I Ain't Come From No Monkey

I saw something the other day that kind of threw me off. Someone made a comment that we are animals, and we have to remember this when considering our needs. I deeply disagree with this statement. As human beings, we have been given the special opportunity to become self realized, an animal does not have such a privilege, as human beings we have been given free will where as an animal acts only by instinct, under the laws of nature. Although I believe we all come from the same source, to say that we are by nature no different than an animal is  bred of ignorance and just another example of the mental speculation based off of patterns, which in today's modern world is called science. Now despite the fact that we are not animals, through our conditioning we have developed animal characteristics. Animals work according to their needs in terms of eating, sleeping, mating and defending, ironically as we become more "civilized" these 4 things seem to be growing as the most important factors in human life. But it wasn't always like this. once upon a time "less advanced" civilizations such as the Aztecs, Essenes, Native Americans, Pre-imperialism India etc, put the emphasis on advancing in understanding of the universe, the human mind, consciousness and God. However because these civilizations didn't have the proper animalistic requirements such as aristocratic food, fabulous palaces, fancy clothing to attract a mate, or huge armies, those who did deemed them generally incompetent and forced their way of living in and the other out. Now one example of the animal Characteristics that we have come to adopt, is to fear what we don't understand. Bhakti Vidyapurna Swami gives the example that if you raise a dog in an all Caucasian neighborhood, when it sees an African American, it will start to bark uncontrollably, and visa versa, if you raise a dog in an all African American neighborhood it will lose it's sense of comfort and begin to bark upon seeing a Caucasian person. We see this constantly in a place like America, people who do not appear to a certain person to be "normal" are ostracized and often barked at from a distance like the dog. However it wasn't always like this. When the Europeans first came to America, the Native Americans did not bark at them from a distance, they showed them how to grow food so that they could survive in the winter. Quite uncivilized. When the Europeans first came to India, the Indians did not bark or run away in fear, they instead agreed to trade with them in a way that both could be mutually benefitted. but of course the Europeans being so civilized felt it their duty to manipulate and practically enslaved the Indians, exploiting their natural resources and diminishing their beautiful culture. Quite civilized. One point that needs to be made is that animals having a basic instinct that allows for equilibrium within an ecosystem, only take what they need. In our "civilized" world we have now come to the point where it's natural to act like the good old Europeans and take as we please, according to our desires. This way of thinking and acting makes us worse than animals. The world is arranged in such a way that if all take as they need instead of as they please, there is peace and thus all other living beings on the planet follow this simple and effective universal rule. There is however besides humans, one exception to this way of action which is naturally followed by all other species. The exception is cancer. Cancer takes and takes and takes until the body it inhabits can no longer continue to function and dies. We have become a cancer to the earth, a cancer to one another and ultimately a cancer to ourselves, due to our idea that the more we get, the happier we are, is this civilized? No this is toxic, this is a diseased mentality. We have come to believe that only once we reach a certain position will we be happy, however only when we realize our position can we be happy, otherwise by continuing to take and take we are only adding fuel to the fire and increasing the severity of our sickness. This disease must be treated with a steady diet of transcendental knowledge derived from the texts worshiped by civilizations who were actually civilized and realized the important things in life. These people were self satisfied, they rejoiced within instead of endlessly searching for satisfaction in a world that they correctly perceived as only temporary and thus in a sense illusory. Most people are captivated by this illusion, most people run desperately after the mirage of an oasis in the desert of mundane material existence. These fruits seen in the mirage can never satisfy our natural craving for satisfaction. Only the ripened fruits found in such texts as the Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam have the ability to satiate our thirst. Thus we must dig deep within ourselves, we must not once but constantly ask if we are acting with an animalistic mentality, or even something worse. We must seek knowledge from the Vedas which are the source of all knowledge. Only through understanding the inner workings of the world  and beyond may we go through life properly, and become closer to the stage that we were meant to achieve, self realization. If not we sink down, finding ourselves behaving more and more like beasts until our diseased mentality forces us into a life of void, a life without any life at all. 

Have Faith in me

In the scriptures, it is predicted that the time we are living in now or Kali Yuga will be the age of 1 quarrel, 2 hypocrisy and 3 faithlessness. This prediction is very easily justified in modern life. 1 Wars rage on throughout the world as well as those of a smaller scale in our own towns and cities. 2 Politicians who were always meant to be exemplary models of noble integrity and servitude towards the people they are responsible for have completely lost interest in our well being and instead hanker after power and economic advances at almost any cost. 3 Churches dwindle and often only facilitate the spiritual desires of our grandparents and many temples in India have become places for people to find a spouse as opposed to finding them self. However faith does not need to always be identified with religion, faith boils down to the belief in something that can't automatically be perceived by the five senses and mind. Thus for faith to grow In our current wayward and faltering frame of reference, we must first accept the fact that we do not know everything. Despite the fact that our intelligence is constantly offering what seems like reliable evidence that we have something figured out, ultimately until we become enlightened our senses can not be trusted. This is so because of our forgetfulness of our original nature. For example, originally we are whole and are satisfied only in offering love, but due to our forgetfulness we tend to crave material objects. This craving leads to misconception because of the most degrading and influential force in today's world, lust which manipulates the mind in such a way that one begins to justify his nonsensical desires.  The intelligence tells us that until we satisfy these desires our life is not complete and once we finally obtain the object of our obsession then we will be finally happy. A good visual of this would be the donkey who is motivated to carry heavy burdens great distances with sincere effort by dangling a carrot in front of it's face. The donkey has reverent conviction that he is close to the carrot, so close to happiness but in reality he was never any closer to receiving it, and in our case we only move further away. But as we begin to forget our false identity, the tendency of the senses to hanker after and misidentify material objects diminishes and we gradually become purified. This process of forgetting the donkey like characteristics we have developed and returning to our original state of being, which is full of knowledge, bliss and awareness can be set in motion by proper faith. Faith is the precursor to knowledge, without a little faith in the unknown we automatically shoot down all possibilities of something other than what we already accept to be factual. But the REAL fact is that most of the time what we accept to be factual is actually just an perverted reflection of the supreme truth. By maintaining faith in something greater than ourselves, something greater than the tv screen, we open the mind to new, refreshing experience and step off the roller coaster that appears entertaining at first but in the end makes us sick. However, there is a gulf of difference between faith and blind faith, blind faith entails complete surrender without a deeper understanding of what you are surrendering to. This practice is often adopted by those who are motivated by lust and only want some type of material gain (i.e. The donkey). But a faith in something transcendental that is cultivated through humility and understanding of our natural state as compared to the state we're in is the key to liberation. Thus I ask everyone to have faith in the power of selfless service to others, have faith in the ability of compassion to change the world, have faith in the fact that this life is meant for so much more than meets the eye, and lose faith in the idea that happiness comes from taking things for yourself as opposed to giving to others. 

I can no longer describe the experience I'm having in India in words. I am incredibly blessed to be having the association that I am having which I am quite unworthy of. Me and my Guru Maharaj who I am assisting, took a plane to Mayapur, one of the holiest places in India. I am surrounded by unexplainable beauty that emanates from the Forests and local animal life as well as the deep magnanimous energy which flows in abundance due to the presence of the holy Ganges River, the many saintly people who live here and those who have in the past, the incredible ISKCON Temple which houses gigantic deities as well as many pure devotees and the best kirtan on earth. Mayapur is another main center for ISKCON thus thousands of devotees from all over the world are here exchanging love for each other and especially for God. I will be here for about 2 weeks then I am off to the third most holy place in India, Puri for a Bhakti retreat before returning to my beloved Vrindavan until the end of February. I have been traveling very lightly for the past month, (2 dhotis, 3 shirts, a charter and many books) and no shoes as an austerity as well as to show respect to the holy land which I now hold so dear. It is amazing here, I hope eventually everyone can experience something that makes them deeply and sincerely question their own purpose. None of us are here to just acquire wealth, we all have a deeper calling but it is hard to see due to our environment in America. I hope as many people as possible can avoid the trap of materialistic life, it appeals to the senses at first, businesses are very good at ensuring that, but in the end it leads to misery, there is no doubt about it. We need to question what we've been told, we need to ask ourselves if what we're doing can lead to real, undying happiness, and we need to have courage to change in a society that is pushing everyone one direction. We need to do this now. 

Don't Let me Down

Naturally, we are in a state of pure love, however by our tendency to become greedy and lusty for material things, this love is covered, but not destroyed (how could you destroy something that is eternal). The nature of saintly people is to give the best of what they have to others solely for the benefit of others. Those of us who have been in a loving relationship have experienced this as well, we act, speak dress, in certain ways only because we want to please the object of our affection. Thus one can define love as putting someone else's needs before their own. When a baby is first born it is quite a burden to the mother, it requires care all day and even at night when it wakes up at all hours crying and screaming. Yet despite all of this calamity, the mother out of love for her child caters to each of it's needs even if it costs her sleep and relaxation. The mother is not thinking "what about my needs, what about my well being" she is simply engaged in loving service. Because our nature is to love and be loved, the mind can be compared to a room with many attractive seemingly fulfilling objects. In order to return to our natural state, we simply have to remove the objects that we have decided belong there through our desire to be in control and receive benediction from others. Our natural state is all wise, eternal and blissful, we don't need these things to feel happy, we are naturally and genuinely happy by giving and receiving love. On top of that if we try to satisfy ourselves with these sense objects and do not account for our true needs, everything we do onto others and ourselves will be superficial and ultimately void of satisfaction.The Gita says, "Beyond the dualities that arise from doubts, whose minds are engaged within who are always busy working for the welfare of all living beings and who are free from all sins attain liberation" 5.25. If one instead chooses to rejoice without instead of taking into consideration the needs of his true being, that person is forced to be in a constant state of frantic swimming against the current and simultaneously submits himself to the manipulative forces of material nature, if one at some point does not take initiative to make a change, he will eventually find himself at the bottom of the river. But one who actively performs service in the spirit of satisfying others, whose mind is fixed in loving exchange gradually free themself from all bondages and become glorious. I've decided to extend my trip and will be exploring some more holy places of India under the guidance of the spiritual master who arranged my stay here in the first place, I owe all my learning and experience to him and offer my humble and respectful obeisances. I've been engaged in eye opening classes on some of the ancient Vedic scriptures for 6 hours a day for about the past 2 weeks and am learning more than I ever could have imagined under the teaching of persons who I do not deserve to even be in the same room with at this point in my spiritual growth. I'm very grateful to all those who have helped me on my journey thus far and look forward to what lies ahead. Hare Krishna

The Bird has Sung

While attending a 12 hour kirtan in Barasana, I had one of the deepest spiritual experiences of my life. After silent japa (quiet recitation of the Hare Krishna maha mantra) in the rickshaw (Indian cab) to the beautiful ashram where the event was taking place, I arrived in high spirits. To my surprise, despite what seemed like the remote location of the ashram which was situated in one of the beautiful forests of Vrindavan, there were much more westerners than native Indians, all of whom were joyously engaged in chanting the transcendent maha mantra. They were led by a man of about 25 years old who with great reverence expressed his deep longing and appreciation for Krishna through chanting of the sacred mantra to an intense beat. This performance deeply moved me as I had not been accustomed to such powerful kirtan which evoked an immediate heart felt response. Amidst my ecstatic clapping and chanting,  I noticed a female devotee with a shaven head across the room smiling blissfully as she also chanted along, I could tell we were experiencing similar ecstasies. To my surprise the woman who I would come to know by the spiritual name Prasant took over the singing when the first kirtaneer finished, I sensed this would be a beautiful performance. Prasant closed her eyes and slowly began reciting the maha mantra as the group of devotees playing a variety of instruments accommodated her slow but powerful melody. The haunting melody turned into a reverent up beat expression of conjugal love which was catalyzed by a joyous conviction and deep compassion. As I listened I came to terms with the fact that this woman was in a state of transcendence and she was bringing the about 200 attendants of the event with her to a place not subject to the polluting material forces. I looked around and noticed how happily entranced so many people were as they listened and chanted along, people of all different backgrounds, ages, etc. all joined together to express their true blissful nature that is universally inherent yet dormant due to the conditioning of the material world. This inspired such deep powerful thoughts about the power of music as a universal unifying and enlightening force due to the impact it has on the listeners both consciously and subconsciously. Most of the time at least in the mainstream it's used to promote the mundane, things that are "quick fixes" for happiness such as money and sex but ultimately lead to attachment and despair. I thought about how the reason this maha mantra and kirtan in general have such profound effects on people is because they express something which is eternal, beyond the effects of time which lead to decay and the end of all things. Nothing is eternal, or lasts forever, everything must come to an end except of course God and the part of us which is of the same quality of God. The more we identify with these things that are temporary, the further we run from our true self which leads to unhappiness and confusion. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada said, "Simply by cleansing the birdcage one does not satisfy the bird. Similarly, without knowing the need of the dormant soul, one cannot be happy simply by gratifying the body and mind."(Srimad Bhagavatam 1.2.8)  By partaking in kirtan or japa, not only are you maintaining the bird, you're letting to bird sing which can be said is the bird's inherent nature. Anyway the more I let myself go, the further I fell into an oasis of pure transcendental thought and the more I became overwhelmed with feelings of ecstatic love and appreciation for the Supreme and his grace in allowing all of the people from all over the planet access to feelings of divine happiness and clarity simply by chanting his name. My words trembled and I could hardly contain myself nor did I have the least bit of desire to. When you can forget about all of the things that everyone is telling you are the most important and instead focus on what actually is wholeheartedly and humbly, then you can begin to see the truth. Until then our thoughts and what we consider to be intelligence and knowledge will always be tainted by our wavering perception and an intelligence that is completely vulnerable to our false sense of pride and proprietorship. When listening to music that deeply speaks to us we are almost in a state of trance, we are not thinking about the future or the past, which is usually what our minds are busy doing. Instead we are just in a state of pure listening and feeling the emotions being conveyed by the artist. Kirtan is designed to bring the listeners to that state but instead of bringing their attention to topics that are subject to the sands of time and ultimately lead to despair, they bring the mind to something that lasts forever and has no past or future thus feeding the bird and disregarding the cage. 

Vrindavan, The Abode of the Seeker

Vrindavan is beyond anything words can describe. I was truly conflicted whether to write this or not because I genuinely feel that any slew of words that I may conjure will only take away from the experience and my feelings towards it. However I feel it necessary to at least make an attempt for the sake of those souls who may be ready to experience such a place. Vrindavan is truly an expression of the ability that humans have within them that is in no way human. It is less of a tourist attraction and more of a place of refuge for those of us who are not satisfied with the material point of view. People from all over the world who are in search of God or at least something deeper than the tv screen and radio come to experience the essence of Supreme Truth that lingers throughout the streets. Though subtle, this supreme truth is non discriminative, it is available for providing realization to men, women and children of all different creeds, ethnicities, financial backgrounds, levels of education etc. for how could a truth that is supreme or which pervades all, be anything less than universal? For this reason people of all ages, from all over the world flock to Vrindavan to express the love there within them or the yearning for something that won't ever deteriorate and lose it's original essence as everything else does in the universe. What is required however is that yearning for something deep, something that words only limit and thoughts tend to categorize as irrational due to the fact that it doesn't lead to material "gain" such as money or sex appeal. The wealth of knowledge and wisdom here is second only to the wealth of faith. This knowledge and wisdom is a result of the passing down of lessons from one generation to the next, lessons which teach selflessness, humility, detachment to the results of ones actions or those of others, cooperation, empathy, compassion, forgiveness, understanding, equanimity in the face of friend or foe, patience, service and most of all, love. The faith arises if not from understanding of these principles, then from simply associating with those that do. This kind of atmosphere makes for a bird's eye view of the disease in the west that is spreading throughout the world. True happiness does not come from attainment of material desires. Sit back, take a deep breath and ask yourself why you're doing what you're doing, if it is to acquire some kind material profit or social acceptance then again ask why you believe you need these things, it boils down to the fact that your entire life, the tv, the radio, your parents, etc. have been forcing you to think that the only way you can be happy is by acquiring something. It is different for everyone, some want a big house, a prestigious degree, a beautiful partner (to cite the most common) but what remains the same for all is the fact that you are all already whole and complete and as long as you neglect your inner calling for the outer calling, you will never be happy. I'm not saying to not get an education, but make sure you get one because you are hungry for knowledge and understanding in a field that you are genuinely passionate about. In Vrindavan poverty amongst locals is as common as the mosquitoes but people are happy because they recognize the external is nowhere near as valuable as what you feel in your heart every night before you go to sleep. We as a society have been tricked and it's time to admit it. We've been cheated by the media and those who control what we see and hear into believing we need what they tell us is important. What they tell us is important, is actually only important to them because they are the ones making money off of our desires. It's time to stop feeding into the illusion, it's driving everyone completely insane as justified by the fact that 1 IN 4 Americans over the age of 18 have mental disorders (Provided by National Institution for Mental Health) (Google it). Not everyone will hear this but for those that do know that you're waking up from the very long sleep that these controlling people have put you into and there are thousands of others waking up from this dream state every day. Those of us who want to be with others that share this awakening from the illusion that these puppeteers have created and those who want to become a few steps closer to the eternal Supreme Truth and love that has existed since time immemorial sometimes venture to a beautiful place called Vrindavan. 

Cleaning the Mirror

I have been blessed and cursed with a philosophical mind, (depending on how I look at it)  let me explain. After almost an entire month of trying to understand God in philosophical terms I have come across one of the most important realizations of my life. In all reality, God is simply too vast and complex for our material senses and intelligence to comprehend. This is not something to be discouraging, but to actually inspire a deep felt love and appreciation (bare with me). There comes a time when you must admit that ultimately you can not know everything, our true intelligence is limited by our false ego but that's a whole other topic. It is at this point of realization when one must simply let go and have faith. It is hard to explain to anyone because something like one's feelings about the higher power are often very personalized and based off their own beliefs that they have been cultivating since birth. However I believe Srila Prabhupada, one of the most self realized and genius persons to walk the earth puts it in terms that most can understand, "Religion without philosophy is sentiment, sometimes fanaticism, while philosophy without religion is mental speculation." (Gita 3.3 purport) Faith without understanding (also called blind faith) is weak and is likely to lose it's composure when tested, but at the same time no amount of scholarly knowledge can give you a complete understanding of something which is so beyond this world. Once you give up the endless search for the higher power through speculation and implement a faith that compliments your thinking, you can begin to understand the ultimate reality. Socrates makes reference to this point in a person's spiritual growth with the following quote, "I know that I know nothing." though it may seem paradoxical, it is truly the humility and acceptance that means everything. Because the mind is such a powerful entity, once we can put it to rest in it's endeavours and just be, our divine perception may take the wheel as opposed to our artificial intelligence or false ego. Let it be, it is truly one of the most wise and powerful uses of your free will that you may come to know. Tomorrow I board an 18-hour train to Vrindavan, the mecca of God worship in India, much the population there is consumed with an overwhelming love for God, or Krishna as most call him there. I am very excited.

Doubt

If you think about it, doubt is a tendency of human beings that should have been left behind somewhere in the plane of our evolving. What is doubt? Doubt is something that arises when we are unsure of our own ability or that of others. It leads to endless chains of negative thoughts that only drive the person who is doubting further and further down emotionally and also further and further away from the desired result. Basically, doubt has absolutely no beneficial use to us, it is purely an evil state of mind that only impedes our progress. One may say that doubt is a natural occurrence due to people being "realistic" and having analytical minds and thus it can not be controlled let alone eliminated. This however is ultimately a false statement, the way to change anything is to introduce a new way of going about something that is simply more beneficial. In this way, any logical person can gradually, overtime make the conscious decision to make the change and benefit from it. In my eyes, doubt in it's evil form can be defeated by analyzing the situation instead of simply making brash mental claims that ultimately only torture your mentality. By first taking a step out of the pool of negative thoughts that you were sinking deeper and deeper into, you are able to look at the situation as it is as opposed to what you've made of it with all these doubts. A good way to calm yourself down when being consumed by thought is to simply observe the breath. The breath and emotions are connected in such a way that when we become distressed emotionally, our breath immediately responds and we start breathing very quickly. If we simply take slow deep breaths our mind naturally calms down and allows us to take that step back, into a position in which we can observe a situation as it is. Once we are able to do this we can make progress in our thinking and ultimately realize that we have little control over an outcome. What we can control is how we react to it and that ultimately is what makes you who you are, the choice. If you'd like you can chose to continue doubting and getting worked up over a situation. The more beneficial thing to do is, with a calm mind analyze the situation for what it is, not what you make it. In this state of mind we can develop a more clear and positive view of the world around us and can begin to understand how big an effect our state of mind has on the way we view a situation. Anything in this world can be taken away from us when we least expect it, we have no control over these external things; cars stop working, houses burn down, people get sick all at what seems like random. The fact is that the only thing we do have is our independence and free will,if you're not using it to the best of your ability, you're only another person trapped by the illusion.