Some spiritual practitioners have one focus, such as Lord Rama, but we have both Sri Krishna and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Should we think of them as one person alternating moods or highlight their difference? Can excessive attachment to truth, both relative and absolute, be an obstacle on the path to prema? Can a Sikh become a Hare Krsna? What is the best way to please the spiritual master for a disciple who has not received any direct instructions? Other than general services such as studying a...
Aug 20, 2023•59 min
How can we discriminate between which senior devotees it will be helpful or not helpful to associate with? What is your opinion on the Lalita-sakhi sampradaya? What to do if we are attracted to Radha-bhava and feel the lack of her personal presence in Gaura-lila? Is it proper to offer everything to Sri Krishna, including our shortcomings? If so, what is the proper way to do it? How can a tiny jiva attract Sri Krishna? We are encouraged to practice pure devotion but also to be aware of our qualif...
Aug 13, 2023•1 hr 2 min
Questions on today's Swami call: If a sadhaka is given different services from Radha and Krsna simultaneously, whose service should be done first? What should be our mood in doing services contrary to our personality? What is your history of preaching with Bhakti Abhaya Narayana Maharaja? Does the relationship between soul and intelligence change according to one’s advancement? Why does Visnu appear to Dhruva if Krsna is the main deity of the Bhagavatam? Does our present personality have any bea...
Aug 06, 2023•58 min
Questions on today’s Swami call: Can you elaborate on the power of the holy name and its relation to our inability to honor the holy name? Can you explain the difference between the kinds of humility explained in the second and third verses of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s Siksastakam? Can one who is chanting with impurities in one’s heart hope that their chanting will benefit others? Can you explain Srila Sridhara Maharaja’s commentary to the Brahma-gayatri? How does he relate this mantra with Radh...
Jul 30, 2023•58 min
Questions on today’s Swami call: How can someone's brain become so munted that they think the Earth is flat? Why do some devotees place so much importance and spend so much time and energy on weird explanations of phenomenon in this temporary world? How to deal with devotees who conflate such conspiracy theories with Krishna consciousness? If I understood right, the Bhagavatam speak of the Earth and surrounding planets as islands in an ocean. That does not seem to fit with neither the globe or t...
Jul 23, 2023•49 min
Questions on today’s Swami call: Pranama. Can you explain what you meant when you stated that Sri Krishna’s lila on earth involves elements of karma? Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has stated that in Brahma-sayujya the opulences of knowledge and renunciation are derived from the opulence of fame. What did he mean by that? What does it mean when it is said in Sri Caitanya-caritamrta that there cannot be pure love of Krishna in this world because pure love involves separation, and such separation woul...
Jul 02, 2023•1 hr
Questions on today’s Swami call: If someone is addicted to alcohol, does one come in contact with Sri Krishna from the moment that one first calls out to him? Is it wrong to keep calling out for Krishna’s help even if one falls back into old habits one time after another? Is the will of the jiva the same as atma-jnana? Is our only real will as an atma to serve Krishna? Some people say that they are spiritual but not religious. What has religion done for the spiritual life of people? Are there go...
Jun 25, 2023•1 hr 7 min
Questions on today’s Swami call: How did such a nice devotee like Akrura get mixed up with such a bad guy like Kamsa? What is your favorite story from the lives of the six goswamis of Vrindavana? As there are sakhas with an influence of madhurya, are there gopis with an influence of sakhya? In Bhagavad-gita 9.30, what is the meaning of ananya-bhakti? Furthermore, what is the proper understanding of this verse? It seems like it could be used as an excuse to engage in sinful behavior. During the f...
Jun 18, 2023•1 hr 9 min
Questions on today’s Swami call: Pranama. Sometimes scripture says logic and reasoning will not give us any standing in absolute reality. At other times, healthy debate is encouraged as it will strengthen our resolve. What kind of debates should we avoid and which ones will be helpful? I read in a book from another tradition about seeing God as one’s husband. Is there a way to translate that into our tradition? Because we are not aspiring to become spouses of God in the lila. Do we sometimes hav...
Jun 11, 2023•1 hr 5 min
Questions on today’s Swami call: What does it mean that Sri Krishna is dependent on his devotees in a perfect, more perfect, and most perfect way in Dvaraka, Mathura, and Vrindavana dhama respectively? Can you elaborate on Srila Sridhara Maharaja’s observation that Srila Prabhupada was saktyavesa? If Sri Krishna did indeed eat dirt in his childhood pastimes, why would he do that? Some disciples of Srila Sridhara Maharaja will on principle not read Srila Rupa Goswami’s Ujjvala-nilamani as Srila S...
Jun 04, 2023•57 min
Questions on today’s Swami call: What does it mean to ask the right questions spiritually? Is the same for everyone? Should we serve and be submissive to everyone and everything in life? How can we harmonize our own limited view with the view of the uttama-bhagavata that everything is fine and all that happens is according to the will of Sri Krishna? Sometimes Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura uses the word sahaja with a positive connotation, whereas were are used to hearing it with a negative connotat...
May 28, 2023•1 hr 4 min
Questions on today’s Swami call: In one place in Jaiva Dharma, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura says that in raganuga bhakti, bhava produces ruci from the very beginning. Here it sounds like the order of the stages of bhakti as they are usually explained is reversed. Can you explain this? Is it better to do more practice even though it’s shallow or to do less in quantity but qualitatively more substantial practice? If we understand that we should not pray for material things but do not yet have the de...
May 21, 2023•1 hr 5 min
Questions on today’s Swami call: Are all worshippers of God from the different religions realizing the lila of Sri Krishna according to their approach? Does Narada Muni have a place in the intimate lilas of Krishna in Vrindavan? How can we assess statements from practitioners outside of our tradition who claim they have attained perfections that we see as unique to our tradition? If a saint outside of our tradition appears to have had visions related to our tradition, can we assume that they bel...
May 14, 2023•53 min
Questions on today’s Swami call: Is the worship of Sri Sri Krishna-Balarama unique to our lineage? If not, is the form worshipped by Srila Prabhupada unique to our lineage? You have told the story of your sannyasa-initiation. Can you also share the stories of your first and second initiations? Recently, you posted on Facebook: “If the knower is not known...” What did you mean by that? Sometimes, it is said that Krishna married the gopis while he was in the form of all the cowherd boys during the...
May 07, 2023•53 min
Questions on today’s Swami call: What is the actual difference between bhakti and other paths such as yoga in terms of prerequisites for practicing? May I add the singing of Nitai Pada Kamala to my sadhana? Is it appropriate to share my love for Sri Nityananda Prabhu with others? Not doing it feels like a waste of heart. During the year that Sri Krishna played the roles of his cowherd-boy friends in the Brahma-vimohan lila, Krishna in his original form could not experience the same rasa as he co...
Apr 30, 2023•1 hr 4 min
Questions on today’s Swami call: How can a sadhaka get a glimpse of their potential? How can we stay motivated when it feels like no effort in this path is enough? Can you say something about the nature of friendship between Vaishnavas and how we can reciprocate appropriately to a Vaishnava’s affection? How can I make amends to Vaishnavas who have passed away since I offended them? How would you define a spiritual personality? Is it possible to attain Vraja-bhakti in other ages than Kali-yuga? A...
Apr 23, 2023•54 min
Questions on today’s Swami call: How are we to think of our participation in Gaura-lila as it unfolds in the present day? Will Jaya and Vijaya appear in Kali-yuga? How can I attain perfection despite the distractions that are there and given the fact that one could get burnt out by trying too hard? Could you also explain what the fifth dimension is? Are there unconventional ways to get absorbed in bhakti? What does it mean to have an eternal spiritual master? There is a strong emphasis in today’...
Mar 26, 2023•58 min
Questions on today’s Swami call: What is the importance of the order in which the name, form, qualities, and pastimes of Sri Krishna are realized? If it’s easier for me to meditate on harinama while seated in kirtana, is it best if I remain seated even if others get up and dance? In the Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, dancing before the deities is listed among the angas of sadhana-bhakti. Can you comment on this? Regarding the three aspects of the absolute—Brahman, Paramatma, and Bhagavan corresponding ...
Mar 19, 2023•1 hr 7 min
Questions on today’s Swami call: Is it okay to pray to Sri Krishna and the higher Vaisnavas for help when we are in bad physical health or feel down emotionally? There is an idea that since the guru-disciple relationship is eternal, if the guru rejects the disciple, the guru cannot be bona fide. Can you comment on this? When did misogyny become prevalent in ISKCON? Did it originate with Srila Prabhupada? I have heard that he said things like “women are less intelligent” but also that he was very...
Mar 12, 2023•1 hr 6 min
Questions on today’s Swami call: Can you clarify about the tattva of Sri Balaram? Would he pacify the gopis in the aprakat-lila the way he does in the pratat-lila? Can he be said to be the best friend of the jivas? Does the diksa-guru and the siksa-guru have to be the same person? Is it known what kind of initiation Srila Saraswati Thakura was given by Srila Gaurakisora Dasa Babaji? Should we feel bad for having fear? Is fear more detrimental than other material emotions? Will it hold us back fr...
Feb 26, 2023•1 hr 10 min
Questions on today’s Swami call: Why don’t we follow all that is in the Vedas? Why do we focus only on Sri Krishna? Sometimes, material suffering is too overwhelming for one to be able to practice. How to remember Krishna in such times? Some say we should always strive to improve ourselves, and others say that we are good as we are. How do these views relate to the practice of bhakti? Even if Buddhism is a different practice from ours, wouldn’t devotees also strive to follow the eightfold path o...
Feb 19, 2023•1 hr 9 min
Questions on today’s Swami call: Is it okay to see Sriman Mahaprabhu and Sri Krishna as the same person, that is, more the same person than Lord Ramachandra and Sri Krishna are the same person? If Sanskrit is a holy language, does it mean the other languages are ungodly? Is there a Vedic version of the Tower of Babel? How can we harmonize the ideal of universal compassion with our feelings of anger towards offensive people? Can Sri Krishna’s names be chanted in other languages than Sanskrit with...
Feb 12, 2023•1 hr 8 min
Questions on today’s Swami call: Some pastimes of Sri Krishna are intimate and secret. Yet an infinite number of sadhakas are aspiring to attain them. How does this fit together? Can you explain about the ways of saranagati? Can you share something about Sri Balarama and his group of cowherd boys and what they do in relation to the pastimes with Srimati Radharani? Some say that Sriman Mahaprabhu was introduced to Radha-bhava by Sri Nityananda Prabhu when the latter came to Navadvipa. Can you com...
Feb 05, 2023•1 hr
Questions on today’s Swami call: Sometimes animals come into the lives of devotees, and they seem special and inclined to bhakti in some ways. Could it be that they come to devotees because it’s their last birth before they will take on a human form? How is it that material opulence makes people forget about spiritual life, especially if material opulence comes as a result of previous pious acts? If one prematurely imagines one’s siddha-deha, what problems could arise and how can one solve them?...
Jan 29, 2023•1 hr 4 min
Questions on today’s Swami call: What does it mean to have a soft heart? Is the uttama-bhagavata’s vision more true than that of the madhyama-bhagavata? If so should the kanistha-bhagavata follow the uttama perspective because it’s more real or follow the madhyama perspective as it is more close to their own? Some people argue that Srila Prabhupada engaged his disciples beyond their qualification. What would you respond to that? Which edition of Jaiva Dharma would you recommend? Can you say some...
Jan 22, 2023•1 hr 9 min
Questions on today’s Swami call: I have heard you say that Sri Madhvacarya taught that jivas are of three kinds; sattvika, rajasika, and tamasika. Only sattvika jivas are eligible for liberation. How did he support this view? Might this view be influenced by the caste system where only brahmins are eligible for liberation? What does it mean to identify as a Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya Vaishnava when Madhva’s view is so different from the Gaudiya perspective on the jiva? In his commentary to Bhagavad-G...
Jan 08, 2023•1 hr 13 min
Questions on today’s Swami call: Is it that we first learn to study sastra under guidance and then we become able to study it on our own? Can the principle of thesis-antithesis-synthesis be seen in the different types of personalities of our lineage? Is the ability to see the svarupa sakti manifesting itself in different ways something that will come with advancement? What is the origin of Ayurveda? Why are Sri Srivasa Thakura and Srila Haridas Thakura used as examples of external practice in th...
Jan 01, 2023•1 hr 8 min
From Madhurya to Audarya, Part 8: No Gopa Should Go Hungry
Dec 29, 2022•1 hr 15 min
From Madhurya to Audarya, Part 7: Sukadeva Carried to Another Madhurya Lila
Dec 28, 2022•1 hr 2 min
From Madhurya to Audarya, Part 6: Krsna Helps the Gopis Perfect Their Vrata
Dec 27, 2022•1 hr 8 min
