(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 2002)

In washing powder you have the active ingredients – the enzymes and whatever it is that cleanses out the dirt. So in the same way, that's the purifying agent – the cleansing agent, and you could write all these things on the package, ' The cleansing agent – the purifying agent'. So the only real cleansing agent is Krishna! It is Krishna! So wherever there is Krishna – there is purity! And where there is no Krishna than there is impurity!

From Germany it was off to Finland, Helsinki. After a very warm welcome from the devotees, Maharaja gave a small talk in the Helsinki temple and took an early rest to prepare for the next day. The day after we then went to some older house somewhere way out in the nature of Finland, where for three days a retreat was to take place. On the way there we stopped in the town Turku,  to bless the city with the chanting of the holy name in the form of harinama. The Harinama was received with a lot of enthusiasm, and some people even joined in the dancing.

The retreat was a relaxing weekend, filled with a lot of chanting and singing. Maharaja gave many classes about nama-tattva, which was also the topic of the retreat. There were also many programs for the devotees, like yoga, walks in the nearby forests, a real Finnish sauna and of course prasadam, which was cooked over open fireplaces.

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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, Durban – South Africa, April 2011)

The materialistic devotee, the kanishta-adhikari, has weak faith and as a result he is thinking that Krsna is so far away, the spiritual world is so far away… what does it have to do with everyday life?  But that is illusion, because the fact of the matter is that Krsna is always with us, every moment.

In the Nectar of Instruction, Srila Rupa Goswami is saying that we should always hear, chant and remember the name, fame and glories of Krsna, and in that way we will reside in Vṛndāvana.  We must become residents of Vṛndāvana.  We must think: my home is the spiritual world.  My home is to be with Krsna.  Wherever Krsna is present in His eternal abode, that is my residence.  Everywhere else, I'm in transit – transit passenger.  Durban – transit passenger.  Anywhere… South Africa – transit; Europe – transit; America – transit; Vṛndāvana- home!

And Srila Rupa Goswami continues to explain that if we cannot physically reside in the Holy Dhama, then we should mentally reside there.  And that is the secret of devotees who are very determined.  They have accepted that the spiritual world is more important than the material world, and therefore the spiritual world is what has meaning to them.  And they spend their time remembering the glories of Krsna, the activities of Krsna, the nature of Krsna, the descriptions about His associates and pastimes, and there, they realise, is where real pleasure is experienced, and the pleasure is especially experienced if somehow or the other they are acting in service for Krsna's pleasure.  That is the secret.