Sri Kathamrita

Tav k QaaMa*Ta& TaáJaqvNaMa( tava kathāmta tapta-jīvanam BBBiiinnndududu Issue No. 115 Fortnightly email mini-magazine from Gopal Jiu Publications 12 November 2005 Śrī Utthānā Ekādaśī, 25 Dāmodara, 519 Gaurābda Circulation, 1552

• VISION OF VRINDAVAN A Remembrance of Srila Prabhupada

• BHUGARBHA GOSWAMI Prema-vilāsa 7.220–32 Highlights Highlights

VISION OF VRINDAVAN “So,PAGE we ONE must TOP first COLLUMN protect TWOthem. Then re- store them to first-class condition, install dei- A Remembrance of Srila Prabhupada ties, and conduct daily āratis. Then many “But why is it, Srila Prabhupada, that here people will come and benefit.” in Vrindavan, Krishna’s devotees also seem to “Why has Krishna allowed His dhāma to de- suffer so?” Gurudas asks. teriorate, Srila Prabhupada?” Gurudas asks. “Suffer? What is that suffering?” “It has not deteriorated,” he replies. Prabhupada says. “Well, you just said that the Goswami “Many don’t have sufficient food. They temples were neglected.” sleep on the streets and ...” “That’s a fact. But Vrindavan has not dete- “Who says there’s not sufficient food? Is any- riorated.” one starving? Just show me one starving man. In “Most Americans would be shocked to see any temple a man can go and take prasādam. And what I saw this morning,” I say. as for sleeping, everyone is sleeping. When you “How’s that?” Prabhupada asks. sleep, do you know whether you’re on a king’s “Well, for one, they’d consider it couch or a stone road? The Goswamis would sleep unhygenic.” under a different tree every night, and then for “Just see. For a materialist, everything is only two or three hours. There’s no problem eat- topsy-turvy because his vision is perverted. ing, sleeping, defending, mating. There’s no lack Beauty and ugliness are in the eye of the seer.” there, no poverty. The only poverty in to- “But what’s this veneer covering the holy day is lack of Krishna consciousness — that’s all.” dhāma?” “But most tourists are appalled when they “The ugliness that you see here is -māyā,” come here and see the conditions,” Dr. Kapoor Prabhupada says. “It’s Krishna’s covering. says. He is dressed in a spotless white kurta Vrindavan appears this way to drive away the and pajama pants. “It will take more than your atheists and impersonalists, just as New York temple at Raman Reti to change all that.” attracts them. For a devotee, this Vrindavan is “Therefore I’m recommending a general as good as Krishna’s transcendental abode in program of clean-up, preservation, and res- the spiritual sky — Goloka Vrindavan. But you toration,” Prabhupada says. “True, the beau- must have the eyes to see.” tiful temples of the Goswamis — Madana “Transcendental vision,” Dr. Kapoor says. Mohana, Govindaji, especially — are crum- “Yes, Vrindavan hides herself from the ma- bling due to neglect.” terialist,” Prabhupada says. “Sometimes people even use them as stone “You speak of Vrindavan as a person,” I say. quarries,” Dr. Kapoor laments. “In spiritual consciousness, everything next column ! ! Issue One hundred fifteen, Page — 2 é[q k* Z