BruzWayne

Hare Krishna. I have been out from bhakti yoga since May 12, 2005. Now I am looking forward to go back to live inside of a Hare Krishna temple as soon as I can, so I'll start by chanting some japa rounds again, however, getting the association with Krishna devotees seems to be very important in order to keep up the yoga. Hare Krishna.

Hare Krishna. Well, I finally called her in order to invite her out to go with me for some singing in a karaoke, however Gisselle didn't accept my invitation in two different times. Therefore I understand that she is not at all interested in sharing some time with me. After feeling for awhile in disillusion I remember that Krishna is the Supreme Controller of everything and therefore it was His will that this emotional affair didn't find a way. That's ok for me. I realize that I will have to look for another woman giving time to time. Well, next subject. Hare Krishna.

La dirección es http://www.iskcon.com.mx/ Espero sea de utilidad. Hare Krishna. BruzWayne.

Hare Krishna KarenSpain, Existe una página en español acerca de Conciencia de Krishna, me parece que se encuentra en la web de iskcon. Buena suerte. Hare Krishna.

Hare Krishna jagatpurush2, Your comment is right, 99% of people take marriage as an option, including Swami Prabhupada who was married for some years, and Lord Caitanya who married twice, and Arjuna who was married with Draupadi, and of course Lord Sri Krishna who married Rukmini. On the other hand a very few persons do not get married like JesusChrist or some saints or some yogis as well. Since Krishna is the Supreme Controller, it is His will that determines which persons will belong to the 1% of lifetime loners. Therefore your advise is clever, searching out a life long partner in order to share KC together is a good idea. Well, I've had a few girlfriends in the past and so far it has been Krishna's will that marriage hasn't happened yet with any of them. Something is telling me that Gisselle won't be the exception, unless, of course, somehow, Krishna determines that getting married with Gisselle is allowed for me if such is Krishna's will. Therefore let there be Krishna's will be done regarding this affair. He is the Master and His commands must be obeyed and accepted, independently of our own desires. Hare Krishna.

The messages entitled "Wise reply" and "It would be great" and "In the meanwhile" were posted by myself even though I had not login yet and that's why the user appears as a Guest. Hare Krishna. BruzWayne.

Hare Krishna devotees. I've been outside of yoga for many days, however a few days ago I did a kirtana and read Bhagavad-gita and did at least one japa round and also had vegetarian food (prashadam) again. The situation is that somehow since many months ago I feel that I am in love with a very beautiful woman called Gisselle. She is so lovely, her eyes are very nice and her lips are irresistible and the way she walks makes me feel in love with her. I'd like to invite her out and tell her that I like her and I love her and that I would like her to become my girlfriend and then get married with her, you know, in order to start a family and travel and shar a lifetime together and of course kiss her everyday and make love with her and give her flowers as well. Nevertheless, Chapter 2 Verses 62-63 of Bhagavad-gita state that while watching or beholding the objects of the senses the living entity gets attached to them and fron such attachment lust arises, and then anger comes, and then bewilderment of memory and then loss of intelligence and then illusion and then one falls down again into the materia cycles of birth and death. In other words, I know that if I surrender unto the beauty of Gisselle eventually I'm going to become angry for different reasons, basically lust and the sense of possesiveness, and then I'll forget about yoga completely and things will go out of control. So I better forget about this silly emotion and go back to my chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Therefore I'm not going to call Gisselle on the phone and I will never tell her that I love her. So when I see her again I'll just have to swallow this emotion and pretend that I don't love her and try to keep chanting maha mantras. The only thing that hurts is the possibility that some fool will kiss her and marry her while I had to renunciate to love her because of Krishna Consciousness. Well, I hope I can handle properly this pain of loving Gisselle every day. Hare Krishna.

A couple of days ago two drunk men were causing lots of noise outside the room that I rent so I wasn't able to sleep, so I called the cops by a public phone in the street and then told the drunk men to get away for some help was coming. One of them was about to attack me exactly at the same time when the cops were arriving. If I would have had to fight back I was chanting the maha mantra in my mind already. The crime here is high, I'm sure one day I won't have other option but fight to kill or die, whatever Krishna decides, I'm ready for any option. No more comments nor replies about it, I must do what I must do, always chanting in my mind Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. I may return to this web page if a special request to Krishna that I made becomes real, in the meantime, farewell to the KC devotees in here. Truly, BruzWayne.

I have accomplished one complete year in a row doing this bhakti yoga in KC, on my own and all by myself in a city where nobody else knows nothing about Krishna or Prabhupada, from April 1st 2004 until March 31 2005 (yesterday). Through all this year I have accomplished the 4 regulative principles every day and I was doing frequent kirtanas and reading Bh.g. and S.Bh. and chanting some japa rounds aloud and performing ekadasis and special fasts on special dates and taking cold showers with a swimming suit and putting on tilaka (using water instead while chanting the correspondent prayer). My only weakness during this year was singing and listening to karmi music like rock, pop, ballads and so on either at home or in a public karaoke. If I wouldn't have at least one weakness then I wouldn't be human, I suppose. After one year in a row in KC this is my personal conclusion: Good results in the area of health, bad results in the area of money. I started this KC penniless and I'm almost penniless again, therefore I must quit these sacrifices until I have reached a special balance in my personal economy. However I will try to keep up only the 4 regulative principles in case that I must fight against any enemy and so I'll chant the maha mantra for fighting, just like Arjuna did in Kurukshetra. I will do Kirtanas and all other stuff again only if somehow Krishna fulfills one special request that I have expressed unto Him, and if this ever happens then I'll return to these web page, in the meantime I'm out of here because I'm almost penniless again and I must dedicate more time to improve my job in sales to have success in order to survive. See you then or maybe see you never again, only time and Krishna will tell. Truly, BruzWayne.

On March'05 I did 8 programs and 1 special fast and 2 Ekadasis.

Hare Krishna, I appreciate the good comments from every body. Today I was talking with somebody about the bad reasons for war and those are Power and Fanatism, and we could add Revenge. My job is about selling tours for entertainment like scuba diving and snorkeling and sightseeing and hiking and horseback ridding and so on, however, one year ago I was challenged to fight hand to hand by some co-worker. Then I decided that if I was going to have to fight hand to hand one day in a street fight it would be proper to purify myself through bhakti yoga thus offering unto Krishna any fight in the future. I don't look for fights but due to this heavy path of bhakti yoha in KC I believe that if I get challenged and I am forced to use violence in order to defend myself then at least I'm following the 4 regulative principles and bhakti yoga programs in order to fight back as a service for Vishnu. That's all. Self-defense. But I must be careful and remember the principles of karate, which is meant for defense only and never for attacking first. Now, if during some fight my enemy results worse than damaged, well... Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. That's why I keep up this yoga stuff, because even though is something boring, well at least is the best way I know in order to turn anger into a service for God. But the sacrifices are too heavy: stop eating meat and shrimps and fish and chicken and stop drinking beer and avoid having sex with women unless I get married... Everything just in order to be purified and ready for a fight and at the same time keep my consciousness clean despite of the results. Hare Krishna.

Hare Krishna. My last activity, Mar. 25, Gaura-Purnima (complete fast from food and water until moonrise) OK. 1 japa round. *** So far, I've ben doing all these bhakti yoga programs and keeping up the 4 regulative principles since April 1st, 2004. In a few days I will accomplish 1 complete year into this yoga stuff. On one hand my health is ok but on the other hand this yoga stuff is too boring and tasteless. The only reason I keep doing this yoga is because of inertia, I mean I started this already so what's the point in quiting now? My only activity apart from yoga is attending the karaoke every now and then in order to sing some karmi songs of rock and ballads and pop and this I do without drinking alcohol nor smoking tobacco, just singing some songs. And today I discover that my luck in my job is real bad, no sales and I'm almost pennyless again. So I'm beginning to think that there is the chance that Krishna and bhakti yoga is very good for health but at the same time is the best way to end up living in misery all the way while so called demons that eat meat and drink beer have lots of money to spend. Therefore, if I quit this yoga stuff it would be out of logic due to lack of motivation. I mean that's why almost nobody cares about practicing this yoga nowadays. In the end it may be just another false belief, or maybe I'm just tired of believing in a blue fairy tale that only brings economic misery, at least providing enough good health in order to laugh about it, lol. As soon as I find a better belief in another book different from Bhagavad-gita I'll replace this yoga stuff and do something different that can give me a higher income. Now, let me hear you say that I'm falling down in maya again and the evil force of GREED is bringing me down due to some LUSTY desires for some fun and beautiful women, and then ANGER is starting to show in my words, lol. See? In the end the teachings from Prabhupada come back to tell me that I just need to remain humble all the way no matter how bad the circumstances. Besides I have no other choice for the last time that I quit this yoga things got worst than ever. This yoga is like being dead already and yet there's no way out. Hare Krishna.

Hare Krishna devotees. Arjuna was a KC warrior and he had a license to kill enemies with a demon mind like the sons of Dritarashtra. At the end of Bhagavad-gita Arjuna's mind was not moved by false ego and his intelligence wasn't entangled anymore, therefore even though he killed men in this world he didn't killed them at the same time (Bh.g. CH.18. Text 17.) and thus Arjuna's actions weren't binded by the law of karma. As far as I know, warriors in KC like Arjuna are the only ones that can kill enemies with demon minds. On the other hand, Christians and Muslims and Jewish are not allowed to kill due to their common commandment "Thou shall not kill." Hitler and the Nazis used the swastica symbol but as far as I know they weren't KC warriors, just pretenders. Therefore, every soldier in this world of any army either USA or Irak or UK or Spain or Israel or France or China or any nation, and as well any policeman of any nation as well as any person, don't have God's authorization to kill and if they do so they will have to undergo karma reactions. So I think that people like Bush and Blair and Sharon and Hussein and Bin Laden and any president giving orders to their soldiers to kill will be taken by the yamadutas into hell after they die. Now here comes a question, what if somebody following bhakti yoga in KC suddenly kills a karmi enemy in a fight? And another question, what if somebody following bhakti yoga in KC suddenly decides to start a KC army with soldiers that follow the vedic injuctions for warriors? But let's suppose that this person is not a pretender like Hitler but someone with spiritual knowledge like Maharaja Parikshit, that is a student of KC with the warrior mentality? Should we join such an army and defend the KC principles in case that World War III begins? Hare Krishna.

Hare Krishna Jambu. You posted this topic wondering about the directions in order to enjoy sex in marriage. You know what really knocks me out about it? The recommendation that it takes 50 rounds of maha-mantra that each person in the KC married couple must chant before having the sexual relationship. I mean, how many japa rounds have you ever done by yourself in a row during the same day? My best record is having chanted 32 rounds in one day during Janmastami back in the year 2000. So the idea of chanting 50 rounds in a row in order to have sex it knocks me out, it's too much chanting... but let's say, ok, ok, I'll go for it. Next thing is, and where is the KC wife? I took a look at some KC women living or attending a KC center and guess what, it takes lakshmi in order to invite them out. So then you find yourself in the situation that first you need some lakshmi in order to be prepared to get a wife, you know, to have a nice home where to live and a car and a business and some money in the bank for vacation and expenses of all kind... but then you say, ok, ok, let's make enough lakshmi in order to propose marriage to one of these KC women and guess what... you work and work and work and, huh, no lakshmi, so one day you may wonder if all this nonsense of KC is true or is it just a bad joke from the Devil... And when you think of all the times that you have sinned in the past in this life and what to say about other lives, regarding having sex with women without following the KC regulations, then we can realize that first we're going to have to pay a lot of bad circumstances due to our own karma before Krishna gives us a KC wife. So, in my opinion, we may not have a KC wife in this life at all before paying all the karma that we owe from past relationships. Maybe we'll get lucky in our next life, lol. And while we are doing all these KC sacrifices and austerities, somehow, we are watching at the same time karmi people kissing each other in the streets and we know that lots of couples are having sex every where and every day without any regulations, thus our minds receiving strokes from Vishnu's mace day after day... "Others are having pleasure from sex while you don't due to your silly devotion". Ain't this life beautiful? While we are talking about this, lots of couples are enjoying sex without regulations, right now, every where. Of course, they will have to face some consequences like getting AIDS or suddenly getting an unwanted pregnancy or whatever. lol. While for us, there can be a nice KC wife and a sort of happy situation in the future, maybe in another life, after paying our own karma. It's up to us, to keep up the yoga or quit -out of lack of patience.- Karma... doesn't get paid fast and easy, lol. It takes time to pay it. At least we are not creating more karma for ourselves when we are doing KC bhakti yoga. Hare Krishna.

Hare Krishna, gitamrta.org, in reply to your comment, Hare Krishna. It's very difficult to give up sex, it's human nature. --I agree, that's why it is smart aiming at regulating sex rather that giving it up. It gets regulated by having it following the vedic principles about it. But you have to realize that sexual lust will eventually cause misery even in this life for many and the cause of us coming back life after life. --Yes, sexual lust creates karma. But on the other hand regulated sex in Krishna Consciousness is allowed and it doesn't create karma. It's desires that causes us to come back to satisfy those desires. --We should have only one desire, "remain under the service of Lord Sri Krishna always every day". However, our minds will suddenly create other desires, therefore we must learn to create desires that are good for Krishna Consciousness. For example, we need sex, then we must desire that Krishna gives us a nice KC woman for a wife in order to have regulated sex with she. Otherwise, if after the need of sex appears in our minds and then we desire to have a woman for getting sex pleasure with she without getting married, then that is a dangerous desire that will create karma. So go on having sex, but it's not free. You will have to pay for it with your soul being covered in different material bodies for countless lifetimes. You will not go back to krishnaloka after this life but back here on this horrible planet called Earth. Or maybe another horrible planet. From the highest planet in the material to the lowest all are places opf misery, wherein repeated birth takes place. --This is true and that's why all of us are here, because we haven't learned yet to fix our minds only in the lotus feet of Krishna. So hopefully we can learn to have regulated sex first and then aspire to fix our minds on Krishna's lotus feet only, if at all possible someday. Hare Krishna.

Well, the attraction towards Gisselle has been vanishing somehow since I haven't seen her anymore, besides, on March 13 I saw another beautiful woman passing by in front of me and I realized that she is 100 times more beautiful than Gisselle. Isn't it amazing? This world of maya means tricks for the senses every day. One day you think you're falling in love with one woman and then suddenly you discover that there is another woman more beautiful than the other. So I'm glad that I never said anything to Gisselle about my senses liking her beauty. Well, the only woman I would marry would be a KC woman if somehow I like her so much that I forget to visualize Vishnu inside of her heart and then get married with she through the fire ceremony and then on the next day I might say, "oops, what happened with my Vishnu vision? Now I'm married with this woman. Somehow my eye of the mind got blind due to her beauty... Well, same happened to Lord Shiva when he married Parvati, right?" lol. Anyway, back in topic I realize that I have no way out and no way back from bhakti yoga so my last records are, Mar. 18, Night, Kirtana 40'... Bhagavad-gita I:29-30 and Purport... 5 japa rounds. Mar. 19, Night, Kirtana 30'... Bhagavad-gita I:31 and Purport... 2 japa rounds. Mar. 20, Night, Kirtana 40'... Bhagavad-gita I:32-35 and Purport... 2 japa rounds. Mar. 21, Afternoon, Kirtana 30'... Bhagavad-gita I:36 and Purport... 2 japa rounds. Mar. 21, at least 24 hours, Ekadasi (fast from grains and beans) OK. *** Hare Krishna.

Hare Krishna, guest, thank you very much for your advise and your encouragement. On last February I accomplished a total of 7 yoga programs and 4 fasts and 2 Ekadasis. Then, after February 20, I started feeling very dizzy about yoga, feeling like giving up but somehow I've been accomplishing every day the 4 regulative principles like not eating meat nor eggs nor fish, and not having illicit sex with women, and not using intoxicants like alcohol nor tobacco, and not gambling nor playing random games. However, I saw a very beautiful woman whose name is Gisselle and I've been fighting the idea of believing that I am in love with her. So I read the whole chapter 2 of Bhagavad-gita and I've been trying to visualize Lord Sri Vishnu as Paramatma inside of her heart in order to control this feeling of looking for her in order to pretend to marry her. Last time I started a friendship with a woman things were unfortunate because she was having a relationship with somebody else so I had to stop seeing her, therefore now I rather be cautious about my atraction towards this beautiful woman named Gisselle. Somehow I went back to my programs... Mar. 5, Night, Kirtana 40'... Bhagavad-gita I:20 and Purport... 2 japa rounds. Mar. 7, Night, Kirtana 30'... Bhagavad-gita I:21-22 and Purport... 4 japa rounds. Mar. 7, all day, Ekadasi (fast from grains and beans) OK. Mar. 9, Morning, Kirtana 40'... Bhagavad-gita I:23-25 and Purport... 2 japa rounds. Mar. 11, Night, Kirtana 30'... Bhagavad-gita I:26-28 and Purport... 2 japa rounds. *** I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to avoid Gisselle's attraction any longer. Maybe I will surrender unto her special beauty and talk with her and ask her if she is single or married. If she is married then I won't do nothing about it, you know, "Thou shall not desire the woman of another man." But if she is single, then I might ask her if she would like to become Krishna Consciouss person in order to start a friendship with her. We'll see what's Krishna's will regarding this special attraction towards Gisselle. Anyway, giving up my bhahti-yoga? No way. I have no way out, no way back, I might get dizzy for a while but I must not fall apart from bhakti-yoga. This war against Kali's clutches it's not easy but I must keep on fighting 'till my last day present on this planet. Hare Krishna.

Hare Krishna, daihyd. You say that you are a witch. Do you mean a good intentions witch like the TV shows characters like Samantha from "Bewitched" or Sabrina "The teen witch"? Hare Krishna.

Hare Krishna. To be honest, last Feb.14 at night I went to the karaoke to sing some songs, the first one was "My Sweet Lord" from George Harrison and then I sang some others. I didn't drink alcohol and I didn't smoke tobacco, just sang a few songs that's all. I gues it was because of the special date. Now back on track these are my last programs, Feb. 17, Morning, Kirtana 30'... Bhagavad-gita I:11-14 and Purport... 16 japa rounds. *** Feb. 18, Night, Kirtana 40'... Bhagavad-gita I:15 and Purport... 11 japa rounds. *** Feb. 19, all day, Ekadasi (fast from grains and beans) OK. Feb. 19, Night, Kirtana 30'... Bhagavad-gita I:16-19 and Purport... 16 japa rounds. *** Feb. 20, Fast until noon (appearance of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati) OK. *** This is it so far. Somehow I'm feeling very boring by doing all these yoga programs, but it is my own decision to do it. It's not easy and it's getting heavier to carry on. I can feel the power of the gravity from maya trying to call me back to break my programs, but I'll do my best to keep up the yoga the best I can. We'll see. Hare Krishna.

Hare Krishna, Guest. Hopefully one day things will change in this world so we can see a better way of communication between people with different ways of thinking.

Hare Krishna, Samaya11. I agree with your comment, and yes I was lucky to find out this article and I knew I had to share it in this forum.

That's true. Chanting 16 rounds a day must be Priority Number One. I have the time today so I'll go home and chant the 14 rounds that I need today in order to make 16. If I succeed on this then maybe I'll give myself permit to go karaoke today. First things first, right? Hare Krishna.

Hare Krishna, guest. Congratulations for your advancement on Krishna Consciousness self-practice! I think you're right about Srimad-Bhagavatam. For some reason Krishna will allow ceretain devotees to read it in different phases depending on Krishna's plan. That's why you haven't started to read it yet. In my case I just finished one volume, Canto One, and I don't have any of the other volumes. Of course I can down load it from the internet but I would prefer to buy it so this way I'll be helping the devotees that work on publishing Prabhupada's books. I have some lakshmi but I need to get a special address where to receive it by mail because where I live there is no safe mailbox in order to receive it so I must get a P.O.Box in my local city mail or make a trip to a special bookstore where they sell it. Besides, the cost of shipping will increase the amount to pay, so maybe I'll have to wait more time before getting the other 17 volumes of Srimad Bhagavatam. Maybe Krishna considers that one volume is enough for me for now. So I hope that Krishna will let you read S.B. as soon as possible because it is very exquisite lecture, indeed. Hare Krishna.

The following article was found on line. JESUS THROUGH HINDU EYES. I've an Indian friend who when he was seven moved with his family from India to England. Where he was enrolled at a new school. On his first day he was asked to speak to the class about a saint from his Hindu tradition. Enthusiastically he began to tell the story of the saint called Ishu, who was born in a cowshed, was visited by three holy men, performed many amazing miracles, walked on water and spoke a wonderful sermon on a mountain. Of course, he was telling the story of Christ. But he was bewildered to hear that the teacher laid claim to Ishu for herself and her friends and she let him know that this was her Lord and her story, not his. He was very upset about this, because Ishu's tale was his favourite story. You see, in a sense, Hindus don't really see Jesus as a Christian at all. (Of course Jesus didn't either because the term had not been used during His lifetime). In Hindu thought church or temple membership, or belief is not as significant as spiritual practice (which is called sadhana in sanskrit). As there is no Church of Hinduism everyone holds their own spiritual and philosophical opinions. It is difficult then to understand someone's spirituality simply by looking at their religious trappings. So, in India it is more common to hear someone ask, “What is your practice (or sadhana)?” than, “What do you believe?” Then when we ask how we can see spirituality in Hindus, the answer comes, by behaviour and practice. We can ask are we humble, are we tolerant and are we non-violent, and can we control our senses and our mind? Are we aware of others suffering and are we willing to give up our comfort to help them? Looking at these criteria Jesus measures up as a Sadhu, a holy man. He preached a universal message, love of God and love of brother, which was beyond any sectarianism or selfishness. Jesus was one of those people who appealed from heart to heart, and that's what makes him such a good Hindu Saint. In my particular tradition, and among other Hindus, He is seen as much more, as an Avatar, specifically a Shaktavesha Avatar or an empowered incarnation. This means that God has sent Him to us for a specific mission to fulfil God's will on earth. When I was 14 I began a personal and serious study of the New Testament. I wanted to understand what Christ had to say about things so I paid particular attention to the words of Jesus Himself. I can see now that the whole direction of my life was determined by this formative study and by the thoughtfulness invoked by it. I read such passages as Luke 5: "forsake all and follow me". I remember distinctly, as a 14 year old developing my own understanding of what that meant. I had formed a sense of mission and vocation by reading the Bible, seeing that the love of God should be shared with others. The greatest commandment, to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our words and all our deeds, and love our neighbour as ourselves struck me as an instruction, as a plea and actually, as a necessity. Considering how to do to that, how to forsake all and follow God out of love, has provided me my greatest challenge in life. As a young boy, that meant giving up sitting in front of the TV with my cup of coffee, two sugars and a biscuit (these were the comforts of my life at that time). It meant to go down to the town centre of Wexford, my hometown, stand in the Bullring, and preach the glory of love of God to all who wanted to hear it. From my reading of Christ's words and the example of his life, I knew that is what I was called to do, but did I do it? No, I couldn't. That surrender to God I had to postpone. The instructions and teachings of Christ were crystal clear to me but I wasn't having an easy time trying to follow them. (Isn't it funny how it sometimes seems easier to fight for our principles than to actually follow them). Thus my script was written, the challenge laid down, a challenge that Christ had posed to the whole world. “He who has ears let him hear”, he would say. I seemed to have those unfortunate ears. Christ was different. He was radically different. He preached for three years and got killed for it. He gave everything. A friend betrayed him. We have all had some experience where someone we trust turns on us but imagine how we would feel if a friend betrayed us to death? Does the word forgiveness spring to mind? Not in my case, but it comes a close second. In Hindu scripture it says that forgiveness is the principal quality of a civilised man, and civilisation is measured in terms of spiritual qualities rather than economic or scientific advancement. Its quite clear to me where Jesus hung his hat on that issue. For instance in our civilised world who would get away with going to a funeral, approaching the chief mourner and asking him to surrender everything to God NOW, as Jesus did. When the chief mourner replied, “But I've got to bury my father”, Christ said, “let the dead bury the dead”. (I wonder what the tabloids in those days had to say about that?). Of course, Jesus didn't get away with this either but he had the courage of His convictions, He spoke the truth, the absolute truth to a materialistic society and risked life and limb for His mission. I wonder how He might fare today with His uncompromising stand on Hypocrites and whited sepulchres? For instance if he was to visit Belfast he might have problems being heard unless He declared first if he were a Catholic or a Protestant Christian. And how did an Irish chap like me become a Hindu priest? Why not a Catholic priest or at least a Christian of some sort. There is certainly a great range of Christian sects to choose from these days. Maybe they are becoming as diverse as the Hindus? Anyway, I first encountered Hindu spirituality through the Vaishnava tradition of the great medieval saint Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, that's a lot of words that boil down to mean I met the Hare Krishnas. At the age of 18, in Dublin I bumped into a shaven headed, saffron robed fellow and visited his temple ashram, his monastery, so to speak. I had been visiting all kinds of religious groups—Christian and otherwise but these were surprisingly serious chaps. They rose at four in the morning for prayer, study and chanting. By the time breakfast came at 8.30am I felt like I had done a full days work only to find that the full days work was just about to begin! The captivating thing for me though was the fact that every act was to be offered to God with love, every word spoken in His favour, every song sung for His pleasure, every dance for His eyes and all food prepared and offered first for His taste. Along with this went an ancient philosophy that answered more questions than I had ever asked. But what got me about these devotees of Krishna was what I saw as their practice of Christianity, even though they didn't actually call themselves Christians. They banded together in small groups, sung the praise of God with drums and loud clashing cymbals, wore flowing robes, abandoned the material world and preached in the public market places. That's actually a description of the early Christians but the Krishna 's did this as well. I loved the chanting of Hare Krishna. I'm sure you have seen the devotees chanting in public somewhere. They chant Sanskrit names of God Hare, Krishna and Rama, meaning 'spirititual happiness', 'all attractive person' and 'reservoir of pleasure'. Lovely names and they form a prayer to be engaged in the service of God. The idea of chanting Gods name, any name we choose to chant, is that we come into direct contact with God Himself, as his name and His Person are not different, the Hindu story goes. (But don't take my word for it. The proof of the pudding is in the eating). I think it was the spontaneous happiness produced by the music, the chant and the dancing that touched my heart so much and it continues to do so to this day. For me it was “Hallowed by thy name” in practice. The practice may look strange to some but that is not the point. I suppose it depends on our cultural view but nuns may look just as strange as naked Sadhus. Is that a reflection of their spiritual qualities or just their dress sense? To me this spiritual practice was being performed in the essential spirit of Christianity. If we look in the Hindu scripture, Bhagavad-gita, we hear Lord Krishna asking us to abandon all our sectarianism and just surrender to Him, in love. He vows to protect us from evil and from fear. I hear the same “forsake all and follow me” message, the same call to surrender and the same reassurance. Jesus shows this struggle of surrender during his evening in the garden of Gethsemane . His sincere appeal to the Lord to let the cup pass from him, although He was willing to go through with His Father's command. I have always found myself in this kind of dilemma, although without the same willingness to do the needful that Christ had. All of us who struggle with spirituality wonder if we are capable of making the effort, or if we are doomed to failure and hypocrisy? Can we meet the challenge? Christ's example is so relevant for all of us who want to practise a spiritual life, and even for those who just want to be good. But how many of us are willing to sacrifice our desires in favour of the will of God, even in small ways . When we look at his experience during his traumatic arrest, trial and crucifixion we see a man at peace within Himself and with the world. He was condemned for his zeal and for his perceived threat to society, because he was misunderstood. I have experienced that to a lesser degree in my life - being condemned for being a Hare Krishna, for being different and incomprehensible. I have been spat at and derided, but not crucified. I have no idea what Jesus had to give up, in His early thirties, so that I, in my early forties, could be inspired to follow the Godly path. The fact is I can see myself in Jesus. I recognise and empathise with His life, His temptations and His suffering. But I can see a lot more in Him than my faltering attempts at spirituality. I can see someone transcending the materialism of this world. Hindus as much as anyone talk much about this noble ideal but it is a true celebration when someone, anyone of any tradition begins to make sense, spiritually. And so many of us don't seem to make sense spiritually. We can acquire a religious reputation, be addressed by religious titles. We can easily learn to say the right thing and wear the appropriate clothes and chant the right passwords for all religious occasions, and look passably good. But the example of Jesus and other saints challenge any insincerity in our heart, any duplicity and hypocrisy. They display another level of faith, a level called love and their love is beyond our need to be right about everything, to dominate others and to demand them to conform to our perception. They are humble. Its about a deep change of heart. Its about knowing God as a friend and as a lover. Its about being happy to love God with the full trust that He will take care of us in all circumstances, just as a small child will trust their father or mother. It's about accepting absence of god in our lives as enthusiastically as His embrace. Its difficult for us to neatly categorise Jesus, this lover of God, as a Christian or a Jew. He talked only of His Father and he was not enamoured of politics, religion or wealth as He experienced them. God's service was His life, His love and his religion. Remember my Indian friend who loved Ishu so much? What about him? Was he a follower of Christ? Could he have a personal relationship with God? Would he have to “bath in the blood of the Lamb” first? (a terrible option for vegetarians). These are important questions though, “Can a Hindu follow Jesus?”; “Can a Hindu love god with all his heart and soul?”; “Do you have to be a Christian to follow Christ?” ; even “Who owns Christ?.” The Sanskrit word acharya means ‘one who teaches by example'. For Hindus, Christ is an acharya. His example is a light to any of us in this world who want to take up the serious practise of spiritual life. His message is no different from the message preached in another time and place by Lord Krishna and Lord Chaitanya. It would be a great shame if we allowed our Hinduism, our Islam, our Judaism or indeed our Christianity to stand in the way of being able to follow the teachings and example of such a great soul as Lord Jesus Christ. Shaunaka Rishi Dasa Source: http://www.iskcon.com/new/050211_opinion.htm

My last programs, Feb. 8, Fast until noon OK, (appearance of Advaita Acarya). *** Feb. 9, Morning, Kirtana 40'... Bhagavad-gita I:2 and Purport... 10 japa rounds. *** Feb. 12, Fast until noon OK, (appearance of Lord Varaha). *** Feb. 12, Night, Kirtana 30'... Bhagavad-gita I:3 and Purport... 8 japa rounds. *** Feb. 14, Fast until noon OK, (appearance of Nityananda Prabhu). *** Feb. 14, Morning, Kirtana 40'... Bhagavad-gita I:4-10 and Purport... 2 japa rounds. *** So far these are my own records. I know it's not too much but I'm doing the best I can. Today is February 14 so I'm looking for a good excuse to go back to the karaoke for just a couple of hours tonight, I mean, I won't drink alcoholic drinks and I won't smoke tobacco just sing a few karmi songs that's all, but if I go because I couldn't be very strong in order to hold my appettite for some sense gratification in the form of singing karmi music, still the first song I'll sing will be "My Sweet Lord" from George Harrison, a song dedicated to Krishna. And I think they also have that song "I got my mind set on you" from Harrison too. I think this last song refers to the wish of staying all the time in KC and however the forces of maya always making us fall apart a little bit. In my case the problem is that I know that when I start singin regular karmi songs it is because I start remembering one woman from my past and some other women too, but especially one, so that's the situation with karmi music: it takes our mind away from Krishna and puts our mind in a memory or some passion if there's a nice woman in the audience and we start singing for her, with discretion or not. But what can I do? Today is February 14, you know? Valentine's Day so... I have an alibi right? Lol. I should stay at home and chant more japa rounds, I know, and if I do it, hey, what a great yogi I am. And if I go karaoke tonight, well, we're humans after all, right? There is a saying, "Not so much that the saint will get burn, not so much that the saint won't get light." And this means that when we light some fire for a saint or a deity the fire shouldn't be too close nor too far from Him. Therefore, I might go karaoke tonight. Let's see what's Krishna's will about it. It's funny, I feel I should quit this karmi habit once and for all and still I'm in the mood to go karaoke again, mmmm, there's a song that goes "should I stay or should I go now? Should I stay or should I goooooo? Should I stay or should I go?" Lol. Any comment? Somebody here reading my battles against temptations? Mmmmm, Hare Krishna.