Lore has it that when Bhaktivedanta Asrama was being created, diggers tried to sink a bore into the ground just opposite and near Govardhana Hill. But the diggers couldn’t drill through the strata. They thought they had encountered some kind of impenetrable rock formation. So they tried to sink the bore further away from the Hill, and were successful in finding an underground aquifer, which became a well for the ISKCON asrama. The purport: Govardhana Hill – which is now mostly underground — was the impenetrable rock formation the water drillers first came across.

In a recent issue of the American Association for Retired People’s magazine, its editor says that “intergenerational harmony is the future.” Judging from the talent, careful planning, work, output and long-term vision of many so called second-generation devotees, ISKCON has a bright future. Srila Prabhupada’s vision and purity created a hopeful future for his movement.

What, people may ask, is this Govardhana Puja celebration? We may tell them it represents Krsna in His activity of sheltering the residents of a small Indian village from a freak rainstorm and flood. It also symbolizes Krsna’s desire to correct an imbalance of values in the world, and that everyone on the planet should be able to eat to his or her heart’s content.

Even though most devotees understand the material world is not the place for right-thinking, civilized humans to live, we still fear and dread dying, even though we hope to reach a better destination afterward.

On a walk in Mayapur on April 3,1975, devotees said that scientists considered that everything, even inert matter, was in motion, mainly by virtue of atoms and their charged particles. They said that even within the earth there was a great deal of unseen motion. Srila Prabhupada countered by saying the he was a “layman” and couldn’t see motion and that inanimate objects didn’t seem to move from one place to another overnight.

“Vidya-vadhu-jivanam” means the supreme knowledge is the mahabhava of Srimati Radhika, who is Krsna topmost vadhu (consort or wife). The life and soul (jivanam) of Radhika is Krsna alone. Krsna’s name here, which is non-different from Krsna, is described as vidya-vadhu-jivanam. (Adapted from Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s writing found in the book “The Art of Chanting Hare Krsna,” by Mahanidhi swami)

(The following article was posted in the “Meditations” column of the Hindustan Times, one of India’s largest English language daily newspapers, on 14 January 2004.) A JUNE Gallup Poll said that 41 per cent of Americans considered themselves Christian evangelists. This sampling may be tentative and augmented by loyalty to President Bush. Be that as it may, there’s a definite trend toward spirituality in universities in America’s northeast, the bastion of US intellectualism and serious study. The Rev. Peter J. Gomes, religious historian and minister of Harvard’s Memorial Church, who arrived on that campus in 1970, says, ‘There are probably more evangelicals here than at any time since the 17th century, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a wider range of Christian fellowship activity’. The same trend is evident at Boston University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). MIT, where science is god, and efficiency and rationality deeply embedded, now sports 15 evangelical Christian Fellowship groups. In 1994, the Sunday night service at Boston’s Park Street Church, the flagship location for college evangelicals, attracted 40 people. Today more than 1000 students turn up weekly from BU, MIT, Harvard and other universities. Rather than regard this as threatening, the Bhagavad Gita advises us not to try to look down on such displays of devotion, even if they be ajananam (3.26) or without full knowledge. Rather Krishna advises accommodating such activity. Love of God in any form is progressive. What does this mean? Can non-Vedic faiths be truly devotional? According to the Gita, bhakti can manifest with unlimited variety. The increase in America’s eastern establishment colleges is positive. These thinking evangelicals foreswear casual sex, alcoholism and gambling, and avoid watching movies for entertainment alone. Whether the trend will carry on into adulthood is as yet unknown. Nonetheless, empowering so many serious students at this juncture of their intellectual lives is a very hopeful development. Impressions and habits gained in formative years run deep and aren’t easily forgotten. Bhakti or devotion can be found in people tied to any denomination. A revival of religiosity amongst the questioning and thoughtful young, when coupled with a broad-minded appreciation of people of other faiths, is something we should welcome as essential for world peace. Sri Krishna, God, is also known vedically as ‘bhakta vatsala’. He eschews solemn vows and worldly moralism in order to better serve His devotees. Genuine glorification of God – whatever faith we hold – transcends all divisive faith structures. The writer is emeritus member of the ISKCON governing body commission

I found ten instances in Srila Prabhupada’s teachings, including one in Caitanya Caritamrta, of the use of “a ship without a rudder,” in my search for proverbs with an English origin.

(The following article was posted in the “Meditations” column of the Hindustan Times, one of India’s largest english language daily newspapers, on 31 March 2003.) TINY FISH swim against the waves while mighty elephants topple in the same current. A green parrot disappears into a distant grove but maintains its unseen individuality. Evaporation creates millions of tonnes of water floating aloft as cloud cover, those billowing swabs releasing sheets of rain to glide back to the sea as rivers only to evaporate once again as floating puffs of vapour. But within the apparently homogeneous sea live many aquatics. These creatures never rise into the air; and their uniqueness is undisturbed. Their singularity persists despite the comings and goings of water; their medium for nourishment and movement. Each marine creature’s uniqueness remains. Often humans become optimistic about liberation – with the aim of losing their identity: “I will become one with everything – the earth, the air, the universe. Liberation will free me at last from the painful dualities of the world – fame and infamy, wealth and poverty, happiness and distress, life and death.” But such aspirants stumble on a contentious issue. The form of deliverance they imagine is devoid an important human characteristic: love. Freedom to possess options, the liberty to pursue unique desires, the independence required to choose partners, hobbies and clothing, is all part of self-rule. Having choices is based on the principle of love. Everybody loves something or someone, manly things or many people. We all depend on the ability to choose, and we don’t want to be told how to do personal things. We don’t like to reveal everything about ourselves. How often do we hear, “Sorry, that’s personal,” when someone doesn’t want to answer a probing question? According to wisdom of yore – as evidenced in the teachings of Ramanuja, Badarayani, Madhvacharya, Krishna (Bhagavad Gita 12.5), and many others – Dvaita Vedanta, or personalism, is essential for those desiring permanent liberation. The principle of maintaining individual freedom, even in the spiritual world, is established in many kernel treatises, including the Vedanta Sutra and Brahma Samhita. The need to preserve love and our individual freedoms, even in the spiritual realm, is so deep-rooted that we can’t shed it, even in the name of liberation. Whatever exists here is but an imperfect reflection of the ever-flawless spiritual world. Entrance into that realm requires independent thought, love, and the right to choose. (The writer is emeritus member of the ISKCON Governing body commission)

In Bhagavad-gita the sun and moon are said to be Krsna’s eyes. Who can deny the beauty of the moon? Whether waxing or waning, the moon has been the subject of innumerable songs and poems since time supposedly began ? which it didn’t. Yet the moon’s unique loveliness, especially in the proximity of trees, or the sea, is but an echo of the transcendental beauty of Krsna.