Archive - Nov 2008

What are intimacies? They should be saved for devotees. This refers to the third point in the fourth verse of Rupa Goswami's "Nectar of Instruction:" dadati pratigrhnati, guhyam akhyati prcchati, bhunkte bhojayate caiva, sad-vidham priti-laksanam. "Offering gifts in charity, accepting charitable gifts, revealing one's mind in confidence, inquiring confidentially, accepting prasada and offering prasada are the six symptoms of love shared by one devotee and another."

Seeing God everywhere means seeing both His internal and His external energies.

Intimacy should be saved for devotees. One is not to be intimate with others. Reference: "Asat-sanga tyaga, - - ei vaisnava-acara, 'stri-sangi' - - eka asadhu, 'krsnabhakta' ara," or, a Vaisnava should always avoid the association of ordinary people. Common people are very much materially attached, especially to women. Vaisnavas should also avoid the company of those who are not devotees of Lord Krsna. (Caitanya Caritamrta Madhya 22.87).

Education always involves some guesswork, because we rarely know the full propensities of any child in the early years, what to speak of the future and how to prepare for it. This is a challenge for all Krishna consciousness educators. The best scenario is to maintain traditions, yet ensure our systems are always sensitive to time, place, and circumstance, and prioritize preaching as frontline work, thus keeping compassion and our mission as the yardsticks.

Diplomacy CAN be used for Krishna, but don't try it unless you're expert and there's a good reason for it. "The conclusion is that diplomacy used for the service of the Lord is a form of devotional service." (Caitanya Caritamrta, Madhya-lila, Chapter twelve, verse 44, purport). Diplomacy or kutaniti, is sometimes translated as "duplicity." But both Raghunatha das and Sanatana were familiar with diplomacy and used it when necessary.

Srila Prabhupada: "Our only request is that every one of you, you try to understand God, love Him and be happy. The final conclusion in the Bhagavad-gita is that if you want to be peaceful, if you want the peace of your mind, you should understand three things. That three things are that to understand that God is the supreme enjoyer. This is one. He is the proprietor of everything, and He is friend of everyone.

Plastic surgery and other attempts to arrest the aging process are popular, and on the rise. As Srila Prabhupada points out, a dead body is disgusting, regardless of how beautiful he or she may have been when alive. In fact a beautiful dead person is downright scary, especially if you think at first that they're alive, isn't it so?

It helps us remember the fragility of life when we realize that every time we drive a car we're wielding a lethal weapon. A ten-inch wide painted line is often all that separates us from oncoming cars. When we drive on these kinds of roads we are only a few feet away from death. Padam padam yat vipadam ne tesam.

At least ten times, Srila Prabhupada said, "You Are What You Eat," attributing it to George Bernard Shaw.

In a letter to Mandali Bhadra dated 25 May 1969, Srila Prabhupada wrote: "But in everything we do devotion and sincerity are the real things. There is a word in Sanskrit; bhava grahi Janardana: This means the Lord accepts service in devotional emotion. If we are sincere in offering something to the Lord in devotional love, He will accept it. The procedure may not be very right, but the desire being sincere, He accepts our offering.