(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 2005)

In the spiritual world, the body is made of pure consciousness – pure spirit – there is no difference between the self and the body. Here there is the self and the body. Prabhupada did these kind of exercises, such as asking the most intelligent boy in the school program to come forward. So this one boy comes forward, with little round glasses and his hair is parted in the middle with some brylcreem in there – its all glued onto his head…nicely parted. He looked very intelligent…and he is about 12 or 11 years old.

Prabhupada asks him if he can ask him a question. The boy said:

"Yes….yes"

So Prabhupada points at his nose and he says:

"What is this?"

And the boy looks at him like totally incredulous and thinks:

"It cannot be true, that he is asking me this question! He's asking me a question as if I am a five year old. What is this?"

Prabhupada again, prods him and asks:

"What is this?"

Whilst in Prabhpupada's presence he said:

"The boy must point".

So the boy said whilst pointing:

" My nose….my chest…..my arm". And he goes like that around the body. Prabhupada said:

"Then where are you?"

Then he appeared to look lost, so Prabhupada said:

"Ok, now you can sit down."

It's like there is a total tension in the class. Everyone is shocked…you know! The genius of the class has just been smashed! And it's just like – he lost it, and everyone is in total suspense and thinking:

" What's going to happen next?"

Then Prabhupada is establishing that if the self is not the body, then who are we? He begins to introduce the concept of the spirit soul. So here in this world we are separate from the body. It s very dramatic the way Prabhupada did it!

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

How to become attracted to Krsna?  It comes naturally if we start to serve.  And serving means giving – giving ourselves, giving ourselves not for our own profit, our own gain, but for Krsna's interest and the interest of His devotees.  As soon as we start to act for Krsna's interest and the interest of His devotees, then after a short while, the higher taste in Krsna Consciousness begins to develop.  It comes automatically.

And that's what we see in those who simply take up devotional service selflessly and put other things aside, all other agendas aside.  They automatically become attracted to Krsna, and then comes even the amazing thing, and that is that Krsna becomes attracted to the devotee, because it is said that pure devotional service is Sri Krsna akarsani – it can attract Krsna!  Not only that we become attracted to Krsna, but that Krsna becomes attracted to the service of His devotee.  Then there is no question of feeling that Krsna is far away.  Then there is no question of feeling separated from Krsna.  Then one is with Krsna at all times and one lives in one's service to Krsna.

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 2005)

At one point all the little attachments to Krishna, just begin to take over. It's just like certain games where you gradually fill up the whole board – like 'Go'…don't know if you have ever played 'Go', but you have the black and white pieces, and you put on more and more pieces. Eventually you fill up the whole board – well almost the whole board. So something like that, where the whole attachment is getting more and more dense! Just our whole life begins to be made up of attachments to Krishna:

'Sandra nandana vishaya satmanah'

And the attachment begins to intensify…deeper and deeper! So this is the purpose! So we begin in a humble way. Rome wasn't built in a day! It's a fact when they say:

"Rome wasn't built in a day!"

But have you seen Rome? Have you really seen Rome? It's something else. Come on….you know that Amsterdam is just a crummy City….New York is just glass and light…..just glass, steel, light and some stones! But what is there really? But with Rome – my God! Rome have their mosaics, and they are so fine that you cannot see any joints! Not just on the ceiling, but on the wall, and the mosaic panels are made of little coloured pieces of stones, glass and God knows what! But they are so intricately made that you cannot see any joints….that's not easy. So Rome wasn't built in a day, without a doubt!

So, we just begin humbly, and we begin to develop some attachments for Krishna, that's the idea – some attachments, and we do some – and how do we do it? By doing a little service without asking anything in return. That's exciting, and give it your best! You are giving it your best without anything in return, and that's when the devotion comes out and there is some taste in that – we develop a little attachment. You come to do it again……..and you do it again, so it becomes like:

"Yeah the taste is there!"

You begin……you continue, and it then begins to grow! So you do more of it……more and more!

'Sandra nandana vishyaya satmanah'

Until the whole 'Go' board is full of pieces and gradually it is covered with attachments to Krishna in different ways! So we are working towards that goal!

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

The more we are chanting the maha-mantra, the more we are becoming freed from the sinfulness of Kali, and that is of course the first benefit of chanting – that one becomes freed from the influence of ignorance and darkness.  One meaning of the name Krsna – 'Krish' is dark and 'na' means no – no more darkness.  So 'Krsna' means that we become free from the influence of ignorance in the material world.  Then comes the other translation of the word 'Krsna', which means – 'Krish' for a person or the one who can attract, and 'na', for ananda, for happiness.  Then we come to (Sanskrit) the higher taste in Krsna Consciousness, where we become attracted to Krsna.

(Transcribed by Yamuna Devi Dasi)

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, Melbourne, March 2011)

In one of the first 'Back To Godhead' – on the front page there was a picture of a butcher, who was attacking a cow with an axe.
Prabhupada said:

"What is this?"

"Well…it's an article against meat eating".

So Prabhupada said:

"We are not against anything. We are for Krishna! So, it is not our business to be against this and against that! No, it is our business to be for Krishna, and for Krishna means no meat, because Krishna doesn't accept meat."

But, we are not singling out so many things – we are against this, and against that. No Prabhupada said:

"We are for Krishna".

Our standard is simply for the desire of Krishna. Whatever Krishna desires, and that is in the Bhagavad Gita, where he makes his desires clear!

Also when dealing with Kali Yuga, we cannot just spend all our time saying:

" How horrible people are, how degraded people are, how corrupted people are and so on".

That will take us away from Krsna. If we talk the whole day about how bad the Kali Yuga is, then how much will we talk of how wonderful Krsna is?

In that way you become what you deal with! That's very dangerous! Therefore, we should simply focus on our own business, and that's the strength of our movement! We are simply going to glorify Krsna everywhere and always!