The latest news articles The right time to pray… By KKSBlog on Feb 11, 2018 03:53 pm (Kadamba Kanana Swami, 30 June 2013, Vrindavan, India, Srimad Bhagavatam 6.16.34) Ultimately, the mercy of Mahaprabhu is what we are hoping for but only after we have given our everything – NOT BEFORE and NOT while lying on our back saying, "Oh, I really hope for the mercy of Mahaprabhu." Not like that but instead, after we have given our everything and we have reached our limits by trying hard and when we reached our limit, that is when we start praying! When we have tried everything to conquer the unconquerable Krsna then miracles can happen by mercy. Read this article online... Spiritual advancement By KKSBlog on Feb 09, 2018 12:00 pm (Kadamba Kanana Swami, 19 September 2017, Petite Riviere, Mauritius, Lecture) Some people say, "After 36 years that I have been chanting, I can see no result!" Do not worry, one day we will all realise that making spiritual advancement is not easy. It takes time. It is a slow process. We make spiritual advancement but we do not see it. One may have no taste for chanting but if one day, it is forbidden to chant; we still cannot stop it. It is not possible. That is how it is. It is deeper that we think it is. At the end of life, all that counts is spiritual advancement. All material things become insignificant. In South Africa, Syamalal Prabhu, a Prabhupada disciple left his body as he was suffering from a brain tumour. He forgot everything except Srila Prabhupada and the sannyasis. He remembered that he was born in Navadwip and followed all the traditions of Navadwip. He used to say that Srila Prabhupada wants sweets and told the same stories again and again. That was an incredible blessing that took from him away from all undesirable things. He was just left with Srila Prabhupada. That is wonderful. That is the essence of our being. And it does not stop there. The Maha Mantra enters the heart and awakes our sleeping consciousness. Chanting is very powerful! Read this article online... Captured by Krsna By KKSBlog on Feb 07, 2018 12:00 pm (Kadamba Kanana Swami, 19 September 2017, Petite Riviere, Mauritius, Lecture) Srila Rupa Goswami said, "Do not go to Kesi Ghat if you have material desires." But when Krsna plays his flute in Vrindavan how can one not go. We should all go to Vrindavan. Srila Prabhupada used to tell the story of the thief in a village… Krsna is unlimitedly beautiful. One of His flutes is called sammohini, the bewildering flute. Krsna is always dressed beautifully and on His chest He has a big Kastubha jewel. Once a thief heard about that and he thought that his life would be made if he would have that jewel. He fantasised about stealing that jewel from Krsna. He searched for Krsna everywhere near Govardhan. He walked near Govardhan every day and then one day he saw Krsna covered with jewels. He said to Krsna, "Come on now! Give me all your jewels!" Krsna refused, he said, "Mother Yashoda will be angry if I give you my jewels." Still the thief insisted that Krsna should give him all the jewels. Then finally Krsna gave him all His jewels and all desires that the thief had were fulfilled and he said to Krsna, "Would it be alright if I decorate you with these jewels!" When Krsna returned home, Mother Yashoda looked at him and said, "I did not dress you like that." Krsna replied, "It was my devotee who did!" Krsna does not look at what we give but He looks at what we are holding back. Read this article online... Removing fear and attachment By KKSBlog on Feb 06, 2018 12:00 pm (Kadamba Kanana Swami, 19 September 2017, Petite Riviere, Mauritius, Lecture) All our material activities, our karma, leave many impressions on our mind. All our actions in all our past lives have left impressions on our mind. All these impressions are still in our subconscious and they still affect us. It is just like eating sugarcane. We chew and remove all the juice but still, we keep on chewing – chewing the chewed. Like that, we have so many desires. Again and again the same desires. Even something that we may not like, still we will accept it out of fear of losing that also. All fears and attachment are removed by chanting the holy name. We just have to be attached to the holy name and Krsna. Read this article online... The maha mantra By KKSBlog on Feb 05, 2018 12:00 pm (Kadamba Kanana Swami, 19 September 2017, Petite Riviere, Mauritius, Lecture) The chanting of the Hare Krsna Maha Mantra is very interesting because we are giving and receiving while chanting. We are giving our ears and tongue; and we are receiving darshan, mercy and attention of Krsna. We are making an offering and Krsna is accepting. Read this article online... Previous published articles High aspirations Invest in your spiritual life Toughen up The Bhagavatam is the book of this movement! My right or My duty? Facebook Twitter Website RSS Email us News Categories All news Audio Photos Picture quotes Quotes & transcripts About KKSBlog team Support us Shop Contact Terms of Service View previous newsletters   Copyright © 2018 KKSBlog, All rights reserved. You are receiving this weekly newsletter because you signed up to receive our newsletter at kksblog.com Our mailing address is: KKSBlog Bloemstraat 167a, Jordaan, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Amsterdam, 1016 LA Netherlands Add us to your address book Change subscription? Update preferences or unsubscribe.

Spiritual advancement

Latest news articles from KKSBlog

The latest news articles High aspirations By KKSBlog on Feb 04, 2018 01:46 pm (Kadamba Kanana Swami, 02 August 2017, Radhadesh, Belgium, Srimad Bhagavatam 8.4.5-6) I am remembering a lecture by Srila Prabhupada where he said, "There is a need to be hundred percent pure. We have to become cent per cent pure!" And the devotees were becoming a little anxious, a heavy mood began to affect the audience. They began to think, "Since Prabhupada has said cent per cent pure, we will never make it. There is no hope for us then."  So the mood became a little serious. Then Prabhupada said, "Okay, ninety percent will do…" then he said, "Seventy percent but no less!" and he walked away.   Read this article online... Invest in your spiritual life By KKSBlog on Jan 31, 2018 05:00 pm (Kadamba Kanana Swami, 05 April 2015, Durban, South Africa, Ratha Yatra Lecture: The secret of spiritual advancement) If we do not have a connection with Srimad Bhagavatam, then spiritual life becomes dry! Chanting becomes difficult and then the four regulative principles become very narrow and gradually with time, we start craving for more space. Even though we have all the knowledge, even though we have been enlivened in Krsna consciousness and even though we have been so surrendered, at one point it will become too narrow! So the Bhagavatam is very important because it is the science that explains everything about Krsna and through Bhagavatam, we connect with Krsna. It keeps us focused on seeing who Krsna is, where Krsna is and how everything connects with Krsna… It is essential! For our faith to grow, we need to invest. When you enter into a new job, in the beginning, you have to learn everything and then after a while, when you have been working for a number of years, then you are totally expert. You can do it real quick. So it gets easier over time. As you get into a routine, it gets easier. But spiritual life is the opposite. In a material situation, as you get more expert, you have to invest less but not in spiritual life. In spiritual life, as time passes, we have to invest more and if we do not invest more, our faith will dry up! What was enough yesterday, is not enough anymore. You know, may be last year we did all these things and it was enough to keep us enthused but now, we do the same things but we are not feeling enthused because we have not invested more. We have to invest more; that is the way of spiritual life! Read this article online... Toughen up By KKSBlog on Jan 30, 2018 06:00 am (Kadamba Kanana Swami, 05 April 2015, Durban, South Africa, Ratha Yatra Lecture: The secret of spiritual advancement) Krsna is our solution. Krsna will fulfil our desires. Everything we need, we find it in Krsna and if destiny does not go our way, "My dream, it didn't work out. Everything, it all collapsed!" It is all right, accept Krsna's will and somehow or other, tolerate it. If it is difficult, then know, "Krsna wants me to bear this difficulty and this will make me strong." We know that if life was so soft and if life was so easy what we would become… Once, I was on a train. I had to carry a suitcase of cash in India so I traveled by train in a first class, air-conditioned compartment. It was more expensive that flying so nobody goes there. In that compartment, you have a button at your seat and when you press it, a servant comes running. There was another man in the compartment and this man, his finger was like always on the button and the servant would come and the man would ask, "Do you have a cushion?" And the servant would go bring a cushion and then the man would ring the bell again and ask for another cushion! In the end, he had like twenty cushions! He was sitting propped up with many cushions. This man was very fat also so I was looking at him and wondering if he had any bones. More and more, I began to think that if you get too many cushions in life, you become like a jelly-fish! You become like very soft and weak when life is too cushy! You have to fight a little bit. You know, with children also, if you shelter them too much then they don't learn to deal with life and they become very helpless. So, come on, grow up and deal with the world; make the best of it; and what you cannot control, tolerate! That is life! So, we cannot shelter people too much and we cannot shelter ourselves too much. It is simple, when difficulties come, we accept. We try to make the best of it and for the rest… accept! This is Krsna consciousness, this faith that our happiness lies with Krsna. When I am faithful to what Krsna wants with my life then it will work and when I go for other things, it will not work! Then one can overcome personal weaknesses and one can get strength. Read this article online... Previous published articles The Bhagavatam is the book of this movement! My right or My duty? Service matters Krsna-prasadam!? The welfare of all the people of this world Facebook Twitter Website RSS Email us News Categories All news Audio Photos Picture quotes Quotes & transcripts About KKSBlog team Support us Shop Contact Terms of Service View previous newsletters   Copyright © 2018 KKSBlog, All rights reserved. You are receiving this weekly newsletter because you signed up to receive our newsletter at kksblog.com Our mailing address is: KKSBlog Bloemstraat 167a, Jordaan, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Amsterdam, 1016 LA Netherlands Add us to your address book Change subscription? Update preferences or unsubscribe.

Invest in your spiritual life

When something happens to us, is it karma or Krsna?

By KKSBlog on Jan 10, 2018 08:34 am

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 04 June 2012, Leicester, England, Srimad Bhagavatam 1.2.7)

When something happens to a devotee, is it karma or is it Krsna acting? This is a big question. Sometimes, we hear, "It's your karma, Prabhu?" Then at other times, you are told, "Isn't it Krsna who is behind this?"

Srila Prabhupada explained about how karma works for a devotee in the Nectar of Devotion – the fan (analogous to karma) is spinning and at the time you take up devotional service, the electricity is turned off but the fan continues turning, therefore we are getting diminished reactions.

So are we under the influence of karma or are we directly under Krsna's influence? Is the pure devotee under the influence of Krsna and is everyone else under the influence of diminished karma? Giriraj Swami has shed some light on this matter:

As Prabhupada said, there is that diminished reaction but Krsna is behind it and Krsna is sort of watching that karma – that diminished karma. Sometimes he interferes and at other times he just lets it act and he watches, anumantā upadrasta(the permitter and the overseer, Bhagavad-gita 13.23). He just witnesses it and oversees everything. As anumantā, he gives ājñā diba – permission. So, in this way Krsna permits it or sometimes Krsna says, "No, scrape off the bill. That is okay, there is no need for that."

At other times, Krsna puts in an extra test. According to our karma, something was not supposed to happen but Krsna put it in there! So it's interesting how we, as devotees, are simultaneously under the influence of Krsna's direction and karma. Krsna is the ultimate cause and therefore we always see Krsna behind it. Whenever something happens to us, we see Krsna as pūruṣa, our maintainer, who is with us at every step of the way. He is caring for us; there is no doubt! He does not leave us alone. Although he puts us through things that we really do not want to go through it, still it is good for us. He is 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 when cars come from behind, 'Honk! Honk!' as Indian cars do, the buffalo does not move an inch and just keeps on walking. Even when a car touches the buffalo a bit, it does not move but with anyone else, they would have moved, So we have a bit of that buffalo consciousness. By being under the influence of the three modes of material nature, we have become dull; we have lost our sensitivity.

When things are happening in our life, it is Krsna prodding us. Gradually, we awaken and we rise above. Sometimes you see a little boy or a little girl walking next to the buffalo with a stick – they are not shy and 'whack' with a stick and that's what gets the buffalo going. Sometimes Krsna also does it to us!

When something happens to us, is it karma or Kṛṣṇa?

Krsna’s protection