Sent to you by dinesh via Google Reader:

How to explore the taste!

(HH Kadamba Kanana Swami, 10th June 2012, Bhaktivedanta Manor, London, UK) Lecture: Part 1 seminar – Higher taste

I must admit that when you are a Swami then they always give you a tulsi leaf. And sometimes you get the caraṇāmṛta and they go through all the trouble:

'The Swami must have a tulsi leaf, and that's an absolute must.'

In Mayapur it's two or three tulsi leaves and it's like having a salad in the morning! The scripture says that you are not suppose to chew on tulsi leaf and that you are suppose to swallow them as they are, which I have tried and it gets stuck in the throat. So sometimes I think:

'Here comes the tulsi leaf.'

But then I remember the Padma Purana, and remembering yes what great fortune. So on the one side we have the external side of devotional service, that the tusli leaf can get stuck in the throat, and that there are devotees who cannot sing and who are leading the kirtan, and it hurts. But what to do? Sometimes the auspicious incense that has been offered to the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada is so strong that it agitates the sinuses and then the nose starts running and so on. So these are combinations of the amazing transcendental mercy, then the routine experience of everyday spiritual life. When we are in a routine experience then it all doesn't look so transcendental.

Therefore hearing is so essential and that is one thing we rarely do – hearing we rarely do. Chanting, okay we have to do…So we are locking ourselves out from the taste by performing devotional service mechanically! We are doing that to ourselves. The taste is there. I like the example of inattentiveness not only in chanting, but in anything. We are inattentive to the taste. It's like eating without tasting, we are eating but we are distracted. You eat a lot and then you pile it; you eat a plateful but never taste anything. In this way we are doing so many transcendental activities of which each of them has the taste, but we are not exploring the taste!

Things you can do from here:

• Subscribe to kksblog.com using Google Reader
• Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your favorite sites

Sent to you by dinesh via Google Reader:

Within every bite you go a little higher!

(HH Kadamba Kanana Swami, 13th May, Sydney, Australia) Lecture: Sunday Feast Bg 8.19

The Bhagavad-Gita is a book that solves all the problems and makes everything positive. Like even on the birthday, the Bhagavad-Gita makes it positive, because you have the cake and you offer it to Krishna and suddenly you become liberated. So this is the nature. If we can deal with the material energy and yet we can turn it into yoga (into a spiritual process).

Therefore we are now going to continue with 'cake yoga.' There are of different kinds of yoga. You might of heard of the hatha yoga and raja yoga, but cake yoga is very cool. Especially cream cake yoga, and that is one of the most famous asana. I can recommend it, highly. Cake yoga is most auspicious because within every bite you go a little higher!

Things you can do from here:

• Subscribe to kksblog.com using Google Reader
• Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your favorite sites

Sent to you by dinesh via Google Reader:

When something happens – is it karma? Or Krishna?

(HH Kadamba Kanana Swami, Leicester, England, 4th June 2012) Lecture: SB 1.2.7

When something happens to a devotee, then is it karma? Or Krishna? Or what is it?

That is sometimes the big question:

'That's your karma Prabhu?'

But then the other times, you know:

'But isn't it Krishna who is behind this?'

Of course Srila Prabhupada has explained about how karma works for a devotee in 'The Nectar of Devotion' book. 'The fan is spinning and you turn off the electricity at the time you take on devotional service.' So we are getting diminished reactions of karma. So are we under the influence of karma? And then is it waiting until that karma is gone? Or is it directly under Krishna's influence? The pure devotee, is he under the influence of Krishna? And is everyone else under the influence of diminished karma? One could think like that! Giriraj Maharaja had shed some light on this matter. He describes that:

'Yes as Prabhupada said that there is that diminished reaction, but Krishna is behind it and Krishna is sort of watching that karma – that diminished karma. Sometimes He interferes, then other times He just lets it act, and He's just watching it. Anumantā upadrasta – He just witnesses it and oversees everything. In anumantā He gives ajna diba – the permission. So in this way Krishna permits it.'

Or sometimes Krishna says:

'No, scrape that off the bill. That's okay, there is not need for that.'

Sometimes Krishna puts an extra test, there is no karma but He just puts an extra test – a little extra! According to our entire karma it was not suppose to happen but Krishna puts it in there! So it's interesting how we are under the influence of simultaneously Krishna's direction and karma as devotees. Ultimately, Krishna is the ultimate cause and therefore we are always seeing Krishna. So whenever something happens to us we are seeing that it's Krishna 'pūruṣa' – He's our maintainer, He is with us every step of the way. He's caring for us there is no doubt! He doesn't leave us alone. Although He puts us through things that we really don't want to go through it, but it's good for us. He's prodding us, activating us like a buffalo, because after all we have become like buffalos!

In India you see the buffalos walking in the street and some Indian cars are coming from behind, 'Honk, honk,' as Indian cars do…but the buffalo doesn't move an inch, and just keeps on walking. Even when a car touches the buffalo a bit (I've seen that happen) it doesn't move, but with anyone else they would have moved, and a monkey would also fly off the tree and bounce off the ground but the buffalo, when the car hits it, it just keeps on walking! So we have a bit of that buffalo consciousness, by being under the influence of the 3 modes of material nature. I know we don't usually look in the mirror and say:

'You buffalo!'

But that is actually the case since we are dull, as Prabhupada has said many of times:

'You are dull.'

So due to the influence of the 3 modes of material nature we have become dull, we have lost our sensitivity. Gradually it again awakens and we rise above. So when things are happening in our life then Krishna is prodding us. Sometimes you see a little boy or a little girl is walking next to the buffalo with a stick, and they are not shy, and 'whack' with a stick and that's what gets through the buffalo. Then the buffalo thinks:

'Oh yeah, better to go through the side.'

So sometimes Krishna also does it to us!

Things you can do from here:

• Subscribe to kksblog.com using Google Reader
• Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your favorite sites

Sent to you by dinesh via Google Reader:

When something happens – is it karma? Or Krishna?

(HH Kadamba Kanana Swami, Leicester, England, 4th June 2012) Lecture: SB 1.2.7

When something happens to a devotee, then is it karma? Or Krishna? Or what is it?

That is sometimes the big question:

'That's your karma Prabhu?'

But then the other times, you know:

'But isn't it Krishna who is behind this?'

Of course Srila Prabhupada has explained about how karma works for a devotee in 'The Nectar of Devotion' book. 'The fan is spinning and you turn off the electricity at the time you take on devotional service.' So we are getting diminished reactions of karma. So are we under the influence of karma? And then is it waiting until that karma is gone? Or is it directly under Krishna's influence? The pure devotee, is he under the influence of Krishna? And is everyone else under the influence of diminished karma? One could think like that! Giriraj Maharaja had shed some light on this matter. He describes that:

'Yes as Prabhupada said that there is that diminished reaction, but Krishna is behind it and Krishna is sort of watching that karma – that diminished karma. Sometimes He interferes, then other times He just lets it act, and He's just watching it. Anumantā upadrasta – He just witnesses it and oversees everything. In anumantā He gives ajna diba – the permission. So in this way Krishna permits it.'

Or sometimes Krishna says:

'No, scrape that off the bill. That's okay, there is not need for that.'

Sometimes Krishna puts an extra test, there is no karma but He just puts an extra test – a little extra! According to our entire karma it was not suppose to happen but Krishna puts it in there! So it's interesting how we are under the influence of simultaneously Krishna's direction and karma as devotees. Ultimately, Krishna is the ultimate cause and therefore we are always seeing Krishna. So whenever something happens to us we are seeing that it's Krishna 'pūruṣa' – He's our maintainer, He is with us every step of the way. He's caring for us there is no doubt! He doesn't leave us alone. Although He puts us through things that we really don't want to go through it, but it's good for us. He's prodding us, activating us like a buffalo, because after all we have become like buffalos!

In India you see the buffalos walking in the street and some Indian cars are coming from behind, 'Honk, honk,' as Indian cars do…but the buffalo doesn't move an inch, and just keeps on walking. Even when a car touches the buffalo a bit (I've seen that happen) it doesn't move, but with anyone else they would have moved, and a monkey would also fly off the tree and bounce off the ground but the buffalo, when the car hits it, it just keeps on walking! So we have a bit of that buffalo consciousness, by being under the influence of the 3 modes of material nature. I know we don't usually look in the mirror and say:

'You buffalo!'

But that is actually the case since we are dull, as Prabhupada has said many of times:

'You are dull.'

So due to the influence of the 3 modes of material nature we have become dull, we have lost our sensitivity. Gradually it again awakens and we rise above. So when things are happening in our life then Krishna is prodding us. Sometimes you see a little boy or a little girl is walking next to the buffalo with a stick, and they are not shy, and 'whack' with a stick and that's what gets through the buffalo. Then the buffalo thinks:

'Oh yeah, better to go through the side.'

So sometimes Krishna also does it to us!

Things you can do from here:

• Subscribe to kksblog.com using Google Reader
• Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your favorite sites

Sent to you by dinesh via Google Reader:

We are not alone!

(HH Kadamba Kanana Swami, Leicester, England, 4th June 2012) Lecture: SB 1.2.7

I got one of those sweat shirts – a hoodie and on there it said, 'BBT' and it was not from the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, since it just came from some karmi shop. Just see Krishna sent me this because I am a sankirtan devotee – as the mind goes. Then I got a hat and the label inside it read 'the big big universe.' Yes I'm preaching all over, a big preacher. Within no time I had the hat within the pocket of the sweatshirt and I forgot it somewhere and never saw it again!

Then I got a new hat and on there it read 'INQ,' and I knew what that meant, 'is not qualified.' And with that one, I just couldn't get rid of it! It stayed with me for years and years, because Krishna puffed me up with, 'BBT' and 'big, big universe.' After that I had 'INQ' forever and I will always remember it 'is not qualified. So one can see Krishna in such things. One can see that Krishna is with us, playfully teaching us. He is with us and we are not left alone!

Things you can do from here:

• Subscribe to kksblog.com using Google Reader
• Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your favorite sites