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by Yasoda nandana dasa

Glories to Srila Jayananda Prabhu

May 2, 2023 in Articles, Haripada dasa by Yasoda nandana dasa

Glories to Srila Jayananda Prabhu
by Haripada dasa

We celebrate the disappearance of Srila Jayananda Prabhu, I share this glorification of Jayananda Prabhu, this great devotee is the example of the perfect disciple of Srila Prabhupada.

This is a great devotee who will be a great inspiration for future generations of devotees of Srila Prabhupada and Krishna.

Just as I I understand, the essence of this great soul is that all he did was for Srila Prabhupada to be happy, and he never did anything that displeased Srila Prabhupada.

He was not a politician, I like him, he is my friend, he was humble, tolerant and everyone’s friend, and never criticized anyone. Srila Prabhupada said that I am very proud to have had a disciple as good as Jayananda prabhu.

 

Everyone should follow his example. This great devotee enjoyed serving Srila Prabhupada and Krishna and the whole world, and that is the perfection of Krishna consciousness.

That can only be done when one has awakened his great love for Srila Prabhupada and Krishna. As I understand it, only people who have sacrificed their lives to make Srila Prabhupada happy can receive the mercy of Krishna, if you want see a video about Jayananda Prabhu this is the link:

Sri Jayananda Prabhu (1939-1977)

After the series of previous notes on various aspects of the Jagannatha-lila and the Ratha-yatra celebrated at this time, I considered it fair to publish something in homage to our esteemed spiritual brother Sri Jayananda Thakur, a beloved disciple of Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. With his admirable pioneering effort, he contributed greatly to the celebration of the Ratha-yatra festivals, being loved by all devotees and recognized by Srila Prabhupada.

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by Yasoda nandana dasa

Patience, humility and respect

March 13, 2023 in Haripada dasa by Yasoda nandana dasa

by Haripada dasa

Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Prabhupada always said that in this world of ignorance, which is contrary to serving God or Krishna, full of trials and tribulations, only patience, humility and respect for others are our friends to do devotional service to God or Krishna and His representatives.

Regarding patience, I am very clear that only people who live in the mode of goodness can have it. People who live in the modes of passion and ignorance cannot be patient. Also Srila Prabhupada talks about this quality in the Nectar of Instruction, verse 3:

These activities must be executed with patience. One should not be impatient in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Indeed, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement was started single-handedly, and in the beginning there was no response, but because we continued to execute our devotional activities with patience, people gradually began to understand the importance of this movement, and now they are eagerly participating. One should not be impatient in discharging devotional service, but should take instructions from the spiritual master and execute them with patience, depending on the mercy of guru and Kṛṣṇa. The successful execution of Kṛṣṇa conscious activities requires both patience and confidence.
[Nectar of Instruction verse 3]

On humility, Srila Prabhupada says in Bhagavad-gita 13.8 that humility means that one should not be anxious to have the satisfaction of being honored by others. Another point is that although one can do wonderful things to please God or Krishna and Srila Prabhupada, one understands that this is all purely the mercy of God or Krishna and Srila Prabhupada.

About respect, there is a very beautiful verse in the Srimad Bhagavatam, 5.5.26. This verse was spoken by the incarnation of Krishna called Risabadeva to his children:

“My dear sons, you should not envy any living entity—be he moving or nonmoving. Knowing that I am situated in them, you should offer respect to all of them at every moment. In this way, you offer respect to Me.”
[Srimad Bhagavatam 5.5.26]

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by Venkata bhatta dasa

Serious and Sincere

February 20, 2023 in Articles, Haripada dasa by Venkata bhatta dasa

By Haripada dasa

Srila Prabhupada always said that the devotee must be serious and sincere in his Krishna consciousness practices. This also applies to others; serious and sincere means that one does not deceive himself or others. In others In other words, one is not a hypocrite. We in a practical way show Srila Prabhupada and God or Krishna that we are serious and sincere when we practice verses 2 and 3 of the Nectar of Instruction. There it is said that when someone becomes too entangled in the following six activities, their devotional service is ruined:

  1. eating more than necessary, or accumulating more funds than required;
  2. trying too hard for worldly things that are too hard to get;
  3. talking unnecessarily about worldly subjects;
  4. following the rules and regulations of the scriptures solely to follow them and not to advance spiritually, or rejecting the rules and regulations of the scriptures and working independently or whimsically;
  5. associating with people of worldly inclinations who are not interested in cultivating Kṛishna consciousness; and
  6. coveting worldly achievements

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by Yasoda nandana dasa

The material world

June 29, 2018 in Articles, Haripada dasa by Yasoda nandana dasa

The material world, by Haripada dasa

It is very interesting what Srila Prahlada Maharaja says in his prayers to Lord Nrisimhadeva. He says that whatever we do in this material world to be happy, if there is no awareness of God or Krishna, these things are the source of many anxieties. to illustrate this point I will put two very simple examples. A person thinks that if I were a very rich person then I would be very happy. When he gets money, now he has a bank account with 30 numbers. However, he thinks, “now that I have a lot of money, where I will put it to have more money, now that I have a lot of money,” “it is possible that someone may kidnap my daughter or my wife to force me to pay a ransom, etc.,”
The other example is that one can think that If I get to marry Miss Universe I will be happy. A man gets to marry Miss Universe, and now he thinks, “now that I have such a beautiful woman, to see if someone takes it from me, I have to control my wife a lot so that nobody will remove her from me.” “If my wife left with another I would commit suicide, etc. “
God or Krishna has created this material world and He is so intelligent that He describes it in the Bhagavad-gita with two words, this material world is a temporary place full of suffering. The ignorant, materialistic and atheistic people think that we have come to this material world to enjoy and exploit matter. They ignore the reality of it because God or Krishna has created this material world. This material world has been created by God or Krishna to give us an opportunity. By practicing Krishna consciousness, we purify ourselves and we return back to God. We are an energy of God that is called marginal, that means that we have two options to choose. We can choose what we call free will. One is our constitutional nature that is that we are eternal spiritual souls, loving servants and eternal of Krishna and His devotees. When we practice that we are happy and we live with Krishna and His devotees.
When we forget that, we are in maya, maya means here that which has no existence but is only a temporary illusion, maya means “what is not”. And, what is that illusion? The illusion is that we try to be the lords of material nature, when the reality is that we are subject by the shackles of their strict laws. When a servant tries to artificially imitate his almighty master, that is called illusion. Contaminated by this concept of life, we all try to exploit the resources of material nature, but the reality is that we get entangled more and more in its complexities. Therefore, despite our hard struggle to conquer nature, we depend more on it. This illusory struggle against material nature can be stopped immediately if we revive our Krishna consciousness. Srila Prabhupada always said that the problem of people is that they are not afraid of maya.

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by Yasoda nandana dasa

The Hare Krishna Movement

June 27, 2018 in Articles, Haripada dasa by Yasoda nandana dasa

The Hare Krishna Movement, by Haripada dasa

The Hare Krishna Movement was founded by Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada in New York in 1966. Srila Prabhupada was born in Calcutta in the year 1896, he was born into a family of pure devotees of God or Krishna and from his childhood lived the whole environment was full of the love for God.  An astrologer predicted that this great soul at 69 will go to foreign countries to preach Krishna consciousness, open more than 100 temples of Krishna, and write more than 80 books.
These books will be the law books for all humanity in the next 10,000 years. His Spiritual Master ordered him to go to Western countries to preach the message of the conscience of God or Krishna. At the age of 69 he left India to the USA to fulfill the order given by his Spiritual Master to spread the message of Krishna consciousness in the English language. He started chanting the Maha-mantra: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare in Tompkins Square park in New York.  There he started his movement. Many young people approached him to receive spiritual training. Many people abandoned illicit sex life, gambling, drugs and the consumption of meat, fish and eggs and sang every day 27,648 names of God in their rosaries.
These people felt so much spiritual happiness that in a natural way they wanted to help Srila Prabhupada to spread his movement, so that everyone would be happy. Srila Prabhupada initiated more than 10,000 disciples around the world, went around the world 14 times, wrote 80 books of 400 pages each, opened more than a hundred temples around the world and many farming communities. He slept every day only 3 hours from 10 in the night until 1 in the morning. Then he got up to translate the great classics of India such as Srimad-Bhagavatam and Sri Chaitanya-Charitamrita. His disciples and admirers have distributed more than 500 million of his books in all the languages ​​of the world. Srila Prabhupada is Acharya, which means he who preaches by his personal example.
As the saying goes, the words convince but the example drags. Srila Prabhupada says in Srimad Bhagavatam, 5, 12, 13, that this movement for Krishna consciousness has been founded to engage people in the service and glorification of the Lord twenty-four hours a day. In this institution, students devote themselves to the cultivation of Krishna consciousness from five in the morning until ten at night. Thus they have no opportunity to waste time unnecessarily speaking about politics, sociology and current affairs. All this follows its own course. A devotee is only interested in serving Krishna in a serious and positive way.
Unhappily, in his last days, as Srila Prabhupada was almost ready to depart his body, he said that he was being poisoned. He ordered his disciples to initiate in Hhis name, and not to change His books. Unhappily, when Srila Prabhupada departed His disciples did not obey the order to initiate in His name and they became gurus in an artificial way. Srila Prabhupada says in his books that a guru is not made by votes, but the current self-appointed gurus make other gurus by votes. They made more than 6,000 unauthorized changes to Srila Prabhupada’s books. Srila Prabhupada sacrificed His life to found the Hare Krishna Movement, but now His movement is run by very strange, envious and very dangerous people. Fortunately there are people who like Krishna Consciousness, and we try to help people to know, serve and love Srila Prabhupada, and let them go back home to God or Krishna.

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by Yasoda nandana dasa

Friends

June 25, 2018 in Articles, Haripada dasa by Yasoda nandana dasa

Friends, by Haripada dasa

I remember a class of Srila Prabhupada where he said that there are different degrees of friends. There is the common friend, the common friend is not our intimate friend. Then there is the intimate friend.  With this person, there is a relationship based on love and trust, when you are happy in the consciousness of God or Krishna this friend is very happy, and when you are experiencing problems and sufferings, this friend helps you without wanting anything in return.
One is sure that my intimate friend will never betray me. The other day a devotee sent me some nectar of Srila Prabhupada and I replied that you are my best friend because you are transmitting to me Srila Prabhupada. And another devotee sends me the information of all the festivals of the Vaisnava calendar. We celebrate the apparitions of God or Krishna and His devotees.  That too is very good. And then, there is our best well-wisher, our Gurudeva, the authorized spiritual master who is known to be the beloved of God or Krishna, the Supreme Lord.  He  gives liberation from the torments of material bondage. The devotee must think that God or Krishna has sent me Sri Gurudeva to liberate me, and in this way everything is perfectly harmonized, understanding that the spiritual master is a confidential confidential servant of Srimati Radharani.
Usually people do not understand what a spiritual master authorized by God or Krishna is, nor do they know that at the time of initiation the guru grabs all the karma of his disciple and with his spiritual power reduces it to ashes, Srila Prabhupada says in The Srimad Bhagavatam, 8, 7, 44, that great personalities usually accept voluntary sufferings to alleviate the suffering of ordinary people. This is considered to be the highest form of worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead or Krishna, who is in everyone’s heart. We all have an intimate and eternal relationship with God or Krishna and His devotees on the absolute platform or pure goodness. God or Krishna and His devotees are infallible and our best friends.
A great devotee said that it is a great mistake to think that the pure devotees of God or Krishna die, they die to live and preach the glories of God or Krishna and His devotees throughout the universes, and he who obeys his instructions lives with he eternally.

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by Yasoda nandana dasa

The spiritual culture

June 19, 2018 in Articles, Haripada dasa by Yasoda nandana dasa

The spiritual culture, by Haripada dasa

The spiritual culture of India is so high that if a person does not follow these four regulative principles, 1- abandon the illicit sex life, 2- gambling, 3- coffee, stimulants and drugs and 4- consumption of meat, fish and eggs and sings every day The Maha-Mantra Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare (the H is read as J of Jota), 27,648 names of God in the rosary, if a person does not practice this is considered uncivilized.
I share that in the meaning of the verse of Srimad Bhagavatam, 1, 9, 26, Srila Prabhupada says: “Bhīṣmadeva recommended nine qualities that all human beings must exhibit: 1) not get angry, 2) not lie, 3) distribute wealth equitably , 4) forgive, 5) beget children only with one’s legitimate wife, 6) be pure-minded and healthy, 7) not hostile to anyone, 8) be simple, and 9) keep servants and subordinates. One can not be called a civilized person, if he does not acquire the aforementioned preliminary qualities.
By the mercy of Srila Prabhupada, we understand and accept that the cultured person is identified because he has three basic qualities, these are: 1) He sees all women as mothers, except his own wife. There are seven mothers: the original mother, the wife of the priest, the wife of the king, the wife of the spiritual master, the nurse, the cow and the Earth.
2) See the properties of others as straw on the street, in other words, be satisfied with what you have and not want or envy the property of others and
3) Do to others what you would like them to do to you and Do not do to others what you would not want them to do to you. Can you imagine a society formed by people with these qualities? It would be a perfect society. We see how nowadays people consider all women as their wives and their wife and do not pay attention to them.
There is an excessive competition to surpass others, both personally and between nations and nobody thinks about the welfare of others. All are politicians, politician is one who makes plans to be happy without thinking about the welfare of others. Nowadays, a person is considered cultured for their diplomas and degrees and not for their qualities. The spiritual culture of India was killed by people who invented or speculated that one can belong to the upper class or be a priest by birth, But in the Sacred Scriptures, it is said that one belongs to the high class or priest by qualities, and his birth does not matter.
Srila Prabhupada was authorized and empowered by God to revive the spiritual culture of India, for his mercy and instructions he turned people from all over the world, who were like crows into swans.

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by Yasoda nandana dasa

The five kinds of ignorance

June 13, 2018 in Articles, Haripada dasa by Yasoda nandana dasa

The five kinds of ignorance, by Haripada dasa

In the Sri  Chaitanya Charitamrita, Adi-lila, 1, 102, it is said that in the Mahabharata, Udyoga-parva, chapter 43, the five kinds of ignorance are described, I will try to explain them.
 1- To believe that the body is the self. I, the soul, remember that when I was little in school some children wanted to hit me, I told my grandmother and she was talking to the school principal to defend me. The child body that I had has already changed, or in other words no longer exists. The self, the soul, remembers it because it is the same, never changes and is eternal. The first lesson one should learn in the spiritual life is to understand and accept that I am not the body.
2 – To make the material satisfaction of the senses the model of happiness. The most practical proof that happiness is not in sense gratification is that in rich countries like Denmark and Sweden and others are the countries with the highest suicide rates, one does not commit suicide because he is very happy, but because he is full of frustrations and sufferings.
3- Being in anxiety due to identification with the subject. We should not envy anyone, because envy is the cause of anxieties and fears. All relationships of materialistic people are based on envy, so they always live full of anxieties and fears. Materialists do not understand because the pure devotees of God or Krishna live happily without anxieties and without fears.
4- To lament. People complain about everything because they are not happy in God or Krishna consciousness. When a person is conscious of God, he lives with God and is happy and does not regret anything. He who is wise does not mourn for the living or for the dead. He who does good will never be overcome by evil.
5- To believe that there is something beyond the Absolute Truth. The Absolute Truth is the cause of all causes and He has no cause.  There is only God or Krishna and His energies. When a person awakens his natural love for God, he will naturally love everything and everyone, since there is only God and His energies. There is the inconceivable unity and difference simultaneously.
From time immemorial the greatest problem of people is that they are attached to ignorance. When they know someone who is full of knowledge, bliss and eternity, instead of rejoicing, they envy him. I was born in the darkest ignorance, and my spiritual master opened my eyes with the torch of knowledge. I offer my most respectful obeisances unto my spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada..

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by Yasoda nandana dasa

The ascending and descending process

June 9, 2018 in Articles, Haripada dasa by Yasoda nandana dasa

The ascending and descending process, by Haripada dasa

There are two processes to receive knowledge, the ascending and descending process. I will try to explain them. A person believes that by his mental and intellectual power he will understand everything, who I am, who is God, who is the material creation, etc., this is called the ascending process. In this connection I share a very interesting story, St. Augustine is considered the greatest philosopher of the Christian Church, this saint walked on the beach speculating several philosophical issues, and saw a child with a shovel who was making a hole in the sand. The saint asked the child what he was doing, and the boy replied that I’m going to put all the ocean water in this hole. St. Augustine laughed and said that was impossible, The child then said that it was more impossible to understand things through speculation, and that the only way to understand things is when God is pleased with you and he will will reveal everything. The only way to understand things is by the mercy of God. There St. Augustine understood the essence of spiritual life.
We see that we are all born with four defects, 1- we have the tendency to make mistakes, to err is human, 2- we tend to fall into ignorance, 3- we tend to deceive others and 4- we have imperfect senses. Descending process means that God or Krishna transmits all eternal truths to Brahma, the first creature created, then Brahma transmits it to his son Narada, Narada to Vyasadeva, Vyasadeva to Madhvacharya, etc., this is called guru parampara or disciplic succession.  This knowledge comes pure and does not change. That is why Srila Prabhupada, who is the number 32 spiritual master of this guru parampara chain, always said that the philosophy of Krishna consciousness is very easy because we do not have to invent anything, we just repeat the messages that the predecessor spiritual masters have given us.
There are four sampradayas or spiritual schools authorized by God or Krishna that transmit descending knowledge, 1- the Brahma sampradaya whose Acharya or founding Master is Madhvacharya, 2- the Kumara sampradaya, the 4 Kumaras, whose Acharya or founding Master is Nimbarkacharya, 3- the Laksmi sampradaya, whose Acharya or founding Master is Ramanujacharya and 4- the Rudra or Siva sampradaya, whose Acharya or founding Master is Visnuswami. One must receive spiritual knowledge and mantras from these 4 spiritual schools. When Srila Prabhupada’s teacher, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura Prabhupada, preached Krishna consciousness all over India, he once met a guru and he asked him: “Who has authorized you to be a guru?” Then he said that all these manufactured gurus are first class deceivers. That is why Srila Prabhupada says in Srimad Bhagavatam, 4, 8, 54 that one should receive initiation from a guru who is authorized by the guru who preceded him.

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by Yasoda nandana dasa

Our well-wisher

June 8, 2018 in Haripada dasa by Yasoda nandana dasa

Our well-wisher, by Haripada dasa

Srila Prabhupada from 1966 to 1977 answered more than 7,000 letters from his disciples and admirers, and he always put at the en, Your well-wisher Bhaktivedanta Swami.  Do not think that finding a bona fide representative of God or Krishna is an easy thing. The problem is that there are many deceivers. Srila Prabhupada always said that what people dislike the most is suffering and being cheated. Another thing he always said is that people can not understand the simplest things in life because they are full of sinful activities. People do not understand the difference between a materialistic person and an atheist and a true devotee of God or Krishna. The atheist and materialist has no good feeling for anyone, nor for himself, and the devotee of Krishna is a person full of compassion. He cannot bear the afflictions of others and tries through the preaching of Krishna consciousness, so that people chant Hare Krishna, lead a pure and sinless life and be happy. Srila Prabhupada sacrificed his life for others. That is the practical proof that he is a representative of God or Krishna, and he is Acharya, which means the one who preaches with his personal example.
Srila Prabhupada is saktyavesa avatara.  The word avatara means that that descends from the spiritual world, and saktyavesa means the one that God or Krishna sends to be His representative. When Srila Prabhupada was born the astrologer said that this child when he is 70 years old will leave India to go to the Western countries to preach the conscience of Krishna. He will open over a hundred temples of Krishna, he will write 80 books and these books will be the law books for the next 10,000 years for all mankind. Up to now, more than 500 million books have been distributed in all the languages ​​of the world. Srila Prabhupada did not come to make a new religion, but to preach concepts and truths that are eternal, as Jesus Christ said that I did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it.
Srila Prabhupada taught us that the real problems are liberating us from birth, death, old age and disease. He taught us that the only spiritual process in Kali yuga or the present era is to chant the Hare Krishna Maha-Mantra, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare (the H is read as J de jota), and taught us that the pure and intimate devotees of God or Krishna never die, they live eternally in their instructions. Those who obey his instructions live with them. Srila Prabhupada taught us to love our enemies, I am going to tell a story that illustrates this, Srila Prabhupada bought a piece of land in Bombay, India, to make a Krishna temple, a Hotel, a Theater and a vegetarian restaurant. He bought land from one Mr. Nair, a very powerful character, President of the Supreme Court and Director of a newspaper. Nair before had also sold that same land to the C. Company, with traps took away the land and money. The C. Company sued Nair, but Nair won the lawsuit.
Srila Prabhupada knew it and so and everything took a risk. Nair and his lawyer wanted to do the same with Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada sued Mr. Nair in the courts, but Nair died of a heart attack. His mistress continued with the litigation and made a big mistake, she bribed City Hall officials to tear down the temple which the devotees were already building. She was trying to throw all the devotees of Krishna who lived on the land. This backfired, the devotees of Krishna called all his Hindu friends and told them everything. All the most important people of Bombay condemned this act and Mrs. Nair was devastated. After Mrs. Nair all regretted went to see Srila Prabhupada and crying he threw himself at his feet to forgive her, Srila Prabhupada full of mercy told him that you are for me as my daughter, never in life will you lack anything, I would I will take care of you. Now that temple is one of the most important temples of spiritual India.

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