It was usual for Indian gurus of yesteryear to have only one or two disciples, and even many powerful preachers in our line followed this tradition. But in the wake of Lord Caitanya, and through the transcendental vision of Srila Prabhupada, in this age of globalization a worldwide society for Krishna consciousness has been able to flourish through the use of technology. Millions of books (including cookbooks), audiocassettes, videotapes, CDs, phone calls, emails, websites, global postal and transportation systems, have, by Srila Prabhupada’s grace, become the methods through which a truly global society became possible in the last quarter of the twentieth century. We may think of the development of these phenomenon as destructive, but through the prophesies afforded by Lord Krishna and Lord Caitanya, such technical progress has benefited all humanity. “Work done as a sacrifice for Visnu has to be performed, otherwise work causes bondage in this material world.” – BG II 3.9)

Sometimes deep thinkers, writers and opinion leaders intimate that truth resides in dreams and the unconscious. While there may be some truth in this kind of analysis, here’s what Srila Prabhupada once said about dreams: “Svapna means dreamlike. As dream has no fact, it is all hallucination. Similarly our detachment from Krsna is also a hallucination. Actually there is no detachment….Just like in dream we cry, “Oh, here is a tiger! Here is a tiger! Tiger. Where is tiger? Similarly, this forgetfulness of Krsna is like that…” (London lecture 22 August 1971 on Srimad Bhagavatam 1.1.4)

Daily meditation on the Lord was made much easier when Srila Prabhupada established (in both action AND words) the principle of yukta vairagya, or yat karosi yad asnasi, yaj juhosi dadasi yat, yat tapasyasi kaunteya, tat kurusva mad-arpanam: “Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer or give away, and whatever austerities you perform – do that, O son of Kunti, as an offering to Me.” (BGAII 9.27)

Quite literally – for many years – I’ve been trying find a citation about “cooperation,” something that Srila Prabhupada is reputed to have emphasized. Here’s one I found in the Bhaktivedanta Veda Base: “You are all my limbs of my body. Unless you cooperate, my life will be useless.” (letter to Brahmandanda, dated 17 July 1968.)

A seminar called “Developing Love for the Holy Name” is conducted by Vaiyasaki prabhu. We’ve often heard Srila Prabhupada say that Rupa Goswami wished for millions of tongues and ears so he could better relish the sound of Krsna’s names. Here’s how it appears in Srila Prabhupada’s Caitanya Caritamrita 1.120.9: tunde tandavini ratim vitanute tundavali-labdhaye karna-kroda-kadambini ghatayate karnarbudebhyah sprham cetah-prangana-sangini vijayate sarvendriyanam krtim no jane janita kiyadbhir amrtaih krsneti varna-dvayi TRANSLATION: “I do not know how much nectar the two syllables ‘Krs-na’ have produced. When the holy name of Krsna is chanted, it appears to dance within the mouth. We then desire many, many mouths. When that name enters the holes of the ears, we desire many millions of ears. And when the holy name dances in the courtyard of the heart, it conquers the activities of the mind, and therefore all the senses become inert.” PURPORT: This verse is included in the Vidagdha-madhava (1.15), a seven-act play written by Srila Rupa Gosvami describing the pastimes of Sri Krsna in Vrndavana.

Sometimes one wonders how powerful sannyasis, created by Srila Prabhupada, can fall down. Here is at least a partial answer to this question: “We have actually seen that many sannyasis who accept sannyasa prematurely, not having satisfied their material desires, fall down because they are disturbed.” (Srimad Bhagavatam 9.l8.40/purport)

Srila Prabhupada started his movement among what strict Vedic followers would term a non-Vedic population. This was because he had faith that devotional service is beyond such considerations, as well as being beyond jnana (the mental speculation variety) and yoga (the mystic perfection and meditational variety). He writes in a Srimad Bhagavatam purport from the Second Canto that: “Because they are factually engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord, the Lord’s pure devotees have already achieved the results of mental speculation and meditation. The real perfection of life is therefore to be engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord.”

“The Lord’s inconceivable energy displays its power through variety in the Lord’s body, the entity’s body, the situation of both, and the spiritual realm.” Prema-pradipa, Chapter 9, by Bhaktivinoda Thakura.

Srila Prabhupada was entirely a-nationalistic. But in one lecture Srila Prabhupada lamented the artificial separation of Pakistan and Hindustan. Formerly India was one country, but when it became independent of British rule, Pakistan was formed. So in a lecture to a Calcutta audience on 29 January, 1973, Srila Prabhupada said, “You are lamenting because a few yards of land has been taken away from your country as Pakistan, but if you spread this Krsna consciousness movement, the whole world will become Hindustan. There is such potency…”

(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 June 2004.) ‘WASTE IS preventing us from getting ahead’, says Angus Maciver of Prudential UK. On average, English people waste Rs 1,38,000 per person per year. Simple arithmetic reveals that the Briton’s annual waste bill is enough to cover their government’s combined budget for transport, defence, industry, agriculture, employment, housing and the environment. Frugality is often thought to be the emblem of the misers; Fagins, and Ebineezer Scrooges of the world. But there’s a philosophy that teaches that everything ultimately belongs to the Supreme Lord. According to the Gita (5.29), God is the ultimate owner of everything. But ‘everything’ must include our own families, bodies, thoughts, and senses. According to this theory, everything has a limit and nothing is ‘ours’. The questions that next arise are: If we don’t own anything, why do we think we possess our land, our house, bank account, family, body, brain and mind? And how is it that it’s the duty of government to protect our rights, especially our property and our lives? Are we no more than the flutter of an eyelid or a bundle of loose nerve endings, or do we occupy a significant place in the universe – a place we can call our own? Is there such a thing as proprietorship? Good questions, but the answer is simple, if not obvious. We live on borrowed plumes – God’s benevolence. Ultimately nothing is ours, the future’s not ours to see, whatever will be will be. No one knows the intricate workings of karma. Thrift is not miserliness or parsimony, but the wise application of resources. Anything engaged in the service of God never goes in vain, and it benefits the human situation long term. Gratitude, not greed, is the key. The writer is emeritus member of the ISKCON gQverning body commission