The practice of ‘voluntary austerity’ has become fashionable in parts of the USA. People have opted out of high-paying corporate positions, taken a severe salary cut and sometimes moved to country-like surroundings, professing to be happier and far more at peace with themselves and their families. Many of them home-school their children, live in communities of like-minded families and periodically meet with their neighbors to discuss and reinforce their new-found fortune. This lack of attachment in some ways parallels the alternative mentality of the sixties hippies who Srila Prabhupada once declared were “our best customers.” Such persons should be encouraged to add Krishna to their lives.

Krishna reciprocates with, and is even defeated by, His devotees’ pure devotional service. They conquer Him. When Brahmananda Bharati came before the Lord in a deerskin Lord Caitanya pretended not to recognize him. When Brahmananda Bharati changed clothes and re considered everything, he became Lord Caitanya’s disciple. He gave up impersonalism for good. He quickly came to understand the Lord’s mind. He claimed that the main reason the Lord voluntarily accepted Brahmananda Bharati’s final argument (that the Lord Caitanya was God) was because the Supreme Lord is always defeated by pure devotional service. In this connection he cited the Srimad Bhagavatam verse in which Bhisma “defeats” Lord Krsna in battle by making Him break His promise not to take up fighting. These are the words of Bhisma in the Srimad Bhagavatam (1.9.37), sva-nigamam apahaya mat-pratijnam, rtam adhikartum avapluto ratha sthah dhrta-ratha-carano ‘bhyayac calad-gur, harir iva hantum ibham gatottariyah. “Fulfilling my desire and sacrificing His own promise, He got down from the chariot, took up its wheel and ran toward me hurriedly, just as a lion goes to kill an elephant. He even dropped His outer garment on the way.”

In Los Angeles, Srila Prabhupada warns devotees that his and ISKCON’s definition of God should be characterized as THE definition, not A definition ACCORDING to certain sastras or Vedic writings. (December 13, 1973).

The Maori and Aboriginal peoples claim New Zealand and Australia’s land as theirs. Probably many native Americans in the USA do the same for North America. ‘Indigenous Peoples’ Conferences” have taken place in South Sea Islands. But many anthropologists take them to task. Can you really “own” land because you were there before another race? Whether or not those claiming to be ‘original’ races is open to question. An example I once read about was that a race of humans inhabited Japan long before the Japanese ‘race’: the Ainu people. And it’s said that a race different from the Maoris inhabited New Zealand long before the Maoris.

Lord Siva bowed down to the sage Markandeya. Shortly afterward Markandeya said: “It is indeed most difficult for embodied souls to understand the pastimes of the universal controllers, for such lords bow down to and offer praise to the very living beings they rule.” (Srimad Bhagavatam, 12.10.28)

During a recent presentation to a history class of 15-year olds, I brought up the concepts of karma and its corollary, transmigration. For the first time during the hour-long class, in which we mainly discussed the Iraq war, the students appeared submissive. Our prior discussion was highly interactive, with students spouting their various philosophies and realizations about when violence might be necessary and deserved. But when the subjects of karma and reincarnation were brought up they stopped thinking and began to listen attentively. They were absorbing these new concepts which explained how and why “bad things happen to good people.”

It’s been said that no two people have the same taste: I’ve noticed how this particularly applies in the realms of music and humor. It’s also been said that one man’s nectar is another’s poison. These kinds of sayings support the uniqueness of each individual jiva, the singularity of snowflake patterns, DNA structure, fingerprints and voiceprints.

“Energy is dependent; so energy is imagined as a female and thus she has become qualified to be embraced by the supreme energetic. To make the truth more easily understood great sages have added ornamental language to their descriptions. Actually, Radha-Krsna is one Absolute Truth.” Tattva-sutra, 7, by Bhaktivinoda Thakura.

Here’s another quote of a quote I couldn’t resist. Srila Prabhupada writes in the Bhagavatam, “it is said, ‘The face is the index of the mind.’ One’s mental constitution is exhibited by his facial features.” (Srimad Bhagavatam 4.21.15)

Yoga culminates in samadhi or ‘self realization,’ having begun with seven processes of yama – control of the senses; niyama – strict following of the rules and regulations; asana – practice of the different sitting postures; pranayama – control of the breath; pratyahara – withdrawing the senses from sense objects; dharana – concentration of the mind, and dhyana – sometimes called meditation. But if meditation is not just contemplation, but non-stop consciousness of Krishna, it’s certainly samadhi, the goal of yoga. Or as Srila Prabhupada puts it in his translation of the last verse of Chapter Six of the Gita, “And of all yogis, the one with great faith who always abides in Me, thinks of Me within himself, and renders transcendental loving service to Me – he is the most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all. That is My (Lord Krishna’s) opinion.”