Blogs

Gargamuni Das

July 31, 1977.

The Art of Management...

"Do not centralise anything. Each temple must remain independent and self sufficient. That was my plan from the beginning… why are you thinking otherwise. Once before you wanted to do something centralising with your meeting and if I did not interfere the whole thing would have been killed.

Patricia Therese Wolff-Keaton 

Happiness is fleeting. I hate when people ask "are you happy" because it is ephemeral. Better to be content. Am I content? Not always, but I am working on it. I judge a religion by its followers. Srila Prabhupada's REAL disciples all work to make the world better in some way, to lift up the fallen, to spread that ephemeral happiness by sankirtana. Some of my fondest memories are sankirtana. Our religion is about IMPROVING ourselves. We will never be perfect in the material world. That is why we try to fix our mind on Krishna, to get to the spiritual world where we CAN be perfect, and happiness is NOT ephemeral. So, improve, be content, because God owns EVERYTHING. What you have is a gift. treasure it, and pass it along. I guess, I remember a lot of homeless in the temple on feast days. Who later became devotees. I honestly cannot see that happening today. And I am thinking of the middle "80s, even AFTER Srila Prabhupada's death. This outreach, however wa

The appreciation of His Divine Grace if one simply follows His instructions. heart emoticon

"I am very pleased that you have gone to that place simply on my order, alone, to preach the message of Lord Caitanya. I like this kind of spirit in you very much. You know I went to your country also alone, in old age, because of the order given to me by my spiritual master. So I get great pleasure when I see my own disciples from America going to far off places leaving their rich nation with all facilities and their families, to preach. The secret of success in spiritual life is to satisfy one's spiritual master. This is the essence. You have captured this. So now go on in this way and do not falter. Follow the regulative principles and devotional practices I have given you. This will keep you fit. Be patient and determined, and ask everyone you meet to please chant Hare Krsna."

"I CAME HERE TO TAKE THEIR SUFFERING", SAID PRABHUPADA

It was the beginning of 1977. Prabhupada was in Bombay temple. He was very sick. He had stopped all food intake – he was taking 1/4 a cup of orange juice per day. His body had only bones left – there was no flesh. And yet, he was insisting that he wanted to go to London. The doctors had given up responsibility. But as always, he was adamant

At this time, one Pancaratrika Pandit from Bangalore named Sampat Kumar Bhattacarya came to know about Srila Prabhupada’s situation. So, he took a flight from Bangalore to Bombay – which in those days was a huge thing for a Brahmin priest – and met Prabhupada, and asked for a private meeting. Generally, nobody was allowed a private meeting, but when he said that he specially came by flight from Bangalore to meet Srila Prabhupada, he was allowed a private meeting. So, everybody was asked to go out, and they talked.

The conversation was like this: Sampat Kumar: ‘Swamiji, I am feeling very pained

Philosophy Discussions
with His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

on Rene Descartes