Temple In The Streets

Temple In The Streets

We roam the country with a collection of tents, Srila Prabhupada’s books and the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. We set the Festival in the Streets up in parks and on street corners and everywhere we make a difference. In this way we offer the ancient, yet fresh and completely relevant message of Krishna consciousness to all.

The Hare Krishna movement in its present form was established by Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in India five hundred years ago. He revived the movement by taking Krishna consciousness on to the streets with his Sankirtana. Sankirtana means many people gathering together and chanting the holy name of God. In this age one mantra has been designated as the “maha-mantra” or great chant for deliverance. That maha-mantra is:

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare HareHare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare

Although Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu desired the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra be spread all over the world He personally distributed it throughout the Indian sub-continent. It was not until His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada arrived in the USA at Boston Harbor in 1965 that the Hare Krishna mantra was transported to Western shores.

Srila Prabhupada moved to New York where he sat underneath a tree in Tompkins Square Park and chanted the Hare Krishna mantra and encouraged whoever took any interest in the chanting. In this way Srila Prabhupada attracted sincere followers and from these humble beginnings he created the worldwide International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).

It is with the desire to reestablish this public street-based movement of Lord Caitanya and Srila Prabhupada that Kuvalesaya das Viswakarma has spearheaded the formation of Temple in the Streets.

Srila Prabhupada so kindly interrupted his pleasant and simple life of seclusion in the holy land of Vrindavana, India, to go west to the USA. He was fulfilling the desire of his spiritual master who had a very strong desire to see this transcendental knowledge penetrate beyond the borders of India and saturate the Western world with the science of love of God.

After much contemplation on how to take up this mission and push it forward Temple in the Streets was born.

In an attempt to be consistent with the example of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the Founder-Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, we have taken to the streets.

We roam the country with a collection of tents, Srila Prabhupada’s books and the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. We set the Festival in the Streets up in parks and on street corners and everywhere we make a difference. In this way we offer the ancient, yet fresh and completely relevant message of Krishna consciousness to all.

We have seen many movements and charities loose their direction and purpose when they find their energy has shifted to paying the necessary bills to maintain the institution. Therefore, to remain on the cutting-edge, intentionally we do not have a fixed residence or building to operate the temple from.

As odd as it may sound we are not trying to get followers to join us. We encourage you to take what you learn from the Temple in the Streets to your home, work, institutions, schools, communities and ultimately the world. Of course we like to keep in contact with people who have received value from our work.

We are looking to those people who are already passionate about the issues we face in this world: ecology, spirituality and sustainable living, to name a few, and who want to work cooperatively to create something which works on all levels for all beings. We want to give up our inherently harsh enforcement of false designations which result only in pain, suffering, bloodshed and illusion.

In the present age religion has failed to serve the need of the current civilization which is no longer controlled by a fear of eternal damnation. As such God has been give a bad name by the misdeeds of those who claim to represent him, promising liberation only at the time of death if your are a believer.

We make no such promises, our promise is that liberation is available now–not some day in the distant future. We can become liberated now by living life in relationship with God. We do not need to change our activities. Simply we have to change the purpose of our activities. We simply transfer our energy to serving and loving God, Krishna.

This knowledge is equally relevant to all, in whatever stage of existence one may be: young, middle aged or old; man, woman; black, white, yellow or brown skinned; Jewish, Christian, Muslim or Hindu. All these designations are irrelevant because this education pertains to the spiritual platform, the universal community we are already a part of. Service to the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna and his pure devotees and no other will provide the mature peace, harmony and prosperity the world is crying for.

It is my humble request and earnest invitation to you that you enquire with an open mind, “What is this Krishna consciousness movement?” Please look into your own life and the lives of those dear to you and take advantage of the timeless knowledge the Temple in the Streets is distributing. In this way we would like to serve you.

your servant
Kuvalesaya das Viswakarma

The foundation of our activates is the Srimad-Bhagavatam. I have provided the preface to this great literature.

Srimad-Bhagavatam
Preface
By His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

We must know the present need of human society. And what is that need? Human society is no longer bounded by geographical limits to particular countries or communities. Human society is broader than in the Middle Ages, and the world tendency is toward one state or one human society. The ideals of spiritual communism, according to Srimad-Bhagavatam, are based more or less on the oneness of the entire human society, nay, of the entire energy of living beings. The need is felt by great thinkers to make this a successful ideology. Srimad-Bagavatam will fill this need in human society. It begins, therefore, with an aphorism of Vedanta philosophy, janmady asya yatah, to establish the ideal of a common cause.

Human society, at the present moment, is not in the darkness of oblivion. It has made rapid progress in the fields of material comforts, education and economic development throughout the entire world. But there is a pinprick somewhere in the social body at large, and therefore there are large-scale quarrels, even over less important issues. There is need of a clue as to how humanity can become one in peace, friendship and prosperity with a common cause. Srimad-Bagavatam will fill this need, for it is a cultural presentation for the respiritualization of the entire human society.

Srimad-Bhagavatam should be introduced also in the schools and colleges, for it is recommended by great student-devotee Prahlada Maharaja in order to change the demoniac face of society.

kaumara acaret prajnodharman bhagavatan ihadurlabham manusam janmatad apy adhruvam artha-dam(Bhag. 7.6.1)

Disparity in human society is due to lack of principles in a godless civilization. There is God, or the Almighty One, from whom everything emanates, by whom everything is maintained and in whom everything is merged to rest. Material science has tried to find the ultimate source of creation very insufficiently, but it is a fact that there is one ultimate source of everything that be. This ultimate source is explained rationally and authoritatively in the beautiful Bhagavatam, or Srimad-Bhagavatam.

Srimad-Bhagavatam is the transcendental science not only for knowing the ultimate source of everything but also for knowing our relation with Him and our duty toward perfection of the human society on the basis of this perfect knowledge. It is powerful reading matter in the Sanskrit language, and it is now rendered into English elaborately so that simply by a careful reading one will know God perfectly well, so much so that the reader will be sufficiently educated to defend himself from the onslaught of atheists. Over and above this, the reader will be able to convert others to accepting God as a concrete principle.

Srimad-Bhagavatam begins with the definition of the ultimate source. It is a bona fide commentary on the Vedanta-sutra by the same author, Srila Vyasadeva, and gradually it develops into nine cantos up to the highest state of God realization. The only qualification one needs to study this great book of transcendental knowledge is to proceed step by step cautiously and not jump forward haphazardly as with an ordinary book. it should be gone through chapter by chapter, one after another. The reading matter is so arranged with the original Sanskrit text, its English transliteration, synonyms, translation and purports so that one is sure to become a God-realized soul at the end of finishing the first nine cantos.

The Tenth Canto is distinct from the first nine cantos because it deals directly with the transcendental activities of the personality of Godhead, Sri Krsna. One will be unable to capture the effects of the Tenth Canto without going through the first nine cantos. The book is complete in twelve cantos, each independent, but it is good for all to read them in small installments one after another.

I must admit my frailties in presenting Srimad-Bhagavatam, but still I am hopeful of its good reception by the thinkers and leaders of society on the strength of the following statement of Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.5.11):

tad-vag-visargo janatagha-viplavoyasmin prati-slokam abaddhavaty apinamany anantasya yaso ‘nkitani yacchrnvanti gayanti grnanti sadhavah

“On the other hand, that literature which is full of descriptions of the transcendental glories of the name, fame, form and pastimes of the unlimited Supreme Lord is a transcendental creation meant for bringing about a revolution in the impious life of a misdirected civilization. Such transcendental literature, even though irregularly composed, is heard, sung and accepted by purified men who are thoroughly honest.”

Om tat sat
A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami

if you are interested in reading the Srimad-Bhagavatam or any of the other literature on the science of Krishna Counsiousness the books are available at: www.krishnastore.com


Posted By: kuvalesaya-das-viswakarma

Jesse Jackson Gets Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-Gita!

A few days ago I was at Occupy Wall Street in New York City distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books.

Jesse Jackson Gets Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-Gita!

All of a sudden a Black SUV with tinted out windows pulled up on the side of the road and a few men got out. One of them was a black man dressed in a nice suit. Within a few seconds the man dressed in the suit was surrounded by about 50 news people with television cameras and microphones all trying to get at him. I had no idea who he was, but I figured he must be someone important and should have Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-Gita. Since I was already holding a stack of Gitas on my chest I immediately pushed my way through the mob of news and television reporters to get to this (unknown to me) man. Just as I reached him (by Krishna’s arrangement) he stopped speaking. Seizing the moment, I took a Bhagavad-Gita off the stack I was holding and cut in, saying in a load voice, “Excuse me sir, these books are 5000 year old original texts about God, the soul, consciousness and the mind”. I asked if he would take one and read it. He said yes, and right at the instant he took the book all the reporters and television people pushed me aside, and started yelling questions at him. It was as if Krishna had orchestrated the whole thing and created a short window of opportunity for me to give him the book. It was kind of mystical. As I was being pushed away I manage to quickly grab my phone and take a picture of him holding the book. As you can see from the picture, he held Prabhupada’s Gita right in front of him as he was being interviewed and  filmed by the TV people. Who could ask for better advertising?!

After talking to the media for a few minutes, he got back in his car with Prabhupada’s Gita and drove off. As the crowd dissipated I asked one of the TV crew people, “Who was that man?” The TV guy I asked just burst out in a sarcastic laugh and yelled at me in an angry tone of voice, “Get out here! Are you joking?!” I explained to him, “No, I am serious, I am a monk. I have not watched television, radio or newspaper for the last 16 years. I don’t know anything but spiritual stuff.” As he turned to walk away the TV guy replied in disgust, “You mean you pushed me out of the way to get to Jesse Jackson and you don’t even know who he is?! I can’t believe you!”

In trying to find out who this man called Jesse Jackson is, I talked to some other bystanders that also could not believe I did not know who he was. I finally found out he is the founder of the Rainbow Coalition, ran for president, was voted “the most important black leader”, famous activist for black and minority rights,  and was a very close friend of Martin Luther King Jr.

A Success Story of American Football Player

Errick Lynne "Ricky" Williams, Jr. (born May 21, 1977) is a former American football running back who played eleven seasons in the National Football League (NFL) and one season in the Canadian Football League (CFL).

Williams is a qualified yoga instructor. He has stated that one of his main reasons for joining the Canadian Football League's Toronto Argonauts was for the opportunity to teach free yoga lessons at a local Toronto yoga facility. It has been reported that Williams uses a Hindu-based pranic healing similar to therapeutic touch to recover from injuries.

Williams is vegan or at least has a meat-free diet. Tim Graham has reported that Greek yogurt is the only non-vegan food in Williams' diet.PETA has used video of him praising meatless alternatives to popular chicken dishes.

He was a marijuana addict before but reports indicate that he is a changed man, and he credits that to his spirituality.

Welcoming well known American football player Ricky Williams to Hinduism fold, Hindus have suggested inclusion of yoga into practice routine of National Football League (NFL) teams. Noted Hindu statesman Rajan Zed applauded Errick Lynne "Ricky" Williams Jr., running back for the Miami Dolphins of NFL, for turning his life around and resurrecting his career reportedly through spirituality, yoga, meditation and ayurveda. His spiritual journey, which reportedly transformed him to a healthy warrior at the ripe age of 33, could prove inspiring to other players. He reportedly visited India, and is vegetarian and a certified yoga instructor. Name of one of his daughters is Asha and he has reportedly learnt selfless action and humility from Hinduism.

Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, says that many American athletes are reportedly adopting yoga practice. Yoga reportedly makes a great complement to athletic training and various types of athletes are incorporating the practice into their training for bettering sports performance by improving flexibility and functional strength, building muscle energy and stamina, preventing sports injuries, dealing with stress, overcoming back pain, improving breathing and focusing, increasing endurance, etc. Rajan Zed stressed that yoga was a mental and physical discipline and could prove highly rewarding to NFL players. Yoga, referred as "a living fossil", was one of the six systems of orthodox Hindu philosophy. According to Patanjali, author of the basic text Yoga Sutra who codified yoga, yoga was a methodical effort to attain perfection, through the control of the different elements of human nature, physical and psychical.

Ray Lewis, famous American football linebacker from Baltimore Ravens, reportedly told the Chicago (USA) media: "I'm talking about an hour-and-a-half yoga classes at times. And the crazy part about it is, once you actually get into it a good two or three times, you really miss if you don't do it. It stretches you that much."

Russell Brand and Perry married in India

Russell Brand and Katy Perry have married in a traditional Hindu ceremony

Chart beauty Katy Perry has tamed the one-time lothario Russell Brand as they married in an Indian ceremony.

A Hindu priest conducted the wedding, the first stage of days of celebrations with friends who are thought to include Jonathan Ross.

Both Brand and Perry wore traditional Indian clothes, with the bride dressed in a sari.

The couple, who met at the MTV Video Music Awards in September 2009, where Brand,35, was host, tried to keep their celebration under wraps.

They flew in earlier this week with Perry, 25, covering her head and face as she and her fiance touched down in Mumbai.

The ceremony took place at the Aman-e-Khas luxury resort outside the Ranthambhore tiger sanctuary, 80 miles from the "pink city" of Jaipur.

A hotel official told the Associated Press that the venue's trees were illuminated by colourful lights and luxury tents were decorated with flower garlands.

One of the tour operators let slip this week that it would be a six-day celebration beginning with a Hindu ceremony. About 80 guests are expected to be taken on tours of the tiger sanctuary in the days after the wedding.

News agency Press Trust of India reported that 21 camels, elephants and horses formed part of Brand's wedding procession from a nearby resort. He was also accompanied by traditional dancers and musicians.

Perry has already appealed for privacy on Twitter while the couple took a break from the limelight to get married.

The Science of Purity

Acyutananda Svami, shown above (center) in Vrndavana, India,

His Holiness Acyutananda Svami, shown above (center) in Vrndavana, India, the site of Lord Krishna’s transcendental pastimes, is an American svami actively preaching in India since 1967. He has gained considerable recognition in Bengal and Uttar Pradesh for his abilities in chanting and lecturing in Bengali and English. He has edited a book of songs by great Krishna conscious spiritual masters, soon to be published, and is now working on an English translation of Caitanya-bhagavata, an important Bengali epic describing the activities of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

IF ANYONE SAYS; “I don’t believe in God,” he’s either a madman or a number one fool. Not a single scientific advancement has lessened the existence or potency of God, and none ever will. Nor has science made man any more secure in his position or powerful in conquering the stringent laws of nature that attack him at every moment. Employing an air conditioner to cool a few square yards is not controlling the sun’s heat, and enclosing oneself in a plate-glass house is not the same as stopping the rain; nor is struggling through drought relief the same as making the rain come according to one’s will. These are simply measures to ward off the blows of material nature. Yet these feeble measures of defence are being mistaken for “man’s conquest of nature.” And, at any rate, sitting in an air-conditioned room with a television, radio and plate-glass windows but having a mind distressed by worry, envy and anger is useless.

At a meeting in Bengal, when I was invited to speak to a large group of Muslim scholars about scientific proof of God, I said, “Look at this watch. It has twelve numbers on the face. Why? Why not eleven, thirteen or fifteen? Why doesn’t it change every day? It’s because the day and night are each divided into twelve parts according to the movements of the sun, which for millions of years has been coming and going within a twenty-four hour period so predictably that scientists and watchmakers believe it will continue to do so for millions of years in the future.” Like the moon and other planets, the sun moves with such precision that science accepts it as a guide by which to tell time. Now, if manufacturing an accurate watch requires a very intelligent brain, how much more developed the brain must be that created the sun! It is definitely a brain superior to any man’s.

To paint a picture of a flower on a table, an artist must work for several hours, and to copy it takes many more hours on a printing press built and operated by many intelligent men. Still, the flower has no fragrance, nor is it as perfectly formed as a real flower. If one were to bury such a flower in the ground, it would not grow because it would have no seeds. But if I put real flowers in the earth, more flowers would grow, without help from machines or brains, and these flowers that grew would contain seeds and be able to go on producing flowers forever. “Oh, that’s just nature,” say the scientists. And we answer them, “Yes, it is nature. But nature is not working without a supreme and inconceivably vast intellect operating it.”

Actually, we don’t “create” anything. Take our houses, for example. Air conditioned or not, they are composed of many building materials, such as cement, steel, sand and bricks. The elements for these materials were found already formed in the earth, and then man changed their forms by mixing them with water, fire, etc. That is not creation; it is only the changing of forms. We can change the form of the material, but what is it that produces the basic elements we are handling? Science has no answers, but only speculations. The scientists have only theories, but they speak like authorities. A true scientist, however, will admit his inability to explain the facts of creation and the happenings of nature.

For the entire Twentieth Century our view of history has been based upon the discoveries of archaeological findings. Only recently, however, the carbon 14 dating method, the main chemical system for tracing the age of ancient finds, has been proven faulty and imperfect. This also means that all the history books are faulty and imperfect. Darwin says that early man was unintelligent, undeveloped and uncivilized. But Bhagavad-gita, spoken over five thousand years ago, reveals the supreme philosophy of life. Were Krishna, Arjuna, Vyasadeva and Valmiki cavemen? Could such a highly cultured language as Sanskrit be the creation of the grunts and groans of highly developed apes? I challenge any follower of Darwin to study the Sanskrit language with his proudly developed intellect, or even read the Vedas, aside from understanding them, to say nothing of equalling the Vedic writings.

Let us face the facts that our so-called scientific education has given quite a hazy picture of the past and nothing about the future. This has left us in a very precarious present. Why are the Vedic literatures rejected as unscientific? They were written by the most advanced super-intellects, whose laboratories were their asramas, the Himalayas and the process of regulated sense control. Material scientific experiments are performed blindly on the strength of imperfect tools, imperfect data and imperfect senses by those who have no control over the mind and its tendencies of illusion. A true scientist should make an experiment with the materials gathered from a given field and realize the results. One should not accept the conclusions of the imperfect senses

Therefore we, who are also scientists, accept the authority of the perfect, infallible authors of the Vedas. Their names should be known-Vyasadeva, Devala, Asita, Markandeya, Valmiki and the supreme authority, Lord Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself. Blind faith? No! In the beginning many doctrines may not be understandable, but it is not long before their meaning is completely revealed, if I cannot understand something now, it is not to be rejected as false until proven false. There are many; scientific doctrines we accept without full understanding; in fact, material scientists really know very little about the why’s and why not’s of most of their principles.

When a scientist does not understand a phenomenon, he simply puts his own name on it, Such as “gravity.” What is gravity? It is an inconceivable energy that attracts material objects. But what is it? What they cannot explain they hide by applying a new name. Try it! What is crystallization? It is only a name of a phenomenon we cannot understand. Actually, the scientist, utterly baffled at the transformations of the world, tries to bluff the public with a smoke screen of names. Even the most authoritative of theorems will contain terminology like “maybe,” “probably,” “it might have been” and “as far as we know,” But how far do you know?

A case in point: From my collegiate studies of Darwin’s theory of evolution (which is still just that, a theory, not a law), I clearly remember an interesting occurrence. In the textbook of 1962 an illustration depicted the stages of development from the ape to modern man according to Darwin. First was the common ape, then a stone image of the Piltdown man, then the Neanderthal man, then the Cro-Magnon man and modern man. This was all well and good, and for the time it was fashionable to accept it. But in 1963 in the same textbook’s illustration depicting “man’s growth from the ape,” the rather dumb-looking Piltdown chap was not gloriously seated next to the ape but was absent from the “great line of evolution.” Why? The “missing link” between animal and rational man had been found to be a hoax! Mind you, all the leading paleontologists, archaeologists and “what-notists” accepted this humbug, which they considered such reliable evidence of the progress of evolution that it found a place in every textbook. Thus the clever man in Piltdown, England, who had carved a limestone image of a caveman, buried it in his backyard and cashed in had successfully pulled the wool over the eyes of the whole scientific world.

The spiritual masters who prepared the Vedic literature, and the Supreme Lord who descended to earth, were all infallible, nonenvious well-wishers to human society who were transcendental to material nature and had no intent to cheat. They did not hoard their unlimited wisdom; they distributed it to us in the Vedas, and men who have followed it have achieved the highest destination. We can certainly have faith in these Vedic masters, at least enough faith to begin their process of self-purification. Once the process begins, it is not long before the neophyte experiences the results of spiritual advancement, which are pure knowledge (jnana) and detachment from material limitations (vairagya). Then the student, his faith confirmed, continues on the path unrestricted.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare HareHare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

The path for all men, regardless of age, sex, religion, community or race, is the path of Krishna consciousness. One obtains this consciousness by chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, not by arguing or pondering over philosophical doctrines. When men’s minds are corrupt, there is no use in their programs for peace, prosperity and the pursuit of happiness. In India, for example, there is a vehement interest in politics. There are innumerable journals, even of a spiritual nature, that devote many pages to discussing the impure topics of politicians. This has only misdirected people’s attention from their real duty, self-realization or God-realization.

LORD KRISHNA IN VRINDAVAN

Do not expect anything just and right to be a product of someone who has hot controlled his senses and mind through bhakti-yoga. First purify the mind by mantra, and then you will see pure spiritual energy develop and purify the environment, if there is a boil on the skin due to impure blood, no skin ointment will help. But as soon as the blood is purified, the sore heals. Cleanse the consciousness that is the root of our existence, and you will cleanse the world thoroughly. If one speck of contamination is in the consciousness, the result will appear on the surface of society in gross form as one of the many problems we face. These problems are only symptoms of the disease of lack of Krishna consciousness. If you want peace, justice, prosperity, satisfaction, knowledge and harmony between men, you must take up the process of internal cleansing by bhakti-yoga.

There are ample resources in the world, but they are being exploited by people with neither knowledge nor detachment, selfish individuals with ulterior motives. A person must be without selfishly motivated interests if he really wants to do good in the world. One quickly achieves this purity by practical application of Krishna consciousness. The immediate fruits of bhakti-yoga, devotional service to Krishna, are knowledge and sobriety. A man who is attached to money and the enjoyments of the body cannot be a trusted leader or even a worthy associate. One must be above the influences of these temptations to achieve complete composure and equilibrium.; In such a peaceful state, one’s knowledge can be accurate and effective.

Every day our senses are bombarded by material experiences that invoke the most abominable desires. Obtaining the satisfaction of these desires is not possible, for they lead one on and on to hanker for the unattainable, if .we see a picture of a mountain and then see some gold, the uncontrolled mind will push us to want a mountain of gold. If we see sweets, we will think of eating a mountain of sweets. But a mountain of gold or sweets is never to be achieved, and the mind gets more and more agitated. In this state, one becomes enraged at his inability to serve the senses and loses memory of the true reality. There is then no hope of regaining sanity, and he is destroyed.

How does Krishna consciousness help? The nine processes of Krishna consciousness forcibly direct the mind towards Krishna. By having the slightest true experience of Krishna, the senses lose their poisonous desire for enjoyment, and their thirst is quenched. The nine processes begin, with hearing and chanting the names and glories of Krishna. When one has heard sufficiently, he can also repeat what he has heard. In so doing, his mind recalls again and again the names, qualities, forms and pastimes of Krishna, which are exciting, enchanting and sweet. Then nothing else can attract his mind.

Krishna’s pastimes and form are not maya (illusion); to meditate upon them is to absorb the mind in the Supreme in samadhi (true ecstasy)! Therefore the mind absorbed in Krishna is truly safe, detached from bombardment by matter. The safest place for the mind to dwell is in kirtana-rasa, the mellow quality of glorification of Krishna, in the ecstasy of chanting the names of Krishna and hearing attractive: descriptions of Krishna from the lips of the eloquent deliverers of hari-katha (topics of Krishna consciousness). Formless, abstract meditations are condemned in the Gita, Twelfth Chapter:

kleso ‘dhikataras tesamavyaktasakta-cetasamavyakta hi gatir duhkhamdehavadbhir avapyate

“For those whose minds are attached to the unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Supreme, advancement is very troublesome. To make progress in that discipline is always difficult for those who are embodied.” (Bg. 12.5)

It is not possible for meditation on formlessness to satisfy anyone for very long. The mind and senses, starved of their sense enjoyment, will force the meditator to the material world, just as they conquered Visvamitra, a great yogi who meditated for thousands of years but was disturbed when a beautiful woman attracted him. A person relishing the ecstasy of Krishna’s sweet smile and form, however, will never want to look at ordinary flesh and blood again. Therefore our course of action should be to follow the words of the authorities, who say:

srnvatam sva-kathah Krishnahpunya-sravana-kirtanahhrdy antah stho hy abhadranividhunoti suhrt satam

“Sri Krishna is a disinterested friend of the virtuous, and His praises sanctify those who listen to or sing them. He abides in the hearts of those who hear His Stories. He uproots the evil propensities of their minds.”



By: His Holiness Acyutananda Svami



soure: Backtogodhead

U.S.A : Hindu Convert a Spiritual Teacher at Temple in Omaha

Today Westeners are also embracing Hindu Dharma, but Hindus in India and many other countries are blindly following Western Culture ! 

OMAHA : When Frank Morales was only 10 years old, growing up in Brooklyn, N.Y., he developed a strong interest in spirituality.

“I started reading the various scriptures of the world,” he said.  He read the Bible, the Quran, ancient Buddhist texts. Finally, he read the Bhagavad Gita, a short book that is one of the most revered of Hindu scriptures.
“I felt I’d found what I was looking for,” he said. 

The Gita tells the story of Arjuna, a warrior in India, who is caught up in a battle between members of his own family.  In a crisis of conscience, he turns to Krishna, an incarnation of God, for advice. Krishna gives Arjuna instruction and answers his questions, providing a clear and logical explanation of the three paths of yoga, or union with God.

The three paths — karma yoga (action), gyana-yoga (knowledge) and bhakti-yoga (devotion) — form the basis for the practice of Hinduism.  As a young boy discovering them for the first time, Morales felt that they gave the most understandable explanation of the human situation and human beings’ relationship with God.
“I was searching for a truth that was universal, not just sectarian,” he said.  “I wasn’t looking for faith; I was looking for philosophy.  It had to be universally applicable.”

He went on to study more Hindu scriptures and soon discovered that there are so many Hindu texts that probably no one person has read them all.

“They were written over many hundreds of years.  They’re older than the Bible.  They’re considered the oldest collection of writings known to humanity.”
 At age 14, he made his first visit to a Hindu temple — in Queens, N.Y. The temple was filled with beautiful artwork and statues representing many Hindu deities, each of whom is considered a different expression of God.

“It was absolutely stunning; I was overwhelmed,” Morales said.  “I felt I was leaving the world behind, entering a spiritual world. I finally sat down in front of a statue of Krishna, and in my own mind I said, ‘I’m home.  This will be my religion for the rest of my life.’”

Morales went on to study philosophy and theology, eventually receiving a doctoral degree with an emphasis on Hinduism and Asian culture from the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He made several trips to India, and in 1986, after living as a celibate monk for six years,  he was initiated as a Hindu priest.
Back in the United States, he became an acharya, or teacher of Hinduism, and adopted the Sanskrit name Sri Dharma Pravartaka Acharya. The word “dharma” means natural law; his name literally means “one who sets the dharma in motion.”

Morales has become a widely recognized Hindu teacher, especially through his Web site, www.dharmacentral.com.  He is president of the International Sanatana Dharma Society.
Last fall, he became the resident acharya (spiritual teacher) at the Hindu Temple of Nebraska in Omaha. He teaches several different classes, including introduction to Hinduism, a study of the Bhagavad Gita and a youth class. He gives a spiritual talk prior to Sunday worship at the temple and also leads satsang (meditation and religious discourse) sessions weekly in Omaha, and once each month in Lincoln.

Most of his students are people of Indian background who want to learn more about their religion. But a growing number are people who come from other religious traditions who want to learn about Hinduism. A few of those have decided, like Morales did, to become Hindus themselves.
“Hinduism does not look for converts,” Morales said.  “But we do like to teach.  Anyone is welcome to come and learn.”

Heather Mortensen is one of his students who considers herself a convert to Hinduism.  She grew up in an evangelical Christian family, but said she had many doubts about the God of the Bible, who often is depicted as angry and judgmental. She went to www.beliefnet.com to learn about other religions. “I was super impressed with the Hindu quotes,” she said.
That led her to read the Bhagavad Gita and felt it answered  her questions about God and human destiny.  “I was in bliss the entire day while I was reading it.”
Mortensen said she found the Hindu concept of reincarnation most appealing, because it gives people a chance to keep striving, through successive lives, to learn and grow closer to God.

She began studying with Morales in Wisconsin, and when he came to Nebraska last fall, she moved to Omaha to continue taking classes from him.  Mortensen goes to the Hindu Temple regularly to meditate and participates in Sunday services there with the Hindu community.

The temple serves about 1,000 families — predominantly immigrants from India and their children — but there are a few converts, like Mortensen, who regularly attend services.
“I’m getting to know them (the Indians),” she said. “They’re usually surprised at first — but I remind them I’m Hindu by telling them my Hindu name.”  Mortensen took the Sanskrit name Tulasi in a ritual in which she vowed to follow Hindu teachings and practices.
On May 29, Morales will lead a ritual in Council Bluffs for 20 or more people who are becoming Hindus.  He estimates that about 1.5 million Americans nationwide have converted to Hinduism.
Stephanie Guilfoyle, another of Morales’ students who lives in Omaha, was raised Lutheran and converted to Catholicism when she got married, but about 10 years ago began studying different forms of Buddhism.  That eventually led her to Hinduism, since the Buddha was himself a practicing Hindu.
“I was searching for the truth — I was searching for the root of all the traditions I had studied,” she said.  “When I read the Bhagavad Gita, I felt, ‘This is what all the other religions are saying, but it’s in the purest form, the most undiluted.’”
In the Gita, Krishna teaches Arjuna about the nature of the soul and about the difference between eternal reality and the changing world of sensory experience.  The ultimate destiny of all people, Krishna says, is union with God.

She described Morales as a gifted teacher who helped the meaning of the text come alive. 
John Granger, who grew up in a Catholic family and attended a Jesuit high school, became an agnostic at age 17 and didn’t become a believer again until he discovered Hinduism at age 44.
“Hinduism seems to fit my spiritual path, but it was a path I was on anyway,” he said.
Granger enjoys the richness of the Hindu tradition, which is reflected in the many different deities represented in the Omaha temple.  The temple has 12 separate sanctums, or altars, each with one or more statues representing different incarnations of God. People from various parts of India have certain deities that they honor, so Hindus of all backgrounds feel comfortable in the Omaha temple.
Ram Bishu, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln engineering professor and chairman of the temple’s religious committee, said the temple was created primarily as a center of worship and teaching for people from India who live in Nebraska and Iowa. But, he added, “We’re totally comfortable” with people of other religious backgrounds visiting or participating in prayers and rituals.

“Hinduism is not a proselytizing religion,” he said. “We have no formal way of converting someone to Hinduism. It’s a very individualistic religion; you can be an atheist or agnostic and still be a Hindu.”
Bishu noted that many Americans practice yoga as an exercise technique, or a way of calming their mind, but most are not aware of the spiritual side of yoga as taught at the temple. Some people may go to the temple because they’re studying yoga and want to learn more about its origins and deeper meaning, he said.
Many church groups visit the  temple seeking to learn about Hinduism and promote inter-religious understanding.

“Hinduism is a religion of tolerance,” Morales said.  His goal as a teacher, he said, is not to preach but to explain the religion and offer “a supportive environment” for individual spiritual growth.