The senses throw the soul into this ocean of material sense enjoyment and, of all the senses, the tongue is most voracious and uncontrol-lable; it is very difficult to conquer the tongue in this world.  O brothers!  Lord Krsna is very kind to us and has given us such nice prasada, just to control the tongue.  Now let us take this prasada to our full satisfaction and glorify Their Lordships, Sri Sri Radha and Krsna and, in love, call for the help of Lord Caitanya and Prabhu Nityananda.

[1]

śrī-prahrāda uvāca

śravaṇaḿ kīrtanaḿ viṣṇoḥ

smaraṇaḿ pāda-sevanam

arcanaḿ vandanaḿ dāsyaḿ

sakhyam ātma-nivedanam

iti puḿsārpitā viṣṇau

bhaktiś cen nava-lakṣaṇā

kriyeta bhagavaty addhā

tan manye ‘dhītam uttamam

Prahlāda Mahārāja said: Hearing and chanting about the transcendental holy name, form, qualities, paraphernalia and pastimes of Lord Viṣṇu, remembering them, serving the lotus feet of the Lord, offering the Lord respectful worship with sixteen types of paraphernalia, offering prayers to the Lord, becoming His servant, considering the Lord one’s best friend, and surrendering everything unto Him (in other words, serving Him with the body, mind and words) — these nine processes are accepted as pure devotional service. One who has dedicated his life to the service of Kṛṣṇa through these nine methods should be understood to be the most learned person, for he has acquired complete knowledge. (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 7.5.23-24)

Popularity: 36% [?]

Address by HH Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Swami Srila Sripad Maharaj
18 Sep 2004

(sent by Pranavallabha Prabhu)
---------------------------------------------------------------

Maharaj recites invocation prayers melodiously and then begins to
speak:

Peace is the birthright of every living entity, not only humans but
also animals and trees, all livng entities.

There are two components of knowledge that must be understood in
order for peace to be possible in human society.

1.

What really is LIFE itself? First of all we have to know what is
life.  The whole culture of Krishna Consciousness is to know what is
the science of life.  Modern science (reductionism) has taken to the
materialistic conception of the origin of life.  This is the
fundamental mistake in modern civilization.  After 9/11, drastic
change in paradigm has taken place.  Scientists now want to know
about God & why religious people behave in this way.  Therefore I
say, a lot of good things are happening as a consequence of the 9/11
tragedy.  It has brought about something good, because the change in
the attitude of scientists has been drastic in my observation.
Therefore now is the opportune moment for us to bring in the
spiritual paradigm about the ultimate nature of reality, the
ultimate spiritual reality behind material nature.  Krishna
consciousness provides the interface between science and
spirituality.  A combined effort of Science and Spirituality will
bring about a new peace to the world.  The definition of knowledge
is given in Ch13 of the Gita – kshetra and kshetra-jna – one must
realize the difference between the field of activites (the body) and
the knower of that field (the soul).  Just like knowing the
difference between a car and a driver.  To know this difference is
the definition of knowledge.  This life particle we shall call a
spiriton – it is the fundamental particle of life.  We have to learn
what are its qualities and properties etc.  In 1944 Schroedinger
pubished a booklet "What is life" and in this book he quoted
profusely from the Upanishads & Vedanta.  In this way, he could see
the importance of VVedic culture/ knowledge.  We have to bring in
the spiritual nature of life within the education systems of the
world.  This is what I propose be called NEW SCIENCE.  Srila
Prabhupada's order to me over the eight years that I had his
wonderful personal association was to hold conferences on Life Comes
From Life.  Thousands of students in universities all over the world
are being misled and therefore there is no real progress of
civilization in the world.

2.

Why has this universe been created?  In modern science, this is
called cosmology, and the most popular idea they have propagated is
the Big Bang theory.  This is absolutely wrong.  If we think we are
just created by a violent explosion of matter, how can we search for
peace and the finer qualities that can elevate a living being and
save him from suffering eternally in the ocean of birth and death?
In opposition to that Big Bang model, we have our "Bhagavata
Paradigm of Cosmology".  It is based on the discussion in the SB
between Maitreya Muni and Vidura.  The Purpose &  Meaning of life is
what we call the `Big Vision'.  Science only deals with `why &
what'.  Briefly, the purpose of life, according to the Big Vision is
this:  The human form of life is the most important thing in
creation, and, by sincere endeavour, the human form of life, by
sincere endeavour, can realize why he is here.  `Bahunaam janmanaam
ante'  - gita says the highest attainment of knowledge brings one to
the point where he can surrender himself fully unto the Supreme
Personality of Godhead; such a soul will never have to be born again
here for he would have thus attained eternal life.  It is for
facilitating this end that the entire creation takes place

So these two items constitute the most important foundational
knowledge for all types of human beings, be they spiritualists, or
religionists or materialists, or professionals or students –
anyone.  It is upon the basis of our understanding the reality of
our condition that all other thoughts and actions in our lives are
planned and enacted.

For 8 years I was fortunate to have the regular personal association
of Srila Prabhupada, be he always spoke mainly about 1 thing to me –
LCFL.  Yes, scientists do wonderful things, and we have seen many
good things their research has produced, but they have also been
responsible for much evil in the world – bombs, drugs, abortion,
weapons, nuclear missiles etc.  Therefore I say that any serious
endeavour to bring peace to the world must involve the scientists.
If it does not involve them, it will never work.  They must be
involved in helping to remove the unwanted activities that are now
plaguing human society.

Towards that end, we, the Bhaktivedanta Institute, are organizing an
International Conference in Rome styled `Life & Its Origin –
Exploration from Scientific and Various Religious/Spiritual
Traditions'.  It will be held in Rome from the 11th till the 15th of
November, 2004.  I selected Rome as the venue for this important
Congress because it is a very important city, both in Europe and in
the world.  I selected it because the spiritual element is very
prominent in Rome, thanks to the presence of the Vatican.  The
discussions at the conference will be focused on the interface
between science & religion.  A new concept I am trying to introduce
is this - Let us try to explain the existing scientific data which
the scientists have observed and recorded, and interpret it from the
spiritual perspective.  In this way we will see how the same set of
data can produce totally different results if the paradigm of the
interpreter is different.  Another topic we will be discussing is
what I like to call the New Biology, one that incorporates the
science of the soul, of life and of the glorification of God.  This
session will be called God and the New Biology.  Altogether this
conference will have 40 – 45 learned speakers, so pls come to Rome
and be one of our delegates.  This conference is different from our
earlier ones, for this will be the first time that we are going to
directly discuss the nature of life mostly from the spiritual point
of view.  On the first day is a public program that is free for all
to attend – it will be in the grand hall of the Angelicum
University.  This hall has been named after the current Pope John
Paul because he was a graduate from this university.  So I hope we
will see many of you in Rome.

Thank you very much.  Hare Krishna.

(notes jotted down by D. A. Das, Zurich, Switzerland)

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by Sri Srimad Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Swami Srila Sripada Maharaja

(The Following writing of Srila Sripada was originally a Vyasa-puja offering  to Srila Prabhupada Offered on his 97^th appearance anniversary. Here we post as lecture, because Srila Sripada always instruct that we should now how to preach the message of the Vedas, the messages of  Krishna Conciousness according to time, place and circumstances. he said that we should learn The Art of Preaching. we also heard that Srila Sripada Maharaj has written a paper with the same title “The Art of Preaching”. Anybody who knows that paper please share with us-dbd)

Om ajnana-timirandhasya jnananjana-salakaya

Caksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri-gurave namah

Nama om visnu-padaya krsna-presthaya bhu-tale

Srimate bhaktivedanta-svamin iti namine

Namas te sarasvate deve gaura-vani-pracarine

Nirvisesa-sunyavadi pascatya-desa-tarine

My dear respected Vaisnavas,

On this most auspicious day of the glorious Vyasa-puja celebration of His Divine Grace  Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, let me speak something about the art and science of preaching Krishna Consciousness to the public at large-scientists, scholars, everyone in the light of the teachings and examples set forth by Srila Prabhupada and parampara.

The goal of preaching is to bring everyone to Krsna consciousness. From the accounts of the preaching encounter of Lourd Caitanya Mahaprabhu with Prakasananda Sarasvati and Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya, we can learn a great deal about how to preach:

prabhura mista-vakya suni sannyasira gana

citta phiri gela, kahe madhura vacana

“After hearing Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, all the mayavadi sannyasis were moved. Their minds changed, and thus they spoke with pleasing words” (Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila 7.99)

In this purport Srila Prabhupada writes:

“The Mayavadi sannyasis met Caitanya Mahaprabhu at Varanasi to criticize the Lord regarding His participation in sankirtana movement, which they did not like. This demoniac nature opposition to the sankirtana movement perpetually exists. As it existed in the time of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, similarly it existed long before that, even in the time of Prahlada Maharaja…..”

“Impersonalist Mayavadis always try to defy Vaisnavas because Vaisnavas accept the Supreme Personality as the Supreme cause and want to serve Him, talk with Him and see Him, just as the Lord is also eager to see Him devotees and talk, eat and dance with them. This personal exchanges of love do not appeal to the Mayavadi sannyasis. Therefore the original purpose of the Mayavadi sannyasis of Banares in meeting Caitanya Mahaprabhu was to defeat His personal conception of God. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, however, as a preacher, turned the minds of the Mayavadi sannyasis. They were melted by the sweet words of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and thus became friendly and spoke to Him also in sweet words. Similarly, all preachers will have to meet opponents, but they should not make them more inimical. They are already enemies, and if we talk with them harshly or impolitely their enmity will merely increase. We should therefore follow in the footstep of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu as far as possible and try to convince the opposition by quoting from the sastras and presenting the conclution of the acaryas. It is in this way that we should try to defeat all the the enemies of the Lord.”

In the Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila, Chapter Six, starting with verse 123, this is a long discussion between Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya that runs as follows:

Trus for seven days continuously, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu listened to the Vadanta philosophy expounded by Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya. However, Caitanya Mahaprabhu did not say anything and did not indicate whether it was right or wrong. He simply sat there and listened to the Bhattacarya.

On the eighth day, Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya said to Caitanya Mahaprabhu: “You have been listening to the Vedanta philosophy from me continuously for seven days. You have simply been listening, fixed in Your silence. Since you do not say whether you thing it is right or wrong, I cannot know whether you are actually understanding Vedanta philosophy or not.”

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu replied: “I am a fool, and consequently I do not study Vedanta-sutra. I am just trying to hear it from your because you have ordered Me. Only for the sake of executing the duties of the renounced order of sannyasa do I listen. Unfortunately, I cannot in the least understand the meaning you are presenting.”

Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya replied: “I accept that You do not understand, yet even one who does not understand  inquer about the subject matter. You are hearing again and again, yet You keep silent. I cannot understand what is actually within You mind.”

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu then revealed His mind, saying: “I can understand the meaning of each sutra very cleanly, butyour explanation have simply agitated My mind.’ Thus Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu critized Sankaracarya’s Sarirakabhasya as imaginary, and he pointed out hundreds of faults in it.  To defend Sankaracarya, however, Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya presented unlimited opposition. The Bhattacarya presentsd various types of false arguments with pseudologic and tried to defeat his opponent in many ways. However, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu refuted all these arguments and established His own conviction.”

Thus we can see that the dealings are in friendly manner filled with mutual respect. When this relationship of mutual respect is established, the philosophy can be presented  with full force and without any compromise.

If the preacher has the opportunity to present humbly the science and philosophy of Krsna consciousness, this is the most preferable avenue of approach. This is visible in Prabhupada’s own instructions in the morning walk conversation that follows, which took place in Nairobi, Kenya, on October 28, 1975:

Prabhupada: Wherever you go, you gather people and induce them by flattering them, by falling on their leg-some way or other, induce them, dante nidhay trnakam padayor nipatya [Sri Caitanya-candramrta 8.90]. this is the process shown by Prabhodananda Sarasvati, “Taking a straw in my mouth and falling down on your lotus feet.” kaku-satam krtva: “And I am trying to please you by so many flattering words.” Krtva aham bravimi: “I have got some submission….” This is the process…

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