The Essence is Transcendence

Posted by dinesh

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 04 August 2018, Vrindavan, India, Bhagavad-gita 4.9)

Sometimes I feel that the temple is transcendental, the Bhagavad-gita is transcendental, the holy name is transcendental, and the devotees are transcendental. Everything is transcendental expect me; I am not transcendental. But to some extent we are elevated to the transcendental platform, because we are chanting Hare Krsna, taking Krsna prasadam and engaging in devotional service.

So the transcendental energy is working through us at times, and then we are on a transcendental platform. At other times, when we are not on the transcendental platform, we return to the mode of goodness. In this way we are between transcendence and the mode of goodness. Sometimes we are in one and at other times we are in another.

In the mode of goodness we are looking from a philosophical perspective. In transcendence we are simply absorbed in loving service to Krsna, in relishing that service and in relishing the descriptions of Krsna:

vayaṁ tu na vitṛpyāma

uttama-śloka-vikrame yac-chṛṇvatāṁ rasa-jñānāṁ svādu pade, (SB 1.1.19).
tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena sattvaṁ
śuddhyed yasmād brahma-saukhyaṁ tv anantam (SB 5.5.1).

It is said that at that stage, hearing about Krsna becomes thoroughly enjoyable at every step and at every moment. It is just an ongoing experience of enjoyment. We have moments when we feel inspired and feel that Krsna consciousness is very enjoyable.

Then we have moments when we experience Krsna consciousness as an austerity. At that time we come down to the level of the mode of goodness.

As Ṛṣabhadeva told his son, then it becomes tapo divyaṁ, or austerity for a divine purpose.

But at other times it is just premāmṛta-mahāmbudhe, when we are just absorbed in theocean of transcendental nectar. The essence of this movement is the ocean of transcendental nectar.

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To increase our inspiration

Posted by dinesh

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 04 August 2018, Vrindavan, India, Bhagavad-gita 4.9)

In The Nectar of Devotion there is a reference to ‘sāndrānanda-viśeṣātmā,’ that we must make devotional service more dense. One of the symptoms of bhava is avyartha-kālatvam (Cc. Madhya 23.18-19) – not to waste a moment. In theCaitanya-caritamrtait is said that while the associates of Caitanya Mahaprabhu were taking prasadam they were chanting the holy name in between bites. So they were not wasting a moment; their devotional service was very dense.

It is also said that devotional service must be ahaituky apratihatā – it must be uninterrupted and unmotivated (SB 1.2.6). But our devotional service is interrupted, “That was hard work; now I can take some rest.”

One hour later, “Okay, a little more devotional service.”

A little later, “Oh, now I can take a break. Now I can play with my phone.” Somehow or the other we are constantly interrupting our service.Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura says, “If we want to overcome this then we have to increase our chanting as an attempt to make this service more dense. Or we should increase our preaching.” We see from Srila Prabhupada’s example that the emphasis is more on preaching than on bhajan; he was constantly preaching at every moment. That is what it means to make it more dense – to somehow increase our engagement by hearing and chanting, in the nine processes of devotional service and in preaching Krsna consciousness. Then that breakthrough will come by deep attachment.

It is said that whatever fruits of love of God we have got, when we distribute them then we will get more than we had before. So we can increase our daivi-sampad, our spiritual wealth, and then the inspiration will increase. That is our process – to somehow or the other increase. It is interesting that in a material field any work that you do in the beginning is difficult and you have to work hard. But after a while you become very expert and then your work requires less effort. But in spiritual life it is the opposite. As time goes on it takes more effort. In the beginning we may not make such an effort, but in time the eagerness increases for more; sāndrānanda-viśeṣātmā, we have to make it more dense.

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“SURRENDER-LOKA” IN DALLAS

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"SURRENDER-LOKA" IN DALLAS

In the early 1980s at Radha-Kalachandji dhama in Dallas, Goswami Maharaja spoke every morning for about a month about surrender from the Sixth Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, the story of Ajamila. Many young, exuberant devotees were joining at that time, fusing with a powerful group that included remnants of the Radha Damodara party and senior book distributors like Praghosa dasa and Tripurari Maharaja, who were attracted to serve in the Texas preaching field under the strong leadership of Tamal Krishna Goswami.

Goswami Maharaja kept asking the devotees, "If you were the only devotee left alive in the world and you didn't even have Prabhupada's books, because they were all destroyed, could you spread Krishna consciousness all on your own, based on your knowledge, faith, and realization?" He kept drilling into the devotees how important it was to know Srila Prabhupada's books, to distribute the books, preach, and recruit new devotees. The mood of surrender was extremely intense during that entire time.

Every evening during that month, everyone would gather in Goswami's darsana room for wonderful kirtanas in a sweet, early evening Bengali melody. Goswami Maharaja played the mrdanga and traded leading the kirtanas with Dhrstadyumna Maharaja. Every night for a month the devotees would come together and chant this same melody for nearly an hour. Krishna Kripa remembered, "No one ever got tired of that melody. All morning we would hear about surrender to Krishna from Srila Gurudeva and during the day we would surrender on sankirtana. Then, in the evening Gurudeva led that beautiful melody, which continued the theme of surrender. At that time he called his Texas preaching field Surrender-loka. We were all surrendered, simply trying to please Srila Gurudeva and Srila Prabhupada, just trying to contact the fallen souls to bring them in. In later years those ecstatic kirtanascame to be widely known as the Surrender-loka kirtanas."

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You claim, "This is my hair." You cannot count even your hair.

Posted by dinesh

"Material world means there are innumerable universes. Just like you cannot count the stars and planets. You are every day you are seeing, at least at night you see, but can you count it? No, that is not possible. So this is only one universe, the universe in which our planet, this earthly planet, is situated. It is teeny planet. Out of many millions of planets this is one of. So we cannot even calculate this one planet in which portion, which direction, which country is there, how many population, what is there. We have no calculation. This is God's creation. Anything you take... You cannot count even your hair. You claim, "This is my hair." Can you count it? No. That is God's creation. Everywhere God is present, and everything is innumerable, beyond our counting capacity."

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Your life is a Day!

Posted by dinesh

What you do in a day, you would repeat for weeks, months, years. It's all the small things that accumulate to become bigger in the future. For instance, you keep throwing emptied water bottles to the rear of your car every time you finish drinking, after a few months you would see a garbage of water bottles piling up at your rear side of the car. Same goes true with your diet, formation of habits.

Once they are formed as a pattern in your mind, they are very hard to break in the future. We have to constantly assess ourselves of our actions through the eyes of scriptures, Guru and Sadhu to be able to make steady progress in our spiritual life.

Even the vast ocean is made of little drops of water. So let's not forget that and make efforts to fix our actions when it is small. Every small action counts. Because this our situation in life.