Report from India 1/18/2015

All glories to Srila Gurudeva who is constantly inspiring us to give the best of ourselves as an offering to the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada.

Srila Gurudeva is in Puri, the holy dhama of Sri Jagannath. Gurudev arrived yesterday at night with a group of 40 devotees from South America and Europe. The last days in Mayapur were quite dynamic. Srila Gurudeva in his tireless spirit of devotional service was personally motivating the different projects for the expansion of Krishna Consciousness in Bengal. He is always actively promoting the cleaning of the dhama, the union of the Vaishnavas and protection of Mother Earth and her natural resources. One of the last projects that Srila Guru Maharaja was developing in Mayapur was the construction of an ecological park in the whole area of pancaveni where it is customary to give morning classes at the edge of the intersection of the Ganges and Saraswati rivers. Srila Gurudeva present this project to the local mayor and it was accepted very well.

Furthermore, he continuously met with various leaders of the Gaudiya Math missions to strengthen the joint work of the World Vaishnava Association. For the subsequent days of Gaura Purnima there are several WVA events scheduled. On March 6 the annual organizational meeting of the WVA will be held, on the 7th we will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of the WVA, this time in Devananda Gaudiya Math in Navadvip, on the 8th  harinama- sankirtan by the city of Kolkata, where the WVA has been invited as the guest of honor, on March 9 Srila Gurudeva has been invited to speak at an event in honor of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu at a prestigious university in the city.

Yesterday, Srila Gurudeva with a group of devotees left very early in the morning from Mayapur and went to Kolkata for sacred darshan of Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Goswami Maharaja. Along the way, they passed Panihati, where Raghunath Das Goswami celebrates a wonderful festival of chira and yogurt in honor of Sri Nityananda Prabhu and His associates.Then they stopped in the city of Shantipur, the holy place where Sri Advaita Acarya  prayed to Sri Krishna to descend in His most magnanimous form of mercy. From there they headed towards Remuna, where the beautiful deity of Gopinath, which Sri Chaitanya, Sri Nityananda and His exalted associates received darshan and who stole the khir (sweet rice)to give to His dear devotee Madhavendra Puripad. In the afternoon they arrived at Bhubaneshwar and from there they went to Puri, where they are now. As soon as they arrived in Puri they took bath in the Indian Ocean, which is said to be caranamrta since Mahaprabhu entered its waters, meditating on the Yamuna in Vrindavan. In the afternoon they went to visit the samadhi of Srila Haridas Thakur. Srila Gurudeva and the devotees accompanying him are staying in Puri at Saraswat Gaudiya Asana, a beautiful temple led by Sripad B.P. Muni Maharaja who is a disciple of Srila Bhakti Srirup Siddhanti Maharaj.

Muni Maharaj has been serving this Math for over 40 years without rest and with full dedication.
 Today it is one of the most beautiful temples of the Gaudiya Math, and it so happened that they won an Audarya Award in recognition of the most beautiful artistic decoration of a temple. Srila Gurudeva will be in Purushottam Ksetra for seven days, guiding the devotees through the different holy places and instructing them on how to render practical service to the Dhama and the Vaishnavas.Within the personal programming service he will also participate in the WVA Audarya Awards in Puri. These awards are awards given to the Vaishnava who have distinguished themselves by the beautiful services they have done for the expansion of Krishna Consciousness in different areas.

Srila Gurudeva has a scheduled return to the city of Vrindavan for January 26 and from there to Mexico on the 29th in the morning. Then returning to India on February 25 and then off to Europe on March 13. Srila Guru Maharaja is in good health and always becomes very happy to hear reports from the different members of the Vrinda family who are preaching enthusiastically.

This was the report today. We regret not having words from Srila Gurudeva to share with all the devotees, but hopefully the nectar of his transcendental pastimes come into your hearts and fill them with inspiration.

Jay Gurudev!

Always strive - From Jahnavi Kunja 11/30/2014

Dear devotees, we are here at the land of Sri Gauranga, with Gurudeva Atulananda.

I feel like I do when I am at Vrindavan Ecological Gardens, like in our Ahimsavan Farm... or like so many beautiful places.

Today I am very happy because we were reviewing some very good interviews that the mothers Krishna Seva and Amrta did for UDSA and for the World Conscious Pact. They interviewed major figures in the protection of Mother Earth in India. The best thing is that it was not planned, because when we arrived in Delhi we knew that Vandana Shiva was in Delhi and we were in the event of WVA, and we sent the mothers to interview them and everything went very well.

Noble people and although they are great personalities, they greeted these girls from South America and answered all their questions. It's nice to work with them on these issues. Sure, we did not get to them with devotional preaching, and then some doors will close and people do not want to be converted. But, in reality "convert" means educating ... because each person wants to convince others of what they think. And if someone is wrong, then one should exercise their right to question what you hear and criticize constructively. For example, when someone is grateful with a teaching, he becomes a disciple and behaves very docile to those teachings ... but no one can be a disciple of obligation.

One can not tie his disciples. For, as the Srimad Bhagavatam says: "We have found each other by Divine Providence and now that I've found you, I accept you as the captain of my ship to cross the ocean of Kali" And what is the ocean Kali? The lack of love.

 Radha and Krishna give us love and invite us to leave the confusion. Thus love is full of love. Everyone loves and comes to love. And of course, when it is mixed it becomes lust or abuse ... it is not love. People try to conquer others only to exploit them. That is not love. The most important thing is that you never "throw in the towel",

In a determination not to be defeated, I want to tell you a story that happened in Venezuela some time ago. There I learned to never to give up. I was about to buy a very nice temple from some nuns, the price was $ 30,000. When everything was in order to buy, I went to get the papers and instead of the nuns coming out, someone from the military came out with writing on his hand and said, "We just bought the place" I felt very bad. I was very frustrated because we put so much effort into it. In fact, the donation I had was given to me by the Hindu community and I had to return.

I was so frustrated I went for a walk and along the way I found another place; it was much nicer than the previous one with many animals, birds, etc. When I asked who owned the place they said it was owned by the richest man of the city. I asked where he lived and went walking there. I had to climb a hill. And when I arrived, a woman opened the door and then took me to the house of the millionaire.

In the house, there was just the millionaire man with 80 or more women. He asked me what I wanted and I told him the whole story of what had happened. I spoke with all my heart and he said: "My dad told me, if you fall off  the horse do not curse the horse nor the earth, rather get up with the help of the earth and continue on the road." I told the he was absolutely right and that's why I was there and I told him that his house had seemed very nice and I wanted to buy it. It was a valuable property. So millionaire could not believe what I was asking and I told him that "everything is possible". I told him that I only had $10,000 and he said he would sell it to me for $100,000. I told him I did not have $100,000 and he said that he would help fund it. Then he called his lawyer and told him that he was going to sell his land to a temple. So we got the farm with $10,000. After that the millionaire had an accident and the devotees helped him a lot, but the next day he left his body.

It's wonderful all the good that can happen when someone is associated with devotees. At the time, I received a letter from the daughter of the millionaire saying that the she did not recognize the sale her father had done. I was very upset. The lawyer suggested to me to not even fight her and instead receive the Lakshmi in return. Why do I tell this story? As an example that you should never get discouraged or give up. Get up again and again. That is the message of today. Always strive.

My dear devotees, without you I can do nothing more, I do not want to do anything.
It is a dependency of the devotees. Sure, the last word is always Krishna, but I feel it is a great privilege to have the company of all of you and maintain so many beautiful projects. People are looking for "luck," but forget that there is no "luck" in this world, everything is karma and above karma is the mercy of Sri Krishna.

It is the desire of Divine Providence that really makes everything work. Sri Krishna comes into our lives and makes things happen. And everything we do in our life should be functional. I do not think a devotee should remain helpless, because Krishna is always taking care of everyone. Sometimes there are some who are more grateful than others, but no one is helpless. Effort and gratitude. That's the key. With these words I say goodbye to you for now and invite Gurudeva Atulananda to share a little nectar.

Your always well-wisher
Swami B. A. Paramadvaiti.

Atulananda Das:

Dear devotees,

Following the words of Gurudeva Paramadvaiti. I once heard a saying "your life is going up" and so that things can go uphill you always have to put the effort. However, practically speaking effort means more than anything to stick to your own intelligence. To that which we ourselves have already understood and determined. That's all.

Sri Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita: "nasti budhir ayuktasya" The person who is not bound to Me, has no intelligence "If we do something away from Krishna, that is not intelligence. Any arrangement we want to do is imperfect without Krishna. It will not work. Only Maya is running or will work for a while. In contrast, the intelligent person is always looking for "the seal of Krishna".

Bhagavan Sri Krishna also says: "The person who is not linked to Me, neither has Bhava" ... that means you will not have emotion or feelings, because whatever Krishna does one can take full satisfaction from. Whatever Krishna does is complete. Even small twinkling stars bring a special satisfaction. They are just a pinpoint of light having a quality and taste that please everyone. That light is also sending us something.

Whatever Krishna does is too wonderful, because everything comes from His heart to our heart. That's the only link that interests Krishna. Sri Krishna when He speaks of "yoga" He is talking about a relationship from heart to heart. If there is no relationship from heart to heart, then there is no relationship. Krishna is not hypocritical, He does not do useless things. If He does something then it is truth.

There are different processes of yoga, but Bhagavan Sri Krishna is desirous that we reach the Bhakti Yoga platform. We are always in yoga. One is either linked with Maya Yoga or Bhakti Yoga. That is the subject of enthusiasm; adhering to our intelligence and what we have understood and not allowing illusion to enter and giving into immediate pleasure. That is only one type of drug. Lust is a type of drug. So we will always be frustrated if we place our faith in some immediate pleasure. And then everything will end in frustration.

So, we do not have to make short term plans. Poor traders live a day by day, but the big traders live based on long term projections. So are big business: investing a great amount and not getting anything back for a while. This is called "tighten their belts". If we want a superior achievement, we must strive. Krishna says that He is the truth and the answer, therefore anything else is a hoax. There's the truth, but we must embrace it intensely. That is Bhakti Yoga.

For us Bhakti Yoga means embracing the truth, It does not mean embracing ecstasy or peace, or embracing love. It does not mean that for us just yet. For us Bhakti Yoga means embracing the truth, even if it costs or hurts. Although it may bring loss or without flavors. Vidya vadhu, you have to marry the truth. That is our light. He is the supreme truth. Param Brahma. Therefore my dears, always maintain enthusiasm.

Greetings from Mayapur.