ISKCON New Govardhana

A new album of devotional tunes has just been released by local artist Deva Gaurahari das. The album is called "Soothing Moonbeams" after a line in the devotional classic "Sri Prema Bhakti Candrika" by Srila Narottama Das Thakur. The music is a blend of ancient Indian chants, set to a modern lounge style music. It is great for travelling, artistic pursuit, or just to create a beautiful devotional mood anywhere, at any time.

You can hear mp3 samples of all the songs at www.devasmusic.com

All-famous yet shy, heroic yet respectful, happy yet grave, the supreme controller yet controlled by love; these are just some of the transcendental qualities found in the person of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Such combinations of qualities rock the very foundation of our materialistic experience of qualities exhibited within the three modes of material nature, and meditation on such qualities elevates the consciousness to the transcendental abode of the Lord.

Our acharyas advise us to meditate deeply on the Lord’s nama (Name), rupa (form), guna (qualities) and lila (pastimes). As devotees of ISKCON, our daily activities given by Srila Prabhupada are built around remembrance of these aspects of the Lord. We chant a prescribed number of rounds to meditate on the Lord’s holy name, we see the Deity form of the Lord in the temple to fix His form in our minds, and we can read and hear about the qualities and pastimes of the Lord from books and classes.

While all these aspects are essential, we can discern that they appeal to different aspects of our being in different degrees. The Lord’s form is especially pleasing to our eyes and sense of artistry. The holy name is not only pleasing to hear, it is like a shower of cooling rain for our whole being, soothing the pangs of material tribulations. The pastimes of the Lord are especially pleasing to the mind and intelligence, enlivening us with the wonder of the Lord’s activities.

The special attraction of the Lord’s qualities, however, is in the attraction to our emotions and our innermost feelings for exchanges of love with other people. By meditating deeply on the Lord’s qualities of compassion, mercy, strength, happiness, shyness, respect, truthfulness etc, our emotional attachments, that have been battered and troubled by material attachments from time immemorial, find their true repose in the deeply satisfying qualities of the Lord.

In the world of business, it is said that people will buy on emotion, and then justify later with logic; it is emotion that impels people to take action and make a change in their lives. It is also said that family affection is the basis for economic development, because it is the emotion that the parents feel for the child that is the real motivation to work for the child’s future, not merely the intellectual understanding of the child’s dependance on them.

Discussion of personal qualities is the most intensely personal experience possible, because only a person has personal qualities. Even in mundane dealings, people are not as interested in the quantity of a famous person’s wealth or achievements, as they are in the discussion of their qualities. There is some enjoyment in hearing about the inventions of a famous scientist, or the compositions of a famous musician, but people’s ears really spring up when there is some inside information into the actual person’s qualities, whether honest or cheating, religious or irreligious, expert or clumsy, forgiving or quick to bear a grudge, self-controlled or having uncontrolled senses.

Similarly, in spiritual life, it is the personal qualities and emotional exchanges between the devotee and the Lord, or between devotee and devotee, that really touches the heart and gives an intense desire to further experience this sweet exchange. The other side of this is the message that comes from devotees who have unfortunately drifted away from devotional service. They often say that they felt emotionally unfulfilled in the association of devotees, even though they believe the philosophy; again it is the emotional exchange or lack thereof, that impels people to act.

Krishna gives us the insight in the Bhagavad–gita where he explains that we can only give up the lower taste of material rasa or relationship, when we experience the higher taste of spiritual emotion. Rasa varjam raso py asya, param dristva nivartate. Knowing our true existence as infinitesimal spirit souls, who are prone to be attracted at any time by either spiritual or material emotions, we can take proactive steps to ensure that our minds always stay fixed in the thought of the qualities of the Lord.

Krishna gives another indication of how important qualities are by exlaining that the cause of our future happiness or suffering is a direct result of the qualities we are associating with right now, either materialistic or spiritual. Karanam guna sango ‘sya, sad-asad yoni janmasu. At any moment we can decide to replace our association with the various material qualities, or gunas, and associate with the transcendental gunas of the Lord.

This experience is open to us at every moment, we merely need to take advantage of the opportunity to immerse our minds and emotions in the sublime qualities of Lord Sri Krishna. Srila Prabhupada has mercifully given us the Nectar of Devotion which is full of the descriptions of Sri Krishna’s loving dealings and relationships, and chapters 21 and 22 are dedicated entirely to the qualities of Sri Krishna. The constant remembrance of these qualities is both the means to attain perfection and the goal of our lives as aspiring devotees of the Lord.

O Lord, we pray that You let us be born in any hellish condition of life, just as long as our hearts and minds are always engaged in the service of Your lotus feet, our words are made beautiful [by speaking of Your activities] just as tulasi leaves are beautified when offered unto Your lotus feet, and as long as our ears are always filled with the chanting of Your transcendental qualities.

Srimad Bhagavatam 3.15.49 (The four Kumaras speaking to Lord Visnu)

This is a very insightful podcast from Sivarama Maharaja about why devotees should avoid DVDs and TV.

click here to listen

Recently we have had some nice kids birthday parties at New Govardhana (you can check out the pics here). Putting on one of these parties can be quite an effort, and while helping to set up a party for our own daughter Karuna, I started thinking about what was the meaning behind all of this, and why we do these events. Of course parties with devotees are a great chance to serve the devotees prasadam and chant the Holy Name in the association of the Vaisnavas, which is glorious. However there is another important function fulfilled by these events, and it is part of giving our kids what they need, even though we may not be able to always give them everything they want.

The Bhagavad-gita says that when there is an absence of religion, the family traditions break down, there is free mingling between men and women, and the result is unwanted progeny. From the point of view of a child, we can well imagine the negative psychological effects of being told you were unwanted or an “accident”.

The upside of this is that we can have exactly the opposite result by showing our children that they are very much “wanted” and not only that, they are loved and cherished.

Of course our goal is not to have happy children who grow up to enjoy their senses and then take another birth according to their karma. Sastra says that the real goal of Krishna conscious family life is to raise children who will attain spiritual perfection and not have to take birth again in this material world. Furthermore, the sastras say that one should not become a guru, teacher or parent if one cannot deliver their dependents from the cycle of birth and death.

The role of parent then, is not a trivial one. In a very real sense the parent is the guru (representative of God) for the child. This is confirmed elsewhere in the sastra where it states that a parent takes on the reactions for the child's activities until the child is 16 years of age, in the same way that the guru takes on the reactions for the activities of their disciples.

This aspect of seeing the parents as guru is very practical, and starts from the very beginning of life. Without the mother's care and breast milk, the newborn baby would die. So the mother is the affectionate maintainer, representing the ultimate maintainer, God. Naturally the child is submissive to this loving maintainer. Next the child becomes aware of the father who is also the loving maintainer. In the Vedic ideal, the father works to maintain the family, and gives loving protection to the wife and children. Due to this protection and care, the wife naturally is submissive to the husband, and the child sees this reciprocation of submission and loving care. As the child develops, he sees that the father himself is submissive to senior devotees, and ultimately the spiritual master. In this way the child sees the principle of parampara being established from a very young age, and the essential principal that one must be submissive to a loving authority for the blessings and affection to flow. This all begins with the mother being the first guru.

By understanding this truth we can use it to our advantage as parents, in helping our children attain faith in the Lord. Developing faith in the Lord means that we come to rely on Him for everything we need, we accept His love and protection, and we become submissive to His desires. When our children are young and they are freely accepting of our role as their gurus or representatives of the Lord, we can use this time to act as Krishna acts towards us; as a caring guardian who gives everything we need, and is fair and just in his rectification. By acting as proper representatives of the Lord, we greatly help our children develop their natural love and dependence on the Lord. Depending on the Lord and being submissive to His desires will become natural for them as they grow to maturity.

There are many examples in the life of Srila Prabhupada where his father and mother always tried to please him by giving him what he wanted, even if it was a toy gun for each hand, or making his favourite foodstuff in the middle of the night. Of course, they also took the opportunity to encourage his spiritual development by arranging for a toy size Rathayatra chariot to be made for little Abhay to have his own Rathayatra. In this way Srila Prabhupada experienced a loving, caring, spiritual upbringing.

Therefore events where we make a special effort to create a wonderful experience for our children serve to nourish the feelings within the child that they are wanted, loved and cherished. If these can have some spiritual aspect to them, all the better. From this they will feel secure within the family situation, and within the wider association of devotees.

When asked what can be done about the situation of ISKCON youth who were leaving the association of devotees when they attained maturity, His Holiness Jayapataka Swami commented that, in his experience, the best way to keep children connected to Krishna consciousness, was to give them so much love and affection when they are in the home, that they feel so happy and protected that they don't want to leave.

It is clear that the best way to give our kids the very best chance at being devotees is to firstly be exemplary devotees ourselves, who are happy and peaceful in our spiritual life, and secondly to give our children security, affection and love so that they always feel sheltered in the home.

According to the sastric injunction that we are responsible to see that our children have the very best chance at becoming pure devotees in this lifetime, it is our duty to give them such experiences in their early childhood that they are accustomed to accepting shelter, protection and blessings from superiors, and being submissive to them.

This does not however suggest that we should accept offensive or inappropriate behaviour from our children, or shower them with so many artificial 'wants', but they should always be given what they need.

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur said that to practice sadhana bhakti we first need our physical health, then mental well-being, and then a healthy social or family situation. When these primary needs are met, the conditioned soul can peacefully execute sadhana bhakti and make progress in the pure chanting of the Holy Name.

By fulfilling these basic needs of our children, we are doing our duty of providing the physical, mental and social support needed for them to feel secure within the association of devotees. When our children grow up feeling secure in the association of devotees, they have an incredible chance to perfect their lives by chanting the Holy Name and serving the Lord in such saintly association. By perfecting their lives in Krishna consciousness they will never have to take birth again, and we will be unlimitedly blessed by the Lord for serving His devotees in such an intimate and loving way.

If you look forward to hearing from Jayapataka Swami at festival time you may like to visit his audio website at www.hearjps.com where you can listen to Maharaja's lectures in mp3 format. A special new feature of the website is the audio diaries where you can follow as Maharaja travels the world preaching Lord Caitanya's message.

Diary of a Traveling Preacher
"My Muslim Brother"
16/03/06

Each day, before downloading my email, I mentally prepare myself for dealing with the good, the bad, and the ugly. With hundreds of disciples and many other devotees regularly corresponding with me, the laws of nature force me to see the gamut of situations in this world. March 16, 2006, was no exception. There were names to be given for babies, condolences for the families of departed souls, blessings for disciples (and chastisements for two), guidelines for a new marriage, and a plea for a departed student to return.
One name on the list in my mailbox caught my eye. It was Jahnukanyaka dasi, a devotee from Sarajevo, Bosnia. I had met her years ago, on my first visit there. She risked her life to preach throughout the three-year war that took over 100,000 lives there in the early 1990s. Such a devotee deserves attention, so I immediately opened her email. continue here