A well-known phrase which is worth keeping is, "Where there's a will, there's a way." Associate with those who are like-minded and also have a strong desire for the same goal as you. Also, your abilities will grow to meet your strong desire. Nonetheless, desire without discipline is delusion. So, we may have ideas for what we want, but if we're not able to harness our desires and our senses in order to move in that direction, then we become ghostly. That is, we have desires, but we can't fulfill...
Nov 28, 2024•1 hr 5 min
The way I look at the people I'm approaching is on a scale of 1 to 10. From 1 to 5, there's not an option to introduce them to the book. I've learned by looking at the way people are reacting to me. Some people don't react at all; they pretend I'm not there. Other people, they say, "I'm in a hurry," or they just wave you off. Those are in the 1, 2s, 3,s 4s, 5 is you get somebody who smiles at you, but with no teeth like this, and you think, "Why bother? If you're not going to show your teeth whe...
Nov 28, 2024•7 min
This japa is very individual—it's the most individual of all the practices that we do. We have to take personal responsibility for it; nobody else can do it for us. If you go to a kīrtana, somebody else can do it for us—oh, Kadamba Kānana Maharaja tomorrow, he'll just keep it going, and I'll just sit there and go like, "whoa" But with japa, you have to keep it going, and you have to take personal responsibility. There's nobody else there that's going to help you. You have to be the one who takes...
Nov 28, 2024•20 min
To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthespark.com/next-steps/ask-vaisesika-dasa/ ------------------------------------------------------------ Add to your wisdom literature collection: https://www.bbtacademic.com/books/ (USA only) https://thefourquestionsbook.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------ Join us live on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FanTheSpark/ Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sound-bhakti/id1132423868 For ...
Nov 28, 2024•11 min
So, interestingly, like in the Bhāgavatam, when Sūta Goswami was promoted to the point of the leader of all the sages in Naimiṣāraṇya, he was called Ugraśravā. This word "Ugraśravā" means, you know, Ugranṛsiṁha, Ugrakarma—it's like fierce, incredibly heavy, "Ugra." "Ugraśravā" means somebody who's just totally leaned into hearing, Ugraśravā—they just made it their whole existence to hear the Vedic wisdom, as also mentioned in the Bhāgavatam later on (SB 11.3.21): tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ...
Nov 27, 2024•1 hr 21 min
So, Śrīla Prabhupāda is called A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Abhay Caraṇāravinda. He takes shelter of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa where there's no fear, Abhay. There's an acronym for fear: fear everything and run. You can turn it the other way: if you take shelter of Kṛṣṇa, face everything and rise. That's the modus operandi of somebody who feels fortified and protected by Kṛṣṇa like Prabhupāda. He faced everything and he rose. If we're able to take shelter of Kṛṣṇa and say, "It's your power...
Nov 27, 2024•17 min
The holy name, character, pastimes and activities of Kṛṣṇa are all transcendentally sweet like sugar candy. Although the tongue of one afflicted by the jaundice of avidyā [ignorance] cannot taste anything sweet, it is wonderful that simply by carefully chanting these sweet names every day, a natural relish awakens within his tongue, and his disease is gradually destroyed at the root. (Nectar of Instruction,Verse 7) ----------------------------------------------------------- To connect with His G...
Nov 27, 2024•18 min
The mantra for that stage of life, that interim stage, is "Keep on keeping on." Can everyone repeat that? "Keep on." I was leaving Hawaii one day, late for a flight, and a brahmacari ran out to the window of the car and said, "Give me some instruction." I said, "Keep on keeping on," because we were in a hurry—that's all I could tell him. And then we came back a few years later, he said, "Do you remember me?" and I said, "No." He said, "You told me something that saved my life." I said, "What did...
Nov 26, 2024•1 hr 22 min
In every culture of the world, there is a sense of the importance of marriage. Generally, in each culture, there's a ceremony that's demonstrative. Everyone comes together in the village or the city and recognizes that you getting married now. And then there's a proclamation at most weddings that this is in sickness or in health, good times or in bad times. Am I correct about that? Those are the ideas that you're coming together, and you're going to become one, basically, and you're going to wor...
Nov 26, 2024•14 min
tasyāravinda-nayanasya padāravinda- kiñjalka-miśra-tulasī-makaranda-vāyuḥ antar-gataḥ sva-vivareṇa cakāra teṣāṁ saṅkṣobham akṣara-juṣām api citta-tanvoḥ Translation When the breeze carrying the aroma of tulasī leaves from the toes of the lotus feet of the Personality of Godhead entered the nostrils of those sages, they experienced a change both in body and in mind, even though they were attached to the impersonal Brahman understanding. (SB 3.15.43) https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/3/15/43/ ----...
Nov 26, 2024•11 min
You can go anywhere: sit in your home, in your garden, you can be at work, and if you sincerely repeat the names of God and listen carefully, then you'll have this sense of direct communion with the Divine, with Kṛṣṇa. One of the teachers from antiquity said, "How focused should we be?" You should imagine yourself going to the ocean with a kuśa straw. It's got a little flat area on it, and you could use that as a tool to empty the ocean, to drain the ocean. How long do you think it would take, B...
Nov 26, 2024•1 hr 5 min
The idea behind 'Make Japa Great Again' is to, every day, again means starting over today, this is my main priority, and I have nowhere else to go that's productive. Nothing else will be productive unless I'm able to enter deeply within the process of connecting to Kṛṣṇa through His Holy Name. This is amply supported throughout the śāstras. For instance, 'iti mūrty-abhidhānena mantra-mūrtim amūrtikam yajate yajña-puruṣaṁ sa samyag-darśanaḥ pumān', Nārada Muni says in the first canto, 5th chapter...
Nov 25, 2024•26 min
So, one of the main points there is that in different sections of the Bhāgavatam, Kṛṣṇa is responsive. In fact, we may say the whole universe is responsive, just the way our human bodies are designed. They are responsive to everything we do. The slightest change we have in our diet, in our sleep, what we're listening to and then there's a way that the body responds, the mind responds . And the environment is like that also. It's designed to respond to the way we interact with it, and it's all co...
Nov 24, 2024•55 min
Just when I was in Vṛndāvana, the last class I went to, Urmilā gave the class, and that was about anger. The last comment that was made in the class was by Śrutakīrti Prabhu, who was Prabhupāda's servant for a couple of years. He said once, when Prabhupāda was in Los Angeles and he got some bad news about how the project was going in Bombay, that he picked up his beads and was chanting very animatedly, loud and he was going like this with his beads. Then Prabhupāda said, "When you become angry, ...
Nov 24, 2024•9 min
The time early in the morning, one and a half hours before sunrise, is called brāhma-muhūrta. During this brāhma-muhūrta, spiritual activities are recommended. Spiritual activities performed early in the morning have a greater effect than in any other part of the day. (SB 3.20.46,purport) Full Video: https://youtu.be/ELDHfqq2118 ------------------------------------------------------------ To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthespark.com/next-steps/ask-vaisesika-...
Nov 24, 2024•2 min
nāhaṁ tiṣṭhāmi vaikuṇṭhe yogināṁ hṛdayeṣu vā tatra tiṣṭhāmi nārada yatra gāyanti mad-bhaktāḥ “My dear Nārada, actually I do not reside in My abode, Vaikuṇṭha, nor do I reside within the hearts of the yogīs, but I reside in that place where My pure devotees chant My holy name and discuss My form, pastimes and qualities.” Because of the presence of the Lord in the form of the transcendental vibration, the Vaikuṇṭha atmosphere is evoked. This atmosphere is without fear and anxiety. One living entit...
Nov 23, 2024•1 hr 16 min
Link to the entire video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELDHfqq2118&t=1732s To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthespark.com/next-steps/ask-vaisesika-dasa/ ------------------------------------------------------------ Add to your wisdom literature collection: https://www.bbtacademic.com/books/ (USA only) https://thefourquestionsbook.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------ Join us live on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FanTheSp...
Nov 23, 2024•3 min
------------------------------------------------------------ To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthespark.com/next-steps/ask-vaisesika-dasa/ ------------------------------------------------------------ Add to your wisdom literature collection: https://www.bbtacademic.com/books/ (USA only) https://thefourquestionsbook.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------ Join us live on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FanTheSpark/ Podcasts: https:/...
Nov 23, 2024•9 min
It's so true that when we take risks for Kṛṣṇa and we overcome our fear—"What'll happen if I do this, if I give this to Kṛṣṇa, or if I go outside my comfort zone for Kṛṣṇa?"—but once I start practicing that, and I see not only wasn't I harmed, like my mind told me I would be, I'm still alive, and I feel better for it. And one builds momentum in that way by taking more and more risks for Kṛṣṇa. Risks mean even giving some things up because the mind says, "Unless you have all these things, you won...
Nov 23, 2024•1 hr 17 min
Prabhupāda said in a lecture, yoga means plus, doesn't mean minus. So this idea of adding ghee and following the order of the spiritual master—these are all plus. We have active, positive practice. It's not block out thinking, and it's not giving up everything, but it's adding Kṛṣṇa. If you add Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa is all-purifying,"sa paryagāc chukram akāyam avraṇam asnāviraḿ śuddham apāpa-viddham kavir manīṣī paribhūḥ svayambhūr yāthātathyato ’rthān vyadadhāc chāśvatībhyaḥ samābhyaḥ" (Īśo 8) He's the ...
Nov 22, 2024•20 min
Everyone has an external situation, meaning psychophysiological nature, based on their modalities. And you can rise above that—anyone can rise above that. Kṛṣṇa says, by simply getting back in touch with devotional service, you know the material world is really about forgetfulness of our personality, of our true nature. Sometimes people get amnesia, and they forget who they are. There was a famous recording artist, Jan and Dean—you guys have never heard of him, I guarantee you—Jan and Dean, from...
Nov 22, 2024•1 hr 45 min
Bhaktivinode Thakur says this principle we should apply. And if we can do that, if we have our hand out, we really feel like, "I didn't get anything; I'm actually starving," then this mood will naturally stimulate our attention. We will lean into our japa. So we can start or continue this morning with remembering that every breath we take is borrowed, and that actually we're hanging by a thread at every second. Our heart is going on voluntarily; it can be asked to stop at any minute, and we're r...
Nov 21, 2024•15 min
My dear King, although Kali-yuga is an ocean of faults, there is still one good quality about this age: Simply by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, one can become free from material bondage and be promoted to the transcendental kingdom. ( SB 12.3.51) https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/12/3/51/ To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthespark.com/next-steps/ask-vaisesika-dasa/ ------------------------------------------------------------ Add to your wisdom literatur...
Nov 21, 2024•19 min
Some devotees of the Lord exhibit external symptoms, acting like madmen, others are introspective devotees, and still others partake of both natures. It is by one’s steadfastness and by the merciful vibrations emanating from one’s mouth that one’s devotion can be judged, not otherwise. (SB 11.2.40) Link to the entire talk : https://youtu.be/8ZpjFMtpByc?feature=shared To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthespark.com/next-steps/ask-vaisesika-dasa/ ----------------...
Nov 21, 2024•18 min
The mind can be one-pointed, especially when one is praying to Kṛṣṇa for a specific kind of service. Prabhupāda mentions that he fixed his mind on the mission of his spiritual master because Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura says in the purport to BG 2.40 that if one has some order from the spiritual master to do service in a certain way and one's praying to fulfill that, then also, as one's chanting, one can be very fixed in mind by calling out, "Please show me how to do this." As Prabhupāda ...
Nov 20, 2024•9 min
kaliṁ sabhājayanty āryā guṇa jñāḥ sāra-bhāginaḥ yatra saṅkīrtanenaiva sarva-svārtho ’bhilabhyate Those who are actually advanced in knowledge are able to appreciate the essential value of this Age of Kali. Such enlightened persons worship Kali-yuga because in this fallen age all perfection of life can easily be achieved by the performance of saṅkīrtana. ( SB 11.5.36) https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/11/5/36/ To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthespark.com/next...
Nov 20, 2024•20 min
In the fifth chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa makes a few basic statements about happiness. He says, oh, here's one thing he says—this is a little bit different than most people think in the world about how you can be successful and happy. He says: "śaknotīhaiva yaḥ soḍhuṁ prāk śarīra-vimokṣaṇāt kāma-krodhodbhavaṁ vegaṁ sa yuktaḥ sa sukhī naraḥ." This kind of follows the last verse, where the last verse talked about tolerance, if you're able to tolerate the changes that are going on, be "dhīr...
Nov 19, 2024•1 hr 17 min
Every institution, every person, needs a base. A house has to have a strong foundation. Corporations start off with the reason that they exist, a mission vision statement, and say, "This is why we're doing this." Otherwise, it becomes confusing and complicated. But when we have a clear idea why we're doing something, we have a foundation, then everything else can take its proper place when we have the foundation laid. So, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's proposition was very simple, and that's been pas...
Nov 19, 2024•18 min
Oh! When there is attachment to the holy name of Krsna, the life of a living being very easily becomes successful! Oh! Without affection for Krsna, life is simply useless! At the end of life, you will obtain the beautiful vision of Radha and Syama in Vrndavana – but only when the mercy of Lord Gaura is first received! Oh! (Translation) To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthespark.com/next-steps/ask-vaisesika-dasa/ ------------------------------------------------...
Nov 18, 2024•10 min
The way one resides in Vṛndāvan or in Rādhā-kuṇḍa isn't necessarily just to move in, and I'll stop with this point, but it means that, we should be careful. Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that you should live in Vṛndāvan always; if you can't be there physically, then you should live there within your mind and heart. So if you're living here, you can cultivate that mood. It does help to go to Vṛndāvan during our lifetimes if we could make the pilgrimage to Vṛndāvan, as suggested by Prahlāda Mahārāja in...
Nov 18, 2024•48 min
