All it takes is just a little prayer

Submitted by Bhaktin Rashmin

I hurried to the temple room for 8 o-clock darshan half to greet their Lordships, and found some guests greeting the Lord. I noticed a young caucasian girl, seemingly following the notions of the rest of us - bowing after each altar door revealed Caitanya, Gopinatha, and Jagannatha!

So I looked at Ksira Cora Gopinatha, pleading with Him,"I can't go up to her. I don't know anything!". Then I remembered my prayer that I have been concentrating on for the last couple of days: fearlessness in distributing books and telling people about Krsna. Naturally, I desired this since I am very timid and afraid of going up to random people to say hello. Finally I decided to just take a plunge and made my way in her direction.

I asked her if it was her first time visiting the temple, and she replied " Yes, it is." She explained that she is taking a religion course in school and currently she is learning about Hinduism. I tried my best to answer her questions and tell her about Krishna Consciousness and Prabhupada (who, by the way, she thought was Krsna! ) Anyways, I gave her some Caranamrta and offered some prasadam but she did not take. We had no sweets left at the reception desk,however, I did give her some magazines and an Urban Edge yoga card, which she was very interested about. I have to say though, the best part about this whole experience was when she inquired about our japa beads and what we did with them. I told her to repeat the mantra after me, which with a little difficulty she managed. And it was extatic to me.
This whole experience made me aware that, as Mangala Aarti said, Krsna fulfills our desires so quickly when He sees that we are very sincere. It inspired me to continue preaching and distributiong books, hoping I get stronger in this very nice service Prabhupada and Caitanya Mahaprabhu left for us.

Uncontrolled mind

I met a young man who was walking home and stopped to talk with me when I asked him if he had heard about yoga. He really appreciated the perfection of yoga and was asking several nice questions about monks and yoga. Then he asked me to guess his age and I guessed it pretty close to his real age of 19. He started to explain to me that he was suffering from ulcers and was taking several medicines for that. I was quiet surprised and I asked him to try the Bhagavad Gita to help with ulcers. Explaining to him the picture of the wild horses and uncontrolled mind I explained ulcers would go away if the mind was controlled. He asks the method for mind control and I explained the Hare Krishna mantra. He told me he was an atheist and I said that was perfect because if you are an atheist you must read the Gita. He was doing his engineering and I explained how I too had done that years ago and how people like us should read the Gita and told him by the time he is my age he will be an expert at yoga. He gave a generous donation and said that he would try to come to urbanedgeyoga.

The highest welfare activity

The Lord says in Bhagavad-gītā (18.68-69), ya idaḿ paramaḿ guhyaḿ mad-bhakteṣv abhidhāsyati. .. na ca tasmān manuṣyeṣu kaścin me priya-kṛttamaḥ: "One who preaches the message of Bhagavad-gītā to My devotees is most dear to Me. No one can excel him in satisfying Me by worship." There are different kinds of welfare activities in this material world, but the supreme welfare activity is the spreading of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Other welfare activities cannot be effective, for the laws of nature and the results of karma cannot be checked. It is by destiny, or the laws of karma, that one must suffer or enjoy. For instance, if one is given a court order, he must accept it, whether it brings suffering or profit. Similarly, everyone is under obligations to karma and it reactions. No one can change this. Therefore the śāstra says: tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido na labhyate yad bhramatām upary adhaḥ (Bhāg. 1.5.18) One should endeavor for that which is never obtained by wandering up and down the universe as a result of the reactions of karma. What is that? One should endeavor to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. If one tries to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness all over the world, he should be understood to be performing the best welfare activity. The Lord is automatically very pleased with him. If the Lord is pleased with him, what is left for him to achieve? If one has been recognized by the Lord, even if he does not ask the Lord for anything, the Lord, who is within everyone, supplies him whatever he wants. This is also confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (teṣāḿ nityābhiyuktānāḿ yoga-kṣemaḿ vahāmy aham [Bg. 9.22]). Again, as stated here, tapyante loka-tāpena sādhavaḥ prāyaśo janāḥ. The best welfare activity is raising people to the platform of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, since the conditioned souls are suffering only for want of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Srimad Bhagvatam, 8.7.44

March Maha-Monthly Sankirtan Festival - A Report

In spite of the extremely cold weather, we received an over-whelming response as 4 teams headed out on the streets on Sat March 26th - Our 22nd Monthly Sankirtan Festival, being celebrated as Gaura Purnima Special. Accompanied by constant harinama, prasad distribution and books, enthusiastic faces adorned prime city corners at - Bloor & Dufferin; Bloor & Spadina; Yonge & Dundas; and City Hall.

Additionally, there was also a team of devotees going around to some motels that day, endeavoring to place Bhagavad Gita in the motels.

By the mercy of Lord Gauranga more than 80 devotees participated in this sankirtan festival, and many more sent loving prayers! We were also able to distribute 178 books and several hundred pieces of prasad!

Thank you very much for your inspiring contribution. Your participation in the festival, your support through preparation of prasad, your help in organizing the logistics and even just sending us your prayers - indeed made this event a success!

tattva-vastu — kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa-bhakti, prema-rūpa

nāma-sańkīrtana — saba ānanda-svarūpa

The Absolute Truth is Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and loving devotion to Śrī Kṛṣṇa exhibited in pure love is achieved through congregational chanting of the holy name, which is the essence of all bliss. CC Adi 1.96

We pray that all of us together, continue to experience this "essence of all bliss" - Harinama Sankirtana for rest of our lives!

Why is the Sankirtan Movement glorious ?

"My dear King, although Kali-yuga is full of faults, there is still one good quality about this age. It is that simply by chanting the Hare Krishna mahä-mantra, one can become free from material bondage and be promoted to the transcendental kingdom." (SB 12.3.51) Those who have accepted the task of spreading the Hare Krishna maha-mantra in full Krishna consciousness should take this opportunity to deliver people very easily from the clutches of material existence. Our duty, therefore, is to follow the instructions of Sri Caitanya Mahäprabhu and preach the Krishna consciousness movement all over the world very sincerely. This is the best welfare activity for the peace and prosperity of human society.
Sri Caitanya Mahäprabhu's movement consists of spreading Krishna-sankirtanam. Param vijayate Sri-Krishna-sankirtanam: "All glories to the Sri Krishnaa sankirtana!" Why is it so glorious? This has also been explained by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Ceto-darpanam-märjanam: [Cc. Antya 20.12] by the chanting of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, one's heart is cleansed. The whole difficulty is that in this age of Kali there is no sattva-guna and no clearance of the heart, and therefore people are making the mistake of identifying with their bodies. Even the big philosophers and scientists with whom we deal are practically all under the impression that they are their bodies... Everywhere we find this same misunderstanding. As soon as one is in the bodily conception of life, one is nothing but an animal like a cat or a dog. Thus the most dangerous of the dirty things within our hearts is this misidentification of the body as the self. Under the influence of this misunderstanding, one thinks, "I am this body. I am an Englishman. I am an Indian. I am an American. I am Hindu. I am Muslim." This misconception is the strongest impediment, and it must be removed. That is the instruction of Bhagavad-gita and of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Indeed, Bhagavad-gitä begins with this instruction:
dehino 'smin yathä dehe
"As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change." (Bg. 2.13) Although the soul is within the body, nevertheless, because of misunderstanding and animal propensities one accepts the body as the self. Caitanya Mahäprabhu therefore says, ceto-darpanam-marjanam [Cc. Antya 20.12]. To cleanse the core of the heart, which is full of misunderstanding, is possible only through Sri-Krishna-sankirtana. The leaders of the Krishna consciousness movement should very seriously take this opportunity to be kind to the fallen souls by delivering them from the misunderstanding of materialistic life.

Srimad Bhagvatam, 8.5.23

The miracle of association

A few months ago, a day before Inspirit (Nov 2010) I met this young girl in Kensington. Bright eyed and high spirited she immediately took to the Bhagavad gita and even exchanged emails saying she would come to the events. True to her word, she came to both events and sat in front row and attended. She got a Searching for Vedic India and got it signed by Devamrita Swami. I also showed her how to chant and she took Japa beads. Then I didnt hear much from her as she left for Edmonton. I thought a lot about her because she was a sincere soul, she had followed devotees out to the door and paid her respects which is very rare for a first timer. Then a few days ago she emailed me saying she was almost through with Bhagavad Gita and in Toronto - and she said she agreed to meet for juice. Last night she came to Urbanedgeyoga and was just engrossed in kirtan. Over dinner as we started to speak she began to tell me about her journey. She told me that reading the Bhagavad gita she had become vegetarian - she asked me does she have to give up fish too ? Then she told me about how one time she got stuck in a bad fight with someone she didnt want to be a part of - not knowing what to do she just started to chant the maha mantra and found herself in peace. I was shocked at the spontaneous change in her heart, she is just a 23 year old alone without any association - but she has Srila Prabhupada through the Bhagavad gita and it worked the magic. Then i told her you should start chanting - she said she already did. This was when i almost fell over - i asked her how - she told me how when she came to Urbanedgeyoga for the first event and was asked to start chanting - she had been chanting 1 round since then daily ! All glories to Srila Prabhupada and his sankirtan movement.

The books may take time, but they work

Submitted by : Bhakta Milind

A young man who comes to the temple ever so often, but has been reserved and kept to himself recently came up to the book table. He has taken many books by Srila Prabhupada, but hasn't read them yet. But just having the books at home and flipping through the pages, reading a few words now and then... this had an effect! One Sunday he came to the book table, took the Bhagavad Gita As It Is, and asked me which chapter he should read for maximum benefit. I told him that in the Bhagavad Gita Arjuna is asking questions and Krishna is answering... it is important to get the full picture. I also explained that Srila Prabhupada, the translator is expanding on Arjuna's questions and Krishna's instructions, and giving us context. It was important to read the full book, starting from the first page, and down to the last word, then start over again and keep doing this. He emailed me this week, saying he has started reading, and that he looks forward to implementing the instructions in his life. Prabhupada's books have an effect, even if they may apparently take a little time, and even if initially someone doesn't read them. Just as water carved the Grand Canyon, Srila Prabhupada's books make an impact on the heart.