Sound Bhakti

Time Frames for Goals There are various time frames. For longer time frames—if you want a longish time frame—you could say, "What's your goal for the next 108 years?" And you may say, "Well, what are you talking about?" It makes you think at least: where will you be in 108 years from now? Think about it. Once you write that goal down, it'll make you thoughtful. You could put down goals for 10 year...

Don't take yourself too seriously, in a way, because, you know, we're insignificant. Prabhupāda signed all his letters, 'Your insignificant beggar.' And if you come in like that, I mean, how bad can you blow it as an insignificant beggar? It's like, what do you expect? I'm just doing my best right here, and I don't know where I came from. I don't know where I'm going. I don't know anything. You kn...

I had such an experience with a colleague of mine with whom I was working on a highly contentious legal situation. It was high-risk and, to me, it seemed like there was very little gain. Nonetheless, it was my duty. I had to deal with it. Because the person had—not just because he had a lot more experience, but because he had practiced equanimity in his life—and luckily I was partnered with him in...

harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā ‘For spiritual progress in this Age of Kali, there is no alternative, there is no alternative, there is no alternative to the holy name, the holy name, the holy name of the Lord.’ https://vedabase.io/en/library/cc/adi/7/76/ ------------------------------------------------------------ To connect with His G...

Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: My dear King, the chanting of the holy name of the Lord is able to uproot even the reactions of the greatest sins. Therefore the chanting of the saṅkīrtana movement is the most auspicious activity in the entire universe. Please try to understand this so that others will take it seriously. (SB 6.3.31) ------------------------------------------------------------ To connec...

Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: My dear King, the chanting of the holy name of the Lord is able to uproot even the reactions of the greatest sins. Therefore the chanting of the saṅkīrtana movement is the most auspicious activity in the entire universe. Please try to understand this so that others will take it seriously. (SB 6.3.31) ------------------------------------------------------------ To connec...

Just this morning, we had a three-hour meeting. When’s the last time you had a three-hour Zoom call? We had one this morning from 7:00 AM to 10:00, right on the dot— we started right at seven, we ended at ten. We had maybe about ten people, and it was our beginning-of-the-year brainstorming session. Vision, mission, brainstorming for 2026 and beyond: What are our next goals for distributing knowle...

I was just in Davis over the last few days and had the opportunity to be with the devotees there in the ashram. We were spending some good time chanting japa from early in the morning till later in the morning. I had several discussions, especially with Devavrata Prabhu, who especially likes japa. It’s always nice to be around somebody who specializes in such things; he thinks about it, he chants...

Simple, straightforward hearing and chanting—reading Prabhupāda's books—is the primal sound of our organization. That's where you get the connection: just to hear it, what Prabhupāda wrote. That's most important. Prabhupāda was eager for everyone to read his books for that very reason, because he poured himself into the books. So, that's really important. And then also, the missionary spirit—takin...

Here are a few comments that come from Śrīdhara Svāmī—the great Bhāgavata commentator from antiquity—on the verse 'bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syat.' He gives a comment about why knowledge alone cannot remove fear. He says, "If fear comes from ignorance (this is the question someone might pose), shouldn't knowledge alone remove it?" He points out that the Bhāgavata’s answer is that māyā is not mere...

In our chanting, we may come to a moment of awareness that we have the opportunity—as Kṛṣṇa is calling us through the devotees, directly Himself through the Gītā, and in the heart—to surrender. The moment that becomes momentous, noteworthy, exciting, or interesting in the life of any jīva, and that has an effect on the whole universe beyond the status quo of the material world, is when we individu...

Śrī Advaita Ācārya’s place is indicative of how the Kṛṣṇa conscious movement starts. It’s a small place out in the countryside, and anyone can start a Kṛṣṇa conscious wave from anywhere. How is it done? Advaita Ācārya’s penchant is for presenting the Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. Many people present the Bhagavad-gītā, but then they give some mal‑interpretation. They say Kurukṣetra means “the senses.” Th...

The idea of intelligence is presented in the Bhagavad-gītā. It is a relationship we have with the Supreme that comes to us naturally; and, according to the particular kind of "vessel" we live in, we have more or less capacity to appreciate that intelligence. One of the ways in which the ancient wisdom literatures describe intelligence is when we are able to utilize it to ask the bigger questions i...

It's a vicariousness that we attain, a vicarious experience where we become wise by hearing. Anecdote—when we were reading the Fourth Canto at Govardhan, I remember there was a brahmacārī there—he was at a crossroads or something. I heard him as I was walking in one of the breaks; he was talking to his spiritual master, and he goes, "What was I thinking?" Because he had just heard the Bhāgavatam,...

Anxiety grows when we lose control and forget the context of our life. We lose context; we forget we're in a universe. In fact, a friend of mine was telling me yesterday that he had kind of a trans-rational experience once on a dark-moon night when he was standing on the seashore. There was no light pollution whatsoever. He turned off his car lights and stepped out onto the beach. The stars were s...

https://sastrajam.com/campaigns ------------------------------------------------------------ To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthespark.com/next-steps/ask-vaisesika-dasa/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=launch2025 ------------------------------------------------------------ Add to your wisdom literature collection: https://iskconsv.com/book-stor...

Prahlāda Mahārāja says, 'duḥkhauṣadhaṁ tad api duḥkham atad-dhiyāhaṁ' (SB 7.9.17)—I think that the kind of remedies people make to stave off suffering in the material world are worse than the suffering itself. The anxiety of trying to fight an uphill battle that one eventually loses is quite disheartening and causes great consternation. But if we have the right process—and that is to take direct s...

A simple reading of Prabhupāda's books brings us into the presence of Prabhupāda. It nourishes us, it maintains us, and it becomes an industry unto itself—that is, people come from all parts of the world just to hear because the experience is unique; just hearing Prabhupāda's voice, reading his books straight through. Oftentimes people think, 'I've already done that. I know what Prabhupāda says.'...

We have no idea where we are, how we got here, or how much time we have. So, having that state of mind and preparation with Khaṭvāṅga consciousness is very mature. It’s very smart. Everybody else is whiling away their time playing as if they're going to live forever. Prabhupāda once said—you can mark it, it’s in the database—he said, 'A materialist is somebody who thinks, "I’ll live forever." A tr...

We carry in our hearts many different intentions and desires, and we don't want anybody poking around. In fact, oftentimes we try to hide something from Kṛṣṇa. But Kṛṣṇa is so kind to the devotees; He knows what's there, and when He sees a little sincerity within our hearts, He tries to help us to overcome any of the anarthas that are still there within our heart. I was thinking how going through...

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu stayed here for four months during the Cāturmāsya, and here He had conversations with Veṅkaṭa Bhaṭṭa over that time about the theology of Vaiṣṇavism, which are highly consequential. Luckily, that conversation is recorded in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, the Madhya-līlā, so we can read it again and again and understand the hierarchy of rasa. In tattva we know that Lord Nārāyaṇa a...

The beauty of Lord Caitanya’s body and His ecstatic love of God were witnessed by everyone. Many people used to come see Him, and as soon as they saw Him, all their unhappiness and distress vanished. (Text 88) Many hundreds of thousands of people from various countries came to see the Lord, and after seeing Him they all chanted the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. (Text 89) --------------------------------...

You will have different opportunities at different stages of your life, even as Prabhupāda showed by his example. At the time when Prabhupāda was working and he has family, he went to one of the yātrās of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, but he only had one day out of ten because he was so busy. But in that one day, he took advantage by staying and hearing from his Guru—so much so that his...

May the Supreme Lord who is known as the son of Śrīmatī Śacī-devī be transcendentally situated in the innermost chambers of your heart. Resplendent with the radiance of molten gold, He has appeared in the Age of Kali by His causeless mercy to bestow what no incarnation has ever offered before: the most sublime and radiant mellow of devotional service, the mellow of conjugal love. (Cc Adi 1.4) ----...

(1) ohe! vaiṣṇaba ṭhākura, doyāra sāgara, e dāse koruṇā kori' diyā pada-chāyā, śodho he āmāya, tomāra caraṇa dhori (2) chaya bega domi', chaya doṣa śodhi', chaya guṇa deho' dāse chaya sat-sańga, deho' he āmāre, bosechi sańgera āśe (3) ekākī āmāra, nāhi pāya bala, hari-nāma-sańkīrtane tumi kṛpā kori', śraddhā-bindu diyā, deho' kṛṣṇa-nāma-dhane (4) kṛṣṇa se tomāra, kṛṣṇa dīte pāro,...