Make That Commitment

via KKS Blog by noreply@blogger.com (aatish) on 10/27/10

Kadamba Kanana Swami gave an ecstatic talk this morning at Vrndavana and in the talk Maharaja inspired the devotees and gave everyone confidence to do something extraordinary for Krishna. Below are a couple of excerpts from the talk and more will be on the blog soon!

Kadamba Kanana Swami:
Here we find a description of Maharaja Uttanapada, who was extremely exalted, extremely pious and yet inspite of all his good qualities became excessively attached by enjoyment and paticularly favoured his younger beautiful queen - The result was that when she was behaving inappropriately in relationship to Dhruva (Dhruva wanted to join his brother who was seated on the lap of the King ,then Dhruva was denied by his stepmother and the king at that time didn't object – afraid to lose the favour of his younger queen) -
So this is the nature of a man who has become controlled by the desires of material enjoyment. One should avoid it and avoid association of such man - If such qualities are within us we should rise above – we should put the interest of Krishna before any other interest...


We may have our material desires - material desires are so intricate and so deep and so subtle and others are gross. So these material desires are so strong that they may be present in a devotee even at very advanced stages of devotional service. But whatever may be - one must take a a vow to commit himself to the higher path of prescribed duty - devotional service.

So we are preparing and we have to make that commitment, commitment to the Lotus feet of the Spiritual master whose committed to pure devotional service to Krishna, and in that way we place devotional service before anything!

There is an interesting verse it says : " Whether you have material desires or whether you don't have material desires you should engage full force in pure devotional service"
So one might wonder how can one engage in pure devotional service if one has material desires; 'Isn't it that for pure devotional service one has to be free from material desires?"
– so what is meant by this?


It is meant that even if one is still under the influence of material desire that he should make a commitment to unflinchingly engage in the pure process of devotional service – it is devotional service that is pure. The purity is referring to devotional service – not that the devotee may be pure but is situated in pure devotional service and thus is protected from the lower nature.

Human nature is there and is used in the process of bhakti, human nature is not denied – that would be impersonalism, that would diminish our service because the Lord has empowered every devotee with particular talents and therefore they are to be used in the service of the Lord.
It is said that one should simply engage things in connection to the Supreme Lord – so we are not trying to supress our natures but express them within the culture of bhakti and in that way there is ample room and ample protection - therefore even if there are material desires, even within bhakti - if there are the ways to enjoy the senses and it is always connected to Krishna – that way even the sense enjoyment become purified – for example by taking Krishna Prasadam - Krishna Prasadam is transcendental but if we are not transcendental we may not take it in a transcendental way:
"You may be more interested in Cream than in Krishna! …"

So in this way initially we may be attracted by cream and eventually we will be more attracted to Krishna than our cream! That is the nature of taking prasadam.
So devotional service is a natural process but we simply have to make commitments.

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 27th October 2010, Vrndavana)

Make That Commitment

Kartika Meditations 2

via KKS Blog by noreply@blogger.com (Yadurani dd) on 10/21/10

My vow for Kartika
So Kartika is the time to tighten up the loose screws of all the loose ends and to bring it back to the real standard. Kartika! This is our chance- one month! Only one month- of course after that month it becomes a habit! Habits are like that; that if you do something for one month then it's easy to keep on doing it. So in this way we can take so much advantage- simple things. I thought my main objective is meditation in this month, to increase my remembrance of Krsna and to increase my service both in quantity and quality. And I thought especially I'll focus on quality because quantity is not so easy. Already there is so much to do in a day, already such a hectic life, how much more can I physically manage? And I don't want Kartika to become a total stress situation where I'm just doing these very intense vows, the kind of vows that drive me to the edge and that at the end of the month- if I make it till the end- I just hate Kartika and may be even Krsna! Not that, not that. So, no, I will not make it a month full of stress. Therefore I thought, no, this year I will not do something huge, I will not take one really big vow, I thought that I have a different strategy- I'll take many little one's! And also Krsna gave me some idea about chanting. I thought I'm going to chant extra rounds but I'm not going to fix it that every day I must chant so many extra rounds but I'll just fix a number for the whole month and then I can adjust you know. Like, I'll have my busy days and I'll chant less and on days that I have the opportunity I'll chant more and in this way it averages out. And in this way I'll survive and I'm still chanting extra rounds. I thought it was a good idea! Really!

And then I thought, many small things…Yes, I'll read something; I thought every night I will read 5 minutes something about Krsna, Krsna book- 5 minutes about Krsna a night. That's nice. It's not a big 'wow wow'- big Kartika vow. But it's one of those things that you know is nice but that you just get slack in these kind of things. You know that it is a nice thing to do, but you know…it's just one thing that you don't do! But I said, no in this month of Kartik I will do. So many such things…I will not tell you everything that I'm going to do but I told you this much just to kind of inspire everyone of how we can do something. It's still early enough; after this lecture you can quickly jot down a few things that you're going to do this month. Just a few things, like that. And if we do that, if we really do it…that's the thing, you must do it. Don't say, 'I will do it' and then don't do it- do it, do it for that month! So such a change, you'll be surprised! You'll surprise yourself! Really! You'll find that your Krsna consciousness would have so much increased just from one month like this practising in the month of Kartika.

Full transcsript

(KKSwami, October 2009, Durban, SA)

Kartika Meditations 2

Don't remain a crow!

via KKS Blog by noreply@blogger.com (aatish) on 10/20/10

Transcribed by Madhumati Devi Dasi
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, Pretoria, South Africa 2010)

Be generous to Krishna, give time, give our energy, give our intelligence, give our wealth, give our words to Krishna and chant.
It is simple as that and then everything will come, everything!
Prabhupada said: 'This movement turns crows into swans' ...



One must be very positive:
"I will do it, I will do it!"
How to do it: "by taking the mercy and then one becomes stronger and more and more empowered and then everything is possible - then no more fall downs."
Fall downs are a problem for devotees who are falling down from spiritual standard and somehow or other getting entangled in lusty desires and all their reactions.
That is there, that is the problem. But fall down is not something that is inevitable not that:
'I know, I can't help it, I can't get over this, I just can't do it.'
Then the answer is do lots of service, do lots of service and then by working hard for Krishna we will change and we will be able to do it.
Be generous to Krishna, give time, give our energy, give our intelligence, give our wealth, give our words to Krishna, chant.
As simple as that and then everything will come, everything!
Prabhupada said this movement turns crows into swans.
Crows they eat garbage or rather animals that are squashed on the road and the crows they are feasting!
Sometimes you see squashed crows in India, we see animals squashed on the road and then on top you see crows squashed on the road - they were too much absorbed in their feast and they didn't notice what was coming and then they themselves are added to the feast as the chutney for the next chunk of crows!
It is like that!

Transcribed by Madhumati Devi Dasi
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, Pretoria, South Africa 2010)

Don't remain a crow!

From: Dr Satish Gosain
  From: Radha Krishna

One day, I dreamt that I went to Heaven and an angel was showing me around. We walked side-by-side inside a large workroom filled with angels. My angel guide stopped in front of the first section and said, ' This is the Receiving Section. Here, all petitions to God said in prayer are received.  

I looked around in this area, and it was terribly busy with so many angels sorting out petitions written on voluminous paper sheets and scraps from people all over the world.  

Then we moved on down a long corridor until we reached the second section.  

The angel then said to me, "This is the Packaging and Delivery Section. Here, the graces and blessings the people asked for are processed and delivered to the living persons who asked for them." I noticed again how busy it was there. There were many angels working hard at that station, since so many blessings had been requested and were being packaged for delivery to Earth.  

Finally at the farthest end of the long corridor we stopped at the door of a very small station. To my great surprise, only one angel was seated there, idly doing nothing. "This is the Acknowledgment Section, my angel friend quietly admitted to me. He seemed embarrassed. "  How is it that there is no work going on here? ' I asked.  

"So sad," the angel sighed.  "After people receive the blessings that they asked for, only very few send back acknowledgments."  

"How does one acknowledge God's blessings?" I asked?  

"Simple," the angel answered. Just say, "Thank you, Lord."

"What blessings should they acknowledge? "  I asked.  

"If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep you are richer than 75% of this world. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish, you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy. "

"And if you get this on your own computer, you are part of the 1% in the world who has that opportunity. "  

"If you woke up this morning with more health than illness... You are more blessed than the many who will not even survive this day. "  

"If you have never experienced the fear in battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation ... You are ahead of 700 million people in the world..."

"If you can attend a temple without the fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death you are envied by, and more blessed than, three billion people in the world."

"If your parents are still alive and still married...you are very rare."  

"If you can hold your head up and smile, you are not the norm, you're unique to all those in doubt and despair..."

Ok, what now? How can I start?  

If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you as very special and you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all.  

Have a good day, count your blessings, and if you care to, pass this along to remind everyone else how blessed we all are.  

ATTN:  Acknowledge Dept.  

"Thank you Lord, for giving me the ability to share this message and for giving me so many wonderful people with whom to share it."  

If you have read this far, and are thankful for all that you have been blessed with, how can you not send it on???? I thank God for everything, especially all my family and friends.

What is the moral of this ?

1) We are always ready to ask for blessings, but very rarely do we acknowledge and express our gratitude to God when we receive them.

2)  Most of the time we treat the all-loving and all-powerful God as our mere order-supplier and we take Him for granted.  We need to essentially avoid this catastrophic attitude.

3)Although the blessings of the Lord are there right before us and they are as clear as the broad day light, we fail even to recognize them.

4) Imagine how God must be feeling pained with our attitude of lack of gratitude.  When we give someone a cup of tea, we generally expect a 'thank-you' and we feel bad if he does not tell us. When that is the case in the matter of an ordinary cup of tea,  how much more should we be careful with the Lord for what all the precious gifts that we have been receiving from Him since time immemorial and we continue to receive in future, even without our asking for them.

5)Sastras categorically say that blessings do not stay in an ungrateful heart – just as water does not stay in a pot which has plenty of holes.

How to apply it in our own lives ?

01)   We need to cultivate the habit of seeing, on day-to-

       day basis, the countless blessings the all-loving Lord  has given us out of  His causeless mercy, in our life.

02)   Having seen thus, we need to express our deep

        gratitude to Him on day-today basis,  with full

       sincerity,   from the core of our hearts , for all the

      blessings –- blessings  of the past, present  and also of the future.

03)   Whenever we pray to God for something, immediately after our  petitioning, we must also express our deep gratitude, in  advance itself,  and also  after the blessings of the Lord manifested in our life.

04)   The expression of gratitude should come out of our

        deep love to God and it  must gush out very 

        naturally and very spontaneously, and from the very  depths of our heart.

Our gratitude to : Our dear Darshak Prabhu and Hiranya Pandit  Prabhu for making  this story  available to us for all  of our benefit.

Are we thankful to God  for all His blessings to us ?

One day, I dreamt that I went to Heaven and an angel was showing me around. We walked side-by-side inside a large workroom filled with angels. My angel guide stopped in front of the first section and said, ' This is the Receiving Section. Here, all petitions to God said in prayer are received.  

I looked around in this area, and it was terribly busy with so many angels sorting out petitions written on voluminous paper sheets and scraps from people all over the world.  

Then we moved on down a long corridor until we reached the second section.  

The angel then said to me, "This is the Packaging and Delivery Section. Here, the graces and blessings the people asked for are processed and delivered to the living persons who asked for them." I noticed again how busy it was there. There were many angels working hard at that station, since so many blessings had been requested and were being packaged for delivery to Earth.  

Finally at the farthest end of the long corridor we stopped at the door of a very small station. To my great surprise, only one angel was seated there, idly doing nothing. "This is the Acknowledgment Section, my angel friend quietly admitted to me. He seemed embarrassed. "  How is it that there is no work going on here? ' I asked.  

"So sad," the angel sighed.  "After people receive the blessings that they asked for, only very few send back acknowledgments."  

"How does one acknowledge God's blessings?" I asked?  

"Simple," the angel answered. Just say, "Thank you, Lord."

"What blessings should they acknowledge? "  I asked.  

"If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep you are richer than 75% of this world. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish, you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy. "

"And if you get this on your own computer, you are part of the 1% in the world who has that opportunity. "  

"If you woke up this morning with more health than illness... You are more blessed than the many who will not even survive this day. "  

"If you have never experienced the fear in battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation ... You are ahead of 700 million people in the world..."

"If you can attend a temple without the fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death you are envied by, and more blessed than, three billion people in the world."

"If your parents are still alive and still married...you are very rare."  

"If you can hold your head up and smile, you are not the norm, you're unique to all those in doubt and despair..."

Ok, what now? How can I start?  

If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you as very special and you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all.  

Have a good day, count your blessings, and if you care to, pass this along to remind everyone else how blessed we all are.  

ATTN:  Acknowledge Dept.  

"Thank you Lord, for giving me the ability to share this message and for giving me so many wonderful people with whom to share it."  

If you have read this far, and are thankful for all that you have been blessed with, how can you not send it on???? I thank God for everything, especially all my family and friends.

What is the moral of this ?

1)              We are always ready to ask for blessings, but very rarely do we acknowledge and express our gratitude to God when we receive them.

2)              Most of the time we treat the all-loving and all-powerful God as our mere order-supplier and we take Him for granted.  We need to essentially avoid this catastrophic attitude.

3)              Although the blessings of the Lord are there right before us and they are as clear as the broad day light, we fail even to recognize them.

4)              Imagine how God must be feeling pained with our attitude of lack of gratitude.  When we give someone a cup of tea, we generally expect a 'thank-you' and we feel bad if he does not tell us. When that is the case in the matter of an ordinary cup of tea,  how much more should we be careful with the Lord for what all the precious gifts that we have been receiving from Him since time immemorial and we continue to receive in future, even without our asking for them.

5)              Sastras categorically say that blessings do not stay in an ungrateful heart – just as water does not stay in a pot which has plenty of holes.

How to apply it in our own lives ?

01)   We need to cultivate the habit of seeing, on day-to-

       day basis, the countless blessings the all-loving Lord  has given us out of  His causeless mercy, in our life.

02)   Having seen thus, we need to express our deep

        gratitude to Him on day-today basis,  with full

       sincerity,   from the core of our hearts , for all the

      blessings –- blessings  of the past, present  and also of the future.

03)   Whenever we pray to God for something, immediately after our  petitioning, we must also express our deep gratitude, in  advance itself,  and also  after the blessings of the Lord manifested in our life.

04)   The expression of gratitude should come out of our

        deep love to God and it  must gush out very 

        naturally and very spontaneously, and from the very  depths of our heart.

Our gratitude to : Our dear Darshak Prabhu and Hiranya Pandit  Prabhu for making  this story  available to us for all  of our benefit.

Are we thankful to God for all His blessings to us ?

Greater than God—an essay