(Kadamba Kanna Swami, Finland, 2011)

Such spontaneous devotional service can manifest in all kinds of ways:

We had a Catholic priest who was visiting our temple. Suddenly somebody walked by with a tray full of maha prashadam, and there were some balloon puris on there. This priest just suddenly became taken over, and he just grabbed one! Just like that, he took the puri – something nobody would do in a strange place, but he did it because somehow or other he got taken over to the spontaneous platform, and he took that puri.

Something similar was going on when Srila Prabhupada was flying on the plane. Srila Prabhupada had some puffed rice in a bowl. He was eating this puffed rice and the stewardess who was just walking past, and somehow or other she became completely attracted to that puffed rice, and she said:

"Oh, that looks very nice!"

And she just put her hand in there and took some out of Prabhupada's bowl! Just like that it was completely spontaneous.

Going to another level….for a moment stepping out of the stewardess and passenger reality and onto an eternal plane where the opportunity was there to get the remnants of the pure devotee. She took it and she got it – Prabhupada's remnants.

So what an amazing thing, and she became a devotee, of course later on….naturally…I mean how could she not, after getting Prabhupada's remnants. So amazing things are sometimes taking place in devotional service!

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(Kadamba Kanna Swami, Finland, 2011)

This is our movement – the movement of chanting and dancing, which brings us to the spontaneous platform, where we go beyond reason…… beyond where we just completely….spontaneously begin to call out the name….begin to jump. That is actually giving us a taste of spontaneous devotional service.

Spontaneous devotional service is real devotional service, where we are chanting, dancing and serving Krishna because we are doing it out of natural attraction. It is no longer calculated as:

"This is good for me. Well this is what is prescribed in the scriptures; this is my religious duty".

All these consideration are no longer there. One doesn't even think about it – one just does it! And that is the level of being attracted, which is very powerful!

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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, Finland, 2011)

In the material world (if some of you may remember), you go to the material party and it's a big thing. Then the morning after, you wake up with a huge headache from all the alcohol and everything. You feel terrible …and it's like a hangover from the night before – that's a material party.

But the spiritual party (besides the fact that we are having a good time whilst we are having a party) has a spiritual dimension, that you are also making an eternal spiritual advancement at the same time! We eat and stuff ourselves:

"Yes, I'll have some more of that apple pie…yes I will!"

But the apple pie is also giving us eternal spiritual benefit…………………..this is the amazing thing about this movement. One always makes spiritual advancement…..always!

Prabhupada once mentioned that:

"Even the devotee who is always sleeping – he makes spiritual advancement because at least he is sleeping in the temple!"

So like that, everyone is getting the benefit, and it is important that we appreciate how much benefit there is, how much mercy there is and how wonderful it is! It's just amazing how much better the quality of life of a devotee is!

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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, Finland, 2011)

I was reading in 'The Padma Purana', that:

"All the holy places of the universe are in one tulsi leaf!"

And we just think about that…..when you're a sannyasi, they always give you a tulsi leaf, and when you get the carnamtra it sort of gets stuck in your throat…there were moments when I thought:

"Oh God, here comes the tulsi leaf again".

I was reading, then Krishna made me read:

"All the holy places of the entire universe are in one tulsi leaf!"

Even when it gets stuck in the throat, it's very good….very nice!

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Do I obsess about 9/11? At least I try not to. In short: The official story of the "terrorist attacks" appears to me a fraud. The fraud has apparently succeeded in accomplishing its objectives. And so goes yet another small chapter in the endless history of the material world.

But though I have better things to think about than 9/11, I do sometimes think about it, especially on the anniversary of the event, or when I'm subjected to extra searches by airport security, or when something about 9/11 I didn't know before comes to my attention as particularly striking.

Today, two such special items.

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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, Finland, 2011)


Even with Vrindavan, there is a danger that we can become the enjoyer of Vrindavan, rather than in the mood of serving in Vrindavan. So there are many who are going to Vrindavan, not only in the mind but physically, enjoy Vrindavan:

'Oh Vrindavan….Vrindavan….Vrindavan!'

Even in Vrindavan one must always say:

"Well, what service can I do?"

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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, Berlin, September 2011)

The topmost level of devotional service is not to serve Krsna directly, because, in the topmost level of devotional service, one realises that what service can I render to Krsna to please Him?

"What is my capacity to please Krsna?  I am so limited!  I am small and insignificant, so even if I would render the greatest service that I could possibly do, even if I would go beyond all my limitations, and go to the maximum of what I can do and make the very best offering that I can, what is the meaning of it in comparison to the offerings that Srimati Radharani makes?  In comparison to the offerings the gopis make?  Therefore, the best I can do is act as an assistant."

(Sanskrit) So, in this way, to assist the assistants a hundred times removed from Srimati Radharani – that is the essence of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's teachings.

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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, Finland, 2011)

I was travelling to India, and there was a lady sitting next to me who was a yoga teacher. She was going to India for training with Iyengar. She was a serious yoga teacher, because Iyengar is serious yoga.

So anyway, she was a serious person, wasn't just in general but a thoughtful serious person. We had a nice discussion and she was interested in Krishna Conscious and everything, but I didn't immediately tell her that I was from the Hare Krishna Movement, since I was just preaching.

Anyway she said:

"So, actually what are you?"

So then I explained:

"Well okay I'm a member of the Hare Krishna Movement".

"Oh…no! Oh no… oh Hare Krishna…oh no!"

So I asked:

"Well, what happened to you? Did you have a bad experience with the Hare Krishnas?"

She replied:

" Oh…oh…I got so badly cheated. You know I have one problem. I cannot say no!"

So you can just imagine a sankirtan devotee found a lady who just couldn't say no!

So she got a full set….the whole set….the complete everything…all the small books and everything. I don't know how much she paid but, she must have paid thousands for it. Then her husband came home later, and there was a big drama! She spent thousands on these books, and these books they had been standing there…and they are like the joke of the family. Whenever there was a family gathering, they have to make some jokes about her books:

"Oh! Look at them! They're they are!"

She cannot throw them away, because she spent so much money on them. So how can you throw them away. The books were just standing there to testify for her stupidity…now she got cheated! So this is the story she had told me on the plane, and then I said:

"Well, how do you know that you got cheated? Did you read them?"

She replied:

"No…actually no…I never read them".

So I said:

"Why don't you read them…maybe they're really nice…if you read them and find them really nice, then you can tell your whole family":

'Actually I didn't get cheated they are good books…they're really nice'.

She said:

"This is great! I'm going to read these books!"

So sometimes just a conversation with someone can make a world of difference – that is also giving!

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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, Finland, 2011)

Happiness is natural. It is said that,

'Anandamayo 'bhyasat', – every living being by nature is looking for happiness, and every living being is meant to be happy! So the art though is to know that the greatest happiness is to see happiness in others. If by our actions we can create happiness in others – that is greater than if by our actions we are concerned with our own happiness. And the greatest happiness is found, when we are trying to please Krishna! When we are trying to make Krishna happy, and then with all others, when we give them Krishna….then we give them happiness!

So there in giving happiness is found and not in taking. So we have to get out of this mentality:

"What's in it for me? What am I getting out of this? I've been a member of Iskcon for so many years – so what am I getting? I am disappointed…no really. I had expected more! First of all, I thought that devotees would be more elevated. But now I know the truth! I just thought that really there would be much more support… I thought that I would get much more support. If I would have known that I would have gotten only so little support than I wouldn't have started this…so little!"

So the mentality is:

"What am I getting? I'm not getting enough. I'm not getting what I need. I'm not getting".

But actually, we have to think:

"What am I giving? I should give?"

And if we start to think about this 'giving' then automatically the happiness follows…automatically!

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