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

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Little Sparrow Who Conquered the Ocean

Image
In his purport to Bhagavad-gita, Chapter 6, Text 24 Srila Prabhupada wonderfully teaches us the power of determinations by telling us the story of the little sparrow who conquered the ocean: "As for determination, one should follow the example of the sparrow who lost her eggs in the waves of the ocean. A sparrow laid her eggs on the shore of the ocean, but the big ocean carried away the eggs on its waves. The sparrow became very upset and asked the ocean to return her eggs. The ocean did not even consider her appeal. So the sparrow decided to dry up the ocean. She began to pick out the water in her small beak, and everyone laughed at her for her impossible determination. The news of her activity spread, and at last Garuda, the gigantic bird carrier of Lord Visnu, heard it. He became compassionate toward his small sister bird, and so he came to see the sparrow. Garuda was very pleased by the determination of the small sparrow, and he promised to help. Thus Garuda at once asked t
Read more

Heart Melting Reunion with Amarendra and Gayatri

Image
On Friday 26 June 2015 I was blessed with the greatest good fortune of meeting with two of the dearest devotees of my entire life, His Grace Amarendra Prabhu and his good wife, Srimati Gayatri devi dasi. I am eternally indebted to these great souls for how much they helped me in my spiritual life when I was a young devotee. When I was young brahmacari monk in 1973 I joined with the two of them in Gainesville, Florida. We were a three person preaching center, and they were just like a mother and father to me. I had so many wonderful Krishna conscious experiences in their association that I can hardly begin to describe them here. But at least may it suffice for me to say for now that Gayatri taught me what it means to be a soft-hearted devotee of the Lord and she gave me my first cooking lesson, teaching me how to make cauliflower pakoras, and Amarendra taught me the art of how to preach strongly, intelligently, and coolly to defeat opposing arguments. Recently Gayatri almost died. But
Read more

Misguided Fools Say that Masturbation is Healthy

Image
Foolish modern day materialists recommend masturbation as follows: "Masturbation is a common activity. It’s a natural and safe way to explore your body, feel pleasure, and release built-up sexual tension. It occurs among people of all backgrounds, genders, and races. Despite the myths, there are actually no physically harmful side effects of masturbation." They are wrong. To get a proper understanding on this this topic read the question and answer section below. Answers According to the Vedic Wisdom Question: What are the Ill Effects of Masturbation? Since you answered questions related to understanding the real need of sex in a human being's life, so I also request you to please enlighten us with the knowledge about semen conservation, it's importance, and the consequences of frequently releasing it thorough sex or masturbation. Since today most of the youth are indulged in mansturbation and they think it to be good in comparison to doing sex with some female for
Read more