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CLICK HERE to subscribe to our facebook page and receive it for FREE! Matchless Gift is our official BLISS e-magazine. Delve into original Krishna conscious content inspired by the teachings of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Want it monthly? CLICK HERE to subscribe to our facebook page and receive it for FREE!

Become our Patreon and get the Matchless Gift magazine FREE in your inbox every month, plus our e-books and special subscriber gifts! Krishna Conscious Magazine: MATCHLESS GIFT #7 NOW FOR SALE FOR £13.99 Matchless Gift is our official BLISS e-magazine. 64 pages of original Krishna conscious content inspired by the teachings of His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada .This issue contains the following articles: 1. Giving Up Sadhu Sanga by Purujit Dasa 2. Madhu's Train of Thought (How I Came to Krishna Consciousness) by Satyaraja Dasa 3. The Nature of Life by Nityananda Dasa 4. Biography of Srila Prabhupada 5. Ricky Tricky Comics 6. Smaranam Time: Reflections on Srila Prabhupada's Words 7. Prabhupada's Remedies: Do Vitamins Work? 8. Can We Attain Success Without the Spiritual Master? by Purujit Dasa 9. New Year's Eve Sankirtana Report 10. Interview with Mark Merchant, the author of this issue's covert art and many more... All accompanied by colourful AI illustrations, high-quality photographs of our preaching in BLISS. Don't miss out on this wonderful issue and become a Matchless Gift regular!

Become our Patreon and get the Matchless Gift magazine FREE in your inbox every month, plus our e-books and special subscriber gifts Matchless Gift #6 released! Matchless Gift is our official BLISS e-magazine. 123 pages of original Krishna conscious content inspired by the teachings of His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. This issue contains the following articles: 1. Guru Avajna- the Root of All Sectarianism by Purujit Dasa 2. Interview with Boy George 3. Meeting Boy George Report 4. Biography of Srila Prabhupada 5. Ricky Tricky Comics 6. Big Bang Theory is Fake by Bhakta Mark Gerard 7. World News: Don't Throw Pearl to Swine 8. Diary of an Indian Woman by Palika Vrajagopi Devi Dasi 9. Prabhupada Appreciation Festival Report 10. Prabhupada's Health Remedies 11. Undying Prabhupada lecture by Purujit Dasa and many more... All accompanied by colourful AI illustrations, high-quality photographs of our preaching in BLISS. Don't miss out on this wonderful issue and become a Matchless Gift regular!

Matchless Gift magazine #5 Matchless Gift is our official BLISS e-magazine. 120 pages of original Krishna conscious content inspired by the teachings of His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. This issue contains the following articles: 1. The Law of the State/ The Law of God by Purujit Dasa 2. Interview with Rapper Swoopy 3. Making Diamonds Out Of Rubble by Red Willow 4. Biography of Srila Prabhupada 5. Ricky Tricky Comics 6. "Godhead": An Archaic Word Whose Time Has Come by Satyaraja Dasa 7. World News: Moon Landing, Unbelievable Achievement of the Indian Space Program 8. Crying Over Spilt Milk by Palika Vrajagopi Devi Dasi 9. Mr. Jagdeao Untrusts His Yoga Asrama to Bliss London by Bhaktin Love 10. Prabhupada's Health Remedies 11. Maya Within Maya lecture by Purujit Dasa and many more... All accompanied by colourful AI illustrations, high-quality photographs of our preaching in BLISS. Don't miss out on this wonderful issue and become a Matchless Gift regular!

Read more articles by the devotees in each issue of the Matchless Gift magazine. Buy the new issue, or receive new issues monthly here with our Uttama subscription The Art of Transcendental Book Distribution Srimati Dora reveals the inner mood of sankirtana If, like me and the devotees in the BLISS temple, you had the chance to cross over the wonderful teachings of Srila Prabhupada, if they have changed your whole life, if they made you a better, sober human being... then automatically the question should be, "how can I serve this person who gave me pretty much everything that I need?" How can we please Srila Prabhupada? Well, first of all, don't think you can, in any way, pay your debts to Srila Prabhupada. You are such a tiny, minute spirit soul that you cannot even hope for it... and He is the dear-most friend of Krishna, God. But, if you want to show Him your love, your appreciation, there are many things you can do. Before anything else, chant Hare Krishna. But, also preach those teachings, spotless teachings, and distribute profusely His books, all around the world. Make this mission your life and soul, from now on think only, "how will those people, just like you, get the chance to associate with His Divine Grace Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada?" Usually, when we want to associate with someone, we need to see that person, have conversation with that person in real life, and sometimes give direct service to them. In the case of associating with Srila Prabhupada, at this particular moment, you cannot get this type of association. Bodily association. His Divine Grace departed this material world on November 14, 1977 in Vrindavan, India. In our days, if you have the desire to associate with Srila Prabhupada, it can be done through His vani. Vani means instruction, or the vibration, the words... not the physical body. Actually, this vani, these words are not different from the spiritual master. We don't really mind about the physical body, of course it should not be neglected, and the body of the spiritual master is not material, but we have to understand that Srila Prabhupada is always present– His words are not different from Him. Just like Krishna was also present in the material world, and He spoke the Bhagavad-gita to Arjuna. The "material" presence of Krishna and the Bhagavad-gita you are hopefully reading now are not different from Him, the Supreme Person. Now if a devotee has a doubt about anything, any subject matter, he can always ask the devotees who are more advanced, or go through these divine literatures and get direct guidance from the spiritual master. We also have to understand that the devotees of Srila Prabhupada who are repeating or explaining the teachings are also not different from Him. So, not only do we get knowledge, but also we get to have personal instructions at any moment of our lives. The basis of this Krishna consciousness movement, the prophecy known by all the devotees spoken by the divine mouth of Sri Caitanya Himself is: prithivi-paryanta yata ache desha-grama sarvatra sancara haibeka mora nama "In every town and village of the world, the chanting of My name will be heard" (Caitanya Caritamrita, Antya 4.126) Usually, the process is that if someone hears about Krishna, automatically he will want to chant His Names, and if someone hears constantly, he will also want to chant constantly. In my journey of Krishna consciousness, I've met two great devotees who never associated by vapu (physical presence) with Srila Prabhupada. His Grace Purujit Dasa Prabhu came across the Bhagavad-gita As It Is and started chanting automatically without anyone telling him to do it, and by doing so, he became one of the greatest preachers on behalf of his Spiritual Master. Janardana Dasa Prabhu also read the first canto of Srimad Bhagavatam and started chanting the Holy names of Krishna. In the Bhagavad Gita (18.69) the Lord says: na ca tasman manusyesu kascin me priya krtamah "There is no servant in the world more dear to me than He, nor they will be one more dear." Here, Krishna says that no one is dearer to Him than the one who preaches His glories. This text from the Bhagavad-gita says, "Preaching is the best service to the Lord. The Lord will immediately be extremely satisfied with one who engages in the service of preaching Krishna consciousness. This is confirmed by the Lord himself in Bhagavad gita (18.69) na ca tasman manusyesu kascin me priya krtamah: 'There is no servant in this world more dear to Me than he, nor will be there be one more dear.' If one sincerely tries his best to spread Krishna consciousness by preaching the glories of the Lord and His supremacy, even if he is imperfectly educated, he becomes the dear-most servant of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is bhakti. As one performs this service for humanity, without discrimination between friends and enemies, the Lord becomes satisfied, and the mission of one's life is fulfilled." Trying our best, in this context, means that our mind should be always absorbed on how to preach this Krishna consciousness movement, because Krishna can see our desires and if we really try, he will help us and give us intelligence to preach his glories. It doesn't matter if one is imperfectly educated because this is a transcendental service to Krishna, and bhakti doesn't depend on anything material. In any condition you can love God. ahaituki aprati yayatma suprasidati (SB 1.2.6). Here, Srila Prabhupada says, "without discrimination between friends and enemies" and how I relate this to book distribution is that we can easily try to distribute books and be stuck in the mental platform sometimes. I have one friend who was sometimes complaining that he is too much on the mental platform and he makes many discriminations, asking himself before approaching someone, "does this person have money, a wallet? Who looks spiritual... etc." Of course, we don't have the vision of a pure devotee, that everyone is a spirit soul, part and parcels of Krishna, but we can fake it for book distribution and try not to discriminate according to the body, we can be surprised sometimes very young girls and boys give nice donations but because they look so small we can think that they have no money; homeless, or very dirty people also. The thing is that we are not controlling who will take a book, but the Supersoul inside their heart is determining if they will be inspired, or not. This meditation is very helpful to be detached from the results of wether we will distribute a book or not, our business is to put as much enthusiasm as possible to glorify our spiritual master, Krishna and the teachings. I personally don't like to analyze, and instead go to everyone, and analyze afterwards. I get more surprises in this way and also it adds more austerities to the service to approach people who we think will never take a book. The most important thing is to try to connect with them on anything. The karmis are doing many different things when walking... sometimes they are eating, so I approach them by saying, "Oh, salt and vinegar crisps are my favorite ever, you have great taste!" They can find it funny and be attracted in this way. Everyone wants to be loved in the material world and everyone wants to be important so if you can make them feel like God in a very short time, they are more likely to take a book from you. People are also very much attached to their kids or dogs, so, what I do is give all the attention to their beloved with as much enthusiasm as possible, and most of the time they like it. I make them feel like their children are the most beautiful human beings and that their dog is the most funny ever, and most of the time this works very well. I like to imagine that book distribution is like a theatre. You have to see yourself as an actor playing a role. We are just acting as instruments in the hands of Krishna. These books, they have to be distributed, and they will be distributed, so we can decide whether we want to be part of Krishna's plan or not. On book distribution, Krishna can also be very challenging. It's, of course, not the easiest service to be outside in the karmi world, but it is very satisfying to Krishna and Srila Prabhupada, so we have to do it. The satisfaction you get after one book distributed, or after an ecstatic day on sankirtan is indescribable. Srila Prabhupada gave somw advice that I really absorbed since I first started distributing books; those people we are approaching are the most beautiful, the most intelligent and the most rich. Of course, we know, or we try to realize that they are mudhas, and they are simply wasting this precious human form of life. I personally put out a lot of enthusiasm, feeling, and movements when I compliment them, even though sometimes there is nothing to compliment. We all want to be Krishna, and be in the center, so for a few hours the karmis should have 100% of our attention. Book distribution can be very challenging. The weather difficult, the people can be very rude, sometimes they don't even look at you, sometimes they ask many questions but they are actually just making you lose your time (agents of Maya to stop the book distribution), so we have to be careful and focus on the fact that Prabhupada wants as many books distributed as possible, and our little preaching of 5 minutes will not do anything... but millions of books distributed can create millions of devotees in the next 10,000 years. Our vision should be expanded, and we should not hanker to transform them immediately. The words of Srila Prabhupada will act in due course of time. So, those little austerities, they should be done to please the spiritual master because actually any little austerities we do in Krishna consciousness is rewarded by being peaceful and blissful in our daily practice. The nature of the conditioned soul is to be puffed up, but if we change this mentality; that we are big preachers, that we are doing so many books; then the service becomes more enjoyable. You become more and more satisfied when you realize a little bit that Krishna is in control, and your only concern is that, 'this book distribution is my duty, let me do as perfect as possible, let me engage all the parts of my body, my intelligence, my mind on how I can please my spiritual master' and you will become verrrrrrry satisfied. If you understand, just a little bit, that you are a servant, a soldier in the mission of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, then you can change your whole mindset, and when you go on book distribution, you know you are a soldier on the battlefield and Maya is kicking you from every side, but because you are protected by Krishna, nothing can harm you. Here are nice quotes about preaching that are very inspiring to me: "It's the duty of every disciple to preach Krishna consciousness, the brahmacaris should go morning and evening to beg and bring everything to the Spiritual Master." "Instruct everyone to preach." "A devotee who tries to preach is first class." Prabhupada speaks about the devotees who are self satisfied. We shouldn't think that by simply chanting 16 rounds and following 4 regulative principles, we have attained perfection– the actual purpose of these rules and regulations is actually to be able to preach, since it is the essence of Krishna consciousness. "Devotee must preach, that will give him advance in self realization." And lastly, one aspect of book distribution that is probably my favorite, is taking everything from the karmis! Before, I was afraid to ask for big donations, thinking that they would not take a book, but then I remembered how much money I used to spend as a karmi. And I also realized that even the ones who say they have no money, still have money to spend on drinks and other sinful activities. We should be bold, and we should always remember that everything belongs to Krishna, especially their money. They are directed by their mind and they need to be guided, so they need a firm hand, we should not be shy. Another thing that gives me enthusiasm about taking all their money is that Prabhupada always says that everything should be first class for Krishna; the deities, the dress, the foodstuffs etc.. and in order to make everything first class for Krishna, you need laksmi. So, if we have some kind of a goal to expand, have big deities with beautiful dresses, hundreds of preparations for festivals, etc., it gives encouragement. While at the same time, we shouldn't be attached, and whatever they give is also okay. Krishna is in control of what we need and don't need. HARE KRISHNA

Read world news from a Krishna conscious point of view, every month in the Matchless Gift magazine. Become our Uttama patreon to subscribe and receive each issue, or buy the magazine here. Russell Brand, the British comedian, activist, You-tuber, writer and a friend of the devotees of Krishna has been accused of rape, coercive control, sexual assault and emotional abuse by four anonymous women. How weird. The mainstream media is flooded with articles about this as though it was the most important topic in the universe. Russell responded by a video on his Youtube channel and denied the accusations. He said: "One [of the allegations is] from a mainstream media TV company, one from a newspaper listing a litany of extremely egregious and aggressive attacks, as well as some pretty stupid stuff like community festival should be stopped, that I shouldn't be able to attack mainstream media narratives on this channel. But amidst this litany of astonishing rather baroque attacks, often very serious allegations that I absolutely refute. These allegations pertain to the time when I was working in the mainstream, when I was in the newspapers all the time, when I was in the movies, and as I've written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous. Now, during that time of promiscuity, the relationships I had were absolutely always consensual. I was always transparent about that. Then almost too transparent, and I'm being transparent about it now as well. And to see that transparency metastasized into something criminal that I absolutely deny makes me question, is there another agenda at play? Particularly when we've seen coordinated media attacks before, like with Joe Rogan, when he dared to take a medicine that the mainstream media didn't approve of, and we saw a spate of headlines from media outlets across the world using the same language." He continued: "I'm aware that you guys have been saying in the comments for a while, ‘Watch out, Russell. They're coming from you. You're getting too close to the truth. Russell Brand did not kill himself.’ I know that a year ago there was a spate of articles – ‘Russell Brand’s a conspiracy theorist, Russell Brand’s right wing,’ I'm aware of news media making phone calls, sending letters to people I know for ages and ages. It's been clear to me, or at least it feels to me like there's a serious and concerted agenda to control these kind of spaces and these kinds of voices. And I mean, my voice along with your voice. I don't mind them using my books and my standout to talk about my promiscuous consensual conduct in the past. What I seriously refute are these very, very serious criminal allegations. Also, it's worth mentioning that there are witnesses whose evidence directly contradicts the narrative that these two mainstream media outlets are trying to construct, apparently, in what seems to me to be a coordinated attack." Of course, it is hard to say if Russell did this or not. Only Krishna knows this and people can only depend on their imperfect senses and imperfect minds to make a conclusion. For the most part, they can only speculate. As Krishna conscious devotees we not only condemn rape but we condemn illicit sex life altogether. Living a promiscuous lifestyle is a sure path to degradation of consciousness and degradation of the society. As Sri Arjuna famously states in the Bhagavad-gita: "When irreligion is prominent in the family, O Krsna, the women of the family become polluted, and from the degradation of womanhood, O descendant of Vrsni, comes unwanted progeny. An increase of unwanted population certainly causes hellish life both for the family and for those who destroy the family tradition. The ancestors of such corrupt families fall down, because the performances for offering them food and water are entirely stopped." (Bg 1.40-41) As Russell many times stated himself, due to lack of spiritual culture, people feel emotional and psychological emptiness and therefore take shelter of extreme sense gratification with the hopes of filling up the "hole" in their hearts. However, just like pouring oil to the fire simply increases the flames, the over sense gratification simply increases the feeling of existential emptiness. For this reason, it is recommended by the sastra to refrain from sense gratification and aim for a higher purpose of self-realization. If there is an itch troubling us, it is better to tolerate and wait until the itch stops. By scratching the itch, itching increases. Russell Brand has had a heavy past of drug and sex addiction, but he has changed his ways many years ago and engages himself now in philanthropic activities with the idea of helping the general mass of people. He also has interest in spiritual life, meditation, yoga, veganism, etc. He has become a well-wisher of the devotees of Krishna, attended several programs devotees hold in Krishna conscious temples, stated that "Srila Prabhupada is a messiah" and even met with the BLISS devotees (check the article in Matchless Gift #2). So we must congratulate this man to his great accomplishment of finding light in the darkness. He is certainly pious in many ways and the perfect candidate to study Krishna consciousness on a deeper level under the guidance of a real spiritual master. It seems that the heavy past is catching up with him unfortunately and we pray that he resolves this and continues on his path towards enlightenment. Perhaps Krishna is reinforcing in him the idea that illicit sex life is a dangerous pitfall and the root trouble of material existence and that it should not be glorified in any shape or form. Srila Prabhupada states: "Actually everyone is suffering within this material world due to ignorance. Every day we see that a person without knowledge commits some criminal act and is later arrested and punished, despite the fact that he actually may not have been conscious of his sinful activity. Such ignorance prevails throughout the world. People do not consider how they are risking their lives in an attempt to have illicit sex life, kill animals to satisfy their tongue, enjoy intoxication and gamble. It is very regrettable that the leaders of the world do not know of the effects of these sinful activities. They are instead taking things very easily and are succeeding in making the ocean of nescience wider and wider...This Krsna consciousness movement is determined to open wide the eyes of the so-called leaders, who are full of ignorance, and thus save them from the many pitfalls and dangerous conditions of life. The greatest danger is the danger of getting a body lower than that of a human being. It was with great difficulty that we attained this human form of life just to take advantage of this body and reestablish our relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda." (SB 4.24.75) Since Russell has also been involved in politics and has been criticizing the powerful of the world, it is indeed quite possible that what we see today in this media coverage of these four women accusing him of rape, is nothing less than a political witch hunt. It is the nature of the material world that conditioned souls are fighting with each other over the resources of material nature and sometimes resort to envious practices, such as defamation or slander, just to silence their enemies. In fact, every single conditioned soul is engaged in what Srila Prabhupada calls "the survival of the fittest". Yet, fighting such so-called enemies, one still does not understand that this material existence is not our real home. The Srimad Bhagavatam states: "Sometimes the conditioned soul in household life, being attached to material wealth and possessions, is disturbed by envious men who are like gadflies and mosquitoes, and sometimes he is troubled by thieves who are like locusts, birds of prey and rats. Nonetheless, he still wanders down the path of material existence. Due to ignorance he becomes lusty and engages in fruitive activity. Because his mind is absorbed in these activities, he sees the material world as permanent, although it is temporary like a phantasmagoria, a house in the sky." (SB 5.14.5) In this connection, we are reminded of Srila Prabhupada's letter to Mahatma Gandhi where he urges Gandhi to give up politics and preach the Bhagavad-gita. Srila Prabhupada addresses Gandhi as follows: "I tell you as a sincere friend that you must immediately retire from active politics if you do not desire to die an inglorious death. You have 125 years to live as you have desired to live but you if you die an inglorious death it is no worth. The honour and prestige that you have obtained during the course of you present life time, were not possible to be obtained by any one else within the living memory. But you must know that all these honours and prestiges were false in as much as they were created by the Illusory Energy of Godhead called the maya. By this falsity I do not mean to say that your so many friends were false to you nor you were false to them. By this falsity I mean illusion or in other words the false friendship and honours obtained thereby were but creation of maya and therefore they are always temporary or false as you may call it. But none of you neither your friends nor yourself knew this truth. Now by the Grace of God that illusion is going to be cleared and thus your faithful friends like Acarya Kripalini and others are accusing you for your inability at the present moment to give them any practical programme of work as you happened to give them during your glorious days of non-co-operation movement. So you are also in a plight to find out a proper solution for the present political tangle created by your opponents. You should therefore take a note of warning from your insignificant friend like me, that unless you retire timely from politics and engage yourself cent per cent in the preaching work of Bhagavad-gita, which is the real function of the Mahatmas, you shall have to meet with such inglorious deaths as Mussolini, Hitlers, Tojos, Churchills or Lloyd Georges met with." (Letter to: Mahatma Gandhi -- Cawnpore 12 July, 1947) We admire Russell's great sense for justice, equality, honesty and love for freedom, however, dealing with political questions can be resolved only through political avenues, namely through force and power struggle. It is impractical to be non-violent when fighting a war with legally powerful entities. And even if we could achieve the ideals of democratic free-thinking society through such means, unless the hearts of people are changed, all political structures and schemes will end up exploited by the powerful and evil sooner or later because that is the function of matter -it deteriorates. For this reason, Srila Prabhupada has started the sankirtana movement all around the world. This is the all-powerful solution to the world's problems. People's hearts should be purified by the chanting of the holy name of Krishna. If the heart is purified, naturally all the qualities develop in due course of time. The difficulty with mundane philanthropy is that it only deals with the external covering of the spirit soul, namely the material body. No one can be satisfied on the material platform of the bodily covering, just as no one can be satisfied by eating foodstuff with cloth covering the taste buds on his tongue. We therefore pray that the accusations made against our dear Russell are proved to be wrong and he then joins us for a blissful kirtan. Such a pious, intelligent and good-hearted man will find great solace in the teachings of Srila Prabhupada, something that mundane philanthropy can never replace. Subscribe to the Matchless Gift magazine with our Uttama patreon deal

Love what we do? Why not support us by purchasing the newest edition of our in-house Krishna conscious magazine, MATCHLESS GIFT Hearing and Chanting Krsna's glories - The red line connecting all religions vyasa puja Srila Prabhupada has given us knowledge on all topics of life. What is our duty in life, who are we really, how to act in daily life, how to act for liberation and ultimately, how to attain eternal life by awakening our forgotten relationship with Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. All of these topics and many more are scientifically presented in Srila Prabhupada's books. The essence of every book he has written is clearly presented, and unlike some cheating yogis that wrap the explanation of Absolute Truth in clever philosophical word jugglery that only serves to confuse the reader, Srila Prabhupada always stays clear with his conclusion: Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, you are His eternal part and parcel and your duty is to serve Him. vyasa puja Krsna is God. That is clear from his books. Srila Prabhupada perfectly explains how and why Krsna is God and backs up all his claims by quoting evidences from the Vedic scriptures and explanations from other greatly exalted personalities, pure devotees of the Lord Krsna. The volume of Srila Prabhupada's literatures is so vast that sometimes, when a curious seeker starts dipping his toes into the transcendental ocean of nectar within his books and teachings, he may find himself overwhelmed with many instructions, new names of unknown people, strange new words in an unknown language of sanskrt that will completely twist your tongue while trying to pronounce them. Due to all of these completely new things suddenly emerging in one's consciousness and mainly due to a gross lack of knowledge, the curious reader may find it difficult to grasp the whole idea of Krsna consciousness. Of course, due to Srila Prabhupada's infinite mercy, the essence is always clear even to a newly baked devotee; Chant Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. While the essence is clear, the entire process might however still be blurry and unclear, due to one's limited ability of grasping such elevated topics of Krsna consciousness. The process of devotional service is very scientific, consisting of nine processes of devotional service. The first two processes start with the most basic of human abilities; Hearing (Sravanam) and Chanting (Kirtanam). Srila Prabhupada explains in this way: "These nine. So the first principle is sravanam, it is said. Sravanam means hearing, that's all. The first principle of practicing this yoga, bhakti-yoga, beginning, "practicing yoga in full consciousness of Me." This yoga practice begins simply by hearing. You have got these ears. You simply just lend your ears and you become yogi. And as soon as you become experienced in hearing, you become a preacher--kirtanam. Immediately. One who has heard nicely, he will try to become a kirtaniya, or preacher. That is natural." And another quote: We should know in perfect consciousness that human life is bestowed upon the conditioned soul to achieve spiritual success and the easiest possible procedure to attain this end is to chant the holy name of the Lord. – Srimad Bhagavatam 02.01.12 This is the purpose of religion, to hear and speak about God. As we are engaging our mind in hearing and speaking about God, the next natural development will be thinking of Krsna, called Vishnu Smaranam. If you speak about Krsna and hear about Krsna, then what else is there to think about. You will think about Krsna as well. This is the third step, and the steps continue one after the other. In the introduction to the Bhagavad Gita one can read: "These nine processes, of which the easiest is sravanam, hearing Bhagavad-gita from the realized person, will turn one to the thought of the Supreme Being. This will lead to nisala, remembering the Supreme Lord, and will enable one, upon leaving the body, to attain a spiritual body which is just fit for association with the Supreme Lord." A devotee can fully engage himself in all nine of these processes or just one of them, either one of these processes is fully potent and the devotee can reach full perfection. Based on these instructions, an intelligent person can understand the importance of remembering God at the time of death. This is the essence of Krsna consciousness and the conclusion of all the Vedic knowledge, to remember the Supreme Personality of Godhead at the time of death and go back Home back to Godhead. Actually, this is the conclusion of all religion. Religion means to know God and to love Him. This is the essence of all religion. Even though there are many different religious practices and it may sometimes be difficult to see the similarities in them, we must agree that the point of all religion MUST be to know God and Love Him, atleast if we want to accept it as a real religion. All real religion is revealed from God Himself, either directly through His instructions or His messengers. Therefore one can not manufacture some religion, since God is controlling the means of understanding and approaching Him. For this age called the Kali yuga, where religious qualities are at their lowest and sinful qualities are rampant and growing, the perscribed process for understanding God is the chanting of God's holy names. Harer nama ... This means every true religion should make this their center of action. It does not matter under which name the followers know of God, be it either Christ or Allah or Buddha, provided the followers are sincere, they should be inclined towards chanting of the holy names of God, Krsna, the all attractive Supreme Person. This factual process is recommended many times through in different religious scriptures, as it is stated here by Allah in the Holy Quran for example; "Call upon Allah or call upon the Most Merciful. Whichever name you call - to Him belong the best names.'" Surah Al-Isra (17:110)" To help the reader realize the importance of chanting or calling upon the Holy names of God, the same instruction is repetated again in the Al-A'raf chapter: "And to Allah belong the best names, so invoke Him by them." (7:180) By invoking the Holy names of God, the mind will naturally also start to think of God. The more we do it, the more we become absorbed in rememberance of God. As stated earlier this is the natural progression in spiritual practice, hearing, chanting and then remembering. Hints of this are also revealed in the Quran: “Allah says: Remember Me, and I will remember you.” (2:152) and “Truly it is in the remembrance of Allah that hearts find peace” (13:28). By rememberance of God, the Purest "Al-Quddus" (الْقُدُّوسُ), we ourselves are becoming purified. By becoming increasingly purified, our hearts soften and real love of God is awakened. This is the practical proof of the potency of the spiritual process - our material attachment must decrease and our spiritual attachment - love for Krsna, must increase. This is the real purpose of all spiritual or religious practice and it is once again confirmed in the Holy Quran: “O you who believe, let not your wealth and your children divert you from the remembrance of Allah. And whoever does that, then those are the losers.” (63:9) From these beautiful quotes we can all understand that God wants us to always chant His holy names and remember Him, even in the midst of all material temptations and difficulties. This same instruction is given in the Bhagavad Gita as well, where the Supreme Personality of Godhead Krsna says: "Always chanting My glories, endeavoring with great determination, bowing down before Me, these great souls perpetually worship Me with devotion." (9.14) A devotee of the Lord and the Lord Himself are one. That oneness is however internal, meaning the devotee has no seperate desire other than to serve the Lord. The devotee will never do anything that goes against the instructions of God and therefore whatever Krsna says, the devotee repeats the same instruction as it is. This is the same for prophet Mohhamed (peace be upon him) as stated by one of his companions; “O Messenger of Allah, the laws of Islam have become many for me, so tell me something which I can cling on to.” He replied: “Always keep your tongue moist with the remembrance of Allah.” (Tirmidhī 3375). The same istruction was given for the most crucial time of life, the time of death. Because this is the last thing we should be doing in this life, that makes the activity the most important! The prophet had spoken thus; Muʿādh ibn Jabal said: “In my last conversation with the Messenger of Allah, I asked him: ‘Which deed is the best and most beloved to Allah?’ He replied: ‘That you die whilst your tongue is moist with the remembrance of Allah.’” (Ibn Ḥibbān) It may be surprising that this is the conclusion of the Quran and the Vedas as well, however if we engage ourselves in deep exploration and study of any religious scripture, provided it is a real religion, we will find that the conclusion is the same. It must be the same, that is a fact, since all religion comes from God. In a discussion about this very point, Srila Prabhupada was discussing with Allen Ginsberg, an influential musician and one of the leaders of the hippie movement. Allen Ginsberg asked: But what do you do when different religious groups claim to be the center? Srila Prabhupada: No, we welcome every religion. We don't decry any religion. Our point is the love of Godhead. Or Krsna is love, all-attractive. So we want to be attracted by Krsna. Just like a magnetic force and iron. Unless iron is rusty, it is automatically attracted by the magnetic force. Similarly, we are contaminated by material coverings. So we are trying to make it rustless so that immediately we shall be attracted. This is the program. Krsna is all-attractive. That is a fact. And we are attracted. But being covered with this rust, we are, instead of being attracted by Krsna, we are being attracted by maya. This is our whole program. So our central program is how to love Krsna, or how to love God. So we want to see... That is the Bhagavata definition, that how much you have enhanced your love of God. You call Krsna or something else, that doesn't matter. Phalena pariciyate. The result. Your religious principle, what is the result? Are you enhancing your love for God or dog? That we want to see. If you are enhancing your love for God, it is all right. We don't say anything. But if... People should learn how to love. That is the perfection of life. That we are teaching." Further on, Allen Ginsberg is wondering what if someone finds love in the sabda (sound) of Allah's name instead of Krsna's name. Srila Prabhupada explains: If that sabda, of course, identifies with God, we have no objection. That Caitanya Mahaprabhu said that namnam akari bahudha nija-sarva-saktis. God has many names. God is attractive, His name is also attractive, because He's not different from His name. If you have got exactly the same attractive name, we have no objection. We simply say, "You chant God's name, holy name." Then you become purified. That is our program. We don't say that you change your Christianity. No. We don't say. If you have got a nice name, all-attractive name, in your scripture--don't manufacture but authorized--then you chant that. We simply request, "You chant." The same instruction was given also by Jesus Christ, who is at this time perhaps the most famous devotee of God: "Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Matthew 6:9-13. Since glorifying the holy name of Krsna is the conclusion of all religions, this is also the essential message of all the great empowered preachers of Krsna's message. Unfortunately this fact is difficult to understand for one who is infested with a secterean vision, and this is the main problem in religious circles that keeps us divided, even though we all have the same goal, to love God. We generally tend to think that every religious preacher has come to this world in order to rebel against the previous religions and establish his religious process as the only means for God realization. Factually however, since God is one for everyone and the mission of His devotees is to spread His teachings, these great devotees such as prophet Mohammed and Jesus Christ are all cooperating in fulfilling the mission of God. Jesus came to give us the moral basics how to live and to tell us God is good, after him came prophet Mohammed to expand on the teachings of Jesus even further, providing greater instructions about worship, daily religious practice and to put more importance on the Holy name of Krsna. So it can be understood these two great devotees were not infact competing against each other as can be observed today in some of their followers, but were doing the exact opposite, cooperating in elevating the masses of humanity to a higher, spiritual life. The minor details of worship and philosophy may be different, but the essence is the same. Every devotee appears in this world for this very purpose and in the same spirit of co-operation, on September 1st 1896 in Kalkutta, there has been a divine appearance of the greatest devotee of Krsna. Known and loved by his relatives and friends under the name of Abhay Charande, later known as A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, had not spent a single moment in his life without engaging himself fully in the worship of the Lord Sri Krsna. Since his tender youth, Srila Prabhupada would play with dolls of Krsna and Radha and organize small scale ceremonies of worship so that all the neighbourhood children could participate in this divine activity, worshipping Krsna in love and devotion. In the very late stage of his time here, Srila Prabhupada traveled across the world from India all the way to America, whereupon arriving, he has simply continued what he was already doing from his very first moment here with us - Spreading Love of God and engaging everyone in worship of Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Previously religion has told us that God is good. Now, Srila Prabhupada has told us HOW good is God. This is the next step from previous religious understanding, the full perfect knowledge from Krsna, about Krsna. By Srila Prabhupada's infinite mercy, a sincere spiritual seeker can easily advance to the highest perfection of life, to live eternally in pure BLISS and pure Love of Krsna.

Love what we do? Why not support us by purchasing the newest edition of our in-house Krishna conscious magazine, MATCHLESS GIFT Dear Srila Prabhupada, from the pitch-dark dirt of sinfulness accumulated for millions of lifetimes on my soul, you have picked me up and placed me in the association of your faithful servants. By your mercy this Krishna consciousness movement has spread to every town and every village and daily more and more people are coming in contact with that beautiful yuga dharma of harinama sankirtana. May it increase more and more. By your mercy, devotees are advancing in their realization and purity and thus are becoming your faithful represenatives capable of giving shelter to fallen souls like myself. So many have come! Without such mercy manifested through your faithful servants and followers I am a non-entity fit to be forgotten in the waves of samsara never to be mentioned by name by any decent human being. Oh Prabhupada, you have a genuine love for Krishna and thus every word you speak is so precious to me being saturated with pure emotion for the Lord. Similarly, you have a genuine love for your own guru maharaja, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura, which you have proven by living your life for him and for him only. Thus you are showing us by your practical example in relation to your guru maharaja, how we can approach you, our dear spiritual master. Thinking of your devotion and sincerity, I hear my own glorification of you as a mere barking of a dog and lament it nothing but disturbs your pure uninterrupted samadhi on Krishna. I lament over this and lament over my own position -the lowest of mankind incapable to reciprocate the flood of beneditions you have showed to me. Unfortunately even in this I take great pride. Lowest of mankind. That is my disease. vyasa puja Your every step is a dance and your every word is a song, all for the pleasure of your beloved Krishna. O master, I weep bitterly since I have not developed even a droplet of the love you feel for Him and thus have become a disgrace and disappointment to you. How can I ever associate with you, oh purest of the pure, the sum total of all demigods? Taking my hand you are strongly dragging me to Him, your eyes full of compassion, but I want to stay and falling madly with that attractive girl of the name Maya I am seeing my human form of life expiring in front of my own eyes. Will you come again as you did unlimited number of times and lift me with your sweet words full of Krishna consciousness that are piercing my contaminated heart like arrows dipped in poison? Indeed, Krishna katha feels like a poison to an envious wretched soul like myself. Still you are feeding me with this poison risking your reputation of being called a poison-giver. Will you look at me again after you catch me in Maya's embrace fully absorbed in the hypnotising movements of her temporary fleeting beauty? Keeping firm faith in the unlimited stock of your compassion that your heart is made of, I fall at your feet begging for your mercy. Please engage me in your service.

Love what we do? Why not support us by purchasing the newest edition of our in-house Krishna conscious magazine, MATCHLESS GIFT You are alive Every eye blink Full of prema Full of love Every snap and lip lick Your loyal disciples relish the details and thank Krishna for technology so that you fill our screens, our eyes, our hands, our noses, everything Sometimes in pictures and without physical presence in the way we're used to, speculation can take over One can protect one's own insecurities and judgements as if they're from you, to one but when one watches you, one's eyes widen Never have I ever seen a Being like Prabhupada Like a father, but better like a grandfather, but better like a friend, a guide, a true master who else would I bow down for? Never taught such things submission was always unspeakable but to you, your disciples give it all but for you, your disciples leave all and gain all. Partaking in your teachings thank you, thank you. Dear Srila Prabhupada mere words cannot describe the gratitude growing deep inside ever lower than your grace happily, and sometimes not so but who cares. You are the spiritual master, may I make you proud. Hare Krishna

Love what we do? Why not support us by purchasing the newest edition of our in-house Krishna conscious magazine, MATCHLESS GIFT nama om visnu-padaya krsna-presthaya bhu-tale srimate bhaktivedanta-svamin iti namine namas te sarasvate deve gaura-vani-pracarine nirvisesa-sunyavadi-pascatya-desa-tarine vyasa puja I offer my respectful obeisances unto His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who is very dear to Lord Krsna on this earth, having taken shelter at His lotus feet. My respectful obeisances are unto you, O spiritual master, servant of Sarasvati Gosvami. You are kindly preaching the message of Lord Caitanyadeva and delivering the Western countries, which are filled with impersonalism and voidism. O rascal mind, just worship the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada, which make one fearless. Srila Prabhupada, your name is Abhay, one who has no fear. And your name is also Caranaravinda, which are the lotus feet of Lord Krsna. You take shelter at Krsna’s lotus feet and that is why you fear nothing. Let us at this most auspicious and glorious day of your divine appearance in this world, and all the other days of our lives, meditate on your lotus feet, which are the transcendental ship that will enable us fortunate souls, who have obtained this rare human birth, to cross over this ocean of worldly existence through your transcendental and holy association. Day and night I remain sleepless, suffering heat and cold, wind and rain, praise and infamy, pleasure and pain. For a bit of flickering happiness I vainly serve wicked and miserly men. Please engage me in your service, Srila Prabhupada. There is no assurance of real happiness in all of one's wealth, youthfulness, sons, and family members. There is no assurance of any youthfulness, neither is there assurance of this material body itself. Nothing will exist as we see and desperately try to enjoy it in this realm of matter, trying hard and harder, simply to experience unavoidable reversals. Our beauty, health, wealth, the material life itself is tottering like a drop of water on a lotus petal; Srila Prabhupada, you have kindly, like a true friend and our always well-wisher, revealed these truths to us. You shake us by your thundering sweet voice: “Rascal, wake up!” And we do. Therefore, we shall always aspire to serve and worship your divine lotus feet. I, lowly Makhancora dasa long and desire to engage myself in hearing your glories, chanting them, constantly remembering you and offering prayers to you, serving your lotus feet and the lotus feet of your sincere servants, worshiping you with flowers and incense and completely offering you my very self. Kindly hear my prayer and bestow a speck of dust of your lotus feet on my head. Unqualified as I am, I took shelter of Govinda dasa and his song to be able to offer this humble homage unto you. You have glorified all the predecessor Acaryas and Vaisnavas beyond any limits and you are glorified millionfold more for doing so and for giving the matchless gift of Krsna consciousness to the world. Kindly excuse my offences and mercifully keep me as a menial servant of your dear servants. All Glories to you, Srila Prabhupada! Hare Krsna!

Love what we do? Why not support us by purchasing the newest edition of our in-house Krishna conscious magazine, MATCHLESS GIFT Sitting here now, Srila Prabhupada, and trying to think of how to write this vyasa puja offering to you. Should I write poetry? Should I express my feelings? Should I glorify your qualities, or compose some prayer in the style of the previous great acaryas? A devotee is meant to be poetic, but I am not a devotee, so my poetry is more like the braying of an ass. The poetry of self-realised souls like yourself, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and Srila Narottama Dasa Thakura are worthy of describing the nature of pure devotees like yourself, Srila Prabhupada. How can I express my mundane, conditioned feelings for you, srila prabhupada? What is the use? You are constantly in ecstasy of pure love of Krsna, and mundane feelings are insubstantial to you. They are like the feelings in a dream. Your qualities are innumerable, and limitless. So I have not the ability or time to glorify them sufficiently. Oh prayers, oh poetry, my obeisances unto you! Please excuse my inability to compose you. But now, wherever I stay, I can serve Srila Prabhupada, the most perfect pure devotee, by distributing his teachings, and I think this is sufficient for me. Because I cannot compose anything to glorify you, Srila Prabhupada, I have taken the guidance of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura in his song, Boro Sukher Khabor Gāi: 1) I have come to bring good news: Srila Prabhupada has opened a marketplace of the holy name, starting in New York and stretching across the whole universe. 2) He is selling the holy name in that marketplace for the price of only one’s faith. 3) Srila Prabhupada, the representative of the most mericiful lord Nityananda, is selling the holy name to the devotees after preaching to them so expertly. 4) O brother, if you want the holy name then come with me. We must go to that great soul, Srila Prabhupada. We can go to him simply by reading his books. 5) You will get the name of Krishna, I will take my commission and all of our desires will be fulfilled. 6) Srila Prabhupada is greatly merciful. Taking only one’s faith, He gives the highest ecstasy. 7) If He sees only once tears in the eyes while chanting the name “Gaura” then He gives everything to that person. Srila Prabhupada takes even a little service as a great deal. 8) He gives the pure teachings of Krishna to everyone not caring for their birth, wealth, knowledge and strength. He gives the highest love of Krishna even to the most fallen westerners, and his mercy continues even if we sometimes forsake him. He is always available. 9) Now, giving up the illusory snare of Maya, either remain in household life or in the forest as a sannyasi, for no more troubles remain. 10) There is no more fear of the age of Kali. the merciful Srila Prabhupada gives the holy name to even the candalas, or those even lower, who do not at all know of the Vedic principles. Murderers, thieves, cow-eaters, women hunters, Srila Prabhupada makes no discrimination. 11) “Except for the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada there is no other shelter!”

Love what we do? Why not support us by purchasing the newest edition of our in-house Krishna conscious magazine, MATCHLESS GIFT This is a composition I came across one day while searching through Your books on an old dusty shelf in a neglected corner of a temple room, and I felt that it contained everything I could possibly say about You, Srila Prabhupada, in the most simple way. My love for You is simple, my faith in You is simple, and You've reciprocated with me by making my whole life, my whole heart, and my whole purpose equally as simple. Drowning in an ocean of confusion and contradiction, I desired to just become simple. You represent real simplicity, and taught us by practical example that within that simplicity... rests all the imports of the Vedic literature. You are the most beautiful, and all my senses have become perfect by associating with You. You fulfill the desires of everyone and are full of compassion for the fallen, conditioned souls. vyasa puja 1. All I know about Srila Prabhupada, I know just by His mercy. 2. All I know about Srila Prabhupada is His mercy. 3. All there is to know about Srila Prabhupada is that He is mercy. 4. All I can ever know about mercy is known when I know Srila Prabhupada. 5. I can never know anything other than by Srila Prabhupada's mercy. 6. I can never know anything other than Srila Prabhupada's mercy. 7. Srila Prabhupada's mercy is all there is to be known. 8. Everything is included in Srila Prabhupada's mercy. 9. Krsna is included in Srila Prabhupada's mercy.