Ultimate goal

We haven’t arrived in this world to build houses, to create organizations, to erect churches or temples and turn the earth into a garden; this is not the purpose of our existence.

We are here to gain spiritual realization; everything else is just a means to this goal, everything else is to be used by us for the purpose of our development.

We have to act, because without acting we would starve, we would die from thirst or from sleep… but action is functional and what counts is the goal for which we act.

What elevates us on the platform of spiritual evolution and what shows us the Truth behind appearances, is the spirit with which we offer our action.

Matsyavatara das

Counseling based on a Bhaktivedanta approach - Interview given by Akrura Prabhu to Shriman Matsyavatara Prabhu (Part II)

Akrura Prabhu: Therefore all this requires the development of eminently personal relationships?

Matsyavatara Prabhu: Certainly. Every person must be considered as a single world. A charming, universal conscientious unique being, different from others, with whom we can establish a unique and special relationship. No one must be stuck in a scheme or labeled as a certain psychological type. By viewing an individual in a schematic vision we can significantly diminish the help that we can give him. I would like to stress that this help is not comparable to a psycho-therapeutic cure. It draws teachings and spiritual values that can produce harmony, equilibrium and long lasting wellbeing to every component of the personality and in every sphere of existence (psychological, social, professional, etc. )

The available instruments of Krishna-Bhakti are formidable and extraordinarily powerful, but we must learn how to use them at their best by understanding how to apply them to ourselves. To do this it is important that we are encouraged to go deeply inside ourselves, try to really understand our feelings, what is against and what is favorable to our evolutionary process, and how we can better express our spirituality and devotion to the Lord. As it is explained in the Ayurvedic science, each individual has a determined psychological-physical profile: pitta, kapha or vata, at the same time in transcendent psychology, on the spiritual level, each one of us has his own rasa or spiritual sentiment that connects him to God in a peculiar way. By rediscovering that rasa, we can participate in ananda, hladhini shakti and happiness which is intrinsic in our original Love nature. And by realizing this rasa every negative tendency and behavioral defects disappear naturally. Consequently, discouragement, suffering, sadness, fears and depression will dissolve. Therefore, helping people first of all means helping them to re-settle in their human nature by stimulating them to do what is more in accordance to their nature, from which they can draw authentic satisfaction and benefits.

Devotional service means encouraging a person to center himself in his own rasa. If we do not stimulate the devotee to engage himself in his guna and karma coordinates and in the vision to realize his peculiar relationship with the Divine, he will hardly be able to live his spiritual life in a joyous and evolutionary way.

Akrura Prabhu: Therefore we must engage people in accordance to their nature.

Matsyavatara Prabhu: Yes indeed. This could be a priority even in relation to the principle of practical utility because this is the only way that we can really offer a good spiritual cure.

Akrura Prabhu: I remember reading a letter from Shrila Prabhupada in reference to this where He underlined the importance of acting this way.

Matsyavatara Prabhu: Yes, it is fundamental to comprehend inclinations and spiritual aspirations of each individual by helping him first with recognizing them. We must interact with each person in a personalized way. We could not act the same with two individuals, not even with twins! Each person is characterized by his peculiar nature and we must enter the same wavelength. This also includes the development of a peculiar modality of relationship, a modality more in accordance with our interlocutor.

Akrura Prabhu: It is a great principle, an important lesson.

How can you comprehend people’s problems and help each individual with expressing and facing his uneasiness?

Matsyavatara Prabhu: By establishing a personal relationship, sharing experiences, doing things together, educating him on how to reflect and weigh up his life and make projects for his future. This would help people with connecting even more the dreamed reality with the one lived every day by increasing their desire to overcome their limitations and to evolve by developing a greater sense of responsibility. One of the main causes for suffering is the inability to realize ones most intimate aspirations, the discrepancy between who we are and who we would like to be, between how we live and how we would like to live.

Akrura Prabhu: When and how do you generally include the importance of undertaking ones responsibilities?

Matsyavatara Prabhu: I try to make the individual responsible right away. He who doesn’t have a sense of responsibility, cannot aspire to bring improvements in his life.

Counseling based on a Bhaktivedanta approach - Interview given by Akrura Prabhu to Shriman Matsyavatara Prabhu (Part I)

Akrura Prabhu: I would like to hear of some fundamental principles that favor people’s spiritual healing.

Matsyavatara Prabhu: First of all we must distinguish between those who have already made a specific spiritual choice and those that have not done it yet and are not looking for a religious conversion, but they are interested in resolving their existential problems and finding answers and solutions to daily practical questions.

We can offer spiritual teachings to both of these categories of people, however using different approaches and modalities and in particular a different language adequate to their respective needs and interests. The common purpose of these helping relations is to favor conscience awareness of one’s deepest spiritual nature identity and favor a higher sense of living.

Akrura Prabhu: Please explain both typologies in relation to these helping relationships.

Matsyavatara Prabhu: I will begin by speaking of those that have already made a precise spiritual choice. When these individuals tell me that they have “spiritual” problems I try to convey to them that in reality there are no “spiritual problems”. Problems can arise on a physical, psychological or emotional level. Sometimes they can be on the economical, social, professional or in the religious life area, but not on the spiritual level. Instead, the solution of all these problems is indeed the acquiring of spiritual consciousness which is a vital state because it leads one to reach a superior point of view.

Crisis is constantly present in human life, however, it is the modality of our answers to crisis that makes the difference. Therefore, one of the first necessary steps is to help people to become conscious of their mental automatisms which lead to inadequate reactions to life events. A person must be helped with looking inside himself and become conscious of behavioral models used subconsciously and of the obstacles to his evolutionary path. Generally I begin this work by exploring repressed desires, trauma and fears.

Often we meet people that, in the name of spirituality lived in an immature way, have removed some aspects of their personality or dark episodes of their lives without making an effort to enlighten them with a superior conscience, thus solving the connected uneasiness and problems. Removing of such things is one of the principal causes of strong existence crisis and often they are favored by abstract pseudo-spiritualistic escapes. Uddhava Gita offers teachings in relation to this. It explains how spiritual life must provide in a way that cannot be put aside, the strict observance of sattvic principles that bring light, equilibrium and harmony in the psyche and personality in its complex. Such principles are important because they allow for a constructive satisfaction of requested and neglected needs, often removed much earlier.

Generally I ask people what they would like to do, how they would like to be, where they would like to live and with whom. These questions may appear simple and maybe trivial, however, the answers are crucial because we must be clear within ourselves and favor our spiritual journey by letting emerge those aspects of our personality on which we must intervene most urgently. For example, an uneasiness toward a job that we don’t like could arise. In this case it would be necessary to give teachings geared on how to overcome the attachment-repulsion dualism and on how to approach something that give us pain (dvesha).

Those who practice Krishna-Bhakti have many formidable instruments at their disposal to work on themselves such as Harinama japa, Meditation, Visualization, Devotional Service and Sat Sanga. The company of Bhakta, mainly those who are particularly evolved and experienced, is one of the principal “therapeutic” factors. However we must benefit from Sat-Sanga not in an abstract way, but through personal relationships lived with emphatic emotion in daily activities based on doing things together. This devotional service results in the best instrument of reciprocal knowledge, and allows for constructive, sound and extraordinary relationships which are beneficial for the evolutionary development of all.

The Treasure of the Holy Name

Bhaktivedanta Ashrama, July, 1, 2010 This morning Shrila Gurudeva has given a very beautiful speech on the importance of chanting the Holy Names. We realize ever more that the Holy Name is a Treasure. It is the secret to happiness. “We obtain the highest level of consciousness while chanting the Mahamantra, while our conscience is completely taken by Radha and Krishna’s divine entertainments. Before we can reach these levels, we have to reach some intermediate levels, one of which is remaining fixed in concentration on the reciting and listening of the Holy Names. Through such prolonged concentration we can progressively reach a meditative level while at the same time, the external world begins to fade and the conscience escapes from the illusory strength of the objects of the senses. Serenity, satisfaction, gladness and joy increase and become a constant presence in our lives. We then enter that dimension of the living being where peace is the main state, where the worldly turbulence represented by the duality which generates continuous mood changes diminishes until it becomes null. This exhaustion does not remove joy but does exactly the opposite: it allows joy and inner satisfaction to fully manifest itself with all their force and consequent benefits. Rasa reveal themselves to the conscience. These are the sentiments of the soul that cannot be perceived while a person is subject to the dualities of life. These dualities enter and burst in our conscience when we give them attention and importance. This explanation may appear simple, but indeed the reason for all that happens is funded on a simple truth that is not simpleton, but a clear comprehension of reality. It is not an asura, a perfidious or evil man who injects elements of disturbance in our conscience. We are the ones who inject them, even though most of the times we do it subconsciously. In the end, each one of us is the cause of our bad fortune and our own persecutor. Only we are responsible of the poison that we allow to enter our conscience. After saying this, it is also true that the inner wealth that each one of us has was acquired by our own merit right when we have chosen to connect our spiritual essence to God who is the Origin of all Wellbeing and the Eternal Source of Grace and Mercy. If there are luminous elements in our conscience, we are the ones who introduced them by giving them our attention and taking them to the inner world and by turning ever more toward the Eternal and toward the non-dual world. In his works, Plato speaks of tensions between soul and body. The soul wants to free itself from the body but the body detains it through the psyche. Even Krishna in Bhagavad-Gita XV.7 explains that conditioners hide in our psyche and that we must research for the causes of our personality disturbances and for what leads us to believe that the duality of the world is attractive and that we can even find into illusion the solution of our problems and the joy we are aspiring to. Dreaming of getting happiness from the objects of the senses conceived as to be an end to themselves, ties ever more the body to the soul, multiplies the conditioners and by acting in this manner, the individual fouls himself into believing that happiness must be search out of himself. This is how life passes and exhausts itself by trying to reach that apple that is high up on the tree of desires because we believe it to be the sweetest, however, once we have reached it, picked it and eaten it, we soon thereafter discover that it doesn’t have any flavor and all of a sudden we realize the uselessness of all of our efforts. Even those who have reached high positions in the world, such as prestige, money, power and whatever else, at the end do not find a real and lasting satisfaction. Similarly, even he, who would drink not only a glass but an entire bottle of sea water, couldn’t indeed get rid of thirst, instead, the more sea water he drinks, the more he gets thirsty. We must escape from vanity and research for what can really give us joy. Materialistic people are in love with the immanent aspect of God but, because they do not connect it to His Origin they remain conditioned by the energies of Nature and lose the chance of benefitting from it without remaining tied to it. Spiritualists instead are charmed by the transcendent aspect of God and at the same time they appreciate even his immanent manifestation, but on contrary from the others, when they approach this manifestation they do it not for egoistical enjoyment but with a spirit of service toward the Creator who generated it. He who doesn’t lust after the matter but instead considers it an instrument that can be used for his evolution, will be immune from the conditioner generated by the objects of the senses which in return will lose all their negative potentiality. Shrila Prabhupada explains to us this subject with the following paragon: “ It is like being bit by a snake without his teeth. It would not hurt us because he needs his teeth to inject his poison. The same is for the devotee who works at the service of God and desires to participate in the divine lila even if he lives in the bodily prison. He is however free from conditioners of Nature and this is why he is described in the scripture as jivan mukta: free while still in life. He utilizes his body as a precious instrument to make evolutionary experience and help many people to reconnect with their spiritual essence and to God. To reach this elevated level, there is no practice more effective than meditation on the Holy Names, which becomes particularly powerful if undertaken in the Brahma-muhirta hours, between 4 and 8 in the morning and it offers us the opportunity to realize spiritual dimension. Obviously this result is not achieved by everyone even though many have the chance to obtain it. What hamper such an achievement are the conditioners that have penetrated ones conscience. This is the reason why it is so fundamental, as Caitanya Mahaprabhu explains the practice of ceto darpana marianam, cleanliness of the mind primary by listening to the sadhu who enforce within us the consciousness of the importance of meditation. To favor concentration and meditative practice, we must avoid giving in to distractions. The observance of the four regulatory principles is indispensible to avoid the most vicious distractions. The purpose to achieve is reaching that level of listening of the Holy Names that is not mechanical but felt deep inside. It is at that point that a fast purification is possible. This purification prevents mood swings and lowering of the conscience and leads to an enlightened consciousness. Then the journey becomes really charming, joyful and ecstatic, however, we will reach the goal through intermediate levels of progressive enlightening. One of the major dangers in meditation is falling asleep, that conscience state which is sleeping, drowsy under the effect of tamo-guna, in which one is not lucid nor fully conscious of what he is doing. The effect of rajas is not less harmful because it produces vikshipta or distraction which is the exact contrary of meditation. From a number of lives our conscience is used to carelessly accept everything that comes to us through our senses with the result that this confuse state does not appear to most people as something to avoid but instead a normality. The Acarya and the holy texts allow us to become conscious of this wrong cognition and offer us instruments to improve our conscience level. It is up to us to use them. Chanting the Holy names during the Brahma muhurta hours and trying to concentrate our conscience on the listening to these powerful spiritual vibrations leads to innumerable benefits even to those, having to fight a wild mind, are not yet capable to meditate on the qualities of the Lord, on His Divine Adventures (lila) and on His Divine Forms (rupa). The so called well thinkers, permanently serving pure rationality, could blame this practice by deeming it an imposition, but this practice of containment is indispensible to rediscover our original nature, the face of the Self beyond the masks of ego. Then when we become lords of our psychic home, it will no longer be necessary to fight our rebellious mind because we have reached inner peace, which is not related to the death of the psyche but to the optimum functioning and natural harmonization of the psyche with the soul. He who doesn’t have a good sadhana will be compelled to remain at a superficial level of meditation and his conscience will continue to fill itself with elements not fit for spiritual realization. It is for this reason that sadhana is a sine qua condition to reach spiritual realization. Pay attention: do not fall in the trap of cutting corners and believe too early that you are free or spontaneously in love with God because the contents of conditioners still present on the bottom of your conscience could become lethal. The scriptures explain the importance of never neglecting sadhana because it is a Divine gift that we have received because of the mercy of the Acarya. In sadhana, chanting the Holy Names is a priority. Before dedicating ourselves to you social responsibilities or to the holy seva duties, it is essential to begin the day with Harinama Japa. In devotional service everything is Vaikuntha, but in the Kali yuga the practice of chanting the Holy Name is superior to any other instrument of purification of the conscience. Practice it by trying to pay attention to the quality of your reciting other than engage yourselves for a sufficient long time period. Attentively observe what happens and what sounds inside yourselves, invocate the Divine Mercy and ever more you will discover yourselves to be able to improve you state of conscience.”

Shri Gaura Purnima Mahotsava, 28 February 2010

By Madhavipriya Dasi

Many devotees gathered at the Villa Vrindavana Temple to celebrate the most merciful Manifestation of God, Shri Caitanya Deva.

Shrila Gurudeva offers us teachings, images, memories, deep sentiments and ancient stories that reveal the most intimate nature of this charming Divine Figure.

“Shri Caitanya Deva is ekatma: Radhe and Krishna together, one soul; Krishna as source of every power, together with the sweetness, compassion, welcoming and endless mercy of Shrimati Radharani.

The quintessence of the teachings of Shri Gauranga is the unconditioned love of Radhe for Krishna. An unlimited and extremely sweet king of love, manifested by Shri Caitanya throughout His life, constantly absorbed in that special rasa of love ecstasy.”

Shrila Gurudeva tells some salient episodes of Shri Caitanya’s life; His encounter with Ishvarapuri, his acceptance of sannyasa, his transfer to Jagannath Puri, his pilgrimage in southern India, the special love relationships with His devotees and his meeting with the mayavada sannyasi Prakashandanda Sarasvati.

“Wherever he was, Shri Gauranga gave to everyone the endless mercy of the Holy Name. Every step he took, it was a dance, every word of his, a love invocation. “Let God enter your heart through His Holy Name. Chant the name of God and your heart will be purified.” Shri Caitanya explains to Shirla Rupa Gosvami the unforgettable metaphor of great suggestion called bhakti lata bija, the seed of the plant of devotional love. At the peak of our luck, our devotion, as a result of pious activities, it is possible to receive the seed of Bhakti, most likely from a devotee of the Lord. This seed must be hosted in our heart so it can become a flourishing plant, capable to give the fruits of devotion. The Bhakti plant must be taken care of so it is not annihilated by the sin.

We must constantly remove the weeds that try to suffocate and kill it. These weeds are called anartha, or conditioners. Our commitment should be to cultivate this plant by chanting the Holy Name of the Lord, without offenses, so that Krishnaprema, the pure love for God can sprout in our hearts.

To eliminate the offensive attitude, Shri Caitanya teaches us to look at every living being in his original constitutional position as servant of the Lord.

Let’s honor Shri Caitanya Mahaprabhu as a kind of Divine Manifestation and as a perfect model of devotee, who reveals the sweet rasa or sentiments of spiritual love for God, all the way to the most intense and elevate sentiment: viraha bhakti, Love while separate from the Loved one.”

At the end of the lecture, Shirla Gurudeva asks his God Brother Traidas Prabhu to offer his realizations on Shri Caitanya Deva. At the end, inspired by the received teachings, we offer a wonderful chant to Shri Gaurahari.

Shri Shaci-Sutastakam

His complexion is the hue of fresh cream tinged with kunkum. He is the ever-fresh Cupid who shoots arrows of newly blossoming flowers. He bears newer and newer moods of emotional ecstasies. He is fond of performing novel dances. He makes ever-new jokes that cause much laughter. His brilliant luster is like freshly cast gold.—I bow down to Gaura, the beautiful son of Mother Saci.

He is endowed with ever-fresh love of Godhead. His radiant luster is like the color of fresh butter. His fresh attire is arranged in ever-new fashions. He relishes ever-new mellows of love for Krsna. He shines in nine-fold new ways while executing the nine-fold processes of devotion. He is permeated with a most auspicious loving nature.—I bow down to Gaura, the beautiful son of Mother Saci.

He is absorbed in devotion to Sri Hari. He maintains the chanting of the names of Hari. While chanting He counts the holy names on the fingers of His hands. He is addicted to the name of Hari. He always has tears of love welling in His eyes.—I bow down to Gaura, the beautiful son of Mother Saci.

He is always removing the suffering of material existence for mankind. He is the goal of life for persons who are dedicated to their supreme interest. He inspires men to become like honeybees (eager for the honey of Krsna-prema). He removes the burning fever of the material world.—I bow down to Gaura, the beautiful son of Mother Saci.

He motivates pure devotion unto Himself. He is most attractive to His beloved servitors. By His dramatic dancing He exhibits the characteristics of the King of paramours. He causes the minds of beautiful young village women to dance.—I bow down to Gaura, the beautiful son of Mother Saci.

He plays karatals as His throat emits sweet melodious sounds and the vibrant notes of the vina are softly played. He thus inspires the devotees to perform dramatic dancing that is infused with aspects of His own devotional service.—I bow down to Gaura, the beautiful son of Mother Saci.

He is accompanied by the sankirtana movement, which is the religious practice for the age of Kali. He is the son of Nanda Maharaja come again. He is the extraordinarily brilliant ornament of the earth. His preaching mood is suitably adapted to the cycle of birth and death. His consciousness is fixed in meditation on His own form of Krsna. He is always accompanied by His transcendental abode.—I bow to Gaura, the beautiful son of Mother Saci.

His eyes, the soles of His feet, and His clothing are reddish like the color that heralds the rising sun. As He utters His own names, His voice falters. He awakens a sweet flavor to life throughout the universe.—I bow down to Gaura, the beautiful son of Mother Saci.

Shri Vyasapuja Mahotsava, 26-27 February 2010

By Madhavipriya Dasi

Shrila Gurudeva introduces the first day dedicated to Vyasapuja with an unforgettable lecture.

“The level of any of our thoughts, desires, actions and relationships is directly related to our interest in purifying our motivation because it is not the action per se that brings benefits or damages but the motivation that is implied. It is on this motivation that we must constantly work, throughout our entire life.

The holy doctrine can be found in many books.

It is not so difficult to own it and it is useful only at the level that it becomes the theoretical basis of our practical application of it. What is important is what we realize and this is the result of a continuous spiritual practice.

In Shrimad Bhagavatam it is explained that the real success in life is the achievement of a series of spiritual progressive realizations that come from the practice of the doctrine. We could store stacks of data, but the authentic value is on practice and holy knowledge and even more specifically on the purity used while practicing. The level of purity used while practicing produces a correspondent spiritual advancement. The intensity, continuity and purity that we dedicate to spiritual discipline are vital.

To understand our level of purity we must ask ourselves about the nature of the objective that we are pursuing and about the modalities that we plan on using to reach it. If we behave humbly, in spirit of servants of the Lord, we can realize our original identity. Spiritual service enables spiritual practice and gives it a special flavor. It makes us joyful, gives us vigor, power and capability to transfer knowledge and inspiration.

The writings on Bhakti from Shirla Rupa Gosvami, mainly on Bhaktirasamrita Sindhu and Upadeshamrita, indicate the rules to be followed to develop our Bhakti. By accepting these principles we voluntarily give up part of our pseudo-freedom to obtain the true immortal freedom. This is what the millennial practice of accepting vowels consists of. The strict respect of these vowels makes the practice of this doctrine very satisfying and a source of joy not only for ourselves but also for those that are around us.

In this conditioned world, we encounter countless obstacles to the development of pure love for God, this is why Bhaktivinoda Thakura prays: “Shrila Gurudeva, please make me more humble than a blade of grass with a drop of your mercy. Give me the strength to overcome any obstacle and free myself from desire of personal honor.”

Humbleness is a frequency of the soul, a modality of the human being, the only one in which we can learn and evolve. By becoming proud and haughty we lose the opportunity to improve ourselves, we become stagnant in our mental frames and our balance becomes static, thus causing great damages and dangers.

The celebration of Vyasapuja is to strengthen the importance of observing the regulatory principles, developing authentic humbleness (the hardest thing to do at all) and the sincere attitude to serve the Vaishnava. Nama ruci, the flavor of the Divine Name comes from Vaishnava seva. Love and spirit of service are our eternal qualities, the rest is upadhir, masks or illusory designations that we must learn to abandon if we want to have a successful spiritual life. Vyasapuja is an extraordinary opportunity to enforce our desire and commitment to pursue this life.

Shrila Rupa Gosvami explains the correct dispositions of one’s mind, the commitments and their completions, that enable us to overcome our conditioners and resist the attacks of Maya. Without these practices that enforce our spiritual taste, we would have a hard time absorbing the blows that life has for everyone. Whether saint or rascal everyone must deal with crisis. The saints must shield themselves from outside attacks, rascals endure blows from everywhere.

The celebration of Vyasapuja enables us to enforce our ties with the Spiritual Master and with the devotees that are on our same path and that have chosen a life of discipline and service to accelerate their evolution. It is an extraordinary opportunity to exchange spiritual sentiments, open our mind and look for inspiration and comfort. This is the most effective prophylaxis in spiritual life, especially in the Guru-disciple relationship, but also in the relationship with God-brothers and God-sisters, with Vaishnava in general and extended to everyone. Let’s always remember that the quality of the sentiments is their genuineness, at the same time the heart of an action is its motivation.

yasya deve para bhaktir

yatha deve tatha guroh

tasyate kathita hi arthah

prakashante mahatmanah

God is the great counterpart of ourselves and the purpose of life is reawake our love for Him. From our relationship with God we can extend our love to all creatures, but we must maintain our concentration on the central scope of existence, or we will exit our barycentre and lose balance.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare: this is the central practice of our spiritual life. Do you want to know how Shrila Prabhupada and the other Acharia before him have translated the Maha Mantra Hare Krishna?

“Krishna, please teach me how to serve You. This is the only way that will enable me to know You and Love you. Oh Energy of Love, You who possesses the supreme fascination, source of eternal bliss, please engage me in Your service.”

The journey toward Krishna is wonderful, but certainly not easy. At the beginning of the path you see only obstacles, in the middle you can still see them, and also at the end. There is however a great difference. At the beginning, obstacles are created by us, in the middle they are created by us and by others, at the end they only come from outside. In this last position, the most elevated one, we only suffer because we see others suffering, however, in any moment of the journey there are trials and difficulties to overcome. In fact in the Shrimad Bhagavatam it is explained that even the most advance devotees sometimes fall down.

Falls are always caused by mistakes, lower impulses, disturbing thoughts, evil selfish calculations, etc. To avoid committing errors it is fundamental to nurture with devotion and humbleness our relationship with the Vaishnava by exchanging sentiments and realizations and by serving them. Each of us can serve from his/her own position. We can serve even from the position of king, by performing our role with sense of justice and duty for everyone’s wellbeing. We must deeply realize that life without spirit of service to God is craziness. It is like expecting to fly without wings. Serving is our ontological nature, as we are made to love and be loved and love does not exist without spirit of service. If we don’t serve God and His devotees, we will find ourselves serving someone anyhow, but it would be of very different nature such as Kripana and duajana, greedy and evil people. The basis of our spiritual advancement is the spirit of service to Shri Vaishnava, Guru and Krishna. Shri Guru teaches first of all to begin as servants. Without the spirit of service, knowledge doesn’t get through and it is not realized.

The Bhagavatam is filled with stories of souls that had reached high levels and then suddenly fell. We must remain conscious that in this world there are dangers at every corner, and that the association with the Vaishnava and celebration of Mahotsava such as Vyasapuja are fundamental to avoid such dangers.

We should constantly commit to clean our psyche, our heart, our thoughts, our desires and our sentiments to reach the necessary practice of the holy doctrine that clears our conscience. This will allow us to see in an ever clear way param gatih, the supreme purpose. We can perform many activities in the world, the most various ones, but the important thing is not to lose sight of the central purpose of our existence.

Each of us has difference nature and tendencies and will find his place in the area of varna and ashrama that he feels more congenial to his personality. However, no matter which position he will be in, he will achieve authentic success if he will carry on his responsibilities and duties to the service of Shri Vaishnava, Guru and Krishna. Being a devotee means serving the devotees.

In our lives we must learn to combine sky and hearth, to connect immanent with transcendent, because we cannot be happy living with only “bread” but not even by running abstractly from the world. We must work in this world leaning forward to the Absolute and gaining from the Absolute those resources and essential strength that allow us to act on earth with enlightened conscience. Down-here and up-there are not separate dimensions.

As long as we are inside a human body and in the kingdom of Maya devi, we are subject to many temptations, attacks and to the kaleidoscope of illusion which continuously fragments reality and reflects it distortedly. In this world we do not see reality but only appearance. To see reality it is necessary to follow a spiritual discipline and take shelter in a Spiritual Master. This is the message from the Acarya.

Let’s make this staying together the journey toward the Center.”

By listening to the letters offered to Shrila Gurudeva we clearly realize the nature of Bhakti! Nothing stops it, not even the worse illness. It lives in the heart, breaths Love and resides in the eternity. Together we understand ever more the greatness of serving. Only by giving always and without limitation we can be endlessly fulfilled.

The two Vyasapuja days are articulated by touching letters and reflection of great inspiration offered by Shrila Gurudeva.

“In life sometimes there are difficult moments and dangerous curves. We can get bogged down in errors that we commit because of our weakness or because of our listening to bad advisors, however, if we avoid aparadha or offenses, the wounds can be cured, the bruises can be healed, you can catch your breath and restart.

When the Bhakti sentiment is sincere, even if there are difficulties or weakness we can always remediate our errors. However, if this sentiment becomes ambiguous, false and deceptive, the fall is disastrous. If we need to catch our breath and reposition our weights, with frankness and humbleness we can ask for a pause, find a more suitable position for our temporary situation and intensively desire to regain as soon as possible energy and inspiration to restart the Journey. Do not be ashamed to be weak. Be ashamed to be fake.

Those who fall in a short circuit of the senses, for sudden weakness, can raise and continue their journey if their desire for evolution is strong and sincere. However if the genuine spiritual sentiments are lacking, everything becomes harder. Protect and purify your sentiments, be transparent and sincere. If we are well centered, if the spiritual sentiment is well hardened and rules above everything else, even if sometimes there are certain difficulties to express it, soon or later coherent and harmonic actions of that sentiment will follow.

Bhakti is the pure sentiment of Love. If we realize this sentiment we discover that we do not need anything from outside ourselves. All we will need is a square meter to sit, some simple prasada, wonderful, constructive and evolutionary thoughts and sentiments that connect immanence to transcendence, the company of the Vaishnava and the presence of Shri Shri Guru and Krishna in our heart. The need of whatever is mundane will become almost null and we instead feel an ever more intense desire to serve the Lord and His devotees to express our spiritual sentiments and our Love. Through service we express our sentiment and realize ourselves.

Purity is strength, Shastra are the real basis of our knowledge/wisdom, not the subjective one, relative and historical, but the meta-historical and absolute one, which gives love in any circumstance. Love does not have an exclusive object. It is the modality of the soul. This is the modality that we must develop, toward human beings and animals, toward the planet, the sky, the stars, our parents, and the parents of others. Love does not distinguish. If it separates instead of connecting, it is not true love. Do not be identified as those who separate. Try to be known as those who unite. What hatred separates, Love unites.”

These teachings shake the consciences, enlighten, give light to darkness and make love perceivable above everything. A river of sentiments flow from the Guru toward his disciples and from the disciples toward their Guru. The strongest sentiment is gratefulness. In a letter, a disciple writes:

“In my life I was protected only by your teachings. Now I want to protect your divine work. What else has any value?”

Shrila Gurudeva:

“The Presence of the Divine in our heart has a different flavor every time and it is always stronger. This is the characteristic of infinite amounts of rasa, that follow one another like waves but none is similar to another. This is why we are fascinated by fire, ocean, the music of a stream, because in everything we can appreciate the endless rasa of the Divine, but this is only minimal in comparison to the indescribable Presence of God in His personal manifestation in our heart.

We experience that Presence of Love when we are in a humble attitude of service and we only desire other’s happiness. The only true project of one’s life is helping others. What can we do to make them feel happy, comfortable, welcomed to the best of our capability and inspired for a better life? The example of a coherent life, of our responsibilities carried with rigor and joy is our biggest patrimony to be shared with those who have an intense desire to share. It is important to show stability in any circumstance no matter what happens and show that anything that happens in the world is only apparent turbulence. At the end we will discover that those apparent turbulences are a good thing for all, the opportunity to discover new prospective, learn from our and other’s errors, understand what moves and what remains fixed, see what there really is and what is only a fleeting illusion.

What is the best welcoming that we can offer to people? It is not that of a five star hotel. It is the welcoming of that famous square meter where, if we have our mind a little serene, little prasada and spirit of service, we can find Krishna in our heart and share His Divine Presence with all.

Authentic love is immortal, the rest is sentimentalism. A little spark can become a great flame. Sometimes a little spark of Love can initiate a flame that will later become a fire that will transform us. That spark is the Spiritual Master, the dynamic principle of our spiritual evolution. If we remove that spark, everything becomes heavy and of little worth.

The greatest art consists of transforming anything that happens to us in an opportunity of growth and spiritual development, a disgrace for the benefit of all. On the spiritual level, there is no separation between friend and enemy. Someone’s failure cannot be my victory, no one can build on other’s debris. The Caitanya Caritamrita, Madhya lila explains that the Vaishnava who has established an irreversible Bhakti sentiment in his heart does no longer see good from bad, he only sees good, and authentic good, is extended to everyone.

If we are conscious that the only truth is Krishna, God and His unconditioned Love, it will not be hard for us to transform everything that happens into benefit for all.

Let’s abstain from conflicts, partisanship and from anything that divides and doesn’t allow us to love. Whatever happens, whether it rains or the sun shines, whether the weather is flaming hot or there is a polar cold, whether we are alone or with company, any circumstance is a precious opportunity to grow as long as we do not become distracted from our vital function characterized by devotional service. Extremely warm weather teaches as much as extremely cold weather, even death offers us a great lesson because, in its absence, we would live an unproductive and meaningless life. Our death and the one of people dear to us and abandonment from people very dear to us, teach us that this is not our original home, we are only in transit.

Let’s walk then in this world on our tip-toes and let’s extend to every living being our desire for freedom, justice, peace, knowledge and love.”

The desire of improvement, gratitude and love that pervade the celebration of the Vyasapuja strengthen our will to serve for the joy of serving, to be open, humble, truthful, courageous like heroes, simple like children and wise like those who are enlightened and great at heart.

“Balance is something that we cannot touch, cannot measure, cannot weight and cannot easily understand until we reach it. We can conceive only the level of balance that has already entered our experience, but we cannot understand a higher one until we have experienced.

Every embodied being is a paradox by definition. It has all and the contrary of all, it has functions that are in inner contraposition. It has enthusiasm and generosity but also egoism and resentment, strength and weakness. It is developed in one direction and regressed in another. The human being is ambivalent. If it doesn’t become ambiguous, we can successfully help him to work on himself. However, when he becomes ambiguous, the helping action becomes harder. Ambiguity has an underground and negative content. This is why sometimes we unconsciously touch dark and coarse parts of a person and we obtain unexpected reactions. Perhaps you have corrected that person countless times for his own good and that person had become grateful and inspired, but in a certain circumstance, a small correction, shatters him.

It is useless to fly high if we have not resolved our problems at a lower level. We must learn from our mistakes and the mistakes of others. While the wise men can learn even from the actions of the fouls, the fouls cannot learn even from the wise men. (Tacito).

To enhance our level of conscience and help others with their evolution we must resolve problems of lower level as well, those problems related to our earthly components. Sometimes we must leave the sweet symphony of the higher spheres and descend in the turbulent tormented life, in the bad smelling rumble of blocked experiences. This is the reason why, in my lectures, I also speak of psychology, history, art, sociology, economy and other sciences of this world, in a transcendent prospective.

If the purpose is spiritual, if the vision is clear and the compassion is strong, our words will be pervaded by a purified vibration similar to a wave. If we are in this frequency we can speak of any science and it is as we always pronounce uttams shloka, however, to achieve this we must have established in our conscience the firm contact with the over-world.

We must urgently engage in putting spiritual qualities in society. Society is not only suffering, it is agonizing and almost dead. Many things are at risk: health, everyone’s safety, civil rights and respect for life. If we only concentrated on the spiritual aspects and neglected to emphatically feel the needs of the people in this society, we would risk an inflation of spiritual values and as you know, in inflation we lose the intrinsic value of the what is Good. Instead of becoming more inspired, we would become more dispersed and confused. Our journey in the sky is the counterpart of the one undertaken on the worldly level by introducing spiritual principles at all levels, offering our care to those who need it because they suffer psychologically, emotionally and physically. We don’t always achieve the hoped results, but it is not success what pays us, but our sincere effort. Don’t look for success, because you would surely find a fiasco. Success comes on its own for the sweet will of God. It is the joy to operate at the service of other that we need to pursue with all of our might.

Do not speak abstractly about spirituality. The spirit must live here and now, among our relationships. We must let it live in a sister, a brother, a disciple, a friend, a travelling companion, on a train, in the dentist’s waiting room, everywhere.

Always ask yourselves: how do I implement this spiritual concept in my daily life? If you learn to observe and be sensitive to other’s problems, we will see that many precious opportunities will show up and these opportunities are our real patrimony. We should not measure the abstract concept, but how much we were able to practically implement it in our lives in relation to others.

Let’s commit to practice spiritual knowledge in every moment of our lives, by not looking for personal gratification but committing to help others. We are not the one to chose the beneficiary of our help, it is Krishna who chooses it for us and if we refuse it our failure begins. When we discriminate and want to choose who we want to care for, we are already on the wrong side. Whether a person is a relative of ours or someone else’s relative, what’s the difference? If we have some to give, let’s give it without reservation. It is by giving that we get richer. It is by holding on that we become poorer. What we give we have conquered forever. What we hold for ourselves, we lose inevitably.

We must show loyalty to everyone, not only to those that we like. Authentic loyalty is toward all, the same is for opening, transparency, generosity and goodness. When they are given selectively and exclusively they are not genuine sentiments, they are egoistical sentiments and they don’t open the way to Love. Whether our interlocutor is young or old, attractive or not, aggressive or passive, we must not limit our capability to love, but only modify our way to express that love. Obviously we cannot impose anything to anyone, not even affection or mercy. We can only make offers. Sometimes people perceive this, sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they perceive for a short period of time, some other times for a medium or long period, but in any case we must always be thankful for what that person was able to give and for what he permitted us to offer. When we take or give we must never have expectations. Everyone is free to come and go, as long as they do it in a civilized manner. I pray to be able to give forever and continuously. Everyone must have their own prayer, the one felt in their hearts.

With devotional service, the bhakta enters into a dialog, listening at Shri Shri Guru and Krishna and he gets tuned with Them. Joy is a symptom of that syntony. When syntony exists, serving is not hard, however it is hard to interrupt our service. If we are connected to the spiritual level, we get up spontaneously in the morning and we are alive. Bhakti is the alarm clock. Indolence in performing our spiritual practices is the sign that we are not tuned. What to do then? We must re-center ourselves and ask the devotees and the Spiritual Master for help to live inspired and in balance.

There is a time to eat and a time to sleep, a time to operate in the world and a time to contemplate and meditate. Food makes us vigorous, but if we eat too much we fall ill and if we eat too little we get weak.

We must look for balance, by entering in syntony with the Supreme Soul and with the one of the people around us.

Look at people’s heart, not at their clothes or the color of their skin. Look at their soul and talk to their soul. If you know how to get in tune with their heart, every relationship will become special and every action will be connected to the spiritual dimension. Meditation can become every moment of our lives, like every action that we perform.”

We realize ever more, while we are united at the lotus feet of our Guru that Vyasapuja and generally all of the Mahotsava in the Vaishnava calendar are energetic injections to reinforce our spiritual vigor. If we don’t take advantage of these opportunities there will be a weakening of conscience which will lead to many other pathogen agents. Prevention is the best among medications.

An important point of our growing journey, Shrila Gurudeva explains, consists in learning the lesson of impermanence.

“The lecture on impermanence is one of the first ones that one Guru should give to his disciple. In the journey of life we will not be able to always have as companions members of our original family, nor those of the family that we have created. We will not be able to be always together with our God-brothers or our Spiritual Master, however, thanks to God, there are other dimensions where we can live eternally together and no one can deny this to us. If we build an authentic spiritual relationship, based on loyalty, faithfulness and true deep respect and love, no one will ever be able to take it away, not even death. We will always live together, but in a different dimension from the physical one and much more reliable.”

Sweet melodies and spiritual chants vibe in and out of us, sealing inside our heart the realizations offered by Shirla Gurudeva. These realizations are direct of reflected in the words, the looks, the sentiments of our dear travel companions. The feeling is that of drinking at a pure water fountain.

“We should live spiritual discipline with profound gratitude toward the great opportunity that is offered to us. Discipline allows us to sublimate the whims of our sense, achieve domination over our instincts and regain our center without being continuously thrown around like survivors by the waves.

By constantly practicing with faith vaidhi-sadhana-bhakti, which is the regulated by the injunctions of the Shastra and of the Spiritual Master, gradually we will see a miracle happening. We will begin to develop an intense and spontaneous taste while we live under those principles. From that moment on, the Guru is perceived as infinitely dear and essential to our life, no more because he tells us what to do, but because he made it impossible not to do it.

How long does it take to make this passage from sadhana-bhakti to? It depends on the intensity of our desire and on the consequent commitment. Do not waste time unproductive raves, practice seriously! You will discover that what you were looking for is inside you.