Sound Bhakti

A person who is sincere and tries on the path of devotional service is never without knowledge. Kṛṣṇa gives knowledge. In fact, we hear in the Bhāgavatam (Sb 1.2.7): vāsudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogaḥ prayojitaḥ janayaty āśu vairāgyaṁ jñānaṁ ca yad ahaitukam That is: by the process of devotional service, one gains knowledge and gains detachment. And where does that come from? Kṛṣṇa, as the Supersoul,...

When you put the sugar cane through the grinder—not once, not twice, thrice, and maybe, if you're really cheap, you put it through again—that's tuccha. Even the cows come over and smell and go that’s nothing left. That's tucchavat. Tucchavat means then you see these accumulations of material desires as being insignificant. They don't mean anything to you anymore because you have this: ar kabe nitā...

Considering the desire of the soul to experience something that is pleasurable—because we’re naturally pleasure-seekers—sac-cid-ānanda is our constitution. However, we’re limited by the boundary of our own mind. People take intoxication to try to cross that boundary, but then they find themselves degraded. Although they may have a "peak experience" or they may loosen inhibitions—which is one of th...

It’s helpful to be relentless in your practice of devotional service, and it’s quite natural to be unsteady in the beginning. Part of being relentless means you have to be willing to continue, even if you feel that you’re not making that much progress. That requires evaṁ buddheḥ paraṁ buddhvā. You have to be situated in your intelligence at that point, because you may not have as much taste as you...

Chaitanya Mahāprabhu gave a condensed list of the great benefits of chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, and one of them—śreyaḥ-kairava—is poetical. It is the "blooming of the lotus. What kind of lotus? Śreyaḥ?" It is, as we translate it, the White Lotus of Good Fortune. This word "fortune"—the tune part—comes from the word ten like in the word tendon which means to connect. It connects the bones and the muscles...

First, I offer my respectful obeisances to Śrīla Prabhupāda, and note that this is an historic event. Hopefully, there will be plenty of photographic evidence, because Gurudāsa Prabhu was here to open the first San Francisco temple, and now here he is again. Many devotees—Mālatī, Śyāmasundara, Mukunda, Jānakī Devī—they all asked again and again: "When would the San Francisco temple re-open?" Thank...

We have a special treat, which is a bhajan written by Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, five prayers to Nṛsiṁhadeva in Navadvīpa. In a very revealing way. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura mentions that by his worship of Nṛsiṁhadeva, ostensibly in Nṛsiṁha Palli, and by rolling in the courtyard in ecstasy there at NṛsiṁhaPalli, the place where Nṛsiṁhadeva himself gives 24-hour darśana (the temple is never closed, because e...

Here at Govardhan Hill, many people come to ask your Girirāj for anything. In fact, in this Śrī Īśopaniṣad (Mantra 8), it is said: sa paryagāc chukram akāyam avraṇam asnāviraḿ śuddham apāpa-viddham kavir manīṣī paribhūḥ svayambhūr yāthātathyato ’rthān vyadadhāch śāśvatībhyaḥ samābhyaḥ Kṛṣṇa is the one who has been fulfilling everyone’s desires since time immemorial. So, whatever we have now is a...

When you are chanting, be aware that you pronounce the mantra and then let your mind follow each syllable carefully. Keep it in your heart that you are addressing a person, and let there be an underlying intention of service and connection. That’s very technical. Once, when a Malaysian Airlines flight went off course, nobody could find the airplane because the transponder in the airplane was not w...

Medicine is something that everyone's vitally interested in. I have anecdotal proof every time I get something. For instance, when I was just in the UK, I was supposed to speak at an event called Rise. It was on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. I didn't speak on Saturday or Sunday; only a little bit on Monday. The last sound that came from my mouth was on Friday night, and the next morning, I...

In our lives, the phenomenon is there that when we don't have a clear idea, a clear goal, then we tend to tip over. Somebody will come along with an idea; we’ll run off in one, or another direction. What's more, there's this feeling of urgency for all kinds of things—they all fall in the same category. You just have one little bowl, and you throw everything in there, and the marking on the side of...

Awareness is all important. Just be aware that you’re aware. You could do that. Try to wrap your awareness around the mantra so that it’s wrapped up tight. That’s the main job and the heavy lifting of chanting japa; it’s not moving your lips, but it’s wrapping your awareness around the mantra. So be aware that you’re aware. See what awareness is. It can go any direction, wrap it around the mantra...

There's a story my teacher told about a person. In this case it is a man, Scott. Poor Scott, he put his money in the wrong bank account. He was investing over many years. He was 37 years old, and had been investing since he was seven. He got a US Treasury bond and he invested that when he was a kid—he got it for his birthday, and he kept saving his whole life. When he went to make a withdrawal, he...

See, how yajña works! You do a little something, and the next thing you know, food’s coming in your door. That happened with Mṛgāri the hunter. He was hunting, and he thought, "I can only make my living this way." And Nārada Muni came along and said, "No, no, I’ll show you a better way. Just break your bow." "I can’t break my bow!" He said, "No, go ahead—do it." So Mṛgāri broke his bow, and then h...

There’s a statement we’ve heard: 'We live in our minds; we see through the lens of our minds.' So, japa isn’t just repetition, but it’s a kind of relocation we have to take. We can think of the chanting—the mantra—as a residence that we enter into. It’s where we want to live. We have to become abhiniveśa. Ni means 'within,' and veś comes from viś, which means 'to enter.' You actually have to go in...

I had a similar experience going on—being on saṅkīrtana and hearing music when I was a brahmacārī. And, I distinctly remember once I heard a song by Diana Ross, and it goes like this: "You are everything, and everything is you." I was going, "That’s Bhagavad-gītā." And the part where we connect it, and we’re able to see how Kṛṣṇa’s energies are working, and we say, "Oh, I see how that happened"—it...

You should have a quota for reading. Take a number where you mark it and you make sure you finish it—even if it's one verse or one page—or if you feel like you can do more, try to do more. Because those vows that you make to read Prabhupāda's books every day in a certain amount, they'll push out of the way a lot of the frivolous other things. And for the frivolous other things, the thoughts, you c...

It's nice to have everything lined up. My wife and I were just on a personal retreat recently—five days to step back and really look into what we're doing, how we're doing it, and what we plan on doing in the future. In the room I was staying in, I was trying to find enough surface area to line up everything that I wanted to look at and read while I was there staying in that Airbnb by the coast in...

We often talk about trying to remember, Kṛṣṇa; we try to be fully conscious of His holy name. But keep in mind also that when Draupadī called out, "O Govinda! Hey, Govinda!" then Kṛṣṇa remembered her with such affection that He said He was eternally indebted to her for calling out to Him. If you remember that, Kṛṣṇa is remembering you. He’s also known as kaviṁ in that verse: kaviṁ purāṇam anuśāsit...

In fact, the whole concept of the world given in the Vedas is called bhava. Bhava means that everything is morphing into something different, just like in a dream. You may be dreaming about something or someone, and all of a sudden, it changes. So, the whole world is like that; and the idea that "I’ll contain it," or that "I’ll hold on to it"—this is called māyā. Therefore, when you take the advic...

I wrote Our Family Business, and it took me a long time to get started because I had already written the book in my mind. My editor was Kaishori Devi, and every time she’d contact me and say, 'How’s it going?' I’d say, 'Great.' She’d say, 'Can you send me something?' I’d say, 'Not really.' Then I realized I actually have to write the book; it can’t just be in my mind. But then when I started, I fe...

Thus although the subject matter is durvijñeyam, extremely difficult to understand, it becomes easy if one follows the prescribed method. Coming in touch with the Supreme Personality of Godhead is possible through pure devotional service, which begins with śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ. In this regard, Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura quotes a verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (2.8.5): praviṣṭaḥ karṇa-ra...

In this Age of Kali, hari-kīrtana is very, very important. The importance of chanting the holy name of the Lord is stated in the following verses from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (12.3.51-52): kaler doṣa-nidhe rājann asti hy eko mahān guṇaḥ kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya  mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet kṛte yad dhyāyato viṣṇuṁ tretāyāṁ yajato makhaiḥ dvāpare paricaryāyāṁ kalau tad dhari-kīrtanāt “The most important facto...

The Supreme Personality of Godhead is situated as the Supersoul within the cores of the hearts of all living entities—whether moving or non-moving—including men, birds, animals, trees, and indeed, all living entities. Therefore, you should consider every body a residence or temple of the Lord. By such vision, you will satisfy the Lord. You should not angrily kill these living entities in the form...

I would like to offer this class to my very dear friend and Godbrother, Caru Dāsa Prabhu, who is one of the great pioneers of the saṅkīrtana movement. I always told him that if he wasn’t doing what he was doing—spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness in such innovative ways—he should have been the president of the country. He always reminded me of a president or a very highly placed senator; he was astoundi...