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The Hare Krishna movement is not exclusivist; we see that all the previous great teachers, like Lord Jesus Christ and Prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him) are all sent from Krishna with a purpose to bring back fallen souls to the spiritual world. The only differences we see are because of the different types of men each messenger or son of God was preaching to. Shrila Prabhupada explains in detail in the following conversation. Guest: Can a true devotee come face to face with God through the teachings of Buddha, the teachings of Christ? Prabhupada: Yes. Teachings of Christ, teachings of Buddha, they were meant for a particular type of men. Generally it is meant for everyone, but especially for a particular type of men. Just like Lord Buddha, he preached ahimsa. They were a particular type of men. Lord Jesus Christ also preached a particular type of men. "Thou shall not kill," that means they were killing. Is it not? If I say: "Thou shall not steal," that means you are thief, you are stealing. So a kind of preaching amongst the thieves and a kind of teaching among the philosophers must be different. That is the difference. Lord Buddha is Krishna, Lord Jesus Christ was Krishna incarnation, but they were preaching to a different type of people. Therefore you'll find difference of Lord Jesus Christ teaching, Buddha's teaching, Krishna's teaching. Krishna's teaching also there, which is already Buddha's teaching. But more than that, because the persons amongst whom He was teaching, they were far, far elevated than the thieves and the rogues. That is the difference. Just like I am pushing on this Krishna consciousness movement, I am doing so many things which my . . . sometimes my Godbrothers, out of envious, criticize. But I know what is the circumstances how to do it. They do not know it. I know my business. So that is their fault. Their own buddhi business, they'll simply criticize, "How he is acting." Find out some fault. Just like Lord Buddha was criticized by the Vedic brahmins, "Oh, you are stopping animal sacrifice?" It is already in the Vedas. Because it is sacrifice, the animal is also sacrificed, so how you can stop animal sacrifice?" But Lord Buddha, nindasi yajna-vidher ahaha sruti-jatam (Dasavatara-stotra 9). Sruti-jatam. In the Vedas there is recommendation for animal sacrifice, but he began to deride. So his business was to deride the Vedic principles, that "I don't care for these Vedas." Therefore Buddha religion was not accepted in India. He criticized. He criticized the Vedic principles. In the Vedic principles there is recommendation for animal sacrifice, and he criticized, "This is not good. Don't do this." Therefore it is criticism. Vedic injunction should be accepted as it is. You cannot criticize. Then there is no Vedic authority. So therefore he defied Vedic authorities. As such he was not accepted, strictly followers of the Vedas. But he has got a different purpose. The ordinary man cannot understand. But one who is devotee, he knows that why he has done this. Therefore they offer their obeisances, kesava dhrta-buddha-sarira jaya jagadisa hare. A devotee does not accept the philosophy of Buddha but accepts him as incarnation of Lord Krishna and offers obeisances. This is our position. We offer obeisances to Lord Buddha as incarnation of Krishna, kesava dhrta-buddha-sarira jaya jagadisa hare. This is our study of knowledge.

"These women are not ordinary women. They are preachers. They are Vaisnavas. By their association one becomes a Vaisnava." (Shrila Prabhupada, morning walk, March 27, 1974) Vishakha Devi Dasi is an early disciple of Shrila Prabhupada. She has been writing articles for Shrila Prabhupada's magazine "Back to Godhead" for over 2 decades. She is an advocate for female bodied devotees in the Hare Krishna movement and is herself a temple president in one of the largest western temples. SHRILA PRABHUPADA, India's greatest emissary to the Western world, set up in the West not only asramas and temples, but an entire spiritual society. To do this he inspired women as well as men to become devotees of Lord Krishna. He authorized women to live in asramas and serve the Lord in a wide variety of ways, some of them unconventional, although exactly in line with Lord Krishna's teachings. What is the position of women in the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), the society Shrila Prabhupada founded? To answer, let's first look at the purposes of ISKCON. In its founder's vision, the members of ISKCON dedicate themselves to practicing spiritual life and distributing spiritual knowledge and techniques to others. Shrila Prabhupada taught that real spiritual life means to render transcendental devotional service to the Supreme Lord, Sri Krishna. Devotional service entails engaging all our senses in the service of the Lord, the master of the senses. That service purifies our senses and frees us from all material designations. So by teaching devotional service, Shrila Prabhupada showed that he wanted all his followers men, women, and children to become free from all material designations and regain their original pure identity. Another way to understand Shrila Prabhupada's message and mission is to reflect on the Sanskrit word dharma. Dharma is the essential function or nature of a thing. One can say that the "dharma" of fire is heat, the "dharma" of water, liquidity, and the "dharma" of sugar, sweetness. What is the dharma of the living being? To render service. Shrila Prabhupada writes, We can easily see that every living being is constantly engaged in rendering service to another living being. A living being serves other living beings in various capacities. By doing so, the living entity enjoys life. The lower animals serve human beings as servants serve their master. … One friend serves another friend, the mother serves the son, the wife serves the husband, the husband serves the wife, and so on. If we go on searching in this spirit, it will be seen that there is no exception in the society of living beings to the activity of service … and therefore we can safely conclude that service is the constant companion of the living being and that the rendering of service is the eternal religion [dharma] of the living being." ( Bhagavad-gita As It Is , Introduction) In the material world every living being dwells within a body made of material elements. Each of us is a living being (soul), now covered with a gross and subtle material body. Because of our original nature, which is spiritual, and our covering, which is material, each of us has two types of dharma: eternal ( sanatana ) dharma, our spiritual service to the Supreme spirit, Lord Shri Krsna; and our own ( sva ) dharma, the appropriate service for our particular mind, intelligence, and senses. Lord Krishna says ( Bhagavad-gita 4.13) that one's qualities and activities, not one's birth, determine one's sva-dharma. According to the qualities and activities of human beings, the Lord created four general types of occupation for the smooth functioning of human society: brahmanas (learned priests, teachers, and advisors), ksatriyas (government leaders and military men), vaisyas (farmers, businessmen, and cow-protectors), and sudras (laborers and artisans). (In our present confused age, many people don't fit neatly into any one occupation but express their talents in several areas.) The Husband-Wife Team Whatever one's position in this societal system, those who fill the various roles generally do not do so alone, but together, as a husband-wife team. Men and women of compatible natures and propensities marry, and the wife assists her husband and takes primary charge of the home and children. Shrila Prabhupada writes, "A wife should not only be equal to her husband in age, character, and qualities, but must be helpful to him in his household duties." ( Shrimad-Bhagavatam 3.22.11, Purport) And the Shrimad-Bhagavatam (10.60.15) declares, "Marriage and friendship are proper between two people who are equal in terms of their wealth, birth, influence, physical appearance, and capacity for good progeny, but never between a superior and an inferior." So a brahmana's wife is like a mother for her husband's students, the queen is considered a mother by the citizens, the agricultural women are expert in using milk and other products of the cows and land, and so forth. In this way husband and wife are fully engaged, and in a society composed of such families, peace, happiness, fulfillment, and a cooperative spirit prevail. Yet our sva-dharma is not complete unless also bonded with sanatana-dharma. "The occupational activities a man performs according to his own position are only so much useless labor if they do not provoke attraction for the message of the Personality of Godhead." ( Shrimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.8) In explaining this verse, Shrila Prabhupada writes, The self [soul] is beyond the gross body and subtle mind. He is the potent active principle of the body and mind. Without knowing the need of the dormant soul, one cannot be happy simply with emolument of the body and mind. The body and the mind are but superfluous outer coverings of the spirit soul. The spirit soul's needs must be fulfilled. Simply by cleansing the cage of the bird, one does not satisfy the bird. One must actually know the needs of the bird himself. The need of the spirit soul is that he wants to get out of the limited sphere of material bondage and fulfill his desire for complete freedom. He wants to get out of the covered walls of the greater universe. He wants to see the free light and the spirit. That complete freedom is achieved when he meets the complete spirit, the Personality of Godhead. Shrila Prabhupada founded ISKCON to this end: to enable people to get out of the limited sphere of material bondage and meet the Supreme Lord. Although in the renounced order of life ( sannyasa ), Shrila Prabhupada arranged and sometimes conducted the marriages of his disciples. And he engaged these young people in myriad services according to both their propensities ( sva-dharma ) and their service to the Lord ( sanatana-dharma ). Under Shrila Prabhupada's direction, devotee men and women served as artists, writers, typists, speakers, singers, managers, Deity caretakers, book distributors, and so on. For example, my husband, Yaduvara Dasa, and I, both trained photographers, served in ISKCON together, my husband as a cinematographer, and I as the photographer and sound technician. We sometimes filmed and photographed Shrila Prabhupada, who more than once commented, "Husband and wife working together in Krishna consciousness this is very nice." Another example: When three married couples successfully started a Krishna conscious center in London, Shrila Prabhupada praised their efforts. He noted that his spiritual master had wanted a center in London many years before, but his spiritual master's sannyasi disciples had been unsuccessful in starting one. Shrila Prabhupada's young, Western Krishna conscious householders had succeeded where mature Indian renunciants had not. Shrila Prabhupada's vision was for his disciples to marry and serve the Lord together in harmony. He writes, "A wife is necessary to assist in spiritual and material advancement. It is said that a wife yields the fulfillment of all desires in religion, economic development, and sense gratification. If one has a nice wife, he is to be considered a most fortunate man." ( Shrimad-Bhagavatam 3.21.15, Purport) Shrila Prabhupada wanted to see happy Krishna conscious couples of like dispositions and proclivities offering their services to the Lord, making their home conducive for spiritual life, raising their children to be godly, and making gradual, solid spiritual advancement. Service with Protection While this ideal is quite attractive for most people, it also raises questions. What, if anything, can a woman do beyond assisting her husband, beyond her housework, and beyond her sacred duties as a mother? And what of women who are unmarried, widowed, married but childless, or married with grown children? Their services to their children are nonexistent or minimal, and their services in the home also minimal. In answer, the first point is that women must always be protected. Shrila Prabhupada criticized the so-called woman's liberation movement, which encourages women to become unprotected and thus available to be exploited by unscrupulous men. Shrila Prabhupada noted how the unwanted progeny from such unfortunate combinations are an embarrassment for the government, which is obliged to provide for many husbandless mothers and fatherless children. In the culture Shrila Prabhupada introduced, a young man is trained to be a responsible, first-class person. He then marries a compatible, faithful young woman. In such a culture women are protected and children grow up in a peaceful, stable, two-parent home. Yet it is certainly possible for a woman to be protected and at the same time to serve the Lord according to her unique ability. Shrila Prabhupada encouraged and occasionally insisted that his women disciples lead kirtanas, speak in public, and distribute his books. And while Shrila Prabhupada disapproved of women leading a country, he found no fault with women being leaders within his spiritual society. For example, in the late 1960s, when his movement was still quite young, he put one of his first women disciples, Jadurani Devi Dasi, in charge of all the men and women artists creating paintings to illustrate his books. A little later, in the spring of 1970, when Shrila Prabhupada was forming the Governing Body Commission (GBC) as the management arm of ISKCON, he included women on the list of disciples he was considering for the position. When asked if a woman could become a temple president (Chicago, July 5, 1975), Shrila Prabhupada replied, "Yes, why not?" and then explained that a woman should remain dependent on either her first-class father, first-class husband, or first-class son. (In the final analysis, only the Supreme Lord, Sri Krishna, is independent, but Vedic culture specifically enjoins that women should remain dependent on their intimate male relation.) Here Shrila Prabhupada states that a woman may be a temple president, but he also says that she also must be dependent. Is this contradictory? To gain some insight, we can turn to a conversation between Vallabha Bhatta, Advaita Acarya, and Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu: One day Vallabha Bhatta said to Advaita Acarya, "Every living entity is female [ prakrti ] and considers Krishna her husband [ pati ]. It is the duty of a chaste wife, devoted to her husband, not to utter her husband's name, but all of you chant the name of Krishna. How can this be called a religious principle?" Advaita Acarya responded, "In front of you is Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the personification of religious principles. You should ask Him, for He will give you the proper answer." Hearing this, Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, "My dear Vallabha Bhatta, you do not know religious principles. Actually, the first duty of a chaste woman is to carry out the order of her husband. The order of Krishna is to chant His name incessantly. Therefore one who is chaste and adherent to the husband Krsna must chant the Lord's name, for she cannot deny the husband's order." ( Caitanya-caritamrta, Antya-lila 7.103-7) Similarly, under the guidance of her spiritual master, a chaste, Krsna conscious woman encouraged by her Krishna conscious father, husband, or son may render whatever service she's qualified to do, whether as a mother, a cook, a temple president, a GBC, or a spiritual master. In a letter to Silavati Devi (June 14, 1969), Shrila Prabhupada wrote, "Now if you can induce all the women of Los Angeles to place an altar in their homes and help their husbands have peaceful, happy home life in Krishna consciousness, that will be very great service for you. The actual system is that the husband is the spiritual master to his wife, but if the wife can bring her husband into practicing this process, then it is all right that the husband accepts the wife as the spiritual master. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has said that anyone who knows the science of Krishna should be accepted as spiritual master, regardless of any material so-called qualifications, such as rich or poor, man or woman, or brahmana or sudra. " This same point was confirmed again, years later (June 18, 1976), when Professor O'Connell of the University of Toronto asked Prabhupada, "Is it possible, Swamiji, for a woman to be a guru in the line of disciplic succession?" Srila Prabhupada replied, "Yes. Jahnava Devi was Nityananda's wife. She became. [Jahnava Devi was an initiating spiritual master who had male disciples.] If she is able to go to the highest perfection of life, why it is not possible to become a guru? But not so many. Actually one who has attained the perfection, she can become a guru. But man or woman, unless one has attained the perfection … Yei krishna-tattva-vetta sei guru haya. The qualification of the guru is that he must be fully cognizant of the science of Krishna. Then he or she can become a guru. Yei krsna-tattva-vetta, sei guru haya. In the material world, is there any prohibition that a woman cannot become a professor? If she is qualified, she can become a professor. What is the wrong there? She must be qualified. That is the position. So similarly, if the woman understands Krishna consciousness perfectly, she can become a guru." In spiritual circles one's sex is not a disqualification. As being dependent and being a leader are not necessarily contradictory, so being protected and being a leader are also not contradictory. A woman can be protected (as all women must be throughout their lives) and yet be a leader also. In Shrila Prabhupada words, "The child must be taken care of. That is good. Similarly, woman also. And an old man like myself I am always taken care of … That is civilization." Although a topmost Vaishnava, Shrila Prabhupada here humbly identifies himself as an "old man." And since old men are one of the five groups society must protect (the other four being cows, women, children, and brahmanas ), Shrila Prabhupada sees himself as protected. Yet at the same time he was an unparalleled leader. In the Hare Krishna movement, Shrila Prabhupada trained men to see all women except their own wife respectfully as "mother," and women to see all men except their husbands respectfully as their "sons." As the son's duty is to protect his mother, so one of the duties of Shrila Prabhupada's men is to protect Shrila Prabhupada's women. A devotee-woman leader is protected by her husband and her "sons." The Platform of Equality Therefore in the Lord's spiritual society and for His pleasure, a woman may do whatever service is suited to her. While this principle may seem straightforward and clear, to some it is a point of great controversy. They believe that a woman's birth precludes her from doing certain services for the Lord, even though she may be qualified for them. Sometimes such thinking is culturally based. For example, traditionally in India women don't perform certain Deity services in the temple a standard Shrila Prabhupada respected there. But often the thinking comes from the male ego, which Shrila Prabhupada identified as "the temperament of always wanting to be in a superior position." ( Srimad-Bhagavatam 9.3.10, Purport). To function successfully in such a difficult milieu, a woman spiritual leader must be astute, guileless, sensitive, soft-hearted, clear-headed, and fixed in Krishna consciousness, seeing herself as a servant of all. Her saving grace is her natural, humble service attitude, as well as her gracious and urgently needed contribution to Shrila Prabhupada's society. Shrila Prabhupada founded ISKCON so that devotees could please the Supreme Lord, Shri Krishna, by serving Him with devotion. The Lord is pleased by all service sincerely rendered to Him; in one sense there are no superior and inferior services. And from the perspective of the Lord and His pure devotees, all the Lord's servants are equal. Shrila Prabhupada explains, "Therefore in the bhakti platform, Krishna consciousness, there is no such distinction: 'Here is an American, here is an Indian, here is an African, here is this and that.' No. Everyone is Krishna conscious. So actually if we want equality, fraternity, then we must come to Krishna consciousness. This is the purpose of the Krishna consciousness movement. And actually it is becoming a fact. These boys and girls are no longer thinking they are American or European or Canadian or Australian or Indian. They are equal. So if you want equality, fraternity, friendship, love and perfection, the solution to all problems economic, political, social, religious then come to Krishna consciousness. Come to this platform. Then all your ambitions will be fulfilled, and you will be perfect." (Lecture on Bhagavad-gita 13.4) Let us be enlightened by the perspective Shrila Prabhupada reveals in this conversation: Shrila Prabhupada: In the spiritual platform there is no such distinction man, woman, or black, white, or big or small. No. Everyone is spirit soul. Panditah sama-darsinah. Vidya-vinaya-sampanne brahmane gavi hastini suni caiva sva-pake ca panditah. One who is actually learned is sama-darsinah. He does not make any distinction. But as far as our material body is concerned, there must be some distinction for keeping the society in order. Woman: The women could become panditas , then? Prabhupada: Oh, yes. Te 'pi yanti param gatim . Not only become she can also attain perfection. There is no such restriction. Krishna said. Woman: Do you have any panditas in the Western movement? Prabhupada: There are so many Western women, girls, in our society. They are chanting, dancing, taking to Krishna consciousness. Of course, because superficially, bodily, there is some distinction, we keep women separate from men, that's all. Otherwise, the rights are the same." (June 18, 1976, Toronto) To help them stay fixed on the goal of life rendering pure, uninterrupted devotional service to Krishna men and women should not mix (except if they are married), but they have the same rights. What is the most important right? The right the privilege to serve the Lord according to their propensity, according to their heart's desire. Ultimately the real occupational duty, dharma, of women is the dharma of all living beings: to eternally serve Krishna. A woman sincerely and seriously serving the Lord in whatever capacity she chooses should be honored and encouraged. In his purport to Shrimad-Bhagavatam 7.5.12, Prabhupada writes, "Everyone should be allowed to render service to the Lord to the best of his ability, and everyone should appreciate the service of others. Such are the activities of Vaikuntha [the spiritual world]. Since everyone is a servant, everyone is on the same platform and is allowed to serve the Lord according to his ability." Visakha Devi Dasi has been contributing articles and photographs to BTG for more than twenty years. She and her family live in New Dvaraka, the Hare Krsna community in Los Angeles.

SOME CLARIFICATION FROM SRILA PRABHUPADA ON THE TOPIC OF INITIATIONS AND DONATIONS TO SUPPORT IT: The initiation requires some Guru daksina, so during the time of initiation, the disciple must collect some alms and present it to the Spiritual Master. That is the system.   Letter to: Gurudasa -- Los Angeles 2 March, 1970 I am very much pleased to learn that $50 of this check was collected by the two new students as guru daksina, that is the proper execution of the initiation function so everything is complete to the Vedic standard.   Letter to: Bhagavan -- Los Angeles 26 May, 1970 The system is that after initiations, each devotee should collect some alms to the best of his capacity either cash or something else and make a presentation to the Spiritual Master. This is called daksina. Without daksina the initiation ceremony is not perfect.   Letter to: Satsvarupa -- Bombay 26 February, 1971 vidhi-hinam asrstannam mantra-hinam adaksinam sraddha-virahitam yajnam tamasam paricaksate TRANSLATION Any sacrifice performed without regard for the directions of scripture, without distribution of prasadam [spiritual food], without chanting of Vedic hymns and remunerations to the priests , and without faith is considered to be in the mode of ignorance.   Bg 17.13 In the Padma Purana it is stated that King Bhagiratha was the emperor above all other kings, yet he developed such ecstatic love for Krishna that he became a mendicant and went out begging even to the homes of his political enemies and untouchables. He was so humble that he respectfully bowed down before them. There are many similar instances in the history of India. Even very recently, about two hundred years ago or less, one big landlord known as Lal Babu, a Calcutta landholder, became a Vaisnava and lived in Vrndavana. He was also begging from door to door, even at the homes of his political enemies. Begging involves being ready to be insulted by persons to whose home one has come. That is natural. But one has to tolerate such insults for the sake of Krishna. The devotee of Krishna can accept any position in the service of Krishna. NOD Pridelessness

Today marks the auspicious occasion of the appearance of Lord Balaram. Lord Balaram is the older brother of Lord Krishna. Here are some descriptions of this great personality. "In the Upaniṣads it is stated, nāyam ātmā bala-hīnena labhyaḥ. The purport is that one cannot attain the supreme platform of self-realization without being sufficiently favored by Balarāma. Bala does not mean physical strength. No one can attain spiritual perfection by physical strength. One must have the spiritual strength which is infused by Balarāma, or Saṅkarṣaṇa. Ananta, or Śeṣa, is the source of the power which sustains all the planets in their different positions. Materially this sustaining power is known as the law of gravitation, but actually it is a display of the potency of Saṅkarṣaṇa. Balarāma, or Saṅkarṣaṇa, is the source of spiritual power, or the original spiritual master. Therefore Lord Nityānanda Prabhu, who is also the incarnation of Balarāma, is the original spiritual master. And the spiritual master is the representative of Balarāma, the form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead who supplies spiritual strength. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is confirmed that the spiritual master is the manifestation of the mercy of Kṛṣṇa." Kṛṣṇa Book, Chapter 2 "Although Lord Baladeva appeared before the birth of Lord Krishna and is therefore Krishna's worshipable elder brother, He used to act as Krishna's eternal servitor. In the spiritual sky all the Vaikuntha planets are predominated by the quadruple expansions of Krishna known as the catur-vyuha . They are direct expansions from Baladeva. It is the singularity of the Supreme Lord that everyone in the spiritual sky thinks himself a servitor of the Lord. According to social convention one may be superior to Krishna, but factually everyone engages in His service. Therefore in the spiritual sky or the material sky, in all the different planets, no one is able to supersede Lord Krishna or demand service from Him. On the contrary, everyone engages in the service of Lord Krishna." Caitanya-caritamrta Adi-lila 6.76, Purport Balarāma is a svāṁśa expansion of the Lord, and therefore there is no difference in potency between Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma. The only difference is in Their bodily structure. As the first expansion of Godhead, Balarāma is the chief Deity among the first quadruple forms, and He is the foremost assistant of Śrī Kṛṣṇa in His transcendental activities. CC Adi 5.5 Purport So Nityānanda Rāma... So yasyāṁśa sa nityānanda-rāmaḥ. Nityānanda is Balarāma. Therefore He is said, nityānandākhya-rāmaḥ. Just like Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu... Kṛṣṇāya-kṛṣṇa-caitanya nāmne: "I offer my respectful obeisances to Kṛṣṇa now appeared as Kṛṣṇa Caitanya." He's Kṛṣṇa. Similarly, Nityānanda is Balarāma. So balarāma hoilo nitāi. Therefore it is said here, nityānandākhya-rāmaḥ: "He's Rāma, Balarāma, but at the present moment He has appeared by the name Nityānanda." Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.7 -- Mayapur, March 31, 1975

Here is the translation to Bhaja Hu Re Mana, a wonderful devotional song by His Divine Grace Govinda Dasa Kaviraj Swami. Bhaja Hu Re Mana (O Mind! Just Worship) bhajahū re mana śrī-nanda-nandana abhaya-caraṇāravinda re durlabha mānava-janama sat-sańge taroho e bhava-sindhu re O mind just worship the lotus feet of the son of Nanda, which make one fearless. Having obtained this rare human birth, cross over this ocean of worldly existence through the association of saintly persons. śīta ātapa bāta bariṣaṇa e dina jāminī jāgi re biphale sevinu kṛpaṇa durajana capala sukha-laba lāgi' re Both in the day and at night I remain sleepless, suffering the pains of the heat and cold, the wind and the rain. For a fraction of flickering happiness I have uselessly served wicked and miserly men e dhana, yaubana, putra, parijana ithe ki āche paratīti re kamala-dala-jala, jīvana ṭalamala bhajahū hari-pada nīti re What assurance of real happiness is there in all of one's wealth, youthfulness, sons, and family members? This life is tottering like a drop of water on a lotus petal; therefore you should always serve and worship the divine feet of Lord Hari. śravaṇa, kīrtana, smaraṇa, vandana, pāda-sevana, dāsya re pūjana, sakhī-jana, ātma-nivedana govinda-dāsa-abhilāṣa re It is the desire and great longing of Govinda Dasa to engage himself in the nine processes of bhakti, namely hearing the glories of Lord Hari and chanting those glories, constantly remembering Him and offering prayers to Him, serving the Lord's lotus feet, serving the Supreme Lord as a servant, worshiping Him with flowers and incense and so forth, serving Him as a friend, and completely offering the Lord one's very self.

One may say: what is the use of studying all this detailed knowledge about the various persons connected to the transcendental lila of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada? Ultimately, it is Krishna consciousness we should be concerned about and this is just mundane politics. This is, however, a misunderstanding. Shrila Prabhupada writes: The impersonalists sometimes misunderstand devotional service in such a way that they divide Krishna from His paraphernalia and pastimes. For example, the Bhagavad-gita is spoken on the Battlefield of Kuruksetra, and the impersonalists say that although Krishna is of interest, the Battlefield of Kuruksetra isn't. The devotees, however, also know that the Battlefield of Kuruksetra by itself has nothing to do with their business, but in addition they know that "Krishna" does not mean just Krishna alone. He is always with His associates and paraphernalia. (NoD Introduction) Just as the impersonalists do not see value in discussing Lord Krishna's associates, paraphernalia and pastimes, neophyte devotees cannot appreciate the personality of the devotee and his various pastimes and interactions. Since the acharya means "a teacher by example" By studying the pastimes and interactions of a pure devotee we may learn how the philosophy of Krishna consciousness is applied in practical life. Being unable to appreciate the exalted and transcendental position of a maha-bhagavata these secrets remain hidden from our sight. Shrila Prabhupada in his innumerable statements expressed a clear message to his followers: the disciplic succession is broken if the disciple disobeys his spiritual master's order. In the Caitanya Caritamrta there is a description of Shrila Advaita Acharya's followers. Some of them followed the order of their spiritual master, but others did not and became useless. The author, Shrila Krsnadasa Kaviraja Goswami states: prathame ta' eka-mata acaryera gana pache dui-mata haila daivera karana keha ta' acarya ajnaya, keha ta' svatantra sva-mata kalpana kare daiva-paratantra acaryera mata yei, sei mata sara tanra ajna langhi' cale, sei ta' asara asarera name ihan nahi prayojana bheda janibare kari ekatra ganana dhanya-rasi mape yaiche patna sahite pascate patna udana samskara karite "At first all the followers of Advaita Acharya shared a single opinion. But later they followed two different opinions, as ordained by providence. Some of the disciples strictly accepted the orders of the acharya, and others deviated, independently concocting their own opinions under the spell of daivi-maya. The order of the spiritual master is the active principle in spiritual life. Anyone who disobeys the order of the spiritual master immediately becomes useless. There is no need to name those who are useless. I have mentioned them only to distinguish them from the useful devotees. Paddy is mixed with straw at first, and one must fan it to separate the paddy from the straw." (Adi 12.8-12) In his purports to these verses Shrila Prabhupada compares this schism of Lord Advaita's followers to the conflict among the disciples of Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura (his spiritual master). He explains the conflict as follows: Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, at the time of his departure, requested all his disciples to form a governing body and conduct missionary activities cooperatively. He did not instruct a particular man to become the next acharya. But just after his passing away, his leading secretaries made plans, without authority, to occupy the post of acharya, and they split into two factions over who the next acharya would be. Consequently, both factions were asara, or useless, because they had no authority, having disobeyed the order of the spiritual master. (Adi 12.8 purport) Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta established a succesful preaching mission Gaudiya Matha with 64 temples and instructed his disciples to work cooperatively even after his departure. However, after his demise two factions started fighting over who will be the next acharya. Such acharya must be inevitably an imposter since according to the great authority in our disciplic succession Shrila Jiva Goswami, an acharya is never appointed by some ecclesiastical body. But blinded by ambition two parties started fighting for their respective puppet acharyas (who would then push the interests of the respective party). Shrila Prabhupada explains the events more clearly in the following exchange with his disciples: Prabhupada: Our Godbrothers have deliberately disobeyed my Guru Maharaja...That is my charge against them. Deliberately. He never appointed an acharya. First of all they appointed one acharya, you see, and later on he proved to be a rascal...That made the fracture, you see...Whatever he may be, Guru Maharaja never designated any acharya. And the Sridhara Maharaja, he was the principal man to support him... He made a great blunder, he and Professor Sanyal and Kesava Maharaja. At that time he was, these three men supported, and he proved later on to be false. Actually this Tirtha Maharaja, he wanted to be acharya. People did not like him, so they made another bad acharya. [laughs] Why acharya? They should have continued the preaching work uncontaminated. What is the use of acharya? Sadhu will have come out automatically by working, but they did not. Propaganda. Room Conversation [No Audio] – May 14, 1972, Honolulu Please note the word "deliberately disobeyed" since it is significant in the context of another statement from Srila Prabhupada which we shall discuss later on. For now, let us just mentiond that these two parties consisted of Ananda Vasudeva, supported by Kesava Maharaja and Sridhar Maharaja on one side and Tirtha Maharaja (also known as Kunja Babu) supported by other prominent members on the other side. These two parties split the assets of Gaudiya Matha and the mission came to a halt. Later one of the false acharyas Ananta Vasudeva fell from grace. Shrila Prabhupada remembers: Prabhupada: One of my Gaudiya Matha Godbrothers, big, he became the head of this Bhag Bazaar Gaudiya Matha. So his wife was debauched, and she was bringing new paramour, and the child protested. Pusta Krishna: New? Prabhupada: Paramour. And the boy, he was ten years or twelve years old, he could understand: "Who is this man?" So he protested and said, "I shall tell all these things to my father." And he was killed. Pusta Krishna: The boy was killed? Prabhupada: By the mother. Hari-sauri: She murdered him? Prabhupada: Yes. Killed means given poison. And the father, that is, my Godbrother, seeing this, he also took poison. This is the end of Gaudiya Matha scandal. He was also one of the trustees. This Tirtha Maharaja was a trustee, and another Godbrother and this man. In the beginning, they were made trustees. In the beginning, Prabhupada was to undergo surgical operation. So he was a little nervous, that "I may die." So he made a scrap paper, that "In case I die, these three disciples will be trustees of the Gaudiya Matha Institute." That's all. So this Kunja Babu kept this. There are many long histories. So one of the so-called trustees was this Vasudeva. So he died. His end was like this. Pusta Krishna: His son was killed, isn't it? Prabhupada: His wife was a regular prostitute, and she killed her child, and on this shock, he took poison and died. Pusta Krishna: He killed himself. Oh. Prabhupada: Naturally he became shocked, that "This is my family life -- the wife is prostitute and son is killed. What is the value of my life?" This was his spiritual realization. Just see. [laughs] And he was made the chief, and one of the supporter was Sridhara Maharaja. Pusta Krishna: Vasudeva Sridhara? Prabhupada: No, no. He was made chief. Guru Maharaja did not make him chief. But after his passing away, some of our Godbrothers voted him chief. (Room Conversation – June 18, 1976, Toronto) So Sridhara Maharaja and Kesava Maharaja voted in a so-called acharya. In this way they deliberately disobeyed the order of their spiritual master Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura. Now the word "deliberately" is mentioned in another statement of Shrila Prabhupada in a letter to a disciple: Out of the ten kinds of offenses, the number one offense is to disobey the orders of the Spiritual Master. The instructions given to the disciple by the Spiritual Master at the time of initiation should be strictly followed. That will make one advance to the spiritual path. But if one deliberately defies such instructions, then his advancement is hampered from the very beginning. This defying means to disconnect the relationship with the Spiritual Master. And anyone who defies and therefore disconnects the relationship with the Spiritual Master can hardly expect the assistance of the Spiritual Master life after life. Letter to: Jayapataka -- Los Angeles 11 July, 1969 Since previously Shrila Prabhupada said that his Godbrothers have deliberately disobeyed the order of his Guru Maharaja, it can be safely said that they have disconnected their relationship with the spiritual master. Shrila Prabhupada confirms this conclusion in the following letter: Unfortunately the present workers in the Bombay Gaudiya Math are not at all competent to do any tangible work. They are staying there for the last 35 years, but they have not done any appreciable work. it is simply a place "khabadavar addakhama.'' Shrila Prabhupada used this word many times in connection with inactive centers. And when one was too much engaged in buildings, He always warned that our business is not for becoming mason workers, or becoming carpenters, neither to create a place for eating and sleeping. So these people are collecting funds and eating and sleeping. The reason is that they deviated from the disciplic succession from Shrila Prabhupada. (Letter to: Jagannatham Prabhu -- Montreal 22 June, 1968) At the same time, Shrila Prabhupada, after all this expired, accepted sannyasa order of life from Kesava Maharaja. Shrila Prabhupada defines his relationship with his sannyasa guru Kesava Maharaja as a siksa (instructing guru) relationship: Prabhupada: Sannyasa, there is a ceremony. Just like we have got the initiation ceremony. Hayagriva: Did He have a spiritual master? Prabhupada: So He accepted spiritual... Not spiritual master, but a sannyasa-guru. That is also master, but he's not spiritual master. But he's also considered as sannyasa-guru, spiritual master who offers him sannyasa. Just like myself, I took initiation from my Guru Maharaja, but I took sannyasa from a Godbrother who is a sannyasi. So my original guru is that spiritual master who initiated me, but he's also a siksa guru. Like that. Teacher. (Discourse on Lord Caitanya Play – April 5–6, 1967, San Francisco) In 1968, when Kesava Maharaja left this world Shrila Prabhupada went to the extent of holding a condolence meeting with his disciples and passing and consequently sending a resolution of bereavement to Kesava Maharaja's matha (temple). In a speech at this occassion, Shrila Prabhupada amongst other sweet words addressing His departed Godbrother Kesava Maharaja says: So I am offering my respectful obeisances unto this His Holiness, because he forcefully made me adopt this sannyasa order. So he is no more in this world. He has entered Krishna's abode. (Bhaktiprajnana Kesava Maharaja's Disappearance Day Lecture, – October 21, 1968, Seattle) This is quite bewildering. Considering that Kesava Maharaja was the cause of destruction of Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati's Gaudiya Math mission and was thus outside of disciplic succession having deliberately disobeyed the order of his spiritual master, why did Shrila Prabhupada a)accept him as his siksa guru b)state that he went back to Godhead (the highest spiritual perfection) c)held condolence meeting with his disciples to honor Kesava Maharaja? Wouldn't that be the last thing to do since Kesava Maharaja has deviated from the disciplic succession? The activities of maha-bhagavata are always a mystery to the conditioned soul who is unaware of the complete plan of the Lord. Various parties have taken advantage of this ambiguity and introduced their various interpretations on this matter. We, on the other hand, shall purposefully avoid such a faux pas keeping miles asunder from the offensive act of speculating on the mind of the mahabhagavata devotee with our limited, mundane and contaminated mind. All we can is to suggest the various statements of Srila Prabhupada on the nature of guru-disciple relationship that might have existed between him and Kesava Maharaja. For example, in connection with the pastime of Dhruva Maharaja, who carried his siksa guru back to Krishna's abode, mentioned in the 4th Canto, Srila Prabhupada states: "...the siksa- or diksa-guru who has a disciple who strongly executes devotional service like Dhruva Maharaja can be carried by the disciple even though the instructor is not as advanced... a disciple or an offspring who is a very strong devotee can carry with him to Vaikunthaloka either his father, mother or siksa- or diksa-guru." (SB 4.12.33 purport) If Shrila Prabhupada was a siksa disciple of Kesava Maharaja, it is possible that by the mercy of Shrila Prabhupada, Kesava Maharaja was carried to Vaikunthaloka, the abode of Krsna. Although Kesava Maharaja might have externally deviated from the disciplic succession, by the virtue of having a very advanced disciple (even in just a formal sense), namely Shrila Prabhupada, he was at the end transferred to the abode of Krishna. Another consideration is that amongst three types of perfection, there is a perfection called krpa-siddhi. Krpa siddhi is attained by the mercy of a spiritual master or a pure devotee. One might not be following the regulative principles so strictly, but due to various reasons a spiritual master may bestow upon him a special mercy for service rendered. Shrila Prabhupada describes the attainment of krpa siddhi as follows: By the blessings of a Vaisnava, everything is possible. This is described in Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu as krpa-siddhi, or perfection attained simply by the blessings of a superior person. One usually becomes liberated and perfect by executing the regulative principles set down in the sastras. Nonetheless, many persons have achieved perfection simply by the blessings of a spiritual master or superior. (Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.1.10 purport) At last, let us not forget that the vision of a mahabhagavata does not discriminate amongst various living entities. He sees everyone equally, whether someone follows or does not follow the order of Krishna or His representative. Shrila Prabhupada describes the vision of a maha-bhagavata devotee as follows: He has no discrimination who is devotee, who is nondevotee, who is atheist or theist, or who is... In this way, he sees everyone, the part and parcel of the Supreme Lord. And everyone is engaged... One who is suffering, he's also engaged, because... Just like the prisoner. The prisoner, he's also serving the government—by force. Therefore one who is elevated, even those who are in abominable stage of life, the maha-bhagavata sees, "Oh, he's also obeying." Actually, it is obeying. The prisoners, they are obeying the government, although by force; but they're obeying. Similarly, those who are materialists, they are also obeying. (Sri Isopanisad Mantra 6 -- Los Angeles, May 8, 1970) It is for this reason, when the mahabhagavata engages in preaching work, he descends to the second class of devotional service since in the second class one must make discrimination between innocent and envious. We can be sure that from that highly elevated position Shrila Prabhupada has unconditional love for all living entities and always tries to work for their benefit by engaging them in devotional service although externally he must point out the various defects and deviations. Shrila Prabhupada sometimes manifests such features of causeless compassion of a mahabhagavata and it riches our appreciation of his exalted position. It might be that feelings he is expressing for Kesava Maharaja and other Godbrothers are comiing from such highly elevated platform of love. We must, however always take note of various warnings not to imitate such profound compassion since as neophytes this will gradually lead to our destruction.This has been clearly suggested by Shrila Prabhupada in the following statement: ...one should not imitate the behavior of an advanced devotee or maha-bhagavata without being self-realized, for by such imitation one will eventually become degraded. (NoI: verse 5 purport) In fact such cheap imitation leads to watering of the philantrophic bija which chokes the real bija (seed) of devotional service. Shrila Prabhupada states: Those who imitate an uttama-adhikari by flaunting a sense of oneness or fellowship but who behave on the bodily platform are actually false philanthropists. (Iso mantra 6 purport) Shrila Prabhupada further states: According to the Bhagavad-gita (18.54), only one who is already on the liberated platform (brahma-bhuta [SB 4.30.20]) can become an uttama-adhikari devotee and see every living being as his own brother. This vision cannot be had by politicians, who are always after some material gain. One who imitates the symptoms of an uttama-adhikari may serve another's outward body for the purpose of fame or material reward, but he does not serve the spirit soul. Such an imitator can have no information of the spiritual world. (Iso mantra 6 purport) In other words one may falsely desire to be respected by all the various Maths whether bona fide or not bona fide and thus fail to understand the order of the spiritual master due to his mundane attachment to mundane society, friendship and love. Thus due to bad association, he falls down and fails to execute the order of the spiritual master. Shrila Prabhupada gave a clear order not to associate with apasampradaya communities (out of disciplic succession) There are many so-called followers of the Vaisnava cult in the line of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who do not scrupulously follow the conclusions of the sastras, and therefore they are considered to be apa-sampradaya, which means "outside of the sampradaya."... In order to follow strictly the disciplic succession of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, one should not associate with these apasampradaya communities." (C.C Adi Lila 7.48 purport) He also gave specific order to his disciples not to associate with His Godbrothers: So I have now issued orders that all my disciples should avoid all of my godbrothers. They should not have any dealings with them nor even correspondence, nor should they give them any of my books or should they purchase any of their books, neither should you visit any of their temples. Please avoid them. Letter to: Visvakarma — Bombay 9 November, 1975 Since his Godbrothers have deviated from the disciplic succession, they cannot understand the science of Krishna consciousness and therefore can only misguide the serious devotees. We must follow the order of the spiritual master, not to imitate his behavior. Shrila Prabhupada explains: Bob:..he claimed that Jesus was also eating meat in the Bible. Shrila Prabhupada: That's all right. He may eat anything. He is powerful. But he has ordered, "Thou shalt not kill. You must stop killing." He is powerful. He can eat the whole world. But you cannot compare to Jesus Christ. You cannot imitate Jesus Christ; you have to abide by his order. Then you are guided by Jesus Christ. That is actually obedience. That is explained in the Bhagavata. One who is isvara, who is empowered, can do anything, but we cannot imitate. We have to abide by his order: "What he says to me, that I will do." You cannot imitate. You say that Jesus Christ ate meat. Admitting that, you do not know in what condition he ate meat. He is himself eating meat, but he is advising others not to kill. Do you think that Jesus Christ was contradicting himself? Bob: No. Shrila Prabhupada: He cannot do that. That is real faith in him -- that he cannot do that. So why has he eaten meat? He knows, but he has asked me not to kill. I have to follow. That is the real system. You are not Jesus Christ; you cannot imitate him. (PQPA 9: Deciding for the Future) Even considering that the deviation of Kesava Maharaja was a transcendental lila (pastime) that served a higher purpose of which we might not be aware of due to our conditioned nature, we still must reject such association because of the order given by Shrila Prabhupada. Various eternal associates of the Lord come to this world to serve a particular function and thus serve the mission of the Lord. For example, Lord Buddha or Sankaracharya are both eternal liberated associates of the Lord. Although we give them due respect, we still reject their philosophies because they are opposed to the Vaisnava siddhanta. Srila Prabhupada states: "Lord Buddha is accepted as an incarnation of Krishna in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, but in the same Srimad-Bhagavatam it is stated that Lord Buddha appeared in order to bewilder the atheistic class of men. Therefore his philosophy is meant for bewildering the atheists and should not be accepted." (NOD Following in the Footsteps of Saintly Persons) The order of the spiritual master always stands the highest. Shrila Prabhupada explains the importance of following the order of the spiritual master as follows: The secret of success in advancement in spiritual life is the firm faith of the disciple in the orders of his spiritual master. The Vedas confirm this: yasya deve para bhaktir yatha deve tatha gurau tasyaite kathita hy arthah prakasante mahatmanah [SU 6.23] "To one who has staunch faith in the words of the spiritual master and the words of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the secret of success in Vedic knowledge is revealed." The Krishna consciousness movement is being propagated according to this principle, and therefore our preaching work is going on successfully, in spite of the many impediments offered by antagonistic demons, because we are getting positive help from our previous acaryas. One must judge every action by its result. The members of the self-appointed acarya's party who occupied the property of the Gaudiya Matha are satisfied, but they could make no progress in preaching. Therefore by the result of their actions one should know that they are asara, or useless... (Adi 12.8 purport)

The ultimate perfection means to be completely absorbed in the service of Krishna. There are unlimited ways to serve Krishna and, arguably, the most enjoyable is to sing of His glories. Here are the lyrics to a beautiful bhajan -devotional song- written by one of the acharyas in our displic succession, Bhaktivinoda Thakura. Manasa Deho Geho mānasa, deho, geho, jo kichu mor arpilū tuwā pade, nanda-kiśor! Mind, body, and family, whatever may be mine, I have surrendered at Your lotus feet, O youthful son of Nanda!   sampade vipade, jīvane-maraṇe dāy mama gelā, tuwā o-pada baraṇe In good fortune or in bad, in life or at death, all my difficulties have disappeared by choosing those feet of Yours as my only shelter.   mārobi rākhobi-jo icchā tohārā nitya-dāsa prati tuwā adhikārā Slay me or protect me as You wish, for You are the master of Your eternal servant.   janmāobi moe icchā jadi tor bhakta-gṛhe jani janma hau mor If it is Your will that I be born again, then may it be in the home of Your devotee.   kīṭa-janma hau jathā tuwā dās bahir-mukha brahma janme nāhi āś May I be born again even as a worm, so long as I may remain Your devotee. I have no desire to be born as a Brahma averse to You.   bhukti-mukti-spṛhā vihīna je bhakta labhaite tāko sańga anurakta I yearn for the company of that devotee who is completely devoid of all desire for worldly enjoyment or liberation.   janaka, jananī, dayita, tanay prabhu, guru, pati-tuhū sarva-moy Father, mother, lover, son, Lord, preceptor, and husband; You are everything to me.   bhakativinoda kohe, śuno kāna! rādhā-nātha! tuhū hāmāra parāṇa Thakura Bhaktivinoda says, "O Kana, please hear me! O Lord of Radha, You are my life and soul!"

Here is the latest B.L.I.S.S. vlog filmed in India, New Delhi, edited by His Grace Purujit Dasa. Enjoy!

Mother Durga, the chastising element of Maya In Sanskrit language the syllable ma means "not" and ya means "that". The word maya refers to "that, which is not". It signifies illusion, a state of consciousness when things are not perceived for what they are, but for what they are not. Various philosophies and viewpoints attribute different volumes of illusion to the world that surrounds us, to our perception of that world and ultimately to the consciousness itself. According to the Vedas, the multitude of God's energies is categorized into three main divisions. These are called internal potency (antaranga-shakti), external potency (bahiranga-shakti) and marginal potency (taṭastha-shakti). The internal potency of God is His pleasure potency by which He manifests the spiritual world and the external potency are His separated material energies: earth (bhumi), water (apa), fire (anala), air (vayu), ether (akasa), material mind (manah), intelligence (buddhi) and false ego (ahankara), which make up the fabric of material manifestation, under the influence of time. The marginal potency is the jiva - the living entity. Our position as that of living entities is marginal in a sense, that we are, by constitution, eternally covered; either by the internal or by the external energy. Just like when the land meets the ocean. There is a portion known as the "beach" which is on the margin. Sometimes the beach is covered by water and sometimes it is open land, we can say, covered by air. God's energy, either internal or external, that covers our consciousness is called maya. And thus we have two types of maya: yoga-maya and maha-maya. We shall discuss these concepts here along with few insights into how philosophies other than Vedic see the phenomenon of "illusion". The most extreme outlook on maya is represented by Buddhism . In sanskrit language, their philosophy is also called "sunya-vada". Sunya means "zero" and vada means "conclusion" or "truth". Their conclusion is that everything is an illusion and nothing really exists. We also call it voidism. The three basic characteristics of existence according to the Buddhist doctrine are dukkha - suffering or, more precisely, the unsatisfying nature of the world, anicca - the impermanence of all things and anatta - the no-self. They maintain that there is no eternal soul in any living entity and no essence in any thing. We may thus deduct from the Buddhist teaching that our own consciousness, as manifestation of temporary combination of chemicals (not the eternal self), is illusory and whatever is perceived by that consciousness is also an illusion. The ultimate reality is that of "nothing" and this realization is the panacea for the living being's suffering. Why the suffering needs a solution if it is also temporary and actually non-existent in its essence? Why should we be compassionate to other living beings and not cause them harm, if ultimately there is no self to perceive pain which is illusory anyway? Why should we care for our deeds if even the samsara - the cycle of repeated birth and death in which we want to elevate our position by good karma is just a flickering manifestation of ignorance in perception? And why try for liberation (extinguishing the consciousness) by any kind of practice if everything is already void of any self or essence? These questions are difficult to answer for the supposed practitioners of Buddhist teaching and it is of no surprise. The reason is that Lord Buddha appeared specifically for the purpose of bewildering the atheists as it is prophesized in the Shrimad-Bhagavatam, 2,600 years before His appearance: tatah kalau sampravrtte sammohaya sura-dvisam buddho namnanjana-sutah kikaṭesu bhavisyati "Then, in the beginning of Kali-yuga, the Lord will appear as Lord Buddha, the son of Anjana, in the province of Gaya, just for the purpose of deluding those who are envious of the faithful theist." (SB 1.3.24) There were people, and Lord Buddha appeared for their sake, who would not accept the existence of the soul and God as the Vedas propose, but who were misusing portions of the Vedas dealing with animal sacrifices and on their pretext were killing and eating innocent animals. They became bewildered by Lord Buddha, the empowered incarnation of Godhead to accept at least the preliminary, sub-religious principles of ahimsa - non-violence, principles of cleanliness, meditation etc. This was the purpose of Buddhist teaching - to stop animal-killing at a particular time, place and circumstance. This philosophy of void as the ultimate (non)reality and denial of one's own consciousness and the whole world as illusory cannot satisfy the hankering and ever-active soul. If we specifically look into the "Buddhist" circles in the West these days, their members tend to theoretically propose all these doctrines, especially the no-self idea, but they are unable to live up to their tenets. Shrila Prabhupada nails them in one of his purports. He says: "The demonic conclude that the world is a phantasmagoria. There is no cause and effect, no controller, no purpose: everything is unreal. They say that this cosmic manifestation arises due to chance material actions and reactions. They do not think that the world was created by God for a certain purpose. They have their own theory: that the world has come about in its own way and that there is no reason to believe that there is a God behind it. For them, there is no difference between spirit and matter, and they do not accept the Supreme Spirit. Everything is matter only, and the whole cosmos is supposed to be a mass of ignorance. According to them, everything is void, and whatever manifestation exists is due to our ignorance in perception. They take it for granted that all manifestation of diversity is a display of ignorance, just as in a dream we may create so many things which actually have no existence. Then when we are awake we shall see that everything is simply a dream. But factually, although the demons say that life is a dream, they are very expert in enjoying this dream. And so, instead of acquiring knowledge, they become more and more implicated in their dreamland." (Bg 16.8) Everything is an illusion, but they enjoy it. That is what makes them even more foolish and more illusioned, although they are supposed to strive for enlightenment. From this Buddhist nihilistic concept of complete negation rose the philosophy of Mayavada, taught by Shripada Shankaracharya. The fundamental principles of Mayavada philosophy, very similar to Buddhism, are that: 1) name, form, individuality, thoughts, desires and words arise from maya or illusion, not God; 2) maya cannot be rationally explained since the very idea that anything needs explaining is itself maya; 3) the individual self or soul is not eternal, because upon liberation it ceases to exist; 4) like maya, the state of liberation is beyond all explanation. The difference between Buddhism and Mayavada is that Buddha ultimately denied the existence of everything, while Shankara says that beyond the maya, the illusion of this manifested world, there actually exists an eternal impersonal monistic reality, Brahman, the nature of which is the self. That reality is the non-differentiated, formless, impersonal Self, the One. Brahma satyam jagan mithya. Brahman, the spirit is truth and this world, jagat is false. As in Buddhism, one's individual consciousness is an illusion and in fact, there is no separate ego. After liberation, though, the consciousness doesn't cease to be but merges with Brahman. The most relished idea of the Mayavadis is "I am God, you are God, everyone is God. There is no God outside of myself. All is one." Again, like Buddhists, the Mayavadis cannot answer simple questions such as "how did an illusory individual ego become separate from the One by maya? If Brahman is absolute oneness without duality, how did it became separated into fragmental illusory egos? Is maya outside of Brahman to separate parts of it into "individuals"? Where is the monism there?" "How does the Absolute forget its absoluteness to become an illusioned living entity subject to misery in the mithya jagat - illusory universe? Is forgetfulness more powerful than God?" "How does the illusory universe come from the real Brahman?" "If everything is an illusion, then whatever you say is also an illusion. Why should I hear from you then?" "If you are me and I am you, then your pocket is my pocket and my pocket is your pocket. Can you transfer the money from your pocket (which is my pocket) to my pocket (which is your pocket)?" Shrila Prabhupada, again, summarized this standpoint very nicely: "The philosophy of the Mayavadis is defective because it maintains that everything is maya but the nonsense they speak." Shankaracharya is an incarnation of Lord Shiva, the greatest of Vaishnavas and his, as well as Buddha's, delusional propaganda had a particular purpose. At the end of the day, he proclaimed Narayana the Supreme and beyond the manifested and unmanifested, but his so-called followers do not comply with his statements. His last words were: bhaja govindam bhaja govindam bhaja govindam mudha-mate samprapte sannihite kale marane na hi na hi raksati dukrn-karane He instructed his disciples: "You fools! Worship Govinda, worship Govinda, worship Govinda! At the time of death, your grammar and word jugglery will not save you!" So what is maya, actually, according to the Vedas and devotees of Krishna? The answer is multi-faceted and truthful to the all-encompassing Vaishnava philosophy of acintya-bheda abheda-tattva - simultaneous oneness and difference. Technicalities of these explanations can go very deep, but we will try to put forward the basic understanding. There are various ways how to approach maya for our understanding. She may be approached as energy or matter, she can be approached as a person - Mayadevi, the superintending agent of Krishna, keeping rebellious souls out of His eternal blissful pastimes or she can be approached as an attitude of the living entity towards his own existence. And the best is to understand her as all of these at once. Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gita: bhumir apo 'nalo vayuh kham mano buddhir eva ca ahankara itiyam me bhinna prakrtir astadha "Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego—all together these eight constitute My separated material energies." (Bg.7.4) These energies cover the living entity with a subtle and gross material body and they also constitute the ingredients for the universe in which the living entity embodies himself. The material energy, maya, acts as a filter, a condition through which the jiva's pure consciousness is adulterated into forgetfulness of his original position in spiritual nature (because of his desire to enjoy separately). Thus maya, under the superintendence of the Lord, acts as a shadow representation of the original spiritual world to facilitate the shadow enjoyment of the bewildered jiva. In the Brahma-samhita it is stated: srsṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sadhana-saktir eka chayeva yasya bhuvanani vibharti durga [Bs. 5.44]. Maya is Durga. She creates, maintains and dissolves the whole universe and has a tight grip over the jivas embodied within it. Goddess Durga is depicted with ten hands, piercing a demon with her trident. In each hand she carries a weapon. Durga means "fortress". Duh means "difficult," and ga means "going." It is very difficult, basically impossible for the jiva to leave this fortress on its own. The ten arms of Durga signify the ten directions: north, south, east, west, the four corners, up and down. In any direction we move, there is an armed hand of Durga vigilant to check us. The three spikes of the trident pressed against the chest of the fellow are the threefold misery inflicted constantly on the embodied living entity. They are known as adhyatmika - originating in our own bodies and minds (such as bodily disease or mental difficulty), adhibhautika - caused by other living beings (biting mosquitoes or a nasty boss), and adhidaivika - caused by natural phenomena (excessive heat or cold, earthquakes, hurricanes etc.). It is a fact, that every one of us finds one, two or all three of these constantly bugging him, more or less, and no one can deny that. Thus the living entity finds itself in a situation of constant harassment by the material energy while being completely enamoured by and absorbed in the temporary forms of the same energy, which mimics the original beauty and pleasure of the spiritual world. It's like an abused wife unable to leave her tyrant-husband because she loves him and depends on him despite being tortured by him. It's a Stockholm syndrome when the hostage develops affection towards his captor. Such is the power of maya. She makes us feel happy and pleasurable time to time, enough to hook us up, while we constantly suffer under her stringent grip. One very important thing to understand is that material nature or her elements have no separate power of their own to act or to create. Materialistic scientists are on their way to comprehend nature's wonderful potencies, but the scientist's attribution of the potencies' source is mistaken. They observe the wonderful workings of the universe and forces within it, but they seek the source of these potencies and activity in matter, which is inert. Just like the woman cannot give birth to a child unless impregnated by a potent man, similarly, matter cannot give rise to all the various forms of manifestation on its own, without being activated by the Purusa - the Supreme Person. There must be consciousness behind a working systematic nature, just like there is a conscious mind on the background of any organized happening. In physics, the second law of thermodynamics hints towards this understanding as it states that in closed systems (like the universe) energy in time doesn't concentrate, but disperses, which leads to loss of the differentials required for work even though the total energy remains constant in accordance with the law of conservation of energy. In other words, matter doesn't have the potency to organize itself from simple to complex forms in time, but quite the opposite - complex structures degrade into simple ones, although the amount of matter and energy is changeless. The natural force of material time pushes everything towards disintegration and the only force able to work against this current is a conscious living entity manipulating the elements (matter & energy) and integrating them into and maintaining them in more complex structures. The laptop on which I'm writing didn't come along on its own. It was assembled by people or by machines programmed by people - conscious beings. The only thing that will happen "on its own" with this laptop after a conscious being withdraws its influence will be that in due course of time it will disintegrate into the basic elements. Matter on its own is like the skin-flesh nipples hanging from the goat's neck. One who pulls and squeezes them in order to get some milk is certainly a fool, as the actual udder is somewhere else. In this way, the materialistic scientists are seeking the source of animation within the universe in matter, while all the movement and life comes from the Supreme Animator, God or Krishna. Concerning Maya in her personal feature, she is simply another servant of the Supreme Lord. Her thankless task is to chastise the living entities, who decide to exist on an inappropriate platform of illusory material sense enjoyment. This chastisement is not malicious, just like when a mother slaps a child, not out of malice, but to protect him from harming himself further. Our suffering in the material world, the impermanence of any of our hard-earned achievements and our ultimate frustration through the agency of death is a constant reminder of our incompatible position in the world of maya. The proof of this incompatibility is our innate desire to perpetuate existence, perception, bliss and relationships. Maya's duty is to facilitate the jiva's desire to separate himself from Krsna and to enjoy separately, so under her influence the living entity identifies himself with the covering of material elements and material senses. Maya also serves as Krishna’s doorman so no one, who is still contaminated by separatist desires can enter His transcendental association. From this point of view, Maya has two potencies: the covering influence and the throwing influence. The covering influence covers the living entity with material elements while throwing influence throws the living entity out from Krishna’s circle and facilitates the desired forgetfulness of Krishna and entering the realm of matter. In the course of their devotional service devotees are being tested by maya, whether they are really serious to return to Krishna’s association. Maya comes with different kinds of allurements and aspiring devotees are confronted with their egos, minds and senses (superimposed on the soul by maya herself). From an old friend with a fat joint or a beautiful girl making moves to more subtle forms of illusion such as greed, desire for being worshipped by others or thinking oneself to be the best devotee in the whole universe. The last snare of maya is to think of oneself as God. Devotees sometimes fail to pass the test and many times they hate maya for doing this, but that is also not a correct attitude. Krishna says: daivi hy esa guna-mayi mama maya duratyaya mam eva ye prapadyante mayam etam taranti te [Bg. 7.14] It is very difficult, practically impossible to overcome this energy of Krishna, maya. But one who surrenders unto the lotus feet of the Lord can jump over the ocean of illusion as if it would be a puddle of water contained in a hoofprint of a calf. Krishna orders maya to release the surrendered soul and then the chastising energy of the Lord becomes the most obedient servant of the advanced devotee to facilitate his pure devotional service. And lastly, maya simply means forgetfulness of Krishna, as above mentioned. When we see ourselves as nonrelated or separate from Krishna, that is maya - that which is not. We are eternally related to Krishna and never separate. When we see ourselves as ultimate controllers and enjoyers, that is maya, because we are controlled and enjoyed by Krishna. When we consider the temporary body to be the self, that is maya, because the body is changing but the self remains the same, and when we consider the manifested universe to be the ultimate reality, that is also maya, because there is a world beyond this universe. It is a question of consciousness. That's the reason why our movement is called Krishna consciousness movement, because at the end of the day, "matter" as the representation of illusion is created by one's attitude towards the energy emanating from God, Krishna. The powerhouse (run by an engineer) emanates one energy - electricity. But on the other side of the wire, the consumer has a variety of options: he can cool things down in the fridge or he can heat them up on a cooker. The energy running both the machines is the same, but its usage is different. Similarly, we can see the energy of Krishna as an agent for our illusory sense gratification - then it is matter, or we can see it as an object of service to give Krishna pleasure - then it is spirit. The same flower, the same laptop, the same sex life, the same eating, the same dancing, the same hearing, the same talking... everything remains the same, only our attitude changes and that decides which maya are we covered by: maha-maya or yoga-maya. The jiva is always covered by a type of maya. Our free will is to decide the covering we'll put ourselves under. In the material world we are covered by maha-maya, we forgot about Krishna, about our position, we falsely identify with the inert, dead material body and we're trying to serve the alien material senses to derive pleasure from them. In the spiritual world, we are covered by yoga-maya. We always remember Krishna, we identify as His eternal blissful servants and we serve to satisfy His senses. Under the influence of yoga-maya, the devotee also forgets that Krishna is God and sometimes he forgets his position as a servant of Krishna. But that only happens so that the devotee and Krishna can enjoy the taste of their particular relationship, called rasa. Krishna, God, is not a boring guy, simply sitting on a throne and ruling over. That is also there, but there is so much more to it. Krishna wants to enjoy friendship, His own submission to someone seemingly superior to Him and ultimately conjugal love. In order to have this exchanges with His devotees, they must forget about His position as the Supreme Lord and this forgetfulness is enacted under the influence of yoga-maya. The science of rasa is a very elaborate one and we may touch upon it in some of the future articles. To summarize the Vaishnava viewpoint on maya: nothing false can come from the Truth. Krishna is the Absolute Truth and all His emanations are factual. Therefore devotees consider the world and the energy creating it as factual. It is not false, but its manifestation is temporary. The body we have is not false, it is temporary. For a devotee, the world is Vaikunṭha - the spiritual world, because he sees everything in relationship with Krishna. Therefore everything is real and by his service, the devotee turns everything from matter back to spirit. As Lord Brahma, the creator agent of this universe said in one of his prayers to Lord Krishna: "Actually, when one mistakes a rope for a snake, the existence of the snake is only within the mind. The existence of maya, similarly, is only within the mind. Maya is nothing but ignorance of Your personality. When one forgets Your personality, that is the conditioned state of maya. Therefore one who is fixed upon You both internally and externally is not illusioned" A devotee never thinks "I am God" and because this crooked idea is "that, which is not", he is always fixed in Reality. #illusion #reality #maya #krishna #universe #material #nature #buddhism #mayavada #impersonalism #devotional #service

Shrila Prabhupada says: human life is meant for tapasya(austerity), and you can easily observe this in the world today. Everywhere you look in this world, someone is struggling. The penniless must sleep in the cold, the women must starve themselves to be thin and beautiful, the children must slave away in school to secure any semblance of a future. The people are voluntarily undergoing penance, but for what reason? Simply sense enjoyment. The children want to enjoy a fruitful future, the woman wants to enjoy a strong man, and the homeless simply want to enjoy their eating and sleeping. In a 1976 conversation with Mike Robinson, Prabhupada speaks about the meaning of life: Mike Robinson : Can you tell me what you believe to be the meaning of life, why do we exist in the first place? Prabhupāda : Meaning of life means to enjoy, but we are in a different platform of life. Therefore we are suffering instead of enjoying. But if you come to the real platform, then you enjoy. Because here we see struggle for existence. Everyone is struggling, but what is the aim? For enjoyment of life. Therefore life means enjoyment. But at the present moment our life is not enjoyment. The living entities are constantly looking for enjoyment. Wether that is nice eatables, idle sports, wine, women or even their own daydreams, this pursuit of pleasure is never ending. We can only understand, then, that pleasure is the birthrite of the living entity. This is confirmed in the vedic literatures, where the soul is described as sat-chit-ananda or eternal, full of knowledge and full of bliss. Actually, the pleasure which the living entity hankers for is something not separate from himself, it is only a lack of awareness of that true self which makes him unable to percieve the bliss. In the material world, the eternal living entity is covered in a material body which is asat - temporary, achit - full of ignorance and nirananda - full of miseries. The only way by which the living entity can realise his sat-chit-ananda state is by undergoing tapasya under the guidance of a bonafide spiritual master. 'Now, one whose sense are restrained... This human life is meant for restraining the senses. Tapaḥ. This is called tapasya, penance. Suppose I am habituated to some type of sense gratification. Now, I take to Krishna consciousness. My spiritual master or the scripture says, "Don't do this." So in the beginning, I may feel some inconvenience, but if you can tolerate that, that is tapasya. That is tapasya. Tapasya means I am feeling some inconvenience, bodily, but I am tolerating. That is called tapasya. And this human form of life is meant for that tapasya. Not that because my senses are demanding this satisfaction, I shall immediately offer. No. I shall train myself in such a way that my senses may demand, "My dear sir, give me this facility," I will say, "No. You cannot have." - Lecture on BG 2.62-72 -- Los Angeles, December 19, 1968: Material sense enjoyment is the cause of the living entity's bondage to the material nature. We become addicted to eating sleeping, mating and fighting, and forget the real aim of life - to realise one's relationship with Krishna, who is the controller of the material nature. His body is also sat-chit-ananda, but he is very special because whilst we minute living entities have the tendency to fall into illusion, he is completely transcendental to this. Krishna is also known as Achyuta, or infallible Lord, therefore he cannot be subject to the four imperfections of material life, illusion, making mistakes, imperfect senses and the tendency to cheat others. "Therefore Kṛṣṇa says that tapaś cāsmi tapasviṣu. That acceptance of tapasya means that tapasya is itself Krishna. You associate with Krishna. When you voluntarily give up meat-eating or intoxication, this giving-up, this process, is Krishna. Krishna says, tapaś cāsmi tapasviṣu. This is tapasya. Tapasya means to accept voluntarily something as enjoined in the śāstras. Śāstra says... Krishna says. Whatever Krishna says, that is śāstra. What is Veda? Veda means what Krishna says; that is Veda. There is no other Veda." - Lecture on BG 7.9 -- Vrndavana, August 15, 1974 To be reinstated in our original spiritual position, the material condition should be given up. Shrila Prabhupada says: 'To give up this subtle body, one has to develop love for God, prema .' This process is simaltaneously austere and pleasurable. Devotees of Krishna minimise their personal sense gratification in order to render as much service to Krishna as possible. This service can be in the form of hearing, chanting or even just remembering the glories of the Lord, as well as many others. In the Shrimad Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna says: 'As you surrender unto me, I shall reward you accordingly.' "Krishna is very merciful to His sincere devotees, but also we have to remember that Maya is very strong. Therefore, we have to always be engaged in serving Krishna. At every moment we should be doing this or that service for Krishna's transcendental pleasure. If we do not remember this, then Maya is right there to grab us. It all depends upon our leaning towards Krishna or towards Maya. If you lean towards Krishna, you will be in Krishna Consciousness; and if you lean towards Maya, then you will be captivated by material nature. Krishna and Maya are just like light and shadow which are directly next to one another. If you move a little this way, you are in light and there is no question of shadow. But if you move a little the other way, you are in darkness. So if we remember to always be engaged in Krishna's service, then there will be no Maya and everything will be all right. Please always remember this great secret of advancement in Krishna Consciousness." - Shrila Prabhupada Letter, November 20, 1969

Kali Yuga is the age of darkness, meaning that the people in general have no knowledge about life and its ultimate goal. Lack of knowledge of the absolute truth leads to a complete misdirection of the civilization on the part of the so called brahminical and administrative class - our scientists and government leaders. From the food we eat, to the clothes we wear, to even the way we pass stool - everything we have learnt from society is wrong. The vedas give us complete knowledge of both spiritual and material life, and how to utilise the material body for the ultimate goal, understanding God. ' The Vedas are therefore codes of working directions. Anything performed without the direction of the Vedas is called vikarma , or unauthorized or sinful work. Therefore, one should always take direction from the Vedas to be saved from the reaction of work.' - B.G 3.15 Purport. For the majority of materialistic persons, the ultimate goal of life is to have a nice family and home. Unfortunately for such small minded people, the idea of God is completely foreign to them, and they spend many lifetimes searching for the ecstacy of God realization in temporary forms such as husband or wife. Whilst associating with the material world can give us some pleasure, we should understand that whatever we have in minute quantity is present in its fullness in Krishna. 'janmady asya yatah - everything is emanating from the absolute truth.' Husband and wife have a playful relationship Married life can be utilised however, for God realization if dovetailed with the service of Krishna, and to know how to serve God we must approach a bonafide spiritual master. ' The Vedic wisdom therefore advises that in order to solve the perplexities of life and to understand the science of the solution, one must approach a spiritual master who is in the disciplic succession. A person with a bona fide spiritual master is supposed to know everything. One should not, therefore, remain in material perplexities but should approach a spiritual master.' B.G 2.7 Purport The current acharya, or spiritual master, is His Divine Grace A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, and he has given many directions, as prescribed in the vedas on how to have an ideal Krishna conscious marriage. So here are quotes and instructions for any householders who want to go back home. 'The wife is dependent on the husband, and if the husband is a Vaishnava, then naturally she shares the devotional service of the husband because she renders him service. This reciprocation of service and love between husband and wife is the ideal of a householder's life.' - S.B 2.3.1 Purport 'As constituted by bodily frame, a man always wants to be superior to his wife, and a woman, as bodily constituted, is naturally inferior to her husband. Thus the natural instinct is that the husband wants to post himself as superior to the wife, and this must be observed. Even if there is some wrong on the part of the husband, the wife must tolerate it, and thus there will be no misunderstanding between husband and wife.' - S.B 2.3.2 Purport ' Just as one saves his money and places it under his own personal protection, one should similarly protect his wife by his own personal supervision. Just as intelligence is always within the heart, so a beloved chaste wife should always have her place on the chest of a good husband. This is the proper relationship between husband and wife. A wife is therefore called ardhāṅganī, or half of the body.' - S.B 4.26.17 Purport ' During the time of brahmacarya, or student life, a brahmacārī should be taught to be expert in bhāgavata-dharma, devotional service. Then when he marries, if his wife is faithful to her husband and follows him in such life, the relationship between husband and wife is very desirable. However, a relationship between husband and wife without spiritual consciousness but strictly for sense gratification is not at all good. It is said in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (12.2.3) that especially in this age, Kali-yuga, dām-patye 'bhirucir hetuḥ: the relationship between husband and wife will be based on sexual power. Therefore householder life in this Kali-yuga is extremely dangerous unless both the wife and husband take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness.' - S.B 6.18.40 Purport ' The relationship between husband and wife is firmly established when the wife is faithful and the husband sincere. Then even if the wife, being weaker, is unable to execute devotional service with her husband, if she is chaste and sincere she shares half of her husband's activities.' S.B 6.19.18 Purport ' This material world we have to pass through many circumstances, but sometimes, even it is intolerable, we have to tolerate. So according to Hindu conception of life, even there is some misunderstanding between husband and wife, it is not taken very seriously. Never taken very seriously. But in your country, in the name of liberty and freedom, there are so many things. I do not wish to discuss all those things. But according to Vedic system, husband and wife, united together, there cannot be any separation.' - Wedding of Syama Dasi and Hayagriva ' Marriage between husband and wife means that the husband must forever be responsible for the wife's well-being and protection in all cases. That does not mean that now there is agreement between us, therefore I am responsible, but as soon as there is some disagreement then I immediately flee the scene and become so-called renounced.' - Letter to Sudevi, 15th September 1972

Shrila Prabhupada explains how everyone can take part in the sankirtana movement despite his position. "The materialistic men want to work hard and enjoy the fruitive result in the matter of sense enjoyment. As such they are committing many types of sins at every step of life. Those who are however consciously engaged in the devotional service of the Lord are transcendental to all varieties of sins and virtues. Such activities are free from the contamination of the three modes material qualities. For the devotees there is no need of performances of prescribed sacrifices because the very life of the devotee is a symbol of sacrifice. But persons who are engaged in fruitive activities for sense enjoyment must perform the prescribed sacrifices because that is the only means for getting free from the reactions of all sins committed by the fruitive workers. Sacrifice is the means for counteracting such accumulated sins. The demigods are pleased when such sacrifices are performed as much as prison-officers are satisfied when the prisoners are turned into obedient subjects to the state laws. Lord Chaitanya however has recommended only one Yajna or sacrifice called the Samkirtan Yajna in which everyone can take part and thus both devotees and the fruitive workers can derive equal benefit from such performances of Samkirtan Yajna." (SB 1.16.21 purport)