The BapCast Network

So much grace is there. You can see the Personality of Godhead in His divine deity form. To worship the Supreme Lord in His deity form, that was practiced by all the great souls. You may ask: "Why did they install so many deities, they could have worshiped all-together one or two?" Why? Because they are the isthadevs of their respective disciplic succession. When the guru installs a deity he wants his disciples to go on taking care of them. When you start a spiritual family you also want to have an isthadev, somebody to focus on, somebody to offer your practical sadhana and your efforts. Why do we make temples? Because it is nice to have a temple, it is nice to have a place where people can worship the Lord.

We have to remain on a level of heart-to-heart communication, and if somebody goes wrong it is their own problem. But if you see that somebody is doing wrong to others then do not hesitate to intervene, in a humble and goodness-like way, and say: "You cannot do harm to others, this is not permissible in the gurus family." Some people are very heavy with the others but then they are not heavy with themselves and finally they will have to suffer the reactions. Specifically one has to be careful not to be cruel amongst Vaishnavas. Cruelty of any kind does not belong in a devotional community. Cruelty means that you do not feel that the sufferings of the other people is unbearable. If you are the cause of other peoples suffering then you become cruel, and cruelty is really a definite step away from loving God.

What religion in this world will become the goal of all religions? In their mature stage all world religions will end up as the one religion: Nama-sankirtana (congregational chanting of the Holy Names of God). We feel this to be a certain fact. To glorify the Lord, to chant and dance. We chant in South America sometimes with the translation of the maha-mantra - Oh my Lord, please let me be an instrument of Your love. Some people get surprised how we can chant a translation instead of the mantra? In the maha-mantra there are so many deep meanings.

Now is eternal. Now is you in your relationship with God. There will always be only now. The power of now is the power of mercy, is the power of love, it is the power of saranagati (surrender), it is the power of your own soul being part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, and His freedom being invested, imbedded within your heart and bringing it to the point of the highest execution of that freedom, which is the absolute renunciation of that freedom at His lotus feet. So the power of now is of that intense level that there is no exaggeration possible pointing out it's importance. But we are very expert in wasting now away for some reason of bad association, offenses, lack of sukriti (spiritual merit) or curiosity about nonsense activities.

When the living entities mind becomes absorbed in the sense-gratification of the material world it brings about his conditional life and sufferings within the material situation. However, when the mind becomes unattached to material enjoyment it becomes the cause of liberation. When the flame in a lamp burns the wick improperly the lamp is blackened but when the lamp is filled with ghee and is burning properly there is bright illumination. Similarly, when the mind is absorbed in material sense-gratification it causes suffering and when detached from material sense-gratification it brings about the original brightness of Krishna-consciousness.

You are a living and a walking temple because in your heart resides the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His form as Antaryami, or the Soul inside of our soul. The Supersoul is the origin of everything that exists. He has expanded Himself into that particular feature because He wants to be with you. He is actually giving you very individual and personal attention because He cares for you and because He loves you. The Supreme Personality of Godhead of course is in every living entity which actually means that everybody is a potential walking temple. But wether your body can actually be recognized as a temple that depends on wether you are also worshipping the Lord in your heart and giving Him proper attention or wether you are a rebel who is ignoring the Lords desires and orders. Through the inner voice the Lord is always giving us the proper guidance.

Sistacar is the way of conduct which is being transmitted over the generations from one Vaishnava to another. It is not to be found even in the Hari Bhakti Vilas. For example when the Vyasa puja takes place we worship our Gurudev and some of his Godbrothers come and join the festival. We should situate them on the same level as our Gurudev, and before he will accept the offerings from everybody else on his Vyasa puja, he will offer flowers to his Godbrothers. Now where is that written? In which book do you find that? It is Sistacar. We learned that in Chaitanya Saraswat Math from Srila B.R. Sridhar Maharaja. Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada told his disciples to go and learn how to make a Vyasa Puja in the Ashram of Srila Sridhar Maharaja.

Kali is the Personality in-charged of this current age which started 5000 years ago. King Parikshit came into contact with the Personality of Kali who was just torturing a cow and King Parikshit wanted to kill him, as was the kings duty. But Kali said: "I am sorry, but this is my age now, I am allowed to do these things, I can exert my influence wherever there is animal killing, wherever there is intoxication, wherever there is gambling and wherever there is prostitution." King Parikshit had to recognize that the age of Kali has come, the age of hypocrisy, misunderstandings, the age of quarrel, the age of iron.

The child within this women's womb (Prahlad Maharaj) is faultless and sinless. He is a great devotee, a powerful servant of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, therefore you will not be able to kill him. The Lord sent a protector for this child, which was just going to be aborted. There have been many instances in which demons or non-devotees have attempted to kill a devotee, but they never have been able to destroy a great devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Lord promises in the Bhagavad gita that His devotee cannot be killed by demons.

The Supreme wants to meet with you. Are you ready to meet with Him? If the Supreme is calling you, will you go? But you may think: "If I go to meet the Supreme, maybe He will not let me come back to where I am now." Meeting the Supreme is not so easy, but He wants to meet you. As a matter of fact he already met you. He meets you all the time. But you are not meeting Him all the time. He is also meeting you here today. He is also meeting you every-time when you chant Hare Krishna. He is also meeting you when you eat prasadam. He is also meeting you when you read Bhagavad gita and Srimad Bhagavatam. He is also meeting you when you talk with a devotee. He is also meeting you when you chant bhajan. The Supreme is always meeting you. So it is very important that you understand that this is what it is all about, meeting the Supreme.

Is praying to the Lord for a healthy life detrimental to the devotional service? Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur said: "Whatever way Lord Krishna is pleased to keep us, we should accept without reservation. To desire sound health in order to worship the Lord is favorable for devotional service, to desire sound health in order to engage in sense gratification is not accepted. Devotees do not wish to follow the path of the non-devotees who demand that the Lord serve them. Rather they pray for good health at the lotus feet of Sri Narasinghadev who destroys all obstacles in order to worship Krishna. This is certainly favorable."

When a pure devotee leaves this world in the company of his devotees, that is very auspicious. He established Lord Krishna's centers of love, His temples, in so many different places. This divine soul, pure devotee of Krishna, now when he returns to the spiritual world, you have the whole world crying and the whole spiritual world rejoicing for him to come there. It is a very strong mixture of feelings. The maha-samadhi, or when a pure devotee leaves this world, this is definitely a moment of spiritual union, spiritual joy. But those who are left behind, those who have to go on in their life in separation from him, it is barely tolerable for them.

Community building, building places where people come together and serve Krishna with a common ground, a common interest, and they actually get something going, that is one of the services I have. I can understand that these communities, if the devotees do not have that mood, they fail. The devotees who do not feel dependent on others, who do not feel joyful about seeing other devotees, who do not feel ready to sacrifice some of their personal interest to accommodate others, that will disintegrate sooner or later. Not everybody is qualified to be a member of a community. Most people do not even become socially acceptable. Many people cannot even live with their wife in peace, many people cannot even treat their own children in the appropriate way, many people they cannot even be honest citizens, all they do is always think how to steal, steal, steal. So community life has a high expectation, what is being expected? Sacrifice.

When you become an instrument of Lord Krishna's love, this is an intimate relationship. Because to be an instrument of His love means He is putting His love into you. When we consider the rasa-lila, this high elevated lila of Krishna dancing with the gopis, hugging them, kissing them, and just having a great time on the banks of the Yamuna, and forgetting time, and forgetting everything, this maha-rasa, this highest glorified pastime of the Lord, dancing with His devotees, when you ask Him to be an instrument of His love, do you really think that this is less intimate? He can give a hug so easily. Can you imagine being hugged and kissed by God? Can you imagine how that would feel?

The only thing I should do is to become a carrier of His message of love. I do not deserve His association, I have not done anything to be worth of His association. I have not done anything for purity. I have had such a black and bleak history behind myself. What can I ask for? What can I claim? Is there anything good from me to be expected? But I want to be a carrier of His message of love. I want to be that because I know that this will somehow charm Him and show Him that I am His. If I cannot carry His message then at least I want to carry His bags, or carry something. But I do not want to walk around just for myself, for my own ego world anymore. I want to carry out service, to run around for my Lord, and what could be a better purpose than running around and carrying His message.