It’s been said that this is how a Vaisnava reacts to obstacles: Difficult? Do it tommorrow. Impossible? It’ll take a little longer. In the purport to Srimad Bhagavatam, Fifth Canto, First chapter, thirty-fifth verse, Srila Prabhupada writes, “Since the Supreme Lord is all-powerful, He can do things that seem wonderful for a common man. Similarly, a devotee who has taken shelter at the lotus feet of the Lord can also do wonderful things unimaginable to a common man, by the grace of the dust of those lotus feet. Caitanya Mahaprabhu therefore teaches us to take shelter of the Lord’s lotus feet.” And in the purport to Caitanya Caritamrta Madhya-lila Vol 6, Chapter 16, verse 65, he writes, “Thus the Supreme Personality of Godhead gives credit to a devotee who performs any heavy task perfectly. Hanumanji, or Vajrangaji, the servant of Lord Ramacandra, serves as another example. It was Hanumanji who jumped over the sea in one leap and reached the shore of Lanka from the shore of Bharata-varsa. When Lord Ramacandra chose to go there, He paved the way with stones, although by His will the stones were able to float on the sea. If we simply follow Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s instructions and follow in the footsteps of Sri Nityananda Prabhu, this Krsna consciousness movement can advance, and EVEN MORE DIFFICULT TASKS CAN BE PERFORMED [emphasis mine] by the preachers remaining faithful to the service of the Lord.”

(The following article was posted in the “Inner Voice” column of the Hindustan Times, one of India’s largest English language daily newspapers, on 8 July 2004.) HOW DO we define the inner voice? Is it conscience, our higher self, the ‘lower self’ or something entirely different? What force dictates action and decides crucial issues of the day? Is it intuition, common sense, our heart, intelligence or something else? Gandhi was well known for listening to his inner voice and for extracting ideas from the Gita, where we’re reminded that our very mind can be our best friend or our worst enemy (6.6). Certainly there’s a part of us dictating harm: in a split second we obey a voice telling us to do something that leads to sudden death in a car crash. Conversely, an inner voice prompts us to make a driving decision that saves our life. Sometimes we have to decide between living a short, brave and heroic life or long safe one. Hamlet said, “conscience makes cowards of us all”. The inner voice is both misleading and life saving. It can be conscience; it can be selfishness; it can be selflessness; it can be foolishness. It can be the prompting of the senses to eat this, smell that, hear this, look at that, feel this. And it can be the voice of restraint. I must do my duty, practice some discipline, forgo this pleasure for my long-term purpose, live more simply. Thinking things over often means consultation with many inner voices. In life we have many tough decisions to make. So who will guide us? What principles, if any, constitute my foundations? God is our witness within our heart, sometimes dictating “Don’t do it”, or “Do it.” This inner voice becomes clear if we accept Him as param-atma, and take the Gita as our collective working guide for work, rest and play. (The writer is emeritus member of the ISKCON governing body commission)

In a French TV interview, about three years ago, George Harrison said this: “Sure, it’s like Swami Bhaktivedanta, who started the Hare Krishna Movement. He once said that he was the servant of the servant of the servant of God. So I mean what does that make me? I’m the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant.”

Here is a more technical way of explaining how Krishna is greater than Lords Siva and Brahma. From Srimad Bhagavatam, 1.3.28/purport: “And His personal expansions such as svayam-prakasa, tad-ekatma up to the categories of the avataras who are all visnu-tattva, possess up to ninety-three percent of these transcendental attributes. Lord Siva, who is neither avatara nor avesa nor in between them, possesses almost eighty-four percent of the attributes. But the jivas, or the individual living beings in different statuses of life, possess up to the limit of seventy-eight percent of the attributes.” From an Oct 21, 1972 lecture on NOD in Vrindavana: “The Krsna consciousness message is Krsna tu bhagavan svayam. There is no other Bhagavan. Bhagavan means full of six opulences. So Krsna is completely, cent percent full of all opulences. Even Narayana, He is ninety-six percent. And Lord Siva is eighty-four percent. And Brahma is seventy eight percent. These are calculated by the Gosvamis. So Krsna is cent percent Bhagavan.”

It is said in the Introduction to the new Prarthana, a book of songs, verses and prayers by Narottama dasa Thakur that Gaur Kisore dasa Babaji once said the Lord of God could be obtained for five annas. Here is the passage: Srila Goura Kisora Babaji repeated himself, and then told the inquirer to go to the market with five annas (one anna equals a sixteenth of a rupee and in Sep-2004, about 45 rupees equals one US dollar) and purchase two books by Srila Narottama dasa Thakura, Prarthana and Sri Prema-bhakti-candrika. He instructed that by reading and meditating on the contents of these two books daily, one will develop love of God.

(The following article was posted in the “Meditations” column of the Hindustan Times, one of India’s largest English language daily newspapers, on 20 August 2003. JANMASHTAMI IS a magical time, for more reasons than one. The sacred holiday Janmashtami celebrates the birth of Lord Krishna on this earth at midnight, but the ocurrencs leading up to this event are as significant as the birth itself. Prior to Lord Krishna’s appearance, Devaki had lost six sons, murdered as infants by King Kamsa, Devaki’s brother. From the shastras we learn that these six had been the sons of Marichi, and that Lord Brahma had cursed them to be killed by Kamsa, who in a previous birth had been their father. These six sons also represent the sad garbasuras, or the human defects of lust, anger, greed, madness, illusion and envy. Devaki’s sons’ deaths by Kamsa symbolise overcoming these six faults within ourselves. Fortunately, Devaki is later reunited with her sons, as Lord Krishna and His brother Balarama retrieve them from Bali Maharaja, bringing them back to life. Even so, the sons represent flaws in our character, and their deaths at the hands of Kamsa signify the need for us to purify our consciousness. Their dying stands for eradicating the ‘demons’ of material association. Decontamination of human consciousness is necessary to cure the world’s ills. Janmashtami is really more than an observance in which joy and gladness reign in the soul for a day. Janmashtami is meant to purify the entire world for a long time by penetrating the remote recesses of consclousness. Gold is often obtained from smelting ore. Similarly, the essential goodness of human beings can be extracted from this sordid and negative age. Despite being infected through the modes of passion and ignorance, understanding the meaning behind Janmasthami is a failsafe process. Holidays are in fact holy days, times meant for us to revere and worship God, not only symbolically, but also literally. We understand His nature and birth from timeless writings like the Gita. In that book Krishna says, ‘One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, 0 Arjuna’. (4.9) Equally, if not more important than never taking birth in this world again, is improving the quality of life for the whole planet – a spiritual revival. This is the deeper purpose of Janmashtami. The writer is emeritus member of the ISKCON Governing Body Commission

“I know that you are both best preachers and you will not stand by idly and listen to any nonsense ideas or mayavadis. That is very nice. My Guru Maharaja was also inclined toward his bolder preachers.”

Srila Prabhupada in Los Angeles lectured about medical science’s finding that many pounds of blood are required to make up one drop of semen. He likened the materially engrossed man who enjoys seminal discharge beautifully to the camel who drinks its own blood when it chews thorny twigs – like we like salads because we enjoy the dressing. Unrestricted sexual intercourse is, according the famous Srimad Bhagavatam (sva vid varahostra kharaih – 2.3.19) verse tantamount to losing pounds of blood.

Srila Prabhupada said he put two unanswerable questions to pseudo-Christians: 1) how can the unlimited God of Christianity have only one son, when even an ordinary man can have more than one? 2) why do professed Christians disobey the commandment that forbids killing?

According to the Website “Refdesk” there are currently 400,000 frozen human embryos in Medlabs in the USA. According to the original source [unnamed], “a large proportion will never be needed.” The booming fertility industry says it wants “only the best.”