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How important is pronunciation?

My use of language is generally limited along with my avoidance of reading but for the past few years I have tried to read more (simply because I love the books I’m reading) but also with pronunciation.
During the recent visit from senior devotees my poor pronunciation has come to the fore, one made the simple but true statement that “I will never be taken seriously by anyone if you cannot pronounce the words correctly, you will remain to many an object or ridicule”; Yes! The words hurt but the truth of the words cannot be ignored.

So for a whole week I was asked to lead with constant corrections after corrections and at times stopped and asked to start again, tough and at times soul destroying but on many ways necessary. The point of what was being done to help me master basic pronunciation remains something that I should continue to work on, before in many ways as pointed out I will be taken seriously.

The Radhastami lecture in Cape Town
A lecture given by HH Kadamba Kanana Swami Maharaja - 07 September 2008, Cape Town, South Africa (Adapted)

Jaya Jaya Sri Caitanya Jaya Nityananda
Jaya Advaita-candra Jaya Gaura bhaktavrnda

Sri Caitanya caritamrta, Madhya lila, chapter 13, text 137:

anyera hrdaya-mana mora mana-vrndavana,
‘mane’ ‘vane’ eka kari’ jani
tahan tomara pada-dvaya, karaha yadi udaya,
tabe tomara purna krpa mani

Translation:
Speaking in the mood of Srimati Radharani, Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, “For most people, the mind and heart are one, but because My mind is never separated from Vrndavana, I consider My mind and Vrndavana to be one. My mind is already Vrndavana, and since You like Vrndavana, will You please place Your lotus feet there? I would deem that Your full mercy?”

(Purport)

(text 138) “My dear Lord, kindly hear My true submission. My home is Vrndavana, and I wish Your association there. But if I do not get it, then it will be very difficult for Me to keep My life.”

In this way, Srimati Radharani was experiencing great separation and a great desire for Krsna to be present before. She is saying that for most people, the heart is one with the mind; whatever is in the heart, that manifests in the mind. And we know that; we are experiencing that. So many things are manifesting in our heart. And thus we always try to control the mind, we try to fix it again on Krsna somehow or other, and it is in a way a struggle. But in the case of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, it is said, “I consider My mind and Vrndavana to be one.” That is the consciousness of Srimati Radharani. “My mind is already Vrndavana, and since You like Vrndavana will You please place Your lotus feet there.” That is nice, very nice. “I would deem that Your foremost mercy…” How can we separate the pastimes of Radha and Krsna from Vrndavana? It is not possible, it is not possible. Even Krsna Himself could not separate those pastimes from Vrndavana. When Krsna left Vrndavana- when Akrura came and took Krsna away in his chariot- the gopis tried to stop that chariot; they grabbed the reigns and they tried to block that chariot. Meanwhile, the Yamuna stopped flowing! The cowherd boys fell unconscious in the forest! It was a great drama- Krsna was leaving Vrndavana! So something is difficult to understand. If it was Krsna’s desire; Krsna was on the chariot, Krsna was smiling, Krsna apparently was really happy to go with Akrura! Why didn’t the gopis just dance in front of the chariot, throwing flower petals on the way? “We’re going to Mathura! We’re going to Mathura!” What was the problem? Because, why were they so attached to Vrndavana? I thought they were attached to Krsna before anything else! So why the gopis had this problem that Krsna wanted to leave Vrndavana? They wanted to please Him- that was their only meditation- why weren’t they just happy to go with Krsna and leave Vrndavana? Why?

The answer is that Krsna Himself can never be happy outside Vrndavana! It is not possible. Nothing can compare to Vrndavana, nothing can satisfy Him like Vrndavana. The gopis knew that very well. “Oh no! What is He doing now? He’s gone mad! He’s gone mad! He’s leaving Vrndavana! How can He do this? He will be terribly unhappy; we cannot let Him go!” no question… “Grab the reigns of the horse! We’ll stop Him! He will not leave Vrndavana! It’s for His own good. He doesn’t understand what He will miss. If He misses our association, how can He be happy for a moment?” In this way, Vrndavana is entirely designed for the pleasure of Krsna.

So today on this appearance day of Srimati Radharani (Radhastami), we are remembering Her qualities and Her nature and thus we want to meditate on Srimati Radharani. We see that Srimati Radharani has no other intention than to please Krsna, and thus Her mind is Vrndavana. She is completely focused on only pleasing Krsna and nothing but Krsna! In the 8th chapter of the Madhya lila, we find the discussions that are taking place between Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Ramananda Raya. And there towards the end of the chapter, there is a description of the consciousness of Srimati Radharani which is compared to bathing.

“Srimati Radharani takes Her first bath in the shower of the nectar of compassion and She takes Her second bath in the nectar of youth.” (text 167)

So it’s interesting that Srimati Radharani, Her consciousness here is compared to taking different showers and dressing Herself with different clothes, as we will be reading in the next verses. And it sort of shows how in Her consciousness is consisting of different moods simultaneously. The basis of Her mood is compassion. By nature, She is very compassionate. Thus Her first bath is compassion. Her second bath- the nectar of youth- yes, the nectar of youth means that Krsna also provides Her all the facilities to serve. Here in this material world, we are facing limitations; we are being held back as a reaction to our sinful activities. Well, here it’s normal to get old- that’s inevitable- and anyone who cannot accept that, well; he has a problem because that’s part of life- on this planet! But not on the heavenly planets; on the heavenly planets there is no such thing as getting old, there is no old demigod who is like bent over, all teeth fallen out and sort of hobbling along, loosing it mentally and so on. There’s nothing like that. The demigods are not experiencing old age; the demigods are experiencing another problem- another material problem- as a reaction to their material desires but because they are more pious than we are, they get better facility. But we are so much used to it- old age? Not necessarily, not necessarily and certainly not on the spiritual plane and certainly not for Srimati Radharani, Who is not punished by such restrictions but Who is provided with the full facility to please Krsna. Thus Her second bath is in the nectar of youth. Yes, that gives Her unimpeded beauty, unimpeded energy to serve Krsna fully to Her hearts content. Thus Srimati Radharani has the capacity to express Her desires fully. We…huh, you know how it is- a dream is as big as a mountain and well, you’re lucky if you get a little hill or something like that…it is very difficult. Reality is always smaller than the dream in this world…huh. Yes, this is life. But not in the spiritual world; in the spiritual world reality exceeds the dreams, reality is greater than one could ever dream. That is the nature of Radha and Krsna’s pastimes, of Krsna’s interaction with His devotees.

“After Her midday bath, Radharani takes another bath in the nectar of bodily luster and She puts on the garment of shyness, which is Her black-silk sari.” (text 168)

So, especially as the evening is approaching, also comes the time for preparing to meet with Krsna because throughout the day, Radharani somehow or other has to tolerate the separation of Krsna. Of course, there are some quick excursions to the forest- to pick some flowers for the worship of the sun god- but those times are heavily controlled by Her mother-in-law, who never allows Her a moment without supervision! Not a moment! So a few stolen moments- “Yes, we are just picking flowers…Yes, My good friend Kundalata is with Me…Yes…” so everything is under control… “No, I’m not alone.”
Kundalata: “Yes She’s not alone. I’ll definitely keep an eye on Her. I’ll make sure that nothing happens. I know that we have to watch for that…yes, that black snake! I’m totally prepared Jatila.” Yes, mother-in-law of Radharani, named Jatila, is constantly, constantly thinking that possibly Krsna might show a little bit too much interest in her daughter-in-law. So it is difficult. But in the day maybe some short meeting might be there but not for a long time- stolen moments.

So after Her midday bath, Srimati Radharani prepares. Thus She takes Her bath in the nectar of bodily luster. Her effulgence is inconceivable- inconceivable! In the ujjvala-nilamani, we find a description about Her effulgence. It says in the night, Krsna was asleep, His flute tucked in His belt and Srimati Radharani, who felt some envy towards that flute that was getting so much personal attention on Krsna’s lips, and that flute that was always driving the minds mad of the gopis, Srimati Radharani decided to steal that flute! And as She was walking in the darkness of night to steal the flute, Her effulgence was so bright that everyone could see what She was doing! And the result was that She was sort of embarrassed and the whole commando action to steal the flute failed! What to so! So Her bodily luster, Her effulgence is extraordinary. In this way, Srimati Radharani is preparing for meeting Krsna at night- an effulgent anticipation.

And then She puts on the garment of shyness, She covers that with shyness. This shyness is a major ingredient in Her nature and it increases Krsna’s desire many folds, many times. This shyness is a symptom of Her innocence, it is a symptom of Her purity and it touches Krsna deep in His heart. This garment of Her shyness is Her black-silk sari.

“Srimati Radharani’s affection for Krsna is Her upper garment (because Her upper garment is obviously close to Her heart). It is pinkish in color. She then covers Her breasts with another garment composed of affection and anger towards Krsna.” (text 169)

So affection and anger are Her sentiments combined. On the one hand- affection of course brings out- and Her anger is real, it is genuine- there is anger- because Krsna…we know,

aslisya va pada-ratam pinastu mam adarsanan marma-hatam karotu va
yatha tatha va vidadhatu lampato mat-prana-nathas tu sa eva naparah,

Krsna is lampato- He is a debauchee! He is unreliable! Krsna is unfaithful! Krsna cannot be trusted! Krsna is maintaining all kinds of affairs with all kinds of girls at the same time! Krsna therefore regularly misses appointments! Appointments are arranged. In the Aisvarya-kadambini, written by Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana, we find a description of Krsna living in Nandagrama in the palace of Nanda Maharaja, and the palace of Nanda Maharaja is described to be very, very opulent- beautiful palaces and balconies of lapis lazuli, emeralds everywhere and beautiful stones…there are aqueducts and bamboo pipes that bring water to the houses to all the residents of that place of Nandagrama, who also live in opulent houses. And the garden wall of Nanda Maharaja’s palace has a waterfall on it all the way. So it looks very exotic and beautiful. And it is described how Srimati Radharani lives nearby in Varsana and comes to visit Nandagrama, and is carried in a golden palanquin bedecked with jewels and is surrounded by many maidservants who are fanning Her. And in this way She is coming to the palace of Nanda Maharaja to cook for Krsna, because She received these benedictions of Devarsa Muni that whatever She cooks, it will extend the duration of life of whoever eats it, and whatever She cooks, it will taste like nectar. So naturally Yasoda, the queen of Vrndavana, is insisting that Radharani will cook. But just see; it’s not the opulence that is there, it’s not just – ‘here is Radharani, She comes to cook and She has to travel with a bus or something like that…’- no- in a golden palanquin! So we get an idea of the setting of the pastimes of Radha and Krsna.

It is explained in the Caitanya Caritamrta, radha-krsna-pranaya-vikrtir hladini-saktih asmat, it is explaining the tattva- the nature- of Srimati Radharani, that Srimati Radharani is hladini-sakti, or the pleasure potency. The other day we were discussing when the students were here that there are three energies of Krsna: the antaranga sakti (internal energy) of Krsna, the tatastha sakti (marginal energy- the living being) and the bahiranga sakti (external energy- this material energy). The antaranga sakti…in the lecture with the students, we divided up the bahiranga sakti and we spoke about how the external energy is divided up into three modes of material nature and we discussed those. But today we will discuss the division of the antaranga sakti of the internal energy or the spiritual energy of Krsna that exists in the spiritual world. It is said that the antaranga sakti can be divided up into three energies known as sandini, samvit and hladini. This sandini is the existence potency and all existence rests upon sandini. Thus sandini provides the facility for the pastime of Krsna. Samvit is the knowledge potency, it is the potency through which Krsna is known, through which Krsna’s qualities are manifest, through which Krsna’s pastimes are being revealed. And then hladini, the third energy, hladini sakti, is the pleasure potency of Krsna, which is represented by devotional service. So wherever there is devotional service there is hladini sakti: there is hladini sakti on the cutting of the vegetables without a doubt! But nowhere is this hladini sakti as fully manifest as in Srimati Radharani. She is the complete embodiment of that hladini sakti and thus Srimati Radharani is the Personality or the facility that can give more pleasure to Krsna than anything or anyone else. There is nothing that can please Krsna as much as Srimati Radharani.

Thus we understand, Srimati Radharani is not a jiva; Srimati Radharani is not a living being in the sense of an ordinary jiva; Srimati Radharani is another type of energy of Krsna. She’s a direct expansion of Krsna and thus She is Krsna’s own energy, different from us. Then Srimati Radharani, She expands Herself again into the form of the sakhis- of the immediate gopis who are assisting Her. In Mayapur we see the Deities of the astasakhis, headed by Lalita and Visakha, and then we Sudevi, we have Citra, we have Indulekha, we have Tungavidya and Campakalata and Ranga Devi. These astasakhis, it is described, are actually expansions of Srimati Radharani. They are personifications of different moods that She has. We see that these astasakhis having different moods- some are more fiery, some are more rebellious and others are more submissive.  So Srimati Radharani has these different moods and they are being reinforced by these expansions as astasakhis. Lalita has a fiery…a somewhat angry mood- not angry but often times ready to challenge Krsna, to expose Krsna.

For eg, Visvanatha Cakravati Thakura describes in the Krsna-Bhavanamrta a pastime where Krsna finds a beautiful lotus in Vrndavana. And this lotus is indeed extraordinary. So Krsna begins to describe, in front of Radharani, the glories of that lotus! He says, “Oh wonderful lotus! Where is such beauty found in the entire three worlds? Nothing in the worlds can compare to your beauty! The fragrance…your fragrance is the most amazing fragrance that is penetrating the entire universe.” And then Krsna plucks the lotus, kisses the lotus…now it gets too much! She is sort of beginning to show a somewhat annoyed mood…”What’s going on here? You’re glorifying this lotus a little bit too much!” So Krsna seeing that this could become problematic, knowing Her very well and that She gets moody like that, knowing that She could get into the state of mana- in a state of punishing Him, in a state of being angry and in a state of ignoring Him- is then beginning to glorify Srimati Radharani. Meanwhile, Lalita makes comments… “Hmph! So much interest in a lotus? And what about Srimati Radharani?” in case Krsna didn’t get it. Then Krsna smells the face of Srimati Radharani and says, “Oh! This fragrance by far exceeds the fragrance of that lotus!” and He speaks to the lotus and said, “We can see, oh lotus, that you are born for mud!” and in this way tries to make up!

We see that the gopis- Radharani and Her astasakhis- do not tolerate that even Krsna for a moment is distracted from Srimati Radharani. That is intolerable! He must always and always be completely captivated by Her and if He’s not, then there is anger, then they’re upset, then it starts with dissatisfaction which will soon manifest itself to be outright disturbance. This is the mood of rasa. So in this way, the astasakhis are also sakti tattvas, they are also part of that same svarup sakti and are direct expansions of Srimati Radharani. It’s said, then these astakhis in turn are…we can see that in circles, we can see how at one point in the rasa dance Radha and Krsna are dancing in the middle surrounded by the astasakhis in a first circle. And then a second circle of the manjaris, who are jivas, who are jiva tattva and who are assisting these astasakhis. So in this way we see that one must become the servant of the servant of Radha and Krsna, gopi- bhartuh pada-kamalayor dasa-dasanudasah- not serving directly. That is why in this material world we must accept a spiritual master so that we can practice, we can practice to become the servant of a servant. It’s very difficult. Oh, it takes more than a lifetime- maybe- to become a disciple! It is so difficult to become a disciple, so difficult, because we have this independence. And oh, we want to do it in our way and so difficult to do it in the way that our spiritual master wants us to do it. Thus not ready, not ready to be a resident of the spiritual sky who are complete transparent servants of the will of Srimati Radharani and Her assistants, who are completely in that mood of pleasing the servants of the servants. This is the mood that is found.

So thus we see- back to the original texts- Srimati Radharani’s affection for Krsna is Her upper garment which is pinkish in color.

“She then covers Her breast with another garment composed of affection and anger towards Krsna. Srimati Radharani’s personal beauty is the reddish powder known as kum kum.”

So this kum kum, that reddish powder that ladies are applying, they are… of course a married women has some kum kum here on the partition in the hair, but young girls also smeared a little kum kum on their breasts just there, which is slightly exposed. So you can imagine what kind of affect this kum kum has- it’s insighting lust! So Srimati Radharani’s personal beauty is the reddish powder known as kum kum; it’s insighting lust in Krsna. That is the only purpose of it. That is why She spends hours to dress. Just the tilak- there’s a whole group of assistants who are just working on the tilak, on making a kind of tilak with decoration in it- very intricate; not just woop- done! No, hours spend on the tilak so that Krsna just looks… “Look at that tilak!” and then behind it is the face of Srimati Radharani! Like this Her dress is completely there to attract Krsna but at the same time that shyness is there by which She conceals Her attraction for Krsna. It is described that Krsna, when He sees Srimati Radharani, naturally He becomes attracted and He smiles. So She also, upon seeing Krsna, naturally also smiles but She tries to control that smile. So She smiles only a very little bit but Krsna pick it up. So He’s seeing, “She saw that I’m smiling and it makes Her smile!” and thus Krsna’s smile becomes bigger and Radharani sees that, “Krsna has noticed that I saw His smile and that therefore now, it shows that He noticed in the fact that He starts to smile more!” and thus She cant help Herself and starts to smile more. And when Krsna sees that He realises exactly what had happened to Srimati Radharani and thus He starts to smile more and then She starts to smile more…and this goes on for a long time.

So these are spiritual exchanges; very different from the mundane affairs that do not have…that resemble the spiritual loving affair but that are more shallow. We don’t waste that much time with a smile…smile, smile, smile and the hands are already going somewhere! There is no time to waste with smiling; lets get into the real thing! But in the spiritual world it is about rasa, it is therefore just a smile alone, smiling alone, is so full of meaning and takes so long. Therefore the meaning of the exchanges of Radha and Krsna are much deeper than anything we know in this world. What we know is indeed the shadow. And the shadow has no color; a shadow may have the same contours but there is no color in the shadow. So it is poor. So whatever reflection we have in this material world of material love, it is poor! But yet it means so much to us because we have the desire…our desire belongs to the spiritual world and thus our desires are actually there to experience the fullness of the spiritual pastime. And thus each time as we are in the material world our hope is there. ‘Oh yes! Yes! Now it’s happening! This is it! (sings) love is a very splendid thing!’ but it is only a poor reflection in this world. But it is the hope that makes it so meaningful and the hope is so strong in this world because that is the hope of the soul that can only be satisfied in the full pastimes of the spiritual world. And thus in this world true love doesn’t exist between man and woman; it can only be found in the relationship with Krsna. Therefore in this world a man can say to a girl, by looking at her in the eye, ‘You are the most wonderful person in the world…after Krsna!’ that’s the best we can really do in Krsna consciousness!

Yes, so… “Srimati Radharani’s personal beauty is the reddish powder known as kunkuma, Her affection for Her associates is sandalwood pulp.” (text 170)

So sandal wood pulp further decorates a person and it is of course wonderful that Srimati Radharani is not walking around, “Yes! I am the best! Yes! I am the one that is…yes, I am Krsna’s lover! He loves Me the most and all of you…you can serve Me if you want a little bit of attention from Krsna and that’s about the best you’ll ever get…” that’s not Her mood at all. Her mood is completely full of affection for Her associates and She very much desires, She so much desires that Krsna meets with all Her associates. She’s always trying to push others forward- not herself but others! She tries to send others to meet with Krsna. So in this way we see that Srimati Radharani is sending other gopis to Krsna but at the same time She gets jealous when He gives attention to other gopis! Isn’t this bewildering? Isn’t this confusing? I mean, how can you figure it out. I need to go to another verse…just a second…this verse that we will now read is the opening verse of the bhaktirasamrta-sindu from Srila Rupa Goswami and that verse is describing the nature of different groups of gopis. And that is important. That is more elaborately explained in the Ujjvala-nilamani, which is like a continuation of the Nectar of Devotion. So we know that the Nectar of Devotion in the beginning is describing the process of devotional service in practice, sadhana bhakti; then devotional service, bhava bhakti; then prema bhakti- that is called the Eastern division- and then there are three other divisions and basically they are describing the ecstatic symptoms of different bhavas in more depth. And the ujjvala-nilamani describes that even more and begins to analyse in a very systematic way how Krsna is being served by various groups of devotees and what their moods are and so on.

So now we read this opening verse of this Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu:

akila-rasamrta-murtih
prasrmara-ruci-ruddha-taraka-palih
kalita-syama-lalito
radha-preyan vidhur jayati

“Let , the Supreme Personality of Godhead, be glorified! By virtue of His expanding attractive features, He subjugated the gopis named Taraka and Pali and absorbed the minds of Syama and Lalita. He is the most attractive lover of Srimati Radharani and is the reservoir of pleasure for all devotees in all transcendental mellows.”

So, He subjugated the gopis Taraka- also known as Tara- then Pali is the next one. Tara is a yutaisvari; all these gopis are yutaisvaris. There are groups of gopis that are known as yutas and a leader of such a group is a yutaisvari. So Tara is a leader, a yutaisvari, of a group of gopis who are in competition with Srimati Radharani. Hmmm, therefore that is known as vibuksa, that group- in competition; it’s like inimical. Then Pali, Pali is neutral; she has her own group and these gopis are neutral. They are sometimes on Radharani’s side and sometimes on the side of Her main competitor. So you never know with Pali and her followers- whose side they’ll be on. You have to watch them; you can’t trust them! Then there is Syama; Syama has her own group of gopis and they are favorable to Radha’s own group, they are supporting, they are friendly. And then there is Lalita and she is actually of Radharani’s own party. So in this way that there different groups of gopis and they have different moods. So when Radharani is trying to unite gopis with Krsna, these are the gopis of Her own group. But with the gopis of the other groups, there comes out this envy, this competitive spirit. When Krsna is paying attention to Candravali, oh, then She will not speak to Him for ages if She finds out! In Varsana, we see on the hill when we go on the parikrama, then we see krodhabhavan. There is a building- krodhabhavan- for when She is angry- the building of anger. And when She’s upset with Krsna for being unfaithful or inattentive to Her, the She enters krodhabhavan. She stays in that building of anger and then Krsna knows. And He knows that He will have to crawl, He will have to submit Himself, He will have to beg basically before that anger breaks! That is the nature of such female anger! Even in this world we sometimes get that, right! Then She stops speaking, but at the same time, although She stops speaking…in a mundane relationship when there is a fight like that and the wife stops speaking, she may loudly sing the maha-mantra while cleaning the house, “Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna…” but she doesn’t speak but makes her presence very known at the same time- extra known by singing loudly! So in this way the man is becoming more and more conscious… ‘She’s really upset…she doesn’t speak to me…’ so she puts it in his face! So like this, we see a similar type of exchanges in the spiritual world. Thus Radharani is trying to bring those gopis who are in Her group closer to Krsna.

I wanted to sample a few things from the Caitanya caritamrta because it is through Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu particularly that we understand Srimati Radharani or the pastimes of Radha and Krsna. It is through the sankirtana mission. When we go through the Caitanya Caritamrta, then we see that in the beginning, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu had not revealed His identity as a devotee nor His identity as the Supreme Lord. And in His childhood He was known as Nimai, only later Nimai Pandita- a learned scholar- and so on, and only in the last one and a half years of His household life did He reveal, first His identity as a devotee- after He’d been to Gaya and performed a pinda for His departed father- He returned and became a devotee, He met His spiritual master- Isvara Puri there- and then Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu also began to reveal His identity as the Supreme Lord. And then we see that in those one and a half years He is sometimes in the mood of Krsna and sometimes in the mood of Radharani. In this way we see how Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is going up and down. And He begins to display symptoms of love of God and He crashes to the ground unconscious and then people think that He’s suffering from epileptic fits; they don’t understand that love of God very much. And that’s about all that we find out about love of God- that it is so strong, and that the ecstasy of Mahaprabhu is so deep that He goes unconscious. So that love is so strong, that we know about it. So we learn in the Adi-lila that the love of God is extremely strong, but otherwise we don’t learn so much about it. Then, when Lord Caitanya goes to South India as a sanyassi this time, He begins to show this love of God in a more complete manner- it comes out more and He’s constantly just ecstatically calling out the name of Krsna! Krsna! And He’s chanting, He’s just dancing and He’s getting wild and it is clear that His love is getting out of control. It is getting very much out of control, it is beyond Him now, it is no longer within His conscious grip- the love has become stronger than Him.

Later on in the Caitanya caritamrta, that love is identified as sudita; it is said that love of God develops in different ways- first, when the love of Krsna develops, it is said it is in the glowing stage, the glowing fire. It’s said it can be concealed and the different ecstatic transformation, like hair standing on ends, tears shooting from the eyes and falling unconscious and trembling and perspiring and all these transformations can be hidden but gradually becomes stronger and stronger until it comes to the flaming stage, until it comes to the intensely blazing stage- intensely blazing stage! That is the love of God of maha-bhava, which is known as suditra. So this love of God, in the stage of suditra, is what is manifest in Srimati Radharani and in Lord Caitanya. So that is explained later in the Antya-lila. As Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu comes through South India, we find that He meets Ramananda Raya where for the first time, the tattva of love of God is being described and they enter into the discussions of the nature of the love of the gopis. And then that is soon followed by Ratha Yatra in Puri where Lord Caitanya, for the first time, displayed the mood of separation; of how separation is a great element in His love of God and how Ratha Yatra is all about that- it is both Radha and Krsna in separation. Like it is described by Kavi Karnapur, how when it was time for Ratha Yatra, Lord Jagannatha couldn’t wait any longer. He was very eager to come out on His chariot and to see the dancing of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who was in the mood of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. And why is Jagannatha mentioned and not Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who is Radharani, mentioned? Because, Krsna is more attracted to Radharani than Radharani is to Krsna. Krsna is more captured by Radharani- let’s say it like that- Her power to capture is greater. Therefore Lord Jagannatha is mentioned as the one who wants to see Lord Caitanya’s dancing. In this way, we know that Krsna is known as Madana-Mohan, the attractor of cupid. But that, Srimati Radharani is known as Madan-Mohan mohini, the attractor of the attractor of cupid. So Her potency to attract is more than even greater and we’ll just read something about that now.

So now we are in the Madhya-lila, chapter 17, text 208:

“When a male and female parrot appeared on the branches of a tree, the Lord saw them and wanted to hear them speak. Both parrots flew onto the hands of the Lord and began to chant the transcendental qualities of Krsna and the Lord listened to them. The male parrot sang the glorification of Lord Krsna: ‘The Supreme Personality of Godhead, is beneficial to everyone in the universe. His beauty is victorious over the gopis of Vrndavana and it subdues their patience. His pastimes astounds the goddess of fortune and His bodily strength turns Govardhana Hill into a small toy, like a ball. His spotless qualities are unlimited and His behaviour satisfies everyone. Lord Krsna is attractive to everyone. O, may our Lord maintain the universe!’”

So the male parrot is describing the glories of Krsna. Sometimes it is said that Krsna and Balarama are walking with the gait of a drunken elephant. Their power subjugates all undoubtedly. So in this way, the male parrot describes the glories of Krsna.

“After hearing this description of Lord Krsna from the male parrot, the female parrot began to recite a description of Srimati Radharani. The female parrot said, ‘Srimati Radharani’s affection, Her exquisite beauty and good behavior, Her artistic dancing and chanting and Her poetic composition are all so attractive that they attract the mind of Krsna, who attracts the mind of everyone in the universe.’”

So Srimati Radharani is so attractive; She attracts the mind of Krsna, who attracts the mind of everyone in the universe.

“Thereafter the male parrot said, ‘Krsna is Madan-Mohan, the enchanter of the mind of Cupid.’ He then began to recite another verse. The male parrot then said, “My dear female parrot, Sri Krsna carries a flute and enchants the heart of all women throughout the universe. He is specifically the enjoyer of the beautiful gopis, He is the enchanter of Cupid also. Let Him be glorified.’ Then the female parrot began to speak jokingly to the male parrot, and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who was stuck with wonderful ecstatic love to hear her speak, female parrot said, ‘When Lord Sri Krsna is with Radharani, is the enchanter of cupid. Otherwise, when He’s alone, He Himself is enchanted by a…universe.”

So it means, when He is with Radharani, yes, then He’s the enchanter of Cupid; but when He’s alone, He’s always in separation. Even although He’s attracting the whole universe, He’s in separation of Srimati Radharani.

In the mornings I am often visited by subtle entities. Sometimes they are malignant, taunting me or tempting me, sometimes benign, asking questions or offering advice. This morning I had an interesting conversation with an pious, inquisitive visitor.

This Morning's Visitor (arguing with friend and asking me for my opinion): Did God create man in a void, or was there something here already?

Me: The Bible at least tells us that there was something here, the Bhagavatam also. These things tell us something about the time of the creation of man. We may or may not believe these accounts. However, and more importantly, the creation of man definitely tells us something about the nature of the creator.

Gilbert Bilezikian, Wheaton Theological Seminary scholar and teacher of Bill Hybels, the founding pastor of American Protestant mega-church Willow creek, writes in his book "Beyond Sex Roles: What the Bible Says About a Woman's Place in Church and Family":

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them."

- Genesis 1.27

Lesson: From intention (v. 26) God moves to action, as the moment for the creation of
humans arrives. The design calls for "man" (singular) made in His image (note the double parallelistic emphasis on the "image"). Then the divine decree crystallizes into action and (surprise!) the result is not one person, but two. The original order called only for the creation of "man"; but because the product had to conform to the specifications of the divine image, "man" inevitably came as male and female.

In other words, the male/female sexual differentiation reflects realities contained within the very being of God and derived from His image. Femaleness pertains to the image of God as fully as maleness. God is neither male nor female. He transcends both genders since they are both comprehended within His being.

According to the logic of Vedanta, nyaya, this is the "logic of cause and effect" - an effect must be pre-present in its cause. Since God is the cause of this world, and we see that a male and female dipolarity pervades it, this dual nature must be present in the Supreme.

Therefore the Hare Krishna maha-mantra is the best prayer, because it addresses both the masculine and feminine aspects of the Supreme. Hare refers to the feminine aspect, and Krishna and Rama to the masculine aspect. The two are both present and balanced in perfect harmony in this prayer:

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare

The other day Krishna-kirti posed a polemic: "So, I think that women should be given the same opportunity as men to realize their full, human potential."

This is not simply the opinion of a limited, imperfect human being, it is an order of the Supreme Lord through scripture. Vedanta-sutra (1.1.1) states:

athatho brahma jijñasa

"Having obtained this human form of life, now inquire into the nature of the Absolute."

No distinction is made between persons of different genders here - all are commanded to do this. The full human potential means to reawaken our forgotten relationship with the Supreme Couple, Radha and Krishna.

OK, now off to Mangals and some hot yoga!

Live from his hideout deep behind the former Bamboo Curtain, David Jorm riffs on life in China and the re-introduction of varnasrama social organisation in a modern context.

David Jorm on China and Varnasrama (ogg, 5 MB)

Role models are an important part of our lives and forms part of who we are, if we have a good role model then by their association we make great gains, however if our role model is a thief then we rapidly head for trouble.

I have been pondering this and also thinking of the need for good role models in the Krishna Consciousness movement who by their example inspires us to follow in a path that will protect us in many ways from harm that modern society artificially forces onto us.

As a child I had a very good role model by the name of Alex Berino who you could say followed three of the four regulative principles (meat eating is seen as ok in many Christian religions although I am sure many would exclude the Jehovah’s Witnesses), in many ways I wanted so badly to follow in his footsteps seeing the example set and how we can practically live it despite the thrust of society thinking it wired and repressive.

So sex outside of marriage, alcohol in moderation (or best no alcohol) and refraining from gambling protected me from many heartaches my piers went through even during my time in a shared house I remained firm to the beliefs set by my role model and in some ways childhood idle Alex.

Yes many did think me strange after all the fun I was missing out on especially getting drunk and having lots of sex; HUM!

Now I think about my short few years in the Krishna Consciousness movement and the importance of good role models and their influence, you could say that Alex provided the cornerstone for which others could build on.

As I talked about this when asking the question why someone with very little devotee contact can remain focused on devotional life what hit me was simply this, the time taken by a few devotees who rather than giving rules lead by example, their good association and example still inspires me today even though we are separated by many nautical miles.

The example shown remained pivotal even to this day and at low points I simply think of these few devotee’s in the same way as I remember my early childhood friend, hero and role model.

It is not simply that we say you must because I say!

Many have laid down rules I find hard to follow simply because they themselves don’t follow them, you cannot say “No association with Women” when you spend most of your time with a women whose not your wife even though you give a good reason why this is, or in your mind it seems like a good one although it contradicts the words coming out of your mouth. Can an individual follow your wise advice? SIMPLY NO! they will simply see you as a hypocrite.

We see that the youth have many individuals they look up to and see as role models, but what we see then are pictures of them getting drunk, the succession of partners and at times fights. And as they try to emulate these individuals we see problems arising.

The problem is the lack of first class role models within society to whom we can look up to and follow; this is something that devotees should remain aware of giving an example that the whole world wishes to follow.

Srila Prabhupada inspired so many simply because he lived a simple life that many could see and be inspired to follow what greater example could we try to emulate thus simple individual like me can remain focused by simply following the example of those more intelligent.

I culled this post from Krishna Consciousness & Ecological Awareness. I added the blog feed to Planet ISKCON, but this post is worth pulling out of the history, given the recent discussion on this issue.

The following is an excerpt from a lecture given by HH Hrdayananda das Goswami in Gainesville, Florida on August 30, 2008. To listen to the entire lecture, please click here.

Bhaktin Kelly: Does Krsna willing accept milk from cows that were raised inhumanely and will eventually be slaughted?

HH Hridayananda das Goswami: A sincere devotee could have two positions. You could just say, I am going to set a proper example and not patronize that cruel industry and not buy milk products- which is one position, which is obviously valid. And then another position, someone could say, is that by offering the milk, the cows benefit by the offering to the deity and you are actually saving cows. You could say that in practical terms, not ideological, the amount of milk that is being purchased and offered to the deities has absolutely zero impact on the dairy industry and, therefore, it does not change the economic dynamics of it. So it doesn’t save cows but it saves souls by engaging them in Krishna’s service.

What I see in the Bhagavatam is that within Vedic culture there was a diversity of views. People have different opinions on these things and a certain frame of consciousness. Some are inspired to save cows by offering their milk to the deity.

Now let’s say the devotee is not making a serious offering, not really connecting with the deity, just “I like milk.” Then I think to participate in this horrifically cruel industry just because you like milk is something which is much harder to justify. It is just one of those- “I’m hungry, I really want to eat, I have to offer it.” But if someone is seriously deity-conscious, their nature is really to worship Krsna, and their consciousness is to save the soul in the cow’s body, then I think, whether or not I would do that, is a position that should be respected.

Although, I do not think that devotees are required to do that. If I was managing a temple with deities, I would not say you have to offer milk. I think it is a matter of consciousness of the individual.

Check this out!

Rising like a colossal finger of concrete, steel and glass out of the desert city of Dubai, this thing is truly MASSIVE! It already clocks in as the tallest building in the world, and it is not even finished. When it's complete it will be 800m high.

All glories to the victorious march of the human enterprise! 

How to play darbuka in kirtan from Sitapati das on Vimeo.

By popular demand, a video demonstrating darbuka beats to accompany the Bengali mrdanga beats used in ISKCON kirtans.

I'm going to NZ in 10 days. My research tells me that it is theoretically possible to gain 1 kg of muscle mass per week, at peak tuning. That's my goal for the next week. I'm working with the mantra: "Strength, Flexibility, Balance". I want to increase my overall system strength, but also increase my flexibility at the same time, in a balanced fashion.

My current program is the combination of my research into cancer and nutrition last year, my ongoing research into nutrition and yoga, and some new research on performance tuning of the human body.

I'll give you a run down of the program I'm using. The competitive advantage is not in secret knowledge, but in application. I welcome any advice that readers might be able to offer to help me tune the program more precisely

This a shot I took this morning of my daily load of supplements, with a tray of wheatgrass for juicing in the background. Liquids and loose powders are not included.

What we have in this shot are the following:

• 6 x Yoga Body Natural "Flexamine" (www.yogabodynaturals.com). This contains MSM (methylsulfonylmethane), Triple Green Blend (organic spirulina, organic chlorella & barely grass juice extract), Ultra-Sorb Vitamin C (ascorbic acid buffered with calcium ascorbate), Trace Mineral Uptake Enhancers. 3 vege caps twice a day on an empty stomach with 500 ml water to alkalize, detox, and promote flexibility.
• 4 x pH-Corrected Creatine (Kre-Alkalyn). 2 caps twice a day with lots of water to promote enhanced muscle recharging. [wikipedia article]
• 3 x Body Quick "Cognamine" (www.getbodyquick.com). One of the primary active ingredients in this is Acetylcholine [wikipedia article]. A neurotransmitter, it opens ligand gated sodium channels in the cell membrane of skeletal muscle fibers. 3 caps (non-veg, so I remove the content) with 250 ml of water 30 minutes before a yoga class to get my game on!
• 2 x Multi B Vitamins - B1 - B12 to relieve stress, increase energy, and promote system recharging. I use this even when I'm not in training. Just for the high level of activity and engagement of my lifestyle, these B vitamins are invaluable. They really work. When I take them I can handle a lot more mental and emotional load. Blackmore's Executive Stress Complex is a good one.
• 1 x Kelp tablet - this is to replace iodine lost in Bikram and hot yoga classes.

Here's how my daily program stacks up at the moment:

3.30 am - 3 x Yoga Body Naturals Flexamine and 500 ml of water
4.00 am - 2 x Kre-Alkalyn Creatine + Blackstrap molasses (high GI carb to promote Creatine uptake + sodium, magnesium, and iron to replace electrolytes lost in hot yoga)
4.30 am - Mangal-arati - play mrdanga and dance until I'm sweating
5.10 am - 500ml cale and broccoli juice, 3 x Body Quick Cognamine
5.30 am - 2 hours hot yoga (www.bikramyogabrisbane.com.au)
8.00 am - Breakfast - balanced carbs and protein - muesli + whey protein isolate / maca [wikipedia article] (I found out about maca when we lived in Peru), B Vitamin complex, Kelp tablet, 2 tablespoons Flaxseed Oil with Quark (Omega-3 for regenerating myelin sheathing in the brain, quark to promote omega-3 uptake - this is part of the Budwig cancer protocol)
8.30 am - Ride bicycle to work
11.00 am - Percy's Powder (anti-cancer and electrolyte replacement)
1.00 pm Lunch (Param cooks it and brings it when she teaches the lunchtime class at Atma) - rice and dhal, B Vitamin
6.00 pm - 3 x Yoga Body Naturals Flexamine and 500 ml of water
6.30 pm - Fusion hot yoga class (www.fusionhotyoga.com.au) - these guys recently opened in Norman Park

I chant my rounds before Mangal-arati, and in periodic breaks during my working day.

I can do things like this for fixed periods with specific goals, like a 30 or 60 day challenge, or a ramp up to a showdown. I've given up feeling guilty about not being in the mode of goodness - play to your strengths.

At the moment my body is tuned more like a carnivore's body than a vegetarian one. Raja guna in the house! I can understand now more intimately how Pariksit Maharaja was implicated in the circumstances that lead up to his death. When your body is tuned like this and you don't get sufficient water or fuel for the digestive fire, yes, people die. I carry a couple of protein bars during the day, to avoid ripping limbs or heads from bodies.

In the latest fall out from the ISO (International Standards Organization) ratification of Microsoft's controversial OOXML (Open Office eXtensible Markup Language) standard, Norway's local standard body has imploded.

Standards Norway, the organization that manages technical standards for the Scandinavian country, took a serious blow last week when key members resigned in protest over procedural irregularities in the approval process for Microsoft's Office Open XML (OOXML) format. The 23-person technical committee has lost 13 of its members.

- Norwegian standards body implodes over OOXML controversy

The International ISO organisation is made up of national member organisations, as well as corporate members. IBM, a major corporate member, has threatened to withdraw from ISO over this issue, and several other nations are tottering on the edge.

India, Brazil, and South Africa are attempting to appeal ISO's fast-track approval of Microsoft's controversial Office Open XML (OOXML) format. The organizations representing those countries in ISO complain of process irregularities, lack of inclusiveness during meetings and debates, and insufficient time to address all of the issues and concerns raised by participants during the review process.

- OOXML revolt brewing? Three countries appeal ISO approval, May 31

Why is this such a big deal? As more and more of mankind's communication and commerce takes place digitally, whoever controls the medium controls everything. This is why open standards and open source software are so important.

Of course it's always possible that the apocalypse will occur and we'll go back to the Bronze Age, in which case we don't have to worry about any of this, do we?

On the other hand, if history continues to develop as it has for the past two thousand years, digital freedom is as useful as political and religious freedom have been, and things like universal literacy and labour-protection laws. It may not be the ultimate reality or the most important thing in life, but it's certainly nice to have.

The other thing I note from this is that procedural irregularities lead to organisational distintegration. Managers of all types take note.

When your neighbor's house in fire, it is not none of your business. In this case, the neighbor is the Episcopal Church of the USA, and, more broadly, the Anglican communion, in their schism over gay marriage. This news item is relevant to us:

MONROEVILLE, Pa. — A wide majority of clergy and lay members of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh voted Saturday to leave the national church and align with a more conservative South American branch, adding to the fallout from the 2003 election and consecration of an openly gay bishop.

read more

This is a nice new video by Jayadev:

‘ >Twomevea by Jayadav

It’s a nice little distraction I am sure you will all enjoy

This is the new youtube posting by Jayadev Das:

Twomeva by Jayadev

Hope you all enjoy this nice little distraction

There are so many facilities afforded by cow protection, but people have forgotten these arts. The importance of protecting cows is therefore stressed by Krsna in Bhagavad-Gita (krsi-go-raksya-vanijyam vaisya-karma svabhavajam [Bg. 18.44]). Even now in the Indian villages surrounding Vrndavana, the villagers live happily simply by giving protection to the cow. They keep cow dung very carefully and dry it to use as fuel. They keep a sufficient stock of grains, and because of giving protection to the cows, they have sufficient milk and milk products to solve all economic problems. Simply by giving protection to the cow, the villagers live so peacefully. Even the urine and stool of cows have medicinal value.
SB 10.6.19

The other day we were discussing the growing popularity of being vegan due to the mistreatment of the cows and not wishing to be part of this abusive farming practice. We discussed also how much the cow provides for us and how here in the west this is very little know or used especially in cheap sustainable fuel source.

This discussion went on for some time in the corner quietly listening in was HH Mahavishnu Swami who suddenly added his voice to the growing heated debate; “You are all simply missing the point” Stunned silence!
“Yes the cows suffer but we can simply relive all this suffering by making nice offerings for Krishna in this way the cows benefit, if we avoid all milk then we help increase there suffering simply because they are no longer serving Krishna”

Still more stunned silence as we digested this small point.

A more in-depth explanation of this point was given, unless we as devotees can run a cow protection farm and show by example the benefits can be then we have to use the milk freely given by the cow.

We see that even in this abusive state the cow gives happily this love is matchless and so as devotees we should endeavour to use this milk in making nice food to offer to Krishna; this relives all suffering of the cow as she gets to serve Krishna and the devotees.

It was a point that made many of us think.

It was part three of "The 3 Things You Need to Find Your Freedom". This week we were talking about "the process".

I started by reading "The Nine Billion Names of God" by Arthur C. Clarke. I got my supporting visuals from Flickr.com, and marked on the story script where the slide changes were.

Then I compared this to a Muslim saying that when there is no tongue on Earth that utters the name of Allah, the world will end.

Then I talked about the 99 Names of Allah in the Qu'ran, and read some of them out from the list on wikipedia.

Then I talked about the Tetragrammaton of the Jewish scripture, mentioning the loss of knowledge of its pronunciation due to the Babylonian exile and a subsequent language change.

Then I discussed personal and impersonal names (titles), and primary and secondary names.

Then I showed some different pictures of Krishna with His different relationships and talked about those names.

Then I told the story of Lord Caitanya and Prakasananda Sarasvati (there seem to be at least two differing versions, possibly three, in the Caitanya-caritamrita). This involved some explanation of the social and philosophical evolution and differences between Buddhism, Sankara's Vedanta, and finally Caitanya Vaisnavism.

The power of God's name, and the process of glorifying it is not an edge belief / practice - it is a mainstream part of all major religions of the world. Lord Caitanya's movement, however, has really taken it to the next level.

Then I wrapped up by introducing some modern followers of Lord Caitanya and proponents of chanting the Holy Name: Bhaktivinode Thakura, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, and Srila Prabhupada.

I finished by playing the 5 minute track from the Krishna Conscious Happening LP (at least that's where I think it's from). It's the one where Srila Prabhupada explains the chanting and says that it is "not an artificial imposition on the mind".

Narrowing the focus and ramping up the pressure.

Finally we got a projector installed at Atma. I can't believe it took me so long to do it. It's actually verging on criminal negligence on my part. I first started using a digital projector to present Krishna Consciousness in 1998. Ten years later, we finally install one.

Dominic, the stage manager of Indradyumna Swami's Polish festival tour, came and put it in.

It took Dominic 30 minutes to do it. If I tried to do it, it would take three hours, and would probably end up broken