Poem: Three Names
"the boy asked wryly / 'Where can I put my foot now? / There isn't anywhere left to go somehow?'"
Srila Prabhupada explains that if you offer your sincere prayer into the hand of Sri Radha, she will recommend you to Him, saying, “this devotee is better than me, please accept her!
"In chanting you want to be so absorbed that you touch Krishna, that you touch the spiritual world and that when you have completed your chanting you will have a Krishna conscious fragrance or influence around you."
"Slow down, breathe and peer deeper into the mystery of the everyday."
Srila Prabhupada introduced us all to the path of bhakti yoga and the sublime benefits of chanting the holy names of Krishna in the form of the maha-mantra. With great humility, never taking undue personal credit for his accomplishments, Srila Prabhupada once expressed, “My only credit is that I have strictly followed the order of my guru.”
We are members of an institution meant for giving compassion to others, but are we each individually acting with compassion in our personal dealings?
"The boat of your lotus feet / Will get me across the ocean of life some day. / No matter come what may / In my heart you will stay...."
What chances am I missing? What opportunities am I throwing away by being casual, unthinking, lazy?
Just as the unexpected revealed Arjuna’s character, and by the Gita’s guidance, took him toward healthy choices, Gita wisdom can guide us wisely when we too encounter the unexpected.
With the rising and setting of sun / Time slowly slipping away / The touch of cool water as if speaking / Do you feel okay my friend?
The discomfort ISKCON faces due to the pandemic - individual and community-wise - is hardly comparable to the oppressions and torments of the past.
This is not a time to hold back or to put off what so deeply pains the heart, for the extent that you have loved, it is to that extent that you will feel a kind of pain that perhaps you’ve never experienced before.
How to become resilient and, despite the ups and downs, not give up on our spiritual journey, our search for the self?
A beautiful poem in glorification of Bhakti Charu Swami.
The current Covid-19 has brought collective pain, fear, and unexpected difficulties. We have to ask – what is out of balance?
The capitalist definition of God’s will for humanity was to pursue piety within productivity. After all, had recent discoveries not proven that God’s plan was for the pious to become wealthy?
"I look in the mirror / And I see this body / With this color / That I am supposed / To give up identifying with / But somehow, / I can’t seem to see / Beyond the brown."
How about some humility? How about admitting that we are not the supreme controllers, at least as of now? How about admitting that we don’t yet fully understand the mysteries of the universe.
In the news, some of the talking heads are saying it’s “a few bad apples” and others warn of a more systemic problem. Is it individuals on the police force or the institution itself? Will new laws, like no “chokeholds” etc, mean anything at all?
Should we join the protests? Should we speak out against a government that oppresses black men and women and attacks those wishing to publicly object to such racism? As devotees, should we protest at all? Is meddling in politics the business of Vaishnavas? Yet if we decline, are we not part of the apathy that perpetuates such injustice?
"Anger has been flaring, / Voices have been blaring, / To identify who's black, who's white, / And who happens to be right?"
An important lesson for us spirit souls: neither materially binding activities nor an artificial cessation of activity is what will bring ultimate joy to the soul.
Can we together try to inspire each other to live in a better way, a different way? Can we try to create a change born out of the pain of this suffering?
Over the years, abilities were developed, achievements came and accolades were received, but with it has surfaced a mentality that is calculative, complicated and corrupted. How can I turn back the clock?
