Sri Krrishhna Kathamrita Tav k QaaMa*Ta& TaáJaqvNaMa( tava kathāmta tapta-jīvanam BBBiiinnndududu Issue No. 81 Fortnightly email mini-magazine from Gopal Jiu Publications 29 June 2004 Śrī Śayanā Ekādaśī, 26 Vāmana, 518 Gaurābda Circulation 1,604 • PROPER USE OF WEALTH Srila Thakur Bhaktivinode • A LESSON IN GEOMETRY Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur • NOT REQUIRED TO JOIN His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada • SRILA PRABHUPADA’S LEGACY From the life of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada PAGE ONE TOP COLLUMN TWO • GLORY OF MOTHERS Highlights Highlights Sri Bhagavan Vyasadev • MAHAPRABHU’S SANKIRTANA YAJNA Srila Lochan Das Thakur Bibliography PROPER USE OF WEALTH — Bhaktivinode Thakur. Jaiva Dharma. Gaudiya Mission. Srila Thakur Bhaktivinode Calcutta. 1984. Bengali. From Jaiva Dharma Chapter 20 — Bhaktivinode Thakur. Jaiva Dharma. English translation Vijaya-kumar: What is the proper use by Sri Bhakti Sadhaka Nishkinchana Maharaja and Sri Bhakti of wealth? Prajnan Yati Maharaja. Sri Gaudiya Math. Madras. 1994. Babaji: In the Nārada Purāa it is written: — Bhaktivinode Thakur. Jaiva Dharma. English translation by Sri Sarvabhavana Das. Unpublished manuscript. yāvatā syāt sva-nirvāha svī-kuryāt tāvad artha-vid ādhikye nyūnatāyā ca cyavate paramārthata A LESSON IN GEOMETRY One should earn and spend money Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur only as far as he truly needs. If one Chapter 1 of Upākhyāne Upadeśa accepts too much or too little, he will fall from the spiritual goal. Upākhyāne Upadeśa is a collection of short stories with A person eligible to perform explanations that were commonly vaidhi-bhakti should earn his livelihood by honest means ac- used by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta cording to varāśrama. In that Saraswati Thakur. Compiled by way, he will attain auspiciousness. If he be- Sri Sundarananda Prabhu, a comes greedy for more than he needs, his prominent disciple of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta, it devotional life will become stunted. If he ac- was first published in 1940. cepts less than he truly needs, he will gradu- A poor and illiterate widow was struggling ally become unable to perform his devotional to bring up her only son. Realizing that he was activities, and thus he will also be at fault. If her only hope for the future, she appointed a one is not able to completely renounce every- tutor for him, although she sometimes had to thing (nirapek a), he should collect only as borrow money to pay the tuition fees. much money as he truly needs for his spiri- After being promoted to class VII, the boy tual life. Thus, he will be able to properly cul- was learning geometry. The mother happened tivate his Krishna consciousness. to overhear her son read aloud to his tutor, next column !!! !!! Issue Eighty-one, Page — 2 é[q k* Z<ak QaaMa*Ta ibNdu top left 2 Top right 2 “Let ABC be a triangle.” The old woman be- in the elementary level and that these letters gan shouting at the tutor, “This boy is sup- are of no use to any learned person. posed to be advancing in his studies after be- It is not that service to Sri Krishna should only ing raised to class VII, but you are still teach- be offered in the early stages of spiritual life. ing him ‘ABC’. He learned all this when he Since service to Krishna is our eternal innate was just an infant. And to think I am paying propensity, it must be practiced even after at- you ten rupees a month! Henceforth you are taining perfection through liberation. Service to no longer required here. You are only fit for Krishna after attaining liberation is reality, and teaching primary school!” is to be considered the most perfect form of ser- The widow’s outburst was so violent that it vice. Service to illusion, māyā, and service to left no scope for the tutor to argue, and he Krishna should never be considered equal. was compelled to leave the place. Bibliography PURPORT — Sundarananda Vidyavinode. Upākhyāne Upadeśa. Sri The arguments put forward by persons who Gaudiya Math. Baghbazar, Calcutta 1994. desire things other than Krishna conscious- — Sundarananda Vidyavinode. Upākhyāne Upadeśa. ness, such as the karmis, jñānis, yogis, ascetics, English translation by Akhilatmananda Das. Published by Sri Rupanuga Paramarthika Vidyapitha, Mayapur. 1995. and the like, as well as the so-called religious communities, are similar to those expressed by NOT REQUIRED TO JOIN the widow. They say, “By always serving in His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta this world, we have become totally worthless. Swami Prabhupada This slave-like mentality of service is the root cause of all troubles. If, after entering the do- With reference to the boys main of religion, we accept servitude and serve holding kīrtanas independently, Godhead in complete submission even after our propaganda should be like liberation, then how will we advance? This that. People may open different slave mentality only arises under the influence centers of their own, or every of ignorance and illusion. However, upon lib- householder may have his own eration, the realization ‘aha brahmāsmi’ — ‘I class at home. Not that everyone am Brahman’ should be developed.” is required to join the society; they may take Hearing such an argument, pure devotees will the idea from the society and introduce in argue that devotion or service to Godhead is their private life. And, if possible, let us sell to the eternal position of all conscious living them the paraphernalia of kīrtana, karatālas, entities. Such devotion, when cultivated mda ga, deities, etc. through the stages of sādhana-bhakti — — Letter to Rayarama. Unknown place. Unknown date. devotional service in practice, bhava-bhakti — SRILA PRABHUPADA’S LEGACY ecstatic devotion, and prema-bhakti — loving devotion, confirms the eternal utility of devotion. From the life of His Divine Grace A.C. Servitude to Lord Krishna while perform- Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada ing devotional activities is known as sādhana- Srila Prabhupada did not always like being bhakti, whereas intimate servitude or service photographed, especially in the privacy of his to Sri Krishna after liberated realization is room. The BBT representative in Los Angeles, prema-bhakti. Service to Godhead in the liber- Rameswar, had just sent the first copies of ated stage is uninterrupted — apratihatā-sevā. the newly printed fifth canto of Śrīmad “ABCD” or “ka-kha-ga-gha” [letters of the Bhāgavatam to our Johannesburg temple so Indian alphabet] may be practiced on the el- that Srila Prabhupada could review them. ementary level while learning the alphabet. But As Prabhupada was opening the books and also later, even after becoming the topmost man relishing them for the first time, our beloved of letters, one has to cultivate the variegatedness Bhargava Prabhu was busily taking snaps to and artistic delicacy of that alphabet. document the occasion. Srila Prabhupada Just like the widow described in this story, appeared to be angry with Bhargava for tak- the impersonalists speculate, advocating that ing so many photographs. He demanded, “ABCD” should only be practiced by children “Why are you taking photographs?” !!! !!! TopSri leftKrishna-kathamrita 3 Bindu top right 3 Issue Eighty-one, Page — 3 The reprimand was such that Bhargava was One’s mother is equal to ten fathers, or even bewildered and walked out of the temple. That to the whole earth. There is no senior person evening we went to a program in Pretoria, but equal to the mother. Indeed, she is above all Bhargava was nowhere to be seen. others in terms of the reverence and respect Srila Prabhupada was very concerned due to her. It is for this reason that people about Bhargava, and was asking, “Where offer so much respect to their mother. is he?” He wanted us to go and look for — Mahābharata anu āsana-parva 105.15-16 him. It was late at night, perhaps midnight, nāsti vedāt para śāstra nāsti māt-samo guru and we were all about to go out and search na dharmāt paramo lābhas tapo nānaśanāt param for Bhargava, when he sheepishly tele- There is no śāstra superior to the Vedas; there phoned us and gave his location. We went is no guru equal to one’s mother; there is no to pick him up and brought him back to acquisition superior to that of virtue; and there Srila Prabhupada. is no penance superior to fasting.” Although the event was naturally upsetting — Mahābharata anu āsana-parva 106.65 for Bhargava, the fatherly concern of Srila tyajanto patitān bandhūn dayān uttama-sāhasam Prabhupada was very sweet to witness. He pitā hi patita kāma na tu mātā kadācana said to him, “Why did you go away?” Bhargava felt that he had caused offense. Anyone who rejects their kinsmen for being Merciful Srila Prabhupada insisted that he fallen shall be punished with uttama-sāhasa (the had not; that it was simply disturbing to highest monetary fine). Only the father may be be photographed all the time, and stressed considered fallen, never the mother. that his books were the legacy he wanted — Nārada Purāa 1.14.18 to leave behind rather than photographs Bibliography of himself. — Krishna Dvaipayan Vyasadev. Brahma-vaivarta — From Mission in Service of His Divine Grace, Riddha Das Purāa. Sanskrit with English translation. Parimal Publi- Adhikari, pp. 183-184 cations. 2001. Delhi. — Krishna Dvaipayan Vyasadev. Brahma-vaivarta Purāa. GLORY OF MOTHERS Published by Sri Natavara Chakravati. Calcutta. Sanskrit. 1827. Sri Bhagavan Vyasadev — Krishna Dvaipayan Vyasadev. Mahābharata. Sanskrit mātar ity eva śabdena yā ca sabhā ate nara with Bengali translation by Sri Haridas Siddhantavagi sā māt-tulyā satyena dharma sāk ī satām api Bhattacarya. Published by Sidhantayantre. Calcutta. 1933. If a man addresses someone as “mother”, — Krishna Dvaipayan Vyasadev. Mahābharata. English translation by Manmatha Nath Dutt. Published by HC.