What is the purpose of our life? We so often forget ... From Bolivia. 09/14/2014

                                                        Conference. 

My dear devotees of the soul 
Greetings from Bolivia, 

There is something essential that we ask in difficult times, but then easily forget: What is the purpose of our life? We so often forget that instead of striving to fulfill our ideals, we end up making great efforts to please what others tell us: 

The wishes of our parents, the instructions of the government, sellers who try to convince us of their products, etc, etc, etc. All have different concepts. The world of consumption and material selfishness makes us believe that the purpose of life is to have more and more things, competing with others to be "winners" and feeling discouraged and frustrated when an impediment to get what we we want arises. Or worse, we feel envious when we see that someone else has more facilities or simply gets things. Or that they got to be born into a wealthy family while you, with your multiple desires, do not know how to satisfy them. But do not be fooled, even one who has many material things and that seems to be in a nice position, is not completely satisfied. Why? Because the real satisfaction is never found in the material sense gratification. 

In this life we must understand that material goods are just tests, they are not the essence. Rather they come to test us. The real purpose of life is to connect with God in different ways: through beautiful works that embellish our existence. Works created by thought, words and actions. Divine works. Works offered at the Lotus Feet of the Lord that will help the heart to grow. 

We are completely dependent on the mercy of God to be able to discern and identify what is positive and negative for our lives. You only need to always remember this dependence and pray for the Lord's mercy and become determined to make the best effort to become an instrument of Him and His devotees. Pray for all the people who surround your life so that they may be benefited by my realizations, my efforts and my intent. Well, since I like being creative, I should put forth the most effort I have to help others in one way or another whether it is through my art, my work, through my family, as a monk, etc. 

The most beautiful thing in life is to fulfill the essential duties of a human being. What does that mean? Bringing happiness to all those around you. But this happiness is not just any happiness; it has everything to do with the purpose of life which is self-realization. This  human life is a gift, not something cheap. Many people can take life, not knowing what that means ... but only a person can give life and that is God. 

God is always very close to each of us, watching and supporting the different choices we make. He loves us completely and manifests Himself in different ways so that we can perceive Him. One of the ways in which He manifests is through Mother Nature. 

Do not forget that whatever we do to Mother Nature it's as if we were treating our own mother the same way. Life can end at any time and our stay on the planet can also expire at any time, therefore we must be very careful with what we do ... because at the end of life everything that we have done will be accounted for. Thus all the reactions for all the good and bad that we've done will come. 

Now, if you have not done things that are an accumulation of goodness, that are constructive and beautiful, that will undoubtedly bring lamentable states. It's real. And in life we must be realistic. You have to be able to implement the large wisdom that enriched the souls of the past. 

In the world of action and reaction we must not think that life just passes by as if nothing happens, then we and later we will automatically be successful. We must strive to raise our consciousness. We must take matters into our responsibilities and to develop and better ourselves. Always listening to our inner voice. One detail is that the inner voice often conflicts with the voice of the mind. The inner voice always suggests we do things the right way, while the voice of the mind always calls us to enjoy things but deceitfully. So you always have to stay alert. You reap what you sow. Your actions planting your next states. Now, what if I have made ​​mistakes or I have strayed from the purpose of life? 

The answer is mercy. Begging again and again to the Divine Mercy with deep regret. Only the repentant person can make a change. We can even compensate for all those who gave suffering to in the past. And if we can not compensate for any living entity that we have harmed, then turn into an activist against violence, a sankirtaneer carrying the message of protection to every corner. That's my advice, my dear, to become activists at all levels. That's the way to vindicate all the damage we have done. Deeply praying always for more and more mercy. 

This concludes my message for today. 
A big hug for all of you 

Your always well wisher, 

B. A. Paramadvaiti Swami

The Value of Things. From Argentina 09/07/2014

                                                            Conference
Dear devotees

A big hug from Córdoba. Happy to be here with devotees who year after year give their best to continue the mission of Srila Prabhupada.

Miracles every day. It's a miracle, a temple of Krishna in the world of maya. And every devotee is a gem. So here beside miracles and gems I can only say thank you Srila Prabhupada.

These days we are in much thought and labor to install the University of Ancestral Wisdom. In our mission we begin the Vaishnava Academy. Many years ago we started the project and today we see many fruits.

At that time many devotees especially those who began their families did not know how to keep their churches well because it was difficult only with book distribution. Today there is a network of academies with instructors in yoga, ayurvedacourses, astrology, vegetarian courses and many more arts. There are also systematic courses of the most important books of Vaishnavism.

Our dear Mukunda das Babaji worked intensely hard on it and I even told him a lot of material still has not come to light and others were lost or not recorded. There are also studies available of arcana, dancing for God or the art of using technology for the service of God. All of this  is currently offered by the academy  and this has created a source of much service, occupation and work for the devotees.

If one grhasta needs a percentage that is also there. In a family you have to think of everything.
But the essence of education is the same. Sometimes we wanted to give Srimad Bhagavatam but ordinary people think that giving it away is not worth much. Seeing devotees singing in the streets, giving gifts everywhere, they conclude that the gift could not be a big deal. That is why we ask students to pay for what they receive at the Vaishnava Academy. That's the system. We do not want to think that what we offer is worthless or that there is no cost.

There is a famous story about Sanatan Goswami. A person went to him and asked for initiation. The candidate said, "Please initiate me, give me the most confidential thing that you have, I want to be a yogi, a seeker of truth in perfection" So, Sanatan Goswami  initiated him into the chanting of the Maha Mantra. The happy devotee went to a river to meditate and chant Hare Krishna. On the way he passed a girl who was washing clothes in the river. While she washed, beating clothes on a rock, she was singing the Hare Krishna mantra.

The new yogi was in amazement and said, "But how is this, that she is singing my secret mantra, the holy name that I just received from my initiation?". He went back to his Gurudeva and he asked: "Gurudeva, how can this be? What you gave me, I listened to some girl who was singing it in the river?".

-Sanatana Goswami said, "You do not really know the value of this, here I have a diamond, take it and take it and offer it. Let's see, who pays more for it, but do not sell it, just tell me who offers you more? "

Thus the devotee began offering the diamond. He crossed the Yamuna river and asked the boatman: "How much would you offer me for this diamond?" The boatman replied, "For this, I'll take you to the other side of the river, this is nice for my child to play with." Then he went to a store across the Yamuna and offered it to the store owner and the owner then replied: "You have a beautiful stone, I will put it on top of the papers so they do not fly when it's windy, I will give you ten rupees."

So, he even went to a jewelry store. There, the jewelers were astonished. "Wow! What a diamond! Incredible! This must cost a fortune." Then the devotee returned to his Gurudeva and said, "I get it, not everyone knows the value of something even when one actually has it". It is not that you have something and you know what the value is.

Many people can come and see the deity but not all of them understand what they are seeing, and all the while, others hearts are melting seeing Lord Krishna being worshiped. People who ate meat, drank alcohol here now are becoming devotees in the temple of the Lord.

Some know and some do not. Not that simply by doing an exercise with the eyes, a person knows or understands things, this is not so. Honestly, it takes appreciation Vedic knowledge with personal realization, it is not a gift that one can receive simply by memorizing some texts or pass some examinations. Actually our temples have always been Vaishnava Academies because we do every morning, a conference and every night we have another. Sometimes devotees discuss different topics, therefore somehow all temples since ancient times have been Vaisnava Academies. What changed then?

Well that change comes from systematizing the delivery of knowledge. Of course, nowadays it is easy because devotees have already achieved the publication of hundreds of titles in Spanish. If you read all these books, your views and your knowledge will be different and you can even compare yourself with the Indian scholar. It is not an exaggeration, because we have a lot of translated information, Srila Sridhar Maharaj books, Srila Prabhupada, the Goswamis and their commentaries, scientific aspects and so much if ...

Scientific Books, Vedic cosmology, rather said, all kinds of issues, we have at least an introduction of it.

Now, the most important in this connection is that we're now practically giving it to people and that is something very beautiful: a body of teachers, students, monks and farms for retreats. For example, if you go to India and want to learn how to play the tabla instrument, then you go to a tabla guru, he will require from you to follow a discipline, and  it is not like you are going to run when the tabla-guru tells you everything you have to do to learn tabla. Of course, to what extent is this important? In actuality, not very important, the important part is to never to forget Krishna?

Srila Prabhupada said, "There are two principles that are essential in Krishna consciousness, the first is always remember Krishna and the second is to never forget Krsna." That's what makes one a Vaisnava, to always think of Krishna, that is the requirement, our courses will always carry this and return back to this principle, as a flower that always expands and always reaches the center. So if we teach yoga, forgetting Krsna, we become confused, if we do vastu-sastra and people do not think of Krishna, we have wasted our time, whatever it is that we may do  that lets us forget Krishna, so then our Vaisnava Academy would be an academy of Maya, would it not ?

There are Maya Academies worldwide and the Vaishnava Academy is there to direct and focus the eyes on God, that is the essence. So what should we do to organize and strengthen the Vaishnava Academy? How to promote something? How, between people, can we give recognition to the value that they gain from receiving this knowledge? Because if someone is not interested, then why even look into?

And now we talk about the University of Ancestral Wisdom. Appreciating the manifestation of Vedic wisdom in all cultures. And retrieve the values ​​of the people. Their art, music, language, feelings and goals. When you find out that the mission of their lives is to be guardians and protectors of mother earth you stay surprised.

Their culture is the very meaning of the word culture: worship: worship. They worship Mother Earth, rivers, mountains, animals. Important element in the culture of the Vaisnavas. Then the University of Ancestral Wisdom wants to promote all the wisdom of the people. There is much to learn and much to teach.

That person who is in the process of delivering something reliable enters the the process of receiving more of that which is superior. Knowledge is unlimited. Just studying the Srimad Bhagavatam in an academic way will take many years in a very intense manner. Thanks to Srila Prabhupada's Marathon translating from Sanskrit into English verse by verse giving much meaning to each verse. A mega colossal work. And now having all this in a cd thanks to technology is also arranged by God. That is why we have a project, a Virtual University, and soon to initiate activities. We need everyone's help.

With these words I say goodbye to this chat today. You can always send me questions with my secretary. Or to my email but as I do not always have Internet so I can not always respond very fast and I can take up to two weeks to respond. Soon we will venture to Korea and I do not know why Krishna takes me there, I'll tell you when you return.
Srila Prabhupada ki jay.

Your always well wisher,

B. A. Paramadvaiti Swami

Vrindavan, where everything is sweet. Argentina. 8/31/2014

My dear devotees.
All my love from the home of Gauranga Radha Madan Mohan in Argentina

Today I was meditating on how we go about correcting our lives to qualify us as servants of the Supreme Sweetness.

That is not just any sweetness, it is the sweetness of Vrindavan, where everything is sweet:
The dance is sweet, the offerings are sweet, friendships are sweet, commitments are sweet, everything that Sri Krishna does is sweet. Those who are eager to to have a human life worthwhile, you just have to connect to that sweetness. The sweetness of the spirit world will help us overcome the bitterness of the experience of the selfish world. That's really something that can be easily perceived when we come in contact with the Holy Name.

This sweetness of which I speak is not an exaggeration, so when someone gets the darshan of the Lord in deity form one realizes and perceives the sweetness that He emanates.Radha and Krishna, Gaura Nitai, Giriraj, all emanate sweetness. There has never been a deity with a sad face. They encourage sweetness and love. That is the essence that allows us to remember and understand what the human life is worth. Because human life is potentially sweet. Human life becomes sweet when your ideal matches the primary purpose of your life. Meaning, when all the beautiful things you have are offered to Sri Krishna. There are many people who have great beauty, but because they are envious of God, they just want to enjoy them and believe themselves to be equal to the status of  Radha, Krishna ...they only seek to be the center.

Thus, in the material world all seek to be respected and appreciated. Either way people seek that: they study at major universities to be respected, do political campaigns to have more respect, they run after money to be respected, they go to the hairdresser to be respected, they get tattoos or piercings to be respected and well ... the most outrageous things. Some even degrade themselves to be respected. Why are we so eager to have respect? Because that is the prelude to attachment and attachment is the prelude to love. In short, everything we theatrically do everything is because we are looking for someone to love us and tell us that he loves us. That is a big mistake that leads to bitterness, thinking that I have to have something special to be loved. Why? For all the expectations that are not answered we become fully bitter.

The life of the devotee, however, is quite sweet because they are not looking for something so that others appreciate him, they only long to serve. Recognition requires a great effort that is mainly based on competition. Competing for who gets the applause, who is the most prominent, the cutest, the most this or that. It's like the children's story of Snow White, the witch asks the mirror "mirror, mirror on the wall, who in the world is the fairest of all" and the mirror tells her that there is someone more beautiful than her, so she intently tries to eliminate her. To be the most recognized. Sure, everyone thinks of that example and laughs or thinks it is exaggerated, but in the end they end up doing the same and competing in one form or another for recognition. So because of this they go to the hairdresser, for that purpose do they dress up, etc, etc. And relationships with others become false and are based only on recognition.

You think that your friends are the ones who appreciate you all the time. But that is another deception. The material world is a world of deception. Imagine, to dress as someone special you must pay more money. To be fashionable one must compete with others. To stand out as having the best glasses also one pay more money. It is absurd. There are people who pay thousands of dollars for a dress that they will use only once a night. Things like this are absurd. Man goes crazy looking for a false sweetness. That is not real, but it is more than a waste and a crime. Imagine, spending more money than you need and have a high standard of living is an outrageous crime. But nobody understands that when competition comes with the intention of being the most "different", the most "wasteful", the most "special", the  most "drunk", etc. They are absolutely absurd competitions offered by the absurd material world. How can we discuss simple living and high thinking when people are actually looking to be the craziest of the crazy. They do not seek to be the wisest, but the craziest.

We all long for love and sweetness. Without love we can not live without sweetness we can not survive. We are addicted to this sweetness and are thirsty for it. But where do you get it? Well, it is found in the consciousness of Vrindavan. Well Vrindavan is a state of consciousness. It's not something you can buy, not something physically definable. It's not something we can monopolize and market. Vrindavan is the land of love and love is something that is earned spontaneously.

I will give an example: A human being loves another human being, and they form a family together, but if one of them begins to notice a third person then that causes an offending nature to the concept of being a couple, for when a couple decide to be together they are promising to be mutual faithful. That desire is a great deficiency because its a desire out of wanting ... because despite the person promising I will care for you what actually is there is that the person wants is  "love for himself"; "I want you to want me", "I love you so you can take care of me "," I love you so you can cook for me "," I love you so you can do everything I want, "etc. That attitude is not love, it's more so exploitation.

Wanting another for convenience. That happens a lot nowadays, it is very common and it is the product of illusion, thinking that they are going to find the sweetness. The sweetness if it exists, my dear, in Krishna all sweetness can be found. Because He is so beautiful and so sweet that when we love Krishna we can love everyone else. It is a complete, genuine and pure love. The only thing that does not come into this love is sexual exploitation.

Love for all is asexual, of course, it can be physical in the sense that one does sacrifices for others, shows affection to others, etc., but not a sexual love as understood in the material world. Because we love Krishna with His sweetness and that completely fills the heart. Krishna is the Infinite Charmer and keeps us enchanted for Him. That is truth and if we are delighted by the things of this world, how can we not be charmed by the source that caused all these lovely things? Sweetness and love, that is what we should always long for.

For me it is very important that each of you feel happy and is doing a service that makes you happy and that connects with the sweetness. I can only say that the support of each of you has always been and will be the nicest thing I have received. I pray that you are happy. Sure, there are always things that change, so we must learn to dance to the beat of life, always seeking refuge in the sweetness of the Lord of the heart.

This is the message I wanted to share with you today. Thanks for helping and joining me in this attempt to serve the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada.
Haribol!

Your always well wisher,
B.A. Paramadvaiti Swami