Archive - Jun 2008

Samadhi means always remembering Krsna and never forgetting him. In about 1935 Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart wrote a song called “Easy to Remember.” Part of the lyrics went: “Easy to remember, but so hard to forget.” In this age we often have things backwards.

The quality of joy (maitra or friendliness) is one of the 26 qualities of a devotee (refer to Caitanya Caritamrta, Madhya 22.78-80). An English saying attributed to American author, educator and clergyman, Henry an Dyke (1852 – 1933) is as follows: “There is no personal charm so great as the charm of a cheerful temperament.”

Even Srila Prabhupada seemed to like quotations. Whether these were Bengali proverbs, Canakya slokas, or even English sayings, he often used them in lectures.

Krsna consciousness can occur within comfort zones.

Some may wonder why Haridasa Thakura is glorified daily. In addition to chanting 300,000 Names of God daily (about 174 rounds), he was tempted at midnight by a beautiful, young, nicely dressed woman (a prostitute paid by an envious, wealthy local Hindu landholder). He passed this supreme test by not succumbing to the attractive young woman’s proposals, saying that he would agree to her requests, but only after fulfilling his vow to chant. As the story goes, after three days he did not succumb, and the prostitute became a bhaktin.

In one sense, Srila Prabhupada’s greatest gift was to teach the principle of yukta vairagya as enunciated by Rupa Goswami:

anasaktasya visayan yatharham upayunjatah
nirbandhah krsna-sambandhe yuktam vairagyam ucyate

SB 4.29.55/purport & 7.13.32/purport

Some neo-Freudian psychologists believe that dreams – which appear in the subconscious mind, are the true reality. Srila Prabhupada explained  that most dreams are mental concoctions.

Once during a public lecture (Los Angeles, May 21, 1972), Srila Prabhupada mentioned the author of a book called Shah Jahan (Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal). The author, a Mr. D.L. Raya, was once questioned as to why he named the book Shah Jahan, because the book, the questioner thought, was mostly about the activities of Aurang Zeb, the son of Shah Jahan. So Srila Prabhupada explained that Aurang Zeb locked his father (Shah Jahan) up in a jail, and that all the while, while he was incarcerated, Shah Jahan was thinking about Aurang Zeb. So the author named the book after Shah Jahan.

There is an English proverb that says an idle mind is the devil’s workshop. In BGAII, Srila Prabhupada writes, “a Krsna conscious person cannot bear to pass a minute of his life without being engaged in the service of the Lord.”

In a Srimad Bhagavatam lecture on May 24th, 1969, Srila Prabhupada said,“I remember there was a speech by the Archbishop of Canterbury.  He said that ‘you people you want kingdom of God without God.’ ”