19820901 Arrival Address

(Disclaimer: The following is a machine-generated transcript and may contain errors or inaccuracies. It will be reviewed and verified against the original audio soon.)

The following is an Arrival Address given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on September 1, 1982 – in Tennessee, USA.

The theories that they have today are different than what they had ten years ago. And every day, new information is denouncing the existing theories and even the so called laws that they’re basing so many of their ideas on. So this spiritual knowledge of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is being handed down by chain of spiritual masters. And sometimes, due to lack of an active preacher, spiritual knowledge becomes, if not lost, it becomes obscured. People, they lose sight of it, and it becomes isolated amongst the few who just preserve it but don’t actually propagate it. So that type of a situation was there. What happens when there’s a lack of a preacher in so many irreligious activities increase? So many people come up with their own theories, and those theories, they propagate and they take prominence. And what is the actual truth?

Because people are not being presented with the truth. It becomes an unknown factor, and people are misled. So this was a state of affairs some hundred and 50 years ago, in 1833, I believe 38 or 33, maybe you know the exact date, but 1830s BHaktI VINOd Thakur was born on this day, which is an auspicious day, full moon, almost a full moon, just after vāmana dwadasi. And he came. And he was a unique personality, because kind of the stereotype that we have of a spiritual master is someone who lives in a cave or lives in a forest, something like that. Bhakti Vinod Thakur, he was born in a rich family, and his grandfather actually did that. He went to the forest and became an aesthetic. An aesthetic his last days of his life.

And he told his son, his grandson, that you should visit all the ashrams and Purī in Orissa in Bengal. And in this way, he was first KEdarnath Datta. Later he became Bhakti Dinod. At that time, he visited all these temples, and this had also a deep effect on him. And so he became very active in preserving the purity of temples. And he started to write so many books. He would write books, and he joined the civil service of the british government at that time. And in the civil service, you know that in those days, in the 18 hundreds, mainly the key posts were always handled by the British, and that junior posts were given to the indian up and coming officers. But he was an exception that he was given the absolute control of several districts because he showed himself to be so capable.

So he was as an executive as well as a judicial magistrate. He had a lot of power at the same time, even though he was in this government position, which one normally sees the politicians and you’d hardly think of them finding any time for any. Of course, he’s not a politician. He was a bureaucrat in terms of. It wasn’t a political post, it’s a civil service. But still, we don’t think of them as having so much time. In fact, his contemporaries didn’t have any time. At least they couldn’t organize their day. But he was expert that he would organize the whole day’s work and finish.

It by about noon, which would give.

Him time to go and see for the different social services that he could do in the spiritual religious field during the day. Then he’d go home and he’d spend a few hours with his family. He had a big family, many children. And he’d go to bed early, about eight or nine. And then he’d get up at twelve or 01:00 at night. And the whole night he would write poems, books, songs which, just like the song that I believe the song you sang, sigurd, that’s also written about to be. No, takra, about. I mean, maybe 75% of the songs that we sing are written by him. He was a prolific writer, poet, musician. He advised that any type of music style could be employed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It doesn’t have to be that stereotyped. Traditional music may change, but the message should remain pure.

And he personally composed some songs in different melodies which were not traditional, which were. There was at that time a type of music which is still somewhat popular today called bowel. You can probably see that these bowel singers, they play. It’s like a small bongo, gum, bongos. It’s like a small bongo with two sticks coming out of it and a wire going down to that. It has a skin on it. And they, by the sticks are bowed. So by pushing the bow, the stress on that skin of the drum is changed and the person will twang that one. Twang and then push and pull. So by twanging you get a string.

Plus a percussion sound.

You get a twa from the. Because it snaps the head of the drum and it also gives a tong, you know, like a. One tire, like a. And then by moving the. You get also variable tones. But I go, whoop has a type of song.

Anyway, they would do strange type of melodies. And so they were doing their songs which were not pure devotional, not spiritual songs.

There was like a type of bengali folk singing.

So he used the same meter, same chord, same style. But then he designed. Because for that type of music you needed a special type of tune. But he did pure devotional songs to fit the need.

So this was basically. Basically throughout his whole life.

You see, the perfect example of RPA goswami teachings. RpA Goswami advised that we shouldn’t falsely give up material things, saying that all these things are material, therefore I will give them up.

Just like sometimes people want to become spiritually advanced, then they say that, well, I will give up everything. That this giving up can also be type of false renunciation. That rather than giving up something is.

To use that in the service of Kṛṣṇa. That’s called yukta vairagya. And falsely giving up is called phalguboiragya.

Phalguboiragya means type of superficial renunciation. Someone superficially showing I am very renounced.

But inside there may be so many. He may think I am very. He may be very proud. That person may be very proud that I have given up so much. Therefore, this shows how great I am. Or he may actually, or she may actually, whoever. They may actually have so many desires, but outwardly they’re giving up, but inwardly.

They’Re always meditating on those things.

So the example why it’s called falguru bhairagi is that there’s a river india. It’s called the Folgu river. The Falgu river runs through Gaya, which.

Is a very sacred city where people.

Go to do the last to do a special worship of their ancestors.

Say any father dies, the son will go there and do a special worship.

Of Kṛṣṇa in his GAdAdHar form.

There’s a lotus foot impression of vishnu there, a form of Kṛṣṇa.

And so they worship the lotus footprint of Kṛṣṇa in order to deliver their father, who is deceased, in case he has gone to any unfortunate place in his next life, some hellish existence or something. But by doing pūjā there in his name, they said the soul will get the benefit of that. So even a sinful person can be delivered. So everybody goes there at least one time to do a pūjā or worship of that temple. So right by there, the worship for that is always done from this Phalgu river. But the Phalgu river doesn’t have any water. If you look at it doesn’t.

Appear to have any water.

When you look at it, all you see is sand. It’s about a half a mile wide, and it’s simply sand. People go on top of it and walk over. You can walk, right? There’s no visible water. But anywhere. If you dig six inches 1ft. Then so much water is running underneath the sand. Apparently they say that it was cursed by Sītā Devī, that the river was cursed by Sītā Devī. So that’s why the water has gone underground.

But it’s there.

So everyone that wants to do that worship, they go there and they will dig a little hole into this hand and the water will be there all year round. But when you look, I thought it was because sometimes india there’s some drought, river dries up. But then I saw there was only sand. And then I explained the whole thing and I saw people were taking water by. They were just separating the sand and underneath the water was there. So why this example is given to renounce if someone just artificially gives up. Oh, I don’t. I will give up. Or say, just like someone he has a fight with his family, thinks, well, let me give it up. Then he, any of this happens, a person flunks from that college exam and then they think, well, I will become asadu. Just like in Japan, they commit suicide there.

They want to become a.

You want to become a yogī. But then, because the impetus wasn’t really spiritual, it was more just a negative reaction of flunking their exam or of having a fight. So it’s a very short lived type of. Unless they actually start to understand what is the purpose and to really delve into the purpose of spiritual life. And they get, after a short time, then again they leave. Or they develop so many bad traits because they’re not actually serious. So the example is given because outwardly it may appear to be, but if you just dig a little bit, there’s water. So that’s why the Kansas movement actually is not trying to outwardly give up everything. That’s why we have our cars, we have our record players or tape recorders or whatever we need, but we use it in the service of Kṛṣṇa.

Not that, if anything is useful, why give it up? In India, there are some fanatical Yogis who refuse to walk to drago in a cardinal in a plane. They only go by foot because they say that we won’t take any material conveyance. So they walk in this way. It’s very difficult to reach many people and to preach to them and to try to explain to them what is the purpose of life. So that way, Bhakti Vinot, where he already set the trend for using everything properly in the service of Kṛṣṇa. And he predicted that there would be a soul who would come, who would spread this Kṛṣṇa conscious movement throughout the whole world in a very short time.

And we see that the founder of this Hare Kṛṣṇa movement, founder Acharya, his divine grace, AC Bhaktivedanta, Swami Prabhupāda, is actually the fulfillment of his prediction. And of course, Śrīla Prabhupāda really used everything in the service of Kṛṣṇa. So because Bhaktavino Thakur, he was a fully self realized. So even though he was holding a material position and he knew that he wasn’t the body, he knew that the body was a machine and that his real relationship was with Kṛṣṇa, that his relationship with the material world was real, but temporary. So he would use his material. He had very nice children. He told them, if you don’t help me in my Kṛṣṇa conscious work, I won’t feed you. Once you grow up, you can do what you want, but so long, I have to feed you. You have to help me.

And he protected them, and they didn’t mind because he was also a good father. But like that, he used the material relationship. He was a good father, he was a good magistrate, he was a good husband, he was a good everything. But his priority was never mixed. He did his material responsibilities very well, but he never lost sight when muslim girl. So he even engaged his family to be Kṛṣṇa conscious. And that way also, they were appreciative and happy. Some of his sons never married, and they just remained as preachers, great preachers. And some of they also got married and had their family life and practiced their devotional service like that him in their own way.

So, well, there’s one interesting story, is that because he came also as a reformer, he was trying to purify the whole society from all the enomies that had cropped up in the disciplic succession. There were in the society many imposters. There was one yogī who was claiming to be Balaram or Kṛṣṇa or something, and he would do a ras Leela dancing with other men’s women, not wives, creating some kind of havoc in the morality of the place. But he actually was a mystical yogī. He actually had. Not a yogī, pure yogī in the real sense, but more, he had developed some supernatural powers by various type of tantric rites and other. There are some ways that one can gain powers. And so this person actually has some above natural powers.

He had a big hair, and if anyone tried touch him, sparks would come out and he could make things, you know, produce things magically. And so many, like so many different types of powers he had. So none of the police wanted to take any action because they were all afraid of trying to capture him. That he, that this powerful Yogī would actually harm them. But Bhakti Dino Thakur could say that this person was offending Kṛṣṇa. He was harming the faith and real principle of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So as the magistrate, he personally took the matter in his own hands and he arrested that person. And but since he was personally doing it, he had to bring him before another magistrate for trying another judge. And he took the part as the prosecutor, which is quite unusual. But there was no one else to do it.

So that time that Yogī, he threatened that if you don’t release me, then you’re going to die and your whole family are going to die. Curse you. Bhakti ViNod Thakur said that I am doing this only on behalf of Kṛṣṇa. And I don’t fear you. But even Bhakti Vinodaka, because that person doing powerful austerities, he became sick. And so his family members became sick. But in spite of the illness, he kept on. Even sometimes he had to be helped to go to them. He knew this was all the tricks of this, like a black musician. Yogī wasn’t actually really a pure yogī. So then he knew these were just his tricks and that he just have done with the case.

So finally, when he proved that this person was in fact guilty and he was sentenced, then the sentence also was there that he should put in prison. And Bhakti Vinod Thakur said, the power he has put all the supernatural powers in his hair through the various rights he’s got the power in his hair. So I want to cut off his hair. So then that order was given. So Bhakti Vino talked. No one else was at the other police. And that they went there to try to do it. And sparks were coming and they all became afraid and ran away. So Paktivino Takur, he just chanted Hare Kṛṣṇa and cut off the hair. As soon as he cut the hair, his whole family himself, the sickness was gone. And then that Yogī went in, he was just powerless. So he was put in the prison.

In about a year and a half, he just died. So it was a very courageous many things like that. He actually established a program called Nāmahaṭṭa with over 500 branches in various villages all over India. Where in each village people were chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Hare. Hare Rāma Hare, hare. And then we like to discuss about great souls. He wanted that this movement would come to the west. And because of his blessings, now it has come. And here in the west, people, they’re not very habituated to thinking of themselves in a spiritual way. Generally, we find that people, they only think of themselves in terms of their material conditioning. So as a result, their happiness and distress is always was based on so many relative, insignificant happenings of the material world we’re discussing in.

Miami, there were.

A lot of Brazilians there. And when the brazilian soccer team lost the soccer match in Madrid, the World Series of soccer, that the so many soccer fans became so frustrated in Brazil that hundreds committed suicide that they lost the game. The people they became so absorbed in. Even here I just saw that someone had any Atlanta paper. Of course, here it’s different, but Tennessee, different candidates stood for primary elections. I imagine it’s the same all over the country, I am not sure, but some won and some lose. So the ones who lose, you know, the ones who win, they’re cheering, but this is always going on. So some people are happy and some people are frustrated and everyone is trying to achieve that happiness. But you can just see that nobody can maintain that happiness.

Just as they put in a new president in the United States for three, four months, they give them what they call it some kind of a grace period. And then after that, they start smashing him. So, I mean, the whole material world is like, you get a little bit of happiness, but then you have to know that there’s going to be so many difficulties, there’s no pure happiness. The Bhagavad Gītā describes matra sparsas takundaya sitoshna sukhadukada agama pai no nidjustaiksha bharata that just by the touch of our senses, just as the happiness and sadness, they’re coming, just as the seasonal changes come from summer we get fall, winter, spring. Similarly, happiness and sadness, one day after another they’re coming. One gets a nice child, very happy child, gets sick and anxiety child gets well again, believed.

Then child grows up, does well in school, does bad in school, this. So in material life, we develop so many attachments. These are natural, but then these attachments will bring us sometimes happiness and sometimes distress. Just like in the summer, if we take iced drinks, it’s very nice, but in the winter, no one will like an iced drink. They like hot drinks, hot chocolate, hot tea or something hot to drink. And in the summer they like something cool to drink. So similarly, the same thing which gives us happiness in a slightly different time span, a little different situation. Again, that will create anxiety, pain, misery for us. So that’s why we’re advised by the body. We have to learn to not simply be focused on these temporary things for happiness and distress, but actually to develop.

A higher taste.

To realize our real spiritual happiness. We are by nature happy. We want to always be happy. Everyone wants to be happy. But because we are trying to be happy on the false pretension that we are this body, we are a product of the material world, and not that we are actually a part of God, and that God is all happy, and that therefore, our nature is to also be happy. And simply, if we are in touch with our nature, we return to our constitutional position and become happy. That’s Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So Sukam Kurtama bhaya, someone, while practicing Kṛṣṇa consciousness, even though he may not have fully realized Kṛṣṇa or realized himself, he’s already happy to practice it, becomes happy. How nice.

We feast on Kṛṣṇa for shadow, and we chant hare Kṛṣṇa, and we serve Kṛṣṇa, and we help other people to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. These are all very happy occasions. We just had the Los Angeles Rothyatra festival, the Cart chariot festival. About quarter of a million people or more came.

Hello, good Morning America.

There’s some. And also they came out on that, although we didn’t even know they were there. So none of us saw it. Maybe you saw it. I don’t think you watched that show. Somebody might have seen it. But anyway, all the friends of the temple who watched that show, they told us that it was there on national television. And so many people were coming. About 20,000 people came through the reincarnation booth. They wanted to find out about reincarnation. And overall, there was a very good turnout.

A lot of extra people came.

And this way, everyone was commenting that.

This is such a happy occasion.

But the occasion was chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa.

And distributing lots of prasanna and distributing.

So much free prashant food stuff and just discussing about.

About our real spiritual nature and what.

Is the purpose of life.

This is actually very happy.

Just as I was leaving the plane just here in Nashville, one steward was talking to the stewardess, saying, well, you know, I am a very spiritual person, actually, but I don’t like any organized religion, whether it’s the Roman Catholics or even the Christians generally.

People have got so many ideas about.

Religion based upon the contemporary things that they see. Well, I was telling another person who’s watching, she wanted to know our address here in Nashville. She’s a public affairs director for some local hospital.

I gave her the marauder address, which I had, and I explained to her that ultimately, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, we want that people can perfect their lives.

But it’s not that we simply want to convert everyone. Rather, we want that people should know these principles. And if they know, no matter what their beliefs may be, whatever their religion may be, whatever their situation may be.

Are absolute.

Information, knowledges which will help.

Them make them happier, make them more in touch, give them a greater grasp.

Of their own culture. And of course, if someone wants to fully perfect their life and actually achieve a complete realization, well, then they can also give their whole life to this.

Cause of actually becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious, becoming.

God conscious, which is the real purpose of human life. Not just to more or less punch.

Into the clock and punch in attendance until one is no longer able to.

Do so and then leave their body and go to some unknown destination without having ever even got a clue in one’s life. What is the actual goal or destination. It’s not the purpose of human life. Human life is meant to know.

What do we come here for?

Where are we going? So people, they’re judging Kṛṣṇa consciousness sometimes.

Just as they would judge just on the basis of what they have seen in other areas.

They don’t realize that any.

They can just take this hare Kṛṣṇa.

Man to go in the park, go.

In their house, go anywhere, chant it.

Practice these principles, they will become happy. It’s not that type of organized that one has to chant hare Kṛṣṇa only in the temple.

You will get happiness. You chant anywhere, you will get happiness. You get more happiness in the temple.

Why?

Because there’s more devotees.

The more devotees you get together, chanting, that has a special effect. The better association you have with like.

Minded, spiritual minded people.

That gives you a better effect. This is recommended, but that doesn’t mean that even one is alone. He shouldn’t chant or even one isn’t in his own house.

They shouldn’t chant. No. Every place a person should chant should.

Develop a Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Very happily performed.

No difficulty. Only difficulty comes from our mind that we’re trying to cling on to.

So many false attachments, false conceptions of.

Who we are, who we should be.

What were, just what we think will make us happy. Therefore, we become confused. So Bhakti bin o Taqir, he practically showed he was a magistrate, he was.

A married man, he was active. He showed that in a person’s life.

If a person is really determined, they can be completely Kṛṣṇa conscious, even doing.

A full workload or even that he was doing a double load and make a tremendous dent into the whole society.

Actually, he revitalized the whole movement. Which was handed down for 5000 years.

And from that now it is spread all over the world. So, since we’re just a small group here, rather than just give a long.

Lecture and we can just have some questions and informal discussion, I’d like to meet some of our friends.

I know, guys.

This is probably. That’s amazing. This is Miggy, my kunta’s stepdaughter son.

And this is Laney.

Laney. Lainey. Is that my lady or Lainey? Laney.

L a I n I e. It.

Almost sounds like Sanskrit. Norwegian.

There’s quite a few norwegian artists that.

Are Sanskrit, Norwegian and Swedish. I was just in Stockholm two weeks ago. I didn’t go to Norway, but it’s real nice in Stockholm. Of course, there they. They have a van also. Like we have a band. Is that because it’s a socialist country? So the public service, like here they have cable tv, public service. And so there, the radio is all controlled by the government very strictly. And the radios are forced to give a certain amount of time for public service shows. So there, our movement is very well established with the government, with the people. So each station gives us 3 hours in a day, or is it one to 3 hours, depending sometime.

So one of them is in a.

Good time, like between six in the morning and six at night or nine at night. And then sometimes they give us, you know, like twelve at night till six in the morning. But even then, people stay up the whole night to listen to it. When they have phone in shows, then the phone is always ringing. And so that morning I was there for three days at 930 in the morning. We had our time, 930 til 1030. So I gave a class in the temple. And then they have their electronic whizzes. They sent it 30 miles into Stockholm through the telephone system by widening the frequencies and everything, and then taking it there, scrambling it or something and bringing it back in and then putting it into the radio station. They have their own, because they have their own studio.

And from that studio they have direct lines into all the other different radio stations through the telephone by cable. And so they do all the shows in their studio, mix it and everything. And then they just, at the time when they’re on the air, they just plug it into the station and it goes right out. So like that, they have about 24 hours a week they broadcast. And so my class was, although it was English, of course, but they gave a swedish explanation. He just came from India. And then they broadcasted the class for an hour, but they said it would be too difficult to.

They weren’t set up for the question.

And answers because I wasn’t in Sweden. I wasn’t in Stockholm. I was out in the country, in the ashram. So it’s nice how musicians they played. The most famous album is this marare band. They play a lot of music in Sweden. It’s very famous. It’s very well liked. And of course, the Hara Keshe Ramis music. And actually, I saw that some of the swedish names that I was told.

Swedish in Norwegian are very similar.

Some of them are actually like sanskrit names in the back.

Is that all right?

I don’t. Do you come here regularly?

Well, this is like a time subbed in today.

Thank you for coming. We had about 20 people on Sunday. Anyone has any questions.

Negate something that you. The same thing caught my attention in the same spouse of doing someone who’s talking to the airplane about being very special but not lacking one of that’s religion. He went on somewhere to say that we can. People can just follow the principles and chant hard Kṛṣṇa, and they don’t. It’s not necessary to feel organized, to have to go to the temple and to have to do things in an organized, ritualistic sort of way such as it doesn’t matter where you do that.

Or when you do that, as long.

As you do it all the time and everywhere. But I was learning about some clarification on that. But how important. I understand that associating with devotees is exceptionally important. But how important is associating with the temple?

Well, the devotees are in the temple.

How about a situation where you may have two people, say a man and white, or both, but for one reason or another, it’s necessary for them to be in a locality where they’re in a temple. They’re associated with each other and therefore are associated with devotees. And one would assume they would be keeping in touch by bail and visits with other devotees in other areas. But are they as likely to be able to advance just following principles and chatty respect with each other?

It’s really your personal question. I mean, it would depend on those individuals. Just like. Just like Princeton. Tell me they’re here. I think their whole activity is their preaching.

I hope they are in the temple.

Well, I mean, temple means what? It could just as well be in their house. But because they’re using it to preach, which their consciousness we’re calling in a temple. Well, say a husband and wife. They may not be doing very much preaching work, but they’re associating with. So many people are developing it depends on. You see, association and exchanges between devotees are something very important and very scientific, that any exchange with a friend has the same character as exchanged amongst devotees. The Prabhupāda said, the reason I made this society wasn’t enough to make some type of rigid organization to control people’s lives, but it wasn’t rather an opportunity to have the devotees exchange loving relations with each other. Now, that relate the love that is supposed to the six ways that’s exchanged. One is by giving food and accepting food.

That’s by giving some gift or some service and accepting whatever gift is given by a person in devotion. And then she reveals one’s mind to that person, to confide in that person. And also when that person can find, actually listen to what he’s saying or she’s saying.

And now you find the same thing as business deal.

They will bring them to Nashville, Atlanta, Conference center, they will wine and Diner, then they will offer some gifts and they will have some intimate talks. They will put out the contract and say, sign here. Of course, it’s not, you know, they’re doing. They’re trying to exchange so many nice Cities, but their purpose is obviously not.

You know, to allow for anything.

It’s signing contract.

But the principles are the same.

And you will see the principles are kind of universal. But these originally given in Sanskrit, these are ancient, and this is in the.

Same way, in a spiritual way. So this, we offer Prasad to Kṛṣṇa.

And then we give that to the devotee. So the same way, husband and wife.

Or friends, devotees, whatever they meet, they can have the Relationship more on the spiritual Platform, on the Kṛṣṇa Consciousness platform. And that develops more than just a mature relationship.

It actually develops the spiritual Kṛṣṇa consciousness relationship.

And this helps one to advance because it describes that there’s three levels of devotees.

One level is just a very neofite.

Person who thinks that God is in the temple and doesn’t see God anywhere else in the temple of the church or the mosque or the synagogue, and thinks that, well, it’s a really good.

Church, but when they go out of.

The dead, he may not think of it so seriously. He doesn’t really understand also that devotees, what’s their position?

That someone has dedicated themselves to God and how dear that person is to.

God, and therefore how spiritual that person is, they don’t really appreciate. That’s like a very. That’s the beginning stage. And for them, material affairs, the material life, are much more prominent and much more important. Don’t think revolution is just one aspect. It’s not like they won’t consider that being the main aspect, generally speaking. And they consider it as an important aspect. But the social aspect.

Society is based like that.

One person should have a religion. But I mean, too much religion is not good. So it’s different. That’s why Kṛṣṇa consciousness is a little bit different. Because ultimately, the whole purpose of our life is to become God, realize, to become Kṛṣṇa conscious and without actually realizing our spiritual nature, engaging people. Buffalo, that’s it.

It, it.

(Side B of the Cassette)

But apart from that, even those who are living outside, if they can be a good example and preach and get other people to practice in their house, then in the long run that’s going to produce more people also to be preachers and give us a much broader base. And those people are going to be very Kṛṣṇa conscious. The more that you have, say that you have Louisville, if there’s twelve families there, and if they get together once a week and their friends and they form their own, you know, they have their own friendship, then they will be able to maintain as devotees. And some of them may be able to get more time or some less. But if they have that, it would be possible for them to actually be somewhat Kṛṣṇa conscious, or even very Kṛṣṇa conscious.

It’s a question, of course, of their individual endeavor. But, you know, so many different factors.

That.

As far as your brother is concerned, a lot of those mental cases are actually better outside the temple or in a more family situation, but they can still come to the temple or do services that does not essentially have to live in. It’s like in the army. They have the reserves and then they have the active. That’s especially amusing because before he became devoted, he was in naval dessert. What type of music do you do?

Anything.

Anything?

Just about everything.

You’re a musician too? You’re a guitarist.

Well, in Marauri band, I did the drums.

The drums also.

But we played horn instruments together for a long time, Jimmy and I, long before. Well, you know, before I joined the movement in 76, were on the road to California and we also went to New York. And together we played in nightclubs. We played in the nightclubs.

But then.

The Marare band played at Rathiatra. So.

So you redeemed yourself. You were last year swathe in New Orleans? Yes.

Almost went to the Washington rock after this year. I was there one day later to stay in Holodar’s house.

But remember.

Doing business with Holla Washington from a monument to the Capitol building and back, not as many people as in was. Of course, there are already a lot of people at Venice beach. We added to that. There are not a lot of people at the Washington monument. We added to that, but there’s proportion. Maybe there were 5000 people there. We added another 10,000, 15,000. Maybe there were already 50 or 100,000. And then we added another. But everyone that was there all came, and in both places they all participated. They all came and took Prasadam and saw the exhibitions. But I think that Washington is actually a lot more conservative. Than California. So in that sense, started more of an inroad. So now Jim is also doing a little music or he’s working with you?

Well, not at present, no.

Jim’s been coming to the temple on Sunday. How do you like this philosophy?

I have got a lot to learn, but I know there’s a reason that, you know, I am doing temple. So got a long way to go, though, as far as knowledge and learning and what have you.

You also chanting a little bit hare Kṛṣṇa?

Yes.

You chant on beats? Those, you know, you guys are chanting beats.

Just chant. Hearing back.

You ever try chanting on that meditational beats? The idea is that in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, we use all the senses in our meditation. There’s two types of meditation. One where you’re just supposed to sit and stare at your nose, and gradually you become completely numb physically. And then you just start meditating, like the silent type meditation. Meditate on the super soul in the heart, like very methodically, turning off everything. And just, that’s a very difficult for. So it’s HaRD to sit for still for so long. And ours is like the opposite, that we try to use all the senses. So we chant out loud and we listen and we look at a picture of Kṛṣṇa, and we smell incense or flowers, and then we use the fingers. Either we play instruments, or if we’re alone, we use the beads and we count.

And while we’re feeling the beads, it helps to concentrate. And the beads also have another aspect, is that if we count how many times we chant every day, then we can kind of monitor our progress, actually, how much are we chanting? And then not only just the number, but we always try to maintain a quality of certain standard quality. But the number also is recommended that it just helps us, like people cook. Some people, they just put in the things without measuring. But you put in by measuring, then it comes out better. Or the example is given if you water a plant than by giving every day a steady amount of water, the plant will grow nicely.

And if one day you give Somalis another day another amount, if it’s not at all measured or count, then the plant may not grow so well because you might miss so many days. That was the first thing. I walked in the temple and someone handed me a set of bees and asked me to chant. But they were beads, chanted on it like Shiva, prabhupāda. You never give these. Just, we take a regular raw beat. And when the spiritual master chants on the beads, they become empowered. So they gave me one. I said it was in the very beginning of the movement. So they were a little liberal. I had a spirit set, I guess, and I went out in the Golden Gate park and was chanting and chanting. 32 rounds, first day, 6 hours straight. And that was really an experience.

So that drove me to want to really go into it deeper and deeper. But we have, in South America, we have big meetings, and we ask all the people to chant, and sometimes 500 people come up and they just start to chant ten minutes a day. And over a period of two years, some people said that they have experienced a whole change in their life. One big superintendent of police there, he’s completely become enthused by just his whole life has changed, his whole family. There was one small manufacturer of toys. He built a whole altar in his house with a beautiful picture and lights and everything, just from this, encouraging people to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Then they asked me to go to his house, so I went there and saw it. No one Else in the temple had gone.

Didn’t even know that he had this, because I went there, and they all had to come. And then we saw that he had made that wonderful on his own. He went to the temple, saw how they did it, because he knew how to make toys, paper toys and paper hats and all kinds of things for parties and toys and, I don’t know, bar mitzvahs or something. And he made a beautiful altar in his house, and all his kids knew the chanting, how to sing the songs, and his wife and they played the cartal and made a little drum. It was very wonderful to see, all because we just were encouraged to start chanting. I always had a dream that I saw a city where everyone in the city was very wealthy. They all had.

The women had silk clothes on, the men were very well dressed, healthy, all the buildings, everything was completely well maintained, and everyone had beanbags, and they were all chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, and it was just like vaikuṇṭha, like dwarka feeling like dwark. Everyone was very Kṛṣṇa conscious, yet everything went very materially opulent. Perfect synthesis.

Can you imagine a whole world like that?

You say sanitary Dave, this morning?

Yes.

Could you enliven us by, well, at least some of your activities and his also?

What’s.

What’s been going on lately?

Well, Dave just won’t travel. I spoke with him last night, actually, more, and he’s traveled so extensively, when he opened up the whole preaching in South America, that he just says that physically he just can’t travel. I mean, the thought of traveling, like, completely. Just the thought of it makes him feel, is he in Miami. He’s in Miami, but he’s put himself in Miami. So he’s kind of close to the design disciples. He was sent a ticket from Los Angeles, signed by 300 devotees to please come to the rathiatrist and say, I am sure I can’t do it. So he’s just asking that the disciples who come for the Vias pūjā, they will have it in Miami. He’s not going even to Brazil, that just, they should, you know, please understand that he’s just not in a position to travel.

But he feels that he, by translating and by doing his writing, he will be doing a great service. So he’s got, he’s actually trying to really get also this Miami temple together, you know, that it had a lot of overheads and deaths. Kṛṣṇa Maharaj is leaving for some preaching in North Carolina. And now Bana Bhaṭṭa Das is the president there. One week he just put Babachary, mainly for the past couple weeks, having to do a lot of meditation, get the mortgage payments and this and that, everything, because they were going to sell the building. And then the GVC requested that if at all possible, they should break the contract, that we shouldn’t sell any building that we had, that we have. Once we get it, we should try to keep it.

Because unless you’re going to a bigger building, and it’s such a big building, there’s no way you can go to a bigger one than that. Right on Miami beach, right on the ocean front. Beautiful hotel. Hotel. So Chari Bay used his transcendental intelligence and he figured out how to break the contract. So now the contract’s broken, we’re not selling it, but now he has to. So although he wants to just write, but just temporarily for about a month, he has to do a few of these practical matters. But he’s otherwise, he’s. Without traveling, apart from the travel, he’s a little weak, but I mean, in terms of his physical, doesn’t want to travel anywhere. But as it is now, he’s healthy and he’s giving class every evening. Last night we had a Gītā class and he spoke.

I said it was like thunderbolts when he was making his points. So then he asked me to speak, so I spoke something. And then he led rt about 830 for Nitāi Goa. And it’s very exciting, ecstatic arts. Everyone was dancing. He asked me to pull out my big wampers. He didn’t bring those with you? I did. He has them there. So then we had a cured time for half an hour. The whole time, everyone was just jumping.