gHari

Love.

Near the end of the Gita, we find your same sentiment in verse 18.74: <center> saJjaya uvAca ity ahaM vAsudevasya pArthasya ca mahAtmanaH saMvAdam imam azrauSam adbhutaM roma-harSaNam </center> saJjayaH uvAca--SaJjaya said; iti--thus; aham--I; vAsudevasya--of KRSNa; pArthasya--and Arjuna; ca--also; mahA-AtmanaH--of the great soul; saMvAdam--discussion; imam--this; azrauSam--have heard; adbhutam--wonderful; roma-harSaNam--making the hair stand on end. SaJjaya said: Thus have I heard the conversation of two great souls, KRSNa and Arjuna. And so wonderful is that message that my hair is standing on end. PURPORT In the beginning of Bhagavad-gItA, DhRtarASTra inquired from his secretary SaJjaya, "What happened on the Battlefield of KurukSetra?" The entire study was related to the heart of SaJjaya by the grace of his spiritual master, VyAsa. He thus explained the theme of the battlefield. The conversation was wonderful because such an important conversation between two great souls had never taken place before and would not take place again. It was wonderful because the Supreme Personality of Godhead was speaking about Himself and His energies to the living entity, Arjuna, a great devotee of the Lord. If we follow in the footsteps of Arjuna to understand KRSNa, then our life will be happy and successful. SaJjaya realized this, and as he began to understand it, he related the conversation to DhRtarASTra. Now it is concluded that wherever there is KRSNa and Arjuna, there is victory. It was your sincerity that brought Krsna to you. It will be your sincerity that brings Him closer and closer.

The fossil record documents the transmigration of the soul through 8,400,000 species of forms. The mundane Darwinists mistakenly think that they are the form. Let's face it, most folks identify the material form as their self, the skin bag filled with mucus, blood, bones and stool. That's why the world is so damn messed up: animal consciousness.

http://vedabase.net/sb/1/6/22/en

It is well-accepted that Srila Prabhupada holds a prominent position in he spiritual world. Would not his eternal servants desire only to continue serving him there? I think it sounds reasonable enough.

Hockey pucks. Glad I didn't watch the supreme videos.

Would I not award my absolute faith and love to the writer of As It Is, whether he was of the present or past or future? There will be my faith always, and anyone who demonstrates that they have come victoriously through the process As It Is, then they are my heroes. I have high hopes for ISKCON's future, for the foundation is indeed As It Is.

These so many limited misconceptions that surround us are most disappointing, but are they so different from the various levels of religious understanding that progress through the Vedic path? Perhaps they only represent the awakening of the soul, all that will eventually blossom into pure love of God at some point down the road. To think that Sri Krsna has abandoned anyone is just not reasonable given our own vision of His kindness in our lives.

God is not a concept. God is reality. That is religion.

I am Kalki !

This is indeed too sad for words.

Some words are more detestable than others. Perhaps we should strive if we have to resort to words to resort to words that are least detestable. The words of the seers of the truth are destined to erode our arrogance and bring us to our reality of absolute humility.

<CENTER>Bhagavad-gita 18.61 <FONT COLOR=RED>IzvaraH sarva-bhUtAnAM hRd-deze 'rjuna tiSThati bhrAmayan sarva-bhUtAni yantrArUDhAni mAyayA </CENTER> IzvaraH--the Supreme Lord; sarva-bhUtAnAm--of all living entities; hRt-deze--in the location of the heart; arjuna--O Arjuna; tiSThati--resides; bhrAmayan--causing to travel; sarva-bhUtAni--all living entities; yantra--on a machine; ArUDhani--being placed; mAyayA--under the spell of material energy. <B></FONT> The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone's heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy. </B> PURPORT Arjuna was not the supreme knower, and his decision to fight or not to fight was confined to his limited discretion. Lord KRSNa instructed that the individual is not all in all. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, or He Himself, KRSNa, as the localized Supersoul, sits in the heart directing the living being. After changing bodies, the living entity forgets his past deeds, but the Supersoul, as the knower of the past, present and future, remains the witness of all his activities. Therefore all the activities of living entities are directed by this Supersoul. The living entity gets what he deserves and is carried by the material body, which is created in the material energy under the direction of the Supersoul. As soon as a living entity is placed in a particular type of body, he has to work under the spell of that bodily situation. A person seated in a high-speed motorcar goes faster than one seated in a slower car, though the living entities, the drivers, may be the same. Similarly, by the order of the Supreme Soul, material nature fashions a particular type of body to a particular type of living entity so that he may work according to his past desires. The living entity is not independent. One should not think himself independent of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The individual is always under the Lord's control. Therefore one's duty is to surrender, and that is the injunction of the next verse.

Lotus flower, More powerful than the sun is the soul. So puny are the planets by comparison. I hope you get this job. Your mind will be your own - a perfect karma yoga job. You will develop skills that you will use to cleanse temples in your old age. If you clean the University for Krsna you will turn it into a temple. You will not have to preach to anyone because your remembrance of Sri Krsna as you work will purify the environment. This is a perfect engagement for a vaisnava. Always give them more than they expect - as much as Krsna expects. gHari

The aparadha piles deeper and deeper as arrogance finishes consuming the beast. It stepped over the line quite some time ago, but this is just too raw to entertain. Such elephants are to be left to their own madness.

From Jaiva-Dharma 15:<blockquote> Babaji: "The time and space as you feel in the material world are different from the time and space of the chit world. The time of the mundane world is divided into three periods, past, present and future; whereas the time in the chit-world is ever present as undivided. All the events relating to chit are conceived of as present. Whatever we describe is under the jurisdiction of material time and space; so while we say - ' the jivas were created', ' the jivas then were fastened by maya', 'the chit-world was revealed', 'there is no function of maya in the constitution of jivas, but that of chit,- then there is the influence of material time over our statement; the sort of description is inevitable in this fastened condition of ours. For this reason, in all our descriptions relating to jivas and chit, we cannot get rid of the influence of the mundane time,- the past, the present and the future come of themselves into them. While having a conception of the inner meaning of such descriptions, the truly discriminating judges conceive of the application of the ever present time. My darling, you should be very cautious while deliberating over these things and feel the presence of chit, having thrown off the unavoidable detestableness of words. All the Vaishnavas say that the jiva souls have been fastened by maya for the forgetfulness of their own nature, but they all know that though the jivas are eternal entities, they are of two kinds, viz. eternally fastened and eternally free. Such statements are due to the human intelligence being subject to errors and omissions. But a sedate person forms a conception of the transcendental truth by means of chit-samadhi. Our statements are material, whatever we speak about is interspersed with the dirt of words, but you will feel what the truth is. Argumentations have no footing here, for it is vain to apply them to inscrutable truths. I know that you will not be able to realize this truth in a moment. The more you culture about chit affairs the more will be evident the difference of chit from matter. Your body is material, all the functions of the body are material, but in reality, you are not matter, you are atomic chit (sentiment) entity. The more you know about yourself, the more will you feel your essential nature to be superior to the material world. You will not be benefited, if only, I tell you this or you hear it from me. The more you rouse up your chit character by means of the culture of Harinama, the better will you get a conception of the chit world. The speech and the mind, both have their origin relating to matter; they cannot touch the chit affairs by great exertions. The Sruti said: "From whom (Brahman) words recede back with the mind without getting Him." <B>I advise you not to ask the decision about this of any one; feel it within yourself. I only give you the hint."</b></blockquote>

Sri Isopanisad Mantra Sixteen: <center> pUSann ekarSe yama sUrya prAjApatya vyUha razmIn samUha tejo yat te rUpaM kalyANa-tamaM tat te pazyAmi yo 'sAv asau puruSaH so 'ham asmi </center> pUSan--O maintainer; eka-RSe--the primeval philosopher; yama--the regulating principle; sUrya--the destination of the sUris (great devotees); prAjApatya--the well-wisher of the prajApatis (progenitors of mankind); vyUha--kindly remove; razmIn--the rays; samUha--kindly withdraw; tejaH--effulgence; yat--so that; te--Your; rUpam--form; kalyANa-tamam--most auspicious; tat--that; te--Your; pazyAmi--I may see; yaH--one who is; asau--like the sun; asau--that; puruSaH--Personality of Godhead; saH--myself; aham--I; asmi--am. O my Lord, O primeval philosopher, maintainer of the universe, O regulating principle, destination of the pure devotees, well-wisher of the progenitors of mankind, please remove the effulgence of Your transcendental rays so that I can see Your form of bliss. You are the eternal Supreme Personality of Godhead, like unto the sun, as am I. PURPORT The sun and its rays are one and the same qualitatively. Similarly, the Lord and the living entities are one and the same in quality. The sun is one, but the molecules of the sun's rays are innumerable. The sun's rays constitute part of the sun, and the sun and its rays conjointly constitute the complete sun. Within the sun itself resides the sun-god, and similarly within the supreme spiritual planet, Goloka VRndAvana, from which the brahmajyoti effulgence is emanating, the Lord enjoys His eternal pastimes, as verified in the Brahma-saMhitA (5.29): <center> cintAmaNi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vRkSa- lakSAvRteSu surabhIr abhipAlayantam lakSmI-sahasra-zata-sambhrama-sevyamAnaM govindam Adi-puruSaM tam ahaM bhajAmi </center> "I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, the first progenitor, who is tending the cows fulfilling all desires in abodes filled with spiritual gems and surrounded by millions of wish-fulfilling trees. He is always served with great reverence and affection by hundreds of thousands of LakSmIs, or goddesses of fortune." The brahmajyoti is described in the Brahma-saMhitA as the rays emanating from that supreme spiritual planet, Goloka VRndAvana, just as the sun's rays emanate from the sun globe. Until one surpasses the glare of the brahmajyoti, one cannot receive information of the land of the Lord. The impersonalist philosophers, blinded as they are by the dazzling brahmajyoti, can realize neither the factual abode of the Lord nor His transcendental form. Limited by their poor fund of knowledge, such impersonalist thinkers cannot understand the all-blissful transcendental form of Lord KRSNa. In this prayer, therefore, SrI IzopaniSad petitions the Lord to remove the effulgent rays of the brahmajyoti so that the pure devotee can see His all-blissful transcendental form. By realizing the impersonal brahmajyoti, one experiences the auspicious aspect of the Supreme, and by realizing the ParamAtmA, or all-pervading feature of the Supreme, one experiences an even more auspicious enlightenment. But by meeting the Personality of Godhead Himself face to face, the devotee experiences the most auspicious feature of the Supreme. Since He is addressed as the primeval philosopher and maintainer and well-wisher of the universe, the Supreme Truth cannot be impersonal. This is the verdict of SrI IzopaniSad. The word pUSan ("maintainer") is especially significant, for although the Lord maintains all beings, He specifically maintains His devotees. After surpassing the impersonal brahmajyoti and seeing the personal aspect of the Lord and His most auspicious eternal form, the devotee realizes the Absolute Truth in full. In his Bhagavat-sandarbha, SrIla JIva GosvAmI states: "The complete conception of the Absolute Truth is realized in the Personality of Godhead because He is almighty and possesses full transcendental potencies. The full potency of the Absolute Truth is not realized in the brahmajyoti; therefore Brahman realization is only partial realization of the Personality of Godhead. O learned sages, the first syllable of the word bhagavAn (bha) has two meanings: the first is ‘one who fully maintains,' and the second is ‘guardian.' The second syllable (ga) means ‘guide,' ‘leader' or ‘creator.' The syllable vAn indicates that every being lives in Him and that He also lives in every being. In other words, the transcendental sound bhagavAn represents infinite knowledge, potency, energy, opulence, strength and influence--all without a tinge of material inebriety." The Lord fully maintains His unalloyed devotees, and He guides them progressively on the path toward devotional perfection. As the leader of His devotees, He ultimately awards the desired results of devotional service by giving Himself to them. The devotees of the Lord see the Lord eye to eye by His causeless mercy; thus the Lord helps His devotees reach the supermost spiritual planet, Goloka VRndAvana. Being the creator, He can bestow all necessary qualifications upon His devotees so that they can ultimately reach Him. The Lord is the cause of all causes. In other words, since there is nothing that caused Him, He is the original cause. Consequently He enjoys His own Self by manifesting His own internal potency. The external potency is not exactly manifested by Him, for He expands Himself as the puruSas, and it is in these forms that He maintains the features of the material manifestation. By such expansions, He creates, maintains and annihilates the cosmic manifestation. The living entities are also differentiated expansions of the Lord's Self, and because some of them desire to be lords and imitate the Supreme Lord, He allows them to enter into the cosmic creation with the option to fully utilize their propensity to lord it over nature. Because of the presence of His parts and parcels, the living entities, the entire phenomenal world is stirred into action and reaction. Thus the living entities are given full facilities to lord it over material nature, but the ultimate controller is the Lord Himself in His plenary feature as ParamAtmA, the Supersoul, who is one of the puruSas. Thus there is a gulf of difference between the living entity (AtmA) and the controlling Lord (ParamAtmA), the soul and the Supersoul. ParamAtmA is the controller, and the AtmA is the controlled; therefore they are in different categories. Because the ParamAtmA fully cooperates with the AtmA, He is known as the constant companion of the living being. The all-pervading feature of the Lord--which exists in all circumstances of waking and sleeping as well as in potential states and from which the jIva-zakti (living force) is generated as both conditioned and liberated souls--is known as Brahman. Since the Lord is the origin of both ParamAtmA and Brahman, He is the origin of all living entities and all else that exists. One who knows this engages himself at once in the devotional service of the Lord. Such a pure and fully cognizant devotee of the Lord is fully attached to Him in heart and soul, and whenever such a devotee assembles with similar devotees, they have no engagement but the glorification of the Lord's transcendental activities. Those who are not as perfect as the pure devotees--namely, those who have realized only the Brahman or ParamAtmA features of the Lord--cannot appreciate the activities of the perfect devotees. The Lord always helps the pure devotees by imparting necessary knowledge within their hearts, and thus out of His special favor He dissipates all the darkness of ignorance. The speculative philosophers and yogIs cannot imagine this, because they more or less depend on their own strength. As stated in the KaTha UpaniSad (1.2.23), the Lord can be known only by those whom He favors, and not by anyone else. Such special favors are bestowed upon His pure devotees only. SrI IzopaniSad thus points to the favor of the Lord, which is beyond the purview of the brahmajyoti. From the above purport to Sri Isopanisad mantra 16 we can see that it is only the favor of Lord Sri Krsna that allows us to get beyond His dazzling effulgence. What is required to gain this favor of the Lord? Although it is called causeless, still certain qualities will attract God's favor: sincerity is what He wants. Our true self wants nothing but Krsna. When we become real and live that overpowering desire to have God, then we will have Him. Sri Krsna is so lovable that the more we think of Him, His name, His qualities, His activities, the more we fall in love with Him; and simultaneously the more the mundane world falls away and loses its dominion over us. Soon enough all we will want is Him. This is the process and the goal of meditation, of religion. It's as easy as falling in love. Indeed it is falling in love, head over heels, with the ultimate Sri Krsna.

Srila Prabhupada spoke mostly about the ABCs because that is what his audience required. Time and circumstance dictated what he could say. They needed to know about the soul. They did not need to pretend to be gopis, although some did invent the Gopi-Bhava Club which would need to be crushed by Prabhupada. We were dogs. We got what we needed. We will always get what we need. That is the mercy of our dear Sri Krsna. Amen

Sri Isopanisad (Mantra 15): <center> hiraNmayena pAtreNa satyasyApihitaM mukham tat tvaM pUSann apAvRNu satya-dharmAya dRSTaye </center> hiraNmayena--by a golden effulgence; pAtreNa--by a dazzling covering; satyasya--of the Supreme Truth; apihitam--covered; mukham--the face; tat--that covering; tvam--Yourself; pUSan--O sustainer; apAvRNu--kindly remove; satya--pure; dharmAya--unto the devotee; dRSTaye--for exhibiting. O my Lord, sustainer of all that lives, Your real face is covered by Your dazzling effulgence. Kindly remove that covering and exhibit Yourself to Your pure devotee. PURPORT In the Bhagavad-gItA (14.27), the Lord explains His personal rays (brahmajyoti), the dazzling effulgence of His personal form, in this way: <center> brahmaNo hi pratiSThAham amRtasyAvyayasya ca zAzvatasya ca dharmasya sukhasyaikAntikasya ca </center> "I am the basis of the impersonal Brahman, which is immortal, imperishable and eternal and is the constitutional position of ultimate happiness." Brahman, ParamAtmA and BhagavAn are three aspects of the same Absolute Truth. Brahman is the aspect most easily perceived by the beginner; ParamAtmA, the Supersoul, is realized by those who have further progressed; and BhagavAn realization is the ultimate realization of the Absolute Truth. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gItA (7.7), where Lord KRSNa says that He is the ultimate concept of the Absolute Truth: mattaH parataraM nAnyat. Therefore KRSNa is the source of the brahmajyoti as well as the all-pervading ParamAtmA. Later in the Bhagavad-gItA (10.42) KRSNa further explains: <center> atha vA bahunaitena kiM jJAtena tavArjuna viSTabhyAham idaM kRtsnam ekAMzena sthito jagat </center> "But what need is there, Arjuna, for all this detailed knowledge? With a single fragment of Myself I pervade and support this entire universe." Thus by His one plenary expansion, the all-pervading ParamAtmA, the Lord maintains the complete material cosmic creation. He also maintains all manifestations in the spiritual world. Therefore in this zruti-mantra of SrI IzopaniSad, the Lord is addressed as pUSan, the ultimate maintainer. The Personality of Godhead, SrI KRSNa, is always filled with transcendental bliss (Ananda-mayo 'bhyAsAt). When He was present at VRndAvana in India five thousand years ago, He always remained in transcendental bliss, even from the beginning of His childhood pastimes. The killings of various demons--such as Agha, Baka, PUtanA and Pralamba--were but pleasure excursions for Him. In His village of VRndAvana He enjoyed Himself with His mother, brother and friends, and when He played the role of a naughty butter thief, all His associates enjoyed celestial bliss by His stealing. The Lord's fame as a butter thief is not reproachable, for by stealing butter the Lord gave pleasure to His pure devotees. Everything the Lord did in VRndAvana was for the pleasure of His associates there. The Lord created these pastimes to attract the dry speculators and the acrobats of the so-called haTha-yoga system who wish to find the Absolute Truth. Of the childhood play between the Lord and His playmates, the cowherd boys, Sukadeva GosvAmI says in SrImad-BhAgavatam (10.12.11): <center> itthaM satAM brahma-sukhAnubhUtyA dAsyaM gatAnAM para-daivatena mAyAzritAnAM nara-dArakeNa sAkaM vijahruH kRta-puNya-puJjAH </center> "The Personality of Godhead, who is perceived as the impersonal, blissful Brahman by the jJAnIs, who is worshiped as the Supreme Lord by devotees in the mood of servitorship, and who is considered an ordinary human being by mundane people, played with the cowherd boys, who had attained their position after accumulating many pious activities." Thus the Lord is always engaged in transcendental loving activities with His spiritual associates in the various relationships of zAnta (neutrality), dAsya (servitorship), sakhya (friendship), vAtsalya (parental affection) and mAdhurya (conjugal love). Since it is said that Lord KRSNa never leaves VRndAvana-dhAma, one may ask how He manages the affairs of the creation. This is answered in the Bhagavad-gItA (13.14–18): The Lord pervades the entire material creation by His plenary part known as the ParamAtmA, or Supersoul. Although the Lord personally has nothing to do with material creation, maintenance and destruction, He causes all these things to be done by His plenary expansion, the ParamAtmA. Every living entity is known as AtmA, soul, and the principal AtmA who controls them all is ParamAtmA, the Supersoul. This system of God realization is a great science. The materialistic sAGkhya-yogIs can only analyze and meditate on the twenty-four factors of the material creation, for they have very little information of the puruSa, the Lord. And the impersonal transcendentalists are simply bewildered by the glaring effulgence of the brahmajyoti. If one wants to see the Absolute Truth in full, one has to penetrate beyond the twenty-four material elements and the glaring effulgence as well. SrI IzopaniSad points toward this direction, praying for the removal of the hiraNmaya-pAtra, the dazzling covering of the Lord. Unless this covering is removed so one can perceive the real face of the Personality of Godhead, factual realization of the Absolute Truth can never be achieved. The ParamAtmA feature of the Personality of Godhead is one of three plenary expansions, or viSNu-tattvas, collectively known as the puruSa-avatAras. One of these viSNu-tattvas who is within the universe is known as KSIrodakazAyI ViSNu. He is the ViSNu among the three principal deities--BrahmA, ViSNu and Siva--and He is the all-pervading ParamAtmA in each and every individual living entity. The second viSNu-tattva within the universe is GarbhodakazAyI ViSNu, the collective Supersoul of all living entities. Beyond these two is KAraNodakazAyI ViSNu, who lies in the Causal Ocean. He is the creator of all universes. The yoga system teaches the serious student to meet the viSNu-tattvas after going beyond the twenty-four material elements of the cosmic creation. The culture of empiric philosophy helps one realize the impersonal brahmajyoti, which is the glaring effulgence of the transcendental body of Lord SrI KRSNa. That the brahmajyoti is KRSNa's effulgence is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gItA (14.27) as well as the Brahma-saMhitA (5.40): <center> yasya prabhA-prabhavato jagad-aNDa-koTi- koTiSv azeSa-vasudhAdi vibhUti-bhinnam tad brahma niSkalam anantam azeSa-bhUtaM govindam Adi-puruSaM tam ahaM bhajAmi </center> "In the millions and millions of universes there are innumerable planets, and each and every one of them is different from the others by its cosmic constitution. All of these planets are situated in a corner of the brahmajyoti. This brahmajyoti is but the personal rays of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda, whom I worship." This mantra from the Brahma-saMhitA is spoken from the platform of factual realization of the Absolute Truth, and the zruti-mantra of SrI IzopaniSad under discussion confirms this mantra as a process of realization. The IzopaniSad mantra is a simple prayer to the Lord to remove the brahmajyoti so that one can see His real face. This brahmajyoti effulgence is described in detail in several mantras of the MuNDaka UpaniSad (2.2.10–12): <center> hiraNmaye pare koze virajaM brahma niSkalam tac chubhraM jyotiSAM jyotis tad yad Atma-vido viduH na tatra sUryo bhAti na candra-tArakaM nemA vidyuto bhAnti kuto 'yam agniH tam eva bhAntam anu bhAti sarvaM tasya bhAsA sarvam idaM vibhAti brahmaivedam amRtaM purastAd brahma pazcAd brahma dakSiNataz cottareNa adhaz cordhvaM ca prasRtaM brahmai- vedaM vizvam idaM variSTham </center> "In the spiritual realm, beyond the material covering, is the unlimited Brahman effulgence, which is free from material contamination. That effulgent white light is understood by transcendentalists to be the light of all lights. In that realm there is no need of sunshine, moonshine, fire or electricity for illumination. Indeed, whatever illumination appears in the material world is only a reflection of that supreme illumination. That Brahman is in front and in back, in the north, south, east and west, and also overhead and below. In other words, that supreme Brahman effulgence spreads throughout both the material and spiritual skies." Perfect knowledge means knowing KRSNa as the root of this Brahman effulgence. This knowledge can be gained from such scriptures as SrImad-BhAgavatam, which perfectly elaborates the science of KRSNa. In SrImad-BhAgavatam, the author, SrIla VyAsadeva, has established that one will describe the Supreme Truth as Brahman, ParamAtmA or BhagavAn according to one's realization of Him. SrIla VyAsadeva never states that the Supreme Truth is a jIva, an ordinary living entity. The living entity should never be considered the all-powerful Supreme Truth. If he were the Supreme, he would not need to pray to the Lord to remove His dazzling cover so that the living entity could see His real face. The conclusion is that one who has no knowledge of the potencies of the Supreme Truth will realize the impersonal Brahman. Similarly, when one realizes the material potencies of the Lord but has little or no information of the spiritual potencies, he attains ParamAtmA realization. Thus both Brahman and ParamAtmA realization of the Absolute Truth are partial realizations. However, when one realizes the Supreme Personality of Godhead, SrI KRSNa, in full potency after the removal of the hiraNmaya-pAtra, one realizes vAsudevaH sarvam iti: [bg. 7.19] Lord SrI KRSNa, who is known as VAsudeva, is everything--Brahman, ParamAtmA and BhagavAn. He is BhagavAn, the root, and Brahman and ParamAtmA are His branches. In the Bhagavad-gItA (6.46–47) there is a comparative analysis of the three types of transcendentalists--the worshipers of the impersonal Brahman (jJAnIs), the worshipers of the ParamAtmA feature (yogIs) and the devotees of Lord SrI KRSNa (bhaktas). It is stated there that the jJAnIs, those who have cultivated Vedic knowledge, are better than ordinary fruitive workers, that the yogIs are still greater than the jJAnIs, and that among all yogIs, those who constantly serve the Lord with all their energies are the topmost. In summary, a philosopher is better than a laboring man, a mystic is superior to a philosopher, and of all the mystic yogIs, he who follows bhakti-yoga, constantly engaging in the service of the Lord, is the highest. SrI IzopaniSad directs us toward this perfection.

Jesus could have saved himself just by denying that he was of God. Then we would not know him or the message he was sent to give us. He accepted the ordeal that his message would live. Would we accept death or simply deny our truth and live on ... in our obscurity? Seek ye first the Kingdom of God. That is the message of all sadhus. They could not silence Haridasa Thakura; they did not silence Lord Jesus Christ. Amen

Whose indeed? This we just don't know. A Bengali devotee put it on tape for Agrahya das (ACBSP and BVNM) from the Carolinas who then quickly typed it. He shared it in the newsgroup alt.religion.vaishnava back in the mid-nineties and allowed me to publish it on the Kingdom site and make grammatical changes. This process has taken ten years and has gotten near the end of the Madhya Khanda. The later chapters have had a quick edit, but are still filled with errors and awkwardness. Somehow the last couple of chapters of the Madhya Khanda have not survived this process (or perhaps they have become annexed to earlier chapters). It all seems to have been Lord Caitanya's arrangement to get me to read His pastimes carefully. And it has been a most joyous exercise as you can imagine. So the translator, we do not know, but we are in debt to them for offering us Vrndavana dasa's masterpiece much earlier than the more official translations which have appeared on the net over the past few years. The current .htm files are to be found at http://geocities.com/caitanyamahaprabhu/bhagavat.htm

Puru, many of those chapters have since been edited for grammar and spelling errors. Madhya is quite different now with 23 chapters, but it is still missing the last few chapters.

There is a wonderful MP3 audio of the Sri Caitanya Bhagavata available from India Divine.

Indeed, Redsox. It is not a trivial question, and it is a source of complete humility. We may never be able to understand how Sri Krsna can create other beings that are separate from Him. I once created a computer backgammon game that made me forget it was only a program. I actually became emotionally involved playing with it. Perhaps it is like this. Certainly He knows we are simply a part of Him, yet He enjoys us as separate beings relating uniquely with Him forever. As far as chanting: this comes from the soul. It is not a material activity. Three things we have eternally: our self, our devotion, and Sri Krsna. This is what we relish. This is the true life, life everlasting, so simple yet so profound, so real and satisfying. Sat-cid-ananda is our birthright. Don't settle for less.