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There is an allowance in the Islamic religion for cow killing, but not en masse as currently being practiced. It's reasoning is very scientific from the karmic point of view, although such allowances are now being taken advantage of. Prabhupada: Yes. In Arabia they were to eat animal but to save him from so many dangerous and sinful life -- he has to kill so many goats -- better kill one life, a camel or a cow. Camel is big animal. So if you kill one animal, camel, it is equal to fifty goats. Tamala Krsna: What about a cow? Prabhupada: A cow is also big animal. Tamala Krsna: So they say like that? Prabhupada: Yes... They don't say cow. They say better kill one big animal. "So instead of becoming sinful for killing so many animals, you better kill..." And that is also sacrificed in the mosque, and that is called koravani. Restriction is there. Tamala Krsna: So there's no... The karma for killing many goats is more severe than killing one cow. Prabhupada: No, no. You become responsible for each and every animal. Tamala Krsna: Irrespective of what kind of animal. Prabhupada: Yes. Now if you can serve the purpose by killing one animal, why should you take the risk of killing many animals? Tamala Krsna: Even if that one animal is a cow. Prabhupada: Yes. Animal is animal. And we say protect cow from economic point of view, krsi-go-raksya-vanijyam [Bg. 18.44]. Without saving cows you cannot get good food, not from the animal point of view. You require milk and milk preparation. January 22-23, 1976, Mayapura

Need some fire in your belly to start chanting Hare Krishna? Let the following quotes by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada on the glories of chanting Hare Krishna inspire you to chant, chant, chant and be happy! Letter to: David Alan Ladner Please continue to chant Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare and your life will most certainly become perfect. Actually real peace is to spread this chanting everywhere. That we are doing. Srila Prabhupada Letter to: Anil Grover Fortunately, by the grace of Lord Caitanya, this Krishna Consciousness revival is made very easy, simply by chanting the HareKrishna Mantra. Therefore, I advise you to chant this sublime Mantra—Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare, and be happy in this life without any frustrations, anxieties, worries, etc. as you have mentioned in the first part of your letter. This is practical and very easy to perform. Try it sincerely, and your life will be sublime. Letter to: Mr. Majumdar In this age that God realization is made very easy by chanting the holy names, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare . Letter to: Krishnanga Our movement is for chanting Hare Krishna . One can be happy under any condition. Krishna Consciousness does not depend on any external arrangement. Just try to be happy by chanting Hare Krishna and following the regulative principles. Letter to: Ballabhi Please accept my blessings. I thank you for your letter of the 18th instant and I have noted the contents with so much pleasure. I know that you poor girl have been frustrated by the so called society and you deeply needed the shelter of Krishna Consciousness. Krishna kindly sent you to me and I have tried to give you whatever I had in my possession. Please go on chanting Hare Krishna Hare Krishna as you are doing now and this very chanting will give you all peace and prosperity both in this life and the next. Never expect any good from the so called society, friendship and love. Only Krishna is the genuine friend of all living beings and it is He only who can give us all benediction. The more you advance in Krishna Consciousness chanting Hare Krishna Hare Krishna the more you become spiritually advanced and happy in all respects.

This is some vintage footage of the spiritual master of the Hare Krishna movement, Srila A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, explaining to reporters in Melbourne Australia how much money the movement was making in it's prime and how it was spent, with some expert and witty dialogue from the the most wonderful personality.

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura is a great acarya (teacher) in the disiplic line of the Brahma-madhva Gaudiya school of Vaishnavism. Here, discover an excerpt from "Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu: His Life and Precepts," which details the the life of Lord Caitanya in brief. Read on to get yet another perspective on the life and teachings of Sri Caitanya by this great authority on this auspicious day of his disappearance. Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur ki JAYA! Caitanya Mahaprabhu was born in Mayapur in the town of Nadia just after sunset on the evening of the 23rd Phalguna 1407 Sakabda, answering to the 18th of February, 1486, of the Christian Era. The moon was eclipsed at the time of his birth, and the people of Nadia were then engaged, as was usual on such occasions, in bathing in the Bhagirathi with loud cheers of Haribol. His father, Jagannatha Misra, a poor brahmana of the Vedic order, and his mother, Saci-devi, a model good woman, both descended from brahmana stock originally residing in Sylhet. Mahaprabhu was a beautiful child, and the ladies of the town came to see him with presents. His mother's father, Pandita Nilambara Cakravarti, a renowned astrologer, foretold that the child would be a great personage in time; and he, therefore, gave him the name Visvambhara. The ladies of the neighborhood styled him Gaurahari on account of his golden complexion, and his mother called him Nimai on account of the nimba tree near which he was born. Beautiful as the lad was, everyone heartily loved to see him every day. As he grew up he became a whimsical and frolicsome lad. After his fifth year, he was admitted into a pathasala where he picked up Bengali in a very short time. Most of his contemporary biographers have mentioned certain anecdotes regarding Caitanya which are simple records of his early miracles. It is said that when he was an infant in his mother's arms he wept continually, and when the neighboring ladies cried Haribol he used to stop. Thus there was a continuation of the utterance of Haribol in the house, foreshewing the future mission of the hero. It has also been stated that when his mother once gave him sweetmeats to eat, he ate clay instead of the food. His mother asking for the reason, he stated that as every sweetmeat was nothing but clay transformed, he could eat clay as well. His mother, who was also the consort of a pandita, explained that every article in a special state was adapted to a special use. Earth, while in the state of a jug, could be used as a water pot, but in the state of a brick such a use was not possible. Clay, therefore, in the form of sweetmeats was usable as food, but clay in its other states was not. The lad was convinced and admitted his stupidity in eating clay and agreed to avoid the mistake in the future. Another miraculous act has been related. It is said that a brahmana on pilgrimage became a guest in his house, cooked food and read grace with meditation upon Krsna. In the meantime the lad came and ate up the cooked rice. The brahmana, astonished at the lad's act, cooked again at the request of Jagannatha Misra. The lad again ate up the cooked rice while the brahmana was offering the rice to Krsna with meditation. The brahmana was persuaded to cook for the third time. This time all the inmates of the house had fallen asleep, and the lad showed himself as Krsna to the traveler and blessed him. The brahmana was then lost in ecstasy at the appearance of the object of his worship. It has also been stated that two thieves stole away the lad from his father's door with a view to purloin his jewels and gave him sweetmeats on the way. The lad exercised his illusory energy and deceived the thieves back towards his own house. The thieves, for fear of detection, left the boy there and fled. Another miraculous act that has been described is the lad's demanding and getting from Hiranya and Jagadisa all the offerings they had collected for worshiping Krsna on the day of Ekadasi. When only four years of age he sat on rejected cooking pots which were considered unholy by his mother. He explained to his mother that there was no question of holiness and unholiness as regards earthen pots thrown away after the cooking was over. These anecdotes relate to his tender age up to the fifth year. In his eighth year, he was admitted into the tola of Gangadasa Pandita in Ganganagara close by the village of Mayapur. In two years he became well read in Sanskrit grammar and rhetoric. His readings after that were of the nature of self-study in his own house, where he had found all-important books belonging to his father, who was a pandita himself. It appears that he read the smrti in his own study, and the nyaya also, in competition with his friends, who were then studying under the celebrated Pandita Raghunatha Siromani. Now, after the tenth year of his age, Caitanya became a passable scholar in grammar, rhetoric, the smrti and the nyaya. It was after this that his elder brother Visvarupa left his house and accepted the asrama (status) of a sannyasi (ascetic). Caitanya, though a very young boy, consoled his parents, saying that he would serve them with a view to please God. Just after that, his father left this world. His mother was exceedingly sorry, and Mahaprabhu, with his usual contented appearance, consoled his widowed mother. It was at the age of 14 or 15 that Mahaprabhu was married to Laksmidevi, the daughter of Vallabhacarya, also of Nadia. He was at this age considered one of the best scholars of Nadia, the renowned seat of nyaya philosophy and Sanskrit learning. Not to speak of the smarta panditas, the Naiyayikas were all afraid of confronting him in literary discussions. Being a married man, he went to Eastern Bengal on the banks of the Padma for acquirement of wealth. There he displayed his learning and obtained a good sum of money. It was at this time that he preached Vaisnavism at intervals. After teaching him the principles of Vaisnavism, he ordered Tapana Misra to go to and live in Benares. During his residence in East Bengal, his wife Laksmidevi left this world from the effects of snakebite. On returning home, he found his mother in a mourning state. He consoled her with a lecture on the uncertainty of human affairs. It was at his mother's request that he married Visnupriya, the daughter of Raja Pandita Sanatana Misra. His comrades joined him on his return from pravasa or sojourn. He was now so renowned that he was considered to be the best pandita in Nadia. Kesava Misra of Kashmir, who had called himself the Great Digvijayi, came to Nadia with a view to discuss with the panditas of that place. Afraid of the so-called conquering pandita, the tola professors of Nadia left their town on pretence of Invitation. Kesava met Mahaprabhu at the Barokona-ghata in Mayapur, and after a very short discussion with him he was defeated by the boy, and mortification obliged him to decamp. Nimai Pandita was now the most important pandita of his times. It was at the age of 16 or 17 that he traveled to Gaya with a host of his students and there took his spiritual initiation from Isvara Puri, a Vaisnava sannyasi and a disciple of the renowned Madhavendra Puri. Upon his return to Nadia, Nimai Pandita turned religious preacher, and his religious nature became so strongly represented that Advaita Prabhu, Srivasa and others who had before the birth of Caitanya already accepted the Vaisnava faith were astonished at the change of the young man. He was then no more a contending naiyayika, a wrangling smarta and a criticising rhetorican. He swooned at the name of Krsna and behaved as an inspired man under the influence of his religious sentiment. It has been described by Murari Gupta, an eyewitness, that he shewed his heavenly powers in the house of Srivasa Pandita in the presence of hundreds of his followers, who were mostly well-read scholars. It was at this time that he opened a nocturnal school of kirtana in the compound of Srivasa Pandita with his sincere followers. There he preached, there he sang, there he danced, and there he expressed all sorts of religious feelings. Nityananda Prabhu, who was then a preacher of Vaisnavism and who had then completed his travels all over India, joined him by that time. In fact, a host of pandita preachers of Vaisnavism, all sincere at heart, came and joined him from different parts of Bengal. Nadia now became the regular seat of a host of Vaisnava acaryas whose mission it was to spiritualize mankind with the highest influence of the Vaisnava creed. The first mandate that he issued to Prabhu Nityananda and Haridasa was this: "Go, friends, go through the streets of the town, meet every man at his door and ask him to sing the name of Hari with a holy life, and you then come and report to me every evening the result of your preaching." Thus ordered, the two preachers went on and met Jagai and Madhai, two most abominable characters. They insulted the preachers on hearing Mahaprabhu's mandate, but were soon converted by the influence of bhakti (devotion) inculcated by their Lord. The people of Nadia were now surprised. They said, "Nimai Pandita is not only a gigantic genius, but he is certainly a missionary from God Almighty." From this time to his twenty-third year, Mahaprabhu preached his principles not only in Nadia but in all important towns and villages around his city. In the houses of his followers he showed miracles, taught the esoteric principles of bhakti and sang his sankirtana with other bhaktas. His followers of the town of Nadia commenced to sing the holy name of Hari in the streets and bazaars. This created a sensation and roused different feelings in different quarters. The bhaktas were highly pleased. The smarta brahmanas became jealous of Nimai Pandita's success and complained to Chand Kazi against the character of Caitanya as un-Hindu. The Kazi came to Srivasa Pandita's house and broke a mrdanga (khola drum) there and declared that unless Nimai Pandita ceased to make noise about his queer religion he would be obliged to enforce Mohammedanism on him and his followers. This was brought to Mahaprabhu's notice. He ordered the townspeople to appear in the evening, each with a torch in his hand. This groups, and on his arrival in the Kazi's house, he held a long conversation with the Kazi and in the end communicated into his heart his Vaisnava influence by touching his body. The Kazi then wept and admitted that he had felt a keen spiritual influence which had cleared up his doubts and produced in him a religious sentiment which gave him the highest ecstasy. The Kazi then joined the sankirtana party. The world was astonished at the spiritual power of the Great Lord, and hundreds and hundreds of heretics converted and joined the banner of Visvambhara after this affair. It was after this that some of the jealous and low-minded brahmanas of Kulia picked a quarrel with Mahaprabhu and collected a party to oppose him. Nimai Pandita was naturally a soft-hearted person, though strong in his principles. He declared that party feelings and sectarianism were the two great enemies of progress and that as long as he should continue to be an inhabitant of Nadia belonging to a certain family, his mission would not meet with complete success. He then resolved to be a citizen of the world by cutting his connection with his particular family, caste and creed, and with this resolution he embraced the position of a sannyasi at Katwa, under the guidance of Kesava Bharati of that town, on the 24th year of his age. His mother and wife wept bitterly for his separation, but our hero, though soft in heart, was a strong person in principle. He left his little world in his house for the unlimited spiritual world of Krsna with man in general. After his sannyasa, he was induced to visit the house of Advaita Prabhu in Santipura. Advaita managed to invite all his friends and admirers from Nadia and brought Sacidevi to see her son. Both pleasure and pain invaded her heart when she saw her son in the attire of a sannyasi. As a sannyasi, Krsna Caitanya put on nothing but a kaupina and a bahirvasa (outer covering). His head was without hair, and his hands bore a danda (stick) and a kamandalu (hermit's water pot). The holy son fell at the feet of his beloved mother and said, "Mother! This body is yours, and I must obey your orders. Permit me to go to Vrndavana for my spiritual attainments." The mother, in consultation with Advaita and others, asked her son to reside in Puri (the town of Jagannatha) so that she might obtain his information now and then. Mahaprabhu agreed to that proposition and in a few days left Santipura for Orissa. His biographers have described the journey of Krsna Caitanya (that was the name he got after his sannyasa) from Santipura to Puri in great detail. He traveled along the side of the Bhagirathi as far as Chatrabhoga, situated now in Thana Mathurapura, Diamond Harbour, 24 Parganas. There he took a boat and went as far as Prayaga-ghata in the Midnapura District. Thence he walked through Balasore and Cuttack to Puri, seeing the temple of Bhuvanesvara on his way. Upon his arrival at Puri he saw Jagannatha in the temple and resided with Sarvabhauma at the request of the latter. Sarvabhauma was a gigantic pandita of the day. His readings knew no bounds. He was the best naiyayika of the times and was known as the most erudite scholar in the Vedanta philosophy of the school of Sankaracarya. He was born in Nadia (Vidyanagara) and taught innumerable pupils in the nyaya philosophy in his tola there. He had left for Puri some time before the birth of Nimai Pandita. His brother-in-law Gopinatha Misra introduced our new sannyasi to Sarvabhauma, who was astonished at his personal beauty and feared that it would be difficult for the young man to maintain sannyasa-dharma during the long run of his life. Gopinatha, who had known Mahaprabhu from Nadia, had a great reverence for him and declared that the sannyasi was not a common human being. On this point Gopinatha and Sarvabhauma had a hot discussion. Sarvabhauma then requested Mahaprabhu to hear his recitation of the Vedanta-sutras, and the latter tacitly submitted. Caitanya heard with silence what the great Sarvabhauma uttered with gravity for seven days, at the end of which the latter said, "Krsna Caitanya! I think you do not understand the Vedanta, for you do not say anything after hearing my recitation and explanations." The reply of Caitanya was that he understood the sutras very well, but he could not make out what Sankaracarya meant by his commentaries. Astonished at this, Sarvabhauma said, "How is it that you understand the meanings of the sutras and do not understand the commentaries which explain the sutras? All well! If you understand the sutras, please let me have your interpretations." Mahaprabhu thereon explained all the sutras in his own way without touching the pantheistic commentary of Sankara. The keen understanding of Sarvabhauma saw the truth, beauty and harmony of arguments in the explanations given by Caitanya and obliged him to utter that it was the first time that he had found one who could explain the Brahma-sutras in such a simple manner. He admitted also that the commentaries of Sankara never gave such natural explanations of the Vedanta-sutras as he had obtained from Mahaprabhu. He then submitted himself as an advocate and follower. In a few days Sarvabhauma turned out to be one of the best Vaisnavas of the time. When reports of this came out, the whole of Orissa sang the praise of Krsna Caitanya, and hundreds and hundreds came to him and became his followers. In the meantime Mahaprabhu thought of visiting Southern India, and he started with one Krsnadasa Brahmana for the journey. His biographers have given us a detail of the journey. He went first to Kurmaksetra, where he performed a miracle by curing a leper named Vasudeva. He met Ramananda Raya, the Governor of Vidyanagara, on the banks of the Godavari and had a philosophical conversation with him on the subject of prema-bhakti. He worked another miracle by touching (making them immediately disappear) the seven tala trees through which Ramacandra, the son of Dasaratha, had shot his arrow and killed the great Bali Raja. He preached Vaisnavism and nama-sankirtana throughout the journey. At Rangaksetra he stayed for four months in the house of one Venkata Bhatta in order to spend the rainy season. There he converted the whole family of Venkata from Ramanuja Vaisnavism to Krsna-bhakti, along with the son of Venkata, a boy of ten years named Gopala, who afterwards came to Vrndavana and became one of the six Gosvamis or prophets serving under their leader Sri Krsna Caitanya. Trained up in Sanskrit by his uncle Prabodhananda Sarasvati, Gopala wrote several books on Vaisnavism. Caitanya visited numerous places in Southern India as far as Cape Comorin and returned to Puri in two years by Pandepura on the Bhima. In this latter place he spiritualized one Tukarama, who became from that time a religious preacher himself. This fact has been admitted in his abhangas, which have been collected in a volume by Mr. Satyendra Nath Tagore of the Bombay Civil Service. During his journey he had discussions with the Buddhists, the Jains and the Mayavadis in several places and converted his opponents to Vaisnavism. Upon his return to Puri, Raja Prataparudra-deva and several pandita brahmanas joined the banner of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He was now twenty-seven years of age. In his twenty-eighth year he went to Bengal as far as Gauda in Malda. There he picked up two great personages named Rupa and Sanatana. Though descended from the lines of the Karnatic brahmanas, these two brothers turned demi-Moslems by their continual contact with Hussain Shah, the then Emperor of Gauda. Their names had been changed by the Emperor into Dabira Khasa and Sakara Mallika, and their master loved them heartily since they were both learned in Persian, Arabic and Sanskrit and were loyal servants of the state. The two gentlemen had found no way to come back as regular Hindus and had written to Mahaprabhu for spiritual help while he was at Puri. Mahaprabhu had written in reply that he would come to them and extricate them from their spiritual difficulties. Now that he had come to Gauda, both the brothers appeared before him with their long-standing prayer. Mahaprabhu ordered them to go to Vrndavana and meet him there. Caitanya returned to Puri through Santipura, where he again met his dear mother. After a short stay at Puri he left for Vrndavana. This time he was accompanied by one Balabhadra Bhattacarya. He visited Vrndavana and came down to Prayaga (Allahabad), converting a large number of Mohammedans to Vaisnavism by argument from the Koran. The descendants of those converts are still known as Pathana Vaisnavas. Rupa Gosvami met him at Allahabad. Caitanya trained him up in spirituality in ten days and directed him to go to Vrndavana on missions. His first mission was to write theological works explaining scientifically pure bhakti and prema. The second mission was to revive the places where Krsnacandra had in the end of Dvapara-yuga exhibited His spiritual lila (pastimes) for the benefit of the religious world. Rupa Gosvami left Allahabad for Vrndavana, and Mahaprabhu came down to Benares. There he resided in the house of Candrasekhara and accepted his daily bhiksa (meal) in the house of Tapana Misra. Here it was that Sanatana Gosvami joined him and took instruction for two months in spiritual matters. The biographers, especially Krsnadasa Kaviraja, have given us details of Caitanya's teachings to Rupa and Sanatana. Krsnadasa was not a contemporary writer, but he gathered his information from the Gosvamis themselves, the direct disciples of Mahaprabhu. Jiva Gosvami, who was nephew of Sanatana and Rupa and who has left us his invaluable work the Sat-sandarbha, has philosophized on the precepts of his great leader. We have gathered and summarized the precepts of Caitanya from the books of those great writers. The Six Goswamis: Sri Rupa, Sri Sanatana, Bhatta Raghunatha, Sri Jiva, Gopala Bhatta, and Dasa Raghunatha While at Benares, Caitanya had an interview with the learned sannyasis of that town in the house of a Maratha brahmana who had invited all the sannyasis for entertainment. At this interview, Caitanya shewed a miracle which attracted all the sannyasis to him. Then ensued reciprocal conversation. The sannyasis were headed by their most learned leader Prakasananda Sarasvati. After a short controversy, they submitted to Mahaprabhu and admitted that they had been misled by the commentaries of Sankaracarya. It was impossible even for learned scholars to oppose Caitanya for a long time, for there was some spell in him which touched their hearts and made them weep for their spiritual improvement. The sannyasis of Benares soon fell at the feet of Caitanya and asked for his grace (krpa). Caitanya then preached pure bhakti and instilled into their hearts spiritual love for Krsna which obliged them to give up sectarian feelings. The whole population of Benares, on this wonderful conversion of the sannyasis, turned Vaisnavas, and they made a master sankirtana with their new Lord. After sending Sanatana to Vrndavana, Mahaprabhu went to Puri again through the jungles with his comrade Balabhadra. Balabhadra reported that Mahaprabhu had shown a good many miracles on his way to Puri, such as making tigers and elephants dance on hearing the name of Krsna. From this time, that is, from his 31 st year, Mahaprabhu continually lived in Puri in the house of Kasi Misra until his disappearance in his forty-eighth year at the time of sankirtana in the temple of Tota-gopinatha. During these 18 years, his life was one of settled love and piety. He was surrounded by numerous followers, all of whom were of the highest order of Vaisnavas and who were distinguished from the common people by their purest character and learning, firm religious principles and spiritual love of Radha-Krsna. Svarupa Damodara, who had been known by the name of Purusottamacarya while Mahaprabhu was in Nadia, joined him from Benares and accepted service as his secretary. No production of any poet or philosopher could be laid before Mahaprabhu unless Svarupa had passed it as pure and useful. Raya Ramananda was his second mate. Both he and Svarupa would sing while Mahaprabhu expressed his sentiments on a certain point of worship. Paramananda Puri was his minister in matters of religion. There are hundreds of anecdotes described by his biographers which we do not think it meet here to reproduce. Mahaprabhu slept short. His sentiments carried him far and wide in the firmament of spirituality every day and night, and all his admirers and followers watched him throughout. He worshiped, communicated with his missionaries at Vrndavana, and conversed with those religious men who newly came to visit him. He sang and danced, took no care of himself and oft-times lost himself in religious beatitude. All who came to him believed in him as the all-beautiful God appearing in the nether world for the benefit of mankind. He loved his mother all along and sent her mahaprasada now and then with those who went to Nadia. He was most amiable in nature. Humility was personified in him. His sweet appearance gave cheer to all who came in contact with him. He appointed Prabhu Nityananda as the missionary in charge of Bengal. He dispatched six disciples (Gosvamis) to Vrndavana to preach love in the upcountry. He punished all of his disciples who deviated from a holy life. This he markedly did in the case of Junior Haridasa. He never lacked in giving proper instructions in life to those who solicited them. This will be seen in his teachings to Raghunatha dasa Gosvami. His treatment to Haridasa (senior) will show how he loved spiritual men and how he defied caste distinction in spiritual brotherhood. Bhaktivinoda Thakura If you support our work, please kindly donate here!

A great saint and a devotee Prahlada Maharaja points out the problems of sex life. The following sloka is from the ancient scripture Srimad Bhagavatam with the purport by His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Prahlada Maharaja yan maithunadi-grhamedhi-sukham hi tuccham kanduyanena karayor iva duhkha-duhkham trpyanti neha krpana bahu-duhkha-bhajah kandutivan manasijam visaheta dhirah TRANSLATION Sex life is compared to the rubbing of two hands to relieve an itch. Grhamedhis, so-called grhasthas who have no spiritual knowledge, think that this itching is the greatest platform of happiness, although actually it is a source of distress. The krpanas, the fools who are just the opposite of brahmanas, are not satisfied by repeated sensuous enjoyment. Those who are dhira, however, who are sober and who tolerate this itching, are not subjected to the sufferings of fools and rascals. PURPORT Materialists think that sexual indulgence is the greatest happiness in this material world, and therefore they make elaborate plans to satisfy their senses, especially the genitals. This is generally found everywhere, and specifically found in the Western world, where there are regular arrangements to satisfy sex life in different ways. Actually, however, this has not made anyone happy. Even the hippies, who have given up all the materialistic comforts of their fathers and grandfathers, cannot give up the sensational happiness of sex life. Such persons are described here as krpanas, misers. The human form of life is a great asset, for in this life one can fulfill the goal of existence. Unfortunately, however, because of a lack of education and culture, people are victimized by the false happiness of sex life. Prahlada Maharaja therefore advises one not to be misled by this civilization of sense gratification, and especially not by sex life. Rather, one should be sober, avoid sense gratification and be Krsna conscious. The lusty person, who is compared to a foolish miser, never gets happiness by sense gratification. The influence of material nature is very difficult to surpass, but as stated by Krsna in Bhagavad-gita (7.14), mam eva ye prapadyante, mayam etam taranti te: if one voluntarily submits to the lotus feet of Krsna, he can be saved very easily. In reference to the low-grade happiness of sex life, Yamunacarya says in this connection: yad-avadhi mama cetah krsna-padaravinde nava-nava-rasa-dhamany udyatam rantum asit tad-avadhi bata nari-sangame smaryamane bhavati mukha-vikarah susthu nisthivanam ca "Since I have been engaged in the transcendental loving service of Krsna, realizing ever-new pleasure in Him, whenever I think of sex pleasure, I spit at the thought, and my lips curl with distaste." Yamunacarya had formerly been a great king who enjoyed sexual happiness in various ways, but since he later engaged himself in the service of the Lord, he enjoyed spiritual bliss and hated to think of sex life. If sexual thoughts came to him, he would spit with disgust. SB 7.9.46

The 14th March 2025 will mark the appearance day of Lord Chaitanya. There will be a festival at the B.L.I.S.S temple to celebrate this auspicous occasion. Please join us for kirtan, prasadam and a wonderful class. "It is the duty of every living being to perform welfare activities for the benefit of others with his life, wealth, intelligence and words." This is the mission of life. One's own body and the bodies of his friends and relatives, as well as one's own riches and everything else one has, should be engaged for the benefit of others. This is the mission of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. - s.b 6.10.10 Book here !

The following is an excerpt from Srila Prabhupada's original Delhi Bhagavatam, in which he details Lord Caintanya's dismantling of the Mayavada philosophy as presented by Sripad-Bhattarcarya. Bhattacharya was the professor of many Sanyasins in the order of the Shankaracharya Sampradaya and he himself also belonged to that cult. As such the Bhattacharya desired that the young Sannyasi Lord Chaitanya may also hear from him about the teachings of Vedanta. Those who are followers of the Shankara cult are generally known as the Vedantist. It does not, however, mean that Vedanta is a monopoly study of Shankara Sampradaya. Vedanta is studied by all the bonafide Sampradayas but they have their own interpretations. But the Shankar Sampradaya is generally known as the Vedantist without any knowledge of the Vedantist Vaishnavas. For this reason the Bhaktivedanta title was first offered to the author by the Vaishnavas. The Lord agreed to take lessons from Bhattacharya on the Vedanta and they sat together in the temple of Lord Jaggannath. The Bhattacharya went on speaking continually for seven days and the Lord heard him with all attention without any interruption. This dumb like hearing of the Lord before the Bhattacharya raised some doubts in his heart and he asked the Lord how it was that He did not ask anything good or bad in the matter of hearing the explanations of Vedanta. The Lord posed Himself before the Bhattacharya as a foolish student and pretended that He heard the Vedanta from him because he wanted Him to do so as the duty of a Sanyasi; otherwise He hardly could follow or understand the lectures delivered by him. By this the Lord indicated that the so called Vedantist amongst the Shankara Sampradya or any other Sampradaya who do not follow the instructions of Srila Vyasadev, are mechanical students of the Vedanta without any introspection within the great knowledge. The explanation of the Vedanta Sutras is given by the author himself in the text of the Srimad Bhagwatam. Any one who has no study or knowledge in the Bhagwatam will hardly be able to know what the Vedanta says. The Bhattacharya as a vastly learned man could follow the sarcastic remarks on the popular vedantist by the Lord. He therefore asked Him why He did not question on any point which He could not follow. The Bhattacharya could understand the purpose of His dead-silence for the days He heard him. This shows clearly that the Lord had something else in His mind and he requested Him to disclose his mind. Upon this the Lord spoke as follows-"My dear sir, I can undelstand the meaning of the Sutras like 'JANMADYASYA YATAH' 'SHASTRAYO NITWAT' 'ATHATO BRAHMAJIJNANASA' of the Vedanta Sutras but when you explain them in your own way it becomes difficult for me to follow them. The purpose of the Sutras is already explained in them but your explanations are just like covering them with something else. You do not purposely take the direct meaning of the Sutras but indirectly you give your own interpretations." The Lord thus attacked all Vedantists who interpret the Vedanta Sutras fashionably according to their limited power of thinking and also to serve their own purpose. Such indirect interpretations of the authentic literatures like the Vedanta is hereby condemned by the Lord. The Lord continued to say, "Srila Vyasdeva has summarised the direct meanings of the Mantras in Upanishads in the Vedanta Sutras. Unfortunately you do not take the direct meaning of them and indirectly you interpret them in a different way". "The authority of the Vedas is unchallengeable and goes with out any question of doubt. And whatever is stated in the Vedas must be accepted in toto otherwise it becomes a challenge to the authority of the Vedas". "The conchshell and cowdung are bone and stool of two living beings. But because they have been recommended by the Vedas as pure people accept them as such and that is the authority of the Vedas". The idea is that nobody can apply his imperfect reason on the authority of the Vedas. The orders of the Vedas must be obeyed as it is without any mundane reasoning. The so called followers of the Vedic injunction make out their own interpretations of the Vedic injunctions and thus they establish different parties and sect of the Vedic religion. Lord Buddha directly denied the authority of the Vedas and He established his own religion. For this reason only the Buddhist religion was not accepted by the strict followers of the Vedas. But those who are so-called followers of the Vedas are more harmful than the Buddhist. The Buddhist has the courage to deny the Vedas directly but the so called followers of the Vedas have no courage to deny the Vedas and indirectly they disobey all the injunctions of the Vedas. Lord Chaitanya condemned this class of followers of the Vedas. The example of the conchshell and that of the cowdung given by the Lord is very much appropriate in this connection. If some body argues that cowdung is the stool of a living creature and therefore the stool of a learned Brahmin will be still more pure, that sort of argument will not be accepted. The cowdung will be accepted and the stool of a highly posted Brahmin will be rejected with equal abhorrence. The Lord therefore continued to say. "The Vedic injunctions are self-authorised and if some mundane creature wants to adjust the interpretations of the Vedas certainly he will commit blunder upon the authority of the Vedas. It is foolish to think of oneself as more intelligent than Srila Vyasa deva. He has already expressed himself in his Sutras and there is no need of help from personalities of lesser importance. His set up of the Vedanta Sutras are as much dazzling as the midday Sun and when some body wants to give his own interpretations on the self effulgent Sun-like Vedanta Sutras, certainly such person attempts to cover the sun with a kind of cloud of one's own imagination." "The purpose of the Vedas and Puranas are one and the same. They want to ascertain the Absolute Truth and the Absolute Truth is greater than everything else. The Absolute Truth is ultimately realised as the Absolute Personality of Godhead with Absolute Controlling Power. As such the Absolute Personality of Godhead must be completely full of opulence, strength, fame, beauty, knowledge and renunciation. And as such the transcendental Personality of Godhead is astonishingly ascertained as impersonal." "The impersonal description of the Absolute Truth in the Vedas is meant for nullifying the mundane conception of the Absolute whole. Personal features of the Lord is completely distinguished from all kinds of mundane features. The living entities are all individual persons and they are all parts and parcels of the Supreme whole. If the parts and parcels are individual persons, the source of their emanation must not be impersonal. He is the Supreme Person amongst all the relative persons." The Vedas inform us that from Him (Brahman) everything emanates and on Him only everything rests. And after annihilation everything merges in Him only. Therefore, He is the ultimate dative causative and accommodating cause of all causes. And all these causes cannot be ascertained to an impersonal object." "The Vedas inform us that He alone becomes many and when He so desires He puts His glance over the material Nature". "Before His such glance over the material Nature, there was no material cosmic creation. And, therefore, His glancing over the material nature is certainly not one of material creation. Material mind or senses were unborn when the Lord placed His glance over the material Nature; and all these evidences of the Vedas prove it without any doubt that the Lord has transcendental eyes and mind distinguished from the material one. His impersonality therefore is negation of material but not denial of His transcendental Personality". "Brahman means ultimately the Personality of Godhead. Impersonal Brahman realisation is just the negative conception of the mundane creations. Paramatma realisation is localised aspect of Brahman within all kinds of material bodies. Ultimately the Supreme Brahman realisation is the realisation of the Personality of Godhead. Lord Sri Krishna is that Supreme Personality of Godhead according to all evidences of the revealed scriptures. He is the ultimate source of Vishnu Tatwas". "The Puranas are also supplimentary to the Vedas. The Vedic mantras are too stiff for an ordinary man. Women, Sudras and the socalled twice-born higher castes are unable to penetrate into the sense of the Vedas. And thus the Itihasha or the Mahabharat as well as the Puranas are made easy to explain the truths of the Vedas. In the prayers of Brahma before the boy Sri Krishna He said that there is no limit of the fortune of the residents of Brajabhumi headed by Sri Nanda Maharaj and Yasodamayee; because the eternal Absolute Truth has become their intimate relative." "The Vedic mantra describes that the Absolute Truth has no legs and no hands and yet goes faster than all and accepts everything that is offered to Him in devotion. These statements of going faster or accepting everything by hand definitely suggest the Personal features of the Lord, although He is distinguished from mundane hands and legs or other senses." "Brahmam is, therefore, never Impersonal but when such Mantras are indirectly interpreted it is wrongly established that the Abolute Truth is impersonal. The Absolute Truth Personality of Godhead is full of all opulences and therefore He has a transcendental Form of full existence, knowledge and bliss. How one can establish thus the Absolute Truth as impersonal." "Brahman being full of opulences, it is understood that He has manifold energies and all such energies are classified under three headings under the authority of Vishnu Puranam (6.7.60). It says that the transcendetal energies of the Lord Vishnu are primarily three. His spiritual energy as well as the energy of the living entities are classified as superior energy whereas the material energy is inferior one which is sprouted out of ignorance." "The energy of the living entities is technically called Kshetrajna Energy. This Ksehtrajna Shakti although equal in quality with the Lord, becomes over powered by material energy out of ignorance and thus sufferes all sorts of material miseries. In other words the living entities are marginal energy between the superior spiritual and inferior material energy and in proportion of the living being's contact with either of the material or spiritual energies, the living entities become situated in proportionately higher and lower levels of existence." "The Lord is beyond the inferior and marginal energies as above mentioned and His spiritual energy is manifested in three different phases. They are manifested as eternal existence, eternal bliss and eternal knowledge. So far eternal existence is concerned it is conducted by the Samdhini potency, similarly bliss and knowledge are conducted by the Ahladini and Sambit potencies respectively. As the Supreme energetic Lord He is the Supreme controller of the spiritual marginal, and material energies. And all these different phases of energies are connected with the Lord in eternal devotional service." "The Supreme Personality of Godhead is thus enjoying in His transcendental eternal Form and therefore it is astounding that one may dare to call the Supreme Lord as non-energetic ?" "The Lord is the controller of all the above mentioned energies and the living entities are parts and parcles of one of the energies. Therefore, there is a gulf of difference between the Lord and the living entities. How then one can say that the Lord and the living entities are one and the same thing." "In the Bhagwat Geeta also the living entities are described to belong to the Superior energy of the Lord. On the principles of intimate co-relation between the energy and the energetic, both of them are non-different also. Therefore, the Lord and the living entities are non-different as the energy and the energetic". "Earth, water, fire, air, sky, mind, intelligence and ego all these elements are inferior energies of the Lord but the living entities are different from all of them as superior energy and that is the version of the Bhagwat Geeta." "The transcendental form of the Lord is eternally existent and full of transcendental bliss. How then such Form can be a product of the material mode of goodness? Any one, therefore, who does not believe in the Form of the Lord, such person is certainly a faithless demon and as such he is untouchable, not to be seen person-nongrata and fit to be punished by the regulation of the Plutonic king." "The Buddhist are called atheist because they have no respect for the Vedas but those who defy the Vedic conclusions as above mentioned under the cover of being follower of the Vedas, are verily more dangerous than the Buddhists." "Sri Vyasdeva very kindly compiled the clause of the Vedic knowledge in his Vedanta Sutras and if somebody hears the commentation of the Mayavadi school (as represented by the Shamkara Sampradaya), certainly such audience will be misled on the path of spiritual realisation". "The theory of emanations is the beginning for the Vedanta Sutra and as such all the cosmic manifestations are emanations from the Absolute personality of Godhead by His inconceivable different energies." "The example of the touch-stone is verily comparable with the theory of emanation. The touchstone can convert unlimated quantity of iron into gold and still the touch stone remains as it is. Similarly the Supreme Lord can produce all the manifestive world by His inconceivable energies and yet He is full and unchanged. He is Purna (complete) and unlimited number of Purnas being emanated from Him, He is still Purna." "The theory of illusion by the Mayavada school is advocated on the ground that the theory of emanation will cause transformation of the Absolute Truth. And in that case Vyasdeva will be put into error and to save this anomaly of the great Master, they have skillfully brought in the theory of illusion." "The world or the cosmic creation is not illusion or false as it is advocated by the Mayavada school. But it has no permanent existence. A non-permanent thing cannot be called as false altogether. But the conception of the material body by the living being, as his self, -is certainly wrong." "Pranaba (Om) or the Omkara in the Vedas is the primeval hymn and the transcedental sound is identical with the Form of the Lord. All the Vedic hymns are based on this Pranaba Omkara." "Tatwamasi" is but a side word of the Vedic literatures and therefore this word cannot be the primeval hymn of the Vedas instead of the Omkara. Sripada Shankaracharya has given more stress on the side word Tatwamasi than the primeval principle "OMKARA". *The Lord thus spoke on the Vedanta Sutras and defied all the propaganda of the Mayavada school. The Bhattacharya tried to defend himself and his Mayavada school by jugglery of logic and grammer but the Lord was able to defeat all such jugglery of words by His forceful arguments. He affirmed that we are all related with the Personality of Godhead eternally and the devotional service is our eternal function to exchange dealings of our relations. And the result of such exchange of dealing is to attain Prema or Love of Godhead. When Love of Godhead is attained, love for all other beings automatically follows because the Lord is the sumtotal of all the living beings. *In our Chaitanya Charitamrita Essays and Text we have more elaborately explained all these philosophical intricacies Srimad Bhagwatam clears them all. The Lord said except these three items namely eternal relation with God, exchange of dealings thereof and to attain to the stage Love of Godhead, all that are instructed in the Vedas are Superfluous only, and besides these three items everything is concocted imagination. The Lord further added that the Mayavada Philosophy catered by Sripad Shankaracharya is something imaginary explanation of the Vedas but it had to be done by Him (Shankaracharya) because He was ordered to do so by the Personality of Godhead. In the Padmapuranam it is stated that the Personality of Godhead ordered His Lordship Shiva to deviate the human race from Him (the Personality of Godhead). The Personality of Godhead was to be so covered that people may be encouraged to generate more and more population. His Lordship Mahadeva said to the Devi "In the Kaliyuga, I shall preach the Mayavada Philosophy which is nothing but clouded Buddhism, in the garb of a Brahmin." After hearing all these speeches of the Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the Bhattacharya was struck with wonder and awe and began to see Him in dead silence. The Lord then encouraged him with assurance that there was no cause of wonder, "I say that DEVOTIONAL SERVlCE UNTO THE PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD IS THE HIGHEST NEED OF HUMAN LIFE". He than quoted a sloka from the Bhagwat and assured him that even the liberated souls who are absorbed in the Spirit and spiritual realisation, do also take to the devotional service of the Lord Hari because the Personality of Godhead has such transcendental qualities as He attracts the heart of the liberated soul too. (Srimad-Bhagavatam Inroduction)

The following is an in-depth analysis, " The Science of Congregational Chanting of the Name of the Lord (Samkirtan) " written by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, published in His first edition of the Back to Godhead magazine in 1944. BLISS devotees out in the streets spreading the brilliant sankirtana movement. When Pralhad Moharaj, the celebrated devotee of the Personality of Godhead Vishnu and the son of Hiranyakashipu the well-known atheist-was a mere boy of five years old, was seen one day by his fellow playmates, chanting the transcendental name of Hari (The Lord). The boys, who were all born of atheist family and thereby known as the children of the Ashuras, asked Prolhad Moharaj a question which is now-a-days a common enquiry by all busy men. The question was quite plain and simple and it was an enquiry by the children of the Ashuras as to why Prolhad was wasting his valuable time by chanting the name of Hari. They asked him to come out of his place and make an enjoyment of life by fulfilling the utilitarian theory of eat, drink, be merry and enjoy. This was quite a natural thing for the children of the Ashuras because the Ashuras are none but those who know nothing of transcendence but are always busy with the business of material enjoyment. The symbol of material enjoyment is a combination of gold and cushion and Hiranya-Kashipu was made the king of Ashuras because his very name suggested that he was concerned with only gold and cushion. Gold is the medium of exchange for all material comforts and cushion or soft-padded bedding is the resting place for enjoying women and wine. Hiranya means gold and Kashipu means soft bedding. Hiranya-Kashipu was therefore the king of such materialists who simply cared for gold and cushion and as such he did care little for the Lord or his Name. But fortunately or unfortunately in order to show to the people of the world that material enjoyment is not the ultimate end of life but the aim of this human form of life is a mission for going back to God and back to home, Prolhad Moharaj who was an empowered incarnation of the Personality of Godhead, as is stated in the Geeta, took his birth in the midst of the most stubborn materialists, as the son of Hiranyakashipu who was atheist and materialist to the bottom of his heart. The laws of appearance and disappearance of the almighty Lord or that of His bonafide servants are different from the laws of Nature and both of them are free to make their choice as to where and how they should appear and where and how they should not. Therefore it is not at all astonishing why Prolhad Moharaj should have appeared himself in the family of atheists; thus a struggle between the theist and the atheist began. The clash between the theist and the atheist exists always since the time immemorial and for the reason of this the relation between a theist and an atheist remains always a strained circumstances even if the relation is so intimate as that of between a son and a father: The atheist father Hiranyakashipu tried to kill his only beloved child Prolhad more than once for the only fault of his son's faith in God. In such a struggle between the theist and the atheist, the theist of course always comes out victorious, that is the verdict of history. Now to come to our original point, we may say that Prolhad Moharaj, thus being asked by his fellow brethren as to why he was wasting his valuable time in the chanting of the name of Hari generally known as Kirtan,-he replied to his friends in the following words:- "Brother, we have got this valuable human form of life after crores and crores of evolutionary processes. Thus this life, although temporary and liable to death, is a very valuable asset and in this body of our life only we can attain to the Supreme goal. We should not therefore waste our time even for a moment and must immediately engage ourselves for the attainment of the Prime necessity of life, the object of our material enjoyment being the same in all other forms of life." The contention of the friends of Prolhad Moharaj was that the chanting of the name of Hari, may be set aside as a business of old-age recreation. For a body of five years old who is faced with a very bright future of life in the material world, such unusual chanting of the name of Hari is sheer waste of time (?). As a matter of fact if chanting of the Name of Hari is a matter of business for old age recreation, that sort of recreation may not be indulged in even in the old age. But if it is a question of absolute necessity, every man is a born old man and the name of Hari must be taken shelter of as soon as he is able to pronounce the elementary vocabulary. Old age means nearer approach to death and for human life and that especially in the present age of quarrel, there is no certainty as to when a man will die. Despite all precautions of the state and society, the mortality of man both young and old is taking place at every moment and yet the living ones think that they are immortals (?). That is a fun of the Maya and Prolhad Moharaj wanted to dissipate the illusion of his friends who were all the children of the Ashuras. He said- "My dear friends, do not be foolish. Material enjoyment you had had enough many a time in your past lives and as such material enjoyment you will have according to your rank and position. But you must try for the supreme goal which was not possible to be performed during your past many lives." The four principles of material enjoyment are known as eating, sleeping, fearing and sense gratification. The cats, dogs, tigers, ants, serpents, birds and beasts like the man, have all got to enjoy these principles of material enjoyment according to their respective positions. The dog eats something and after eating goes to sleep for sometime. He also fears from the attack of another dog like a man fears from the attack of his enemy. The dog also begets children in the womb of his bitch wife, exactly like the man, and the dog's family is maintained with equal care as that of a man. But the difference between the dog and the man is that the dog cannot know anything besides those four principles of animal life called material enjoyment, but the man, by dint of his superior consciousness can know, if he tries to know at all, as to what he is, what is this manifested creation, who is the Almighty and what are their inter-relation with one another. The dog cannot make any distinction between a dog and the God because apparently both are composed of the same ingredients namely G. D. & O. But a man in his pure state of consciousness can know that a dog is dog and God is God by the law of identity. God cannot be dog and the dog cannot be God. A man of developed consciousness can understand that God is great and all other things are His subordinate servitors. He can know that forgetfulness of God is the quality of the dog and therefore a man tries to distinguish himself from the position of a dog simply by trying to know what is God. This process of knowing God the Almighty, varies in different ways by different people according to different country and climate and the standard method by which one tries to approach God or the relation between Him and the man, is generally known as religion. A man who has no such religion may be classed with the dog as he is no better than the latter. It is stated in the scriptures. "Dharmena heena pasuvi samana." i.e., a man devoid of religion is just like an animal. As a matter of fact therefore, Prolhad Moharaj was not wasting his time by chanting the name of Hari as seemed to the atheist friends but he was rightly utilising the valuable time of human existence with a view to self-realisation. When the chanting of the Name of the Lord is done individually or incompletely it is called 'kirtan'. But all the same Kirtan or Samkirtan is always meant for chanting of the Name of the Lord and never means a debating society of mundane words. Samkirtan is however the greatest common formula of universal religion acceptable in the present age of quarrel, called the 'Kali yooga'. In the Puranas it is stated that the process of knowing God, in the Satya yooga or Golden Age, is by concentration and meditation. Men would live during that age for one lac of years and it is said that Mohamuni Valmiki attained siddhi or perfection after 60,000 sixty thousand years of meditation before he was able to compose Ramayana. (So Ramayana is not a mundane poets' speculation.) The process of knowing God in the Treta-yooga or silver-age, was the performances of big sacrifices such as Aswamedha yajna, that in the Dwapara yooga or Bronze-age, was by worshipment with all paraphernalia and that in the Kali yooga, i.e., in the present age of quarrel (iron-age) the process is by performances of congregational chanting of the names of the Lord. The injunction in the scripture is as follows:- Kritejat dhyayate Vishnu tretayam yayata makhoin Dwapare paricharyayam Kaloutat Hari samkirtanat In the present age of quarrel therefore, when all conclusions are arrived at by an assembly of fighting men, the chance of realisation of the Absolute conclusion is very little by other processes such as, works, knowledge, re-union or meditation except by the process of congregational chanting of the Name of Hari. About 450 years ago, Lord Chaitanya, the father of Samkirtan movement, appeared Himself in Bengal in the district of Nadia and inaugurated first the system of congregational chanting of the name of the Lord. He made a vigorous transcendental propaganda work for this purpose. As a result of that movement, the whole of Bengal, Orissa and Southern India, was over-flooded with His transcendental propaganda work and many eminent personalities like Rupa and Sanatan the then ministers of the Nawab of Bengal and Ramananda Roy the then governor of Madras and scholars like Vasudeva Sarbabhouma or Sanyasis like Prakashananda Saraswati all became His disciples amongst many other thousands of disciples at that time. At Benares he converted Prakashananda Saraswati along with his 60,000 (sixty thousand) Mayavadi Sannyasin followers to His cult of Samkirtan. At Allahabad He favoured Ballavacharya at Arail on the other side of Allahabad and at Puri He did so by reclaiming the great scholar of the time namely Vasudeva Sarbabhouma an accredited logician and empiric philosopher of his time. All these combination made Lord Chaitanya's movement a great success and as a result of that movement the present city of Brindaban in U.P. was excavated by the two Goswamins namely Rupa and Sanatan who were empowered by Lord Chaitanya. Since that time in various parts of India the cult of Samkirtan has spread up like fire and has been accepted as the only process of transcendental realisation by many many saints such as Tukaram in Maharastra and others. It is said that Saint Tukaram got inspiration of the holy name Hare Krishna by Krishna Chaitanya (Avanga 3875) and since then he flooded the whole of Maharastra and Western India by the Samkirtan movement. In the 'Chaitanya Bhagwat' also we can see a foretelling of Lord Chaitanya-that the cult of the Lord will spread in every village and all towns that are on the surface of the Earth. From this foretelling we can hope that the cult of Samkirtan will take very shortly an universal form of religious movement and this universal religion, wherein there is no harm in chanting the Name of the Lord nor there is any question of quarrel,-will continue to years, as we can know from the pages of authoritative scriptures. The cult of Sree Krishna Chaitanya is as follows: Harernama Harernama Harernamoiba Kevalam Kalou Nasteba, nasteba, nasteba gatiranyatha. i.e., in the age of quarrel, the transcendental Name of Hari (Lord) is only to be chanted and there is no other alternative except this, for transcendental realisation. He has thrice emphasised on the Name of Hari as well as on the word alternative, in order to give on it very strong impression as we generally do by giving stress at least three time on a thing just to give good impression. It should be noted therefore that the process for transcendental realisations recommended for the three periods namely, Satya, Treta, Dwapara will not be feasible in the present age. The people of the present age are short lived and poor in knowledge and poor in material prosperity. They are also corrupted by the association of "Kalee" or the age of quarrel. The symbolic expression of the Age of Kali is represented by the four principles of vices as was observed by Parikshit Moharaj during the first advent of the Age of Kali about 5,000 years ago. The four principles of vices are as follows. (1) Illegitimate association with woman and unrestricted sexuality. (2) Unrestricted slaughtering of cows and other minor animals. (3) Encouragement of drinking and other intoxicating habits. (4) Mass movements of gambling adventures in all spheres of human activities namely, political, social, economic and religious, etc. We may also very carefully note that the Age of Kali has passed only 5,000 years after the battle of Kurukshetra which was fought between the Kurus and the Pandavas and just after the disappearance of Lord Krishna from this mortal world. The major portion of the Age of Kali is still unfathomed as according to Hindu Shastras (Law books) the Age of Kali has to prolong more for 4,27,000 of years. The signs of the Age of Kali as mentioned above have already begun to be very prominent even in the very beginning of the age, and we do not know what will happen when the age will be at its full youthful time. Thus we can at least know that for the coming four lacs and twenty-seven thousands of years, no one can check the progressive current of the influence of the Age of Kali represented by the above four principles of vices as no one is able to check the seasonal changes in the duration of a year. The laws of Nature cannot be changed by anyone who is himself under the laws of Nature. The above four principles of the Age of Kali have spread from the West and as stated in the Scriptures it is spreading its influence on the Eastern horizon too. We may try our utmost by all our resources and inventive powers to check the above forces, by such imaginary actions as Hinduraj, Moslemraj, Non-violence, socialism, communalism, and so forth as the human brain can conceive of-but we are completely helpless in checking the onrush spread of the cult of the Age of Kali, by any conceivable method except by the counterblast, namely congregational chanting of the Name of Hari (The Lord). It is for this reason only that Lord Chaitanya has thrice emphasised the fact, Kalou Nasteba, Nasteba Nasteba gatiranaath, So from the onslaught and ravages of the Age of Kali, no one will be able to concentrate his mind even for a moment. Even the preliminary processes of meditation (Yoga) will be impossible to perform by any man in the present age. Therefore the processes as was enjoined in the age of Satya, has to be replaced by the process of Harer Namoiba. In the same way no one can perform the great sacrifices which required so much wealth and so much knowledge. The men of the Treta Yooga used to live for 10,000 of years and therefore it was possible for them to accumulate the necessary funds as well as knowledge necessary for the performance of the great sacrifices such as the Aswamedha Yajna, etc. Even it is possible now to accumulate the necessary funds for such sacrifices, it is not possible to find out the required learned Brahmin who could take charge for the performance of such sacrifices, so that the desired result can be had of. Thus in the present age, we are poor both by funds and knowledge and as such the principles of sacrifices as recommended for the Treta Yooga must be replaced by the principles of Harer Namoiba. In the same way the processes of the Dwapara Yooga has also to be replaced by the principles of Harer Namoiba as ordered by Lord Chaitanya. He has thrice emphasised on the fact as there is no other alternative for the mass emancipation in the Kali Yooga, for the reason that all other methods for bringing peace in the world will always be frustrated by the contamination of the above four principles of the Age of Kali. Lord Chaitanya conducted His transcendental movement strictly according to the injunction of the Shastras (law-books) because that is the qualification of all bonafide Acharyas or authorities, and as such he has most reasonably and scientifically ordered us to chant the Name of the Lord as follows. In the scriptures the Taraka Brahman Names of the Lord in this age are composed of 32 letters and 16 words, symbolised as follows:- Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. The chanting of the above sixteen words composed of 32 Sanskrit letters combined together is called the "Mahamantram". (Moha=great, Man=mind, Tran=deliverance) that is, the great instrument for our deliverance from the clutches of the mental plane. At present we have no information of the transcendental plane or Self-realisation but are hovering over a plane created by the Mind called Manaratha. These sixteen words can alone deliver us from such mental activities. If any one therefore takes shelter of the Mahamantram with unconditional surrender, he can very easily attain to all successes both material and Spiritual, that is the verdict of Lord Chaitanya. This Mahamantram when murmured within the mouth it is called "Japa" and when chanted loudly so that others also may take advantage of hearing the same, it is called SREE KRISHNA SAMKIRTAN. Both these processes of Japa and Samkirtan were perfectly demonstrated by Thakur Haridas an associate of Lord Chaitanya. This Thakur Haridasa is also known as the Namacharya, i.e., the authority from whom, the chanting of the transcendental Name of the Lord, must be learnt. It is needless however to say that this Thakur Haridas happened to appear himself in the family of a great Mohamedan showing thereby that the cult of Lord Chaitanya is acceptable universally without any distinction of caste, creed and colour. According to Lord Chaitanya, this Sree Krishna Samkirtan is glorified for the following reasons:- Sree Krishna Samkirtan is glorified because by His influence the darkness of Nescience cast over our pure consciousness is dissipated. The Nescience is our forgetfulness of the service of the Lord, the All-attractive Personality of Godhead. Before the advent of the Age of Kali-Sree Krishna the Supreme Lord appeared Himself as one of us (?) and conducted the sacred battle of Kurukshetra in order to teach us, through Arjuna, the essence of all knowledge in the form of Geeta. The supreme instruction of Geeta is most confidential and that is said by the Lord Himself as follows:- Sarba Dharman paritayya Mam ekam saranam braja Aham tam sarba papevya moksaisyami ma sucha i.e., "Give up thy all engagements created by the mind and take shelter of Me alone. I shall deliver thee from all possible sins, for which you may rest assured." In the same Geeta (Bg. 15.7) Sree Krishna says that the Jiva souls are eternal parts and parcels of Him but the 'Jivasoul' has now become conditioned by the modes of Nature attracted by the subtle mind and five subordinate senses, encaged in the gross material body. The fact that the Jiva soul is completely different from his body and the mind, has been elaborately explained in the very beginning of the Geeta and this misidentification of the spirit soul with material body or the mind-has been the root cause of all Nescience in the forgetfulness of our transcendental eternal relation with the Supreme Lord. The last instruction of Geeta is thus in the way of reinstallation of the Jiva soul unto the service of the Lord and that is the aim of clarifying the mirror of our pure consciousness. But the mirror of our pure consciousness is now covered with a layer of dusts primarily called mundane desire for enjoyment and mundane renunciation or hatred for enjoyment. First of all we are attracted by the glare of material enjoyment and thereby we desire to lord it over the material forces of Nature and her regulated laws by becoming Iswara, Lord, Master, King, Proprietor, Leader, and so forth but when we are defeated in our such enjoying habit by the trident of Durga, the superintending goddess of the material world, we then try to become a pseudo renouncer or "Tyagi". Thus in the beginning of our association with the material enjoyment, we declare ourselves as "Bhogi" or enjoyer and when we are baffled in our such process of enjoyment we become "Tyagi" or renouncer of the world. Both these functions are performed on the mental plane only. And in this way Durga or the material Nature pulls us by the ear and the laws of Nature known as "Trigunas" or the three modes of Nature till we do away with such mental speculations of Bhoga and Tyaga detrimental to the path of self-realisation. When we want to become an enjoyer we do not remember as to whose things we are going to enjoy. We forget at that time that everything is created by and property of the Lord. We are unable to manufacture even a pinch of earth and what to speak of the finer elements such as water, fire, air, ether etc. We forget that all these elements are the gifts of the Lord Himself through His External Potency of Nature and the Jiva soul is simply allowed to make a use of them for the service of the Lord or in order to satisfy his false position of an enjoyer (?). As soon as the objects of such false enjoyment are taken away by the sway of the laws of Nature, the Jiva soul looks blank and becomes a silly renouncer like the fabulous jackal in the orchard of grapes. The Jiva soul forgets to know that all the materials of his false enjoyment are supplied by the Nature in accordance with the orders of the Lord and the captivated conditioned soul falsely thinks that he is absolute enjoyer of the things. He forgets that he is a prisoner in the fortress (Duga) of the External Potency (Durga). When he renounces therefore under an awkward circumstances, he gives up only that gross enjoying habit but becomes a subtle enjoyer of his other resources namely the mind and the ego. Thus he hovers over the plane of mental concoction for becoming one with the Lord making a spiritual suicide of his own individual existence. This sort of illusion is the last snare of the Most Powerful Qualitative Nature and for this reason only Sree Krishna warns the Jiva soul as follows:- "Daivijhesa gunamae Mama Maya duratyaya." Unsurmountable are the ways of the modes of Nature and the only way out from the tangle of such modes of Nature-is complete voluntary surrender unto Me (Sree Krishna). The last line completes as follows: "Mam eba je prapadyante Maya etan tarantee te." Thus the desire or hatred for enjoyment or renunciation both are creations of the false ego. They are therefore as if dusts on the mirror of our pure consciousness. When this is cleared off by Sree Krishna Samkirtan the Jiva soul then and there can see only his real face on the polished mirror of pure consciousness and then he can know only that he is neither the enjoyer nor the renouncer but an eternal entity as transcendental servitor of the Supreme Lord. The dust is Maya or illusion which can be compared with the shadow and the Lord as the beam light. When He appears Himself on the mirror of our pure consciousness, the Maya gives way and the shadow disappears. We cannot see the Lord nor hear His voices by our present imperfect senses but when with full voluntary surrender we chant the transcendental Name of the Lord with service and submission, He mercifully makes His own appearance in the transcendental state of our existence when freed from the contamination of the spirit of enjoyment and renouncement. Secondly Sree Krishna Samkirtan is glorified because by His influence we can extinguish the perpetual fire of material tribulations that always burn in the midst of material existence. Forgetfulness of our transcendental relation with the Lord, has compelled the Nature to inflict her trident of threefold miseries pierced into the heart of us. The threefold miseries are: (a) Miseries pertaining to "Atma" or the body and the mind such as heat, cold, diseases, sorrows, losses, invalidity, hunger, thirst, old age, death, etc. (b) Miseries pertaining to the "Bhuta" or other entities such as troubles inflicted by enemies, animals, insects, etc., and (c) Miseries pertaining to the disturbances by the "Devas" or the controlling gods such as famine, flood, war, pestilence, cyclone, earthquake etc. The conditioned soul in his false position of an enjoyer or renouncer has to undergo the threefold miseries as above mentioned in spite of all his scientific efforts to overcome them. The scientific brain with which the conditioned Jiva soul tries to make a solution of the miserable problems-is also a gift of the modes of Nature and he is therefore befooled in his tiny efforts to conquer the laws of Nature by a tiny instrument called the brain, given by the Nature. The laws of Nature however can smash the products of such millions and billions of combined brains by her one stroke of the powerful trident. The constant effort of the conditioned soul to give a fight with the laws of Nature makes the conditioned soul more and more embarrassed, as we can find in the picture of the "Mohishasur" in his fighting mode with the mother "Durga". The Mohishasur has a trident of the Mother pierced in his chest is the symbolic expression of the threefold miseries sickening our heart. Such a huge fire of tribulation can only be checked by the Sree Krishna Samkirtan. By Sree Krishna Samkirtan only, the conditioned soul can gradually know that he is neither enjoyer nor renouncer but a transcendental servitor only. By the revival of such pure consciousness, he surrenders voluntarily all his manufactured processes of conquering the laws of Nature and then only can corroborate with the lessons of Geeta "Sarba Dharman paritayya" etc. When he does so, he easily transcends the laws of Nature. The laws of Nature cannot act on him by such revival of pure consciousness. At that time even within this material world he becomes freed from the action of the laws of Nature in his transcendental position. Such is the power of Sree Krishna Samkirtan. Thirdly Sree Krishna Samkirtan is glorified because by His influence the darkness of our heart becomes whiter and whiter. Sree Krishna Samkirtan is compared with the moon rays that diffuses the whiteness of "Kumud" (Lotus) flowers. Similarly the moon rays of Sree Krishna Samkirtan diffuses the whiteness of our pure consciousness. Fourthly Sree Krishna Samkirtan is glorified because by His influence the life of knowledge becomes blessed. In the "Mundak Upanishad" we can get information of two kinds of knowledge. The one is pertaining to the matter (physical) and the other pertaining to the spirit (metaphysical). By Sree Krishna Samkirtan when one's heart is unfolded like the Kumud flower by the rays of moon, one realises his own self as distinct from the body and the mind. In the present conditioned state of our existence, we are more concerned with the knowledge of the body and the mind but as we realise, our real self by the process of Sree Krishna Samkirtan, that we are separate from the body and the mind, so a pure hankering after our real existence becomes evident. That is the life of real knowledge and is called generally the life of "Brahman Jijnasa" i.e., an enquiry into the life of spiritual existence as distinguished from spiritual suicide. The Jiva Soul being constitutionally "Brahman" or Spirit, an enquiry of the knowledge of Spiritual existence is quite natural for him and by the culture of that knowledge of spiritual existence only the Jiva Soul again becomes reinstated to his constitutional position of transcendental relationship of neutrality, service, friendship, affection and love of God which is the ultimate goal of spiritual life. As for the mundane knowledge such as art, science, philosophy, chemistry, physics, astronomy, and so forth they become automatically acquired by the process of Sree Krishna Samkirtan. Sree Krishna Samkirtan includes such knowledges indirectly or as a matter of course as it is evident by the recitation of Bhagavat Geeta and Sreemad Bhagavat. There are perfect elucidation of such mundane knowledge in the readings of Geeta and Bhagavat. Simple culture of the mundane knowledge makes the Jiva Soul bound up by the vanity of such mundane knowledge but by Sree Krishna Samkirtan, not only those knowledges are acquired without any separate effort but also the student becomes freed from the mundane vanity for the acquirement of such knowledges. Freedom from the vanity of such mundane knowledge, leads one to the path of real knowledge i.e., to the Lotus feet of the Absolute Personality of Godhead Who is the Fountain Head of All knowledge. Fifthly, Sree Krishna Samkirtan is glorified because He enhances the ocean of enjoyments. By acquisition of mundane knowledge certainly we find out the ocean of material enjoyment but such enjoyments are partial, insignificant and temporary in as much as they are unable to give us perfect happiness. But by Sree Krishna Samkirtan we do not only acquire the enjoyments of the material knowledge but we can extend the sphere to the enjoyment of spiritual existence. By the imperfect material knowledge, we are able to enjoy the material world for a limited time and within a limited space but by the extension of the spiritual knowledge, the ocean of enjoyment becomes extended to unlimited time and unlimited space. Unless therefore we can engage our resources acquired by the sacrifices of life, wealth, intelligence and words for propaganda of the service of Sree Krishna Samkirtan, we are sure to be disappointed in our attempt for material enjoyment and as a result of such limited attempt, we are sure to be dashed constantly like a pendulum of a clock, between the poles of material enjoyment and renouncement. Sixthly Sree Krishna Samkirtan is glorified for He can give a taste of the nectorine of transcendental mellow. When everything is therefore conjoined with the performances of Sree Krishna Samkirtan everything in such transcendental relation becomes transcendental in nature by the transcendental touch and as such the mundane nature which is always imperfected by its inborn inebriety and unwholesomeness, cannot act on them. In the transcendence, the mundane imperfectness is always conspicuous by its absence, and therefore Sree Krishna Samkirtan can give us a taste of complete nectorine. The elevationists of the mundane world can surely taste the nectorine of the fruits of their respective works for some time, and the salvationists may undergo the dry regulations of renouncement negatively of the bitterness of material enjoyment without any scent of the transcendental variety, but the performer of Sree Krishna Samkirtan, by his process of engaging all for the service of Sree Krishna with full touch of the transcendence, does never become bound up by their such transcendental activities, like the elevationists nor has had the necessity of undergoing the dry process of renouncement. The performer of Sree Krishna Samkirtan always transcends the activities of the mundane elevationists and salvationists and remains an eternal servitor of the Lord and enjoys in every step of his transcendental existence a touch from the Lord. He is therefore reposed to a position of perfect peace enviable by the desirers of mundane enjoyment, renouncement or perfection. Then again Sree Krishna Samkirtan being transcendental sound, we must distinguish Him from any of the mundane sounds. The mundane sound is always different from the object designated by the sound. For example we may cite that the mundane sound 'water' is always different from the object water designated by the sound water. When we are thirsty we may repeat the word 'water' and 'water' by sounds for one hundred and a thousand times, still we shall not be able to quench our thirst by such constant practices. That is the imperfectness or mundane inebriety of the mundane sounds. But Sree Krishna Samkirtan although descends from the transcendental kingdom apparently like the mundane sounds, just to favour us for His being audible by our present imperfect senses, He should never be concocted as one with the mundane sound. We must always remember that there is no distinction between Sree Krishna and His Name, Fame, Quality, and Paraphernalia. The Lord is Absolute Knowledge and there is no mundane relativity between Him and His Names etc. He is eternally complete or "Purnamadam." His Name is also therefore "Purnamadam" and therefore when His Name appears before us in His completeness-the Lord does not lose anything thereby but still remains in His fullness. That is the potentiality of the Almighty God. Completeness derived from completeness leaves out a balance of completeness. One minus one leaves out a balance of one again, as distinguished from the mundane calculation of one minus one equal to Zero. The Upanishads confirm the fact like this:- "Purnashya Purnam adaya Purnam ebe abshishyate." The Lord therefore can descend before us by His inconceivable mystic powers, in the form of Sound Transcendental, and if we like, we can receive Him properly by surrender and service by a submissive aural reception. If Sree Krishna comes Himself in our presence as He actually did during the battle of Kurukshetra or Sree Rama Chandra comes Himself in our presence as He did actually during the Ajodhya Leela, what we are expected to do to receive the Personality of Godhead? Surely we shall try to receive Him with all devotion and services, so that we may be favoured with His Grace. Similarly as His Name is non-different from Him, we must receive the Name with all humility and submissive aural reception with the same attitude as we have had done in the presence of the Lord Himself. "Sree Krishna Samkirtan" is not therefore a sense pleasure of music and songs as are conceived by some mundaners. We should always remember the following sloka in connection with Sree Krishna Samkirtan namely:- Nama Chintamani Krishna Chaitanya Rasavigraha Purna, Suddha, Nitya, Mukta, avinyatat Nama Namina. i.e., the Name of Sree Krishna is equally powerful as Sree Krishna Himself for there is no distinction between Him and His Name. The Name is therefore All-perfect, All-pure, Eternal, and distinguished from the mundane sounds which are always different from the objects designated by these sounds. Sree Krishna has said Himself while addressing Narada that He does not necessarily make Himself immobile by His situation in the transcendental world, neither He is so, being seated in the hearts of the Yogins as Paramatma and so forth, but He resides surely in His fullness, where His devotees chant the transcendental Name in right earnestness. Sree Krishna being the absolute enjoyer as stated in the Geeta, "Aham eba saraba yajnanam bhokta cha Prabhur eba cha" i.e., "I am the Absolute Enjoyer and Master of all Yajnas or sacrifices etc."-He cannot be the object of our sense-pleasure in combination with music and bands and called thereof "Samkirtan." He cannot be enjoyed by our irresponsible whims and feats. He says therefore that He lives only there where His devotees chant His Name. "Mad bhakta jatra gayantee" He declines to descend Himself where there is dearth of His devotees. Because His devotees never try to enjoy Him or His Paraphernalia in a pseudo-spiritualistic mode. His devotee knows it perfectly well that Sree Krishna being the Absolute Personality of Godhead i.e., "Purushottama" as stated in the Geeta, He cannot consent to reside at a place where His transcendental Name, Fame, Quality, etc., are considered as equal with mundane names, etc., and thereby treated with all undevotional manner. In the Geeta he has clearly declared that He does not reveal Himself to every one and any one. "Na Aham sarbasha prakasha Yoga Maya samabrita" The Absolute Godhead always reserves the right of not being exposed to those whose eyes are covered with the modes of Nature. His devotion however begins only when one has learnt the A.B.C. lessons of Geeta in perfectness. This perfect knowledge of Geeta is practically demonstrated by complete surrender unto Sree Krishna only, leaving aside all other things. The first stage of Sree Krishna devotion begins only when one is firmly convinced that by Sree Krishna devotion only one is able to perform all other duties. To abide by the dictations of Sree Krishna is the real discharging of all other duties. This sort of staunch devotion is called "Sraddha" and by the gradual development of the activities of "Sraddha" in the association of devotees, one can rise up to the stage of Prema Bhakti the highest plane of transcendental Pastimes of the Personality of Godhead. Such being the Nature of the transcendental Name of the Lord, the Name must be received through the transcendental sources i.e., from the lips of the devotees only as above mentioned. The transcendental Names of the Lord in His various forms or manifestations such as Rama, Nrisingha, Narayana, Krishna, Gopalam, Vishnu, Govinda, Radharamana, Gopinatha, Seeta Pati, Raghubara, Baladeva and many others in the spiritual kingdom, are always complete with the transcendental potencies and by the mercy of the Lord, there is no hard and fast rules in respect to time and space for the transcendental chanter. The devotee who has received the Name from a transcendental source i.e., from the lips of a devotee as above mentioned, may repeat the Name at all times, without any restriction. By this the Lord has favoured us to allow His constant association, so that one can always live with Him, go with Him, eat with Him, sleep with Him, work with Him, without being disturbed by the laws of Nature or her threefold miseries. Such is the unbounded mercy of the Lord on us but still we are so much wretched that we have no inclination for chanting His Name in spite of His being so easily available for the fallen souls of the Age of quarrel. There is nothing to lose or nothing to spend-but everything to gain by chanting the Name of the Lord but still we have no genuine desire for their chanting and we must see to the causes why we are so much disinclined although the Lord has become so merciful on us. As a matter of fact our first misfortune commenced from the time immemorial when we forgot the transcendental service of the Lord and thus became conditioned by the modes of the material Nature. This misfortunate occurrence became manifested in trio under the following heading namely:- (a) Material enjoyment without any responsibility. (b) Good or bad works for the furtherance of the above propensity in the present life and in future births also. (c) Culture of material knowledge in order to make a measurement of the Immeasurable. All the above threefold activities with their various sub-headings are to be considered as our misfortunes by which we are always debarred from the chanting of the transcendental Names of the Lord. Spontaneous eternal love for the Lord is a birth right of the Jiva Soul, but in the realisation of his such pure consciousness, the above mentioned trio is the stumbling block. He is checked on his onward march by such refuses and as a matter of course the Jiva Soul is apt to be contaminated by ten kinds of disease-germs known as "Namaparadha" or offence at the feet of the transcendental Name of the Lord, as one can find out in the "Padmapuranam." The sincere devotee who wants to attain a perfection (Siddhi) for himself by the process of chanting the Name of the Lord must refrain from the ten kinds of offences which are quoted below from the "Padmapuranam." 1. The first and foremost offence is the act of defaming the great saints who have glorified the chanting of the Name of the Lord by example in their own life and precepts. According to ordinary moral principles no one must be defamed for serving any ulterior motive. But still according to the gravity of different offences, defamation of Saints who have done much for the propagation of the Name of God and His Fame must be considered the gravest of all offences. Those who are therefore accustomed to defame such saints, are spiritually great offenders and such persons can have no access to the transcendental Name of the Lord. We should therefore be guard against such offence. 2. The second offence is to place the Absolute Godhead or Vishnu Tattwa in the category of the demigods who derive their powers from the Supreme Lord. The Supreme Lord is one without a second and all other gods are His servitors, having no separate existence as another Almighty Godhead. These subordinate gods are stated in the Geeta as "Anya devata" i.e., gods other than Myself (Sree Krishna) Jepyanya devata bhakta jajante shradhyannita Teopi mam eba Kounteya jajantee avidi purbakam This abidhipurbakam means unduly or with offensives. The Supreme Godhead is Sree Krishna undoubtedly and this is confirmed in all the scriptures and specially in the Brahma Samhita as follows:- Iswara parama Krishna sachchitananda vigraha Anadiradi Govinda Sarbakarana karanam. i.e., Sree Krishna is the primeval Lord and Origin of everything. He is the cause of all causes. He is the Summum Bonum Absolute Godhead. The Plenary Manifestations of Sree Krishna are manifold such as Rama, Nrisingha, Vishnu etc. But all such manifestations are Absolute knowledge. No one is therefore equal or greater than the Absolute Knowledge. This subject is itself a matter of studies by transcendentalists but without knowing the intricacy of the Absolute knowledge, those who simply imagine that the Absolute Godhead and subordinate demigods are one and the same commit great offence at the feet of the Supreme Lord. The subordinate gods such as Shiva, Brahma, Ganesh, Surya, Indra, Chandra, Varuna, Vaue etc., are either qualitative incarnations of the Absolute Godhead or in other cases Jiva souls with delegated powers from the Personality of Godhead. Neither existence of the demigods shall be misconceived nor they should be made one and the same with the Absolute Personality of Godhead. Those who want to attain perfection in the way of chanting the Names of the Lord must refrain from such conglomeration of facts in the spiritual science. The third offence is disregard of the Spiritual Master. The devotee must receive the transcendental Name of the Lord from the transcendental lips of a bonafide spiritual master who is cent per cent devotee of the Lord and nothing more or nothing less and then begin chanting the transcendental Name of the Lord by constant repetition. Such spiritual master as above mentioned is known as the Guru from whom either initiation is taken or the one from whom spiritual instruction is received. One should have unflinching faith in such self realised transcendental spiritual master. The bonafides of such spiritual master can however be known, by their activities only which are always evident in respect of everything being done for and on behalf of the Lord. The self-realised spiritual master never deviates from the rulings of Shastras (Law Books) and he always does in practice what he speaks in theory. Those who however manufacture spiritual lessons from their own fertile brain, without having undergone any spiritual training from a bonafide spiritual master, cannot be counted as a spiritual master. Disrespect for such bonafide spiritual master and respect for the pseudo-spiritual master both are offences of the third order. The fourth offence is defamation of the standard scriptures such as the four Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, Brahmasutras, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Geeta, or other literatures which conform to the principles of the above mentioned scriptures. In the Geeta Sree Krishna Himself accepts 'Brahmasutras' or 'Vedanta Darshan' as the standard of all spiritual knowledge. "Brahmasutrapadaschaiba Hetumatvinischitam" In the spiritual society no sect or Sampradaya is considered as bonafide party who has no authorised interpretation of the Brahmasutras. (Interpretation of "Brahmasutra" by the party represented by Lord Chaitanya is known as "Govinda Vashya" of Acharya Baladeva Vidyabhusan). Those who therefore invent some spiritual party without knowing the Brahmasutra from an authorised spiritual master or do interpret without proper reason and philosophy, do simply create disturbances in the spiritual line without doing any benefit to himself or to his unfortunate followers. Sreela Rupa Goswami describes such unauthorised activities as follows:- Sruti Smriti Puranadi Pancharatrabidhin bina Aikantiki Harerbhakti utpataiba kalpate. Pseudo-devotional activities without reference to the standard scriptures as above mentioned, are simply acts of disturbances in the name of spirituality. The performer of Samkirtan must refrain from such disturbing elements. The fifth offence is to misunderstand the glorification of the transcendental Name of the Lord as exaggerated facts. Actually by the chanting of the transcendental Name of the Lord, all gains be it material or spiritual are automatically obtained. It is simply a question of time that takes for the fructification of the desired result. But those who think, without attaining to perfection, that such results are exaggeration of facts, do commit offence of the fifth order. The performer of Samkirtan must refrain from such misrepresentation of facts. The sixth offence is to manufacture concocted or designed meanings of the Names of Hari (The Lord) or that of the scriptural truths. One can directly understand that the word 'Hari' means the Personality of Godhead Who is Eternal Bliss, Eternal Knowledge, and Eternal Form but without knowing the intricacy of the Lord's form etc., those who think 'Hari' means the Impersonal Brahman do commit offence of the sixth order. There are others who are still less intelligent and do manufacture meanings of the word "Sree Krishna" as the mind (?) Rama as satisfaction and similar other things. Such manufacturers of distorted meanings do not generally take what is direct and spontaneous interpretation but they always try to enforce indirect interpretations for their own temporary benefit only. They are also great offenders and the performer of Samkirtan must carefully take leave of them. The seventh offence is to indulge in vices on the strength of chanting the Name of the Lord. Those who are really recipient of the transcendental Name of the Lord from the transcendental sources, and those who chant the Name of the Lord very carefully without any offence as above mentioned, cannot naturally indulge in vices as a matter of course. But for the reason of that those who intentionally commit vices knowing that they are always with the Lord (?),-are the greatest of all offenders and their counteracting endeavours for the vices committed during the day time, by the chanting of the Name of the Lord, in the evening, cannot be accepted as Samkirtan at any cost. One should always guard himself against such pseudo-spiritual devices for the well being of one's ownself as well as one's followers. This sort of offences can be compared with the act of pouring water on the fire while it is burning. Water pouring and burning of the fire cannot go together. The eighth offence is to equalise the value of all good works with the chanting of the transcendental Name of the Lord. Penances, austerity, meditation, fasting, methodism, morality or such goodness that lead the performer to higher stations of life, cannot be equalised with Sree Krishna Samkirtan. Those who do like that, are also offenders at the feet of the transcendental Name. The results of all the above mentioned good works are after all material in nature because they can offer in return material prosperities only and are therefore limited within time and space. But the transcendental Name of the Lord and the Lord Himself are non-different. As such realisation of the Absolute Truth cannot be compared with relative goodness. The performer of Samkirtan must be on his guard against commitment of offence of the eighth order. The ninth offence is to preach and advise of the transcendental nature of the Name of Lord to such a person who is atheistic in temperament, mundane moralists, and addicted to elevatory process only. Unless one has cleansed his heart from such contaminations, he can hardly be eligible for receiving the transcendental Name of the Lord. There are many professional spiritual masters whose business is to sell the transcendental Name of the Lord (?) and these traders generally sell to persons who are altogether unfit. Such business transactions on considerations of L.S.D. exchanged between the spiritual master and the so-called disciple are undoubtedly great offences. The student of Samkirtan must refrain from the association of such pseudo-spiritualists in order to achieve perfection in the process of Samkirtan. The tenth and the last but not the least offence to the lotus feet of the transcendental Name of the Lord is either to become inattentive to all the above offences or not to take to the chanting of the transcendental Name of the Lord in spite of hearing all the glories of the system. A serious student of Samkirtan can get rid of all the above offences if he desires so, knowing well the different forms of offences and by refraining from them by all possible precautions. This can however be done without difficulty by continuous chanting of the Name of the Lord and for such constant reciter of the transcendental name of the Lord, there is no room for committing such offences. In conclusion we may add that without culture nothing can be made to perfection. The culture of the science of Samkirtan is Sree Krishna Himself, both being non-different. In mundane matters only the means and the end are different from one another. But in the transcendence the means and the end are non-different. In preparatory stage only, for chanting the Name of the Lord, there is every chance for committing the above offences but for the reason of that we must not be disheartened at the least. We should always remember that both the preparatory stage and the perfection stage of Samkirtan is nothing but Samkirtan. The difference of these two stages are realisation and non-realisation only. As a matter of fact therefore all people must be led to the Science of Samkirtan by all means and they shall be engaged in the culture of the science by Samkirtan only. The offences as described above if kept in view, the sincere culturists will be able to avoid them without difficulty. In the "Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu" of Sreela Rupa Goswami, it is said that the mind must be fixed up in the chanting of the Name and the regulations are to serve them as subordinate servants. The sowing of the seed of Samkirtan must be performed immediately unto the heart of every one and all and the watering process of the seed so sown must be done by constant hearing and chanting in the association of devotees. When the seed sprouts at the heart, the gardener must protect it from all sides by guarding against the above mentioned offences. In this process the seed of Samkirtan will grow up to a big tree when the nectorine fruit of Love of God shall automatically ripe and the gardener will be able to taste the same transcendentally, sell it and make a huge profit thereof. Om tat sat. (BTGPY1f: The Science of Congregational Chanting of the Name of the Lord (Samkirtan))

Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are considered to be the "Hindu trinity". But who is the supreme. Shrila Prabhupada explains this point in the following purport. The transcendental personality of Godhead is indirectly associated with the three modes of material nature namely goodness, passion ignorance and just for material world's creation, maintenance and destruction He accepts the three qualitative forms of Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara trio. Out of them the Form of the quality of Goodness (Vishnu) is just suitable for deriving the ultimate benefit for all human beings. PURPORT Why Lord Shri Krishna by His plenary parts shall be rendered devotional service as it is explained above, is confirmed by this statement. Lord Shri Krishna and all His plenary parts are Vishnu Tatwa or the Lordship of Godhead. From Sri Krishna the next manifestation is Valadeva. From Valadeva is Samkarshan, from Samkarshan is Narayana again from Narayana there is the second Samkarshan and from this Samkarshan the Vishnu Purusha Avatars. The Vishnu or the deity of the quality of goodnes in the material world is the Pursha Avatara known as Khirodashayee Vishnu or Paramatama. Brahma is the deity of Rajas (passion) and Shiva for ignorance. They are three departmental heads of the three qualities of this material world. Creation is made possible by the quality of passion and endeavour, it is maintained by the goodness of Vishnu and when it is required to be destroyed Lord Shiva does it by Tandab Nritya. The materialists and the foolish human beings do worship Brahma and Shiva respectively. But the pure transcendentalists do worship the Form of Goodness Vishnu in His various Forms. Vishnu is manifested by His millions and billions of integrated forms and separated forms. The integrated forms are called Godhead and the separated forms are called the living entities or the Jivas. But either the jivas or Godhead both of them have their original spiritual forms. The Jivas are sometimes subjected under the control of the material energy but the Vishnu forms are always controller of the material energy. When Vishnu or the Personality of Godhead appears in the material world He comes to deliver the conditioned living beings who are under the material energy. Such living being appears in the material world with intention of lording it over falsely and thus become entrapped by the three modes of nature. As such the living entities have to change the material coverings for undergoing different terms of imprisonment. The prison house of the material world is created by Brahma under instruction of the Personality of Godhead and at the conclusion of a Kalpa the whole thing is destroyed by Shiva. But so far maintenance of the prison house is concerned it is done by Vishnu as much as the state prison-house is maintained by the state. Any one, therefore, who may wish to get out of this prison house of material existence which is full of miseries like repetition of birth, death, diseases and old age, he must please Lord Vishnu for such liberation. Lord Vishnu is worshipped by devotional service only and if any one has to continue the prison-life in the material world he may ask for relative facilities from the different demigods like Shiva, Brahma, Indra, Varuna, etc. for temporary relief. No such demigods can however release the imprisoned living being from the conditioned life of material existence except Vishnu. As such the ultimate benefit may be derived from Vishnu the Personality of Godhead. Shrimad Bhagavatam 1.2.23 sloka and purport

Here is one article on sleep, from the health section of the 10th edition of the Matchless Gift magazine, written by His Grace Maitreya Rsi Dasa. There are now 19 editions of the Matchless Gift available for the public. Check them out here . “When it comes to choosing the greatest little pleasure of one's life, nothing can be compared to a good night's sleep,” says one study conducted in the UK about sleep “Going to bed after a stressful day and waking up the next morning feeling completely refreshed is the greatest pleasure of a person's life,” says another, voting sleeping to the number one pleasure in life. Getting into a bed with freshly washed sheets was voted the 6th. (The Telegraph)   In a study conducted by Dr Tang and colleagues to examine sleep patterns in U.K. across a period of 4 years, analyzing many variables, one of the key findings pointed to a relationship between sleep and pleasure. The researchers noted that “the score improvements were also comparable with the average increase in well-being measured in lottery winners 2 years after a $250,000 jackpot win.” “Better sleep feels like 8 weeks of therapy or winning a quarter of a million”   According to psychologist Norbert Schwarz⎯”Making $60,000 more in annual income has less of an effect on your daily happiness than getting one extra hour of sleep a night' (Barnett) Stress causes insomnia. This insomnia can further increase stress and create displeasure, mood swings and many other symptoms of mental imbalance. Stress induced insomnia has been linked with increased risk for anxiety disorders and depression (American Academy of Sleep Medicine).   What do the Vedas say about sleep?   The direction of the Vedas ultimate lead to self-realisation, or knowledge that the soul is beyond the scope of material nature, which includes, of course, the body and it’s needs, like sleep. Like many things in the Vedas, especially regarding health, balance is recommended. Sleeping too little or too much are both advised against by Shri Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita:   naty-asnatas 'tu yogo 'sti na caikantam anasnatah na cati-svapna-silasya jagrato naiva carjuna   There is no possibility of one's becoming a yogi, O Arjuna, if one eats too much, or eats too little, sleeps too much or does not sleep enough. (BG 6.16)   From this valuable instruction of Lord Krishna, we can know that the upkeep of our physical health is essential for the practice of spiritual life, although the two appear apparently diametrically opposed. This does not mean, of course, that sleeping should be a very emphasized aspect of our lives.   This recommendation is further elaborated on in the Ayurvedic scriptures, which tell us more about the specific effects of neglecting or overindulging in sleep:   Acharaya Sushruta explains: "The pleasure and sorrow, or nourishment and mal-nourishment, strength and loss of strength, libido and poor sexual virility, good intellect and poor memory, pleasure and sorrow full living are depend upon proper and improper sleep of an individual respectively.   Sleep as a natural urge Ayurvedic seers have considered sleep as natural urge also. So it should not be suppressed. Its suppression causes yawning, body ache, drowsiness, headache, heaviness of the eyes etc.

The process of transmigration of the soul is explained by Lord Krishna’s father Vasudeva in the following purport. Purport by Shrila Prabhupada elaborates further. Having experienced a situation by seeing or hearing about it, one contemplates and speculates about that situation, and thus one surrenders to it, not considering his present body. Similarly, by mental adjustments one dreams at night of living under different circumstances, in different bodies, and forgets his actual position. Under this same process, one gives up his present body and accepts another [tatha dehantara-praptih [Bg. 2.13]]. PURPORT Transmigration of the soul is very clearly explained in this verse. One sometimes forgets his present body and thinks of his childhood body, a body of the past, and of how one was playing, jumping, talking and so on. When the material body is no long workable, it becomes dust: "For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." But when the body again mixes with the five material elements -- earth, water, fire, air and ether -- the mind continues to work. The mind is the subtle substance in which the body is created, as we actually experience in our dreams and also when we are awake in contemplation. One must understand that the process of mental speculation develops a new type of body that does not actually exist. If one can understand the nature of the mind (manorathena) and its thinking, feeling and willing, one can very easily understand how from the mind different types of bodies develop. The Krishna consciousness movement, therefore, offers a process of transcendental activities wherein the mind is fully absorbed in affairs pertaining to Krishna. The presence of the soul is perceived by consciousness, and one must purify his consciousness from material to spiritual, or, in other words, to Krishna consciousness. That which is spiritual is eternal, and that which is material is temporary. Without Krishna consciousness, one's consciousness is always absorbed in temporary things. For everyone, therefore, Krishna recommends in Bhagavad-gita (9.34), man-mana bhava mad-bhakto mad-yaji mam namaskuru [Bg. 18.65]. One should always be absorbed in thought of Krishna, one should become His devotee, one should always engage in His service and worship Him as the supreme great, and one should always offer Him obeisances. In the material world one is always a servant of a greater person, and in the spiritual world our constitutional position is to serve the Supreme, the greatest, param brahma. This is the instruction of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Jivera 'svarupa' haya-krsnera 'nitya-dasa' (Cc. Madhya 20.108). To act in Krishna consciousness is the perfection of life and the highest perfection of yoga. As Lord Krishna says in Bhagavad-gita (6.47): yoginam api sarvesam mad-gatenantaratmana sraddhavan bhajate yo mam sa me yuktatamo matah "Of all yogis, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all." The condition of the mind, which flickers between sankalpa and vikalpa, accepting something and rejecting it, is very important in transferring the soul to another material body at the time of death. yam yam vapi smaran bhavam tyajaty ante kalevaram tam tam evaiti kaunteya sada tad-bhava-bhavitah "Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, that state he will attain without fail." (Bg. 8.6) Therefore one must train the mind in the system of bhakti-yoga, as did Maharaja Ambarisa, who kept himself always in Krsna consciousness. Sa vai manah krsna-padaravindayoh [SB 9.4.18]. One must fix the mind at the lotus feet of Krsna twenty-four hours a day. If the mind is fixed upon Krishna’s lotus feet, the activities of the other senses will be engaged in Krishna’s service. Hrsikena hrsikesa-sevanam bhaktir ucyate: [Cc. Madhya 19.170] to serve Hrsikesa, the master of the senses, with purified senses is called bhakti. Those who constantly engage in devotional service are situated in a transcendental state, above the material modes of nature. As Krishna says in Bhagavad-gita (14.26): mam ca yo 'vyabhicarena bhakti-yogena sevate sa gunan samatityaitan brahma-bhuyaya kalpate "One who engages in full devotional service, who does not fall down in any circumstance, at once transcends the modes of material nature and thus comes to the level of Brahman." One must learn the secret of success from the Vedic literatures, especially when the cream of Vedic knowledge is presented by Bhagavad-gita as it is. Because the mind is ultimately controlled by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, the word apasmrtih is significant. Forgetfulness of one's own identity is called apasmrtih. This apasmrtih can be controlled by the Supreme Lord, for the Lord says, mattah smrtir jnanam apohanam ca: [Bg. 15.15] "From Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness." Instead of allowing one to forget one's real position, Krishna can revive one's original identity at the time of one's death, even though the mind may be flickering. Although the mind may work imperfectly at the time of death, Krishna gives a devotee shelter at His lotus feet. Therefore when a devotee gives up his body, the mind does not take him to another material body (tyaktva deham punar janma naiti mam eti [Bg. 4.9]); rather, Krishna takes the devotee to that place where He is engaged in His pastimes (mam eti), as we have already discussed in previous verses. One's consciousness, therefore, must always be absorbed in Krishna, and then one's life will be successful. Otherwise the mind will carry the soul to another material body. The soul will be placed in the semen of a father and discharged into the womb of a mother. The semen and ovum create a particular type of body according to the form of the father and mother, and when the body is mature, the soul emerges in that body and begins a new life. This is the process of transmigration of the soul from one body to another (tatha dehantara-praptih [Bg. 2.13]). Unfortunately, those who are less intelligent think that when the body disappears, everything is finished. The entire world is being misled by such fools and rascals. But as stated in Bhagavad-gita (2.20), na hanyate hanyamane sarire. The soul does not die when the body is destroyed. Rather, the soul takes on another body. SB 10.1.41 purport

Vishnujana Maharaja was one of the most exemplary, devoted and ecstatic early disciples of Shrila Prabhupada. He would play on the mridanga drum for ten hours on the streets of LA while onlookers stood awestruck. He is a source of great inspiration for all sincere followers of Shrila Prabhupada. Here he is explaining the various kirtan instruments used in his Harinama party that preached all across the United States. Vishnujana: The Sanskrit word Hari means the reservoir of all pleasure, Krishna means all-attractive, and Rama means the enjoyer. These three words are put into a 16 word formula; Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare, and this is called a mantra, and it's meant to fix the mind, stop the wandering of the mind, and fix it on the real nature of the self and the supreme self. Usually our mind is wandering throughout the day, from one sense to one sense object to another, and our mind is absorbed in thinking, feeling and willing about the senses and the sense objects. Sometimes we’re hearing something, then we’re seeing something, tasting something, touching something, smelling something, and then at night we dream about these things or think about these things internally throughout the day. This wandering keeps our consciousness absorbed in the temporary nature of this world. And rarely do we find any peace of mind because of the oscillation of the senses. But in yoga one has to learn to control the senses. And this chanting, although it uses the sense object sound, is a very effective means of satisfying the mind totally. That’s why we can sing this song all day long without ever becoming saturated or bored. Because the sound vibration fixes the mind on the absolute, and that gives us a great deal of joy, and that joy increases the more we engage in the chanting. So much so that we can’t even stop chanting after we start going. We had an example of a businessman in Los Angles, he came by us when we were chanting out on the street, and he was holding his ears like this. So I asked him what his objection was to our chanting, and he said, “I have no objection to your chanting,” he said, “but now wherever I go I hear that Hare Krishna Hare Rama in my dreams, when I driving my car, all the time.” This is the effect of the chanting—that it actually pierces our unwillingness to concentrate our mind. See, usually we’re unwilling to mediate. But this chanting is so powerful that it attracts us to concentrate our mind on the absolute. The sound of Krishna is non-different from the unlimited personality of the absolute. And therefore when we’re mediating on that sound, we can actually experience the unlimited qualities of the absolute. So it’s a wonderful reservoir of pleasure, this chanting of Hare Krishna. And there’s no charge to take part in it. Even a child can take part in it, even a dog can take part, without any previous qualification. If you’d like to sit with us, we have some simple rhythm instruments, you’re welcome to shake them and allow yourself to get into the chanting some more. If you have any questions there’s a book table set up over there like a library, with our books that are translated from Sanskrit into English. There’s tapes of this music too, if you like. And over there we’re serving a vegetarian feast. If you haven’t tried some of our food or at least tried some of the nectar drink, it’s made with strawberries, buttermilk and oranges, and it tastes very beautiful. The instruments that we are playing are instruments that have been used in temples, especially in central India—There’s a place called Vrindavana. And for thousands of years, Krishna’s glories have been sung using these traditional instruments. I’m playing what's called a harmonium, and it reminds us actually of the harmony that we’re all meant to live in (plays harmonium). The instrument next to me is called a tanpura. It’s actually made out of a pumpkin, it’s a gigantic gourd. And it has four strings on it that are played like a waterfall of sound (plays tanpura). That buzzing effect is due to the very long, flat bridge that the strings are running across. The instrument next to him is called the esraj. This is the most ancient of the instruments and probably the most beautiful. It has a crying sound reminding us of our desire to achieve peace (plays esraj). Very sweet. Then the drums are all made with clay and the skins of animals that have died of old age—probably most of you know we don’t believe in animal slaughter. But when an animal dies, then the skin can be used. Then there are brass symbols. The symbols are especially meant to stop what is called cheeta, the wandering of the mind. When you hear that sound of the symbol it fixes the mind. That’s why it bothers people to hear that ching-ching-ching, but actually it’s helping us meditate.