There is a way in which to perform tapasya in order to control the senses. It is a kind of combat between the practitioner and the desires and emotions within. But after all, we are sentient beings, which means we have emotions and we have desires. Therefore, the abject denial of desires and emotions can make the heart hard. From a hard heart, anger may arise. Therefore, we as Vaisnavas, perform yukta vairagya. That is, we perform austerities by rejecting anything that cannot be used in the servic...

In France we were very poor also. So Prabhupada wanted us to open a temple. So somehow or other by a miracle we opened a temple. And we invited him to come. ...While chanting I noticed there was a brown bag in the temple room. It was a brown paper bag. So I picked it up, I looked inside it was full of money. More money than I had ever seen in my life! So immediately I put it under my arm and covered it with a chadar. (claps) and I started to sweat thinking what will I do if someone comes...

This is the good fortune we have to be born in Caitanya Mahaprabhu's movement. The generosity of Caitanya Mahaprabhu is to reveal the highest treasure. So the highest treasure is not just prema, and not just Krishna prema, but Radha Krishna prema. To not just deliver and qualify people, every body, even aparadhis. Therefore He is most generous. Generally they don't give to aparadhis. But Caitanya Mahaprabhu wants to save even the aparadhis. How is it possible? Through Sri Nama Sankirtan. Even a perso...

At one stage a small group of devotees went to Madras. We were the first devotees from ISKCON to go. And we were staying with a gentleman, sort of orthodox in his own way, also speculative, who was saying that we are Vaisnavas and Vaisnavas are greater than brahmans but we are not brahmans. In order to become brahmans we have to take birth in brahmana families in our next life. So there were four of us in that small party and Acyutananda Swami said to our host - what is more powerful, sinful r...

When I travel, people always ask how the movement spread in the early days. My realization is that it spread by Prabhupada's faith in the Holy Name to purify us. One day I was happily sitting in the San Francisco Temple in 1970. At that point, I had been a devotee for eight months. I had just turned to the ripe age of twenty. I was called into the Temple President's office and told that I would be going to Vancouver to be the Temple President because I was so qualified. Why would Prabhupada allow th...

In 1970 the devotees approached the authorities of the University of California at Berkeley to be allowed to give some classes on Krishna consciousness to the students. The faculty members considered the proposal and rejected it. There was a newspaper article sometime later in the Los Angeles Times. And one of the professors named Professor Staal was quoted as saying, that "the Hare Krishnas.. or the devotees spend too much time chanting to be able to develop a philosophy." (laughter) ...

I’ve heard from a couple of devotees who have served Prabhupada, particularly Hari Sauri, that when mistakes were made in serving Prabhupada, he was lenient in forgiving a mistake when made the first time, accompanied by an explanation of what should be done. His expectation was that the mistake wouldn't happen again. If it happened again, the person who made the mistake the second time was sorry...far more sorry than the first time!

"Serve Krishna and the Vaisnavas as much as possible and constantly chant Hare Krishna mantra and that will be sufficient." This devotee left Bengal, walked for ten days to Puri, in June, to see Lord Jagannath at Rath Yatra and Caitanya Mahaprabhu. And he asked Caitanya Mahaprabhu "How do I recognize a devotee?" So Caitanya Mahaprabhu says, "One who likes the chanting of Hare Krishna is the best person in a group." So that is the lowest denominator of the Vaisnava. This is why w...

Yamaraja specifically advises his servants to bring these persons to him for punishment and not to bring the devotees, who always lick the honey at the lotus feet of the Lord, who are equal to everyone, and who try to preach Krsna consciousness because of sympathy for all living entities. Devotees are not liable to punishment by Yamaraja, but persons who have no information of Krsna consciousness cannot be protected by their material life of so-called family enjoyment.

Narada Muni was concerned how these souls would be delivered. So then Lord Caitanya asked for volunteers, those who would like to go with Him to the material world to spread the Harinam sankirtan and deliver the fallen souls. Radharani and some sakhis and gopis volunteered. The queens in Dwaraka volunteered-some. Then Lord Caitanya said, I will preach in India, Bharatavarsha and for those who skip and go to the western countries, I will send my senapati bhakta who will make many devotees, commanding devotee. He will spread the Harinam sankirtan all over th...

Lord Krishna is known as Rasraja Krishna. Rasaraja Krishna means He is made up of mellows. The ingredients used to create Krishna's body is made up of sweetness. This is Rasaraja Krishna. And Srimati Radharani is mahabhava svarupini, is made up of Krishna prema. Krishna is made up of sweetness mellows and Radharani is made up of Krishna prema.

Video of a recent (2014-03-21) SB class in Sri Mayapur Dham

Prabhupada said that. Prabhupada said at the end of one class, to go back to Godhead you have to be 100% pure, all the devotees were like - me, 100% pure, don't know about that! And Prabhupada noticed and said, at least 90%. And devotees were still - leaves me out. Prabhupada said at least 80%. Still it was the same. And Prabhupada said just take hold of my dhoti and I will take you back, I have the key to the back door. (haribol)

There are six loving exchanges. This Hare Krishna movement is an opportunity to explore and experience those six loving exchanges between the devotees. By offering prasad, by learning how to actually accept prasadam, by chanting the Holy Name, learning how to actually receive the Holy Name. By offering the gift of pure love of Krishna to others and being willing to accept the gift of pure loving service to Krishna from others. These are the loving exchanges.

The sadhu goes begging from door to door, "My dear sir or My dear lady! Why you are wasting your precious human form of life? After millions and billions of years you have received this rare gift of this human form. Why you are wasting your time like this?" But unfortunately most of the time people are not, they are not ready to receive transcendental knowledge, they have no taste for it.

Service to pure devotee is the best of all service and by that service one gets awarded affinity, one gets attraction, attachment to hear and chant the glories of the Lord and that's what we are looking for. We want that. We want to become so attracted to hearing and chanting the glories of the Lord that if we don't have that opportunity we feel disturbed. If we are not absorbed in the mood of trying to hear and chant the glories of the Lord we don't find the happiness we are looking for.

Somehow or the other Prabhupada gave association to his devotees, and these devotees gave association to their devotees. These devotees gave association to other devotees. By this, mercy is coming down in the disciplic succession. And whoever is jijnasu, whoever is really interested, whoever is the real human being, whoever is really tatva jijnasu, they can achieve the merit, the benefit of this association-by getting books, by getting prasad, by hearing kirtan, by doing parikrama, from many other ways. But unless you come in contact with these ...

So,in our process we have everything. We have the acts of surrender and we have the philosophy. We have knowledge. Sometimes Prabhupada would say, if you just chant Hare Krishna that's sufficient. And if you want to understand from a philosophical point of view, we have so many books to convince you. Either way. It's not that everybody is necessarily philosophical minded. Although at least those who take initiation they should try to be, even if they are not necessarily philosophically inclined, they should try to become that way. And so they'll read Prabhu...

I myself have personally given birth to 10 children: 5 boys and 5 girls. And I have to tell you, at the birth of each of my children, I personally offered them at the lotus feet of Prabhupada. And every single one of those children have helped me to surrender more to the lotus feet of Sri Sri Radha Krishna. Because I knew that I was totally helpless to take care of this person, I was totally helpless to give them Krishna consciousness and that I had to be totally dependent on Prabhupada and Radha Bankabihari, my istadev, to do the work for them, and ...

In a couple of years 2016, we will be celebrating a very important event. What is that event? ISKCON’s 50th anniversary. That’s a very very big deal and if we all join together and make that an emphasis along with the other services we have, we are going to be getting a lot of attention from the governments, the media, from religious leaders. They are going to look at us more and more and they are going to expect more and more from us. So we should be careful to think and to look and to do everything we can, will we be up to the task of showing them an exam...

So the harinama party should be such that we are attractive to people. There is whole paper written by Indradyumna Swami and Sri Prahlada Prabhu about this. Bhaktimarga Swami and I put it together. Its called the Sankirtana Manual. It was never published en mass, but you are all welcome to it. I will send you the pdf, put it on the site. It goes through all of these things: how to put on a successful harinama party. It’s based on his experiences in Poland, and so many other places. It describes how to put on an effective harinama party so that people actuall...

"My devotee only asks for one thing, let me serve You! So therefore, how can I give him anything, he doesn't want? But still I must give him something. I must give him something which is valuable. Something which he'll appreciate or value. Something that will mean something for him. He doesn't want wealth. He doesn't want follower. He doesn't want beautiful women. He doesn't want anything from me. But let me give him something that he'll accept. So what do I give him. I give him My heart. My devotee has my heart. And you are asking me have a heart! And I am...