Gladwrap

Like sadwrap loneliness comes around -
an illusion to be sure ,
just a wayward mind gone off track.
Chant Your holy names
and then its clear
You are right here with me
none so near and dear.
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

SONGS FROM ANANDA VARDHAN
http://rhythmmusicstore.com/music/6135/Ananda-Vardhan/Song-For-George
http://www.last.fm/music/Ananda+Vardhan ( full-length previews )
http://cdbaby.com/cd/AnandaVardhan1
http://www.adventurebootcamp.co.za/soul.php5.

blog http://www.goldenlava.blogspot.com

FOR EXTRA NECTAR
http://www.purebhakti.com

Excavating our real desires

Although so many people in this world are homeless and starving its foolish to think that if they could simply have homes and food that we would have a happy society. Affluent societies still go to war. As Sri Krishna explains in Bhagavad-gita , under the influence of the binding force of nature s mode of passion , the soul is afflicted with "insatiable desire " which translates as frustration - no satisfaction , despite unlimited material prosperity both as individuals and in society at large. This should come as no surprise. After all , the Bible says that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God , which of course also means that God is a person , namely Krishna ,who speaks , and that His words are the source of nourishment and satisfaction for every soul. Our crazy society unfortunately misinforms us with the notion that all you need is money , not love, not Krishna , to be happy and we are provided with unlimited ways to spend that money with the false promise that this is all we need -that happiness comes from without , not from within.

In this mornings reading of Bhagavad-gita the following verse caught my attention. " A great many souls have already come to the stage of taking full shelter in Me , having been purified by penance and the cultivation of perfect understanding. Freed from all false attachments, anxieties and frustrations, they reached the Absolute Reality of My transcendental , loving nature . " Bg Ch. 4.10.Elsewhere also in Bhagavad -gita Sri Krishna advises on the importance of " ...carefully guarding the consciousness against exploitative motivations and false attractions . "

I am grateful that my beloved spiritual masters have come to give me the positive alternative - bhakti-yoga. They are pure devotees of Sri Sri Radha and Krishna. Pure means no material desires , no attraction for anything else except the eternal loving service of the Supreme Divine Couple. I pray that one day I may , by their grace , get off the mental platform and come to have that higher taste , param drishtva , and absorb myself in the reality of Radha and Krishna. "When we see the devotional practice of previous great practitioners of devotion, we become a little hopeless. We have only one hope - the mercy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu (who is Krishna Himself) is flowing everywhere, and even one drop can drown us." Jaya Shrila Gurudeva ! Jaya Gauranga ! May we all drown in that tidal wave of love of God , Krishna-prema !

Vrindavana Life - The Natural Way

Some days when I ve got that fragile feeling , its good to know I have that place to go inside my heart where You are always giving me Your sweet company so loving and serene.

For so long I have been trying to make plans to enjoy , but those plans have not included Krishna. All such plans are full of anxiety . Will I get what I want ? Will something happen to disturb my plan ? Will someone not co-operate with my plan etc etc.The process of Krishna consciousness is teaching me that such attempts are not the natural way - it is better to depend on Krishna. Certainly it is the nature of the soul to want to experience ever-increasing , unending happiness and pleasure - ananda - but I am learning that such a life exists only with Krishna , only with Radha and Krishna , the ever -youthful Divine Couple in Vrindavana , the Land of Love.
Describing that place , Shrila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami says " Even today Sri Madhava (Krishna ) enjoys the sweet nectar of transcendental patimes there , lovingly herding the cows with His brother Baladeva and His dearly beloved sakhas (friends ).The astonishing sweetness of this place appears in the hearts of the rasika devotees. I take shelter of Vraja (Vrindavana ) , which is more precious even than Mathura. " He goes on to say " I worship Madhava s fortunate associates who consider the vast ocean of their own happiness to be as insignificant as a blade of grass , and who ,filled with pure love for Sri Krishna , the enemy of the Mura demon,always lovingly and humbly strive to increase His happiness. "
So better to surrender to Sri Sri Radha Krishna , to Their sweet will , to trying to please them by trying to please Their dearly beloved , my eternal spiritual master , Their most confidential associate. Such surrender begins with surrendering my mind -giving up its plan-making habit and simply chanting Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare , Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. As Sri Krishna confirms in Bhagavad -gita , " By absorbing their minds in full consciousness of Me, My divine servants experience transcendental pleasure of the highest order.With passions calmed,they achieve freedom from blame and come to perceive the Supreme Divine Person face to face. " Ch.6.27. May we all drown in His Ocean of Grace.

SONGS BY ANANDA VARDHAN ( ANDREW FREEDMAN )
http://rhythmmusicstore.com/music/6135/Ananda-Vardhan/Song-For-George
http://www.last.fm/music/Ananda+Vardhan ( full-length previews )
http://cdbaby.com/cd/AnandaVardhan1
http://www.adventurebootcamp.co.za/soul.php5.

blog http://www.goldenlava.blogspot.com

http://www.purebhakti.com

Causeless Mercy

"May the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the form of Lord Sri Chaitanya ( Lord Gauranga) bestow His causeless mercy upon us.His smiling glance at once drives away all bereavements of the world ,and His very words enliven the auspicious creepers of devotion by expanding their leaves.Taking shelter of His lotus feet invokes transcendental love of God at once." Sri Caitanya-caritamrita.

WE ARE WHAT WE EAT

We can feed on bitterness
we can feed on hate
we can feed on anger
and stay irate

we can feed on forgiveness
we can feed on love
we can feed on tolerance
be a gentle dove

we can feed on conflict
we can feed on fear
we can feed on loneliness
like a grizzly bear

we can feed on spirit
we can feed on prayer
we can feed on hope
feeling You always , very near

Hare Krishna

Heartsoftener

This morning Mr. Shyam dasa ,(see in the attached picture with my very dear
friend Swami Sajjan ) one of two cats , (the other is Mr. Ram
dasa ) who have moved in to our Milnerton ashram ,woke me up quite early by
licking my nose...indicating it was time to get up and give him breakfast.
He used to bite my nose as well but hearing all these mantras playing every
day seems to be softening his heart so now he goes gently with me. Most of
us use fabric softener ... I highly recommend mantra heart-softener as well
as part of the daily routine.
I am also grateful to Krishna for devising such a cute ,gentle plan for
getting me out of bed , especially on cold mornings. He is indeed the "
kind
and gentle Lord . " May He always pierce our hearts with His pushpabanaya,
flower -arrows of love. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare P.S. Mr. Shyam dasa is also biting
his younger "brother " Mr. Ram dasa a LOT less than before !

The Real World

Sometimes I hear people refer to the "real world " meaning the world of harsh realities . In other words they are saying that an ideal world doesnt exist - better just to face up to the less than perfect one, which they believe is all there is. Not everyone agrees with that point of view however. In Bhagavad-gita , Sri Krishna tells us about that eternal spiritual universe , Vaikuntha , the place of no anxiety , where the residents experience a thrill at every moment and are tasting full nectar at every step in their ecstatic loving relationship with Radha and Krishna , in the topmost planet Goloka Vrindavana .These are not simply flowery words but authentic descriptions validated by self-realized souls , eternal residents of that eternal region who kindly descend to this mortal plane to enlighten us - to give us light, to dissipate the darkness of ignorance. So their revealing descriptions of that real world are so wonderful, so beautiful ,so perfect, so attractive and, most wonderfully ,just by hearing these supermundane descriptions with faith from them ,we become eligible to enter that Divine Realm. Here is one such description given by Shrila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami . " I worship these cows , the daughters of Surabhi , who are always eager to engage Vrajendra-nandana (Krishna ) , Balarama, Sridama and the other cowherd boys in the joyful , daily festival of taking them out to graze and milking them.Worshiped by Krishna and all the sakhas (friends ) , they cover the boys and themselves with a mist of sparkling snow-like dust raised by their hooves as , filled with love, they roam around the dense forests, high mountains and river banks of Vraja . " His Divine Grace Shrila Sridhar Maharaj uses the term "Reality the Beautiful " to describe that region and its residents, who are blessed with " infinite wisdom and total satisfaction." So I have some faith in the truth of these descriptions. Shrila Prabhupada calls it our "normal, happy condition of life. " So its normal to be happy. If I look around here seeing all the unhappy statistics of this unhappy world , we are definitely not in the normal condition of life. Nevertheless I am encouraged and grateful for the example and instructions of my most compassionate spiritual masters who are leading us home , back to Godhead, to the Real World. May I be engaged in their eternal loving service.Hare Krishna

Simply pleasing you

In 1979 I began chanting Hare Krishna. So having chanted for over 30 years I sometimes ask myself - is anything different , has anything changed ? Yesterday the thought occurred to me that the most obvious change is my view on life itself. Before coming to Krishna consciousness I wasnt sure what the purpose of life was , especially my own life , or in fact whether there was any purpose at all . I wasnt focused , wasnt motivated - it was more about getting by day-to-day , trying to be happy without any sense of the bigger picture. These days , although it isnt always plain sailing ,I am focused , I do have a sense of purpose . I am convinced that the purpose of my life is to come to know and love God, Krishna ,and that there is no other purpose .There is a nice verse in Bhagavad-gita which relates to this idea, chapter 2:41, in which Sri Krishna says to Arjuna, " Those of strong faith have only one object of contemplation whereas the intelligence of those who lack spiritual determination is divided into many branches. " So having a little realization of this param gatim ,supreme objective, its now about perseverance on the path. As my Guruji , Vijaya Acharya said , its like having found gold - one then just needs to keep digging - just need to keep chanting Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare under the guidance of my beloved spiritual masters. The following is a little poem I dedicated to them

Here s a list of things to do - we ve all got our own - of things that make us happy - of things we knew already and some that we got shown

Cycling, snorkeling,swimming,walking in the rain - keeping pets and shopping ,and patting baby tigers , provided they are tame

The list goes on forever - we all know its true - but nothings quite as nice as simply pleasing you.
Jaya Gurudeva

Amazing

Its amazing that although locked up in time and space in one tiny corner of this dark material universe ,I have nevertheless got to hear about a planet called Goloka Vrindavan which is the shape of a giant lotus flower in the spiritual universe. Time has no influence there - there is only the eternal present so the residents live in an immortal region , beyond birth and death. Most remarkable is that everything there is fully conscious - the land , the trees , the rivers and of course the birds , animals and millions of cowherd boys and girls ,all of whom are fully devoted to the loving service of the Supreme Divine Couple , the eternally youthful ,Sri Sri Radha and Krishna . Its amazing to think that there is such a place where life is so blissful , so harmonious, so care-free and which ,I am told ,is my real home, my real life.So it sounds wonderful ,almost too good to be true as the saying goes and yet the evidence is overwhelming that it is for real . So many great scriptures , so many great saints and sages , transcendental spacemen like Naradi Muni , and our beloved spiritual masters down to the present day testify that although beyond our mundane vision, this transcendental eternal abode certainly exists and that they have descended to this mundane universe to take us home. After millions of lifetimes here they are saying that our material life is over , that by the grace of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the Golden Avatar , we are all on our way home , released from this dungeon of repeated birth and death. Lord Gauranga is freely distributing ecstatic divine love which is ordinarily very difficult to obtain.This is the ultimate Exodus , this is unimaginable good fortune . Jai Sacinandana Gaurahari

The Nectar Zone

So somehow or other to stay on the spiritual platform - to stay in the "zone of nectar " , that is my daily challenge, despite the ups and downs of the material world. On that platform there is no anxiety , no ill-feeling ,no misgivings ,no doubts. That is the platform of truth as opposed to illusion , the truth being that I am pure spirit soul , eternal servant of Krishna; illusion being that I am this body and everything in relationship to this body is mine.The only way to stay on that platform in this Kali -yuga, this age of quarrel and hypocrisy is, in Lord Caitanya s words - kirtaniyah sada hari - to always chant the holy names Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare , Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare . There is no other way. This Kali -yuga is likened to an ocean of faults - everything is contaminated. The only good thing is the chanting of the holy names - golokera premadhana harinam sankirtan - the treasure of divine love has descended from Goloka, the spiritual realm , in the form of the holy names. So I pray to my eternal spiritual masters for a humble state of mind, for more tolerance than a tree, so that by their grace, I may have an ever-increasing taste for the hearing and chanting of the holy names - that is my only hope.

Shrila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami prays , " The name of Radha is unprecedented, beautiful and enchanting like nectar.The name of Krishna is delicious like condensed milk. O my tongue , O you who are faint with hunger , please constantly drink these two unprecedented substances , which are made delightful by the ice of fragrant anuraga ." May Shrila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami have mercy on me and bless me with steady progress on the path of Radha-Krishna consciousness