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What a vow!

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 27 February 2013, Vrndavan, India, Caitanya Caritamtra Seminar Part 2)

Madhavacarya was extraordinary because he was worshiping Krsna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We find Madhavacarya seated at the foot of Govardhan at Govinda Kunda and we find him there deeply absorbed in his chanting of the holy name so much so, that he would not let anything in this world interfere with that chanting.

The vow of Madhavendra Puri is something else. Let us for a moment concentrate and meditate on Madhavendra Puri and his vow. His vow was basically not to make any arrangement for anything to eat. Why such a vow? That vow was not followed by him in the mood of austerity, it was not, "From now, let me do some extraordinary austerity. I will not a make any arrangements for anything to eat."

No, that was not it. If you think of it, all problems start with eating. It's because we have to eat that we have to work and then you need to cook, and so on, and before you know it, it's a huge entanglement. It takes away time – time away from the essential activity, and that was what was mood of Madhavendra Puri who did not want to take away any time from glorifying Krsna. He did not want to, for one moment, just stop his chanting. So, therefore he was not going to bother with anything else. He just let it go, he renounced it, he said, "I will leave it up to Krsna and I will only chant."

So therefore, if we think about that for a moment, we can realise how deep his level of Krsna consciousness was. His chanting was not the chanting of a sadhika. His chanting was not the chanting of a devotee in practise, who was trying to get purified in practise by his chanting day-by-day; by trying to become more fixed up like most of us. His chanting was the chanting of one who was relishing the glorification of Krsna, who was hopelessly attached to glorifying Krsna and could simply not stop for a moment in that activity. So then, that kind of consciousness that attracts Krsna.

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Some fear of maya is intelligent!

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 5 February 2013, Prague, Czech Republic, Srimad Bhagavatam 7.10.43-44)

It's healthy to be afraid of maya. It's healthy to be afraid of lions too. They took a devotee in South Africa to a lion park. They were in the car and the lions were outside. It was hot and all the lions were sleeping. So this sleeping lion then comes up to the car and the devotee, for the photo, just opened the window and he started patting the lion. Crazy… cracked! Lions are ten times faster than we are and the jaws of the lion, in one bite, can bite off your head, if they want to. So that's crazy! So some fear of lions is intelligent. Some fear of maya is intelligent. Those who are not afraid of maya are fools.

So even when we go back to the spiritual world and we're happy with Krsna then one day we may just remember, 'Oh, there's also a world, a material world where you can be independent and you can be lord and masters yourselves.' And then you will say, 'No, no thank you very much. No, not interested.' Because you remember all the suffering you went through.  So yes, we can remember that if we get involved with maya then it's very dangerous. It can be big trouble, first it looks really good, and then it gets really bad!

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Are we mad?

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 3 February 2013, Prague, Czech Republic, Caitanya-Caritamtra Adi-Lila 1.2)

So here we are, in the material world trying to enjoy. Srimad Bhagavatam just doesn't say 'fools', Bhagavatam also says, nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma yad indriya-prītaya āpṛṇoti, (5.5.4).

To really translare pramattaḥ may cause a little problem but if I say it as it is, it means raving mad or completely crazy. So yes, this is the situation in the material world, we are mad. But why are we mad?  We are getting insulted on a Sunday afternoon. Why mad? Mad because a mad man goes for things that will not bring in any good, in some imaginary pleasure.

So, it makes complete sense, it is all logical. So material life is very logical that we are doing all these things that we are doing but at the same time, it's totally insane. The real sanity begins with Krsna, 'Kṛṣṇa-sūrya-sama,' (Caitanya Caritamrta Madhya-Lila  22.31). Like a little ray of light in darkness! It begins with a little bit of service. Still half mad but doing some service anyway! That is our situation.

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Staying on board

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 5 February 2013, Prague, Czech Republic, Srimad Bhagavatam 7.10.43-44)

Krsna will take care of us but for the non-devotees, he takes care through his external energy. Devotees are never captured by maya. They're under the protection of Krsna, even if they are still a little bit influenced by maya. There is a description in the scriptures about the jnana-plavena, the boat of transcendental knowledge and we should all get on board of this boat of transcendental knowledge.

So you know, after a big lecture, it sounds very convincing and you finally say, 'Yes, I will get on board on this boat of transcendental knowledge.'

But the problem is that the boat is rocking on the waves of the three modes of material nature. So, it is not so easy and the deck is very slippery and if you are not careful, there are waves coming onto the deck sometimes. So, being on the boat is not just like a picnic, you have to hold yourself. If the sea is a little rough, you don't go stand in the front where the waves are coming on the deck.

So, in the beginning of spiritual life, when we first get on board of the boat and we don't get a cabin yet, we are deck passengers and it's slippery. The shocks are strong; the modes of material nature; they shock our lives. Sometimes, a devotee goes over board. Lifeboats and everything to save him.

So like this, in the beginning, it can be a little difficult to stay on the boat of transcendental knowledge; maya is still shaking us. But after sometime, they give you a the cabin, then you are very comfortable in your cabin and you don't worry so much anymore about material energy.

In the beginning, in spiritual life, you see maya, 'Oh no, take it away!' So like this, in the beginning, we maybe a little bit weak but with time, we become strong if we faithfully follow the process. And the materialist, they are out there in the ocean with the sharks and the materialists will suffer a lot!

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Kaliyuga!

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 13 March 2013, Mayapur, India, Srimad Bhagavatam 4.30.17)

It is kaliyuga, an ocean of faults! Sometimes devotees come together and have some kaliyuga katha, "Oh, you know, it's really bad out there!  Oh yeah!  So bad! Things that they are eating; the things that they are doing. We get into kaliyuga." 

Once, I was in Karoli where the deity of Madana Mohan is and I said the same thing to the pujari.  I said, "You are in such a nice place. You don't know what it's like out there, kaliyuga."

He said, "Yeah kaliyuga. There are a thousand kaliyugas in a day of Brahma. They come and go very quick."

He wasn't impressed by kaliyuga but we are because we are affected by kaliyuga, we feel the burden of kaliyuga within our hearts. One devotee told me, "I stopped chanting. I just have no taste, no taste."

Yeah well, that is ok. The first reason why we are chanting is for purification.  If we cannot with taste then let us chant out of fear, fear of hell! I am sorry to say but let us chant out of fear of hell and lets look for some purification. There is a  hell as described in the fifth canto.

The telephone rang in the temple and I usually never pick it up because I am a visitor. It was at ten o' clock at night and I just picked it up. This lady goes, "It's not true!  It's not true! That all my family is going to hell."

I said, "Okay, calm down lady! Calm down! Start at the beginning, not at the end." Someone had given her the book A Second Chance and she read it. As you can understand, it is kind of a heavy book. So chant! If you have no taste then chant for purification. That is the first step. It can root out, agham dhunvanti kartsnyena niharam iva bhaskarah (SB 6.1.15), it roots out the sins from the heart, from the very root, for good. So that is good. Then we become attracted with time and more and more attracted and finally krsna kirtana gana nartana parau premamrtambho nidhi (Sad Goswami Astakam Verse 1). Eventually, we will experience that this chanting is like an ocean of transcendental love!

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