Some of the Sweetest Days of My Life

As a young brahmacari monk in 1973 I was transferred from our ISKCON temple in Miami, Florida USA to Gainesville, Florida where Amarendra Prabhu and his wife, Gayatri devi dasi, were reopening ISKCON's Gainesville center near the campus of the University of Florida. (It been closed down during a brief centralization era of ISKCON.). When I arrived it was just the two of them living in a downstairs apartment. It was truly amazing that in one year we went from the three of us to twenty-five devotees living full time in the temple. We then bought and moved into a former sorority house near the campus on Depot Avenue. They cooked what we arguably the best prasadam in the whole ISKCON and were regularly distributing it. Amarendra sent me to the University of Florida campus five days a seek to the Plaza of the Americas to restart a prasadam distribution program on the campus that has been going on now for over forty years. You can can read more about that program here.

I will always remember those days in Gainesville as some of the sweetest days in my entire life.

If you have any questions, please write me at: tastenectar@gmail.com

With Amarendra Prabhu on the University of Florida Plaza of the Americas (I am on the lower left.)

With Amarendra Prabhu on the University of Florida Plaza of the Americas (Sankarshan Das on the lower left.)

Preaching Program in Gainesville with Me and Amarendra

Preaching Program in Gainesville with Sankarshan Das and Amarendra

Street Sankirtan in Gainesville (I am playing the harmonium.)

Street Sankirtan in Gainesville (Sankarshan Das playing the harmonium.)

Gayatri Had a Personal Friendship with Pisima, Srila Prabhupada's Sister

Gayatri Had a Personal Friendship with Pisima, Srila Prabhupada's Sister

With Amarendra and Gayatri Shortly Before Her Passing to the Spiritual World

With Amarendra and Gayatri Shortly Before Her Passing to the Spiritual World

Answers According to the Vedic Wisdom

Question: Is Our Karma Pre-Ordained?

Dear Gurudeva,

My name is Balaram Hariharan and I have been diligently following your
prescribed teachings from the Bhagavad Gita and the Bhagavatam.

Since childhood, I have been deeply fascinated by Lord Krishna and his leelas especially since watching B.R. Chopra's Mahabharat. Nevertheless, since subscribing to Your newsletter, my mind is slowly losing the 'false objectivity' that I had over the material world and how much I felt as the centre of the universe.

I have been chanting the Hare Krishna mantra daily as prescribed by you. As much as I want to tell how blissful I feel when I chant the Hare Krishna mantra, words simply fail.

I have a few questions to ask you about karma and where it fits in our lives:
1. Is our karma always preordained by Krishna?
2. Are we allowed to pursue our innate desires that spring forth in our beings?
3. If our thoughts, desires and dreams are all part and parcel of Krishna, don't we get to have a say in how we lead our lives?
4. Is it true that the body that we reside in is set by the nine planetary deities who govern every part of our lives?

I have a lot more questions to ask of you, but I feel that I may be boring you by chance, hence that's why I'm stopping myself.

Hare Krishna
Balaram Hariharan

Answer: No. It's Your Own Choice.

From: ISKCON Austin, Texas USA

My Dear Balarama,

Please accept my blessings.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Here are your questions with answers:

1. Is our karma always preordained by Krishna?
We create our own karma by pious and impious actions for which we are rewarded or punished. By surrendering to Krishna we become free from all of our karmic reactions and we go back to the spiritual world upon leaving our present bodies.

2. Are we allowed to pursue our innate desires that spring forth in our beings?
Yes, the real innate desires are our spiritual desires, not our material desires.

3. If our thoughts, desires and dreams are all part and parcel of Krishna, don't we get to have a say in how we lead our lives?
Krishna endows us with free will because He does not want to associate with robots.

4. Is it true that the body that we reside in is set by the nine planetary deities who govern every part of our lives?
In material life we are under the control of thirty-three million demigods. Surrender to Krishna liberates us from this.

I hope this meets you in the best of health
and in an ecstatic mood.

Your ever well-wisher,
Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Krishna Does Not Want Robots in the Spiritual World

Krishna Does Not Want Robots in the Spiritual World

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