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If you would like to participate in kirtan, feasting, and hear a special class by His Grace Purujit prabhu at 5pm this Friday at our centre in 165 sherrard road, E7 8DY, click here https://fb.me/e/25wVlM8tD

The following is an article Purusha dasa on the urgent necessity of cow protection. Veganism Is Unnatural and Unhealthy. Without drinking milk, all human beings on the planet would die in one generation as a result. Cows are, whether we like it or not, domesticated animals. This means that without human association, they would die in the wild. The vegan program of stopping cows' milk production and demonizing cows' milk is not only unauthorized in the scriptures (and therefore mental speculation), but it also creates suffering for the cows because without a useful and cruelty-free purpose to humans (such as milk production), the cows' only purpose for humans would be killing them in order to eat their flesh. Even though many vegans speculate out of "good" intentions, their mental speculation regarding cows’ milk is actually creating much more suffering for the cows than the lacto-vegetarian diet could ever cause. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- If your diet includes meat or eggs, then you are engaging in an activity suitable for the intelligence of a vulture. If you eat a vegan diet, then you are engaging in an activity suitable for the intelligence of a pigeon. If you eat a lacto-vegetarian diet, then you are engaging in an activity suitable for the intelligence of a human being. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 Common Counter-arguments and Their Defeaters: ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Milk and Your Health: Good or Bad? Sometimes people voice a concern about what they call a “milk allergy,” but actually, nobody is allergic to milk -- so-called "milk allergy" is a myth. In reality, cow's milk is 100% hypo-allergenic, which means that it does not, and can not, cause any allergy symptoms in anyone. Some people may be allergic to certain inorganic additives, but to call that a "milk allergy" would be inaccurate and misleading because in the presence of such unnatural additives, the same allergy symptoms would still be present, wholly apart from the presence of cow's milk. Human beings are mammals, and as such it is natural for us to drink milk. Inorganic additives are what is difficult to tolerate, not the cow's milk itself. The solution to the problem is to utilize cow's milk without adding any inorganic chemicals, not to quit drinking cow's milk. The only living being on earth who inhales oxygen and exhales oxygen is the cow. Another little-known fact is that spending a few minutes with the cow, feeding her, will allow the cow to recognize the disorders of our bodies through a unique gland present in her nose. She accepts us as her beloved children, and later when she goes grazing, she feeds on the specific herbal plants necessary to reverse the disorders that she has detected, because of her motherly love for us. After grazing on the herbs, she furnishes milk that holds the potent qualities sufficient to reverse the present disorders. This is why ayurvedic physicians advise that we should know the cow personally, treat her very kindly and affectionately, and accept her as our beloved mother before we drink her milk. Our ancestors have always given a revered and special status to the cow. Hence, we should protect Mother Cow, and we should protect pastoral culture: In turn they protect our health and our wealth. Health problems are not caused by cow's milk, and they do not disappear because of quitting cow's milk. In fact, the vegan diet causes many health problems that lacto-vegetarians don't face. The dryness of the vegan diet, for example, causes damage to the bodily tissues -- especially to the brain tissues. The vegan diet is rajasic and unnatural to human beings and causes many health problems, including the following: - unnatural dryness - excessive thirst - excessive hunger - stomach ailments & digestive problems - mental rigidity - lowered intelligence - increased mental agitation - quickness to anger ----------------------------------------------------------------------- But Isn't Milk Cruel? Vegans claim that drinking milk involves cruelty, but this is simply not the case: Millions of human and cow babies drink milk every day without committing any acts of cruelty, and in order to present a consistent argument, the vegans would also have to decry the human and cow babies' practice of milk-drinking, but nobody has ever made such a complaint. Vedic lacto-vegetarian agriculture does not involve cruelty to or slaughter of cows or bulls: In Vedic lacto-vegetarian agriculture, bulls use their great strength to plow the fields to grow vegetables. This is a superior system to western “vegan” agriculture, which uses tons of petroleum-based machinery instead of bulls to plow fields. The western system causes pollution and environmental havoc, whereas the Vedic system is perfectly natural and gentle on the environment. Western “vegan” agriculture, which lacks the rich nutritional benefits of fertilizer made from cow dung and fermented dairy products, kills the bulls and cows, and uses their dead body parts as fertilizer, a cruel and barbaric practice that is forbidden in Vedic agriculture. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Is It Meant for Us Humans? Vegans make the claim that because milk is meant for baby cows, people shouldn’t drink it. However, that claim is questionable at the outset because many cows are very happy to share their milk with us humans. The important thing is that the cows must be treated with the utmost love and respect (ahimsa). It’s also very easy to understand that the vegans' claim is inconsistent with their lifestyle when one considers the fact that the nutrients in soybeans and almonds are meant for the baby soy and almond plants: In order to present a consistent position, the vegans would need to stop eating soybeans, almonds, peas, rice, wheat, and so forth. However, there seem to be very few vegans (if any) that would be willing to quit consuming such food sources. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- CONCLUSION: There's really no valid reason to restrict oneself to the vegan diet: Consuming wholesome milk and milk products is not only sanctioned in God's revealed scriptures, but it's even encouraged -- as long as the cows who provide the milk are treated with the same respect and love with which one would treat his own mother (ahimsa milk). There is absolutely nothing cruel about drinking milk, and the proof of this fact is that throughout human history, nobody has ever protested the human and cow baby habit of drinking milk on the grounds that it could somehow be an act of cruelty. In fact, as noted above, so-called "vegan" agriculture involves cruelty to and slaughter of cows for use as fertilizer, whereas lacto-vegetarian agriculture does not. In reality, there is no such thing as any so-called "milk allergy,” and all one needs to do in order to avoid allergies is to consume milk that hasn't been subjected to the addition of inorganic chemicals (in other words, drink organic cow's milk). Cow's milk is very rich in important nutrients and wholesome qualities that can't be found in any other food product, and the qualities present in cow's milk are especially essential for the proper development of human brain tissues. Cows who are treated with love and respect reciprocate with humans by freely providing milk and its important nutrients in a loving exchange, which is a type of exchange in which plants are unable to participate. In that sense, the nutrients from ahimsa milk are especially meant for human beings in a way that's simply not possible for the nutrients from plant sources. Therefore ahimsa milk is even more appropriate for human consumption than any vegan food source could ever be. In addition, the vegan lifestyle -- wherein machines are used to till the earth instead of bulls -- kills many innocent animals directly, by crushing and mutilating their bodies under the extremely heavy mechanized vehicles, such as tractors and other gasoline-run vehicles. Using gasoline-run vehicles for this purpose instead of bulls also creates environmental havoc, which in turn causes a lot of unnecessary suffering and death among animals all over the planet. The lacto-vegetarian lifestyle does not cause any of those problems, whereas the vegan lifestyle does cause them. So-called "vegan" agriculture also kills bulls and cows and uses their dead body parts as fertilizer, a gruesome practice in which lacto-vegetarian agriculture does not engage. As long as you eat animal flesh or eggs, you will never be truly peaceful. As long as you eat a vegan diet, you will never be truly satisfied.

The following is an article by Bhaktin Reena. Hindus say they don't consider idols their gods. They only use a form to concentrate their mind in prayer. Why do people from other religions still consider it idol worship? Such Hindus are ignorant about the divine form of the Lord and cannot understand the mystery behind deity worship. They belong to the category of spiritualists known as mayavada having variants like neoadvaita, kevala advaita. They are nontheistic schools and cater to speculative knowledge through inductive method. Speculative knowledge is not reliable and cannot be concluded as authority given the limitations of human beings with limited senses or sense perception and knowledge gathering capacity through personal experience which may be limited to a particular time period or the limited existence of the jiva in human life. Hence, knowledge must be through deductive method. The deity worship or saguna worship is with respect to the factual divine form of the Lord and His manifestations. This material body is a product of avidya and one cannot perceive spirit(soul) through material senses. The supersoul or Paramaatma is perceivable through divine eyes or eyes that have been fully cleansed of all material contamination which is possible through the knowledge of the self. This however does not reject the divine eternal form of the Lord, the sat chit ananda swarupa. The mayavadis and their variants reject the factual form of the Lord due to their poor fund of knowledge about the nondual platform or paravyoma. Such people carry an inherent tendency to limit the unlimited divine attributes of Parabrahman which includes the manifestations of His internal potency, His divine expansions into various tattvas and His divine abodes which are not metaphorical but factual. They limit the Parabrahman to a formless nonmoving attributeless entity which is quite akin to the perception of Islam or abrahmic religions about the allpowerful. Moreover, they disregard the distinct attributes of the Paramaatma which are almost absent in a jiva given the tattva. In this way they mislead everyone including themselves. The spontaneous love of God is not easily awakened in the covered consciousness of the jiva and it is advised to accept certain prescribed regulations to help invoke the inherent attitude of service to Parabrahman which is misplaced in this material world in the form of philanthropy and altruism. The concocted ideas about self realisation process creates a situation where real service to Vishnu is replaced or assumed to be compensated by serving human society on the material platform. Real relief is to save the soul from repeated births and deaths and cannot be restricted to the material plane through temporary relief. The gigantic form of the Lord that accomodates all universes extends His causeless mercy to the souls who want to connect themselves to Him through loving service and considering the limitation of the material body of humans He agrees to accept the form of matter or allows to manifest Himself in the matter transformed to His form. Hence, the deities which are made of matter(stone, wood, metal) carry manifestation of His divine energy in order to accept the offerings of His devotees to invoke the dormant love. An ignorant person sees only stone, wood and metal but not the Lord. Though He is present everywhere in His allpervading feature, His mercy to get manifested personally in the deity is the nectar of His love that is free from all blemishes. “Nirakar” means without material form and that does not mean “no form”. The Vedanta: Its Morphology and Ontology by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur - Akincana Gocara https://www.akincana.net/2018/05/29/the-vedanta-its-morphology-and-ontology-by-srila-bhaktisiddhanta-saraswati-thakur/

The following is an answer to a question posted on our Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX5Axa2T0yMtPquk_7d0laA and answered by His Grace Purujit dasa. Ryan: Hare Krsna please accept my humble obeicences. How are you? I have seen you on YouTube. Are you rtvik devotees? Purujit: Hare Krishna, dear Ryan. Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. Bhaktivedanta Lives in Sound Society is an international society for Krishna consciousness whose aim is to expand the number of temples where the devotees follow and preserve the mission of His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. So far I am concerned designations such as rtvik or non-rtvik simply divide the devotional community and divert from the real focus, namely saving the world from the path of destruction. We should try to discriminate amongs devotees based on their understanding of the Krishna conscious philosophy and how they apply it in practical life. arcye visnau sila-dhir gurusu nara-matir vaisnave jati-buddhir visnor va vaisnavanam kali-mala-mathane pada-tirthe 'mbu-buddhih sri-visnor namni mantre sakala-kalusa-he sabda-samanya-buddhir visnau sarvesvarese tad-itara-sama-dhir yasya va naraki sah "One who thinks the Deity in the temple to be made of wood or stone, who thinks of the spiritual master in the disciplic succession as an ordinary man, who thinks the Vaisnava in the Acyuta-gotra to belong to a certain caste or creed or who thinks of caranamrta or Ganges water as ordinary water is taken to be a resident of hell." (Padma Purana) Best regards your servant Purujit Dasa

It was a a lovely sunny day on the 2nd of July 2022 when the BLISS devotees including Bhakti Alan (filming) took to the streets and chanted Hare Krishna. It just so happened that day was also gay pride in London. What ensured was ecstatic. Also stay till the end to see a Christian woman join the Sankirtana (or try to disrupt depending on how you look at it) by chanting the names of Jesus .

An excellent article that sheds light on the current situation in the world, written by Narasimha Prabhu. When the demigods in heaven experienced a terrifying and unexplainable darkness rapidly expanding throughout the universe, they were fearful and perplexed. The demigods were no naive fools. They were well-equipped with the knowledge and powers to counteract disturbances created by demons, but in this case, they could not understand at all what was going on. Rather than turning to conspiracy news sites and survivalists’ marketing websites for answers, they consulted superior authorities. The top demigods did not pretend to have the answers the demigods desperately sought. Rather, they honestly admitted that they, too, had no idea what was going on. These honest leaders, therefore, approached the topmost authority, Lord Brahma for answers. Lord Brahma then explained to the chief demigods the external cause of the expanding darkness. He also lamented that people are always eager to discuss mundane current affairs rather than talking about the spiritual nature and glories of Sri Vaikuntha Dhama. Lord Brahma: “It is very much regrettable that unfortunate people do not discuss the description of the Vaikuntha planets but engage in topics which are unworthy to hear and which bewilder one’s intelligence. Those who give up the topics of Vaikuntha and take to talk of the material world are thrown into the darkest region of ignorance.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.15.23) Srila Prabhupada elaborates: “Here in the Bhagavatam, in this verse particularly, it is stressed that people who try to discuss and understand the real spiritual nature of the spiritual sky and the Vaikunthas are fortunate. The variegatedness of the Vaikuntha planets is described in relation to the transcendental pastimes of the Lord. But instead of trying to understand the spiritual abode and the spiritual activities of the Lord, people are more interested in politics and economic developments. They hold many conventions, meetings and discussions to solve the problems of this worldly situation, where they can remain for only a few years, but they are not interested in understanding the spiritual situation of the Vaikuntha world. If they are at all fortunate, they become interested in going back home, back to Godhead, but unless they understand the spiritual world, they rot in this material darkness continuously.” Lord Brahma explains: “My dear demigods, the human form of life is of such importance that we also desire to have such life, for in the human form one can attain perfect religious truth and knowledge. If one in this human form of life does not understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His abode, it is to be understood that he is very much affected by the influence of external nature.” (SB.3.15.24) Srila Prabhupada elaborates: “Brahmaji condemns very vehemently the condition of the human being who does not take interest in the Personality of Godhead and His transcendental abode, Vaikuntha. The human form of life is desired even by Brahmaji. Brahma and other demigods have much better material bodies than human beings, yet the demigods, including Brahma, nevertheless desire to attain the human form of life because it is specifically meant for the living entity who can attain transcendental knowledge and religious perfection. It is not possible to go back to Godhead in one life, but in the human form one should at least understand the goal of life and begin Krishna consciousness. It is said that the human form is a great boon because it is the most suitable boat for crossing over the nescience ocean. The spiritual master is considered to be the most able captain in that boat, and the information from the scriptures is the favorable wind for floating over the ocean of nescience. The human being who does not take advantage of all these facilities in this life is committing suicide. Therefore, one who does not begin Krishna consciousness in the human form of life loses his life to the influence of the illusory energy. Brahma regrets the situation of such a human being.” Lord Brahma’s final answer and advice: “My dear sons, the Lord is the controller of the three modes of nature and is responsible for the creation, preservation and dissolution of the universe. His wonderful creative power, yogamaya, cannot be easily understood even by the masters of yoga. That most ancient person, the Personality of Godhead, will alone come to our rescue. What purpose can we serve on His behalf by deliberating on the subject?” (Srimad-Bhagavatam, Canto Three, Chapter 16, Text 37) Srila Prabhupada’s conclusions on this verse: “When something is arranged by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one should not be disturbed by it, even if it appears to be a reverse according to one’s calculations. For example, sometimes we see that a powerful preacher is killed, or sometimes he is put into difficulty, just as Haridasa Thakura was. He was a great devotee who came into this material world to execute the will of the Lord by preaching the Lord’s glories. But Haridasa was punished at the hands of the Kazi by being beaten in twenty-two marketplaces. Similarly, Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, and Prahlada Maharaja was put through so many tribulations. The Pandavas, who were direct friends of Krishna, lost their kingdom, their wife was insulted, and they had to undergo many severe tribulations. Seeing all these reverses affect devotees, one should not be disturbed; one should simply understand that in these matters there must be some plan of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Bhagavatam’s conclusion is that a devotee is never disturbed by such reverses. He accepts even reverse conditions as the grace of the Lord. One who continues to serve the Lord even in reverse conditions is assured that he will go back to Godhead, back to the Vaikuntha planets. Lord Brahma assured the demigods that there was no use in talking about how the disturbing situation of darkness was taking place, since the actual fact was that it was ordered by the Supreme Lord. Brahma knew this because he was a great devotee; it was possible for him to understand the plan of the Lord.” (SB.3.16.37, Purport)

The greatest immorality is to claim that God is immoral. There can be no better authority on what is moral and what is immoral than God. If the judgement of morality becomes the realm of conditioned souls it is the beginning of the moral relativism which is the greatest immorality. The government of the state issues laws and if the citizens do not abide by the laws but instead create their own laws they are immediately arrested and punished. Especially in the modern days of democracy, one cannot defy the government and claim that the government is unlawful since it is the government, not an unelected whimsical citizen who issues laws in the first place. If an unelected citizen becomes the authority it is the beginning of an authoritative regime, and people of the state thus become subjected to a tyranny of a dictator. Similarly, if the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krsna becomes defamed and accused of immorality, it is the beginning of the greatest immorality within the ranks of humanity and the cause of all sins. How can we then explain the seemingly adharmic activities performed by Krsna, especially in connection with pastimes performed in loving relationships with his beloved gopi friends, who took part in his rasa dance although unmarried. Such trespass of Vedic principles would surely be immoral. If Krsna as the Supreme Godhead is supposed to be the giver of all standards of morality, how is that He Himself indulges what appears to be immoral behavior? This question has been asked by the great Maharaja Pariksit, the personality to whom the glorious Srimad Bhagavatam had been spoken some 5000 years ago. It is the duty of a disciple to inquire from the spiritual master whenever doubts arise and the spiritual master must be qualified to answer such possible inquiries. Maharaja Pariksit accepted as his spiritual master none other than the great devotee Sukadeva Goswami and Sukadeva Goswami listed several reasons to explain the loving pastimes of the Lord. 1) These transgressions of religious principles by the supreme controller testify to His great power. For example, fire can consume any abominable thing; that is the manifestation of the supremacy of fire. Similarly, the sun can absorb water from a urinal or from stool, and the sun is not polluted; rather, due to the influence of the sunshine, the polluted, contaminated place becomes disinfected and sterilized. Sukadeva Gosvami has very clearly said that the isvara, or supreme controller, may sometimes violate His own instructions, but this is possible only for the controller Himself, not for the followers. Unusual and uncommon activities by the controller can never be imitated. Sukadeva Gosvami warned that the conditioned followers, who are not actually in control, should never even imagine imitating the uncommon activities of the controller. A Mayavadi philosopher may falsely claim to be God or Krsna, but he cannot actually act like Krsna. He can persuade his followers to falsely imitate the rasa dance, but he is unable to lift Govardhana Hill. 2) Most of the gopis in their previous lives were great sages, expert in the study of the Vedas, and when Lord Krsna appeared as Lord Ramacandra they wanted to enjoy with Him. Lord Ramacandra gave them the benediction that their desires would be fulfilled when He would appear as Krsna. Therefore the desire of the gopis to enjoy the appearance of Lord Krsna was long cherished. Krsna is not bound by the rules and regulations of the material world. In special cases, He acts as He likes to favor His devotees. 3) As stated in the Bhagavad-gita, na mam karmani limpanti: [Bg. 4.14] Krsna never enjoys or suffers the results of His activities. Therefore it is not possible for Him to act irreligiously. He is transcendental to all religious duties and principles. He is untouched by the modes of material nature. He is the supreme controller of all living entities, whether in human society, in demigod society in the heavenly planets, or in lower forms of life, and He is also the supreme controller of material nature; therefore, He has nothing to do with religious or irreligious principles. 4) Krsna, the Supersoul of everyone, is already within the body of everyone; therefore if He sees someone or embraces someone there is no question of impropriety. 5) The loving pastimes of Krsna and the gopis are manifested by Him just to captivate the conditioned souls. Since they are very much attracted by sex, they can enjoy the same life with Krsna and thus become liberated from the material condition. In the Second Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, Maharaja Pariksit also explains that the pastimes and activities of Lord Krsna are medicine for the conditioned souls. If they simply hear about Krsna, they become relieved of the material disease. They are addicted to material enjoyment and are accustomed to reading sex literature, but by hearing these transcendental pastimes of Krsna with the gopis, they will be relieved of material contamination. 6) None of the gopis who danced with Krsna were in their material bodies. They danced with Krsna in their spiritual bodies. All their husbands thought that their wives were sleeping by their sides. The so-called husbands of the gopis were already enamored with the influence of the external energy of Krsna; so by dint of this very energy they could not understand that their wives had gone to dance with Krsna. What then is the basis of accusing Krsna of dancing with others' wives? The bodies of the gopis, which were their husbands', were lying in bed. 7) One must hear from an authorized person who is in the disciplic succession and is always engaged in Krsna

Although there are thousands and thousands of universities in the world, they teach the same science. Sometimes students from one university get student visa and travel to another country to take a certain course in that country's respective university to further their education. Similarly, the science of Krishna, or God consciousness is taught in various religious traditions according to time, place, circumstances and audience without any differentiation of opinion in the essential conclusive understanding, but the aim of all bona fide saints and teachers is to turn the face of the conditioned soul back to the Supreme Personality of Godhead and detach him from the absurd pursuit of sense gratification in the world of shadows. The material world is a mere reflection of transcendental reality of Krsnaloka, the kingdom of God and the conditioned soul who is very much addicted to chasing shadow pleasures of family, society, philanthropy and mundane religiosity tinged with material motives is always given a chance by the Lord to turn his face to Him assisted by the ever-present urging voice of the Supersoul. The atmaryami, or the God within one's heart is always ready to guide the spirit soul on the path of pure unconditional bhakti or devotion. Unfortunately, because the spirit soul accustomed to self-centered way of life is constantly trying to exploit others for his ulterior purposes, He also misguides the soul by fulfilling the soul's perverted desires. If the Lord did not purposefully misguide the conditioned soul in this way, there would be no meaning to the soul's independence and without independence there would be no question for the soul to have an option of unconditional surrender. Krishna, for example misguides the soul to worship demigods, or powerful men of this world in the form of pseudo philanthropists, pseudo gurus and pseudo politicians when the soul wants to acquire speedy fulfillment of his materialistic lust. He says: I am in everyone's heart as the Supersoul. As soon as one desires to worship the demigods, I make his faith steady so that he can devote himself to some particular deity.(Bg 7.21) In this way there are recommendations in the scriptures for different modes of worship. And because a particular living entity wants to enjoy a particular material facility, the Lord inspires him with a strong desire to achieve that benediction from that particular form of worship or religious sect, and so he successfully receives the benediction. Since such fulfillment of the desire of the living entity is temporary, the Lord calls such worshippers less intelligent. Their materialistic lust lacks the proper direction and causes sectarian hate by purposefully avoiding the principle of Isavasya. Factually, no one has to do anything more than render devotional service to the Lord. However, in the lower stages of life one cannot immediately adopt the activities of pure devotional service, nor can one completely stop fruitive work. A conditioned soul is accustomed to working for sense gratification -- for his own selfish interest, immediate or extended and he thus professes religion for that purpose only. He works for his own sense enjoyment, and when this principle of sense enjoyment is extended to include his society, nation or humanity in general, it assumes various attractive names such as altruism, socialism, communism, nationalism and humanitarianism. There is no harm in becoming a family man, or an altruist, a socialist, a communist, a nationalist or a humanitarian, provided that one executes his activities in relation with isavasya, the God-centered conception. In such God-centered conception, a devotee makes the Lord the first and foremost beneficiary of all his activities. Since the Lord is the Supreme Purusha, or Enjoyer He must posses transcendental senses. If the Lord is formless or senseless, there is no meaning to devotional service since there would be no purpose in pleasing Him. His supreme and transcendental pleasure and our minute and material pleasure are diametrically opposed to another and any one who compares the two immediately falls down from the path of true understanding, but the nature of transcendental reality is that one must seek the way how to please the Lord's transcendental senses. One is therefore advised by the Lord in all bona fide scriptures of the world to transcend the boundaries of materialistic functions of religious sectarianism and try to understand this supreme purpose of all religions and act on it.

5000 years ago, a great battle of Kuruksetra took place, where Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead and his intimate friend and a devotee participated. Arjuna, one of the Pandava brothers is facing a great dilemma -should he fight against the Kurus, who unjustly usurped the kingdom that was supposed to be inherited by the Pandavas, or should he forego the material claim for the sake of family tradition and social consideration. After all, Kurus were his cousin brothers and they were joined by his beloved spiritual master Dronacharya and his grandfather Bhisma, who took care of the fatherless Pandavas since their early childhood. The duty of the ksatriya fighter obliged him to kill them since they caused unjustice. At the same time, he was questioning whether social and political reasons are justified reasons to kill one's own family members. What is the ultimate purpose of our duty and are material assets such as a kingdom, money and success justified causes for our survival of the fittest, rat race fight against other living entities that surround us in our material journey? The dilemma Arjuna was trying to resolve is the cause of mental disturbance for all of us at some point in our lives. We are often thrown into a situation where we consider whether it is more important to follow our own intuition and change the status quo, rebel and do something different or whether we should rather gain the praise and approval of the general public and become the example of following the already established tradition. Arjuna is advised by Krishna to follow the latter and thus face the criticism and public condemnation. Krishna argues that the justice and the truth is superior to social and family traditions and that Arjuna should transcend the bodily relationship for the sake of dharma. In fact, since Krishna is the Supreme Godhead, Arjuna should simply follow His order and not be diverted by the relative morality of the material world. In the bodily conception of life, one who is controlled by material lust does not hesitate to exploit other living entities for his selfish purposes and sometimes does not hesitate to abuse his own family members. In fact, this is what the Kurus did. Blinded by lust for riches and power they have taken over the kingdom that belonged to the Pandavas, their own brothers. Therefore we should not fall into illusion that bodily relationships are in any way loving. They are based on lust and as soon as one's relationships do not satisfy one's senses, such so-called love is discarded like a dirty diaper. The good example of this is the phenomenon observed in the Nazi concentration camps. When the Nazi soldiers gassed the Jewish people in the gas chambers, only a pile of bodies remained. The top of the pile consisted of the most healthy and strong men, while women, elderly and children remained at the bottom. The reason for this was that since the gas was let in to the chamber from the bottom up, those who were bodily more strong climbed on the pile of the bodily weak in order to gasp for the last remnants of air. This proves that in the time of emergency morality and love for mankind becomes an insignificant slogan only. They are mere conventions that we have built for ourselves with the desire to mutually cheat one another for the sake of extending our selfishness. Even if one does not exploit his family members for nefarious purposes, the simple act of serving his own family necessitates an injustice to other families, since everyone wants the best for his family. Jivasya Jiva Jivanam. In this material world, one prospers at the expense of suffering of others. It is therefore important not to sacrifice the cause of Krishna and his service for such meaningless considerations and always keep in mind that such relationships are impermanent and false. However, if they can be dovetailed in the service of Krishna, they become meaningful ornaments in our devotion to the Supreme Lord.

Not only can the reader of this letter feel the love that Srila Prabhupada has for his great disciple Vishnujana Swami, but one can also understand that worship of the holy name is MORE important than worshipping the deities in the temple! In this letter Srila Prabhupada gives us this key instruction. My Dear Son, Visnujana Maharaja, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 25th March, 1971 and have noted the contents. Because I have been very busy with the movement which is going on here, I haven't had time to reply your letter until now. As soon as I remember that you are trying to fulfill my desire of trying to open ten centers, it gives me renewed vigor and life. Please do it nicely. I have got confidence in you because Krishna has given you special talent for chanting Hare Krishna Mantra. When you were chanting in L.A. temple in the evenings, or in the mornings, I enjoyed your chanting so nicely that I thought myself immediately carried to Vaikuntha. So I am always thankful to you for your activities in announcing the interest of our mission. Thank you very much. Most probably when I return to L.A. I may call you back just to hear your chanting of Hare Krishna Mantra. I am very anxious to meet you also. I am thinking of returning very soon, but I am also contemplating going to Russia. So on my way back I may go there to Russia for a few days and then to U.S.A. Although I am Indian materially, still I have adopted U.S.A. as my fatherland and you are all my fathers. In India I had one father who raised me a Krishna Conscious child but in America I have got many fathers who are reminding me always of Krishna. Therefore I will always wish to live under your care. It is so much encouraging that you have got a very nice temple and that already there are six students living there and following the regulative principles. Anyone who you recommend, I shall immediately initiate him. So take advantage and enchant those who are coming by your chanting of Hare Krishna Mantra. You will be victorious. And try to introduce our books there and it will be a great missionary success. One Krishna book sold means we go forward one step in our Krishna Consciousness. We should always remember this. Now the second part of KRSNA book is available, so take them from Karandhara. So far as waiting for sending Deities, that is all right. Although there is no Deity, still this Hare Krishna Mantra is considered to be the sound vibration incarnation of Krishna. Actually we should give more stress in worshiping the incarnation of sound vibration but whenever there is possibility of installing Deities and strictly following the regulations of worship, we shall do this, but the essential part of our activities is to worship the sound incarnation. Hoping this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Nowadays the travel industry is one of the largest in the world, with 40 million flights per year, it's one of the biggest contributors to the global GDP, and directly employs nearly 77 million people worldwide, which comprises about 3% of the world's total employment. Globally, travel and tourism's direct contribution to GDP was approximately 4.7 trillion U.S. dollars in 2020. Some people are obsessed with traveling, so much so that they base their whole lives on it. Travel vloggers and the like flood social media with pictures and videos documenting their adventures all over the world. It's often times we hear that someone's dream is to travel the world. What's all the hype about? Every single one of us was born in a particular place, a specific country. For the most part, we grew up in that same place. Of course, some people are even born on the run in the back of a car or on an airplane in some extraordinary circumstances, but I think we can safely say that's a minority of people. Everyone has a place they can call their home. The definition of "travel" is that one leaves his or her home and goes to another place to stay or visit. This indicates that either their home is not satisfactory or that the other place is far better in comparison. Otherwise, no-one would ever leave their home. Let's say you are eating something very nice, and I offer you something less palatable like grey slop. Most likely, you won't take it. You might give up what you are eating if I offer you something better though. So the travel industry basically thrives on people's dissatisfaction with their situation at home. If there's not enough happiness at home, since everyone wants happiness, we go out of home to somewhere else. Traveling from country to country or from city to city is a manifestation of our state of mind. We're unsteady. Our mind is unsteady and flickering from one subject to another because it can't find satisfaction from all the varieties of material subjects which it contemplates. The mind is primary sense; it focuses on the the other senses and their perceptions. When our eyes see something beautiful, the mind focuses on the eyes and we can become temporarily absorbed in the beauty of the object we see in front of us. But sooner or later, as we all have the experience, no matter how beautiful a thing is, we become bored. No matter how tasty something is, if we eat it 100 times in a row, we don't find it very tasty anymore. On the contrary, we become disgusted with it. So our senses and our mind are finding saturation in this atmosphere of existence, and as such they are always searching after something better that they can really get into. Similarly, since our actions are based on our thinking, feeling, and willing, our addiction to traveling starts at home; within the mind. If we are satisfied in the mind, then we can be anywhere and be happy. There's no need to be constantly searching for greener grass. In fact, as long as our mind remains without an ultimate object of meditation, we can travel all over the universe, but we will still always hanker after something better. Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gita; a-brahma-bhuvanal lokah punar avartino 'rjuna mam upetya tu kaunteya punar janma na vidyate "From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains to My abode, O son of Kunti, never takes birth again." (8.16) Death is the main thing that disturbs our happiness. Imagine you're playing some nice music in your garden, with your friends, and there's drinks and the sun is out; everything is nice. Then the last guest shows up and it's death, and he's just standing there with that scythe, and no-one's dancing with him, so he's coming to you to chat. The mood is totally killed. So that's our life; we think we're having a grand old time, making all kinds of distractions like careers, hobbies, goals, traveling here and there, trying to be completely oblivious to that impeding and inevitable guy no-one invited to the party but he came anyway: death. In such circumstances, there isn't a single person who can be truly peaceful and steady in mind. Since everything we do and experience will be taken away by time in the form of death, our minds are always in anxiety, and as long as we have anxiety, happiness cannot be realized. It doesn't matter where you go; from the North pole to Timbuktu to the highest planet, everywhere, somehow or other death got the invite, and he just won't give it up. I've traveled across the world as a monk, and I can say from my own personal experience that everywhere is the same. There's a little change in landscape here and there, but really everywhere you go people are unhappy and searching for something better. The people in sweltering hot countries want to visit somewhere cooler, like so many Indians who want to visit the west, and the people in cold countries get fed up and want to go somewhere warm. So the weather isn't actually the factor; it's the idea of comfort. Traveling can know perfection if we travel to somewhere where death isn't invited. There is a place like that (sorry death!). You might not see it on any travel brochure, and the airlines might not have developed jet engines powerful enough to go there, and no-ones come back from there to tell about how amazing it is since it's so amazing no-one comes back, but it exists. And we can know about it by the mercy of the guru, or the travel agent from the spiritual world. By hearing from that transcendental travel agent about that transcendental world—how nice the people are, how the guy who runs it is really cool and His name is Krishna and He's the Supreme Personality of Godhead full of all opulence like beauty and wisdom etc.—we can develop an intense desire to go back there. And by that intense desire we can go back there. Go back there? Yes, actually that's where we are all from. As eternal souls, we belong to the eternal atmosphere. You and I and everybody else are eternal beings trapped in these temporary bodies; and that's why we travel all over this temporary world, looking for somewhere we can stay permanently. And whenever and wherever we go, we always have the tendency to gravitate back to where we came from. Even astronauts look down from their international space stations and think "I think I can see my house from here." Why is this tendency there? Because the soul is really searching for his eternal home with Krishna. So Srila A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada is representing Vaikuntha airlines, and he has everything you need to know about the spiritual world, Vaikuntha, in the forms of Srimad-Bhagavatam and Bhagavad-gita. Why don't you book a trip?

This past weekends love feast (2/6/22) was a full Krishna blast with 9 guests in the temple, a ten-preparation feast and a stellar class from His Grace Purujit dasa. Everyone was dancing in full ecstasy for Lord Caitanya, with jumping and twirling with hands raised! if you would also like to participate in the feast, you can click here to book a spot.