Choosing Krsna over Maya

Overcoming petty weaknesses of the heart and becoming strong in our resolve to be 'fixed up devotees' means watering the soul with regular and quality sadhana.

How refreshing it is when we actually curl up with one of Srila Prabhupada's books and read for the sake of reading.

Makes us realise how nice it is to read and also wonder why we ever neglect it in the first place.

Each day we have to consciously make the decision to choose Krsna over Maya.

Until we get to the pure spontaneous level of devotion we have to make this concerted effort to choose Krsna.

This is not just in our daily reading material or our japa but in all aspects of our lives.

When we are talking to devotees do we choose Krsna and ensure the talking does not descend to gossip, criticism, & mocking other devotees?

Are we actively looking to raise our consciousness and our colleagues consciousness to Krsna Consciousness or wallowing in the dirt of the three modes of nature?

When we carry out our services do we remember that it is all for Krsna or do we think we are the ultimate 'doer'?

Krsna Consciousness is such a life changing process - life changing in that it will change our current material life forever  - and yet we have to reciprocate with the Lord's mercy all the way by choosing Krsna .... choosing Krsna ... choosing Krsna.

How appropriate then that tomorrow is Lord Nityananda's appearance day.

He is the most merciful and actually comes to choose us ... and help us ... even if we are weak willed and don't always remember and serve Him.

So fortunate to be able to share in His appearance day tomorrow.

Lets all choose to remember dear Nitai tomorrow and in this way be blessed !

Devotee Care

“I personally believe that this project is one of the most important projects in all of creation – this simple little Counselor system, because it can create a very strong and attractive foundation within the Hare Krishna movement.

When we talk about revealing one's minds, it doesn't mean dumping the garbage of your mind, just for the sake of dumping. It means approaching a Vaishnava friend with a desire for spiritual advancement, with a desire for spiritual help, with a desire to inspire one another and encourage and enliven another, whether we are seeking help or giving help, it should always be with proper knowledge, that the only real help is to bring one another closer to Krishna. And the devotees, they are lost in the network of maya.

So real help, real friendship, real love, is to help each other to be Krishna conscious. But in order  to help each other to be Krishna conscious, we have to understand the science of Vaishnava etiquette very carefully.

So this Counselor system is being developed for this reason. To make every possible intelligent effort to help every single devotee on every level of that devotee's life. Physically, socially, philosophically, spiritually, we should support it, we should help each other and more and more. The devotees who are taking this wonderful responsibility of Counselors are trying to help each other to better help the Vaishnavas. And the hope is that everyone is being helped to learn the process of helping each other. And in this way the Krishna consciousness will not only expand in quantity but it will expand in quality."

HH Radhanath Swami

Material Life - A terminal illness

We were visiting a devotee yesterday who has stomach cancer.

Not something we want to think about or even discuss really.

It came completely out of the blue.

She was having stomach pains for 2 years ... not really taken so seriously ... and than suddenly told a month or two ago that she has stomach cancer... .

What do you do now?

Seems we all need to wise up and start to take this process seriously.

Not being able to wake up early enough to chant a decent amount of rounds before school/work is kinda small compared to be told that you have a possible terminal illness.

Or maintaining grudges from the past - where only you are still hurting - is not really what the focus of our lives should be.

We need to become strong and shake off all the shackles of anarthas, impersonalism and false ego if we are serious about going Back to Godhead.

When the tests come (and they will definitely come) are you gonna be ready for them?

Will you have sufficient Krsna credit in the bank to draw upon?

Spiritual strength comes from good decent sadhana - regular and sincere.

This is the root of our creeper and the water and the growth food too.

If you don't call upon the Lord when you can and are able how will you develop sufficient desire and taste to do it when you cannot?

If you don't try to control the mind now while we can how will you do it when you are weak and sick and feeling lonely, in pain, confused and scared?

It is so important to become serious NOW ... and this does not mean becoming grave to the point of your personality dying !

Never smiling cos " I am a serious devotee and I only eat raw carrots for dinner"!

It means imbibing the message which Srila Prabhupada came to give - the message of 'Chant and Be HAPPY' !

This will keep you strong when afflicted by the terminal illness that comes with having a material body.

We are all gonna suffer from it  - the question is ... ARE YOU READY FOR IT?

The power of Bhakti

The power of Bhakti is within all of us and our constitutional nature. In this material existence we are endlessly distracted by unlimited forms as the mind is habituated to be distracted. Yet we have Krishna, the source of all beauty, strength, knowledge, fame, wealth and renunciation and once attracted to him we can never be attracted to the mortal things of this world. That doesn’t mean we have to be callous to the world, it means we become instruments of God’s compassion.

These distractions are so powerful and we have been conditioned for so long and have taken shelter of them for so long. But we can rise above them when we experience a higher taste by experiencing the shelter of Krishna.

What does it mean to take shelter of God? It simply means to open our hearts and receive and reciprocate with the grace of the Lord.  When we take shelter of the Lord then by the grace of the Lord we get a higher taste.  We cannot attain a higher taste, but if we are sincere, the higher taste is given to us and that is grace.

What is the nature of that higher taste? The highest revelation of God, the result of receiving the most intimate grace of the Lord, is expressed by Sri Chaitanya in this verse.

na dhanam na janam na sundarim
kavitam va jagad-isha kamaye
mama janmani janmanishvare
bhavatad bhaktir ahaituki tvayi

I do not want any amount of wealth, beautiful compianship of the opposite sex, fame or prestige, followers or incredible skills or liberation from suffering, I just want to serve my Lord, unconditionally, anywhere.

The greatest treasure in all of creation, even beyond this creation forever, is the attitude to serve with love, because in the service we please God. There is nothing higher, no aspiration greater. That is love.

Whether we are teachers, doctors or swami’s we must be convinced that the higher taste is there and try to transcend all the distractions by keeping ourselves well connected with satsang, association of devotees who help keep us fixed on the true aspiration and true method of reaching that aspiration. The sadhana (practce) and the sadhya (goal) are the same – to serve with unselfish love and to chant the holy names of God.

HH Radhanath Swami 

Famous Failures

Lesson to learn?

Never give up ... no matter how high the walls of obstacles may seem. 

Wise words from HH Bhakti Tirtha Swami

One of the all time greats in ISKCON - I love his thoughts and realisations. 

And still miss him dearly. 


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"Humility does not mean to think yourself less, but to less think of yourself."

"Treat each person with the bhakti and care as if the success or failure of your own spiritual life depends on this. Do not take into concern how they treat you.The manner in which you treat people is the same way you treat Guru and Krishna."

"Anytime there is a problem in a relationship, you should first see it as your own fault. Even if others are to blame, you will only add to the problem by considering them to be at fault."

HH Bhakti Tirtha Swami 

The power of the Vaisnavas

Simply by associating with a pure devotee, one becomes wonderfully advanced in Krsna consciousness. Sadhu-sanga, or association with a devotee, means always engaging in Krsna consciousness by chanting the Hare Krsna mantra... but he whose heart is contaminated sees things differently. Therefore by sat-sanga, or association with devotees, one becomes perfectly pure in heart. 


SB 4.24.59 P Chanting the Song Sung by Lord Siva