One thing to remember is that Kṛṣṇa is directly available to us all the time; it's just a matter of reaching out. I saw a video of somebody in the Los Angeles fires. It was a woman; it sounded like because you couldn't see her. She was someone holding the camera, and she was driving her car down the road where there's fire on all sides. And she started praying, 'Oh my God, please help me. Please save me.' And she drove through a tunnel, and when she came out the other side, it was even more fier...
Jan 20, 2025•21 min
Naiṣkarmyam apy acyuta-bhāva-varjitaṁ na śobhate jñānam alaṁ nirañjanam. Kutaḥ punaḥ śaśvad abhadram īśvare na cārpitaṁ karma yad apy akāraṇam. (SB 1.5.12) This is one of the points that Nārada makes to Vyāsadeva: "Okay, you've talked about 'naiṣkarmyam' - that okay, here's how you escape the material world and the obligations to work according to karma. 'Naiṣkarmyam apy acyuta-bhāva-varjitaṁ na śobhate jñānam alaṁ nirañjanam.' Nirañjanam - you may also have this conception of that you're not yo...
Jan 19, 2025•1 hr 16 min
This is an outline called "Getting to 16 Rounds," but it could also include "staying at 16 Rounds." And I'll just go through it briefly. It's helpful, oftentimes, to consider or reconsider any process that one's doing every day in the way that I've conceived a simple process to help someone get to 16 rounds or to, as I just said, review and stay at 16 rounds. Here are a few steps: Number one is to learn about the glories of the holy name. Just this morning, I heard Prabhupāda speaking about Ajām...
Jan 19, 2025•14 min
(1) boro sukher khabor gāi surabhi-kuñjete nāmer hāṭ khule’che (khoda nitāi) (2) boro mojār kathā tāy śraddhā-mūlye śuddha-nāma sei hāṭete bikāy (3) jata bhakta-bṛnda basi’ adhikārī dekhe’ nāma becche daro kasi’ (4) jadi nāma kinbe, bhāi āmār sańge calo, mahājaner kāche jāi (5) tumi kinbe kṛṣṇa-nāma dasturi loibo āmi, pūrṇa ha’be kāma (6) boro doyāl nityānanda śraddhā-mātra lo’ye den parama-ānanda (7) ek-bār dekhle cakṣe jal ‘gaura’ bole’ nitāi den sakala sambal (8) den śuddha kṛṣṇa-ś...
Jan 19, 2025•10 min
Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta took up the modern dress and used conveyances like you'll see a picture of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta coming into Radhā-kunda to emphasize the point of yukta vairāgya. Let's use everything, all technology, modern appearances, and so forth, in order to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness all over the world. Meanwhile, the babājīs in Radhā-kunda, as an example, were still wearing the very scant dress of Rūpa Sanātana and not touching the world. They wouldn't wear shoes and so forth. What d...
Jan 19, 2025•42 min
I heard Prabhupāda say that his eldest son was very restless, and one of Prabhupāda's friends would come over to the house and say, "Well, I'll give you this prize if you can sit still for one minute." And Prabhupada said he couldn't do it. Couldn't do it for one minute. So he said that we can't remain inactive as spiritual beings. If we're given something superior to do, then if we do that, then we'll feel satisfied, and we'll be productive. And the superior thing is the chanting of The Holy Na...
Jan 18, 2025•13 min
It's important in a community to have sharing of one's realizations called guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati (NOI, verse 4). What's bugging you these days? What's working for you? What are you feeling being a human, in the world today, well, eternal souls walking around the Earth, planet. What are you seeing, feeling, hearing? (excerpt from the realization session) Krsna Jinka Nāma hai 3:23 Vijñāpti Pañchaka 11:30 Mangalacarana Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta 15:19 Śrī Īśopaniṣad 23:00 Khoda Nitai Song 28:27 refl...
Jan 18, 2025•1 hr 2 min
I also offer my respects to the great teacher, Caitanya, who, 500 years ago, as a barefoot monk, traveled throughout India and introduced the process of bhakti yoga, going door to door and teaching people that it doesn't matter where you live, it doesn't matter what style you have, you don't have to change any of that. His point was to change the vibration in your life. And just as you may notice, if you have ever been to a movie—have you ever been to a movie? There's a few times, a long time ag...
Jan 17, 2025•34 min
Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says that when you're chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, you should beg for this medicine and beg for the mercy of Kṛṣṇa. And so there's a goal to our sādhana. That's sādhya. And the practice to reach the sādhya, or the goal, is sādhana. And so one has to have some clear idea what one's begging for. It's like Rajendrananda Prabhu said, he's begging for some service, some shelter. And so if we have this mood that we know what we want, we want some service, and we're begging for it, then ou...
Jan 17, 2025•11 min
When we come into a temple room, we ring the bell, we offer obeisances. We don't walk in with shoes and so forth. And we do that because we're presenting ourselves. Darśan, as Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura emphasized, is not us going to see the Lord. In fact, oftentimes he would stand near the back of the temple at the Garuḍa Stambha, saying that Kṛṣṇa will look out and recognize His devotee, Garuḍa. If he's standing underneath him, then Kṛṣṇa may also see him. He also oftentimes didn'...
Jan 17, 2025•48 min
As far as I can remember, I had questions that my parents couldn't answer. One of the main ones was, why do you have to die, and what's life for if you have to die anyway? And when I got into my teens and into high school, I had a sense of existential angst. I really wanted to know more, so I started studying literatures that seemed to me to be spiritual, anything I could find from the library, from bookstores, from wherever. And I was eclectic at that point because I didn't have a clear directi...
Jan 16, 2025•1 hr
I'll read the list again of elements that affect determination. 1.Modes of nature we talked about, so try to cultivate sattva in body, mind, environment, and association. 2.Next is sambandha-jñāna. I need a daily reminder of why I'm chanting. Where are we now, in the land of birth, death, old age, and disease? Where are we going? To the param dhāma. 3. And then there's nāma-tattva. If I forget, or I don't remind myself, what is Kṛṣṇa's name that's non-different from Kṛṣṇa? He's the source of eve...
Jan 16, 2025•19 min
Maraṇam before smaraṇam. In other words, before one is able to comprehend or think of the pastimes of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa at Rādhā-kuṇḍa, one must begin with the simplest of processes. For instance, what is the instruction of the śāstra: 'ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ.' Yoga doesn't begin with coming to Rādhā-kuṇḍa and trying to remember Kṛṣṇa and staying here, but it begins with 'jihvādau', ādau means beginning, and jihvā means the...
Jan 15, 2025•25 min
The root cause of misery is the material body, and a direct process of devotional service, especially chanting japa, has a way of bringing us to the plane of transcendence, and that means also being able to see clearly who we are. 'Vāsudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogaḥ prayojitaḥ janayaty āśu vairāgyaṁ jñānaṁ ca yad ahaitukam (SB 1.2.7).' Sūta Gosvāmī said there's a natural way in which we achieve knowledge when we do devotional service. And real knowledge means 'kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi sarva-kṣet...
Jan 15, 2025•11 min
The Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas ultimately bring the point that the soul is an agent. In fact, the āśrute in the Vedānta-sūtra says that if he's not an agent, if the soul, if we aren't agents for our own improvement and change, then there's no purpose to all the śāstra, because, after all, who’s it talking to when it says you can improve if you do this, this, and that? There are all these instructions saying, 'Do this, not that.' And who does that relate to? Who is it speaking to then? And unless you can ...
Jan 15, 2025•6 min
"Kurvan nirantaraṁ karma loko 'yam anuvartate tenaiva karmaṇā dhyāyan māṁ parāṁ bhaktim icchati" (Brahma Saṁhitā 5.61), which means that "Kurvan nirantaraṁ karma," everybody's got to work. Sorry if I wrecked your day. Every living entity has to work. Kṛṣṇa says that in the Bhagavad Gita also: "Na hi kaścit kṣaṇam api jātu tiṣṭhaty akarma-kṛt kāryate hy avaśaḥ karma sarvaḥ prakṛti-jair guṇaiḥ" (BG 3.5).He said, not even for a moment can you stop working? Not even for a second. You got to go. Ever...
Jan 14, 2025•1 hr 4 min
And today, I just want to mention a principle that's very helpful in staying in the moment and continuing chanting despite the phenomena that the mind will drag us in various ways, as Kṛṣṇa mentions in the Bhagavad Gitā. So, that's a principle called applied procrastination. Procrastination—everybody knows how to procrastinate because all you do is just put things off until the next time. And the same principle can be applied in staying fixed in Japa. When the mind comes with some other idea bes...
Jan 14, 2025•29 min
Bhaktivinoda calls out "Except for the lotus feet of Lord Nityananda there is no other shelter!" ( Translation, Verse 11) To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit www.fanthespark.com/next-steps/ask-vaisesika-dasa/ ------------------------------------------------------------ Add to your wisdom literature collection: iskconsv.com/book-store/ www.bbtacademic.com/books/ thefourquestionsbook.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------ Join us live on Facebook: www....
Jan 14, 2025•17 min
Bhaktivinoda calls out "Except for the lotus feet of Lord Nityananda there is no other shelter!" ( Translation, Verse 11) 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://iskconsv.com/book-store/ https://www.bbtacademic.com/books/ https://thefourquestionsbook.com/ -----------------------------------------------------------...
Jan 13, 2025•10 min
So there's a way to cultivate this awareness that Kṛṣṇa and His name are non-different. There's nothing else to be had except for the Holy Name. And Kṛṣṇa fulfills all desires more than we can expect. Another name of Kṛṣṇa is Vañchatītāt. Atita means ‘above’ or ‘to rise above’, and vañchā means ‘desire’. So whatever desire we have, Kṛṣṇa can fulfill it above what we can expect. So keeping this is a first stage. I'll mention the other ones later. But the first stage of cultivation, or helping som...
Jan 13, 2025•17 min
The cause of our various dispositions and the way we hate some things, like other things, is because of our association with the modes of material nature. So Kunti says all of this is bad, actually. And therefore, when I'm subjected to reversals of fortune, and I'm jarred by it, and therefore, I take shelter of Kṛṣṇa, this is a blessing. Oftentimes, when there's a reversal, I take shelter of pitying myself, or I become a victim and think: I go on television. "Why do bad things happen to good peo...
Jan 12, 2025•1 hr 4 min
And as I was walking back down the steps, I was thinking of how famous The Buddha is; millions, if not billions, of people worship The Buddha around the world. And if you mention his name anywhere, people recognize something about him. And I was thinking, how is he famous? He was just sitting there. And I was thinking of how people flying on jets and going here and there are trying to find some recognition, fame, something nice to consume. And their lives may not be nearly as consequential as Th...
Jan 12, 2025•18 min
The first nine cantos then give us the ways in which to overcome the various attachments that we have: Vīta rāga bhaya Krodha, the attachment to material energy finished by the time you finish nine cantos. No thank you. No más. I'm not interested anymore. I got a better place to go. And then that idea that the fear that one has of a personal relationship with God is gone, and it awakens in one's heart this idea. It's like, oh yeah, I want a person. I already have a personal relationship, but I w...
Jan 12, 2025•1 hr
And finally, I knew a devotee who was a sādhu and who, when asked why he was wearing the dress he was wearing, "What is your religion?" he would say, "My religion is to find faults within myself and to overcome them, and if we make that our religion, rather than the religion of finding the faults in others and helping them to overcome them by criticizing them, which always works. Then, then we're likely to be well situated, because there's so much within myself that needs to be improved. So if I...
Jan 11, 2025•23 min
Kr̥ṣṇa says, "catur-vidhā bhajante māṁ janāḥ su-kṛtino ’rjuna ārto jijñāsur arthārthī jñānī ca bharatarṣabha (BG 7.16)." He names the motives of many different kinds of people. Everyone's still okay, and he says they're all pious souls, but of all of them, the best ones are the ones that are in knowledge of the Absolute Truth, and they just want to worship me. So, that's the line we're in. And you can see how all of the ācāryas dealt with the institutionalization of religion. Even within our own...
Jan 10, 2025•34 min
I was listening to Prabhupāda this morning, and he was saying that we cannot imitate Haridāsa Ṭhākura. He said, "If you try to imitate Haridāsa Ṭhākura, then you'll simply sleep." And then he said also that all of us should sacrifice some time for Kṛṣṇa everyday. And he said, "If you take time to chant japa, this is the best sacrifice of time. We may think, 'Oh, my time, my time, my time. I have so many things I have to do,' but if you sacrifice some time for Kṛṣṇa's sake, 'Kṛṣṇa, I'm taking thi...
Jan 10, 2025•20 min
There's lots and lots of service, and you're qualified for it. Once you take more service for the saṅkīrtana movement, which is your legacy, the more you'll feel empowered. Please feel free to expand your services. You're becoming mature and thoughtful. You already have talent, and please take the baton. That starts with getting some service that's significant, that you can attend to on a regular basis to help expand the movement. And Kṛṣṇa will give you more and more facility when you do that. ...
Jan 10, 2025•5 min
We can remember also that the situation I'm in now can be remedied by the process of hearing Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, and if we take advantage of it, then very naturally, if we're in that state of mind of seriously hearing the Bhāgavatam, then, as the Sanskrit says in this verse, "Of those who hear in earnestness -śraddhayā," and nityam means always or regularly. So what does that mean? And this is one of the symptoms of being serious, is nityam. So nityam means always, like mahārāja-Parīkṣit, or it a...
Jan 09, 2025•50 min
Best remedy is to sit down very tightly and chant Hare Krishna very loudly and hear for a long time until he feels himself one-minded and fixed on Krishna's Lotus Feet. (excerpt from a letter by Śrīla Prabhupāda to Mohanananda,Feb. 27, 1972, Mayapur ) ------------------------------------------------------------ To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthespark.com/next-steps/ask-vaisesika-dasa/ ------------------------------------------------------------ Add to your ...
Jan 09, 2025•15 min
Kṛṣṇa gives facility for everyone to either try to ensconce oneself in the material energy and pull the covers over their head and just be absorbed in the material energy. However, His ultimate purpose is to give an opportunity for everyone to realize the path of bhakti. Amongst the Vedas that I mentioned, Brahmā manifested earlier. He also manifested the Purāṇas. And of course, we get, in the recent age, the essence of all the Vedas and all the Purāṇas in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And we also get ...
Jan 08, 2025•53 min
