Back To Godhead Year 2014 Volume-11 Number-02

C O N T E N T S Features

Founded 1944. Vol. 11 No. 2 Janurary 2014 FOUNDER’S LECTURE

KÅÑËA’S SEPARATED ENERGIES

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Philosophical life begins by inquiring into the source of the elements of the natural world.

LESSONS FROM THE ROAD

DO YOU HAVE LIFE’S MANUAL? Help for simplifying life’s complexities

INDIA’S TRYST WITH SPACE Have we been there before?

SPIRITUAL SCIENTIST

SEXUAL ENERGY ON THE RIOT A spiritual perspective on the Tejpal scandal REMEBERING A SONG TWO DECADES LATER

VEDIC OBSERVER

MOHAMED SULEIMAN AND SAÌKÉRTANA IN MALAWI

HOW I CAME TO KÅÑËA CONSCIOUSNESS

Nothing can stop a person from rendering devotional service to Kåñëa, including his apparently foreign religious upbringing.

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CARING FOR THE BIRD Adapted by Tattvavit Däsa from Çréla Prabhupäda’s teachings based on the analogy of the bird in the cage.

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Departments L ETTERS

4 P 17 Organized chaos HOTOSCOPE

EVERY TOWN ND VILLAGE

30 A 33 VC

AIÑËAVA ALENDAR

EDITORIAL

34 The Land of Fakirs, Visit us at

www.backtogodhead.in

Yogés, Snakes, and Miracles

OUR PURPOSES • To help all people discern reality from illusion, spirit from matter, the eternal from the temporary. • To expose the faults of materialism. • To offer guidance in the Vedic techniques of spiritual life. • To preserve and spread the Vedic culture. • To celebrate the chanting of the holy names of God as taught by Lord Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu • To help every living being remember and serve Çré Kåñëa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

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LETTERS BACK TO GODHEAD

Is polygamy unethical?

The Magazine of the Hare Krishna Movement FOUNDER (under the direction of His Divine Grace Çré Çrémad Bhaktisiddhänta Sarasvaté Prabhupäda) His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupäda BTG INDIA: EDITOR Çyämänanda Däsa • ASSISTANTS Muräri Gupta Däsa, Mukunda Mälä Däsa, Manish Goel, Nanda Duläl Däsa • EDITORIAL CONSULTANT Caitanya Caraëa Däsa • PROOFREADERS Acyuta Däsa, Radha Panicker, Revaté Vallabha Däsa, Gautam Saha • PUBLISHER Yudhiñthira Däsa (Ujwal Jajoo) • PRODUCTION Saccidänanda Däsa (Sanjiv Maheshwari), Sundar Rüpa Däsa (Sudarshan Sapaliga) •GENERAL MANAGER (CIRCULATION) Pänduraìga Däsa (Rajendra-kumar Pujari) •ACCOUNTS Sahadeva Däsa (S.P. Maheshwari) • SUBSCRIBER SERVICES Manjaré Devé Däsé (Mira Singh) OFFICE Back to Godhead, 33 Janki Kutir, Next to State Bank of Hyderabad, Juhu, Mumbai 400 049, India.

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It is mentioned in our scriptures that a man can have many wives. Is this ethical?

—Anonymous Our reply: The current prevalence of hyper-promiscuous thought in society makes polygamy (one man having multiple wives) appear to be an authorization for licentious behavior.

We should however consider that the scriptures that describe how a single man married multiple women also describe how such a man also took full responsibility of good care of those wives and provided for them in every respect.

In previous ages, if a man, especially a king, wished to have multiple wives, he was allowed to marry more than once only if he was capable of maintaining them all. It wasn’t easy for a man to marry many wives because that meant his love would get divided between these wives. We read about King Uttänapäda who could not maintain his affection for his wife Sunéti after marrying Suruci. In one incident, Lord Caitanya was refused naivedya by some young girls and He jokingly wanted to curse them to be married to a man with four wives. Thus, polygamy was not a recommendation but rather a sanction for those who could not live without it and were willing to accept the accompanying responsibility.

Generally, kings would have sufficient money to maintain more than one wife. By making the husband responsible for every wife’s upkeep, the woman was offered protection, and chances of adultery by the man were reduced. In reality, based on natural laws a society generally has more number of women than men.

Polygamy gives a natural solution for the problem of a large number of unmarried (and therefore unprotected)

girls in society. While society today is against polygamy, it nevertheless promulgates promiscuity openly through movies, television, print media, internet etc. making it unsafe for cultured women to co-exist in the same society with many lecherous men always on a hunt. A proof of widespread contamination of sexual thought in current society is visible in the form of a tremendous increase in sexual crimes against women. The main disadvantage of such a society — much more than sociological disadvantages — is that there is no hope for advancing towards life’s higher spiritual goals in such contaminated environments.

In the current social setup, Çréla Prabhupäda strictly prohibited polygamy since men today are not capable of maintaining multiple wives.

An endorsement for polygamy therefore will only attract unscrupulous, irresponsible men eager to abuse this facility for their personal pleasure. The aim of spiritual life is to get out of bodily conception of life, and polygamy only deepens it by providing more facility for sensual pleasure. Thus, polygamy cannot be practical today, but considering the principles involved, it is not unethical.

Are Himalayas living beings?

Are Himalayas a living being — does it have a spirit soul? Or is it jaòa, dead matter? What does it mean when we hear that Himalayan mountains is the father of mother Pärvaté? Is it that there is a personality present and he manifests as a mountain, or is that he controls the mountain?

—Deepak Our reply: In the material world, spirit souls inhabit various moving (jaìgama) bodies like humans, birds and animals, and also non-moving (sthävara, or fixed)

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bodies like plants and trees. Mountains like the Himalayan ranges fall under the sthävara category of living beings. Just as jaìgama forms manifest more developed consciousness as compared to sthävara forms, within the sthävara category, the tree body manifests more developed consciousness as compared to the mountain body. The entire body of a mountain is dead matter but is controlled by a spirit soul just as our entire human body is also dead matter and is controlled by us — spirit souls within. What we see outside as the body is not the living entity but the covering only.

To sum it up, there is a living entity, a spirit soul, present within the mountain and his material body manifests as a mountain. This living entity also controls the mountain although such control is very less due to extremely covered consciousness.

Perfect Love What is the perfect love for Kåñëa, and how can one generate it?

—Sachin Sharma Our reply: You can read in Çréla Prabhupäda’s books about the activities of the residents of Våndävana, where Kåñëa lives eternally with His most dear devotees. In the example of these devotees, you will see what is perfect love for Kåñëa.

The devotees in Våndävana have no desire for their own enjoyment but want only to satisfy Kåñëa. They don’t forget Him for a moment, and when He is out of their sight, they feel intense separation from Him, which makes them think of Him even more. Their meditation on pleasing Kåñëa generates intense love in all their actions. They are always thinking what to cook for Him, how to decorate Him, how to tease Him,

how to see Him, and so on. Çrila Prabhupäda has given us the program by which we can gradually generate – or, rather, awaken – such love within ourselves. He has designed a program that promotes constant meditation on how to serve Kåñëa.

That devotional service leads to attachment, and ultimately pure love.

Where’s the Soul?

I want to know where the soul of the human being is located in the body.

—Bakosi Via the Internet Our reply: Çrila Prabhupäda said that the soul is located in the region of the heart. The soul is not attached to the heart, but merely resides there. Not only do we, the individual spirit soul, reside in the heart but the Lord resides there as well. Therefore, we should keep our heart pure, making it a temple where Kåñëa will be happy to reside.

The Çvetäçvatara Upaniñad compares the Lord and the individual soul residing in the heart to two birds sitting in a tree. One bird is trying to enjoy the fruits of the tree, and the other is witnessing. The bird attempting to enjoy is the individual soul (the jéva) in the material world.

The witnessing bird is the Supreme Soul, or Paramätmä, who is waiting for the jéva to stop trying to enjoy the material body and senses and turn toward Him. Replies to first two letters were given Nanda Duläl Däsa. Reply to last letter was written by Krishna.com Live Help volunteers.

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E-mail: btgindia@pamho.net

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chåëu: “If you hear from Me, you can know Me in full.” Samagram means “complete.” Whatever subject there is for study and knowledge, God is the sum total of everything related to that subject.

Kåñëa begins to explain Himself by referring to His material energy because we have no information of God but practically we see the vast land, the vast water or ocean, the vast sky, fire — so many material things, including mind and ego.

Everyone is thinking “I am”

accept a God without any head or legs. This is our disease.

Therefore Kåñëa has explained in the previous verse (7.3), manuñyäëäà sahasreñu kaçcid yatati siddhaye yatatäm api siddhänäà kaçcin mäà vetti tattvataù “Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one

This is our disease. Kåñëa, God, is explaining Himself, but we do not accept His statements. something. That is false ego, ahaìkära: “I am Indian,” “I am American,” “I am African,” “I am a brahmaëa,” “I am akñatriya,” “I am this,” “I am that.” This thinking is ego, but it is false ego, and it is one of Kåñëa’s eight material energies.

The beginning of philosophy is to ask, “Where has water come from?

Where has land come from? Where has fire come from?” These are natural inquiries. “Where has the sky with its many millions and millions of stars come from?” These are the inquiries of the intelligent person.

They are the beginning of philosophical life. Thoughtful human beings gradually inquire into understanding the Supreme Lord, Kåñëa.

Kåñëa is explaining Himself: “I am like this.” Unfortunately, we’ll not understand Kåñëa as He explains Himself, but we’ll speculate on what God is. This is our disease. Kåñëa, God, is explaining Himself, but we do not accept His statements. We deny the existence of God, or we

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knows Me in truth.” Out of many millions and millions of persons, only a few are serious to understand “What is the aim of life? What is God? What is my relationship to Him?” Almost everyone is interested in the bodily conception of life, like cats and dogs. This is their position.

Not only now—always. This is the material condition. But somebody out of millions tries to understand, to make his life perfect.

Perfection means to understand our real constitutional position, to understand that we are not the material body but are spirit soul, Brahman. Brahma-jïäna, knowledge of Brahman, or spirit, is the perfection of knowledge. brahma-bhütaÙ prasannåtmå na &!ocati na kåõkßati samaÙ sarveßu bhüteßu mad-bhaktiì labhate paråm “One who is thus transcendentally situated at once realizes the Supreme Brahman and

becomes fully joyful. He never laments or desires to have anything.

He is equally disposed toward every living entity. In that state he attains pure devotional service unto Me.” (Bhagavad-gétä 18.54) Sometimes the Mäyävädé philosophers say, “By bhakti one gains brahma-jïäna and becomes liberated, merged into Brahman.”

They say, “Bhakti is meant for the less intelligent class.” Their accusation is like that, but that is not the fact. Even the lower stage of bhakti— kaniñöha-adhikäri—is higher than the Mäyäväda position.

A person in the lower status of bhakti does not clearly understand what God is, but by the instruction of the spiritual master that person is engaged in the service of the Lord.

This morning I explained deity worship. Here is God on the altar.

Here is God, factually, but the kaniñöha-adhikäri, in the lower stage of devotional service, has no realization that “Here is God.” But if he accepts even theoretically that “Here is God,” then he becomes more advanced than the Mäyavadé who thinks of God without a head or legs.

Caitanya Mahäprabhu says that for one who has undergone training by a Mäyavadé philosopher, his life is finished, because he’ll never be able to advance in devotional service, and that is the ultimate goal of life.

Equal Vision After realization of Brahman, when one is actually on the Brahman platform (ahaà brahmäsmi), then the symptom is na çocati na käìkñati: no more lamentation and no more aspiration. Then one can see everyone on an equal level — samaù sarveñubhüteñu — because he does not see the outward body.

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He does not see “Here is a Hindu, here is a Muslim, here is a Christian, here is an Indian, here is an American, here is a black man, here is a white man.” No. He sees within: vidyä-vinaya-sampanne brahmaëe gavihastini çunicaiva çva-päke ca paëòitäù sama-darçinaù “The humble sages, by virtue of true knowledge, see with equal vision a learned and gentle brahmaëa, a cow, an elephant, a dog, and a dog-eater [outcaste].”

(Bhagavad-gétä 5.18) That is samaù sarveñu bhüteñu, “equal to all living beings.” We cannot artificially become samaù sarveñu bhüteñu. We will see bodily distinctions. The United Nations has been trying for the last forty years, but there is no unity; it is not possible on the bodily platform. But on the spiritual platform there is unity. In our Kåñëa consciousness movement you’ll find people of different nations, different colors, and different religions, and they are all united in chanting Hare Kåñëa.

This is the united nations — no distinctions. And this is not artificial; this is practical.

People are trying to become united, but that is not possible on the bodily platform. The bodily concept of life can be rejected on the spiritual platform.

Subtle Material Elements We are in the material world, and we see stone and wood and earth and water and fire. Kåñëa mentions the things we can see—earth, water, fire, air, and ether. And He mentions the mind, which we cannot see. The mind is subtle. We all know we have a mind. I have a

mind, and you have a mind, but you cannot see my mind, and I cannot see your mind.

We also cannot see ether, but we can understand that ether is present by sound [claps hands].

Sound is the indication of ether because sound travels through ether.

Finer than ether is the mind, finer than the mind are intelligence and the ego, and finer than the intelligence and the ego is the soul.

So how can you see soul? You cannot even see the more subtle material things. But the soul is there.

When the soul departs from the body, we see only the earth, the water, and so on, that make up the body. The dead man is lying there, and we see the elements of the body, but we do not see the mind, intelligence, and ego that are carrying the soul.

People generally have no knowledge of how the transmigration of the soul takes

although we know the mind exists, we cannot see it, but the çästra, or scripture, confirms it. We are hearing from Kåñëa. That is called çruti.

Similarly, Kåñëa says in the Second Chapter (2.13), dehino 'smin yathä dehe kaumäraà yauvanaà jarä tathä dehäntara-präptir dhéras tatra na muhyati “As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death.

A sober person is not bewildered by such a change.” Asmin dehe: “Within this body is the proprietor of the body.” You have to learn that by hearing. If you want to see immediately—“ Let me see where it is in the body”—your so-called scientific research cannot help you.

You have to learn it simply by hearing from the authority. That is

Any thoughtful man will wonder how the different chemicals became manifested.

Here is the answer: they came from Kåñëa. place. We can think only about the gross elements. That is called jaòadarçana, seeing only the material elements. And we have no sükñmadarçana, no ability to see subtle things. Although the mind exists, we cannot see it. Then how we can see the soul?

That is the defect of modern education. To see what is beyond your sense perception, you have to hear. There are two kinds of knowledge: by practical experience or direct perception, and by hearing from authority. Çruti means hearing from the authority. For example,

called &çruti-pramäëa, evidence from çruti.

Hearing from Authorities Vedic knowledge is called çruti.

You have to learn things beyond your perception by hearing from the authorities. Vedic knowledge is the authority.

Why do we accept the Vedas as authority? Because they present perfect knowledge. For example, although animal stool is impure, the Vedas say that cow dung is pure, so we accept that. This is çrutipramäëa. Çruti-pramäëa means that

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real knowledge, perfect knowledge, is coming from the supreme perfect, Kåñëa. Perfect knowledge is given after creation. Brahmä, the first created being, was given perfect knowledge by Kåñëa, the original spiritual master.

From Kåñëa everything is born, everything has emanated. Everything comes from Him, including the first engineer of this universe, Lord Brahmä.

Actually, Lord Brahmä does not come directly from Kåñëa; he comes from Garbhodakaçäyé Viñëu.

And Kåñëa is the origin of Garbhodakaçäyé Viñëu. Kåñëa says, ahaà sarvasya prabhavaù: “I am the source of everything.”

(Bhagavad-gétä 10.8) Sarvasya means that from Him come MahäViñëu, Garbhodakaçäyé Viñëu, Ksirodakaçäyé Viñëu, Narayaëa, Saìkarsaëa, Aniruddha, Pradyumna — these are all visëu-tattva expansions of Kåñëa. In the material world from Him come Brahmä, Viñëu, and Maheçvara, and from Brahmä come the many demigods, and so on. Therefore He is the source of everything. This is the point. And knowledge also comes from Him. The Çrémad-Bhägavatam (1.1.1) explains, janmädyasya yataù anvayät itarataç ca artheñu abhijïaù svarät: The original person from whom everything is born knows everything perfectly, indirectly and directly.” Where did He get the knowledge? He is svaräö, independent. He doesn’t have to get any knowledge from anyone else. Everyone gets knowledge from Him, but He hasn’t got to take knowledge from anyone. The verse continues, tene brahma hådäya ädikavaye: “That Supreme Person gave knowledge to

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the ädi-kavi.” Ädi-kavi means Lord Brahmä, the first learned man.

Our Vedic conception of life and creation is not like that of those who follow Darwin. They think they’ll get knowledge from monkeys. But we do not take knowledge from monkeys. We do not keep ourselves in darkness. If you take knowledge from monkeys, then you remain always like monkeys. You cannot advance. We get knowledge directly from Kåñëa, the most perfect.

Brahmä is generated from Viñëu.

So the first living creature, a perfect person within this material world, got instruction at the beginning of creation. The beginning of creation is not ignorance. The beginning of creation is first-class knowledge.

That is the Vedic conception.

The Source of Chemicals In today’s verse, Kåñëa is telling us how to think of the material elements. Material scientists — soil experts — study the earth. “Where should we mine? Where is the gold?

Where is the coal?” But they do not know where these things came from. Here Kåñëa explains, me bhinnä prakåti: “This is My energy.”

Any thoughtful man will wonder how the different chemicals became manifested. Here is the answer: they came from Kåñëa.

Kåñëa says that the elements are bhinnä prakåti, His “separated energy.” I am speaking, and it is being recorded. And if the recording is played in my absence, it will vibrate exactly the same sound. So that is my energy, but bhinnä — separated from me. You have to understand like that.

Everything is the energy of God, Kåñëa, but this material world means we are missing Kåñëa. Where has

this energy come from? That point we are missing.

If the recording is playing, someone who does not know my voice will not know who is speaking.

But one who knows my voice can understand. “It is coming from Prabhupäda, or the Swamiji.”

Similarly, the material energy is there, but because we have forgotten the source of the energy or we do not know the source of the energy, we take material things as final. That is our ignorance.

This prakåti, material world, is composed of these things: earth, water, fire, and so on. Where have these come from? Kåñëa explains: “They are My energies.” To understand Kåñëa means one must know what earth is, what water is, what fire is, what air is, what sky is, what mind is, what intelligence is, what ego is. We should know where these material things came from.

Scientists theorize that water is a combination of chemicals — hydrogen and oxygen. But where do hydrogen and oxygen come from?

That they cannot answer. The chemicals exist because of God’s acintya-çakti, or “inconceivable power.” We too have acintya-çakti, because we are each a minute part of God: keçägra-çata-bhägasya çatäàçaù sädåçätmakaù jévaù sükñma-svarüpo ‘yaà saìkhyätéto hi cit-kaëaù “If we divide the tip of a hair into a hundred parts and then take one of these parts and divide it again into a hundred parts, that very fine division is the size of but one of the numberless living entities. They are all cit-kaëa, particles of spirit, not

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matter.” (Quoted in Caitanyacaritämåta, Madhya-lélä 19.140) The soul has size, but with our material eyes we can see only gross things; the subtle things we cannot understand. So we have to understand from the çästra, the çruti. The Bhagavad-gétä (3.42) says, indriyäëi paräëy ähur indriyebhyaù paraà manaù manasas tu parä buddhir yo buddheù paratas tu saù “The working senses are superior to dull matter; mind is higher than the senses; intelligence is still higher than the mind; and he [the soul] is even higher than the intelligence.”

When I see a man, I see his body, his eyes, his ears, his hands and legs.

That is gross vision. But finer than the gross senses is the mind, which controls the senses. We do not see the mind, which is controlled by the intelligence.

Kåñëa, Our Real Father To dismissively say “There is no God, there is no soul” is simply rascaldom. Don’t remain rascals.

Here is Bhagavad-gétä. Learn everything very particularly, very minutely. It is open for everyone.

Kåñëa spoke Bhagavad-gétä to Arjuna, but it is not for Arjuna only.

Kåñëa came for everyone because He loves everyone. Everyone is His son. sarva-yoniñu kaunteya mürtayaù sambhavanti yäù täsäà brahma mahad yonir ahaà béja-pradaù pita “It should be understood that all species of life, O son of Kunté, are made possible by birth in this material nature, and that I am the

seed-giving father.” (Bhagavad-gétä 14.4) Kåñëa is the seed-giving father.

Don’t take Kåñëa as a foreigner.

No. He is your father — your original father, your seed-giving father. And material nature is your mother. The father, God, gives the seed, and the mother, material nature, gives the body. We have experience of something similar. The father puts the seed into the womb of the mother, and the mother creates the body. Similarly, all living entities come from Kåñëa.

It is not possible to create living entities with chemicals. But one who is not convinced of this tries to use chemical combinations to create living beings. This is foolishness.

Because we are acquiring knowledge from çruti, from the perfect person, we will never be convinced that life can be created from chemicals. We shall challenge: “Create, rascal. Create first of all.

Then talk.”

This is our challenge because we know very well that it will not be possible to create a living being by any combination of chemicals.

Anyone who proposes that is talking nonsense. It is not possible.

We have to study çruti. Then we become learned. Then we can know our constitutional position: brahmabhütaù. One who realizes brahmabhütaù — “I am spirit”— does not lament anything or aspire for anything, because he knows that the Supreme Being is conducting everything.

This is knowledge. Take it very seriously. Study Bhagavad-gétä and learn everything nicely. Become learned, and just try to surrender to Kåñëa. Then your life is successful.

Thank you very much.

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LESSON FROM THE ROAD

Do You Have Life’s Manual?

Help for simplifying life’s complexities

By Yugävatära Däsa

I

struggled with my new smart phone for the whole day.

Wanting to forward a text

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message to my friend, I saw many options on the phone menu: Reply, Delete, Use Details . . . but no

Forward. Exasperated, I approached a friend for help. He soon figured out the method and explained to me

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how to do it: “Just press a button a little longer upon the SMS you need to forward and you will see the Forward option.” It was so simple.

“Didn’t you read the phone’s manual? Everything about the phone is there inside it,” he said.

I hadn’t read the manual. As soon as I had got my new cell phone, I had started using it. After this incident, I immediately picked up the manual and read it cover to cover. There was so much to learn about this device, and so much care was needed to protect it from foolish damage.

Complex Devices: the Universe and the Human body Most people understand the need for a manual when it comes to learning the functions of an electronic or mechanical device. But when it comes to learning the functions of the giant machine known as the universe around us — and the small universe of human body a living being is inhabiting — we often tend to ignore the need for referring to an operation manual.

As progressive modern humans conquering newer boundaries through science and technology, we prefer to understand the workings of these machines based on experimental scientific methods.

Research and experimentation, we believe, will enable us to understand everything perfectly, no matter how many blunders we commit in the process.

The universe is like a giant super-machine in which we are residing. It has got a design and a purpose. When we take birth in this world, we are ignorant of everything, including the most essential questions about the

purpose of life and the purpose of universe. To understand its workings, we need to refer to its manual. Lord Kåñëa declares in the Bhagavad-gétä that the whole universe has emanated from Him and that everything is working under His direction. He has provided us His divine words of wisdom in the form of the Bhagavad-gétä and other Vedic scriptures. They direct us how to make the best use of life while

activities beyond the basic needs.

For humans, overeating leads to obesity and diabetes.

Overindulgence in illegitimate sex leads to sexually transmitted diseases. Excessive sleep (and even lack of proper sleep) can disturb the physiological condition of the body.

And too much fear and concern — hyper-anxiety — for one’s maintenance and security causes psychosomatic disorders and various bodily diseases like irritable

The universe is like a giant super-machine in which we are residing. It has got a design and a purpose. living in this world, and simultaneously aim for a better future life.

Even the human body works like a machine, as mentioned in the Bhagavad-gétä (18.61); it needs to be handled carefully lest we damage it by indulging in foolish acts. Without knowledge about the purpose of life, we tend to waste it trying to fulfill the four basic animalistic needs: eating, sleeping, mating, and defending. Think about this: a pig does not suffer digestive disorders by eating stool; animals do not suffer from sexually transmitted diseases even though they indiscriminately indulge in sex activities; sleep disorders like deep vein thrombosis or bed soar do not affect polar bears, who sleep for six months in a year; pigeons and sparrows are in constant fear of someone attacking them, but they do not suffer from high blood pressure.

Animals engage in these primary activities without suffering any associated disorders that human beings suffer when we do the same

bowel syndrome, hypertension and hyperacidity.

Manuals save a lot of time for us — instead of learning from our experiences alone, we learn from others’ experiences also. We learn from the lives of great exemplary kings and sages who have lived a life of integrity and devotion to God. We also study the lives of those who misused their precious opportunity and suffered terrible consequences. Why should we waste our time in committing repeated blunders to finally arrive at the conclusions that the scriptures are presenting us in advance? As Benjamin Franklin said, “Experience is the best teacher, but a fool will learn from no other.” Let us to refer to the manuals of life, wisdom scriptures like the Bhagavad-gétä, and make the best use of our human existence.

Yugävatära Däsa is an associate professor in Anatomy in a medical college in Mumbai. He is a frequent contributor to BTG.

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SPIRITUAL SCIENTIST

An analysis of Gétä wisdom based on its appreciation by eminent thinkers.

India’s Tryst with Space Have we been there before?

By Gautam Saha

I

ndia’s recent successful launching

by ISRO of the Mars exploratory satellite Mangalyaan, makes us proud of our scientific and technological prowess, as well as the resourcefulness of our scientific and engineering community. Our current space program combined with long range missile capability gives us a sense of pride in India’s technological prowess. India is now a member of an elite group of nations that have indigenously developed satellites as well as the rocket technology necessary to place satellites into space in predetermined orbits.

The Vedic conception of time is that time moves in cycles of diminishing periods, namely, Satya-yuga, Dväpara-yuga, Tretä-yuga, and Kaliyuga. At the end of Kali-yuga, there

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is the advent of a new Satya-yuga.

The third canto of the ÇrémadBhägavatam states that the duration of the present Kali-yuga is 432,000 years, of which 5000 years have passed. There is still a period of 427,000 years remaining for Kali-yuga to end, and for the start of another new cycle. The four yugas progress in diminishing durations of time, with Kali-yuga being the shortest. When we consider the Vedic system of time progression in cycles, it is easy to understand that man has at some point in distant history been scientifically advanced as much as, or even more, than where we stand at present in terms of scientific advancement.

Deciphering the Vedic Age The ancient Vedic literature of India detail a worldwide civilization with interplanetary connections, that thrived at a time most modern historians would have us believe that humans existed as hunters gatherers, or had not yet come into being. The Vedic civilization, centered in India, employed technologies based on understanding of not only the physical elements and laws, but also more subtle material and conscious elements. All of these factors were recognized to have as their central source, a supreme conscious intelligence. Where modern science sees only ordinary matter and its transformations, the Vedic perspective saw the action of the supreme conscious intelligence behind everything, and fashioned a way of life that focused less on domination and exploitation over matter, and more on elevating each individual conscious self to its original pure state in relation to the Supreme Conscious Self, God. As the Vedic scientific overview saw time progression as cyclic

rather than linear, they clearly recognized that what goes away comes back again. After life there is death, after which there is life again (Gétä 2.27). Thus there can be nothing new under the sun. Everything goes away and then comes back, and this keeps repeating time after time, eons after eons. Hence, why pay too much attention to the sequence of mundane everyday events on the revolving wheel of existence? It is much better to concentrate on exemplary lifestyles, especially those that directly foster

Bhägavatam presents distances between astronomical bodies that strikingly approximate the calculations of present day scientists. How could the ancient Vedic sages come so close in their descriptions and calculations – without presumably possessing our present technology?

Interestingly, there is a unique project in West Bengal, called Temple of Vedic Planetarium (TOVP), at Mäyäpur, West Bengal.

Being constructed under the auspices of ISKCON, and slated for inauguration in 2015, this towering

Where modern science sees only ordinary matter and its transformations, the Vedic perspective saw the action of the supreme conscious intelligence behind everything freedom from the wheel of time.

India’s past spiritual prowess is manifested by the great alternative religions which originated in this land, such as Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism. India has historically proved also that its spiritual prowess took in its stride alternate religious streams to be duly respected and tolerated.

Visitors belonging to other denominations such as Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam were also given shelter and solace in Vedic India, and allowed to profess and perpetuate their faith at different points in India’s long and chequered history, indicating a spiritual maturity, tolerance and sophistication unparalleled in human history.

Vedic Astronomy The Vedic Universe, as painstakingly described in the ÇrémadBhägavatam, can provide an amazingly accurate map of our solar system. When seen in perspective, the cosmos described in the Çrémad-

structure shall include a 200 seat planetarium, 3D computerized graphics, and other modern tools.

The exhibits will take the visitor through a tour of the Vedic cosmos of higher and lower realms and beings. With this project, ISKCON will demonstrate to pilgrims the worthiness of Vedic cosmology and astronomy.

Vedic Technology and Mystic Power In Vedic literature we find references to: · aircraft and flight · vivid descriptions of advanced military technology · earth wars and star wars · mystic and psychic powers far superior to what contemporary humans can achieve · planets inhabited by beings with varying levels of ability and consciousness · interplanetary travel via aircraft · interplanetary travel via personal

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yogic power Vedic technology does not resemble our world of nuts and bolts, or even microchips. We might label Vedic technology as psychic based. Mystic power, in the form of sonic vibration, plays a major role.

The right sounds, vibrated as a mantra, can launch terrible weap-

on a gross planet such as Earth, the aircraft are gross machines. On planets where more subtle beings reside, the aircraft are subtly powered by mantras.

The Çrémad-Bhägavatam (3.23.41) describes the space adventures of Kardama Muni who took his wife Devahüti on an interplanetary pleasure tour. The devas were considered the standard for luxury and prowess in flight.

Kardama Muni, though an earthling, had excelled the devas in their own specialty, and had taken Devahüti on a tour of the devas’ special vacation spots throughout the universe. Are there similarities between the old and the new?

Vivid imagination of the ancient sages? If it were indeed imagination, we must concede that they had perfect foresight.

Devahüti gazes upon at the exquisite aerial mansion created by her husband Kardama Muni by his yogic powers.

ons, directly kill, transport persons, or create exotic aircraft. The word vimana, aircraft, is ubiquitous in Vedic literature. Throughout the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and the Bhagavatam, these flying devices appear. According to the Vedic texts, different manner of beings pilot these aircraft. On different planets, the aircraft are of different types. The Vedic perspective is that

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Where do we Stand Today in the Vast Cosmic Arena?

There was a time, going by Vedic clues, that man was even more, rather, far more advanced than he is today. A massive palace cannot stand in the way of the ravages of time. Great kingdoms decline and disappear over time.

Civilizations are totally erased from the face of the Earth. Time the killer, time the regenerator, time the equalizer, time the game changer, time the only controller of an ever

changing material reality ( Gita 11.32).

ISRO plans to launch a number of new generation Earth Observation Satellites in the near future. It will also undertake the development of new launch vehicles and spacecraft.

It has plans to send unmanned missions to Mars and Near-Earth Objects. It has planned 58 missions during 2012-17; 33 satellites missions in next two years, and 25 launch vehicle missions thereafter, costing 20,000 crore (US$ 3.4 billion). In the historical context therefore, and in view of other pressing problems being faced, is this expenditure justified?

We have been there before, and much further as well, further than we can even imagine. Our Vedic forebears could muster up immense power by the use of sonic technology or mantras. In spite of possessing immense technological capabilities to build pleasure palaces for themselves, spaceships, rockets and missiles, they considered these activities mundane and concentrated more on spiritual prowess and enlightenment, and were closer to the ultimate truth than we are today, several millennia down the line.

Acknowledgement : Devamrita Swami – Searching for Vedic India Gautam Saha graduated in chemical engineering from IIT Bombay and holds a diploma in Export Management. He has been involved in business development and investment in a few African and Asian countries and is ex-CEO of the Indo-Angola Chamber of Commerce & Industry. He is guest speaker at Mumbai University’s Centre for African Studies and a frequent contributor BTG.

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PHOTOSCOPE

Organized Chaos

W

hen driving in India anything goes. No speed limits, no lane discipline, no right of way... do what you want, just make sure you horn so that everyone’s aware! Once, I witnessed a head-on collision, causing both vehicles serious damage. As the two drivers emerged unscathed, they came face-to-face and began debating whose fault it was. There was loud argument, fiery gesticulation and a crowd of excited onlookers who offered their “two rupees” worth.

Within a few minutes, however, they came to some resolution, headed for a tea stall, and sat down together for a good old natter! It was an incredible sight! No animosity, no grudges, no bad feeling. It taught me something about their culture: chaos on the outside, calm on the inside.

Our modern culture is often the complete opposite:

orderly on the outside, but chaotic on the inside!

We have complex infrastructure, documented rules for everything and refined social niceties that govern day-to-day dealings. External social intercourse may be prim and proper, but many individuals experience huge chaos within. People are often inhibited from revealing their hearts, and instead lock up things within, causing destructive emotions to brew up and eventually surface in unhealthy ways. While modern culture may have succeeded in organising society into a well-oiled machine, there are clear deficiencies in the areas of community, relationships and meaningful human interaction. We’ve learnt how to live a life of organised chaos; bottling everything up, it’s often a case of smiling faces but parched hearts.

A self-development guru once held up a glass of water in front of her audience. While everyone was expecting the usual “half empty half full” exercise, she instead asked them how heavy the cup was. The answers varied from 3 oz to 10 oz. She then explained that the weight and volume of the water is not what makes it heavy – rather it’s the length of time for which we hold it. Similarly, everyone goes through challenges, anger, frustration and unrest in their life (the water in our cup). The problem is when we carry these things and fail to let go. Good social structures allow people to ‘get things off their chest’ and get on with living life. The freedom of expression helps keep things in perspective.

We need to free up some internal breathing space, lest we choke our consciousness.

—Sutapä Däsa

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SPIRITUAL SCIENTIST

Sexual Energy on the Riot A spiritual perspective on the Tejpal scandal

by Caitanya Caraëa Däsa

T

he accusation of sexual abuse leveled against former Tehelka editor, Tarun Tejpal, highlights the dangerous riot of sexual energy in today’s culture.

It’s a tragic truth that sexual abuse, even if under-reported, is widespread in our society. But as long as such abuse happens to someone in a remote village, mainstream India tends to ascribe it to the backwardness of those people.

However, when similar abuse 18

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happens in the heart of mainstream society, in a bus on the streets of the national capital, and to someone who is very much a part of the forward-looking society, a medical student returning after watching a movie, that makes India sit up in alarm and take notice, in fact, march up in anger and demand action. The Nirbhaya gangrape case provoked national outrage and rightly so.

But how does one respond when the victim is a member of main-

stream society and the victimizer is a popular leader of mainstream society, a person widely considered a shining success story by contemporary standards?

One response is typical of the paparazzi: flesh out every juicy tidbit, aggravate the pitch of the scandal and make a merry business out of the reader interest. Due to such sensationlization, the author of The Alchemy of Desire finds himself at the receiving end of a reverse

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Tarun Tejpal alchemy. The person who had been treated like a golden boy, admired for uncovering sleaze among the high and the mighty, is now reviled as the sleaze on him is discovered and covered extensively in the media. Due to a few moments of indulgence during an elevator ride, the person who was in 2009 declared one of the 50 most powerful men of India may well have to endure a lifetime of disgrace. No doubt, justice must be done and whatever wrong has been done must be rectified. But the frenzied demand in the paparazzi for the head of one hero-devolved-to-villain isn’t going to resolve underlying issues.

More serious media pieces have addressed the issue of the sexual pressure that women face in the workplace and the inadequacy of the present safeguards. This is certainly an important issue with implications much bigger than the specific scandal.

Yet the problem runs deeper. It stems from the sexually volatile atmosphere that pervades today’s

culture. Consequently, unfettered sexual energy can go on a riot at a moment’s notice whenever the provocation or the opportunity rears its seductive head. The word riot is frequently used in the media in apposition to the word ‘communal.’

But riots can be of different kinds.

Anything that involves a dangerous force going on a destructive rampage can be considered a riot.

When the sex drive impels people into deleterious deeds, those instances comprise sexual energy on the riot. The Bhagavadgita (03.36-37) cautions that sexual energy can act as a deadly enemy, impelling one to grievous misdeeds, and devouring one’s spirituality, morality and integrity in the process.

malpractice cost the American exchequer 50 million dollars.

Conventional religions have often taken the high moral ground, pontificating on the evils of promiscuity.

But they too have not been immune to devastation by sexual energy.

During the centuries before the European Renaissance, several popes led debauched lives, even fathering many illegitimate children.

In protest against such misdeeds by

A history of depravity Unmanaged sexual energy has always been a threat to humanity throughout the ages.

History is filled with stories of world leaders whose uncontrolled sex lives ruined them and wrecked havoc around them. Many wars have had at their root unmanaged sexual energy – often in the form of a depraved craze to conquer the opposite sex or the deprived rage at failure in such a conquest.

Cleopatra, Napoleon and Hitler – their lives contained festering sexual problems that became breeding grounds for violent conflicts which eventually blew up into full-scale wars. Even in post-monarchic times, several prominent elected leaders in democracies have been found guilty of sexual misdemeanor. The trial of a US head of state accused of sexual

Famous personalities espousing even religion have been victimized by this energy. those professing to be monks, vocal Protestant leaders rejected monkhood itself. Martin Luther renounced his monkhood, married a nun and penned a scathing diatribe against monkhood.

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However, marriage hasn’t turned out to be a safe enclave against the onslaught of sexual energy. Several famous Christian evangelists such as Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart who set the pulpit ablaze with their impassioned preaching for marital fidelity found themselves ablaze with mortification when their extra-marital affairs came to the public eye. Worse still, the Catholic Church has been rocked by child abuse charges, all the more so because of its attempts to cover up and delay or deny justice.

In India too, several spiritual teachers have been accused of or even convicted for sexual misconduct. Regrettably, ISKCON too has seen some of its leaders falling from the expected standards of sexual morality.

The point is that pedantic moralizing, whether from a secular podium or a religious pedestal, is no defense against the rampage of sexual energy. The Bhagavad-gita goes to the heart of the matter when it issues a call (18.66) to go beyond ritual religiosity to substantial spirituality. Such serious spirituality centers on training to harness sexual energy. As long as sexual energy remains un-integrated and unharnessed, it can impel anyone and everyone to grievous misdeeds.

Puppets of sexual energy Vedic wisdom is candid in acknowledging the power of sexual energy. The Vedic literatures depict even exalted gods and renounced sages falling prey to the libido. The stories of Saubhari Muni, the monk

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who married fifty princesses, and Indra, whose extra-martial dallying with a sage’s wife earned him a curse that covered his body with his unmentionables, would have been feasts for today’s paparazzi. In

the point of capital punishment where warranted.

Yet even while describing the depravities of such villainous characters, Vedic wisdom doesn’t miss the bigger picture. It always remind us

Left: Rävaëa , a powerful ruler was almost ruled himself by sexual lust.

Below: Evil Duùçasana tries to defile pure Draupadé. sobering contrast, the Vedic literatures don’t gorge on the lurid details of such moral depredations.

Instead, they focus on the fearsome power of misdirected sexual energy that can not only bring to the knees but also bury under the ground the high and mighty.

In addition to describing how even the virtuous can fall, those literature also depict villainous characters who were habitually given to vice. For example, Ravana who abducted Sita, and Dushasana who dishonored Draupadi. And the Vedic literatures explain in detail how the virtuous leaders of those times like Rama or the Pandavas took great pains to ensure that such incorrigible wrongdoers were justly punished, even to

of the larger power at work, making these individuals dance as if puppets.

That larger power is unregulated sexual energy. Therefore it focuses on delineating purificatory methods of yoga that check the destructive flow of sexual energy and redirect it along more constructive channels.

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This purification centers on living more in harm ony with our complete being. We are at our core spiritual beings: our present existence is two-dimensional: spiritual and material. Sexual energy, when imbalanced, causes people to obsess compulsively on just one dimension – the physical, wherein fantasies of sexual gratification, consensual and forcible, are played and replayed in an endless automode. This compulsive obsession with the physical gives people a distorted view of others as merely bodies who exist only for one’s own gratification at one’s own whim.

Violation of rights “When a woman says no, she means no” reads one protest slogan, emphasizing that men recognize the physical autonomy of women – nobody can touch their bodies without consent. Unrestricted sexual energy incites people to violate that right, sometimes discreetly and sometimes brazenly. But that energy also goads us all to violate another right – our right to our own souls. When sexual energy overruns our consciousness, it deprives us of our spiritual awareness and thereby strips us of our right to the spiritual happiness that is a part of our nature.

We have an eternal loving relationship with the all-attractive Supreme Being known by various names in different traditions and known as Krishna in the Vedic tradition. In our pure state, the spiritual energy that flows in this divine relationship surcharges our heart with the ecstasy of love – the supreme happiness. When we forget our relationship with Krishna and seek pleasure in matter, that spiritual energy becomes misdi-

rected as sexual energy. The Vedic texts offer a systematic program of bhakti-yoga that helps us harness sexual energy and gradually revert it to its sublime spiritual state.

Imbalanced sexual energy threatens not only our spiritual recovery but also our material well-being, as the earlier historical and contemporary analysis demonstrates. While this threat has always been present, today’s culture has aggravated it and made it dominant. Never before in world history has there been such a pervasive sexualization of the entire culture. Today vested commercial interests have made sex their central tool for capturing people’s minds.

With magazines and movies depicting tons of sexually provocative material, with ads featuring sexual double-entendres, with the ubiquity of sexually explicit or suggestive images, we are practically inviting the riot of sexual energy.

By no means is this analysis meant to absolve the guilty of responsibility. We are all accountable for our individual actions and whoever does wrong must be punished.

But a sustainable social corrective requires much more than that. The fact is that with sexual energy on the riot everyone is vulnerable – everyone is a potential victim.

Certainly women who are the targets of sexual abuse deserve protection. We need stronger laws, sharper vigilance and stricter enforcement. But along with that we also need to collectively combat the onslaught of sexual energy by devising appropriate socio-cultural strategies that restore a balance between the material and the spiritual.

Individual initiative Today’s liberals like to bash India’s traditional culture as sexually

prohibitive, but it was in many ways pre-emptive – pre-emptive in recognizing the danger of unrestrained sexual energy and equipping people to keep that power at bay.

Today, the time for pre-emptive measures is long past. But thankfully the time for redemptive measures isn’t.

Each of us can re-spiritualize our own consciousness and thereby contribute towards the balancing of the broader culture. If we choose to take up the challenge of re-spiritualization, Vedic wisdom stands ready to illumine and empower. It can equip us with time-honored insights and techniques: philosophical insights that help us perceive the spiritual underlying the material and devotional yogic techniques of meditation that help us relish that spiritual. The more we delight in higher inner happiness, the more we gain the strength to curb the riot of sexual energy, and channelize it for individual and social well-being.

The courts in due time will give the verdict in the Tejpal case. But we don’t have to wait till then to do our part in harnessing sexual energy constructively. And even if we wait, that verdict won’t make much lasting difference unless we take individual initiative. The verdict that will make the ultimate difference rests with each one of us: will we continue to be the puppet of sexual energy or will we rise to the challenge of becoming its master?

Caitanya Caraëa Däsa is the associate-editor of Back to Godhead (US and Indian editions).

To subscribe for his daily Bhagavadgétä reflections, please subscribe for Gitadaily on his website, thespiritualscientist.com.

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VEDIC OBSERVER

“I have brought medicine to awaken every living being from perpetual sleep. Please receive the holy name of the Lord, the Hare Kåñëa mahä-mantra, and awaken.”

(Aruëodaya Kértana II, by Çréla Bhaktivinoda Öhäkura)

By Vraja Bihäré Däsa

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T

oday I woke up at 3 am humming a bollywood number that I don’t remember hearing or singing even once in the last twenty years. From where did the song pop up suddenly? Even during the day, I caught myself remembering the song, and the movie in which the protagonist and the heroine romantically express their love for each other through this song. I have absolutely no emotional attachment to this song or the movie; either now or even two decades ago, I never went gaga over this song. There is no logical reason for me to remember this song. Well, I now conclude this is the invincible power of the mind. The mind has stored up all the various impressions I have gathered in all my millions of lifetimes. If even this lifetime impression is so deep rooted, little wonder then that the mind refuses to surrender to Kåñëa; it has unlimited memories of sense gratification spanning over a million lifetimes.

What a formidable challenge indeed it is to go back home, back to Godhead in one life time!

The holy names are compared to a medicine that awakens us from our deep slumber of ignorance. Some of us may be taking this medicine for few years now, yet the ignorance may appear to have not vanished; old conditionings may still haunt us.

During such times, one may doubt the efficacy of the medicine.

But I do have hope; I have hummed the Hare Kåñëa mahamantra thousands of times over the last fifteen years. Hopefully as I am leaving this body, I will remember this Hare Kåñëa song in its various melodies, and I pray I can remember to chant with feeling. If a mundane song can occupy my mind space, and the file isn’t deleted despite fifteen years of devotional service, the only hope for me now is to fill my conscious-

ness with the Hare Kåñëa chant.

It is important that at the time of death, I remember Kåñëa, and not any mundane person or a fleeting song of this temporary material world. And that’s because Kåñëa has assured in the Bhagavad-gétä that one who remembers Him at the time of death would reach His abode while one who remembers anything else would get a corresponding destination.

“And whoever, at the end of his life, quits his body remembering Me alone at once attains My nature. Of this there is no doubt.Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, O son of Kunté, that state he will attain without fail.”

(Gétä 8.5-6) Yes, let the mind conjure various thoughts and fantasies for enjoyment — that’s the nature of the unchaste and wicked mind; it knows no other business. I shall, however, continue to focus more on filling my mind and heart with Kåñëa’s beautiful holy names so that as I quit my body, I lovingly remember Kåñëa.

Although Kåñëa is most merciful, and we need to have faith that He shall indeed reciprocate with a sincere devotee at the time of death, we also need to guard against complacency. I can’t foolishly assure myself that I am going back to Godhead and will certainly remember Kåñëa at the time of death. No! Today morning mäyä has gently reminded me that she hasn’t gone away; she is just round the corner, and she has unlimited baits stored up to lure me away from Kåñëa. This should make me more determined to chant attentively, knowing that the fight is on. It is real and will last a lifetime. Çréla Prabhupäda implores us to depend on Kåñëa and be alert and ever cautious while executing our Kåñëa conscious duties: “Kunté Devé was asking Kåñëa,

“Do not leave us. Don’t think that we are safe now. We are not safe.

Without Your protection, we are always unsafe.” This should be the position of the devotees. We are actually in a dangerous position, this material world. At any time, mäyä will catch, at any time. As soon as we are a little inattentive. “Now I have done my duty. Now let me take rest little.” No, there is no rest.

We must be always alert…” (Lecture on Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Los Angeles, April 29, 1973) Therefore our only hope is that Kåñëa and Çréla Prabhupäda assures us that if we are sincere we’ll surely succeed, by Kåñëa’s mercy. In one lecture in December 1968, Viñëujana asked Çréla Prabhupäda how one could chant Hare Kåñëa when the mind is clouded with so much thoughts and impressions. Çréla Prabhupäda’s answer is hope giving: “At the same time, chant. Two things will go on, and this will conquer. As mäyä is forcing you to drag you from this Kåñëa consciousness, you also force mäya by chanting Hare Kåñëa. There is fight.

And mäya will go away.”

Hopefully when I near death, Kåñëa would be pleased with my sincere efforts, and help me remember Him. But for now, I am present with the most merciful form of His holy names, which is the real panacea and medicine for the suffering soul. I now chant with sincerity, being present, and with feeling, begging the Lord for enthusiasm and taste.

Vraja Bihäré Däsa holds a masters degree in International Finance, and an MBA from Mumbai University. He is serving full time at ISKCON Chowpatty, and is an active teacher of bhakti-yoga and a prolific writer on Kåñëa consciousness. He blogs over a dozen websites. You can read his daily reflections on www.yogaformodernage.com

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HOW I CAME TO KÅÑËA CONSCIOUSNESS

Mohamed Suleiman and Saìkértana in Malawi Nothing can stop a person from rendering devotional service to Kåñëa, including his apparently foreign religious upbringing.

By Dämodara Nityänanda Däsa

M

ohamed Suleiman was born in the year 1978 in Nairobi, Kenya, in a family of mixed ancestry. Both his parents were Muslims, born and raised in East Africa. His mother, a practicing Muslim, is from Kenyan and Arab ancestry. His father, born in Zanzibar, Tanzania, was of Kutchi (Gujarat) origin and although not religious, adhered to cultural practices of Muslims and observed festivals.

When he was five, his parents separated and subsequently divorced and so he has little memory of his mother. While growing up he was not religious per se. He recalls how materialistic life left them more disturbed and unsatisfied than the more traditional and religious relatives. On and off, he and his sisters had religious

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classes from sheikhs visiting their house. They observed Eid and the holy Ramadan month and in social and political issues they sided with

Islamic causes by default. They observed Salät (the practice of formal worship in Islam) only on religious days. He realized that

Mohamed Sleiman is blissful receiving Vedic literature.

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despite being materially well off, something was amiss. After completing his A-levels, he began performing Salät. He taught himself the relevant verses, prayers and incantations and started praying four and sometimes five times a day, using a book named Children’s Book of As-salah, which positively affected his consciousness and provided peacefulness unfelt before.

With a few months of practice, his faith enhanced. He wanted to know more about his position, the process, and the Supreme Lord whom he glorified daily. Questions like “Who am I praying to?” and “Why am I praying to Him?” agitated him so much that he couldn’t properly perform Salät and after a year he stopped it. He believed that the Islamic teachings were God’s word, but yearned for spiritual fulfillment. He tried to restart Salät once or twice but to no avail.

Around this time he travelled to London to begin five years of college at London University. There he was exposed to diverse cultures and religions and engaged in discussions on spirituality, culture and God. He read books on vegetarianism and veganism and became a strict vegetarian and soon a vegan. He says, “But I degraded morally by bad association and forgot pursuance of spiritual fulfillment. As I began postgraduate studies, the pressure of the course and the uncertainty thereafter, made me again seek out those intrinsic questions.” He attended a few Islamic discourses at his college during this time.

One evening, while returning from work as a part time insurance salesperson, he saw food being distributed in Trafalgar square, London. He took kachoris with

chutney and some sweet items and someone pressed him to take a book — Easy journey to other planets by Çréla Prabhupäda. He read that book and found it very absorbing and the content was heavy for a small book, compared to many large books on spirituality

would end with kértana and delicious prasäda. The devotees were the most dedicated and enthusiastic people he had met. They answered the most intricate questions about life and God — His form, His qualities, His pastimes etc., with certainty and clarity. The fact that

In Malawi, everyone is offered a chance to read Çréla Prabhupäda’s books. that he had read before. He wanted to find out more about the author and the organization behind it.

A few weeks later he saw posters about a talk on karma. He had spent about four childhood years in India and had some idea about karma. But when he went later to take down the venue details, the posters were gone. He managed to find the index of the organizers and was directed to the programs in his college. He attended those after lecture hour weekly meetings for three months on different aspects of bhakti-yoga. The philosophy was presented systematically, and they

they all gave the same answers to the same questions, convinced him that this is not someone’s opinion but authoritative knowledge.

He started reading Prabhupäda’s books and was encouraged to chant the Hare Kåñëa mantra. After starting and stopping twice, he was finally chanting six rounds daily. Yet he felt, “I am a Muslim and cannot take this up fully. I will just read the books; attend the sessions”. But over time he accepted Kåñëa consciousness more and more.

After reading a few small books of Prabhupäda, he read the Bhagavadgétä as it is and was astounded at its

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depth of discourse. He was convinced that Kåñëa consciousness was beyond material conceptions and eagerly partook to kértana, prasäda, devotees and Prabhupäda’s books. Mohamed explains, “I was born again and learnt what the nature and form of God is, what life is, what real welfare work is, who is a good person etc. From Prabhupäda’s books and by chanting Hare Kåñëa, one acquires a revolutionary world vision.” By now he had started taking only prasäda and following the regulations. He

Muslim background with that of a Kåñëa devotee. A resident brahmacari in the Bhaktivedanta Manor — another ISKCON centre, encouraged him to join the brahmacari ashram to seriously practice Kåñëa Consciousness.

Mohamed felt that his situation was different. He adds, “A year after returning to East Africa, by the Prabhupäda’s mercy, I was finally convinced.”

Once he sent some of Prabhupäda’s books to his father who was in Tanzania now, hoping to

“I worship the same God. My process is unopposed to Islam but provides more details about God, and our duty towards Him. The goal of religion is to awaken love of God and we cannot love someone we don’t know well.” regularly visited the Soho Temple in central London, about 20 minutes walk from his college, for lunch and to attend kértanas. He attended the Wednesday evening program for students. As he no longer ate outside, he could spend in the temple gift shop for incense, cook books, and prasäda.

One day he bought the book, Brahmacarya in Kåñëa consciousness, a book on celibate student life authored by Çréla Bhakti Vikasa Swami, an initiating spiritual master in ISKCON. He was inspired to be a brahmacari, but being a Muslim he feared that it would create a big flutter among friends and family. He described his Hare Kåñëa practice to his younger sister who also studied in London. She concurred that some spiritual practice is good, but wondered why he opted for a new path. He pondered about how to resolve his

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convince him to take up Kåñëa consciousness. But the books were sent back and over phone he was advised not to read them. On finishing his degree, he returned home and joined the family business of selling and servicing computers and peripherals. He revealed gradually about his spiritual practices. His father was unhappy but held that at least he should not be restrictive in what he ate or read.

Mohamed says, “I feared that by relaxing any standards I might lose the little attraction for Kåñëa consciousness that I had. I became more steadfast. I bought my own pots and used to come home daily to cook during lunch time. I had a small altar in my room where I made offerings to Kåñëa. I awoke on most days for Mangala arati and japa meditation. My father was quite upset and we would argue a lot. He felt that I could not even run a

business properly if I followed these rules. He also wanted me to study Islam in greater depth before thinking about any alternate path.

Yet for me, this process was now very intrinsic, a satisfying engagement that I couldn’t to let go.”

His extended family and friends began to realize that he was practicing something perceived as unislamic. The reactions were diverse — some shunned him, others were curious and some found it rather funny that he chanted “Hindu names” and worshipped small pictures. Once he was in the same car with some cousins and they queried, “Why did you leave Islam?” He replied, “I worship the same God. My process is unopposed to Islam but provides more details about God, and our duty towards Him. The goal of religion is to awaken love of God and we cannot love someone we don’t know well. Bhagavad-gétä and Çrémad-Bhägvatam describe the science of God in detail.” They told him that if he was still Muslim, he should pray with them in the mosque. He went with them for the afternoon prayer. After that they stopped persuading him to stop his “weird” practice.

Meanwhile, Mohamed and his family travelled to India for his father’s health checkup. He met devotees in Mumbai whom he knew from the UK and sought his father’s permission to spend a few months in India. His father reluctantly agreed.

During his stay, he performed Vrndavan parikramä, ecstatic kértanas and enlightening lectures.

On returning to Tanzania, he continued in the family business but felt separation from devotees, kértanas, Deities and realized that he

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had to move out. He learnt that a Hare Kåñëa temple in Kenya had a brahmacäré äçrama. When his father learnt that he wanted to join the ashram, he retorted, “I disapprove of this madness.” Mohamed was determined. His father paid for the bus ticket and dropped him at the bus station. At about 6am, 1st May 2005, he left for Nairobi. It was past midnight when he arrived at the temple gate. The security guard initially didn’t let him in but soon relented and showed him a place to stay for the night.

Mohamed recalls, “The devotees at Nairobi were very merciful. I relished the Çrémad-Bhägvatam classes and kértanas. I could finally practice Kåñëa consciousness full time and openly. I was very thankful to Kåñëa for the changed circumstances. I was able to read more, preach, distribute books and also assist in the deity kitchen.

Within six months, a trip was planned to Dar-es-salaam, Tanzania.

Two brahmacärés moved into a small donated flat and began programs. I visited my father who was friendly though still upset. I was uncomfortable walking in town in Vaiñëava attire as I was meeting old friends and family. I decided to leave Tanzania. I also felt that it was time to seek initiation. When I consulted the temple president, he recommended an India trip. I toured India for a month and came in touch with among others the author of the Brahmacarya book who was very inspiring. When I returned, I felt a great need to be spiritually guided by him. I moved in to a temple in south India and mainly engaged in book distribution and college preaching.”

After four years in India, his spiritual master instructed him to

return to Africa to preach. It was decided that he would go to Malawi, one of the poorest countries in the world. Since 2010, he has been pioneering Lord Caitanya’s saìkértana movement there distributing books, giving lectures at various institutes and encouraging people to take to Kåñëa consciousness as a cure for all material problems.

He recounts one of his preaching exploits in Mangochi in the Lake Malawi shore. “This is a predominantly Muslim town, but liberal. We distributed books in the shops and among staff of two beach hotels. By Mahäprabhu’s mercy we managed to distribute a total of 19 books which include one Science of Self Realization to a Muslim doctor and a Bhagavad-gétä to a hardware shop owner. We also sold an Easy Journey to other planets to Mustafa, a young Gujarathi Muslim. A Muslim gentleman, top executive of the Malawi Stock Exchange, purchased a copy of the Çrémad-Bhägvatam First Canto.”

Presently he is in regular contact with his father and sisters and visits them in Vaiñëava attire. They are favorable and also give donations for his preaching activities.

Quoting Çréla Prabhupäda, Mohamed proffers, “The goal of all religions is to awaken God consciousness. The same Supreme personality is known by various names in various religions.” He concludes, “The Bhagavad-gétä is a universal book of spiritual teachings for anyone of any religion, caste, race or background to attain perfection of life.”

Nimäi Nitäi Däsa, who moved to Blantyre, Malawi, from India in 2012 to assist Mohamed, has this to say about him: “Mohamed has received

spiritual initiation and is now known by the name Muräri Däsa. I have been staying with and assisting Muräri prabhu for about two years.

He is a soul surrendered to the spiritual master’s order. Malawi is a difficult place to stay and preach, but he has been doing so for last four years, mostly alone initially. He has strong faith in Çréla Prabhupäda’s instructions and doesn’t tolerate deviations. He has impeccable sädhana of chanting and reading.

He has a great zest for distributing Prabhupäda’s books and a strong resolve to preach even in the most trying circumstances. Often he shares deep realizations which help me understand the science of Kåñëa Consciousness better. He is very soft spoken, hardworking and humble. One of his cherished desires is to start self-sufficient varnaçrama communities and transform Malawi into a fully Kåñëa conscious country.

I am fortunate to associate with such a wonderful soul and hope to imbibe some of his qualities.”

Damodar Nityananda Däsa (Dr. Dipankar Deb) is a disciple of Çréla Bhakti Vikasa Swami. He holds a Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Virginia. He is the author of an upcoming book, “Muslim Devotees and Admirers of Lord Kåñëa.”

Hare Kåñëa, Hare Kåñëa, Kåñëa Kåñëa, Hare Hare Hare Räma, Hare Räma, Räma Räma, Hare Hare.

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EVERY TOWN & VILLAGE Worldwide Activities of Kåñëa Consciousness Hare Krishna Festival Dedicated to Nelson Mandela Draws Thousands

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), popularly know as the Hare Krishna movement today hosted a magnificent festival for thousands just South of Johannesburg, South Africa in celebration of the life and legacy of South Africa’s most famous son, Nelson Mandela. Condolences, prayer and celebration in tribute to Nelson Mandela were the themes echoed throughout the daylong event.

Meeting is the world’s largest gathering of religion scholars. This year’s conference held two separate panels focusing on the contributions of modern Vaishnava scholars and saints.

The first such session was featured on Saturday morning at the Dharma Academy of North America’s (DHANAM) 11th Annual Conference, a corollary, yet highly regarded sub-group of the AAR. The Saturday morning panel was entitled, “Modern Pioneers of the Globalization of Krishna Bhakti: Prominent Teachers of the Caitanya School.”

The panel of five scholars featured three papers about the contributions of Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura, one paper on the contributions of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, and one paper on the work of Tamal Krishna Goswami and his recently published book about the teachings of ISKCON’s Founder-acarya, Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

ISKCON Central New Jersey To Turn Church Into Temple

“Pioneers of Krishna Bhakti” Featured at American Academy of Religion Convention The American Academy of Religion’s (AAR) Annual

ISKCON devotees in Central New Jersey are in the process of purchasing a beautiful Methodist Baptist Church and turning it into a Krishna temple.

The new 18,000 square foot property will help accommodate the growing ISKCON Central New Jersey (ICNJ) congregation.

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ISKCON to Participate in Interfaith Battle of the Bands ISKCON devotees participated in an Interfaith Battle of the Bands that was held at the University of Florida in Gainesville on Wednesday, November 20.

The event was held at Flavet Field, a large outdoor venue, from 6 to 8 pm. Nine different acts, from various different Christian and Jewish faiths as well as the Vaishnava faith, performed onstage.

Hare Krishnas return to Cambridge University, UK After many years, the Hare Krishna Festival team returned to the historic city of Cambridge, UK, to host a festival at Cambridge University, in the West Road Concert Hall.

The hall was very grand, with state-of-the-art audiovisual equipment, and a very large stage, which would play a role in prominently displaying the devotees.

A couple hundreds of guests turned up, most of them were English, but there were many other nationalities such as Japanese, American, Italian represented. There were lots of students, but many other people such as

lecturers, businessmen and retired people as well.

Town Hall in Tenerife Grants Land for ISKCON Temple The local government in Adeje, a tourist town

located in southwestern Tenerife, has granted ISKCON an 8,000 square meter plot of land on which to build an Indian style mandir and temple complex.

It’s an exciting development for ISKCON, which has had devotees visiting Tenerife — the largest and most populous of the seven Canary islands off the coast of Spain — since the 1970s.

A New Short Film on the “Journey with the Bhagavad-gita” Visakha Dasi has just released a new short video A Bumpy Journey Toward Harmony with the Bhagavadgita. It is a 24-minute DVD with music, sound effects, provocative wisdom and over 250 stunning photographs.

The video is based on Visakha’s book Bhagavad-gita: A Photographic Essay, which won the Independent Publisher Book Award in 2011 in the USA.

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The International Society for Krishna Consciousness

CENTRES IN INDIA Founder-Äcärya: His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivendanta Swami Prabhupada

ANDHRA PRADESH: Hanumkonda—(08712) 77399; Hyderabad—(040) 2474-4969/ vedantacaitanya@ pamho.net, Nellore—0861-2314577, 9215536589/ sukadevaswami@gmail.com; Secunderabad—(040) 780-5232; Tirupati—(0877) 2231760/ guesthouse.tirupati@ pamho.net; Vijayawada—(08645) 272513/ mmdasiskcon vijayawada@gmail.com; Vishakhapatnam—(0891) 5537625/ samba.jps@pamho.net; Warangal—(08712) 426182; ASSAM: Cachar—(03842) 34615; Guwahati—(0361) 254-5963/ iskcon.guwahati@pamho.net; BIHAR: Patna—(0612) 687637/ krishna.kripa.jps@pamho.net; CHHATISGARH: Raipur— (0771) 5037555, 9893276985/ iskconraipur@ yahoo.com; DELHI: New Delhi—(011)26288816/ jaimukunda.gkg@pamho.net; New Delhi—25222851, 55136200. GUJARAT: Ahmedabad—(079) 26861945/ jasomatinandan.acbsp@pamho.net, Baroda—(0265) 2310630/ basu.ghosh.acbsp@pamho.net; Dwarka—(02892) 34606; Surat—(0261) 2765891/ surat@pamho.net; Vallabh Vidyanagar—(02692) 230796; JAMMU & KASHMIR: Jammu—(0191) 2582306; Katra—(01991) 233047; Udhampur—(01992) 270298; KARNATAKA: Bangalore— (080) 23471956/ ard@iskconbangalore.org; Bangalore— (080) 23565708, 9844234108/ vibhav.krishna.jps @pamho.net; Belgaum—(0831) 243-6267; Mangalore— (0824) 2423326, 9844325616; KERALA: Thiruvananthapuram—(0471) 2328197/ jsdasa@yahoo.co.in.

MADHYA PRADESH: Indore—(0731) 4972665; Ujjain— 0734-235000/ iskcon.ujjain@pamho.net; MAHARASHTRA: Kaundanyapur, Amravati—07225202805, 09423127845/ iskconkndinyapur@pamho.net; Beed—(02442) 231799/ iskcon.beed@pamho.net; Chowpatty, Mumbai—(022) 23665500/ radha.krishna.rns@pamho.net; Juhu, Mumbai— (022) 26206860/ iskcon.juhu@pamho.net; Kharghar, Navi Mumbai— 9820039911/ iskcon.kharghar@gmail.com; Mira Road, Thane—(022) 28454667, 9223183023/ kamalalochan.gkg@pamho.net; Nagpur—(0712) 6994730, 937015638/ iskcon.nagpur@pamho.net; Nasik—(0253) 6450005/ 9623701409/ 9767953860; Pandharpur—(02186) 267242, 9423335991/ iskcon.pandharpur@pamho.net; Pune— (020) 41033222/ infocenter@iskconpune.in; Solapur— 9371178393; MANIPUR: Imphal—(0385) 2455693, manimandir@sancharnet.in; Moirang— 795133; ORISSA: Angul—09437052142/ iskconangul@gmail.com Bhubaneswar—(0674) 255-3517/ iskconbhubaneswar @rediffmail.com; Brahmapur—(0680) 2485720; Brahmapur—(0680) 2116100, 9437179400/ panchratna.gkg@pamho.net; Jagatsinghpur—(06724) 238112/ srigopalccd@yahoo.co.in; Puri—(06752) 231440; PUNJABHARYANA: Amritsar—(0183) 2540177; Chandigarh—(0172) 2601590/ bhaktivinode.gkg@pamho.net; Kurukshetra— (01744) 234806; Ludhiana—(0161) 2770600, 9815940005/ iskcon.ludhiana@pamho.net. RAJASTHAN: Bharatpur— (05644) 22044; Jaipur—(0141) 2782765, 2781860/ jaipur@pamho.net; TAMIL NADU: Chennai— (044) 24530921; Coimbatore— (0422) 2574508/ info@iskconcoimbatore.org; Madurai—(0452) 2746472; Salem—(0427) 2360012, 9442153427/ iskcon.salem@pamho.net; Sri

Rangam—(0431) 433945; Vellore—(0416) 2241654, 9790392143/ akinchan_bvks97@rediffmail.com; TRIPURA: Agartala—(0381) 227053/ premadata@rediffmail.com; UTTAR PRADESH: Allahabad—(0532) 2416718/ iskcon.allahabad@pamho.net; Ghaziabad—(0120) 2824200, 09310969623/ snd-gkg@rediffmail.com; Jhansi— (0510) 2443602; Kanpur—09307188117/ iskcon.kanpur @pamho.net; Lucknow—(0522) 2636500; Noida—(095120) 2454912/ vraja.bhakti.vilas.lok@pamho.net; Varanasi—(0542) 276422; Vrindavan—(0565) 254-0021 (Guesthouse) 2540022 vrindavan@pamho.net; UTTARANCHAL: Haridwar— (01334) 260818, 261116; WEST BENGAL: Haridaspur—(03215) 57856; Kolkata—(033) 22873757/ iskcon.calcutta@ pamho.net; Mayapur—(03472) 245239, 245240/ mayapur.chandrodaya@pamho.net; Nadia—(03473) 281150/ shyamrup.jps@pamho.net; Siliguri—09800865104/ abd@pamho.net

VAIÑËAVA CALENDAR Janurary 1– February 15, 2014

2 Jan : Çré Locana Däsa Öhäkura appearance 4 Jan : Çréla Jéva Gosvämé Disappearance, Çré Jagadiça Paëòita Disappearance 11 Jan : Fasting for Putradä Ekädaçi 12 Jan : Break fast (Mumbai) 07:23 am - 10:56 am, Çré Jagadiça Paëòita appearance 15 Jan : Gaìgä Sägara Melä 16 Jan : Çré Kåñëa Puñya Abhiçeka 21 Jan : Rämacandra Kavéräja disappearance, Çréla Gopäla Bhaööa Gosvämé Appearance 22 Jan : Çré Jayadeva Gosvämé disappearance 23 Jan : Çré Locana Däsa Öhäkura disappearance 27 Jan : Fasting for Saö-tilä Ekädaçi 28 Jan : Break fast (Mumbai) 07:13 am - 10:59 am 4 Feb : Vasanta Païcamé, Çrématé Viñëupriyä Devé Appearance, Sarasvaté Püjä, Çréla Viçvanätha Cakravarté Öhäkura disappearance, Çré Punòarika Vidyänidhi Appearance, Çré Raghunandana Öhäkura appearance, Çréla Raghunätha Däsa Gosvämé appearance 6 Feb : Çré Advaita Äcärya appearance (Fast today) 7 Feb : Bhéñmäñöamé 8 Feb : Çré Madhväcärya disappearance 9 Feb : Çré Rämänujäcärya disappearance 10 Feb : Fasting for Bhaimi Ekädaçi (Fast today for Varäha Dvädaçi) 11 Feb : Break fast (Mumbai) 07:09 am - 10:58 am, Varäha Dvädaçi: Appearance of Lord Varähadeva.

12 Feb : Nityänanda Trayodaçé: appearance of Çré Nityänanda Prabhu (Fast today) 14 Feb : Çré Kåñëa Madhura Utsava, Çréla Narottama Däsa Öhäkura appearance JANURARY 2014

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EDITORIAL The Land of Fakirs, Yogés, Snakes, and Miracles

I

n the past, many believed India to be the land of fakirs, yogés, snakes and miracles. One of the most famous of tricks conjured by fakirs was the famous Indian Rope Trick. A fakir would show a coiled rope to the public which would slowly rise as he would play a been (Indian wind instrument made from gourds) and in a short while the rope would be stiff and hard like a pole.

Upon his order his assistant would then start climbing that rope and as he would rise higher he would slowly vanish into thin air. As the audience applauds the rope would fall back to its original position and the assistant would re-appear. This rope-trick is so famous that numerous people have claimed that they have personally seen it and it was especially popular with Western writers in the 19th century.

But what we are about to discuss now is such deep magic that it would put even the rope trick to shame? In the Çrémad-Bhägavatam (11th Canto) Uddhava asks Lord Kåñëa about ‘yoga siddhis’ or material perfections achieved by a yogé. It should be noted that both in the Bhagavad Gita and in the Çrémad-Bhägavatam Lord Kåñëa is sometimes addressed as Yogeçwara, or the Supreme Master of Yoga-siddhis. Upon asked by Uddhava, Kåñëa lists eight most important siddhis as: Aëimä-siddhi: This enables the yogé to become smaller than the smallest.

Laghimä-siddhi: A yogé having laghima siddhi can become lighter than the lightest or practically weightless.

Mahimä-siddhi: Mahima siddhi gives the yogé to become greater than the greatest.

Präpti-siddhi: With präpti-siddhi any desirable object can be obtained. Éçitva-siddhi: Éçitva-siddhi enables the yogé to manipulate the laws of material nature.

Vaçitva-siddhi: A yogé having mastered vaçitva-siddhi is unhampered even by the three modes of material

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nature.

Präkämya-siddhi: This siddhi gives the yogé the power to enjoy any desirable object.

Kämävasäyitä-siddhi: One who has mastered this siddhi can obtain anything from anywhere to the highest possible limit.

What is more interesting is that after describing these siddhis Lord Kåñëa cautions that one seriously traversing the path of bhakti should carefully avoid these siddhis as they are nothing more than irritating obstacles on the path of self-realization. Since Kåñëa is the original master and the fountainhead of all these perfections His devotees do not need to pursue them separately. If the need arises the Lord will do the needful.

Why does Kåñëa call them obstacles?

Pataïjali, the great exponent of the path of yoga, has stated that to achieve siddhis there are many options: one can be a siddha by birth, or one can achieve siddhis with the help of herbs, austerities and by meditating on a mantra. For example, a fish can swim in water and a sparrow can fly in the air — these perfections are available simply by being born in that particular species of life.

I am reminded of the story of a village boy who went to perform austerities in the Himalayas and returned after twelve long years. He had finally mastered the art of walking on water. He was really desperate to show his skill in front of his whole village. Upon entering the village he saw the wise old man and decided to show him his siddhi. The old man saw his trick and said that it was worth five paisa. “What,” retorted the young fellow, “All my efforts are worth only five paisa?” The old man took a pause and said, “Look here, the boatman gladly takes me across the river for five paisa. But you can save that amount.”

—Çhyämänanda Däsa

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