Like it or not, argues journalist Thomas Friedman, the era of globalization is upon us. Somewhat naively, Friedman, as well as leading Cambridge economist Amartya Sen (author of “Development as Freedom”), think that there IS a way forward. In their opinion, globalization can be beneficial if its perpetrators make serious attempts to preserve local cultures, religions and customs.

Srila Prabhupada’s humility is evident in an exchange that took place on Novemer 26th, 1975 in New Delhi: Harikesa: It seems like the strongest preaching point or platform is the presence of a pure soul. Prabhupada: Huh? Harikesa: The presence of a pure soul, someone who is wrapped up actually in love of God, is sufficient. Prabhupada: Faithful servant of God. He can preach. He is authorized. He has got the power of attorney. Krsna sakti vin nahe nama pracara. [“Unless empowered by Krsna, one cannot propagate the sankirtana movement” – CC, Antya, 7.11].

In many places Srila Prabhupada has written of the three stages of consciousness: susupti (deep sleep), svapna (the dreaming stage), and jagarti (the awakened state). Many studies assert that the majority of long and complex dreams take place in a fraction of second, right before a person wakes up. This is supported by the concept of svapna, that there is a stage in which one is semi-conscious, in which dreams take place.

Srila Prabhupada established the theme of life, and in this way he showed humanity how to live. His message or theme was that there is an “atma” which is always happy and always satisfied. This atma is distinct from the body, and always existing. It is this sense of hope in the ultimate future that makes Krsna Consciousness irresistibly alluring to so many.

The common mentality of atheists is to think good fortune comes from them and that bad fortune must be blamed on God, or anyone other than themselves. A theist sees good fortune as the hand of God, and misfortune as his or her own misdoings.

It is said in the Mahabharat that Yudisthira cursed all female humans to be unable to keep a secret. This was after he learned that Kunti withheld from the Pandavas that Karna was in fact their brother (who Arjuna had to kill). But in the Bhagavad-gita, Krsna tells Arjuna, “Of secret things I am silence.” (BGAII10.38)Thus we learn that Krsna is the supreme secret-keeper.

Mahanidhi Swami once referred to Vrindavana as a “Queendom,” implying it is the place of Radharani. On Radhastami in London Srila Prabhupada explained why Vraj residents call out to Radharani more than to Krsna: “Therefore in Vrindavana you’ll find all the devotees, they’re chanting more Radharani’s name than Krsna’s. Wherever you’ll go, you’ll find the devotees are addressing, “Jaya Radhe.” You’ll find still in Vrndavana. They are glorifying Radharani. They’re more interested, worshiping Radharani. Because however fallen I may be, if some way or other I can please Radharani, then it is very easy for me to understand Krsna.”

Srila Prabhupada generally gave special attention to influential, highly positioned and wealthy people, and yet he insisted on regular harinam parties. These twin attitudes showed that he understood the importance of preaching to leaders and the intelligent classes, but demanded that preaching to the ‘common’ man should continue uninterrupted. Sometimes his guru was criticized as a sadhu who appeared to pander, on occasion, to the rich and famous (although his personal lifestyle was in many ways most austere). Once, at India’s Ravinshaw College, a student challenged, “You are not udara (liberal). You are sectarian and not generous to all, because you do not mix much with the poor, downtrodden people.” Saraswati Thakura is said to have replied, “Are you udara (generous to all)? If you are you should accept us. Why are you critisizing us?” In other words a truly liberal preacher will not exclude ANY class of human beings, including those who are highly placed.

(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)

Measuring spiritual advancement is done in many ways. One way mentioned in the Srimad Bhagavatam is that three things occur simultaneously for a devotee, “in the same way that pleasure, nourishment and relief from hunger come simultaneously and increasingly, with each bite, for a person engaged in eating.” (11.2.42) Srila Prabhupada also reportedly wrote, in a letter to a devotee who didn’t feel he was making advancement, that progress in spiritual life was like sitting in an airplane. During take-off one may look around the inside of the aircraft and see no changes, but when one looks out the window, and sees the ground hundreds or thousands of feet below, there is no doubt that he or she has moved upward. Another measure of spiritual progress is to determine how many devotees one is ‘making.’ A relevant Prabhupada citation here is this one: “Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has said that a Vaisnava is meritorious in proportion to the number of devotees he has created. A Vaisnava becomes superior not simply by jugglery of words but by the number of devotees he has created for the Lord. Here the word rantidevanuvartinah indicates that Rantideva’s officers, friends, relatives and subjects all became first-class Vaisnavas by his association.” (from the purport to Srimad Bhagavatam 9.21.18)