Sent to you by dinesh via Google Reader:

“Shower me with your mercy!”

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 21st November 2012, Cape Town, South Africa)

There is a kund, a very nice one with stone steps and so on. That kund is dedicated to surrender. That is where the gopis completely surrendered everything to Krsna. So, I decided that since I'm not so surrendered by nature, many times my mind has been like, 'Do I really have to do this?' You know what the mind can do! So, I decided to jump in that kund and some others did it also… almost a whole bus (load of people), we all jumped in, that was nice!

In Vrndavan, one can do such things in a hope to get some mercy, in a hope that one's surrender will increase. This mercy is so available and we need it. So, one has to strive for mercy, one has to go after it… go find it! Some devotees are really good at it; like Bhurijan Prabhu is good at it. He heard that somewhere there was a chadaar that had been used by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura. So he decided, 'I have to have that chadaar!' He fixed his mind on it, 'I have to have it.'

And he went there and he gave donations and he got that original chadaar of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura! Then do you know what he did with it? You won't believe this. He took scissors and cut it into pieces. Some of you will go, 'Oh no, mahā-aparādha!'

He cut the whole chadaar in pieces and then he made little cardboard frames. He put little pieces of chadaar into that, then he went all the vaisnavas and he begged them. He said, 'I have here a little piece of the original chadaar of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura. Please accept this gift and shower me with your mercy!

Things you can do from here:

• Subscribe to KKS Blog 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:

Caught in two worlds

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 3 October, Sydney, Australia, Bhagavad-gita class)

Freedom from material hankering begins when we turn to Krsna. We are not completely free from material hankering but a little free! You know that when we stop at the temple, it means that we are not totally materialistic but we are also a little interested in spiritual life. Then, when we see Radha Gopinatha, we feel something and we see that they are wonderful and have such a powerful presence!

Meanwhile, we are not free from material desire but you have a taste and sit in kirtan. Next week, you are having a twelve-hour kirtan with Madhava and Sacinandana Maharaja, both of them do very nice kirtans! Oh, so sweet… so nice… so deep… and other times, when you are in Pitt street (famous shopping street in Sydney) and you find that also exciting.

Yah… so what to do!? Caught between both worlds but there is attraction to Krsna and there is taste but it is not very deep yet. But gradually, by serving Krsna we become purified and then the attachment grows and taste goes deeper and deeper until the taste becomes so strong that it just takes over! Everything else looks meaningless and bleak and you let it go. You want only Krsna: kecit kevalaya bhaktaya vasudeva parayanah…

Only Krsna, only vasudev… everything else, no thanks… you want some chocolate, no! Just give me some of that mahaprasadam burfi because that is pure consciousness! Some chocolates from some factory… I am not really sure if Srila Prabhupada is really in favour of the chocolate, so forget it… only mahaprasadam, like that!

Things you can do from here:

• Subscribe to KKS Blog using Google Reader
• Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your favorite sites