SB 3.6 purport

I do. 100%!! Totally!! Lock stock and barrel!!!

"Every individual soul remains unconscious after the dissolution of the creation and thus enters into the Lord with His material energy."

Wonder what it is like at the time of dissolution. The last day of the universe. The end of the world. (Until it is created again..)

"These individual living entities are conditioned souls everlastingly, but in each and every material creation they are given a chance to liberate themselves and become free souls."
This is serious. Do you get the magnitude of what is being said here? We have this chance now. Human form.

"They are all given a chance to take advantage of the Vedic wisdom and find out what is their relationship with the Supreme Lord, how they can be liberated, and what the ultimate profit is in such liberation."

Profit. Profit. Everyone is looking for some profit. What is the profit?

"By properly studying the Vedas one becomes conscious of his position and thus takes to the transcendental devotional service of the Lord and is gradually promoted to the spiritual sky."

The best Vedas for us now is Bhagavad gita, Srimad Bhagavatam and Chaitanya Charitamrta. Made simple for this age which is so very very complicated.

"The individual souls in the material world engage in different activities according to their past unfinished desires. After the dissolution of a particular body, the individual soul forgets everything, but the all-merciful Lord, who is situated in everyone’s heart as the witness, the Supersoul, awakens him and reminds him of his past desires, and thus he begins to act accordingly in his next life."

The Lord respects the individual living entities. Our ability to make our own decisions. It is not His way to try to crush or force anyone into anything. Whatever the entity wants to do it is provided. Good choice. Bad choice. It is not a threat to the Lord in any way. He is making provisions so we can try to fulfill our desires. How great is that!!

"This unseen guidance is described as fate, and a sensible man can understand that this continues his material bondage in the three modes of nature." SB 3.6 purport

He is always giving guidance how to reach Him and not try to find pleasure alone. Without Him..

IN AND OUT OF GROUPS

Wow! Why do You let me see these things? And not only see them but feel the thrill of amazement at seeing them. Are You revealing Yourself little bit little bit?

Waiting at the bank for someone at a desk. All the seats are filled on a Friday afternoon. I am standing. One gentleman offered a seat but I preferred to stand. I had been sitting all day.

The bank workers have been working together for a long time. They are a very pleasant and well-seasoned team. I am thinking about groups.The workers at the bank are united around their service. Banking... and those of us waiting in the chairs are also united. We are a more temporary group of people. We are the waiters.They are a group and we are a group. 

There are these kinds of groups everywhere. For all sorts of things. Some groups are very long term like family groups. Some are very large like a nations. Some are very short lived and temporary like people all waiting in a line.

We travel in and of all sorts of groups constantly. None of the groups are permanent even the long term ones. They are built on activities within the material energy.

But there is another environment. There are groups there and activities but they are eternal. Hard to picture it from here. Going in and out of groups that are eternal. Eternal forms. That don't end. That can always be accessed.
Hare Krishna

HARDLY HUMAN AT ALL

Reality check. I remember in 1st year junior high school English class reading assignment. "The secret life of Walter Mitty" I went into shock when I read that. How he vividly lived out so many scenarios in his day dreaming. I was so covered over and animalistic. Hardly human at all so when we read that.. something happened inside. My outer self was different from my inner self.
Junior high school means 1960..

TV was just becoming available, we had 5 stations... it wouldn't start until we hit it on the back of the picture tube with a shoe brush.   

NOT INTERESTED

I'm really not interested in getting a good position on the heavenly planets. They are very wonderful devotees no doubt. Entrusted by the Lord with so much power and responsibility. After all they manage the affairs of the entire universe... the water department, the air department, the light department... all the utilities and everything else too right down to someone responsible for the blinking of eyelids. Can you imagine? Someone responsible for everyone's eyelids blinking. Or Mitra in charge of the sewage department. 

And they have so much nice facility for living comfortably with opulence and luxury and they are very bodily beautiful.

But no I'm not interested in any management position anywhere. Not here or there.
I can't even manage my own life properly. Let me just leave the whole management thing to those who have the desire to manage, who are eager to control things... for the Lord of course.
But even controlling things for the Lord does not appeal at all to me.

FEVER PITCH...

Caught in a difficult place.
Cancelled Dad's HMO
but can't find his Medicare card or number.
The pharmacy called and they need to bill his most expensive drugs.
Yikes.
For some reason did not record user name and password for SSA.gov. so am locked out.
But Medicare will send a replacement card in 30 days!!!
He takes 3pages of chemicals. On chemical life support.
My stress level is through the roof.
Can't get anyone on the phone, all answering machines.
Krishna's mercy.
I thought to call the HMO we just cancelled with.
They must have his medicare # on file. But will they give it to me over the phone?
Yes. They have it. The young woman on the other end was so understanding.
Yes. She will give it to me.
In great relief I asked, "You believe in God?" She wasn't sure what I was asking. Maybe another number or something. Then she heard the question. "Yes. I do"
I could share my realizations with her as they came flooding in. "What a world we are living in! It is all intangibles. Numbers and files and information. Categories designations. None of it real. It is all in the air somewhere. But we live by them. We accept them as real. So why do people have such a difficult time accepting that God is real?"
She understood what I was trying to say.
"Maybe this is His way of bringing us to Him. One of His ways. Bringing us to such a fever pitch of dealing with things that have no real substance as if they were real. And having it become obvious that that is what we are doing. So that we can accept Him."
And it is a fever pitch. The increased technology and information streams are wild. The sense that we are indeed living in a virtual reality. Something truly incredible is happening all around us. We have to take advantage of the telephone and communication to make the most important call...
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

IF THERE IS NOTHING ELSE...

The great illusion remains very strong. If there is nothing else but the material energy then even though someone knows it is an illusion, it is temporary manifestation, the body will die, because there is nothing else they will cling to the illusion and try to enjoy themselves.

The illusion is preferable to nothingness for most people. But some people actually prefer nothingness rather than the illusion having been so frustrated they will take nothingness as some sort of relief.

Having taken birth in the human form these people are committing suicide. It is like the young man sitting in the sand at the beach smoking a cigarette. My father stopped as we were walking to talk to him. "Why are you smoking? Everyone knows it is not good for health." The young man thought for a minute as he sat there, looked up at us as as we stood there towering over him and looked at the cigarette in his hand, "Because I enjoy it. I'm going to die anyway. Why not at least do something I enjoy."

The only solution is The Supreme Personality of Godhead, neither temporary illusion nor nothingness are any type of solution, although He provides both for those who can't stand it that there really is God and He really is a person.

POUR IT ON...

Lord Krishna knows how much I love stress. I eat it up like nectar. More stress. Give me more. Can't get enough of it. Like really getting off on a creepy movie. Pushed to the brink. Hanging over the edge of sanity. Bring it on. Bring it on. Bring it on.

Know what the jitters are? Whole body shaking.

Dealing with this medicaid, social security, VA, nursing homes, hospitals, Dad a raving lunatic, emergency rooms, ambulance rides, rehab centers... yada yada yada... all the while what little money he had saved up pouring out like through a hole in the bottom of a bucket.. 

A knock on the door. A neighbor. Always hyper...launches into a full account like through a megaphone into my ear all her stress from her father's situation 3 years ago. Relives her emotional nightmare in the kitchen adding untold heaps of more stress on me.

I'm in the middle of a hurricane and she storms in. She really only wanted to use the WiFi.
Perfect timing. Had to be scripted.

PICK IT UP IT'S A ROPE

Pick it up it's a rope.....Put it down it's a snake.

In the 1980's there was a full-fledged attack on ISKCON by the (greedy) parents of disgruntled bhaktins and bhaktas in the form of law suits alleging brainwashing, mind control, sleep deprivations, etc etc, etc.

It was very serious as the law suits were for millions of dollars and all the temples and properties were at stake.

I remember Keshihanta the temple president in Boston at the time returning one afternoon from a day in court with the lawyers during the Murphy law suit pale a ghost. The stress of it must have been incredible. He said they presented as exhibit A the photo of Lord Narshimha deva tearing the entrails out of the demon and wrapping them around his neck like a garland with the blood dipping. The jury was shocked. This is what Hare Krishna worships? ISKCON was definitely headed for dangerous hippy cult status.

The Indians stepped forward. Not only did they write checks to support the temples but they spoke out defending the movement as culturally sound. They saved the day with the "It's a bonafide culture" card. That was pick it up it's a rope.

But now also there is put it down it's a snake.The Hare Krishna movement is not bound by any particular culture. Anyone seriously studying the writings of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur will come to that understand after about one paragraph.

NOTHING IS MINE

  Ihave to keep learning the same lessons over and over and over again. Nothing belongs to me. I have been living at my father's house managing his care while he is institutionalized with dementia.
Now the expenses and bills are adding up fast. His craziness is causing all sorts of medical emergencies. Falling down four times in the last three weeks each with an ambulance, 911, the emergency room and a few nights in the hospital.

Now he is in rehab and they are having a difficult time controlling his behavior. He keeps going out the emergency exits setting off the alarms. There is no question of explaining anything to him. He has lost all ability to reason. 

Whatever he has saved up is draining away fast. I am living in his house for five years now and I see I have become attached thinking it is mine. It is not my house. The money I am managing is not my money...what is left of it...and I am not only stressed out dealing with a mad man but feeling the anxiety of seeing everything being taken away.

But it is a great relief also. Finally I can understand "Nothing is mine."
I can say thank you for being allowed to live so comfortably for these last few years allowing me to read and record Vaishnava teachings. To constantly hear and remember. So as everything is being taken away I am feeling some relief.

NEW TEXT BOOK

He was very bad today. Badly behaved that is. They couldn't leave him alone in the room. The only thing that solaced him was to sit with the nurses at the nurses station half reclined in the special chairs they have for the patients. So there he was in the middle of all activity at the nurses' station lying in the recliner taking it all in and offering his advice.

They took the opportunity of my arriving for a visit to wheel him back into his room. There was no lack of subject matter for him to converse about. But none of it made any sense at all. I just had to nod and say something like, "Wow" or "That seems right."

He thought I was my brother who passed away 35 years ago and I had just come from school. I took the opportunity to show him one of new text books. "Sri Isopanishad." He doesn't see very well and if he really knew it was a book about Krishna he would not have even touched it and turned his nose up.
But since I was my brother and this was a new textbook he gladly took it and looked at all the pictures and thumbed through the texts commenting on how nice this book was. And there was Lord Vishnu looking back at him.

 

CSI KRISHNA

In response to private message someone sent me with a long article attached asking my opinion. i suspect they did not want my opinion but tried to get their foot in door saying that so I would read the article. The article was filled with accusations about poisoning, child abuse, Illuminati infiltration ISKCON, etc etc etc.

My response:
Wow. Whoever has written this is big time conspiracy theorist. They are presenting themselves as knowing for a fact... So it depends on who you want to hear from. 

If you accept whoever this is as authoritative as they obviously would like to do then you can hear from them about poison, and child abuse, and torture, yada yada yada. and get all excited. Some people have a taste for hearing about these things. They get excited.

I suppose indulging in the sensual stimulation hearing about these things brings with Krishna and Prabhupada somehow in the mix will have a purifying effect rather than just watching "Forensics" on TV where you get a similar sensual stimulation but no Krishna and Prabhupada.

If you choose to focus on this kind broadcast as a way for you make some advancement in Krishna consciousness then be sure to balance it out with hearing from Krishna and Srila Prabhupada directly via the Bhagavad gita and Srimad Bhagavatam.

HEARING OVER AND OVER

We have to hear... again and again and again and again and....
Not that we always have to come up with something new. Like a new melody or even a different section of the Bhagavatam.

I am hearing the same five verses over and over and over... all day and all night...not in order to commit them to memory so I can recite them like a parrot and impress others...but to relish hearing them.

Every verse and purport is full of unlimited potency.

WHILE HE SLEEPS

We're up to Mantra 5 Isopanishad. He sleeps and I read and chant and talk to him while he's sleeping. Sometimes he talks in his sleep and we discuss important concepts while he's sleeping. Cycle of birth and death. The goal of human life..Who Srila Prabhupada is.

We heard Srila Prabhupada chanting Shikshatakam for a little while. He started singing along in his sleep with Srila Prabhupada. No words just some singing sounds very deep and sweet.

HOW CAN YOU GET MAD?

In response to an encounter with a fanatical Christian:

Richard Ponton: These people are a business, not even a serious religious movement. They're a family of lawyers. They provoke you into striking them, then sue. That's their business model.

Meena Devi Dasi Could very well be some of that going on too. I became so provoked at the airport in the 70's trying to distribute books with a man something like this following me all around, I, unfortunately "lost it" and hit him with a Krishna Book. He came back with the police and I thought it was all over. Off to jail for assault. But instead he did a little performance. He "forgave me" in the name of Jesus with great magnanimous arm waving gestures and sent the police away. How can you get mad at people like this?

SOME REALLY SCARY PEOPLE WORK IN HOSPITALS

Friends have so many good suggestions. Thank you. But my hands are tied. I am making note of the suggestions though for situations where it would be possible to try some of the natural remedies.
I can't do anything that even resembles a treatment. My father is under "professional care"... aka chemical treatment... They tell me what to do and what not to do.

Back in the hospital with another ambulance ride yesterday. This time, he fell on his head again. The ancient ones are almost all like this. Falling over. 

They kept him for 2 days to run tests. Mostly everyone was very very nice, but there was one who was really scary... The minute she walked into the room the funny music began playing and everything got that eery green color. Super tactless. I'm thinking on purpose, Some sick pleasure derived.

He's lying there feeling so weak. She announces loud for the whole world to hear all the way down the hallways... "They found hardened arteries and blockages... He is going to need hospice and palliative care." Then she leans into his face about an inch away and shouts, "Unless you want surgery. Do you want surgery?" He's like semi conscious. I couldn't believe it.
What a cruel nasty person to do that. She should have just taken me aside and explained quietly what was going on. There are some really scary people in hospitals. Anyway when I called back later no one there had any record of what she was talking about. Totally weird. They sent him home.

LIKE A COCONUT RATTLING AROUND INSIDE THE SHELL

Dean Bismarck Smith yaaaay!! A revolution please, Mataji!!
Meena Devi Dasi It begins with us. :) Each one of us. Lord Krishna is there. He is helping us. Fine tuning is going on. Keep hearing and chanting. Calling out. Crying is very good. Eventually the bonds of Maya break. You can actually hear a snapping sound. Like a rope breaking. You can feel it break. Until then there is struggle.
Just my personal experience.
Actually Srila Prabhupada does describe something about a similar experience.
At a certain point it becomes like a coconut "rattling" around inside the shell. The coconut has broken free from the shell. It is still inside but it is not attached to the shell anymore.

 

ANCIENT ONES

Friends have shown such kindness in this difficult situation. I appreciate your kindness and concern. I try to help my father as best I can. With practical things and somehow engaging him in Krishna consciousness. He hears me chanting when I sit with him.

Seniors, or as I refer to them... "the ancient ones"... are different from us. They are crossing over and undergoing so many rapid changes. physically as well as emotionally and psychologically.
He has developed oozing sores and itching rashes all over his body. No one knows what is causing it. I was considering how this can be a special ailment reserved for someone who has committed some personal offenses to Lord Krishna or a devotee.

But he does have a lot of integrity in having fulfilled duties and responsibilities for work and family. I'm sure he has a bright future wherever he may be heading. I was fortunate to have a father like him. I don't see how I deserved such a favorable situation. Not perfect....but what is perfect around here? But certainly very favorable.

Trying to brace myself for the inevitable. It could be today or tomorrow or years from now. The people where he is living are in their hundreds. 104, 105...He's a young one. Only 98.

WHY MOVE AT ALL?

It is only common sense. But of course I am now just starting to understand how it works. It is not just eating healthy foods but also exercise that is needed to keep the machine running without too much disturbance.

Just motion alone is very therapeutic. Dragging around through daily activities or simply remaining sedentary and thinking so many things is not a good program. Maybe for a meditative yogi sitting still and not moving is okay but not for an aspiring devotee.

When a child walks or moves he is full of bounce. Walking is not just dragging from one place to another. It is a full body motion. If we practice like this even if the tendency is to drag around begrudgingly but instead practice joyful movement our spirits are lifted. Oxygen flows throughout the blood stream and the brain and thinking of Lord Krishna is easier.

Why do we move our bodies anyway? Because we are forced to? We have to or something bad will happen. Out of fear. Out of lust or greed for something. Do we always have to have some material reason to even move? 

There is hearing and chanting and there is also dancing. In the spiritual world all talking is song and all moving is dancing. Every movement can be a joyful expression. This is an important part of practicing devotional life. Simply moving the body for Lord Krishna.

If Srila Prabhupada had not made the effort to reach out to us with message of Godhead we would know nothing at all.

SCARY PLACE

Diluckshini Sathiyamoorthy We went to the Iskcon Goloka with my parents and grandparents and cousins and on the way back we took family photos...And I had a scary thought...How many of us will be here in 50 years, none, half? All? And then we have to start new relations, but it won't be the same as the old....The material world is a scary place, and very fearful and danger at everystep...And there is no solution except for us to go back home, back to Godhead, thank you Srila Prabhupada for giving us everything

Meena Devi Dasi Nice realization. We think that it is by our endeavors, if I do like this or like that, that is the platform of devotional service according to rules and regulation that we are somehow making progress in spiritual life simply by "doing" something. Like a drowning person might think if he thrashed around some more he could get to shore. But actually we are being extricated. Rules and regulations are helpful. But the actual rescue is something else. Very personal.