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The following conversation with Srila Prabhupada very nicely elaborates on why cows are the most essential animal in society and why we should not kill them unnecessarily. Prabhupāda: And dahī also. Revatīnandana: Yes. Everything from the cow. Prabhupāda: Hmm? Revatīnandana: The cow, providing everything nice. Prabhupāda: Cow is so important. These vegetable, grains and cow. Bās, finished. You can make hundreds and thousands of preparation. Why the poor animals should be killed? Take as much possible. And those who are flesh eaters, let the animal die—eat. Why lifetime should be killed? In India that is the process. Those who are flesh-eaters, when the cow dies, they are called, "You can take." Cobbler. So they get the skin, the hoof, the horn, they eat the flesh. So that's all right. Finished. And they keep the bones also for manure. Yes. After death. That is the system in India. Whenever a man's cow dies, this class of men, cobbler, they are called, "You take it." They will take it. Pradyumna: I do not think many children like to eat meat. Prabhupāda: Eh? Pradyumna: Many children do not like to eat meat. They are trained to eat meat. Prabhupāda: This is unnatural. Pradyumna: I did not . . . when I was . . . I did not like to eat it, but they trained. Prabhupāda: Unnatural. Revatīnandana: Even from the economic side, they waste so much land for keeping a few animals for slaughter. They could grow large quantities of grains, fruits, everything. Instead, all the land now is devoted to slaughter, and they have to import grains, fruits, other things in England. The whole countryside is beautiful country, all like this. The whole country. And everywhere is nothing but slaughter business. And they could grow everything, everything that they need. In fact, that can be . . . we can . . . eventually we can, we can do that. And this country would become self-sufficient. Now it has to import so many things. Prabhupāda: Yes. Vacant land. Revatīnandana: It takes many acres of land to keep one animal. On the same acreage you can produce enough food for several men for a whole year. Prabhupāda: Both for the animal, both for the man. Just educate them, these rascals.

Would you like to know all the nice prayers the devotees sing during their morning and evening services in a temple? The following is the full set of songs along with translations. From now on you can sing along and thus make your life even more Krishna conscious! MORNING PROGRAM Sri Sri Gurv-astaka Eight Prayers to the Guru (by Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura) samsara-davanala-lidha-loka- tranaya karunya-ghanaghanatvam praptasya kalyana-gunarnavasya vande guroh sri-caranaravindam mahaprabhoh kirtana-nrtya-gita- vaditra-madyan-manaso rasena romanca-kampasru-taranga-bhajo vande guroh sri-caranaravindam sri-vigraharadhana-nitya-nana- srngara-tan-mandira-marjanadau yuktasya bhaktams ca niyunjato 'pi vande guroh sri-caranaravindam catur-vidha-sri-bhagavat-prasada- svadv-anna-trptan hari-bhakta-sanghan krtvaiva trptim bhajatah sadaiva vande guroh sri-caranaravindam sri-radhika-madhavayor apara- madhurya-lila guna-rupa-namnam prati-ksanasvadana-lolupasya vande guroh sri-caranaravindam nikunja-yuno rati-keli-siddhyai ya yalibhir yuktir apeksaniya tatrati-daksyad ati-vallabhasya vande guroh sri-caranaravindam saksad-dharitvena samasta-sastrair uktas tatha bhavyata eva sadbhih kintu prabhor yah priya eva tasya vande guroh sri-caranaravindam yasya prasadad bhagavat-prasado yasyaprasadan na gatih kuto 'pi dhyayan stuvams tasya yasas tri-sandhyam vande guroh sri-caranaravindam TRANSLATION The spiritual master is receiving benediction from the ocean of mercy. Just as a cloud pours water on a forest fire to extinguish it, so the spiritual master delivers the materially afflicted world by extinguishing the blazing fire of material existence. I offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of such a spiritual master, who is an ocean of auspicious qualities. Chanting the holy name, dancing in ecstasy, singing, and playing musical instruments, the spiritual master is always gladdened by the sankirtana movement of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Because he is relishing the mellows of pure devotion within his mind, sometimes his hair stands on end, he feels quivering in his body, and tears flow from his eyes like waves. I offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of such a spiritual master. The spiritual master is always engaged in the temple worship of Sri Sri Radha and Krsna. He also engages his disciples in such worship. They dress the Deities in beautiful clothes and ornaments, clean Their temple, and perform other similar worship of the Lord. I offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of such a spiritual master. The spiritual master is always offering Krsna four kinds of delicious food [analyzed as that which is licked, chewed, drunk, and sucked]. When the spiritual master sees that the devotees are satisfied by eating bhagavat-prasada, he is satisfied. I offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of such a spiritual master. The spiritual master is always eager to hear and chant about the unlimited conjugal pastimes of Radhika and Madhava, and Their qualities, names, and forms. The spiritual master aspires to relish these at every moment. I offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of such a spiritual master. The spiritual master is very dear, because he is expert in assisting the gopis, who at different times make different tasteful arrangements for the perfection of Radha and Krsna's conjugal loving affairs within the groves of Vrndavana. I offer my most humble obeisances unto the lotus feet of such a spiritual master. The spiritual master is to be honored as much as the Supreme Lord, because he is the most confidential servitor of the Lord. This is acknowledged in all revealed scriptures and followed by all authorities. Therefore I offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of such a spiritual master, who is a bona fide representative of Sri Hari [Krsna]. By the mercy of the spiritual master one receives the benediction of Krsna. Without the grace of the spiritual master, one cannot make any advancement. Therefore, I should always remember and praise the spiritual master. At least three times a day I should offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of my spiritual master. Srila Prabhupada Pranati nama om visnu-padaya krsna-presthaya bhu-tale srimate bhaktivedanta-svaminn iti namine namas te sarasvate deve gaura-vani-pracarine nirvisesa-sunyavadi-pascatya-desa-tarine TRANSLATION I offer my respectful obeisances unto His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who is very dear to Lord Krsna on this earth, having taken shelter at His lotus feet. Our respectful obeisances are unto you, O spiritual master, servant of Sarasvati Gosvami. You are kindly preaching the message of Lord Caitanyadeva and delivering the Western countries, which are filled with impersonalism and voidism. Panca-tattva Mantra (jaya) sri-krsna-caitanya prabhu nityananda sri-advaita gadadhara srivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrnda TRANSLATION I offer my obeisances to Sri Krsna Caitanya, Prabhu Nityananda, Sri Advaita, Gadadhara, Srivasa and all others in the line of devotion. Hare Krsna Maha-mantra HARE KRSNA HARE KRSNA KRSNA KRSNA HARE HARE HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE TRANSLATION My dear Lord, and the spiritual energy of the Lord, kindly engage me in Your service. I am now embarrassed with this material service. Please engage me in Your service. Mantras sung at the end of the kirtana praising Lord Caitanya and Srila Prabhupada Jaya Gaura Nitai! Jaya Prabhupada! Prema-dhvani Prayers • jaya om visnu-pada paramahamsa parivrajakacarya astottara-sata sri srimad a. c. bhaktivedanta svami prabhupada-ki jaya. All glories to the acarya Om Visnu-pada 108 Tridandi Gosvami A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who travels everywhere, preaching the glories of Hari, and who is situated on the highest platform of sannyasa. • jaya om visnu-pada paramahamsa parivrajakacarya astottara-sata sri srimad bhaktisiddhanta sarasvati gosvami maharaja prabhupada-ki jaya. All glories to the acarya Om Visnu-pada 108 Tridandi Gosvami Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada, who travels across the earth, preaching the glories of Hari, and who is situated on the highest platform of sannyasa. • ananta koti vaisnava-vrnda-ki jaya. All glories to the unlimited millions of Vaisnavas. • namacarya srila haridasa thakura-ki jaya. All glories to the Namacarya Srila Haridasa Thakura. • prem-se kaho sri-krsna-caitanya prabhu nityananda sri advaita, gadadhara, srivasadi gaura-bhakta-vrnda-ki jaya. Call out with love the names Sri Krsna Caitanya, Prabhu Nityananda, Sri Advaita, Sri Gadadhara, Srivasa and all the devotees of Lord Caitanya. • sri sri radha-krsna, gopa-gopinatha, syama-kunda, radha-kunda giri-govardhana-ki jaya. All glories to Radha and Krsna, the cowherd boys and girls, the cows, Syama-kunda, Radha-kunda and Govardhana Hill. • sri mayapur dhama-ki jaya. All glories to Sri Mayapur-dhama. • sri vrndavana dhama-ki jaya. All glories to Sri Vrndavana-dhama. • ganga-mayi-ki jaya. All glories to Ganga-devi. • yamuna-mayi-ki jaya. All glories to Yamuna-devi. • bhakti-devi-ki jaya. All glories to Bhakti-devi. • tulasi-devi-ki jaya. All glories to Tulasi-devi. • sri hari-nama sankirtana-ki jaya. All glories to the congregational chanting of the holy name of Hari. • grantha-raja srimad-bhagavatam-ki jaya. All glories to the king of books, Srimad-Bhagavatam. • samaveta bhakta-vrnda-ki jaya. All glories to the assembled devotees. • gaura-premanande hari-haribol. Chant the names Hari! Hari! in the ecstasy of Caitanya-prema. • All glories to the assembled devotees. [three times] • All glories to Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga. • All glories to Srila Prabhupada. Sri Nrsimha Pranama namas te narasimhaya prahladahlada-dayine hiranyakasipor vaksah-sila-tanka-nakhalaye ito nrsimhah parato nrsimho yato yato yami tato nrsimhah bahir nrsimho hrdaye nrsimho nrsimham adim saranam prapadye tava kara-kamala-vare nakham adbhuta-srngam dalita-hiranyakasipu-tanu-bhrngam kesava dhrta-narahari-rupa jaya jagadisa hare TRANSLATION I offer my obeisances to Lord Narasimha who gives joy to Prahlada Maharaja and whose nails are like chisels on the stonelike chest of the demon Hiranyakasipu. Lord Nrsimha is here and also there. Wherever I go Lord Nrsimha is there. He is in the heart and is outside as well. I surrender to Lord Nrsimha, the origin of all things and the supreme refuge. O Kesava! O Lord of the universe! O Lord Hari, who have assumed the form of half-man, half-lion! All glories to You! Just as one can easily crush a wasp between one's fingernails, so in the same way the body of the wasplike demon Hiranyakasipu has been ripped apart by the wonderful pointed nails on Your beautiful lotus hands. Sri Tulasi-pranama (om) vrndayai tulasi-devyai priyayai kesavasya ca visnu-bhakti-prade devi satyavatyai namo namah I offer my repeated obeisances unto Vrnda, Srimati Tulasi-devi, who is very dear to Lord Kesava. O goddess, you bestow devotional service to Krsna and you possess the highest truth. Sri Tulasi-puja-kirtana and Sri Tulasi Pradaksina Mantra namo namah tulasi krsna-preyasi namo namah radha-krsna-seva pabo ei abilasi ye tomara sarana loy, tara vancha purna hoy krpa kori' koro tare vrndavana-vasi mora ei abhilasa, vilasa kunje dio vasa nayana heribo sada yugala-rupa-rasi ei nivedana dhara, sakhira anugata koro seva-adhikara diye koro nija dasi dina krsna-dase koy, ei yena mora hoy sri-radha-govinda-preme sada yena bhasi yani kani ca papani brahma-hatyadikani ca tani tani pranasyanti pradaksinah pade pade O Tulasi, beloved of Krsna, I bow before you again and again. My desire is to obtain the service of Sri Sri Radha and Krsna. Whoever takes shelter of you has his wishes fulfilled. Bestowing your mercy on him, you make him a resident of Vrndavana. My desire is that you will also give me a residence in the pleasure groves of Sri Vrndavana-dhama. Thus within my vision I will always behold the beautiful pastimes of Radha and Krsna. I beg you to make me a follower of the cowherd damsels of Vraja. Please give me the privilege of devotional service and make me your own maidservant. This very fallen and lowly servant of Krsna prays, "May I always swim in the love of Sri Sri Radha and Govinda." When a person circumambulates Srimati Tulasi-devi, all the sins he may have committed are destroyed at every step, even the sin of killing a brahmana. Sri Sri Siksastaka Eight Instructions (by Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu) ceto-darpana-marjanam bhava-maha-davagni-nirvapanam sreyah-kairava-candrika-vitaranam vidya-vadhu-jivanam anandambudhi-vardhanam prati-padam purnamrtasvadanam sarvatma-snapanam param vijayate sri-krsna-sankirtanam namnam akari bahudha nija-sarva-saktis tatrarpita niyamitah smarane na kalah etadrsi tava krpa bhagavan mamapi durdaivam idrsam ihajani nanuragah trnad api sunicena taror api sahisnuna amanina manadena kirtaniyah sada harih na dhanam na janam na sundarim kavitam va jagad-isa kamaye mama janmani janmanisvare bhavatad bhaktir ahaituki tvayi ayi nanda-tanuja kinkaram patitam mam visame bhavambudhau krpaya tava pada-pankaja- sthita-dhuli-sadrsam vicintaya nayanam galad-asru-dharaya vadanam gadgada-ruddhaya gira pulakair nicitam vapuh kada tava-nama-grahane bhavisyati yugayitam nimesena caksusa pravrsayitam sunyayitam jagat sarvam govinda-virahena me aslisya va pada-ratam pinastu mam adarsanan marma-hatam karotu va yatha tatha va vidadhatu lampato mat-prana-nathas tu sa eva naparah 1) Glory to the sri-krsna-sankirtana, which cleanses the heart of all the dust accumulated for years and extinguishes the fire of conditional life, of repeated birth and death. This sankirtana movement is the prime benediction for humanity at large because it spreads the rays of the benediction moon. It is the life of all transcendental knowledge. It increases the ocean of transcendental bliss, and it enables us to fully taste the nectar for which we are always anxious. 2) O my Lord, Your holy name alone can render all benediction to living beings, and thus You have hundreds and millions of names, like Krsna and Govinda. In these transcendental names You have invested all Your transcendental energies. There are not even hard and fast rules for chanting these names. O my Lord, out of kindness You enable us to easily approach You by Your holy names, but I am so unfortunate that I have no attraction for them. 3) One should chant the holy name of the Lord in a humble state of mind, thinking oneself lower than the straw in the street; one should be more tolerant than a tree, devoid of all sense of false prestige, and should be ready to offer all respect to others. In such a state of mind one can chant the holy name of the Lord constantly. 4) O almighty Lord, I have no desire to accumulate wealth, nor do I desire beautiful women, nor do I want any number of followers. I only want Your causeless devotional service, birth after birth. 5) O son of Maharaja Nanda [Krsna], I am Your eternal servitor, yet somehow or other I have fallen into the ocean of birth and death. Please pick me up from this ocean of death and place me as one of the atoms at Your lotus feet. 6) O my Lord, when will my eyes be decorated with tears of love flowing constantly when I chant Your holy name? When will my voice choke up, and when will the hairs of my body stand on end at the recitation of Your name? 7) O Govinda! Feeling Your separation, I am considering a moment to be like twelve years or more. Tears are flowing from my eyes like torrents of rain, and I am feeling all vacant in the world in Your absence. 8) I know no one but Krsna as my Lord, and He shall remain so even if He handles me roughly by His embrace or makes me brokenhearted by not being present before me. He is completely free to do anything and everything, for He is always my worshipful Lord, unconditionally. Sri Sri Sad-gosvamy-astaka (excerpt) Eight Prayers to the Six Gosvamis (by Srinivasa Acarya) nana-sastra-vicaranaika-nipunau sad-dharma-samsthapakau lokanam hita-karinau tri-bhuvane manyau saranyakarau radha-krsna-padaravinda-bhajananandena mattalikau vande rupa-sanatanau raghu-yugau sri-jiva-gopalakau I offer my respectful obeisances unto the six Gosvamis, namely Sri Rupa Gosvami, Sri Sanatana Gosvami, Sri Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami, Sri Raghunatha dasa Gosvami, Sri Jiva Gosvami, and Sri Gopala Bhatta Gosvami, who are very expert in scrutinizingly studying all the revealed scriptures with the aim of establishing eternal religious principles for the benefit of all human beings. Thus they are honored all over the three worlds and they are worth taking shelter of because they are absorbed in the mood of the gopis and are engaged in the transcendental loving service of Radha and Krsna. The Ten Offenses Against the Holy Name (1) To blaspheme the devotees who have dedicated their lives for propagating the holy name of the Lord. (2) To consider the names of demigods like Lord Siva or Lord Brahma to be equal to, or independent of, the name of Lord Visnu. (3) To disobey the orders of the spiritual master or to consider him to be an ordinary man. It is also an offense to praise a bogus guru (4) To blaspheme the Vedic literature or literature in pursuance of the Vedic version. (5) To consider the glories of chanting Hare Krsna to be imaginations. (6) To give some interpretation on the holy name of the Lord. (7) To commit sinful activities on the strength of the holy name of the Lord. (8) To consider the chanting of Hare Krsna one of the auspicious ritualistic activities offered in the Vedas as fruitive activities (karma-kanda). (9) To instruct a faithless person about the glories of the holy name. (10) To not have complete faith in the chanting of the holy names and to maintain material attachments, even after understanding so many instructions on this matter. Prayer to Vaisnavas vancha-kalpatarubhyas ca krpa-sindhubhya eva ca patitanam pavanebhyo vaisnavebhyo namo namah TRANSLATION I offer my respectful obeisances unto all the Vaisnava devotees of the Lord. They can fulfill the desires of everyone, just like desire trees, and they are full of compassion for the fallen souls. Greeting The Deities govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami venum kvanantam aravinda-dalayataksam barhavatamsam asitambuda-sundarangam kandarpa-koti-kaminiya-visesa-sobham govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami angani yasya sakalendriya-vrtti-manti pasyanti panti kalayanti ciram jaganti ananda-cinmaya-sad-ujjvala-vigrahasya govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is adept in playing on His flute, with blooming eyes like lotus petals with head decked with peacock's feather, with the figure of beauty tinged with the hue of blue clouds, and His unique loveliness charming millions of Cupids. [Brahma-samhita Text 5.30] I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, whose transcendental form is full of bliss, truth, substantiality and is thus full of the most dazzling splendor. Each of the limbs of that transcendental figure possesses in Himself, the full-fledged functions of all the organs, and eternally sees, maintains and manifests the infinite universes, both spiritual and mundane. [Brahma-samhita Text 5.32] Sri Guru-vandana The Worship of Sri Guru (from Srila Narottama Das Thakura's Prema-bhakti-candrika) sri-guru-carana-padma, kevala-bhakati-sadma, bando mui savadhana mate jahara prasade bhai, e bhava toriya jai, krsna-prapti hoy jaha ha'te guru-mukha-padma-vakya, cittete koriya aikya, ar na koriho mane asa sri-guru-carane rati, ei se uttama-gati, je prasade pure sarva asa cakhu-dan dilo jei, janme janme prabhu sei, divya jnan hrde prokasito prema-bhakti jaha hoite, avidya vinasa jate, vede gay jahara carito sri-guru karuna-sindhu, adhama janara bandhu, lokanath lokera jivana ha ha prabhu koro doya, deho more pada-chaya, ebe jasa ghusuk tribhuvana 1) The lotus feet of our spiritual master are the only way by which we can attain pure devotional service. I bow to his lotus feet with great awe and reverence. By his grace one can cross the ocean of material suffering and obtain the mercy of Krsna. 2) My only wish is to have my consciousness purified by the words emanating from his lotus mouth. Attachment to his lotus feet is the perfection that fulfills all desires. 3) He opens my darkened eyes and fills my heart with transcendental knowledge. He is my Lord birth after birth. From him ecstatic prema emanates; by him ignorance is destroyed. The Vedic scriptures sing of his character. 4) Our spiritual master is the ocean of mercy, the friend of the poor, and the lord and master of the devotees. O master! Be merciful unto me. Give me the shade of your lotus feet. Your fame is spread all over the three worlds. Jaya Radha-Madhava by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura jaya radha-madhava kunja-bihari gopi-jana-vallabha giri-vara-dhari jasoda-nandana, braja-jana-ranjana, jamuna-tira-vana-cari TRANSLATION Krsna is the lover of Radha. He displays many amorous pastimes in the groves of Vrndavana, He is the lover of the cowherd maidens of Vraja, the holder of the great hill named Govardhana, the beloved son of Mother Yasoda, the delighter of the inhabitants of Vraja, and He wanders in the forests along the banks of the river Yamuna. Mantra Recited Before Srimad-Bhagavatam Class om namah bhagavate vasudevaya EVENING PROGRAM Gaura-arati (from Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura's Gitavali) (kiba) jaya jaya goracander aratiko sobha jahnavi-tata-vane jaga-mana-lobha jaga-jana-mana-lobha (Chanted the second time only) gauranger arotik sobha jaga-jana-mana-lobha dakhine nitaicand, bame gadadhara nikate adwaita, srinivasa chatra-dhara bosiyache goracand ratna-simhasane arati koren brahma-adi deva-gane narahari-adi kori' camara dhulaya sanjaya-mukunda-basu-ghos-adi gaya sankha baje ghanta baje baje karatala madhura mrdanga baje parama rasala sankha baje ghanta baje madhur madhur madhur baje bahu-koti candra jini' vadana ujjvala gala-dese bana-mala kore jhalamala siva-suka-narada preme gada-gada bhakativinoda dekhe gorara sampada 1) All glories, all glories to the beautiful arati ceremony of Lord Caitanya. This Gaura-arati is taking place in a grove on the banks of the Jahnavi [Ganges] and is attracting the minds of all living entities in the universe. 2) On Lord Caitanya's right side is Lord Nityananda, and on His left is Sri Gadadhara. Nearby stands Sri Advaita, and Srivasa Thakura is holding an umbrella over Lord Caitanya's head. 3) Lord Caitanya has sat down on a jeweled throne, and the demigods, headed by Lord Brahma, perform the arati ceremony. 4) Narahari Sarakara and other associates of Lord Caitanya fan Him with camaras, and devotees headed by Sanjaya Pandita, Mukunda Datta, and Vasu Ghosa sing sweet kirtana. 5) Conchshells, bells, and karatalas resound, and the mrdangas play very sweetly. This kirtana music is supremely sweet and relishable to hear. 6) The brilliance of Lord Caitanya's face conquers millions upon millions of moons, and the garland of forest flowers around His neck shines. 7) Lord Siva, Sukadeva Gosvami, and Narada Muni are all there, and their voices are choked with the ecstasy of transcendental love. Thus Thakura Bhaktivinoda envisions the glory of Lord Sri Caitanya. OTHER ADDITIONAL SONGS CHANTED OCCASSIONALLY Nama-sankirtana hari haraye namah krsna yadavaya namah yadavaya madhavaya kesavaya namah gopala govinda rama sri-madhusudana giridhari gopinatha madana-mohana sri-caitanya-nityananda sri-advaita-sita hari guru vaisnaba bhagavata gita sri-rupa sanatana bhatta-raghunatha sri-jiva gopala-bhatta dasa-raghunatha 1) O Lord Hari, O Lord Krsna, I offer my obeisances to You, who are known as Hari, Yadava, Madhava, and Kesava. 2) O Gopala, Govinda, Rama, Sri Madhusudana, Giridhari Gopinatha, and Madana-mohana! 3) All glories to Sri Caitanya and Nityananda! All glories to Sri Advaita Acarya and His consort, Sri Sita Thakurani. All glories to Lord Hari, to the spiritual master, the Vaisnavas, Srimad-Bhagavatam, and Srimad Bhagavad-Gita. 4) All glories to Sri Rupa Gosvami, Sanatana Gosvami, Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami, Sri Jiva Gosvami, Gopala Bhatta Gosvami, and Raghunatha dasa Gosvami. Prayer to Lord Govinda govinda jaya jaya, gopala jaya jaya Radha-Ramana hari, govinda jaya jaya All glories to Lord Sri Govinda! All glories to Lord Sri Gopala! All glories to Lord Sri Hari, the husband of Radharani.

Time is money, as they say in the west, but how to use time in the best way possible has not been so nicely explained in this hemisphere. This article details the ancient teachings of the Vedas on the pressing subject of time. Although we heard the phrase "time is money" many times, Canakya Pandit says that a second of wasted time cannot be bought back even for millions of dollars. Thus even a second of time is more valuable than millions and billions of dollars. In fact, time is priceless. All the more priceless it is, if the living entity is given a human form of life. People in general are unaware that this life is meant for self-realization and they mainly use it to satisfy animalistic propensities of eating, sleeping, mating and defending. In this way, they qualify themselves for the bodies of hogs, dogs, etc. There cannot be anything more lamentable than receiving a huge sum of money (for example 1 billion dollars) and then losing it. With one billion dollars, one can fully satisfy his sense gratification, buy a house, set up a business, invest, etc. But if one loses the whole sum for no reason, it is a very sad occasion. However, losing the opportunity to acquire spiritual knowledge to elevate ourselves to the position of perpetual happiness in the spiritual world is way much more serious since even the greatest billionaire must meet with death at the end of his sense gratificatory life. For this reason a great devotee Prahlada Maharaja urges us in the pages of the Srimad Bhagavatam not to waste time and begin to process of Krishna consciousness from the early childhood. As soon as one can speak and especially hear, he should be educated about the real purpose of life. Srila Prabhupada remarks in this connection: "There was a practical examination. A father and his daughter appeared for a BA examination in India. The daughter passed and the father failed. It was in the newspaper. Yes, this happened because the old man cannot take education. Therefore this Krsna consciousness should be taught from the very beginning of life. The younger you are, the better you capture it. Just like we were educated from the very birth by our father. The same thing, what I am doing now in larger scale, I did in my childhood, Radha-Krsna worship and Ratha-yatra, the same thing." Prahlada Maharaja says: kaumara acaret prajno dharman bhagavatan iha durlabham manusam janma tad apy adhruvam arthadam "One who is sufficiently intelligent should use the human form of body from the very beginning of life—in other words, from the tender age of childhood—to practice the activities of devotional service, giving up all other engagements. The human body is most rarely achieved, and although temporary like other bodies, it is meaningful because in human life one can perform devotional service. Even a slight amount of sincere devotional service can give one complete perfection." (SB 7.6.1) The word kaumara used in this verse refers to a span of life from five to ten years of age. Prahlada Maharaja advises that a human being should learn about the Bhagavata-dharma from the beginning of his kaumara age and not to keep it aside for later. One should avoid thinking: "When I am an old man, then I shall read the scriptures." If one actually has any sense he will practice spiritual life from his very boyhood. Of course, it is not expected that a boy of five years has any sense, but it is the duty of the father and mother to engage the boy from the beginning of his life in the matter of devotional service. It is the duty of every father, every state, every guru, every friend, every relative to engage the boy in spiritual life. Sastra says, pita na sa syaj janani na sa syat na mocayed yah samupeta-mrtyum: "One should not become a father or a mother if one cannot liberate one's dependants from the path of repeated birth and death." The mother's duty to her child is to think: "This child has come to me through my womb, so let this be his last birth. He will not have to come back through a womb of another mother anymore. I will teach him in such a way that he will be liberated and go back to home, back to Godhead." That is the real contraceptive method: "I should not produce cats and dogs, but produce children who will never have to enter into another mother's womb again." Srila Prabhupada remarks: "Fortunately we had the opportunity to be born of a Vaisnava father who took care of us very nicely. He was a great Vaisnava who worshiped Radha-Krsna. Our family Deity was Damodara, and we are hereditary Vaisnavas, followers of Nitai-Gaura. So by the grace of Krsna, from the very beginning of my life I was Krsna conscious by family tradition and by my father's caretaking. And then, when I was grown up, my spiritual master taught us. It is for this reason we have got some sense. Actually, my father's ardent desire was that his son may become a Vaisnava. And my Guru Maharaja's training has actually put me in this position. My father was a pure devotee of Krsna. In my boyhood age he instructed me in the art of playing mrdanga. He also gave me a form of Radha-Krsna to worship and a chariot for Lord Jagannatha for duly observing the Ratha yatra festival as my childhood play. He was kind to me, and I imbibed from him the ideas later on solidified by my spiritual master, the eternal father. So I got a good father and a good spiritual master. That's all." We should therefore scientifically understand the purpose of this life and educate our children in Krishna consciousness, otherwise what is the use of sex life? In this way, even if we do not attain perfection, our pure children will be able to deliver us from a hellish condition. But unless the children are saved from the victimization of modern Kali yuga life full of sinful activities how will they be able to retain their purity? It is of great importance to establish spiritual cultural movement where children, parents and all classes of society can be systematically educated under the guidance of the bona fide spiritual master. We must somehow endeavor to establish such an institution. Otherwise all material aspirations are nothing but a waste of valuable time.

A liberated soul knows all the secrets of everyone because has full knowledge of everything, being connected to the supreme absolute truth. Therefore when one hears from such a liberated soul he can get access to all secrets, including the very root of our existence within this world. Read the following article to find out more. The liberated acharya is free from any attachment to the material world, nor does his character contains even a slight tinge of lust. Therefore he speaks the truth as it is even at the risk of being killed by the opposite party of motivated non-devotees. By ardent hearing from such a liberated acharya, we have the unique opportunity to understand the material world and its dark secrets. By such hearing we also can become liberated and achieve the supreme abode of the Lord at the time of death. The material lust is the perverted reflection of the love of God which is natural for every living entity. If one is educated in Krsna consciousness from the very beginning, the natural love of God cannot deteriorate into lust. However, when love of God deteriorates into lust, it is very difficult to return to the normal condition. Since lust is the perverted reflection of the love of Godhead, it is its essence eternal and in its original state it serves as the ever-generating incentive for the unalloyed devotion. Pure devotees situated on the highest stage of spiritual advancement feel always incompetent in their service and thus eternally try to pursue the ever-escaping ideal of perfection of their service. Such "imperfection" is the transcendental engine of their love for the Lord, who is as unlimited as their unlimited desire to serve Him. When such pure love is diverted to any object of this material world whether a wife, husband, family, society, mankind or even the whole intergalactic population of the sum total of all universes it only brings frustration. Such lust cannot be satisfied by any material means and thus simply degrades the living entity to the most abominable species of life. Srila Prabhupada, who is a liberated soul fully aware of such a condition of the materialistic living entities states: "From the very beginning of life, those who are ajitendriya, who cannot control their senses, are educated only for sense gratification, as we have seen in the Western countries. Thus the entire duration of a life of even one hundred years is wasted and misused, and at the time of death one transmigrates to another body, which may not be human. At the end of one hundred years, one who has not acted as a human being in a life of tapasya (austerity and penance) must certainly be embodied again in a body like those of cats, dogs and hogs. Therefore this life of lusty desires and sense gratification is extremely risky." (SB 7.6.9 purport) Just as in the prison one is bound by the shackles, the conditioned soul is shackled in this world of misery by sex desire. When lust is not elevated from the mode of passion to the mode of goodness it degenerate into the mode of ignorance and covers the living entity's knowledge. Lord Krsna states that such lust is the enemy of the world, killer of knowledge and self-realization. Therefore in any civilized society, the leaders should endeavor to elevate the population from their on-going bondage to lust. For this purpose the Lord has spoken the Bhagavad-gita, which represents the summum bonum of all knowledge and the essence of the Bhagavad-gita has been passed down since that time through the disciplic succession of self-realized spiritual masters. This is done through a)the arrangement of the society into social divisions according to one's propensity and engagement b)through the scientific process of spiritual family-planning. The combined system is known by the name of varna asrama dharma and its purpose is to elevate people's lust to love of God. When this system is neglected or perverted by self-motivated so-called spiritual leaders, this natural propensity of the living entity to serve the Lord in pure love manifests in various social and sexual perversions. Thus disease, pandemic, social injustice, wars pursue. Only a fool number one tries to disassociate the ills of the society from the uncontrolled sex life and similarly only a pure devotee exposes this root of all material problems. Srila Prabhupada notes: Prabhupada: The unmarried girls, they keep dog for sex. You do not know? He knows. You will find very beautiful girl is keeping very big dog. They are trained to have sex life. And that is cause of syphilis. The dog is full of syphilitic germs. It is called phiranga in the Ayur Veda. And one who has got syphilitic germs, his life is doomed. Unless it is properly treated and cured, so many disease will follow. So many. This craziness is also due to syphilitic poison, parents. Sudama: There is a case of a very famous gangster, Al Capone, and others. They died in the prison house of syphilis of the mind, brain. Prabhupada: Just see. Sudama: They went crazy. Prabhupada: So how much by nature the sex life is condemned in so many ways. Therefore we say "No illicit sex." It will save you from so many encumbrances. Sex life is not denied, but this unrestricted sex life is very very abominable in human society. But they are encouraging unrestricted sex life. They are distributing tablets, encouraging others to have sex life. Never mind. Unmarried girls they are keeping dogs. One lady in America, she told me that the dogs are kept for this purpose. When I was going to walk in that park in Brooklyn, the young girls are bringing dogs, big, big dogs. You were not at that time with me? Syamasundara: Yes. I don't remember. Prabhupada: Bhavananda. Bhavananda was taking me to that big park. Syamasundara: Yes. I went. Prospect. Was it called Prospect? Prabhupada: Prospect Park. Yes. Go on. Just try to understand the situation of the world. And you are living in this world. How much careful you have to become. (Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.9.9 -- Tokyo, April 25, 1972, Informal Class in Room) What makes a beautiful girl to have sex with a dog? What makes others to engage in all sort of abominable sex life? After all, this is a very dirty and a disgusting activity. Srila Prabhupada explains on the basis of the statement in the 2nd Canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam that the genital organs are covered by a subtle substance invisible to our eyes that gives the intense pleasure of sex. For this reason, one does not hesitate to beget children and suffer the burden of responsibility or engage in the most abominable sex acts with dogs etc. Srila Prabhupada states: " The genitals and the pleasure of begetting counteract the distresses of family encumbrances. One would cease to generate altogether if there were not, by the grace of the Lord, a coating, a pleasure-giving substance, on the surface of the generative organs. This substance gives a pleasure so intense that it counteracts fully the distress of family encumbrances. A person is so captivated by this pleasure-giving substance that he is not satisfied by begetting a single child, but increases the number of children, with great risk in regard to maintaining them, simply for this pleasure-giving substance. This pleasure-giving substance is not false, however, because it originates from the transcendental body of the Lord. In other words, the pleasure-giving substance is a reality, but it has taken on an aspect of pervertedness on account of material contamination. In the material world, sex life is the cause of many distresses on account of material contact. Therefore, the sex life in the material world should not be encouraged beyond the necessity. There is a necessity for generating progeny even in the material world, but such generation of children must be carried out with full responsibility for spiritual values. The spiritual values of life can be realized in the human form of material existence, and the human being must adopt family planning with reference to the context of spiritual values, and not otherwise. The degraded form of family restriction by use of contraceptives, etc., is the grossest type of material contamination. Materialists who use these devices want to fully utilize the pleasure potency of the coating on the genitals by artificial means, without knowing the spiritual importance. And without knowledge of spiritual values, the less intelligent man tries to utilize only the material sense pleasure of the genitals. (SB 2.6.9 purport) It is therefore of utmost importance for the society as a whole to arrange scientific educational institution that would educate young men and young women in the process of brahmacarya (celibate student life) and later on transcendental householder life. By engaging one's senses and propensities in the service of Krishna, one can become free from the lower taste and elevate one's consciousness to the highest perfectional state.

One philosophy that permeates the modern way of thinking is that, after the death of the body, everything is finished. There is no continuation of consciousness, rather everything ends, and not even the energies manifest somewhere else in a different form. Such athiestic speculations are ruining society and this article aims to rectify the misconception. If I told you that your wallet and all your money in it miraculously disappeared, you would not be pleased. In this hypothetical scenario, the moment your wallet had disappeared, the question: "Where did it disappear?" would have automatically appeared. Similarly, there is a theory proposed in the world which claims that our consciousness miraculously disappears when the body dies and a sane person naturally inquires: "Where would it disappear?" To say that your wallet just isn't anymore would provoke a suspicion in me. I would be naturally suspecting that my wallet disappeared from my pocket into your pocket. Things just do not magically appear and disappear. Only persons of child-like nature could be bewildered by tricks of a magician who miraculously make things disappear in his magical hat. A sane person can immediately spot a rascal who steals wallets from people's pockets. Similarly a sober person can understand that the "magical disappearance of consciousness" story is a mere crafty excuse to steal our identity from ourselves in order to plug our bodies into a soul-less mechanistic matrix-like system of exploitation of small animals by big animals that we call a modern materialistic society. If the consciousness arises simply by some favorable combination of chemicals in the body, it does not really matter that much. It is a mere illusory projection that the chemicals give rise to for the time being and as soon as the favorable condition changes into unfavorable, the projection of consciousness disappears from the screen of the already unconscious body. There are so many chemicals wasted in the modern welfare, but no one in the world laments for such a loss. Similarly, the natural conclusion of the accidental magical disappearance of the consciousness story is that life itself should not be lamented for since it has no real value. Thus exploitation, killing and abuse of other living entities can be fully justified. We, the followers of the Bhagavad-gita As It Is, tormented by the regretful state of affairs in the world are always very adapt at pointing out the logical fallacy in such a proposed theory of magical disappearance. Suppose the consciousness is a mere temporary projection of the chemical composition of the body, we must ask as to who is the observer of such a projection? We have the experience of watching a movie on tv or in a cinema, which is nothing but a projection of still photographs in high speed on the screen. But when the movie ends and the projection is finished, me, the viewer of the movie is not finished. I continue existing and perhaps I go for a walk, take a bath or watch another movie. There is hardly any connection between the disappearance of the cinematographic projection and my existence as a viewer. Analogy necessitates the highest number of similarities between two different phenomena. Therefore the analogy of projection cannot be applied in this case. Although the movie shown is a projection, my act of viewing is not a projection. In fact every movie is created for the pleasure of the viewers. The higher the pleasure of the viewer, the higher is the success of the respective movie. The proper and logical understanding of the phenomena of consciousness is that it is always there, while the material body is a mere projection created by the modes of material nature to facilitate the pleasure of the soul. Lord Krsna, the supreme conscious authority explains: "As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change." (Bg 2.13) This statement is not dogmatic, but it deals with an experience that can be directly perceived by everyone. Our body has changed so many times, but we, the viewer of those changes, remain watching a movie called "life". Since my childhood body has been replaced cell by cell by my present grown-up body and I cannot perceive its existence anymore, it is as good as a dead body laying in a cemetery completely dispersed over a long period of time into nothingness. Its constituents are ever present by the law of preservation of energy. In other words, the energy that the material elements consists of does not disappear into nothingness. It simply changes its form. For example, the dead body becomes a fertilizer for the soil, from the soil a plants grows, the plant is eaten by an animal etc. But the form of that particular body is no more. This can be compared to the individual frames that the movie consists of. As soon as the frame is projected on the screen, it disappears forever from our sight. Similarly, all the various bodily "frames" are projected into the time and space of the material dimension by the modes of material nature, but the viewer, which is the atma, the spirit soul is always present as the viewer and thus the enjoyer of such a bodily form. When the old body is finished, it is a logical conclusion that the viewer, namely the spirit soul continues its existence in some other bodily form according to the karmic law of material nature. To say that the consciousness, which is the symptom of the soul in the body, disappears with the old body lacks scientific and logical basis and should be therefore delegated into the sphere of mere sentimental beliefs. A soul frustrated with the nature of material existence and unaware of his responsibilities in the human form takes shelter of such beliefs in order to hide the fact that he or she is living in this world simply to exploit other living entities in the name of "love". These non-sensical beliefs and their propagation give justification to violence both spiritual and material. Genuine lovers of mankind must vehemently wipe out such theories or at least expose them to a sane section of the society for the healthy progress of souls back to their spiritual nature. This is one of the purposes of the Krsna consciousness movement.

Govardhana puja is an important festival in the Hare Krishna calendar which celebrates Krishna's wonderful lifting of Govardhana hill. The following article is an elaborate realization on this lila and how it relates to us even to this day. Please give it a full read and also leave a comment or a question down below! When the gopis felt they were the most fortunate women in the universe, Krishna immediately disappeared from their sight and was nowhere to be found. Krishna accepts everyone's service, but He does not like one devotee to proudly consider himself better than others. If sometimes there are such feelings, Krsna ends them by changing His attitude toward the devotee. Similarly, when Lord Brahma became bewildered by seeing Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead in his original form of a cowherd boy, he started doubting whether he is an ordinary boy of this world and thus attempted to test the Lord by stealing all his cowherd boyfriends. But Krishna, through his inconceivable potency immediately manifested transcendental replacements for the stolen friends, which obliged Lord Brahma to fall at His feet and beg for forgiveness. Yet another example of such "curbing of a devotee's pride" is the transcendental pastime of lifting the Govardhana hill. Lord Indra, the superintendent of the heavenly planets became furious when Krishna stopped his yajna (sacrifice), and instead advised the inhabitants of Vrndavana to worship the famous Govardhana Hill. Everything in Vrndavana is non-different from the Lord and thus everything in Vrndavana is as much worshipable as the Lord. In fact, Lord Krishna would be incomplete without His dear associates, His pastimes, His holy abode (Goloka Vrndavana). The land of Vrndavana with Govardhana Hill that can be found even today on Indian soil are the transcendental replicas of the original abode of the Lord in the spiritual sky. So when Lord Indra heard of this rebellion of the inhabitants of Vrndavana and how they used the various worship paraphernalia that was meant for his worship to worship the Govardhana Hill, he sends torrents of devastating rainfall with the idea to wipe out Krishna, His associate and the village of Vrndavana off the surface of the world. He became intoxicated with his power as the superintending demigod and considered himself to be the supreme authority on all matters. Srila Prabhupada explains: "Demonically, Indra thought himself to be the all-powerful supreme personality. When demons become very powerful, they defy the supreme controller, the Personality of Godhead. Indra, though not a demon, was puffed up by his material position, and he wanted to challenge the supreme controller. He thought himself, at least for the time being, as powerful as Krsna." (KB 25: Devastating Rainfall in Vrndavana) Thus he sent the most powerful of his various rainclouds to flood Krishna and his associates. Krishna then lifted the Govardhana Hill and thus protected all his devotees under a gigantic umbrella. This curbed the pride of Indra who came to his senses and begged for forgiveness for his offenses. One can easily become bewildered by Krishna's pastimes and by His transcendental personality. Krishna as He is is not manifested to the impersonalists and to the gross materialists. For them He is covered by His yoga maya potency and thus they think of Him as an ordinary man. Krishna says: "All of them-as they surrender unto Me - I reward accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Prtha." (Bg. 4.11) Similarly, it depends on the attitude of the devotee whether Krishna reveals Himself to him or not. It is therefore important for the conditioned souls not to be proud and not envy the Lord. Otherwise their internal vision of Krishna becomes killed by their offenses. Just as one should not envy the Lord, one should similarly not envy the devotees. We may mention that just like Indra became a victim of mundane pride, sometimes even great sannyasis and preachers become victimized by false pride and in their envy they commit serious offenses that pushed them down to the level of impersonalists etc. Srila Prabhupada states that he was also envied by some of his unscrupulous Godbrothers in his grhasta lila: "Although they knew that Prabhupada liked me very much, because I am grhastha, I was known as paca-grhastha. Paca-grhastha means a rotten grhastha. And now they say, 'This grhastha has come out more than us? What is this?'" (Morning Walk -- February 3, 1976, Mayapura) Then later on such offensive Godbrothers were taught a lesson, in a fashion similar to Indra's, when the true preaching glory and ability was exhibited by the personality of Srila Prabhupada by distributing the Krishna consciousness movement all over the world and thus fulfilling the prophecy of Lord Caitanya who said that the holy name of Krishna will be heard in every town and village. One should therefore never judge Krishna nor his devotees by their external features and through the vision of materialistic minds, but should carefully consider everything through the vision of guru, sadhu and sastra. Srila Prabhupada notes: "Those who think that Krsna consciousness is limited to a certain section of people, a certain section of devotees or a certain tract of land are generally prone to see the external features of the devotee. Such neophytes, unable to appreciate the exalted service of the advanced devotee, try to bring the maha-bhagavata to their platform. (NoI: verse 6 purport) The Lord out of His causeless mercy always curbs the pride of such neophyte devotees by making his devotees successful despite all the obstacles that they face in propagating the Krishna conscious philosophy as it is, just like He curbs the pride of demigods when they forget His supreme position.

Maybe you've hearing a lot about Govardhan puja around this time of year and are wondering, "what is this Govardhana puja?" Well, I have good news for you; this article is a portion of Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead, (the 10th canto of the Srimad-bhagavatam as translated by Srila Prabhupada) which perfectly and concisely explains this wonderful pastime of Lord Sri Krsna. Upon hearing their prayer, Krsna could understand that Indra, being bereft of his sacrificial honor, was pouring down rain that was accompanied by heavy pieces of ice and strong winds, although all this was out of season. Krsna understood that this was a deliberate exhibition of anger by Indra. He therefore concluded, ”This demigod who thinks himself supreme has shown his great power, but I shall answer him according to My position, and I shall teach him that he is not autonomous in managing universal affairs. I am the Supreme Lord over all, and I shall thus take away his false prestige, which has risen from his power. The demigods are My devotees, and therefore. It is not possible for them to forget My supremacy, but somehow or other he has become puffed up with material power and thus is now maddened. I shall act in such a way as to relieve him of this false prestige. I shall give protection to My pure devotees in Vrndavana, who are at present completely dependent on My mercy and whom I have taken completely under My protection. I must save them by My mystic power.” Thinking in this way, Lord Krsna immediately picked up Govardhana Hill with one hand, exactly as a child picks up a mushroom from the ground. Thus He exhibited His transcendental pastime of lifting Govardhana Hill. Lord Krsna then addressed His devotees, ”My dear brothers, My dear Father, My dear inhabitants of Vrndavana, you can now safely enter under the umbrella of Govardhana Hill, which I have just lifted. Do not be afraid of the hill and think that it will fall from My hand. You have been too much afflicted from the heavy rain and strong wind; therefore I have lifted this hill, which will protect you exactly like a huge umbrella. I think this is a proper arrangement to relieve you of your immediate distress. Be happy along with your animals underneath this great umbrella.” Being assured by Lord Krsna, all the inhabitants of Vrndavana entered beneath the great hill along with their property and animals, and they all appeared to be safe. The inhabitants of Vrndavana and their animals remained there for one week without being disturbed by hunger, thirst or any other discomforts. They were simply astonished to see how Krsna was holding up the mountain with the little finger of His left hand. Seeing the extraordinary mystic power of Krsna, Indra, the king of heaven, was thunderstruck and baffled in his determination. He immediately called for all the clouds and asked them to desist. When the sky became completely cleared of all clouds and there was sunrise again, the strong wind stopped. At that time Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, known now as the lifter of Govardhana Hill, said, ”My dear cowherd men, now you can leave and take your wives, children, cows and valuables, because everything is ended. The inundation has gone down, along with the swelling waters of the river.” All the men loaded their valuables on carts and slowly left with their cows and other paraphernalia. After they had cleared out everything, Lord Krsna very slowly replaced Govardhana Hill in exactly the same position it had been in before. When everything was done, all the inhabitants of Vrndavana approached Krsna with feelings of love and embraced Him with great ecstasy. The gopis, being naturally very affectionate to Krsna, began to offer Him yogurt mixed with their tears, and they poured incessant blessings upon Him. Mother Yasoda, Mother Rohini, Nanda and Balarama, who is the strongest of the strong, embraced Krsna one after another and, from spontaneous feelings of affection, blessed Him over and over again. In the heavens, different demigods from different planetary systems, such as Siddhaloka, Gandharvaloka and Caranaloka, also began to show their complete satisfaction. They poured showers of flowers on the surface of the earth and sounded different conchshells. There was beating of drums, and being inspired by godly feelings, residents of Gandharvaloka began to play on their tambouras to please the Lord. After this incident, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, surrounded by His dear friends and the animals, returned to His home. As usual, the gopis began to chant the glorious pastimes of Lord Krsna with great feeling, for they were chanting from the heart. Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Twenty-fifth Chapter of Krsna, ”Devastating Rainfall in Vrndavana.” Please come to our centre to celebrate this wonderful occasion on Friday, November 5th, 2021.

Govardhana puja is a special day of the year celebrating one of the most wonderful pastimes of lord Krishna; His lifting of the gigantic Govardhana hill on his pinky finger. Devotees take part in the festivities by dancing and chanting around a very delicious hill of Krishna sweets (and of course they take them too!) Please come by the BLISS temple this Friday to dive into an ecstatic Krishna party and also hear a class from His grace Purujit prabhu about the wonderful nature of Krishna. Not to be missed! Please sign up here! https://fb.me/e/IXEsXqxB

I was born in Slovenia and grew up in a small village surrounded by forests and hills. For my whole life nature was all around me and I was always astonished by how everything is connected, the trees, the plants, the animals all living in a balance, governed by an unseen force that is perfectly organizing all of these things. However, when I started going to school, I was often times finding myself staring into the forests just through a closed window, not feeling as a part of the ecosystem, because as modern humans we are part of a different system, supposedly more advanced. A system of capitalistic, technological and impersonal network based on artificial necessities, governed by the modern science. But is it really more advanced or have we just unnecessarily complicated life for ourselves? After turning 15, I started questioning everything around me. I wanted to know how much truth is there in everything that we have unconditionally accepted as truth from the society. This questioning mentality had eventually brought me to the realization that this whole system is very superficial and built on very unstable grounds. Even though the whole economic infrastructure of the world seems very advanced since we are exporting and importing goods from all across the world, this is actually its greatest weakness. Simply if one of the main factors, like oil gets disrupted or runs out, the entire web of connections will collapse and billions will be left without the basic necessities of food, water, clothes and so on. For example, in the past the entire currency used to be based on gold, so it had a set value, but that has been changed and now it is based on nothing. The central bank is free to print as much money as there is needed and they lend it out as debt. The whole world is trillions and trillions in debt, and this practice is continiously increasing the inflation of money, which in turn decreases its value, creating the need for more money to be printed, creating more debt and in this way the circle goes on and on, untill eventually it breaks completely and the previously cherished money becomes worthless overnight, like it has happened many times before in recent history. There is no doubt it can happen again very easily. This realization has brought a good chance to inquire about the solutions. We can do so many scientific and economical adjustments but we can not get over this fact that we need to grow food. The only true solution is to grow food locally and strive for self sufficiency at all cost, which means a self sufficient house, self sufficient village and eventually self sufficient countries. In this way, if one house fails to produce all they need for self sufficiency, the surplus of the village's produce can substitute the missing food or things needed. By doing this, every household becomes like a strong stone, being independent and not relying on the unstable and uncertain importing and exporting of material goods and not relying on the imaginary value of currency, but instead relying on the concrete value of locally grown food. The ecologists and scientists agree, the main problem of humanity is greed. In this connection Stephen Hawking, a famous theoretical physicist with a doctorate in physics says this: "We are in danger of destroying ourselves by our greed and stupidity. We cannot remain looking inwards at ourselves on a small and increasingly polluted and overcrowded planet." There are many well known personalities that agree. We are abusing the resources of mother Earth and producing all kinds of waste, contaminating the air, earth and water, simply because of greed. So how do we decrease this greed that has been driving this civilization for so many hundreds of years? By making all our actions centered around God - Krsna! For example, the United States of America, the most influential country in the world was created by God conscious founding fathers. In his first Inaugural Address on April 30, 1789, George Washington repeatedly talked about God’s blessings upon America, saying; “No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States.” This is the practical secret why America is such a successful country. Even the US dollar says "in God we trust". Sri Isopanisad, a sacred book which is part of the ancient vedas teaches us with the first mantra: "Everything animate or inanimate that is within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord. One should therefore accept only those things necessary for himself, which are set aside as his quota, and one should not accept other things, knowing well to whom they belong." We should know that Krsna or God is the supreme proprietor of everything, and in this way, we will naturally be greatful for anything we are given by Him. But if we are greedy and take those things not meant for us, then we are stealing and we must eventually suffer the karmic reactions. We can see now with the enviromental crisis, wars, social unrest and so many things, these are all the results of abandoning God. We can reasonably conclude that the only position where humanity will reach a true unity and peace with each other, is in Krsna consciousness, or as mentioned above, a God centered society. Krsna consciousness teaches that every desire is like throwing a stone in a lake of water, it creates a ripple effect. If we throw many stones, the ripple expands but ultimately comes in conflict with other ripples. This can be compared to our endeavours that are devoid of God consciousness. Everyone has some idea, but because he is lacking God consciousness, when they expand, eventually the ideas clash with one another. But if we all have God - Krsna in the center, there is only one stone thrown, and from that central point all the ripples can expand and yet never clash with one another. So this is my desire, to create a self sufficient farm community where many people can live in harmony with nature, get trained up in Krsna consciousness, and at the same time, it can be used as a last resort for all the devotees of the Bhaktivedanta Lives In Sound Society across the world, in case the cities become unbearable to live in and unsuitable for preaching. In that case we can all take refuge here, be completely independent of the cities and in this way continue with our devotional service activities and spiritual life. And in the meanwhile the farm can run in conjunction with the BLISS London center and cooperate with the devotees in the big city. We follow a great personality, our Spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who has given us the ancient, scientific knowledge on how to live a God centered life, focused on self realization and rendering devotional service unto God, which is the highest occupation for the human beings. Srila Prabhupada is deriving his knowledge from the disciplic succession of perfected spiritual masters and he is presenting the spiritual knowledge from the ancient Vedas as it is, without the twisting of words, so anyone can understand its deep meaning and importance. This knowledge that Srila Prabhupada has given us has also been appreciated in many universities and scientific circles. Dr. Samuel D. Atkins, the Professor of Sanskrit at Princeton University states: "I am most impressed with A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada's scholarly and authoritative edition of Bhagavad-gita. It is a most valuable work for the scholar as well as the layman and is of great utility as a reference book as well as a textbook. I promptly recommend this edition to my students. It is a beautifully done book." The members of Bhaktivedanta Lives In Sound Society (BLISS), founded by His Grace Purujit prabhu, are taking guidance from Srila Prabhupada and respect him as the top most authority on Krsna consciousness. We live by the instructions given in his books, lectures, conversations, letters etc... One part of his perfect instructions also speaks about opening farms. For example, Srila Prabhupada has written this in a letter to his devotee: “Now we should have self sufficiency. This means to make our own food grains grow and weave our own cloth-like Mayapur. If we have good grains,milk, and cloth life becomes easy and we can save time for preaching and chanting." -Letter to Mahamsa Swami, 19th January, 1975 Of course being self sufficient is a hard task and it does not become accomplished on its own. I believe if we sincerely work together and put Krsna in the middle of all our activities, then we can succeed in this great endeavour and lead this world by example, while living simply and thinking highly.

It does not matter where one is from, what family or occupation he has. All he has to do is take to Krishna consciousness and he can attain the highest perfection. Herein Srila Prabhupada explains the process of diksa and the duty of Indians. One may question how he becomes purified. He's born of a family of dog-eaters. How he becomes purified? It requires . . . according to smarta consideration, he requires next birth. There are two processes of Vedic understanding, Smarta-vicara and Gosvami-vicara. According to Smarta-vicara, unless a person born in a low-grade family takes another birth, he cannot be eligible to become a brahmin. But according to Gosvami-vicara, if he's properly initiated by a bona fide Vaisnava, then he becomes more than a brahmin. Svadyo 'pi sadyah. Immediately he becomes eligible to perform sacrifices. So the problem is that at the present moment we are not taking care . . . I mean that our Indian brahmins, those who are spiritual leaders, they are not actually taking care of the fallen souls. But in the Bhagavad-gita it is sanctioned, it is said clearly: mam hi partha vyapasritya ye 'pi syuh papa-yonayah (BG 9.32). Any person born of low-grade family, papa-yoni, striyo vaisyas tatha sudras te 'pi yanti param gatim . . . so it is the duty of the elevated person, brahmins and Vaisnavas, to take charge of this business. Krsna says, ye 'pi syuh papa-yonayah. Never mind one is born in low-grade family, but he can go back to home, back to Godhead. Te 'pi yanti param gatim. So who will take the initiative to elevate these persons? Unless one who is expert does not take interest for elevating these fallen souls, then how they will be elevated? This is problem. But we are not careful about these affair. Caitanya Mahaprabhu therefore indicated that: bharata-bhumite manusya janma haila yara janma sarthaka kari' kara paropakara (CC Adi 9.41) This is paropakara. Those who are born in low-grade family . . . The most regrettable fact is that in India the brahmins and Vaisnavas, they did not take care of the fallen souls. Once one becomes, somehow or other, a Muhammadan, he has no more chance to come back to the Hindu society. This policy was being followed. And therefore the result is that these fallen souls, whom we call fallen souls, the Muhammadans, they partitioned. Now we are crying. Not only that. I think, from historical point of view, this whole planet was India, Bharata-varsa. This planet was called Bharata-varsa—not this portion of land. But because gradually the Vedic culture become diminished, they separated from this Vedic culture, as we have got actual experience, and within twenty years the Pakistan is taken away from India. So if we follow that policy that one who is born in India as brahmin, except him, nobody can become brahmin, then this Vedic civilization will be, in due course of time, lost. We should be very careful. Therefore this Krsna consciousness movement is spreading Vedic culture outside India, and they are welcoming it, those who are intelligent, they are welcoming it. They are accepting it. We should encourage them. Instead of discouraging this movement, we should encourage, so that the whole world can be united on the platform of this Krsna consciousness movement. If we simply hate low-grade families, low-grade men, that will not solve the problem. Just like when there was political movement in India, the Britishers, they presented so many problems—just like the untouchables, the Muhammadans and so many things. The Britishers, they put forward these problems they were not willing to separate the British rule. Only some high class, higher section of the Hindu, they are trying to separate the British rule. At that time, Gandhi stamped the chamars and the bhangis as harijana. But means as soon as there was the word "harijana," immediately a person would be considered coming from the chamars and the bhangis. But such exalted title, harijana, is offered to personalities like Narada, Brahma, those who are actually associates with Hari. But according to sastra, there is no objection to accept these chamars and the bhangis or any low-grade family to make him harijana, provided he accepts the lotus feet of Krsna in a regular way, by the Vaisnava vidhana. Just recommended by the Gosvamis, Sanatana Gosvami: tatha diksa-vidhanena dvijatvam jayate nrnam. Diksa-vidhanena, by the proper initiative process, one can become dvija, twice-born. Nrnam. Tatha, yatha kan . . . yatha kancanatam yati kamsyam rasa-vidhanena tatha diksa-vidhanena dvijatvam jayate nrnam (Hari-bhakti-vilasa 2.12) This is the injunction of Sanatana Gosvami. Just like by chemical manipulation, by mercury, with kamsya, bell metal . . . this is the suggestion given by Sanatana Gosvami, that as bell metal can be transformed into gold by mixing with mercury, similarly—it is a question of manipulating—similarly, by expert manipulation, even a . . . any man, not low or high, it doesn't matter, any man can be transformed into a brahmin, dvija, twice-born.

The following is an article highlighting the absurdity of our obsession with the body and the distress it causes us to falsely identify with it. Recently the dead body of a woman was found in England. It was in such a horrible state that the police officer upon finding it, put their hats down in honor of the woman. Despite the general consensus telling us that rendering the above mentioned gesture is a noble and praiseworthy action in a situation like this, the Srimad Bhagavatam clearly says that one who considers the body that consists of three dhatus, namely kapha (mucus), pitta (fire), vayu (air) is nothing but an ass. And indeed, if you look around, the death of the body and the dead body itself is carefully taken out of sight of the public eye so our illusion of bodily identification is not violated by an ugly sight. If you try to see a dead body on the internet you must pass through various pop ups that warn you about graphic content. It is just not a nice thing to do -to show us a dead body, especially if the body is mutilated. It hurts our bodily conception of life. In the illusioned state we indeed think of ourselves us a mere piece of insentient flesh and assign personal characteristic of the soul to it while calling it a person, man, woman, British or Chinese, ugly, beautiful or Joe Biden. Srila Prabhupada often gives this example when we associate with him: When your father dies, why do you lament and cry? You say: My father is gone. My father has passed away. But if your father is the body, the body is still laying on the death bed. He has not passed anywhere. Why don't you go interacting with him? The truth of the matter is that you have never seen your father since your father is not the body, but he is the spirit soul that makes the body valuable. SO long the body is inhabited by the spirit soul, even if we slightly pinch it, immediately the person will object. However when the soul leaves the body, we may even chop it into pieces it will never raise concern. The body worship is so prominent that being unable to find the remnants of the bodies who lived in the ancient Vedic culture 5000 years ago, the modern archeologists assume that the Vedic scriptures are simply stories without any connection to reality. Since, it is a known fact in the Vedic tradition that the soul at the time of death find it easier to move on to his next destination if the bodily conception is broken by burning the dead body, the Vedic people would burn the bodies of the deceased immediately after death took place. This is a civilized way to deal with death. It is just another change of the body. The soul as it is remains unchanged and undead. It simply changes location. No one laments for the change of one's clothes, similarly a self realized liberated person with spiritual vision is not at all disturbed when his body or bodies of others cease to function. He does not identify his self with the body at any stage. Thus he is not agitated. However, in our present modern society too much emphasis is given to the body and this is the cause of the feeling of emptiness and frustration since the body cannot give any pleasure to the spirit soul. This type of conception is declared by Krishna as knowledge in the mode of passion: "That knowledge by which a different type of living entity is seen to be dwelling in different bodies is knowledge in the mode of passion." (Bg 18.21). Srila Prabhupada comments on this verse as follows: "The concept that the material body is the living entity and that with the destruction of the body the consciousness is also destroyed is called knowledge in the mode of passion. According to that knowledge, bodies differ from one another because of the development of different types of consciousness, otherwise there is no separate soul which manifests consciousness. The body is itself the soul, and there is no separate soul beyond this body. According to such knowledge, consciousness is temporary. Or else there are no individual souls, but there is an all-pervading soul, which is full of knowledge, and this body is a manifestation of temporary ignorance. Or beyond this body there is no special individual or Supreme Soul. All such conceptions are considered products of the mode of passion." Instead of following such misguided conception, we should focus on the life of the spirit soul and invest our tears and lamentation to the real problem, namely lack of spiritual Krishna consciousness and a lack of spiritual practice in our lives. Narottama dasa Thakura, a great devotee and acarya of the Gaudiya Vaisnava sect, sings: "My Lord, I have simply wasted my life. Having obtained the human body, I have neglected to worship Your Lordship, and therefore I have willingly drunk poison." The human body is especially meant for cultivating knowledge of devotional service to the Lord, without which life becomes full of anxieties and miserable conditions. Therefore, one who has spoiled his life without such cultural activities is advised to leave home without knowledge of friends and relatives and, being thus freed from all obligations of family, society, country, etc., give up the body at some unknown destination so that others may not know where and how he has met his death.

This article explains the basic premise of the Gita and how it applies to our understanding of our present relationships in this material world. 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 injustice. 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 ultimately purpose of our duty and are material assets such as kingdom, money and success a 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 so 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 former 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 gased 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 build 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.