Letters to the editor

asa[e] - Tava Pache Pache, Appendix, Vyasapuja Offering from NoI.

¡Hare Krsna! Dear Guru Maharaja, please accept my humble oveisances!

All Glories to Srila Prabhupada and his faithful followers!

After his reply to my previous letter, by his causeless mercy, we almost mystically managed to find the Vyasa-Puja offering to Srila Prabhupada that mentions in the TPP.

Of course, i may be wrong, so please let us know if this is the offering he is referring to. 🙏

I Share it below

Always at your service.

Karuna-Sakti Devi Dasi 🙇🌻

________________

nama om vishnu-padaya krishna-preshthaya bhu-tale

srimate bhaktivedanta-svamin iti namine

namas te saraswate deve gaura-vani-pracarine

nirvishesha-shunyavadi-pashchatya-desha-tarine

tatropanīta-balayo raver dīpam ivādṛtāḥ

ātmārāmaṁ pūrṇa-kāmaṁ nija-lābhena nityadā

prīty-utphulla-mukhāḥ procur harṣa-gadgadayā girā

pitaraṁ sarva-suhṛdam avitāram ivārbhakāḥ

“The citizens arrived before the Lord with their respective presentations, offering them to the fully satisfied and self-sufficient one, who, by His own potency, incessantly supplies others. These presentations were like the offering of a lamp to the sun. Yet the citizens began to speak in ecstatic language to receive the Lord, just as wards welcome their guardian and father.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.11.4–5)

One young Brijavasi respectfully entered the ISKCON temple in Vrndavana. He was curious, but he was also a little intimidated. There was so much opulence. After wandering around for some time with the other yatris, he came to the Samadhi-mandira of the ISKCON Guru, Srila Prabhupada. He saw a sign which translated as “His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder-Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.” He wondered what that meant, exactly, but he walked as near as he could to the beautiful, enormous brass murti of Swami Prabhupada, and with folded hands attempted to look at his feet, wanting to offer his pranamas.

However, he was baffled in his determination and looked with a little amazement, because what was blocking his view of Srila Prabhupada’s lotus feet was a very beautiful volume of Srimad-Bhagavatam. It was sitting in a bookstand in front of Guruji. The Brijavasi was amazed because he suddenly had the very strong impression that this was the way to Swami Prabhupada’s feet: not through darsana with the eyes, but rather darsana with the ears.

“Hmmmph.” He and a few rupees would have to part. He walked back over to the mataji who he had seen selling books. She convinced him that Srila Rupa Goswami’s Upadesamrta, with commentaries by Swami Prabhupada, was the book for him.

Sitting under a tree, he began to look through it. Again, before he could even open the cover, he saw the words “His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder-acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.”

“So, this is Guruji’s position,” he thought. Then he began to thumb through the little book, asking himself, “How does Swamiji describe his Society?” He read . . .

When we mix with a few friends, we immediately begin unnecessary talking, sounding just like croaking toads. If we must talk, we should talk about the Krsna consciousness movement. . .

Association with those engaged in a similar line of business is very conducive to advancement in that business. . . Similarly, we have established the International Society for Krishna Consciousness to give people an opportunity to associate with those who have not forgotten Krsna. This spiritual association offered by our ISKCON movement is increasing day by day. Many people from different parts of the world are joining this Society to awaken their dormant Krsna consciousness. . .

This Krsna consciousness movement offers a spiritual community that can bring about a peaceful condition in the world. Every intelligent man should purify his consciousness and rid himself of the above-mentioned six hindrances to devotional service by taking wholehearted shelter of this Krsna consciousness movement. . .

These activities must be executed with patience. One should not be impatient in Krsna consciousness. Indeed, this Krsna 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. . .

If one lives in the association of devotees, there is little chance of associating with non-devotees. The International Society for Krishna Consciousness is opening many centers just to invite people to live in the company of devotees and practice the regulative principles of spiritual life. . .

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness has been established to facilitate these six kinds of loving exchanges between devotees. This Society was started single-handedly, but because people are coming forward and dealing with the give-and-take policy, the Society is now expanding all over the world. We are glad that people are donating very liberally to the development of the Society’s activities, and people are also eagerly accepting whatever humble contribution we are giving them in the shape of books and magazines dealing strictly with the subject matter of Krsna consciousness. . .In this way our Society is successfully spreading all over the world, and the intelligentsia of all countries is gradually appreciating our Krsna conscious activities. The life of the Krsna conscious society is nourished by these six types of loving exchange among the members; therefore people must be given the chance to associate with the devotees of ISKCON because simply by reciprocating in the six ways mentioned above an ordinary man can fully revive his dormant Krsna consciousness. . .

The members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness invite the Society’s members and supporters to dine with them when they hold love feasts in all their branches every Sunday. Many interested people come to honor prasada, and whenever possible they invite members of the Society to their homes and feed them sumptuously with prasada. In this way both the members of the Society and the general public are benefited. People should give up the company of so-called yogis, jnanis, karmis and philanthropists because their association can benefit no one. If one really wants to attain the goal of human life, he should associate with devotees of the Krsna consciousness movement because it is the only movement that teaches one how to develop love of God. . .

The Krsna consciousness movement is especially meant for creating an atmosphere in which people can take to the chanting of the Hare Krsna mantra. . . . One must begin with faith, and when this faith is increased by chanting, a person can become a member of the Society. [The Nectar of Instruction 2, 3, 4, 7 Purports]

“Fundamentally, it sounds very nice, very social, very practical. I should talk more with these devotees.”

Hanumatpresaka Swami

2011

HpS - ASA - That seems, agtSP, to be the one. Of course, I would like to rewrite it a little bit, but one French poet said, "No one every finished writing a poem, they just stop working on it". I guess the same in true for V.P. offerings!

Yes, it seems like it should go into the Appendix of the TPP.

Seems like it should go into an ASA Encyclopedia.😎

Agtyou, aglSP!!!

Hare Krishna, Maharaja and devotees,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. All glories to Guru and Gauranga. Happy Gaura Purnima to everyone.

This is a Blog post for a Sunday morning, Srimad Bhagavatam workshop, on weekly reading on Sri Caitanya Caritamrta (Gaura Purnima ** March 24, 2024).

On coming Sunday, it is Gaura Purnima ~~ Appearance day of Lord Caitanya; Maharaja advised me to read about the appearance of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu from Adi Lila (Volume 1).

Thank you to Lakshmana Prabhu for willing to do seva of Spanish translation for class on coming Sunday.

It is the mercy of Maharaja, to engage everyone in reading books of Srila Prabhupada.

YS

Upendra dasa

Macromedia Cosmos Officer, agtSP, sent us link to new book.

https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nectarpot.com%2Fpi%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR3pKksjpD6CCL3tG57IbnBsm85xkDNmQBZNlD33bYVTaykYYV7bMw4aoZg&data=05%7C02%7C%7Cd7e4f87b9062491d861208dc47e12e62%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638464279667422144%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=HozsVBQHsbnFKMsFFOv7TeqK0Z8j00gISnb%2FiorkQ%2Fo%3D&reserved=0

MonkeyPiggy reviewed the link and could not find NOI 6 promoted in the thesis extract so they doubt the worth of the book.

It seems like it lacks logical basis in the Bhakti vedanta Library.

Of course this is opinion of a pig, a chimpanzee and a gorilla.

🐖🐒🐒🐒🦍

many, agtSP, nice posts to answer but must run for our Walk now!

🐒🐒🐒🐒🐒🐒🐒🐒🐒🐒🐒🐒🐒🐒🐒

Please accept my humble obeisances,

All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

🔅🔅🔅🔅🔅🔅🔅🔅🔅🔅🔅🔅🔅🔅🔅

Hare Krishna, Gurudeva,

HpS - AgtSP!!!

So I finished reading "The Gopis attracted by the Flute", and now I will try to relate that to the three levels of Iskcon.

When I think about ISKCON, I think that Srila Prabhupada has given us a house in which we can all live. He is serving Krsna, and here in ISKCON we can all serve Krsna together.

The chapter mostly describes everyone's relationship with Krsna. I think of sambandha, abhidheya, and prayojana.

But the challenge is that there is no mention of ISKCON in this chapter. So, I can ask, "Who am I?", "Who is my spiritual master?", "Who is Srila Prabhupada?", and "Who is Krsna?". And then, "What is my relationship to all of these people, and the Supreme person?"

Is this is the link, everyone taking the role of servant?

Srila Prabhupada has given us this great opportunity to explore our service options. Then, after obtaining the actual service position to the spiritual master, we can prepare ourselves to not just leave the bodily concept, but to actually leave the body, right? Out of his infinite kindness, the spiritual master is here-- guiding and enlightening us-- with the torchlight of knowledge. Aren't we always connected through serving his instructions?

I noted a few sentences in the passage:

"... while looking toward Krsna playing His flute, (the gopis) saw the reddish kunkuma on the ground and immediately smeared it on their faces...In this way they became fully satisfied, although they were not satisfied when their lovers touched their breasts. All material lusty desires can be immediately satisfied if one comes in contact with Krsna Consciousness."

What this means to me is that the relationships with people here in the material world are not ultimately satisfying. True satisfaction only comes in relating to Krsna. When the calves were drinking milk, they stopped feeding, struck as though dumb. The sage-like birds appeared only to hear the flute. The deer perked up their ears to hear the flute sound.

So I can only guess that the three levels of ISKCON are 1) exploring the service relationship to Krsna through Srila Prabhupada as the pre-eminent siksa guru; 2) serving the spiritual master who is serving Srila Prabhupada; and 3) then after serving the instructions of the spiritual master in this material world, we get to leave it and serve the servant of the servant in the spiritual world, while simultaneously being with there with Krsna.

Then we might also get a chance to hear His flute!



What do you think Guru Maharaja? Am I even close?

Your servant,

Jaya-hari das

HpS/ASA - For us:

1. The Gopis are all good citizens of Nanda Maharaja's village, the Institution. They pay taxes, haggle over the sales price of their milk products. Point out problems in the administration and try to help correct them.
2. They have their circle of friends quite independent of the King's heirarchy. The King's closest friend may be his cook! In the institution we need to develop our friendships based upon NoI.
3. They all directly experience a personal relationship with Krsna (through so many transparent via media). We have to have a DIRECT EXPERIENCE of Srila Prabhupada's thoughts about us, instructions for us etc.

O.K.

Institution

Friends.

Prabhupada!

Hare Krsna! Querido Guru Maharaja, por favor acepte mis humildes reverencias

¡Todas las Glorias sean a Srila Prabhupada y a todos sus fieles seguidores!🙇🌺

Orando siempre para que su energía se encuentre estable y sea favorable a su sankirtana,🙏

me disculpo por importunarlo, no había querido escribir para evitar cargas innecesarias a su vista. Ahora, me permito hacerlo porque durante FMS usted sugirió que le hiciéramos algunas preguntas en el blog…

1- Una pregunta que surgió fue: ¿Krsna y Radharani tienen mascotas?

Recuerdo que hace algún tiempo usted dio una clase titulada "¿Krsna tiene un perro?"

En aquel entonces no teníamos buen equipo de grabación por lo que no quedó registrada, si a usted le parece bien, seríamos muy felices de poder escuchar más sobre este tema.

2- En relación al Tava Pache Pache: 

A) Usted menciona que “En una ocasión repaso el NOI, anotó todo lo que Srila Prabhupada dice sobre ISKCON y luego lo presentó como una ofrenda de Vyasa-Puja” … No hemos logrado encontrarla. Por favor, podría mencionar ¿De qué año es esta ofrenda? ¿O quizá compartirla con sus sirvientes? Muchas gracias. 

B) También menciona que “Está tratando de escribir un ensayo titulado ´Bachelor Beans´” Sobre como cocinar, ofrecer y honrar prasadam”… humildemente quisiera consultar sobre este ensayo, pues tengo algunos problemas para controlar la lengua así que seguramente será de gran ayuda para su sirviente. 😊

3- Cambiando de tema, en su respuesta a mi carta anterior, usted dijo: "¿¡Tienes deidades de Gaura-Nitai!? Son hijos naturales de los devotos. Habla con Ellos sobre todo."

Respuesta: Sí, ellos son mis compañeros desde hace varios años… Intentamos complacerlos, atenderlos, hablamos con ellos y, me avergüenza decirlo, pero en ocasiones presentamos algunas quejas ante ellos… frecuentemente me parece "escuchar en el corazón" sus respuestas (algunas veces me reprenden)... y regularmente algo o alguien lo confirma… Por supuesto, creo que es posible que solo sea producto de mi especulación, pero también meditamos en que solo la infinita misericordia sin causa de Srila Prabhupada, de Usted y de los vaisnavas podría hacer posible esos intercambios.

Gurudeva, luego de su respuesta, medité mucho en la relación Madre-Hijos y también medite en mi relación con mis Señores, concluí que tengo mucho por aprender para servirlos como mis hijos, quisiera amarlos más y demostrarles ese amor como lo hacen las buenas madres. Yo, por el contrario, muchas veces abuso de su misericordia, tal como una madre que acude a sus hijos mayores en busca de guía y protección. Así que puede ver, lo mucho que tengo que mejorar, pero también observé detenidamente un poco del carácter particular de nuestros Señores ¡ellos tienen formas insospechadas para manifestar su infinita misericordia sin causa, incluso para un corazón de piedra como el mío!.

Muchas gracias por su misericordiosa guía Guru Maharaja, gracias por aclarar nuestra verdadera posición y empujarnos a avanzar desde ahí.

Eternamente agradecida y siempre a sus órdenes.

Su aspirante a Discípula

Karuna-Sakti Devi Dasi

PD: Envío algunas fotos de hoy de Nuestros amorosos Señores, yo misma confeccione su ropita, pelucas, coronas y joyería, suelo ser muy simple para alternar colores, así que ruego que ellos estén complacidos. 

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Hare Krsna! Dear Guru Maharaja, please accept my humble obeisances

All Glories be to Srila Prabhupada and all his faithful followers! 🙇🌺

Always praying that his energy is stable and favorable to his sankirtana, 🙏

I apologize for bothering him,

ASA - 😲

No bother!!!

I had not wanted to write to avoid unnecessary burdens in his sight. Now, I allow myself to do so because during FMS you suggested that we ask you some questions on the Blog…

1- A question that arose was: Do Krishna and Radharani have pets?

I remember that some time ago you gave a class titled "Krsna has a dog?"

At that time we did not have good recording equipment so it was not recorded, if it is okay with you, we would be very happy to hear more about this topic.

ASA - 🐵

🐖

🐖

🐖

On our Calendar!

2- In relation to Tava Pache Pache:

A) You mention that “I once went through the NOI, wrote down everything that Srila Prabhupada says about ISKCON and then presented it as a Vyasa-Puja offering”… We have not been able to find it. Please could you mention what year is this offering from? Or perhaps share it with your servants? Thank you so much.

ASA - Oooof! If you could not find it, then we certainly can't. Isn't too hard of a project for a young man to do. Look for all the citations eg, "ISKCON", "this movement". It is very nice fundamental understanding of our Institution.

B) He also mentions that “He is trying to write an essay titled 'Bachelor Beans' “On how to cook, offer and honor prasadam”... I would humbly like to ask you about this essay, since I have some problems controlling my tongue so it will surely be of great help for his servant. 😊

ASA - This would fit into the ASA[e], Anjana Suta Academy Encyclopedia. Maybe ASA Carnival can have a meeting and develop the Encyclopedia.

3- Changing the subject, in your response to my previous letter, you said: "Do you have Gaura-Nitai deities!? They are natural children of the devotees. Talk to Them about everything."

 Answer: Yes, they have been my colleagues for several years... We try to please them, serve them, we talk to them and, I am ashamed to say, but sometimes we present some complaints to them... I often seem to "listen in my heart" to their responses (sometimes rebuke me)... and regularly something or someone confirms it... Of course, I think it is possible that it is just a product of my speculation, but we also meditate that only the infinite causeless mercy of Srila Prabhupada, of You and of the Vaisnavas could make those exchanges possible.

ASA - We think so. Basically when reach level of 2nd initiation can begin to respect our intitution.

Gurudeva, after your answer, I meditated a lot on the Mother-Children relationship and I also meditated on my relationship with my Lords, I concluded that I have a lot to learn to serve them as my children, I would like to love them more and show them that love as good mothers do. . I, on the other hand, often abuse her mercy, just like a mother who turns to her older children for guidance and protection. So you can see how much I have to improve, but I also carefully observed a little of the particular character of our Lords. They have unsuspected ways to manifest their infinite causeless mercy, even for a heart of stone like mine!

Thank you very much for your merciful guidance Guru Maharaja, thank you for clarifying our true position and pushing us to move forward from there.

Eternally grateful and always at his command.

Your aspiring Disciple

Karuna-Sakti Devi Dasi

 PS: I am sending some photos today of Our loving Lords, I made their clothes, wigs, crowns and jewelry myself, I am usually very simple in alternating colors, so I pray that they are pleased.

HpS - Wonderful! In Catholic church they have little deities of Mary, Jesus, Saints on the altar with clothes?

They need nice altar with sides, roof! Pray for it to come!