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MY NAME IS NOT NICOLE!!! HARE KRISHNA ANYWAY!

• Subject: MY NAME IS NOT NICOLE!!! HARE KRISHNA ANYWAY!
• From: Dennis B
• Date: Tue Jan 23 16:37:28 1996
• Message-Id: id711

Dear Dennis



Hello. Hare Krishna!



Thanks for writing. I'm so glad you like to read Srila Prabhupada's books. The

abswers are all there. He has written everything in his books. You might like to

buy a set of Srimad-Bhagavatam's as well. It is an incredable book...



"This Srimad-Bhagavatam is the literary incarnation of God and it is compiled by

Srila Vyasadeva, the incarnation of God. It is meant for the ultimate good of all

people, and it is all-successful, all-blissful and all-perfect.



"This Bhagavata Purana is as brilliant as the sun, and it has arisen just after

the departure of Lord Krishna to His own abode, accompanied by religion,

knowledge, etc. Persons who have lost their vision due to the dense darkness of

ignorance in this age of Kali shall get light from this Purana.



"Completely rejecting all religious activities which are materially motivated,

this Bhagavata Purana propounds the highest truth, which is understandable by



those devotees who are fully pure in heart. The highest truth is reality

distinguished from illusion for the welfare of all. Such truth uproots the

threefold miseries. This beautiful Bhagavatam, compiled by the great sage

Vyasadeva (in his maturity), is sufficient in itself for God realization. What is

the need of any other scripture? As soon as one attentively and submissively hears

the message of Bhagavatam, by this culture of knowledge the Supreme Lord is

established within his heart." (Srimad-Bhagavatam)



>

>    I don't want to bore you to tears, but I would like to share my recent

>anxieties with you, if for no other reason than the fact that you had the

>courtesy to personally respond to my request. Some how my uneasiness has

>been quieted since I re-discovered Krishna. My Web Crawler has opened up a

>wonderfully exciting door to the transcendental world of Krishna. Maybe the

>InterNet can save the world! 



Krishna is within all of our hearts, but when we come to the material world we

tend to forget Him. That is why we came here in the first place -- to enjoy

separately from Krishna... We want to be powerful, the controller. But it is not

possible really. Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He is the

controller, we are His servants. The idea of being a servant doesn't attract us as

we have the idea of service within the material world in our heads. But that is

different. When we serve someone in the material world it is generally not

unmotivated. We serve to get something. And generally if we serve someone they

exploit us, take advantage of us... But service to Krishna is a completely

different thing altogether, it is our natural, eternal occupation.



>

>    Several months ago I began having visions of His Divine Grace Prabhupada.

>While I was at a library used book sale in South Georgia, for some reason I

>picked up a copy of "Bhagavad-gita As It Is" for $1. That's not really where

>it all started - I was living in New  York City in 1966 when Prabhupada

>started the work on Second Ave.  I certainly didn't want any part of what he

>was doing since I was into the New York City music scene and the farthest

>thing from my mind was a "regulated life" and chanting Hare Krsna.  I just

>knew he was doing it. That was 30 years ago.  Rocky Face Georgia has been my

>home for he past 26 years.



Everything is there in the Bhagavad-gita. It is the A-B-C of spiritual life. Only

711 verses... but still it is enough:



"One cleanses himself daily by taking a bath in water, but one who takes his bath

only once in the sacred Ganges water of the Bhagavad-gita cleanses away all the

dirt of material life. Because Bhagavad-gita is spoken by the Supreme Personality

of Godhead one need not read any other Vedic literature. One need only attentively

and regularly read and hear Bhagavad-gita...



"The Bhagavad-gita is just like a cow, and Lord Krishna, who is a cowherd boy, is

milking this cow. The milk is the essence of the Vedas, and Arjuna is just like a

calf. The wise men, the great sages and pure devotees, are to drink this nectarean

milk of Bhagavad-gita."



So why read Srimad-Bhagavatam as well? Because we are addicted to hearing about

Krishna! It is spiritual recreation. And in the process all dirty things are

cleared away from our hearts and gradually our forgotten relationship with Krishna

becomes uncovered.



>

>    Anyway, about two months ago I called the Atlanta ISCON Temple and spoke to

>a guy named Punananda dasa...., who oddly enough was raised up in Mitchell

>Gardens, New York City not far from where I was born and raised.  He invited

>me to come to a Sunday night service.  He told me he would call and remind

>me of the service. He never did. Two weeks later a my friend and I did make

>the trip to the ISCON Temple on South Ponce

>DeLeon. WHAT A CULTURE SHOCK!!! The place was pretty run-down too! No one

>said anything to us, we just sort of blended in and did what every one else

>did!



Yes. things have changed somewhat in ISKCON since the 60's and 70's. It's becoming

more of a Hindu church and much less a place for the pure devotional service Srila



Prabhupada preached. But still the Deities are there, Srila Prabhupada is there

and still there are many sincere devotees -- but the mood has changed... If you

visited a temple in the 70's there would be no chance of just "blending into the

crowd" -- someone would have preached to you. You might like to read:



      /~balarama/archive/msg00089.html



It is "What Happened to the Hare Krishna's" and you will be interested in the

article called "The Hare Krishna Movement in the 70's" I am sure. It is an

eyewittness report from a Sunday Feast guest at the Detroit temple in the 70's.



>Lots of Indian folks there, lots of strange languages, but for some

>reason I felt like I belonged there!?



Yes. Krishna is there. Srila Prabhupada is there. The Deity is not a statue.

Krishna has mercifully appared befor us in a form we can see and serve with our

material senses. The more you serve the Deity, the more you become purified and

the more you will be able to see it it actually Krishna, the Supreme Personality

of Godhead standing there on the alter and smiling at you.



>My friend sort of liked it. He said it

>was more fun than a Baptist church service he went to one time!



Yes...



>The service

>was dedicated to Saravati and I thought he was

>right there with us.



Sarasvati is not a he! She is the Godess of Learning, and I certainly hope the

service was not dedicated to her. We don't worship the demigods. We worship

Krishna. Worshipping Krishna includes everything. We don't need to try and satisfy

the demigods separately. That is what the Hindus generally do. They are generally

panthiests, believers in many gods. They don't see any difference between the

demigods and Visnu [Krishna and Visnu are the same person]. They say worship of

Saraswati is the same as worship of Krishna and they just pick a demigod they

want. If they want to become intelligent they worship Saraswati, if they want

regular rains they worship Indra, if they want money they worship Laxmi [that is

very popular...]



But this is all nonsense. It is not our business to beg material benefits from

Krishna or the demigods, it is our business to humbly approach Krishna and ask,

"please engage me in Your service, what would you like me to do for You." That is

bhakti, love.



          antavat tu phalam tesam tad bhavaty alpha-medhasam

          devan deva-yajo yanti mad-bhakta yanti man api



"Men of small intelligence worship the demigods, and their fruits are limited and

temporary. Those who worship the demigods go to the planets of the demigods, but

My devotees ultimately reach My supreme planet." (Bhagavad-gita 7.23)



>Also, there is a very life-like image of Prabhupada at

>the other side of the room opposite the altars. I really felt like he was

>there too and I don't even know him!



He is there. He is present in the murti, he is present in his books also. Even

when he was persent before our mundane vision he would say, "If you want to know

me then read my books." So you can get to know Srila Prabhupada now by reading his

books. ISKCON, although they won't argue with this directly, say Prabhupada can't

take disciples any more, that you need a "living guru..." [so indirectly they are

saying Prabhupada is a "dead guru"] And to make the matter much worse most of

their "living gurus" are completely unqualified. So they have changed amny things

in the philosophy to have "gurus" that are not liberated souls. It has spoilt

everything.



>Chanting and singing Hare Krsna was

>great, I really like that and I do it a lot these days. You know in the car,

>jogging and stuff.





That is the answer. Krishna is present in the form of His holy name. It is an

incarnation of Krishna. You can get all the benefits of assocating with Krishna

personally by chanting His holy name.



"The sixteen words of the Hare Krishna mantra are especially meant for

counteracting the sins of the age of Kali. To save oneself from the contamination

of this age there is no alternative but to chant the Hare Krishna mantra. After

searching through all the Vedic literatures one cannot find a method of religion

so sublime as the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra." (Kali-Santarana Upanisid)



"The holy name of Krishna is transcendentally blissful. It bestows all spiritual

benedictions, for itis Krishna Himself, the reservoir of all pleasure. Krishna's

name is complete, and it is the form of all transcendental mellows. It is not a

material name under any condition, and it is no less powerful than Krishna

Himself. Since Krishna's name is not contaminated by the material qualities, and

there is no question of it's being involved with maya, Krishna's name is always

liberated and spiritual; it is never conditioned by the laws of material nature.

This is because the name of Krishna and Krishna Himself are identical."  (padma

Purana)





> They started serving food and we slipped out since we had

>to drive 90 miles and we both had to go to work in the

>morning. We decided we might do it again sometime, maybe.



Yes. I can tell it wasn't that impressive. They are turning it into a mundane

Hindu church -- that's all. The Krishna consciousness has slipped through their

fingers...



>

>    About two weeks ago, on my way to Florida, my wife and I stopped at ISCON

>Atlanta. I wanted to show her the beautiful altar, as well as show her where

>Rick and I had said we had gone several weeks earlier. We just kind of

>walked in, nobody said much of any thing, and I was showing her the image of

>Prabhupada and saw this guy dressed with the traditional saffron robe

>walking by.  Guess who? - yep, you guessed it,

>Punananda!  He didn't have much to say, although he hawked me a book; "KRSNA

>The Supreme Personality of Godhead" by Prabhupada. I like the book real

>well.



He has given you the greatest treasure. Krsna Book is Srila Prabhupada's summary

of the tenth canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam. It is the topmost spiritual nectar and

you shoud read it continusouly. Srila Prabhupada advised us to read one Krsna Book

story each evening before taking rest. "Krsna Book and hot milk" was always a very

important part of the evening program. Krsna Book is real, they are not stories.

These things all really happened 5,000 years ago on this planet when Krishna was

present. In those days the demons were more powerful, they often had great mystic

yogic powers and could assume any form they wanted to. Hence the big demons...



>I explained to him about my frustration with trying to pronounce all

>the strange Indian words. He reminded me that there is a pronunciation guide

>in the back of the book (real great help, ay!!!) and just to read it anyway

>(sure!!!).



Yes... The best way is to get some of Srila Prabhupada's lecture tapes and listen

to them. The more you hear the more you will become comfortable with the sanskrit.

Try and pronounce it also when you are reading the books, reading aloud is far

more effective than silent reading. The main thing for spiritual advancement is

hearing. It is not really a thing that can be comprehended intelectually. Just try

and read it... that's all I did and now I can pronunce it reasonably well...

Krishna knows what we are trying to say [even if we don't]. There is great

spritual potency in all the verses of Bhagvad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam. Just

chanting and hearing them will help you advance spiritually.



> Any way, he was OK and told us that

>the alter was not open at that time, so we said good bye, he wished us a

>good trip and we continued on our trip to Florida.



Yes. Krishna is a person. He takes an afternoon nap so the temples are generally

closed between about 1:00-3:30. Krishna has feelings, He does everything we do, we



are His sons, so like father, like son. The difference is He is unlimiited and we

are very small, but qualitatively we are the same as Krishna. He is like the vast

ocean and we are like a tiny drop though...



>I told him I would like

>to spend a few weeks at the temple and learn something about what was going

>on.



There's probably not much going on there unfortunately. Most of the devotees have

left the US temples. It is a skeleton staff [often imported from India] these

days.



>He said they did not have "guest quarters." (I thought the floor looked

>OK to me!)



Yes. The floor is fine. We don't need any comfortable facilities. A little

prasadam [food offered to Krishna] and a small space on the floor is all we need.



>He said he would give my name to the temple manager. He probably

>didn't since that was about a month ago and I

>haven't heard anything from anyone down there.  Are Krishna folks not social?



They are not so enthusiastic to preach these days. And it seems they are more

interested in the Indians [they have lots of money and already believe in Krishna

so don't need to be convinced]...



>

>    Now,  we're back home and resuming everyday activities.  I was pleased to

>see that the set of tapes I ordered (Bhagavad-gita read by: Dravida dasa)

>arrived,



It is better to get Srila Prabhupada lecture tapes. They take a little getting

into. Srila Prabhupada's "Indian English" is a little difficult to catch in the

beginning, but it doesn't take long to pick it up. Then you will be hearing from

the original source. It is guaranteed to be a completely spiritual experience.



The consciousness of the speaker [ore reader] also enters into the transaction.

The book has to be pure and so does the person reciting the book -- I am not

saying Dravida dasa is not pure -- but personally I like to listen to Srila

Prabhupada himself. There is plenty to listen to, well over 1,000 tapes.



> along with all the other stuff (altar pictures, books, tapes,

>etc.). Maybe I'll learn how to pronounce this stuff one of these days.  I

>like having Bhagavad-gita sung and read to me.



Get some Prabhupada tapes too.. [sorry for repeating it so much]



>Also, I've read (one time

>each) "Sri Isopanisad," and "The Nectar of Instruction."

>I'm working on "The Nectar of Devotion" and "The Higher Taste." Yep. I like

>to read!  One more thing, I received my first issue Jan/Feb 1996 "Back To

>Godhead Magazine." There's Prabhupada again!



It is great you like to read. Just keep reading. These books are not like the

ordinary, mundane, material ones. Once you read an ordinary book and you know the

plot, there's not much joy in reading it again. But you can read Srila

Prabhupada's books over and over again and never become bored by them. That is the

spiritual nature [anandam buddhi vardhanam -- an ever-increasing ocean of

spiritual bliss]



>

>    I don't exactly know why I'm telling you all this stuff, but I am. I have

>spent many, many hours on the Internet WWW and have learned a great deal

>about the Krishna Consciousness organizations (I think!). There sure is lots

>of information out there! I really like the information on the  home page.



I am editing all the articles now and loading them up. They will soon all have

paragraph headings and a summary with hotlinks at the beginning of each article so

you can see at a glance what is there. You might like to check out the index. It

has a list of some of the articles. I have not been very serious about my

homepage, I just loaded up some files I happened to have on my computer at the

time, but now many people are visting it so I am spending a little time now "house

cleaning".



>

>     Professionally I am a hypnotherapist, among other things, and would like

>to know what vedic wisdom says about the "mind" and its functions and how

>all that relates to surrendering to and pleasing Krsna.



Read the Bhagavad-gita!! There's lots there.



> Pleasing Krsna

>somehow makes sense to me. Could you please help me with that?



It's our natural occupation to please Krishna. We all have an eternal relationship

with Krishna in one of five "mellows" or tastes. The relationships we see here in

the material world are perverted reflections of the original relationship we have

with Krishna. We are really looking for Krishna, but we are bewildered. We think

we can be happy with the flickering, temporary relationships of the material world

-- but the soul is eternal -- we are hankering after our original, eternal

relationship with Krishna. As one can be a friend of someone here one can also be

Krishna's friend, as we can be a parent here, one can also be Krishna's mother or

father, as we can be someone's lover here, we can also be Krishna's lover. This is

the highst and most confidential relationship, and it is often misunderstood by

people. Therefore it is best to gradually understand Krishna by studying the first

nine canto's of Srimad-Bhagavatam and only then should one read of Krishna's

pastimes with the gopis in Vrndavana. Then we won't misunderstand. Srila

Prabhupada's Krsna Book is so nice, however, that you can read it right away.

Prabhupada has presented everything so nicely that you won't misunderstand it.



>I appreciate

>your help. Also, this business about "finding" a spiritual master and

>disciplic succession is confusing.



Yes. It has unfortumately become a business and at least 90% of the so-called

ISKCON bona-fide spiritual masters are completely bogus. It may even be 100% I do

not know. I would reccommend you take shelter of Srila Prabhupada by reading his

books, chant Hare Krishna sincerely, pray to Krishna and Srila Prabhupada and they

will help you to understand everything.



> There are so many voices out there

>saying that they're the one. Who knows?  All the arguments seem sound; after

>all its all a matter of belief anyway. Isn't it?



No. It's not belief. You have to find the real thing, a real liberated soul. If

you are drowning in the ocean then only someone who is a proficient swimmer can

rescue you. It is no good saying, "Oh... I can swim a little bit -- let me save

you." No. You will both drown.



>I guess that's why I have

>been on my own path and have been my own guru for the 53 years I have been

>stuck on this planet... taking a little here and a little there; you know.

>Its time to get on to the spiritual sky!



You've been stuck on this planet for a long, long time. It is not just 53 years at

all! The wonderful thing is at the time of birth we forget everything, we have

done all these material, so-called "pleasurable" things so many times, in so many

lifetimes. But they have never satisfied us -- the result is always frustration.



Now you have a great chance. You have come in touch with a bona fide spiritual

master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Through his

instructions you can end the cycle of samsara [repetition of birth and death] and

this birth in the material world can be your last. We don't want to come back here

again -- it is a miserable place. Better to chant Hare Krishna and go back home,

back to Godhead and serve Krishna there.



              brahmanda brahmite kona bhagyavan jiva

              guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija



"According to their karma, all living entities are wandering throughout the entire

universe. Some of them are being elevated to the upper planetary systems, and some



are going down into lower planetary systems. Out of many millions of wandering

living entities, one who is very fortunate gets an opportunity to assocate with a

bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Krishna. By the mercy of both Krishna

and the spiritual master, one such person receives the seed of the creeper of

devotional service."



Thanks for writing. Please write again. Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!



Madhudvisa dasa

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