Letters to the editor

Gurudeva,

Since I last wrote, I have made arrangements so that I can at least attend mangala arti and Srimad Bhagavad class on the weekends at the temple in the association of other devotees instead of just at home alone.

You frequently talk on the importance of education in ISKCON and I recently heard a lecture that you gave about a year ago on developing materials for education, during which you mentioned that some work was being done on teaching English in ISKCON. In San Diego we have a problem in that there are many speakers of many languages other than English, but to my knowledge, we have no programs that are not in English, so many people are left with almost no way to engage with Prabhupada's movement. As I have spent the last four years learning how to teach English and will be spending my next four years learning how to teach English even better, finding someway to engage my education in the devotees service would make an almost decade long commitment actually worth something. While I have only a small amount of knowledge and experience in the field, if there was some way that I could get a ESL through Krishna Consciousness I think it could be an amazing way to open up Prabhupada's movement to a large population who is currently kept away due to a language barrier.

As far as my personal education goes, I have my ISKCON high school diploma (bhakti shastri) and now that I am working on (materially) higher education, I am feeling more and more certain that I need to work on higher spiritual education and, to that end, would like to start (finally) working on bhakti vaibhava. While I know that the Mayapur Institute has their own program, I am more inclined to study your curriculum. Is there any way that this is possible? 

Your aspiring servant,
Nityananda-rama dasa

HpS - ASA --  AGTSP Paoho. Very nice to hear all your news. We are in Lima.   I don't know about ESL through ISKCON, but of course, there are vast resources for Spanish speaking devotees in ISKCON, and I also suspect Hindi speakers.

You can contact Srivasa Pandita Das about BhVai through ISKCON Silicon Valley. He is very nice person. San Jose Temple is the authorized West coast center, 510 789-9347 or 510 505-9105. He is very nice person. Tell him I told you to call him. The best thing would be to get a study partner or a study group and do it together.

Hare Krsna Maharaja.

AGTSP

I have a serious vrata of sixteen rounds since Janmastami, and I will go to give you one report  since Janmastami. The other four vratas also, because I want be always in my real personality, I want learnt, you know. Also I do some of Hatha Yoga-Meditation. I read a little the books of Prabhupada, but I must improve.

I am very happy with my Japa, especially when I chant more.

This last days I think a lot about Atma, myself inside all my coverings. I feel like if in material consciousness the river of life, go from outside ( fisical body) to inside (myself), and that disturbed me a lot, because I feel like in a hole, with pressure. When thanks of the mantras and meditation, of course the Holy Names are the best, try to put the center in the atma (that is in any place, only inside of me, my consciousness) and force the body to be in second place, I feel one river of serenity, and the body learnt to wait the orders of the self.

My question is, when I chant the Holy Names, if I try to use the same “method” like use the atma in the center, is useless. I can only wait for the mercy or light of the Holy Names and then, sociability came, and if I am not crazy (I am crazy), they say to me “Where are the fruits of your life???...you know, what you do in connection with us, me …UHhh?...are you death??”

What I can say Maharaja, I am a fool.

Green is the sky

Blue the earth

And a stone

Any wind can brake.

Aindra

I listen to you

Kirtan

Maharaja,

I want the way

Friend.

Budanath

Yours.

Hare Krsna.

HpS - ASA --- AGTSP   Thank you for your letter. How to chant?   The Siksa astakam de Senor Caitanya is the real answer.

1. Chant!   The tongue and jaw should move.

2. By Bhakti and techniques that work for you think of what you are chanting.   Get a partner and chant Japa with him, telephone.

3. Chant with the understanding Srila Prabhupada gives in his books.

The fruit of you life is that you love Krsna!!!

Pamro GM ! TlgaSP! Hare krsna Guru Maharaja! Franco encontro este video hace un tiempo atraz y me dijo enviale a tu guru!. No se si Ud ya lo vio pero se lo mandamos con mucho cariño. Youtube: sri Gaura vani Siksastakam Me gusto mucho la musica, el video nos parece hermoso!!... Intentando en danza. Casi terminada la coreografia. Por favor perdone nuestras ofensas. Intentando complacerlo: Rjpjdd y Franco Bone :)

HpS -  We used this in Peru for our Game of Dice movie, no?

              HARE KRSNA DEAR GURUDEVA:

              PAMHO,AGTSP!!

              IT´S VERY NICE TO KNOW ABOUT YOU THROUGH TWITTER AND DTC

              THANK YOU FOR WRITTING.

              I HAVE TRIED TO POST THE TRANSCRIPTION HERE, IN THE BLOG, BUT IS TOO

              HEAVY, I DON´T KNOW HOW TO CHANGE THE FILE FORMAT, CAN I SEND IT

              VIA E-MAIL, BY THE MERCY OF A KIND SECRETARY LIKE CANDRA MUKHY?

              I´VE MARKED IN YELLOW SOME WORDS I DID NOT UNDERSTAND

              OR I COULD NOT FIND THE WAY THEY ARE SPELT.

                      ON THE OTHER HAND I WAS TAKING A SHORT LOOK ON CLAUDIO NARANJO´S WORK

              AND THINKING ABOUT TOPICS YOU COULD DISCUSS TOGETHER.

              HE BELIEVES THERE IS AN URGE TO CHANGE FORMAL EDUCATION ( HE SAYS IT

             JUST  PRODUCES PEOPLE TO BEHAVE LIKE FLOCKS) INTO ONE MORE PSICO-SPIRITUAL (AS HE CALLS IT) WITH

              TWO ASPECTS: CONTEMPLATIVE AND THERAPEUTIC, HE CREATED "SAT "(SEEKERS AFTER TRUTH, A NON LUCRATIVE

             ASSOCIATION) FOR THIS PURPOSE.

             HE ALSO WROTTE THE BOOK  " Changing Education to Change the World" .

              I THOUGHT MAYBE FORMAL EDUCATION VERSUS  HOLISTIC ( I CAN´T FIND A BETTER WORD FOR "INTEGRATIVA",

              THE WAY HE CALLS IT IN SPANISH) EDUCATION COULD  BE A GOOD THEME...

              LEARNING TO SERVE YOU ETERNALLY.

              SANANDA DD

HpS - AGTSP paoho. We will try to mention Claudio Naranja to the devotees from Mexico here at the NAC. They can maybe talk with him. Definitely we are working in the same area that he is and probably his followers also. Thank you.

Can you send the transcipt to [email protected]????

Dear Guru Maharaja, please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
You wrote:

"We work pretty hard. Many, many times we feel that the ambience is dull and we push to raise it, to make the Sankirtan ecstatic."

Please, can you kindly tell the details of how you achieve that. How do you push it?

Also, you wrote that you are subjected to emotional attacks. What does that mean and how you deal with them?

Thank you very much <img alt="smiley" height="23" src="http://hps-d6.monkeywarrior.com/sites/all/libraries/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/regular_smile.png" title="smiley" width="23" />

Your servant Namacarya das

HpS - AGTSP.  paoho.   AMBIENCE TO ECSTACY: Just increase the amount, intensity and intellectual quality of the ambient sound. Some Sunday feast lecture, you go on for 20-minutes and ask for questions and there are none. Then you go on with more effort for 20 more minutes, then 20 more and then people begin to hear what you are saying and how it relates to them and they ask questions, make comments, think, feel that they want to do something.

We have to listen to whatever life, enthusiasm, passion people have and then relate to that. That may take years.

Emotional attacks: Usually our stomach is exhausted or our waist. We become "depressed". The energy goes down. Our thoughts follow the Prana. We want to eat for our stomach, not for our heart. Our future (of eating and honor) looks dark. Usually we can just force a smile on our face and immediately we "feel" happy enthusiastic. It is that shallow, our sadness and happiness. .. but the atificial "bump" is supported by good intelligence from the years of Sastric contact and so it isnt dealt with sarcastically by the mind.

Smile... "We can be HAPPY!"

Mind, cynical, "Yeah, sure, give me one good reason".

For the Vikarmis there are no good reasons, but an ISKCON Brahmana has so many reasons from the Krsna book. The biggest depression is death, no? We have to go deeper and deeper in our energy sources.

Todas las Glorias a Srila Prabhupada!

Todas las glorias al movimiento de Harinama Sankirtana de Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu!

Hare Krishna Gurudeva!

Espero que se encuentre muy bien. Hoy estoy escribiendo a usted, después de mucho tiempo. Aquí estoy intentando mantener buenas asociaciones espirituales y siempre con tópicos acerca de Sri Krishna. Eso me impulsa a inspirarme en mi camino espiritual y mantener mi sadhana. Y Krishna esta haciendo unos arreglos muy lindos.

Quería contarle que estamos haciendo música con mi banda ''Superalma'', junto con otros devotos. Estuvimos tocando en estos días en algunos shows. Intentamos llevar el mensaje de Srila Prabhupada y Sri Caitanya por este medio. Distribuimos prasadam, algunos libros e hicimos Harinama en la puerta de los shows.

Hace algunos meses he finalizado el curso para discípulos de Iskcon, dictado por Parampadam das y su esposa. En el he realizado la importancia de Srila Prabhupada y el espíritu de cooperación con el movimiento.

Estoy reuniéndome junto con algunos devotos amigos para cantar Mahamantra, y aprender canciones vaisnavas de bhaktivinoda takura  y otros acaryas.

Espero su regreso con mucho cariño y espero servirlo más personalmente. No estuve muy comunicado, pero a estoy conectándome nuevamente.

Tengo algunos ragas muy lindo que aprendí en el sitar que me gustaría tocar cuando Ud. regrese.J.

Mis reverencias a Ud. Guru Maharaja

Ys

Devarsi Narada das

HpS - ASA --- Y Japa vrata y 4-principios buenos??