Origin of Love
The Art of Tolerance
Spiritual Life is Like Being a Gardener
On Controlling the Mind
The Greatest Need in the World
Rescue the Consciousness
From Ritual to Spiritual
The Purpose of Life
On the Holy Place of Sri Mayapur
The Ecology of the Heart
January 7, 2013
People are very attracted to achieve spiritual knowledge but the purpose of knowledge culminates in love. We are all looking for spiritual satisfaction but unless our service to the Lord is unconditional and uninterrupted it will not bring real satisfaction to the heart. So unless knowledge culminates in love it is superficial. It does not touch the soul but entertains the mind, intelligence and false ego. Yet what is the origin of that love, where does it come from and how to achieve it? Krishna expands Himself as Radharani who is...
January 4, 2013
One of the themes in the Bhagavad-gita is how to be tolerant, and in verse 2.70 the key to success is given by Krishna Himself. “A person who is not disturbed by the incessant flow of desires, that enter like rivers into the ocean which is ever being filled but is always still, can alone achieve peace and not the man who strives to satisfy such desires.” Bhagavad-gita is describing a person who is in an elevated state. The ocean, because of its vast depth, is not disturbed by the...
December 30, 2012
Spiritual life, Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has explained, is like taking the occupation of a gardener. You have a field, you plant the seeds, you protect the seeds, you water the seeds, and naturally the flowers will grow. The gardener cannot force the flower to grow. The gardener has no power to make the flower grow. The flower grows simply by the arrangement of God – it is utterly inconceivable how it is being done. A little tiny seed, and it is growing into a big big tree with fruits....
December 28, 2012
In the Vedic civilization one is trained early on in life to train the mind, as the mind by nature is very flickering and easily disturbed. The mind wants to wander according to the dictations of the senses as that is the nature of a conditioned soul. So how to curb that propensity and direct the mind in such a way that it will elevate us rather than degrade us? The mind must be controlled with the intelligence as the intelligence has the important function of giving the mind proper...
December 27, 2012
The Bhagavad-gita teaches, whatever your way of life may be, whether it is a businessman or a lawyer or a doctor, or house-wife or a student, it is not that you necessarily must give up your responsibilities in this world, because there is a need for all these various professions for human society to function. But the greatest need is that the people who are engaging in these activities are doing it with an understanding of truth; because truth awakens love, compassion, mercy and selfless service to all others. That...
December 23, 2012
The cause of problems is when the consciousness is degraded, as then everything becomes degraded. Because the situation of the world is a reflection of the state of the consciousness of humanity, when our hearts are polluted we pollute everything around us. When our hearts are pure, we purify everything around us. This is how creation works. Everything is built upon the foundation of consciousness which is the source of life. It is the consciousness that is manifested through our action and words that is the cause of happiness and...
December 21, 2012
A ritual is a formula which is meant to dovetail our consciousness to the supreme consciousness of God. The whole purpose of a spiritual ritual is transformation of the heart – from selfish passions to a spirit of selfless service to others, from arrogance to humility and from envy to having the power to appreciate others. If this transformation doesn’t take place in our heart, to create good character, personal integrity and ultimately love for God, then these rituals are all a waste of time. The value of a ritual...
December 20, 2012
The fundamental need of every living being is to love and to be loved. Without that nothng really can satisfy the heart. Objects can satisfy the senses of the body. Various emotional gratifications can satisfy the mind. But the heart is yearning, longing to love and to be loved. In the Brahma Sutra it says “Anandamayo’bhyasat”, which means that the inherit nature of every living being is that we are seeking pleasure. It is something we all have in common. Even the little ant that is crawling on the floor...
December 18, 2012
Radhanath Swami along with a group of 5000, primarily from the congregation of the Radha Gopinath Temple in Mumbai, recently gathered in the holy place of Mayapur, West Bengal, India from November 13th – 24th for a pilgrimage. In the inaugural address Radhanath Swami spoke of the importance of Mayapur and why, of all places in the world, it is the International Headquarters of the International Society of Krishna Consciousness. “It is a mystery for many people – why of everywhere in this world did Srila Prabhupada decided to make Mayapur...
December 15, 2012
Every living being is inherently seeking pleasure and the only true pleasure of the heart is the pleasure of love. This is something that universally everyone has in common. Everyone is seeking the pleasure of love. And the origin of that experience is the soul’s love for God. When we forget our love for God we seek that experience in so many directions but never completely satisfied. But when our propensity for love is once again reposed in the supreme object of all love, the all attractive Lord of all...