Well, there's a way in which, if you eat candy every day, you may think "I'm okay," but if you cultivate knowledge about where diabetes comes from, and what happens when you ingest junk food over a long period of time, then you can get an overview. When we're practicing a discipline, it's always helpful to take directives seriously that even though I don't know what the result is going to be exactly, I can take it from the experts. This is the outcome. The doctor will say, "If you do this enough...
Mar 24, 2025•15 min
Kṛṣṇa, in the 11th canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, says to Uddhava, "sve sve ’dhikāre yā niṣṭhā, sa guṇaḥ parikīrtitaḥ, viparyayas tu doṣaḥ syād, ubhayor eṣa niścayaḥ" (SB 11.21.2)—that it's a good quality to know what you can do, what your adhikāra is, what you're capable of doing. He calls it a guṇa, a good quality. And he said "viparyayas tu doṣaḥ syād." Viparyaya means the opposite. If you try to do more than you're qualified for, then he said, it's not a good quality. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura q...
Mar 24, 2025•23 min
Doubting is not favorable after one determines an authorized source of knowledge, and this is the last slide. So the point is using the intelligence to overcome doubts to answer pressing questions is important, and in the sense of doubting, meaning that one doubts the process itself. Once one is able to determine an authorized source of knowledge, doubting does not become helpful. In other words, doubting helps us triangulate till we come to a source that we can trust. So if you don't have a sou...
Mar 23, 2025•15 min
One day, I was walking on an old logging road in the middle of nowhere in Northern California, and I felt something underfoot. I picked it up, and it was a little, tiny screw. The analogy came into my mind about the screw. I brushed it off a little bit, and I found myself feeling compassion for the screw, like, "What happened to your glorious engagement in some machine?" I had no idea what the machine was, but I did feel sorry for it for a moment. Then, I felt sorry for myself, because existenti...
Mar 23, 2025•39 min
Once upon a time, a king met a sage, and the king lived around those who always agreed with him, saying, "Yes, Sire, you're correct," and it's possible to have a sense of always being right, and then wanting to have everybody agree with you and condescend. So he had a tinge of that even when he met the sage. So the king, upon meeting the sage, there in a place that seemed a little desolate, when other people there said, "Who are you?" to the sage. And when the sage detected that sense of ego in ...
Mar 23, 2025•1 hr 1 min
There's a way in which Prabhupāda talks about in the Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta that our real project in life is to establish a temple within our hearts. And he says, once you're able to cleanse that temple, of all the anarthas, as one would clean an area and thus build a proper place for the Lord to sit, then once you've established the Lord there, you can hold a festival and distribute prasāda to everybody. So in the Bhāgavatam, Nārada Muni says, iti mūrti abhidhānina mantra mūrti amūrtikam (SB 1...
Mar 22, 2025•11 min
If we can know what the heart of God is, what He likes particularly, and if somehow or other, we could contribute to that to please Him, what would our life be like? Well, according to the logic of the scriptures, which talks about watering the root of a tree, if we figure out that by watering the root of the tree, the whole tree becomes nourished, and we also, as we discussed yesterday, Prahlāda Mahārāja, points us to a principle through which we can be fully satisfied—not partially, not tempor...
Mar 21, 2025•31 min
nārada muni, bājāy vīṇā 'rādhikā-ramaṇa'-nāme nāma amani, udita haya, bhakata-gītā-sāme When the great soul Nārada Muni plays his vina, the holy name, Radhika-raman, descends and immediately appears amidst the kirtan of the Lord’s devotees. (1) ------------------------------------------------------------ To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthespark.com/next-steps/ask-vaisesika-dasa/ ------------------------------------------------------------ Add to your wisdo...
Mar 21, 2025•17 min
It's A Good Idea To Assume You Know Nothing | Pilgrimage of The Heart | 13 Feb 2025 by Vaisesika Dasa
Mar 21, 2025•36 min
tāhāṅ vistārita hañā phale prema-phala ihāṅ mālī sece nitya śravaṇādi jala The creeper greatly expands in the Goloka Vṛndāvana planet, and there it produces the fruit of love for Kṛṣṇa. Although remaining in the material world, the gardener regularly sprinkles the creeper with the water of hearing and chanting. https://vedabase.io/en/library/cc/madhya/19/155/ ------------------------------------------------------------ To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthespar...
Mar 20, 2025•10 min
This morning, I woke up and I was thinking of all the things I had to do and problems I had to solve, and "How am I going to do this all?" And then I just started praying, and I said, "Kṛṣṇa," there's a picture of Kṛṣṇa on my wall, and I can see Him as soon as I wake up, "Kṛṣṇa, I think I need a little help. If You could empower me to deal with all the duties that I have to do today." And I immediately felt satisfied, because I just left it to Kṛṣṇa. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu taught this simple pro...
Mar 19, 2025•1 hr 7 min
In the Age of Kali, intelligent persons perform congregational chanting to worship the incarnation of Godhead who constantly sings the names of Kṛṣṇa. Although His complexion is not blackish, He is Kṛṣṇa Himself. He is accompanied by His associates, servants, weapons and confidential companions. https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/11/5/32/ ------------------------------------------------------------ To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthespark.com/next-steps/ask-v...
Mar 19, 2025•22 min
In the Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa has a student named Arjuna, who asked Him various questions. One of the ones that I've always appreciated was, "How do you tell if somebody is spiritually advanced?" And he asked, "How does such a person sit? How does he walk? And also, how does the person speak?" And all of these are indicative of what's inside ourselves—how we speak, how we think about the world, where we walk, where are we going, using our legs. Sometimes we say we "vote with our feet." And Kṛṣṇa s...
Mar 18, 2025•34 min
Everyone can become a great devotee, being freed from offenses 100% simply by one's determination and effort. We can remember also that "determination" has the word "terminus" in it; it means to finish something. In the case of chanting japa, there's a complete mantra, there's a complete round, there are complete 16 rounds, and so forth. And if we set ourselves in a mode where we're finishing and being very careful and attentive to finish the mantra, hearing it all the way through, and rememberi...
Mar 17, 2025•15 min
Prabhupāda gives the commentary following Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura's explanation, of these ṣaḍ-garbhāsuras. Ṣaḍ means six. Garbha means womb. Asuras—they were born into Devakī's womb because of a curse, but they're representative of anarthas—unwanted habits and sentiments that are deeply rooted within the heart of someone who's been hanging around the material world since time immemorial, and those must be overcome before one can invite Kṛṣṇa into one's life. And they represent kāma, krodha...
Mar 17, 2025•41 min
But when Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu comes to the world, "pātra apātra-vicāra nāhi," He doesn't care who the recipient is, whether their mode is goodness or their mode is ignorance. And we find that people everywhere are astounded by the mercy of Caitanya Mahāprabhu when it comes upon them. In fact, several years ago, when I was here in Laguna Beach, this jewel by the ocean, this temple that is a jewel by the ocean, we went out on book distribution, then out several times together, and then one day...
Mar 16, 2025•1 hr 4 min
enechi auṣadhi māyā nāśibāro lāgi' hari-nāma mahā-mantra lao tumi māgi' 4) I have brought the medicine that will wipe out the disease of illusion from which you are suffering. Take this maha-mantra-Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/Hare Rama, Hare Rama Rama Rama, Hare Hare." (excerpt from the song) ------------------------------------------------------------ To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthespark.com/next-steps/ask-vaisesika-dasa/ -----------...
Mar 16, 2025•6 min
And in rajas, the mind is trying to fix problems. And part of that is a sense of survival. "I have to do this in order to be whole, I have to stave off what I fear." We're in fear mode. That's more touching tamas and then rajas mode. "I'm going to fix it myself," and it takes a while to come out of that mode. The modes are no joke. They actually are very powerful energy: daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī. So how we interact with the modes throughout our days and what we think about—it's not that we just si...
Mar 15, 2025•25 min
Of course, everyone should try to stay healthy and alive as long as possible, but one may feel embarrassed by the fact, and there are afflictions in this world, reversals of fortune, where we become embarrassed. But if one takes shelter of Caitanya Mahāprabhu and meditates upon Him as a prime object of meditation in life, Karabhājana, when he says, "Don't worry, you will never be embarrassed." And then he says, abhīṣṭa-dohaṁ, that Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu fulfills the innermost desire of eve...
Mar 15, 2025•32 min
gṛhe thāko, vane thāko, sadā 'hari' bole' ḍāko, sukhe duḥkhe bhulo nā'ko, vadane hari-nām koro re Whether you are a householder or a sannyasi, constantly chant "Hari! Hari!" Do not forget this chanting, whether you are in a happy condition or a distressful one. Just fill your lips with the hari-nama. (from the song Gāy Gaura madhur sware) ------------------------------------------------------------ To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthespark.com/next-steps/a...
Mar 14, 2025•1 hr 51 min
The Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is a spiritual sound. It's coming from the highest position in the spiritual world. In another song, not the one I'm quoting now, but it says, "golokera prema-dhana, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana," that the sound of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, a sample of which you can give now, that mantra and the name, which is composed of names of God, is an avatāra also. It comes from the spiritual world into this world, and by hearing that sound, it's very much like The Wizard of Oz. Dorothy got bum...
Mar 14, 2025•52 min
There's an anxiety created by what's called "The Paradox of Choice." There was a book written about it, some scientific studies and the psychological effects of having too many choices. And Kṛṣṇa talks about it in the Bhagavad-gītā, when He says, "vyavasāyātmikā buddhir, ekeha kuru-nandana, bahu-śākhā hy anantāś ca, buddhayo ’vyavasāyinām." When you think that you have many choices calling to you, then your mind becomes confused and you're pulled in many directions. Bahu-śākhā—unlimited directio...
Mar 12, 2025•20 min
Things that are very difficult to do become easy to execute if one somehow or other simply remembers Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. But if one does not remember Him, even easy things become very difficult. To this Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu I offer my respectful obeisances. https://vedabase.io/en/library/cc/adi/14/1/ ------------------------------------------------------------ To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthespark.com/next-steps/ask-vaisesika-dasa/ -------------...
Mar 12, 2025•2 hr 10 min
Once, when I had a legal problem in managing, and it was something that kept me up at night, I consulted Godbrothers, and one of my Godbrothers, Ritadhvaja Swami, so kindly, two days later, sent me a verse. He said, "Vaiś, I think this might help." And he sent me a verse from Pṛthu Mahārāja, who definitely had a problem—Indra. He was trying to do his duty and perform this 100th horse sacrifice. And Indra kept stealing the sacrificial horse and pretending he was a sannyāsī. It was ludicrous and o...
Mar 09, 2025•1 hr 29 min
There's an old saying that wars are won in the general's tent—that winning a war means you have to have a great plan. And generals have battle plans, for instance, for making retreats sometimes. And I have a book on this. Somebody recommended it to me. It's from the U.S. Marine Corps. It's called Warfighting. It's just a pamphlet that talks a lot about planning for battle. It has a lot of metaphors that are helpful for life in general, and there is an appropriate time if one retreats and then ma...
Mar 09, 2025•18 min
You might feel overwhelmed by circumstances, if that's ever happened to anybody, because there's a lot of pressure to perform in the world, academically, socially, and when we take to the water of hearing and chanting, like we're doing here on Youth Jam, it's a natural way we feel revived. What to speak of, we grow. I mean, there are so many ways in which, by watering the heart and the seed within the heart, which is the sincerity to become closer, to come closer to Kṛṣṇa, then it happens quite ...
Mar 09, 2025•32 min
In His life, Caitanya Mahāprabhu set an example. Although He was Viṣṇu, He came in disguise. He's known as the channa-avatāra. So I already said what avatāra means, and channa means covered. So there's a way in which He was acting a part. What kind of part was He acting? The part of His own devotee. That is, He came—He's God—but He acted as a devotee of Himself to show by example. Now, you may teach a child how to write letters, the letter-writing ceremony, and the child's first letters. And you...
Mar 08, 2025•1 hr 6 min
I was just thinking Kṛṣṇa consciousness means Kṛṣṇa's family, and all of the elements that everyone's looking for in their life, for loving exchanges, is there in Kṛṣṇa's pastimes with His mother, His father, His friends, and so forth, but also in the association with devotees. We have Godbrothers, Godsisters, nephews, aunts, uncles, grandchildren—everything's there, only on a spiritual platform. And so I was just appreciating, I could say, after many years in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that one of th...
Mar 05, 2025•43 min
When I was just in Māyāpur, one of the events during our stay there was the opening of the Prabhupāda Museum. So I went there by invitation, and one of the aspects that I was treated to was a couple of Godbrothers that I hadn't seen in a long time were sitting outside the museum talking. So I joined in the conversation, and one of them said to me, "My aspiration in this last stage of my life is to realize the verse of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura: 'There's nothing else to be had in the fourteen worlds e...
Mar 03, 2025•19 min
Conclusion: Give up all self-interested desire and serve Kṛṣṇa, and hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in the association of devotees, to come to that point of complete purification of intention and purpose. Pray by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. "Please, Kṛṣṇa, if You so desire, remove any last vestiges of desire for material enjoyment from my heart." (excerpt from the talk) ------------------------------------------------------------ To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthespark.com...
Mar 02, 2025•1 hr 20 min
