This is a collection of quotes from Srila Gurumaharaj Paramadvaiti.

Introduction

"There is no better way to serve the community than to teach everyone to be excellent leaders."

"This is what is attractive: devotional service for the pleasure of God, not motivated labor executed under the threat of losing one's sense gratification."

"We never graduate from humility or service to all others who cross our path."

1. The Holy Name, from japa-chanting and kirtan to preaching

There is a four-step ladder of intensity in nama-bhajan, nourishing your love for Krishna by repeating his holy name. The first step is japa, personal prayer, counting mantras on the beads. The second is to sing together with others in kirtan. The third is to speak and preach about Krishna and the fourth is to write about Krishna, to explain in writing the glories of chanting. Consequently, quotes on the holy name, japa, bhajan, kirtan and preaching etc. are put in this same same chapter.

"Another class, another kirtan, another day, another month. Time does not count, so do not count time. As death will simply come to devour you, absorb your life at once in the heart-felt chanting of the Holy Names and time will stop, because Lord Krsna will take you beyond time and space."

“Taking initiation from a spiritual master will help us to focus our mind on the Holy Names, to find a direction in life, and to make spiritual progress rapidly.”

"You cannot blame the seed if you do not water it correctly. The maha mantra comes along with a concept."

"Above all - thank Krishna for everything that He has done for you. You can also ask for the mercy to help others, enthusiasm for the service and strength to tolerate the tests."

"Mantras enable us to scientifically get in contact with higher consciousness. And because the higher consciousness is superior it will elevate our present consciousness."

"The chanting of the holy names is a meditation that lets us have something, for which the yogis make infinite austerities. So catch your japas every morning with all enthusiasm, and clarify your relation with the Supreme Lord. In this way you will not lose the spiritual force; the holy protection

that we all need. This is also the reason why we should preach the chanting of the Holy Names to each and everyone, because with so many sorrows that humanity has, a meeting with the Supreme Personality of God would be the most spectacular that could happen to a person."

"According to the Sri Siksastakam from Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, there are no hard and fast rules for chanting the Holy Names of the Lord, but it is very important to sing them with all our heart. Our acaryas give clear instructions about the usage of japa beads for chanting the Maha-mantra. Usually we chant one complete maha-mantra on one bead and then go on to the next bead, without passing over the main bead, which is usually somewhat larger and represents the Lord himself. When we reach this bead, we change the direction and continue chanting the maha-mantra, bead by bead."

"To chant the maha-mantra on the Japa mala is always auspicious. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu spread this mantra, which connects us with the abode of the highest love, and said that there are no hard and fast rules how to chant the mantra. Therefore we can chant this Hare Krishna maha-mantra everywhere and anytime."

“For chanting on the Japa mala, Srila Prabhupada recommended that while chanting we should engage the mind in hearing the Hare Krsna mantra. So, simply by concentrating on chanting and hearing the sound vibration we will be connected with the transcendental realm.”

"For the chanting of Krishna's Names there is a translation: "My dear Lord, please let me become an instrument of your love, and occupy me in your service." And if you have this feeling while you are chanting, you will become so happy about it that you naturally want to be an instrument of His love. So to say: then you are ready for action. That is the real goal of the internalization of meditation."

"By chanting the Holy names of the Lord with all our heart, by praying to become an instrument of the love of Sri Krishna, Srimati Radharani, we will become more and more aware of the great opportunity of this human life, namely to enter the service of the devotees of the Lord."

“It is important to chant a certain amount of rounds on your Japa mala (rosary with 108 pearls) every day, with a lot of steadiness and determination. Of course the maha mantra can be chanted anytime and everywhere, but it is helpful to dedicate a certain amount of time especially for concentrated mantra meditation on the rosary. This will help us to establish a real connection with the highest spiritual plane.”

""Man" signifies "mind" and "tra" signifies "liberation". So by chanting vedic mantras our mind will become liberated from material and egoistic thoughts. Which means we will be able to receive and understand spiritual, loving conceptions."

"Actually there is no difference between chanting and meditation. Chanting is also called mantra-meditation. There are different types of chanting: it can be performed loudly with music, it can be performed silently by yourself and it can be one done in the mind like the Gayatri mantra. That is called mind-meditation."

"One can not expect the same result as from mantras from repeating any arbitrary sentence. Vedic mantras are in themselves joyful, virtuous and full of love. Therefore one will automatically obtain good qualities by remembering and chanting them."

"There are no hard and fast rules for chanting the maha mantra. It can be done all the time and everywhere, silently or loudly. And it is completely free of charge! Just try it."

"If the Guru calls for you, but you are chanting, and you answer that you cannot come, because you are chanting, is that Sadhana? No. This is one's principle to please oneself, hidden behind the chanting."

"Of course, the Supersoul speaks to everyone through the inner voice, but with the chanting of the holy names, you also agree to talk with Him. You also call for Him and ask Him to help you, and this is a big difference, because if you dial the phone number to a person and when he picks up the

phone, he does not speak, it does not make much sense, rather it is disturbing."

"Nama bhajana means the chanting of the holy names, the sankirtana yoga which connects us congregationally to the sweet will of the supreme. Nama bhajana also means preaching, speaking to others about the sweet names of the lord. And it also means writing about the lord in form of journals, books, internet pages, so that others may read about this divine message later."

"All samskaras are purificatory rituals which are great pretexts to get everybody to chant the Holy Name of Sri Krsna. Without the chanting of the Holy Name, no ritual can be successful."

"Of course, when people come to the temple they have to be treated with kindness. So the temple devotees have to be very in the mood of service. So when someone comes to the temple, the devotee should think: "oh my lord, you have send this soul to take shelter of you." The temple devotee is like a receptionist in the spiritual world. When someone reaches the door of the temple he is reaching the door of the embassy of Goloka Vrindavana. Temples are giving visas for Goloka Vrindavana, only the people have to prepare with devotional service and chanting the maha mantra. That is the price to be paid. Then you have to be soooooo kind with the people, that they want to

come back. You have to be sooooooo comforting, you have to make sure they are feeling at home, that they have something to drink, a nice place to sit on, nice prasada, that they are listening to some good preaching and some good word. That is the duty of a temple devotee. Otherwise you are not a good devotee. If you're a lazy bum, not receiving nicely the people who are coming to the temple, then you are very bad and eventually you will be removed. Krishna will not tolerate having a nonsense guy in his temple giving trouble to others. That is so important to understand. Discipline

with kindness."

"When I go on sankirtana to collect and connect I want to give you my guru. Actually I do not have anything from my side that I can give. What can I give you? An ugly old man? What can I give you? A mind with bad memory? And about my past I do not want to talk, to not contaminate the atmosphere. So what can I give you? I can give you the best thing of my life and that is my gurudeva. He has saved me and he made my life meaningful. That’s is why I am feeling enthusiastic to give him to you. And that is why I feel that I am your well-wisher. I am giving you the best of the best of the best of the best of the best of what I have found in this life time. I did not find anything good before meeting my guru. I did not find anything comparable to him and to the values of true vaisnava behavior he has taught me. I have not found anybody better then those who are serving Krishna. I have not found anybody who eats better food then the vaisnavas. I have nor found any places more meaningful and more mystic then the places where the devotees are worshiping Krishna, like in Vrindavana and Mayapur. I have not found any place with a better philosophy and books. I have not found any art style more soothing and with a greater variety then the vaisnava arts. In other words, we can connect to Krishna in so many ways and we can do so many wonderful things for Krishna. This is our business to connect people to the best which is there. I have not found anything better in the world. "

"Sankirtana means being active in preaching, going out to schools, going from door to door, into public transports or where ever you go - connect and collect. That is the spirit of ekadasi I learned from my gurudeva. Making people happy. That is the greatest austerity and the greatest nectar at the same time. If you want to be happy in this life, never stop connecting and collecting for Krishna. Thank you very much. Simple message but it is right down to earth. Means where we are, and where our children and great children will be."

"Preaching will increase our realization. When you are preaching and taking in consideration guru, sastra and sadhu, something magical happens in you. You start to understand what you are talking about. If you are speaking again and again what you have heard from the proper source, then it starts moving within you. It starts to reveal its true nature. And that realization is Krishna Himself. You are realizing Krishna. Step by step. When you talk about Krishna, Krishna is so pleased with you that he is revealing to you what he wants you and others to know, even if it is spoken imperfectly."

"Preaching is life. Life is not worth living if you do not share the nectar. You have not been born to loose your life in front of a tv. Men, women, young, old, married or single. Preach. Make contact with people invite them to conferences and to the parikrams to our sanctuaries invite to the world to eat prasadam and become vegetarians better then, invite them to learn how to offer their food."

"The sankirtan was begun by Sri Nityananada Prabhu and Srila Haridas thakur. It make us humbles and burns our lust."

"The sankirtan is the meaning of our life thanks to Srila Prabhupada. Sankirtan open the doors of the spiritual love, universal love, freeing us of many prejudices because we have to deliver the message to all kinds of persons. Sankirtan is the cause of all the publications of the vaishnava

world to distribute the nectar, the fruits of the tree of love, planted personally by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. It's so nice to preach. What a mercy to talk about Krishna, study his saints messages. Really, this mission of sankirtan show us our commitment with others, with the world. Sankirtan

substitute the indifference towards the pain of others with deep compassion. The month of december is by tradition the month of distributing extra many of books and dvd lectures."

"Do not be surprised if there are a lot of obstacles in the way of your preaching activities; rather be surprised if somebody takes up the path of spiritual life. We are spirit souls surrounded by the kingdom of Maya. Do not be attached to the results of your activities. Good association, a sincere heart and strong determination will help us to make our lives successful."

"We are simply the carriers of the message of love of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. All rights are reserved by the Supreme Lord. He is the supreme controller of everything. Even though it may be difficult to spread this message of transcendental loving service in the age of Kali, it is still the foremost duty and pleasure of a devotee to do so. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu predicted that eventually the Holy Name of the Lord will be heard in every town and village around the world. We do not have to worry about success or failure of our efforts. Everything is already arranged. In the Bhagavad-Gita it is stated that Arjuna was given the order to fight, without being concerned about the results of the battle, by Lord Sri Krishna Himself. Everything was already arranged by the Lord. Arjuna just had to fulfill his duty; to stand up and fight."

"Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu wanted in every town and every village his

representation and representation means that a person is willing to give

spiritual refuge. Without surrender to the spiritual master there is not

this actual refuge."

"The purpose of the Harmony School of Conscious Art is to enthuse artists of all kinds to utilize the language of their art to awaken consciousness and to spread the glories of the Holy Name. We take shelter of this part of the Siksastakam, where Sri Caitanya says that there are no hard and fast rules to chant the Holy Names."

"There are different types of standards. I heard that my parama Gurudeva did not like the music of harmoniums in the temples, but my Gurudeva enchanted many thousands of people with beautiful harmonium bhajanas. He enthused George Harrison and had Yamuna Govinda-prayers played in every temple every day."

"Personally, I cannot tolerate loud bells, wampers or gongs. When they create an incredible amount of decibel, “deafening” sounds, I have to run away immediately. Sometimes one cannot even hear which song they are singing. I asked many older devotees about that circumstance and most of them have the same feelings as I do. When I visit one of my temples, I first send somebody to find all the wampers and gongs and hide them. I tell the devotees not to use them but some devotees, who were previously attached to the heavy metal music still like to play them. So it may be a relative point. I do not think Krsna is deaf. He does not need so much noise to hear what the devotees are singing."

"One has to judge the rules of music according to place, time and circumstance. We have some straight-edge or heavy metal musicians amongst our devotees. They make this music for Krsna. Most of them are actually very serious devotees and they simply utilize this tool for attracting friends from that scene."

"Nowadays there exists vaisnava music in practicaly all musical styles. Of course in our temple ceremonies we prefer soft and classical styles, but that is not a hard and fast rule. When I was temple president in Sao Paolo, a famous Brasilian musician, Ceatano Veloso, came sometimes to the temple to sing the kirtana in the Sunday feast, in samba rhythm. We want to preserve the classic styles, but there is also space for expanding into new areas of devotional music."

"Everything can be utilized for Krsna. I am very fond of singing bhajans in any local respective language. That is so helpful for the devotees to understand the real meaning of the message. I have been critisized for introducing this singing, but I checked with senior Gaudiya Vaisnavas and got approval from them, both Srila Sridhara Maharaja and Srila B.P. Puri Maharaja welcomed it."

"There is a lot of advice coming from our tradition on how to play kartalas and mrdanga and how to dance in a harinam, but that is a topic which is better to be organized locally and according to the musical capacity of the devotees involved. In general I would say, whatever music we make it should sound as good as possible. Singing of any type which makes people run away is not the best choice. Even in the Caitanya Caritamrta it was pointed out that there were some expert dancers and singers."

"Bhajana was explained by Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara Maharaja as a mood; a mood of worship. A word that can hardly be translated by a song or a prayer. The whole mood of bhajana, of wanting to enter in the eternal relationship of service to the sweet will of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is really the surcharging goal of devotional life."

"We want to go deep into the mood of service, like when we sing Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur's song "Gopinatha", which is so full of remorse and prayer for real purity and service. If we sing that song in our local languages like we do in South America or in Germany, it is helpful to go much deeper in one's prayer. Therefore we have introduced with the blessings of Srila Bhakti Pramode Puri Maharaja and Srila Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara Maharaja the singing of Vaisnava prayers, bhajanas and songs in local languages as well as the original Sanskrit and Bengali prayers."

"If you want to give something clean you have to purify yourself. You have to go to the essence, dive deep and you have to be connected."

"Collecting money is boring. As soon as you get money, everybody says: now you have money, what you are going to do? Of course money is laxmi and it should be used properly for Narayana. But externally speaking it is boring, it is a headache. You have to count the paper, then you have to make sure that nobody steals it, then you have to put it in the bank and see how to spend it quickly before the bank goes bankrupt. Money is a headache. So I am not collecting money. I am collecting people. Collect and connect. Collecting people by connecting them to Prabhupada and telling them to connect others."

"An example of the material world of collecting is the mosquito. The mosquito is flying around and trying to collect blood and is not interested to give anything. Maybe he is giving malaria, but I do not think he is doing this consciously. I do not think he knows what he is doing. At least the mosquito knows that he wants to suck your blood. Same like the mosquitos are the sales people. They are playing that they are interested in you. Devotees are not sales people. Devotees are giving benefits. They want to give you the best thing they have found in life."

"3 T's. Transparent, Transcendental, transmission. Transparent means: no cheating. Transcendental means, it deals with the priority of the soul, its relationship with the supreme and which course to take in life. And Transmission means the ear and mouth. First you hear and then you speak. So this is transmission. That is why you got a ear and a mouth."

"What matters is that you want to glorify and please Krishna. That you are transparent and that you want to help people. This is the key point."

"Transmitting transcendental sound is the secret of Krishna, because Krishna is there. It is so important to understand this."

"Never stop the TTT, the transcendental, transparent transaction. It is good for you. You preach to your self. While you are talking about Krishna, you yourself are reflecting and you are under the protection of the audience. This protection is very important.You are so kind that you are giving me the chance to speak about Krishna. And you are also checking me, if I am speaking something beneficial."

"Hearing and realizing that there is no bar or restriction about who can hear and preach the message of God - men, women, even Germans can preach (if any people in the world should shut up, then the Germans should do this) -- of course provided, that they have received the message from a bonafide source, from a representative of Narada, we are getting very important information."

"How can we transmit transcendental transparent items? We have to receive first. And not only receiving. We have to practice sincerely what we are receiving and we have to give it to others. Then it will be a real thing. So everybody is enthused to preach. Everybody should preach."

"Lord Gauranga is the one who has appeared to give the divine gift. He even brought the love for Sri Sri Radha Govinda in Vrindavana. The eternal secret which is entirely manifested within him.

Lord Gauranga. The deeper understanding of Lord Gaurangas transcendental position, comes along with serious nama bhajana. You can not take any intellectual shortcut."

"I think you would agree, that there are many people in this world who are much worse off then you. Do you agree? If you say: 'yes', then get out there and do something to help them, rather than to lament like an old woman, because her partners for playing bridge did not show up. This life is very serious and it will never get more serious then practising devotional service, because even at the moment of death, only the Holy Name will save you."

"The process of transmitting has 3 features: personal conversation, lecturing and writing. All these three are powerful. Writing is the most intensive, because every thing will be scrutinized. Only one wrong word, and the people will complain. So more attention and concentration is necessary,

so that everything is written down according to our philosophy and siddhanta. Guru, Sastra, Sadhu must coincide. This is our system of control, also called pramana. Proof must be there. These proofs help us to keep the track."

"It is business of the devotee to give classes, to look for an opportunity

to give a class. And if there is no place to give the class, then write a

book or speak the class against the wall and you record it. Prabhupada gave

once a class to the wall and he recorded it.

That became the introduction of the Bhagavad Gita as it is."

"First we should be thankful. Next we should be compassionate. If you have no enthusiasm to help others, it means that you forget the sweet will of Lord Krishna. He said, that dearest of all to Him is the one, who takes His message to others."

"Just look at the example of our acaryas, they all went on with their service, despite a lot of hardship and difficulty. We should rather follow them than listening to our mind. The mind is great if it comes to cheating yourself and producing excuses for not serving and not surrendering. So the problem is common, and it will continue until you give a good kick to your mind with a lot of maha-mantra, reading the transcendental books, hearing lectures or asking for personal guidance from an advanced devotee."

"Sadhana means service, to have the senses engaged in the service and to modify our habits of eating, walking, dressing, etc - all in service for Krishna. The deliverance of the character and the behaviour is the effect of doing a good Sadhana."

"You have to please the senses of Govinda. And how do you please the senses of Govinda? By telling others to please the senses of Govinda. My business is that your business is to please the senses of Govinda. And Govinda will be pleased by your senses when your senses tell others that their senses should also be dedicated to Govinda because we got nothing else to do."

"Sadhana is life. We need it. Without Sadhana we are nothing. Thus it is real that our life should be well organized. Disciple in reality exists through discipline."

"I insist in convincing you to practice Bhajam Sadhana with such love, that your spiritual body is waiting for you when you leave this covering of flesh and bones."

"Srila Vishvanath Chakravarti Thakura: "The best form of remuneration to the Guru is to render selfless service by distributing the knowledge one has received to others."

"Any type of offensive or frustrated mentality with a touch of anger towards other devotees is just a trick of maya to disturb or to destroy your nama bhajana."

"There are three important things in the life of the devotee. The first is how to invite people and to pay more attention to what our masters gave to us. The second is how to relate to people when they come to the ashrams to know more. The third is how we care for each other, the ones that want to be devotees. We are not going to make all these things well, if we don't try to chant purely the sacred name of Krsna and try to become pure devotees. But if we do that, the package is full. Practice and preach. What we want to find is what we want to give. This is the process, the path and the goal."

"Everything that we can do to take the meditation of the holy name to all souls is a definite blessing for us and for everyone that receives this message, inclusive if they do not chant. Only having received the message that they should chant, is already the most auspicious that has happened in

their life".

"Once on ekadasi a devotee asked Srila Prabhupada if one should chant 25 rounds to which Prabhupada replied: 'Yes, one can do that, very nice.' Then the same person asked; 'but what about if someone goes out and preaches?' and Prabhupada immediately answered: 'This is not for them. This is only for the lazy people.' If someone is preaching he is doing already the greatest work. Somebody is giving out the books, organizing the programs in the temples, this is extra ordinary."

"Devotees making contacts with love and kindness - That is the essence of preaching."

"A devotee who executes 8 hours of disinterested service for Krishna to support his spiritual master, who is always nice with others and performs his service in a pleasing way may be understood as an advanced devotee. This kind of devotee is called Lakhpatti because he has got an attitude as if he would chant 64 rounds per day. It is very important to perform service and

to nurture the sadhana, the transformation in one's life. Imagine a devotee who is making efforts to serve others. That is a very beautiful symptom [of a vaishnava]."

"There is a mystery when all worldly habits disappear. It is most amazing. It is when nistha, spiritual steadiness is established as an irrevocable fact. When transcendental feelings start to overcome your heart. When your desire to hear and to chant will become more important than pizza ... oh

sorry, the wonderful meal that has been offered to Krishna."

"In the Maha-Mantra, "maha" signifies "great" or "most important", it's a famous vedic mantra consisting of 16 simple words: Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. By remembering and singing this mantra one will directly be connected with the highest transcendental platform. It is like the phone-number of God himself."

"Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu especially recommended the maha mantra as the sublime method and the only way for obtaining liberation and living joyfully in these times: Chant Hare Krsna and be happy!!"

"Meditation, concentration is described as smaranam, dharanam, dhyana, dhruva, anusmrti and samadhi. The first step is smaranam, remembering. To remember the things one heard which he felt to be calming and explaining. To remember "Ah yes, that's how it is. I am not this body. I am really a spiritual soul. I ought to discover my relation with God." And so on. Then there is dharanam. Dharanam is when one gets absorbed in that kind of thoughts; when these thoughts almost become a part of you and external things cease to distract you. And in this way it continues till samadhi is reached, where you discover your complete spiritual identity."

"Meditation itself is just an attempt of western people to describe what is happening when one devotes himself to transcendence. Mantra meditation is described as something very important because it is related to a humble prayer. That humble prayer will appear when you want to surpass the lack of humbleness you had before. It is just a question of time. Maybe someone has already come to dhyana but he is still not humble. This may be the case."

"Harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam, kalau nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyatha - Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says that in this age of conflicts the repeating of the inner prayer of the names of the Lord is the only way to become free from arrogance and more spiritually devoted; until samadhi. Samadhi means uninterrupted - not meditating half an hour and then forgetting everything again. It means that you are living a spiritual life. Eyes open or closed - that does not matter. That is what you could consider as the highest level of meditation."

"So to chant the three words "hare", "krsna" and "rama" is not a sectarian process. Somebody may think that those are Hindu names or some other language, but that does not matter. Actually Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said that you can chant any genuine name of God and there are no fast rules and regulations to chant the names of the Lord. Whether we are Christian or Hindu or something else is not important. Important is to chant the names of God to develop our love for Him. That is the essence of the instructions of Krishna consciousness: to develop love for God. And that is the perfection of life."

"This maha mantra, Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare - is a prayer to become engaged in spiritual life, in the service of the Lord. "Oh! My Lord, supremely attractive, source of all pleasure, oh! spiritual energy of the Lord; please engage me in your service with devotion.""

"If you fall into the ocean you are in danger even if you are a good swimmer. There is no land in sight and every wave tries to swallow you. So in order to be found and saved you have to draw the attention onto you by moving your arms and shouting for help. Similarly we have to chant the holy names of the Lord with all our heart so that the waves of Maya

will not overcome us and in order to draw the Lord's attention to us. We are all dependent on the mercy of the Lord."

"The Maha mantra definitely is in the stage of madhurya rasa. Even more specific: it contains the spirit of parakiya bhava (paramour relationship). In comparison to those who chant Radhe Syam Radhe Syam Syam Syam Radhe Radhe I heard sadhus in Vrindavan say that it is in the mood of svakiya bhava (marital relationship). The one is direct, the other one occult."

“The highest goal of life is to chant the Holy Name purely and to become a pure devotee. All rules and regulations hint in that direction.”

“There may be some other traditions too but actually there is no need for alteration of the process, because our acaryas are the best examples that this process leads to the highest goal possible, true love for Sri Krishna, which is really the more important part; to chant the Holy Names without offenses. All forms and artificial behavior will not help us in the end. Sincerity in the process will be the best protection for our love.”

“Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the great preacher of love for God, said that there are no hard and fast rules for chanting the Holy Names of the Lord. So Everybody can participate and help to distribute the Message of Love. It is a not matter of the color of your skin, social status, birth, age or any other material associations. We are all spirit souls and we have to satisfy the needs of the soul.”

“We should always try to chant with all our heart. Do not try to concentrate the mind on something else as the mind is very flickering and will jump from one thing to the other. Just engage your senses in the Hare Krsna maha-mantra. The internal attitude, or the motivation, for chanting should be 'Oh my Lord, please let me be an instrument of your love, please let me do some service for you.'”

“It is not necessary to become a great singer or a nice musician to sing the maha-mantra. To chant it nicely means to chant it sincerely and with great attention.”

“Generally the correct pronunciation of vedic mantras is very important. In order to make a sacrifice successful the mantra and the Sanskrit words must be chanted with the right pronunciation. But in this age of Kali yuga there are no brahmanas who are capable of chanting the mantras correctly. So in this age one can attain the highest benefit by chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. This mantra is so merciful and at the same time so powerful that one gains the effect even if it is not chanted completely correctly.”

“For someone who just started chanting this maha-mantra, it is very much recommended to concentrate on the correct pronunciation of the mantra. This will also help us not to fall asleep while chanting. The lips and the tongue should actively be engaged in chanting the words of the maha-mantra: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. The words should be pronunced and heared with great attention. Actually the process of chanting is very simple, and everybody can participate, but one has to practice it seriously and with great attention.”

“However the proper pronunciation is not the goal of chanting the maha-mantra. For very advanced devotees who really chant with a lot of affection, the pronunciation may not be so important.”

“Chanting the maha mantra is always auspicious. Gradually it will clean our heart from all bad influences and nourish the longing of the soul. This transcendental sound vibration has so much power and mercy that it will always and under any circumstances have some positive effect.”

“However, the highest effect of the mantra can only be achieved when it is received from a spiritual master. Only then it is possible to chant the Holy Names of the Lord without offenses. Our faith and dedication to the spiritual master will help us to overcome all offenses.”

“In our sampradaya I do not know of any guru who initiates disciples exclusively in the names of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Sri Nityananda prabhu. The names of Lord Chaitanya and Lord Nityananda are part of the life of a Vaishnava and surely will give mercy and spiritual insights to a person who meditates upon them and renders service to Gurudeva; but excluding the maha mantra certainly does not come in the line of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur Prabhupada.”

“Srila Prabhupada said that the maha mantra is the solution for everything. If we accept the instructions of our eternal well-wisher, there won't be any doubt about what is to be done.”

“A great help to control the mind comes from chanting mantras. The word 'mantra' itself consists of the two syllables 'man' and 'tra'. 'Man' comes from 'manah', meaning mind, and 'tra' comes from 'trayate', meaning liberation. So, mantras are destined to help us to control our mind.”

“The hare krsna maha mantra, Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare, is called the great mantra because it directly connects us with the supreme platform and automatically helps us to fix our mind.”

“It is said that the Holy Name is not dependent upon initiation, any religious activities, purifying ceremonies, pious activities, rules or regulations. The Holy Name does not wait for such activities. It is self-sufficient. If the true nature and the reality of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra and the result of chanting the Holy Name is known to a person, there is no need for such things.”

“The chanting of the Holy Name of the Lord does not depend upon anything else, for one immediately attains all desired results by this connection with the highest platform, the Lord Himself. Just by using the tongue to chant the maha mantra immediate effects are produced.”

“Making efforts to spread the universal message of love in this age of Kali can be compared to a battle. This age of Kali is full of unlimited faults. Actually it is compared to an ocean of faults. But the Lord as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu provided the great opportunity to get free from the contamination of Kali-yuga: simply chant the Hare Krishna maha mantra, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. This mantra will naturally reveal all good qualities and eliminate all bad qualities of the persons involved in the process.”

"We organize Ratha Yatra and Sunday feasts to spread nama bhajana."

"Of course nama bhajana also extends into the puja - the worship of the deities, and into the worship and the service of the vaishnavas."

"The greatest and most beautiful nama bhajan, is when our heart is crying for shelter and we are trying to become pure."

"Life in true Krsna consciousness is nama bhajana."

"When the fathers instruct their children on the path of devotion, that is

also nama bhajana."

"Whatever helps to carry the divine invitation to the conditioned souls is all part of nama bhajana. If we lose that, it would be a greater loss than if the whole world would be burned to ashes. So we should not risk this life no matter what, especially not for personal comfort or prestige."

"Nama bhajana is not self centered. Nama bhajana is hari nama bhajana, or

sankirtana bhajana as promulgated by the supreme lord himself."

"And within the pure nama bhajana, the secret ontological identity, the

siddha svarupa of every soul, as an eternal servant of the sweet madhurya

lila of the lord, will be revealed in due course of time."

"Even though we are establishing temples and think about preaching Lord Gaurangas message and the glories of his pure devotees in order to give a tangible access to conditioned souls to the divine realm, simultaneously by the grace of our guru varga, we are dancing in front of Radha Shyamasundara and worshipping their transcendental forms. Thus actively preparing ourselves, knowingly or unknowingly, to become eternal maidservants of the Lord. But in the meantime, our main engagement, according to the vaishnava tradition, is to distribute the prema phala, the fruits from the love tree planted by Sri Gauranga. Anything done in this world to help the distribution of these love fruits, is certainly the most auspicious effort. Nothing could be more desirable then that. Therefore we cherish any opportunity to address the devotee audience with our speaking nama bhajana, which by the grace of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura Prabhupada we hopefully never lose. But please do not forget it dear friends. If you do not want to lose it, you have to take it seriously and cultivate it. Like anything this world you cherish, you want to keep, you have to be very cautious, attentive and lovingly concerned."

“The Maha Mantra is Krishna Himself.”

"It's difficult to promote purity in Kali Yuga, but we are here. Conquer

them with the mahamantra and prasadam, without fear. We have the most

valuable in the world: sraddha, faith. Have strengh and compassion and put

yourself daily tasks. Loving competition to serve better. :)"

"Originally the Maha Mantra was mentioned in the Kali Santarana Upanisad. Where Lord Brahma says to the great sage Narada Muni: - hare krishna hare krishna krishna krishna hare hare hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare iti sodasakam namnam kali-kalmasa-nasanam natah parataropayah sarva-vedesu drsyate - These sixteen names destroy the sins of the Kali age. No method higher than this is found in all the Vedas."

"Srila Prabhupada explained the meaning of the Hare Krsna maha-mantra in the following way: The maha mantra consists of three words: Hare, Krsna and Rama. The first word is "Hare", which is a form of "Hara", the spiritual energy or internal potency of the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna, Srimati Radharani. So at first we address the internal potency of Krsna, the shelter of the devotees. The second word is Krsna. Krsna is the Supreme Lord Himself. Krsna is a Sanskrit word and means "all-attractive". And the third word is Rama. To explain the word Rama, Srila Prabhupada told us a story of two sannyasis who were quarrelling about the meaning of Rama in the maha-mantra. One of the sannyasis said that Rama means Sri Balarama and the other one argued that Rama means Lord Ramachandra. Which one of them is right? Actually both of them are correct because there is no difference between Sri Balarama and Lord Rama according to the teachings of the Brahma Madhva Gaudiya Vaisnava-sampradaya. Krsna is the original Personality of Godhead and everything emanates from Him. The meaning of Rama is unlimited happiness and joy. Unlimited happiness is spiritual happiness. So Rama means endless joy and unlimited happiness through living a spiritual life. Krishna is all pleasure and to live a spiritual life is also all pleasure."

"The two names Rama and Krishna combined give the meaning of God. God is all-attractive and full of supreme pleasure. If these two meanings are not granted it would not be possible to be satisfied with God. How can someone be God without being attractive to each and every living being and full of enjoyment? It is not possible."

"The beauty of spiritual life is in the unity in diversity. We are all individuals and therefore we have different approaches to spiritual life and we will develop different relationships with the Lord. But the first and essential thing is to come in contact with the Holy Names of the Lord. The first of the nine devotional processes is 'sravanam', hearing about the Lord, His transcendental nature and activities. The most powerful mantra, the maha mantra, can change people and their consciousness so much, it is amazing. We can see it happen every day. Therefore we try to distribute this message of Universal Love through so many different channels."

"We should praise the mantras that connect us with the truth of the wish of God. These mantras help us to overcome all hindrances that are churned up inside of us. The mantras of Krishna`s holy name are so mighty that they can liberate us from ignorance. So we should be very thankful that we are able to receive something like the holy names. They can also prepare the ground for us to enter the world of goodness."

“Whether a person is initiated or not is of second importance. One may be initiated and yet be an impersonalistic or atheistic person. But a person who chants the Holy Name of the Lord purely will be protected from all material influences. A properly initiated Vaishnava may be imperfect, but one who chants the Holy Name of the Lord without offenses, he is perfect.”

“The scriptures have given many different examples of persons who attained liberation without the benefit of a guru. Seeing all these facts one may ask: why then is it necessary to take initiation or practice other spiritual activities in devotional service? Why should I strictly and attentively follow the orders of the guru if by chanting the Holy Name, without following any rules or regulations, others attained perfection? Why should I work so hard for a guru? The answer is that even though it is true that chanting the Holy Name does not depend upon initiation, generally people accumulate lots of bad habits due to a materialistic life-style. The initiation which is imparted by a spiritual master, or guru, is the process through which transcendental knowledge is passed from the spiritual master to the disciple. Therefore the bad habits of the disciple's previous life will be destroyed. It is like pulling the plug of a rotating fan. It will continue rotating a little bit longer, but soon the rotation will come to an end. In the same way, by diksa, or initiation, our unfavorable tendencies will come to an end by establishing a connection with the Absolute Truth. The meaning of initiation is to discover one's inner wealth, and getting relief from all outward obligations. Therefore initiation is important even though the Holy Name does not depend upon it.”

2. Sadhu-sanga and the attitude and behavior of an aspiring devotee

For spiritual advancement it is obligatory to associate with people on the same path, especially more advanced or even perfected such. But what should be our attitude?

"A devotee of the Lord never think himself better than or equal to other Vaisnavas. He always tries to serve the Vaisnavas with humility."

"The worship of the deity is such a special aspect of our life. In reality we live in the house of the Lord, not the other way around. You live in the house of the Lord, so you better find out what he expects or wants from you. Our Lord is marvelous, he cares for all of us, of each one of us in a special form. He opens the doors to his beautiful house, even for people like me and you he sends his dear sons and daughters to invite others, to talk to all the world about his beautiful home. When you realize that you are really living in the house of the Lord you will be very lucky. In this way, by this connection you will return to His house in Goloka. And if you are not married then live in an ashram and train as a preacher. Just make yourself sure to never feel that it's your house or to be lazy, because by this you lose the mercy."

"The problems are also good guideposts. They show us that there is still missing a lot.

Krsna also uses it in this way. Especially when a devotee is becoming proud. Then immediately Krsna comes and sends some anartha. And then the devotee thinks: "Uuhh, I thought I had surpassed that anartha already a long time ago. But now I can see how fallen I am." Then one tries to make more efforts. This is very frequent, it is almost a routine. Of course this can also be avoided. But therefore one must not just be a little bit above the influence of Maya but very high above it. Which means that he is deeply engaged in the loving service of the Spiritual Master and the Lord. Not that he makes only some service in order that no one is rebuking him. He has to make a true effort with all his heart. Then there are no problems."

"The Lord himself said: The one who renders service directly to me is not my devotee, the one who renders service to my devotee is my devotee. So the idea of serving Krsna directly and independent from others means to ignore the instruction of the Lord and to ignore His devotees. But the devotees of the Lord are very dear to the Him. Krsna is not cheap, we cannot force Krsna to accept our service. If we want to serve Krsna we have to consider His devotees."

"To directly serve the Lord is only possible in a pure state of consciousness and by the mercy of Krsna. So trying to serve the Lord directly is not the recommended process to purify our conditioned consciousness. If we try to serve the Lord directly, the Lord may be served or may not be served. The way to assure the service to Krishna is by serving His devotees, the Vaisnavas, His representatives in this world."

"Should there appear some kind of misunderstanding or struggle over the use of a particular thing, we should ask a senior devotee for help. But actually if we are fully engaged in our service there is no time to quarrel over material things. There are so many beautiful things to do that we should not waste our time with quarrelling."

"The temple has discipline. We have artik on time, puja, prasadam, class, but this is all based on kindness. The kindness will guarantee that we want to participate, that we want to continue."

"Of course kindness does not mean you are not saying the truth."

"An ashram is really an incredible place to grow spiritually. But the rules must be very strict, so that the ashram will fulfill the actual purpose. An asram is not a building, a physical place. It is the place where the discipline of devotion is: worship with kindness."

"Discipline without kindness is military, everybody hates it and wants to get out of it. Discipline is something very good, if practiced with affection. But, I mean, so much "affection", that nobody gets up for the class or for the mangala artik, that would be sentimentalism. Then everything becomes just an imitation. It is a kind of sahajiya life. To have an ashram where nobody comes to class or where there is no class, that is sahajiya. If the only thing which brings us together is eating, that is no

spiritual life. What has to bring us together is the spirit of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. To do something for the world and to follow the spirit of sankirtana."

"I don't say that we are superior. I just said we desire to become sincere servants. There are a lot of ways to serve God with all the heart. One reaches God by His grace and He knows whom He likes to salvage and who has to stay more time in the material world to prepare himself better by learning."

"Spiritual life has many practical applications. In the society there are a lot of problems which immediately can be perceived with a pure consciousness. And also proper solutions can be found. We only have to be willing to."

"The willingness to solve problems in this world is surely supported if the personal lifestyle is in the

mode of goodness. All different activities of our life can be executed in the mode of passion, ignorance or goodness."

"The Bhagavad-Gita provides us with guidelines to know the different symptoms of actions in goodness, passion and ignorance. So we have an orientation and can develop the things in our life properly. To act in goodness means to act in a way that one is always helpful for others and that one does not do anything that disturb others personally."

"If we are following a virtuous lifestyle we will immediately get the effect of it. We will be able to see all things from a point of view where we can clearly perceive the wish of God. But if we are pulled down by the impulses of our conditioned existence so that we are no longer able to follow our virtuous inspirations and good memories but are carried away by the waves of passion and the coverings of ignorance, we can, sure enough, not guarantee anything anymore. And that is exactly the point where the whole society will fall into ignorance."

"In the mode of goodness we can understand the things in a way that we recognize immediately: yes, this is where I belong. And we recognize that the influences which are always pulling us down and distracting us from goodness are the influences of Karma from the past."

"Karmic influences have provided us with distinctive attributes. Including the body we have got, including the family we are born in, including the land and the environment we grew up in, including

the diet we have been raised with, all the films we have seen on TV, the disputes we have seen in the street and so on. These circumstances which form and condition us in a specific way, constitute the starting point for all of us. Nevertheless we can feel a natural attraction to virtuous actions: eg: the popular saying "Treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself"."

"Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur said: "Freedom is the greatest gift." The freedom to devote yourself to the truth, to give your heart to others, and to use your energy in the service of others."

"We must not expect a life without conflicts. We have to face the conflicts and surpass them to make advancement. That is something that devotees sometimes overlook. That the very fact to have a material body means to grow old, to fall sick. And the very fact to have a mind means to have mental plans. Only transcendental love, the sincere wish to get out of maya and to make efforts for the spiritual master and Krishna-consciousness is unrelated to material karma."

"Once Srila Prabhupada was asked whether there were mosquitos in the spiritual world. He answered: If there are any they do not bite, they sing." :)

"We should not try to possess more than we need. But if we obtain more than necessary, the surplus should be used in the service of the Spiritual Master and the Lord. That is the source of happiness for every conditioned soul, the world and Krsna. It is the aim of life to serve."

"Generally we have problems because we cannot control ourselves. We are too rash, speak bad about others etc. One has to be prepared to listen and to consider the opinion of others. Spiritual family-responsibility is no dogma. One gets separated only because one does not put Krsna in the center."

"In Krsna-consciousness one is automatically there for everyone. Even if he is not directly present before them. A devotee is always the friend of his family."

"To critize someone's conduct for the protection of others may be necessary sometimes. Mahaprabhu himself rejected Krishna dasa after the Bhattatharis seduced him. But later he got mercy from Lord Nityananda."

"Everyone belongs to a certain family. The spiritual family-consciousness is most important as we develop our spiritual understanding of dharma (duties) in the family."

"There is no competition in spiritual life. No walls and borders to stop your love. We have to take spiritual life to our hearts. We have to pray and chant with all sincerity. Spiritual life is such a great opportunity to finally do something nice, without any ulterior motives or hidden agendas. Just surrender to the Lord and make efforts in the mission of our spiritual master."

"We should not try to compare services with each other. Srila Sridhara Maharaja said that we can judge the importance of a service when we see how urgent it is to carry out that service. The same principle can also be applied to the things we use. Once Srila Prabhupada entered a bathroom in one of his ashramas and found a cigarette on the floor. He immediately asked: "Who has been smoking in my bathroom?" So we should always try to see everything as the property of our spiritual master. This will help us to utilize things consciously in the service for Krsna."

"If one is not careful, one will fall down. That is not a question of years and years of practice. If you are not careful, you can slip, this can happen on the first day or the last day, it does not matter. Therefore, if one wants to avoid falling down, he should always be careful and attentive of what he is doing."

"One of the things that will make you fall is pride. A yogi must not be proud, because pride comes before the fall. And that is how this world is. The more successful one is in doing something, the more danger appears that he becomes proud of himself."

"It's a part of Vaisnavism to not hurt anyone and to not make anybody feel bad about your actions. We should always give inspiration. That requires a lot of responsibility, sincerity, love, tolerance and patience. It starts in our families and reaches out to every person we come in contact with."

"We have to abandon all kinds of sectarianism and separatism from the will of God. The laws that are directing everything are all good. The environment is good. The only thing bad is myself. The only one who must change in this world is me. If my situation is unpleasant for me it is because I created it like that. We are the creator of our proper good or bad fortune. Do not think that it's indifference or a philosophy of conformism. It is a help to take the opportunity of human life more serious and to become more responsable in our actions, words and thoughts. There is a saying: “To err is human.” But it is even more human to blame someone else."

"We have to get out of the mood of hurting others and acting egoistically. We have to open our hearts and must not allow that any living being has to suffer from our actions."

"Avoid all idle subjects on the internet, or elsewhere, which serve no higher purpose."

How is your bhajana? How is your devotional life? A devotee usually answers with sadness: Oh, my devotional life is not very nice. So if you ask me "what is your favourite bhajana?" it is a very challenging question but I could say a few things. One of the things I very very much rejoice is hearing the Sri Sri Siksastakam of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Whether reading it or hearing it sung by somebody, what to speak if it is sung by Srila Prabhupada. These prayers have such a deep meaning and they are so broadminded. That is very softening to my heart. Even though my heart still wants to resist any softening process.

The environment is perfect as it is. But we have to learn to see and to use everything properly. Spiritual advancement requires learning to accept things that are favorable and to reject things that are unfavorable for spiritual life.

"If you are very serious, smile a lot and encourage everyone with your smile. And take care of that tongue, not to say anything that discourages people."

"If we think we have reached the top, then we have reached the bottom."

"Do not be keen on judging others."

"To each day become more humble and more expert is the perfect combination."

"How can we think that a person, who has never heard of Lord Caitanya in this life, cannot receive the mercy of the Paramatma who is the internal Master of each one?"

"Differing opinions are opulences of Krishna, and one is not necessarily more valid than the other."

"One's unique protection is the purity in one's own purpose."

"Discipline without kindness is unbearable and kindness without discipline is sentimentalism and becomes a mess."

"Somebody thinks that he is the owner of something, I have to tell him you are wrong. Somebody thinks he is the controller, I say better you be careful, you are not controlling, you are controlled. Somebody wants to renounce, I have to tell him, you can not renounce, because you are not the owner of anything. So how can you renounce? If you want to renounce, you should renounce your false ego, your pride and silliness."

"If you study for getting paid - pratishta. If you are collecting to put in your pocket - you are a thief. You are a thief and nothing but a thief. And Krishna knows how to deal with thiefs. If you are

connecting to people to enjoy them, that is also a thief mentality. If you want to enjoy people and sex life."

"Temple presidents have to tell you to do service. Why should you do service? Because he is doing service. If the temple president is not doing service, then why should you do service? You want to see somebody doing service, then you will also start doing service. Our preaching was like that. Walk your talk. The way you talk you should also walk."

"The devotees are worshiping God, but also worship Mother Nature in the forms of trees, rivers etc. Like the Yamuna artik. You can not criticize anything. They are having a good time, making a nice ceremony, they are all into it and they are worshiping the Yamuna with nice prayers and the name of

God. What harm can be caused by that?"

"If something wrong is there, you have to object. Like if someone says: smoking marihuana is good. It helps you to deepen your meditation on Krishna and the insight of your souls. If somebody says like this and I do not object, then I become part of the lie. I become responsible. If I am hearing

something wrong, I have to object. Therefore we have to object with the modern society. We have to object with the way they are treating people, and also the animals and mother nature. If you are not a kind of a revolutionary, always transmitting transcendental sound, speaking the truth, then you become guilty. You are giving approval to the wrong thing. We have to take a stand. Krishna consciousness and brahminical life means we have to take a stand."

"God has given us the power of discrimination. Each and everyone of us can be his own judge."

"Jean Jacques Rousseau once made a good statement: "Who was the first idiot to make a wall?" It means to make a barbed wire, a ditch. To make any kind of demarcation and declare: what is on this side is mine and what is on that side you'll get. And then he said: "And who was the idiot, who accepted his proposal?" If the first ditch would have been filled in, the first war would have been overcome. The first wire would have been ripped down. How much blood, sweat and tears would humanity have been saved from? It is interesting. You go to the Cogis in the Sierra Nevada in Colombia. They have been living there since time immemorial without walls. They do not have

demarcation. They are tribes. They have their elder. They are cooperating. So this exists. And the temple community is also like this. A temple is a community which does not bar out anybody. The doors are open. You can join. You can become a member. You can become a servant, but you can not become master. The master is on the altar. If anybody wants to become master and climb on the altar, we give him a good kick and he can go wherever he wants. We do not need people who want to compete with God. In a temple community, if you are sincere new member, you can live there for the rest of your life."

"There may be some disease, some problems or tension, some karma, so what? We all have to undergo our purification, but we should never forget, that we exist for his pleasure and that we should purify ourselves and become humble servants."

"We have to become a servant of the servant of the servant. We have to be touched by that. We have to open our heart and say: "Yes Krishna, I agree I want to be yours."

"Nowadays everybody has his own room, his own TV and everybody is completely crazy in his room. And when they meet each other in the living room, they fight with each other. If you live in the same room, how could you fight? You have to get along."

"A devotee will always bow down before the Absolute Truth or a representative of the truth who is a student of the Vedas. He accepts the existence of a higher consciousness. A devotee of the Lord never think himself equal to or better than other Vaisnavas. He always tries to serve

the Vaisnavas with humility."

"Knowing the stand of God we have to act accordingly, but for this we have to accept God. We can not be envious of God. We have to be ready to honor to him. We have to be ready to do what he says and we have to be ready to love Him. And what will happen then? Which mystical thing will happen? The Lord will reveals His identity gradually to the one who has unflinching faith in both the spiritual master and the Lord."

"We are here and everybody wants to bar everybody else. Just like Europe is putting the bar. No more immigrants. We do not want the others. A bar is a wall. It’s an impediment. We in this world, we are very expert in making impediments. A greater part of our time we are spending in barring out others. Why do we make these big walls? -- To bar out people, so that they have to come through the door and that we can check them."

"One person, he was dressing like a babaji. He only kept a skirt. Imagine, he had a fancy skirt out of silk. I told him to stop this, this is imitation. We should not make a show. I am not wearing this cloth as a show. I am wearing this, because you can knock at my door 24 hours a days and ask

me to tell you about Krishna. What is this cloth? It is a flag. You can see it from 200 m, it shines out of the crowd. Wow, there is a sannyasi! For what? So that people can see."

"The famous fallen angel story is told in different ways in different traditions. Obviously there is truth to the story, it repeats itself everywhere. And it is in Krsna consciousness, that we understand, that all of us, we are those fallen angels. And that if we are remaining sectarian, unfriendly and violent, we will also remain fallen angels."

"Who are we? We are simple beginners on this long road back to home, back to Godhead. The heart of Krishna is the full mercy of this topic and we have to apply discrimination. A personal criteria. But to dwell on the weaknesses of others is surely not a desired activitiy of any Vaisnava. Rather we avoid such topics and absorb ourselves in helping others and in expanding the message of our Gurudevas. To go deeper into the Hari Katha nectar."

"Television promotes the basic debilities and lowest instincts of people. You sit down in front of the television just like in front of a teacher or guru to hear some message. And although it is not deniable that there are some good programs as well, the defect is that you have to accept the program without being able to ask questions which is the natural process of learning and understanding. So there is no possibility of a real dialogue and almost everybody is reached by television. Therefore it is the perfect instrument for manipulating the masses."

"If there is a society that wishes to act virtuously, it has got all opportunities of progress and development. But if passion and ignorance are at the helm one can only expect bad or unpleasant things. That is why it is so important in this world that we let Krishna be our guide. So we may be solidified tighter and tighter in the mode of goodness. This is one of the great presents Srila Prabhupada gave to us."

"You cannot bribe your way into the spiritual world. You cannot cut corners. Of course you can pray for mercy, that you can do. But if I really pray for mercy then why should I not try to act in such a way that I really get that mercy? Otherwise it is just a lip-service. Give me mercy, give me mercy, but

I am going on just as I always did, just for my own pleasures. It doesn't make much sense."

"Becoming a pure devotee includes being very cautious that the details don't escape. Because what are the details? Love is a question of details. There are so many details. And those details means you care. Like a detail is if you have salt on a table or not at the time of eating. It may be a little detail, but it is important."

"If the real spiritual desire is established in your heart you just want to serve better and better because you feel that you still do not serve enough."

"Srila Rupa Goswami says in his Upadeshamrta that we shall honor everyone who sings the holy name of the Lord in his mind. No matter if he was initiated in the same spiritual family as you or not. And to meet those who are initiated and who are keeping their promises is a true pleasure."

"As always the vaisnava principle is valid: to be strict with oneself but mercyful with others. However there are not too many vaisnavas in the world who take God seriously and who consider if their actions are approved by God before acting."

"...only realized souls can know when to break the rules and laws and when not. That can never be legislated. Since Lord Gauranga's call is for all of us and since we all have received that call through one of the different agents of the divine love, we all have the equal responsibility to become

such realized souls. That is possible by always taking the dust of those on our head, who have already gathered more experience and spiritual advancement than we have ourselves."

"In this world every living being has to live off other living beings in order to survive. But everybody will agree that it is not recommended to cause sufferings to others unnecessarily, as such actions also produce unwanted consequences due to the law of action and reaction (Karma). Therefore it is important to avoid the exploitation of living beings and Mother Nature.

But to make the food free from karmic reactions one should offer it to the Lord before eating it. When we offer the foodstuffs with appreciation to the Supreme Lord the food will become spiritualized and free from reactions. It is then called prasadam, the mercy of the Lord. Such food is spiritually very powerful and it will even get a special taste.

Therefore the Lord explained what is favourable to eat for human beings, and what is not. Meat, fish and eggs are not favourable, and eating them will cause unwanted reactions or suffering. Whereas food, recommended by the wellwishers of all living beings, like vegetables, fruit, milk products, grains, etc are not only healthy and go easy with Mother Nature, but it is also possible to offer them to the Lord. In this way they will surely contribute to the harmony of society and the spiritual evolution of all living beings.

Actually not only the consumer of this prasadam will be benefitted, but also the living entities providing the food, like plants or in the case of milk: cows, will receive the mercy of the Lord. In this way everyone connected to this process will receive the highest benefit.

Generally, if we eat or use something without being grateful, we disregard the creator and maintainer of everything, the Lord Himself. And if we put our selfish interests above all loving recommendations, then the energy of our false ego will blur our intelligence, and it will become difficult for us to distinguish between favourable actions and unfavourable actions. So it is important to be conscious about what goes on our plate. More information can be attained on web pages such as www.spoonrevolution.com

Without giving love we will not receive love. It is not possible to develop selfesteem without being sincere to oneself and a wellwisher of others.

Offering food does not require great ceremonies, the most important ingredients are sincerity and love. This is what the Lord is looking for: our love and appreciation. So offering the food to God before eating it, is a very nice and easy way to establish a relationship with the Supreme Creator. Ultimately this will bring a lot of joy and freedom to our lives."

"Goodness means to not sleep unnecessarily, not being unnecessarily inactive or noninvolved, no laziness or lethargy. To always complain about others and to pity oneself are symptoms of the mode of ignorance. If one can see these things clearly, one can naturally see that acting virtuously will always require a certain amount of positive willingness. Always to be there to help others. To represent and defend the truth - under all circumstances. Acting virtuously means to seek the community of those who are virtuous or those who are above that: pure devotees of the Lord. To always study the holy scriptures or to deal with texts which support the goodness in us."

"First of all living a spiritual life means being a responsible person. Because our duty as vaishnavas is to act in a way that people appreciate our work. Even if they think differently or do not share our interests, they should think that the vaishnavas work and contribution to the society is

important and valuable. And therefore it is an individual question for every single one of us: "How can I accomplish that?""

"Not only are we responsible towards our body and the society but also towards the spiritual consciousness, meaning god. That all the gifts we get from him are respectfully received and processed in a way that we are able to pass them on to others."

"A vaishnava is always intensively occupied with distributing gifts. For example: the distribution of spiritual food, prasadam; offering spiritual books, making spiritual music, creating spiritual internet pages or organizing spiritual programmes where people can participate, have contact and make friends with devotees."

"The opportunity of human life to gain self-realisation is something very special. An individual consciousness means the possibility of distinction between pure and unpure, pleasure and sufferings: things which are decisive. Because we are not automatically demoniac or holy. We are what we are making efforts and endeavours for and taking care of. We are that where we are

longing to represent the truth because only the one who seeks the truth may find the truth. And only the one who is willing to live the truth deserves being able to receive a spark of it."

"What does it mean to live an enlightened life? An enlightened life does not mean closing the eyes and seeing nothing but light. An enlightened life means enlightened actions and efforts. That is what spiritual life is all about. There are no borders and walls to stop your love and mercy."

"In the Bhagavad Gita Krishna indicates what behaviour is most dear to him by explaining "always think of me, become my devotee, offer your obeisances onto me". Actually Krsna says that he is longing for a heart-to-heart relationship with us."

"If somebody does not know the dharma he basically cannot act correctly. The holy dharma or the correct behavior is based on the understanding of our constitutional position. The constitutional position of every living entity is to be servant. But by the nature of the material conditioned soul one does not like to be servant. Just the opposite - one is rebellious, flinches and says: "I do not want to serve.""

"The attitude of "I do not want to serve" culminates in becoming an atheist. And an atheist says: "I am under no circumstances accountable to anyone in this world. Nobody exists above me. I am very happy if others see me as the center but I am not at all willing to accept anyone else in the center.""

"The basic principle of acting against our constitutional position is: we do not want to be servant. We want to utilize everything, our work, intellectual power, activities, for our self-glorification, to push ourselves to the foreground. We think that we do not have to pay respect or to be thankful to anybody. All such tendencies in philosophy are against our constitutional nature. If we honestly observe what is our sanatana-dharma, our constitutional nature, we will see that it is the desire to please somebody."

"The great majority of TV programs is contaminating our mind and consciousness with lust, anger and violence, such as killing and mistreating animals, crime, greediness, envy etc. So many false values are imposed and the confusing, hopeless and wrong idea that we are this material body is promoted. Inevitably this leads the consumers to break the principles of dharma and to act against the nature of living beings."

"So we can see that it is not enough to remove the television from our homes but most important is to stop the exploitation of other humans, animals and Mother Nature; to follow the principles of the prescribed duties for humanity. To live a vegetarian life, no illicit sexual activities, no gambling and not to intoxicate our body. This will automatically lead the whole society towards the four pillars of a civilized culture: austerities, cleanliness, mercy and truthfulness."

"We must become responsible of our actions and conscious that they will produce reactions. We must activate our natural energy and joy by learning to appreciate all that is good and in this way surpass our laziness and the limitations of our mind and this material existence. We must become conscious that our association has a big influence to our actions, our lives and our future. We have to learn that to know about the Absolute Truth is the actual goal of live and birthright for everyone, independent of our faith, color or social status. We must learn that all of us are children of the same Universal Father and thus we must help and serve each other with Him in our center. To achieve this we simply have to accept the spiritual values of Vedic Culture and chant the Holy Names of God."

"The lack of a spiritual education of the Vedic Culture is the reason why we do not appreciate the great opportunity of this human form of life and the great responsability we received in connection with it. Because of this lack of appreciation we are so much inclined to material enjoyment and sense gratification. Spiritual education, however, the process of getting to know the truth, starts with the appreciation that one is spiritual consciousness and not a piece of meat and bones."

"Generally speaking, television produces more troubles than good in this world. It should be used to see programs which promote spiritual values but not for anything else."

"From birth on every person acts for his own interest. First, all attention is put on the belly, the sucking mouth and tongue. Next, physical awareness arouses. All efforts are done to please the body. Next, the child develops the craving to investigate mentally. It wants to satisfy the abilities as an observer and decision maker and it wants to enjoy its limited independence. Then the child tries to find answers about the reason of everything. Material knowledge is nothing for him, he wants to know the truth. Eternal knowledge and bliss. That brings the soul to the doors of love. Now we have to find out what is this world and whether it has anything to offer that helps us to connect us with the world of love, to enter into the eternal world of love. Then we may find out that there do exist representatives of the world of love in this world. These are the souls who have dedicated their complete existence to the world of love. They aspire to become exclusively and one pointedly engaged as the instruments of the Lord of Love. What they do allows other souls to connect to the common cause of the sweet will of God's all blessing grace."

"By contact with persons who fight to make this world a better place and who try to follow the path of the truth, we will gradually develop a superior taste. With the inspiration of good company and friendship it will not be too difficult to remove the television and to establish higher goals in our lives."

"In an istagosthi think of every single department. All of them are important. Don`t think your department is the most important. Think of all of them and then go through them. There are many things and they are all important. Don`t complain about the work of others but respect the work done and inspire the people. Say thank you! Personal and other problems are subject of personal conversations apart from istagosthis. Never talk about problems in istagosthis, spread inspiration. This will keep the treasure-house of divine service alive."

"The voluntary nature of Vaisnava missions...do not drive on rules, but only on Sadhu Sanga, nama kirtan and Love. Love for Krishna and love for the fellow Vaisnavas, be they senior or junior in their advancement. Love also means trust. In a loving relationship rules are disturbing rather than

promoting an increase of that love."

"If you are heart to heart connected with a real devotee, you are also connected to Krsna in his heart."

"Try to apply a certain perfection to your participation. Do not expect perfection in the performance of others. Like the vaisnavas saying goes: be strict with yourself and merciful with others. Not the opposite way around please."

"(On ista gosthi) So when you come together: first make a list of all programs. And then ask: anything with special importance? Everyone should leave an istagosthi with joy. In the istagosthis you´ll find out what everybody is doing for Krishna. And in the chats you'll find out what all the devotees all around the world are doing for Krishna."

"The istagosthi is a wish from the spiritual master. Without an istagosthi there is no temple. It is just an empty shell! A temple is a place where everyone should be pleased and respected. Everything what's going on inside the temple should be known by all resident devotees. Get interested in the

service of others! Less ego of your own. Don´t care only for the service that you are doing."

"Whenever you see some devotee doing some extraordinary work it should be mentioned. So much service going on from all the devotees. Sometimes the devotees do so much service but are very quiet. Some things take years of preparation. You simply don't know if you don't pay attention."

"Those who try to dominate other Vaisnavas through rules will very quickly find themselves surrounded by those who care only for external benefits and not for the Vaisnava substance."

"In the ashram I do not want any persons to have an private room. I insist on this. Private rooms only create problems. Private rooms means maya-rooms. It is better to be in community. And if you really want to be alone, then go to the temple. Temples are usually empty during the day. That

is why I am trying to make many programs in the temple. I do not like empty temples and buildings. Why make buildings if they are empty. Why make dormitories -- a room where a person will lie down only in the night and make bad smells. If we have an energy crisis in the world I suggest to stop eating meat and stop building dormitories. You can sleep in your living room. The living room is empty in the night anyway. So why waste energy. We are really wasting so much energy."

"One must not have any expectations from devotees. Devotees are the servants of Krsna. They are not your servants. If they want to serve you it is their decision, but one must not have any expectations. Krsna-consciousness is a meeting of idealists who want so serve Krsna more and more. "

"We need the mercy of God and we need the mercy of His devotees. Because, without the mercy of God we would not exist and without the mercy of the devotees we would not know anything about God."

"I need the mercy of my spiritual master, but without the mercy of the devotees I would not have met my spiritual master. Therefore I need the devotees, my spiritual master and the supreme Lord. I am a needy fellow, full of necessity for mercy. Without mercy I am a little nobody."

"We need the devotees and we need to understand that we are not very easy-going people. You can find their own application of this. Digest it by yourself, and apply it to your own reality. I am speaking in general terms. More or less, we are not easy-going fellows, we give a hard time to the

people in our surroundings. Our own disqualifications appears quite frequently. We get angry, we get upset, we have prejudice against the one or the other. We are lazy when it's time to be helpful and hard working. We always expect others to do things, and if they are not doing it we immediately show some sign of disgust. In other words, anybody who live with us should be certified as a hero of tolerance. We should give everybody this certificate every morning when we start the day, or at least once in a while and request them to mention to you if you are becoming to unbearable so that

will not go ahead in this life just creating nuisance, just making ourselves disliked. You know, generally we see life just the opposite way. You think you are the nice guy, and everybody else are somewhat unbearable. But this is simply the wrong way to see things if you want to set the record

straight. If you want to straighten out things, if you want to live in harmony. That's why Lord Caitanya said that when you are ready to offer respect to all others and you do not demand or request any respect in return for yourself, in that humble state of mind you can go on chanting the names of the Lord continuously."

"To err is human. But it is even more human to assign the guilt to someone else. So if you say there is some kind of bad atmosphere in the temple and this brings you to fall, then it means that you do not understand that the negativity is in yourself. If you are internally strong, you do not become

upset. If you are full of internal love, you are always prepared to forgive. So if you feel very weak it is a sign that you are not very advanced yet. Then it is time to grasp something very quickly to avoid the falling."

"When you realize that the mercy of the vaishnavas is the essence of life, you are in good shape... The mercy of the vaishnavas is the only thing which can uplift us from mundane consciousness...It's what we are made of."

"To offend other Vaishnavas affects our sadhana the most. To minimize them, who we see daily or who live close to us, is quite natural. To have the tendency to depreciate, to look at the others like below us, becomes a big disturbance in the sadhana. Especially the preacher should be admired, on the contrary one loses the desire to listen to Hari Katha and everything get lost."

"Someone who thinks he would deserve it to be taken for an advanced devotee forgets the most important of all: he forgets that the persistence in devotional service is what burns down our impureness. And to respect others without expecting any respect for oneself is the great way which Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has chosen for us. In this way we can reach something wonderful despite Kali Yuga. Something as wonderful as a pure devotee in this world. Imagine that."

"How to recognize a devotee? He's careful. He cares to serve perfectly. He cares to chant the name of the Lord from the depth of his heart. He cares to serve the vaisnavas around him as often and as much as possible. He cares to worship and to remember his Lord, his Ishtadeva. He cares to be a good example for everyone. He cares to live in the holy land of Krishna. He cares to help all souls who don't know anything about Krishna. To care means to understand what the classes of the vaisnavas are all about. He understands the wishes of the spiritual master even if they are not mentioned clearly. There are priorities in vaisnavism which are only understood by those who

care for these things. Devotees who can speak the whole day and night about everything which takes them closer to Krishna. Who want to speak about everything that is helpful for the understanding of Radha Dasyam. They know Maya and her lures but they are disgusted by heart of this kind of consciousness. And they are even less interested in that kind of stupid and destructive conversations."

"A devotee who doesn't like to criticise others and who cannot tolerate any speculation about other devotees is something very special."

"A devotee who knows that there is a deficiency in another devotee but doesn't like to speak about it except if the other devotee asks him for help, is an excellent devotee."

"Our spiritual identity is the identity of a loving servant. Our spiritual identity is not an ego identity. It is not an identity of challenging, of comparing yourself with others. It is not an identity of showing your own greatness. It is the identity of a beggar for love, a beggar for mercy, a beggar for the dust of the lotus feet of all the other Vaishnavas as well. Such a humble beggar for love he is very snigdha, he is kindhearted, he does not get angry. He simply prays."

"To worship the vaishnavas, to honor them appropriately, we should render some practical service to the community we are participating in. To make ourselves liked by them. it is our extreme extraordinary duty to behave in such a way that others will feel happy to see you, happy to hear you, happy to meet you. Then you are behaving properly. If you are not behaving that way you are definitely just obsessed with yourself. You are just thinking of your own ego, you are just passing your time meditating on your own capricious mind and you are missing out on the great opportunity of devotional service in the proper mood."

"We have to be thankful to all the other devotees for tolerating us, and at the same time be very, very appreciative that they have come into our life to guide us by their example and sometimes by their instructions. We should be so grateful to other people in this world for having given us the chance of having their company, specifically those who have some close relationship with us, that we should practically worship them."

"There is actually a description given in the sastras about the different eyesights of different type of people. The worst of all see only the bad and speak about it. The next person sees the bad and the good, but speaks only about the bad. The next category sees the bad and the good and he speaks something about both. And then there are the one's who sees the bad and the good, but only speaks about the good. Finally we have those who see only the good and speak about that. Now you think about your relationship with others. With each individual. And you see in which category you are in. Classify yourself. The uttama adhikari, he can only see the good. Like Yudhisthira, he could not see the bad quality in others. That is why he could not find anyobody less qualified than himself, although he was the topmost qualified."

"To worship the vaishnavas, means to be in the mood of worship all the time. To serve Lord Krishna and the vaishnavas means to always create a very pleasant atmosphere. Vrindavan is the land of love, Vaikuntha is the land of no anxiety. So nobody is creating anxiety there. Nobody is arrogant. Nobody in Vaikuntha or in Vrindavan is harsh by nature. Nobody behaves on the

feeling of being superior to the others. To go to the spiritual world is to see everybody else as superior to you. And you feel kind and generous to everyone. Even if they are not so qualified, it doesn't matter, surely they have something that is better than you. You bet on it, that everybody has

some quality which is excelling. And this is beatiful, to see how everybody is working forward step by step, getting closer towards Krishna. And the beauty of the process is that we are all complementing eachother in the creation of a spiritual community. Community-building is life building, it's consciousness building. it's assuming responsibility. Community-building is facing the challenges of your own shortcomings, by requesting everybody else to kindly tell you anytime you get in their way, you do something unwanted, "please inform me". it is the duty of a devotee to always request the others: 'Prabhus, if I do anything you don't like, be so kind and tell me

immediately. Don't wait for a few months and I might drown in my faults. Tell me anytime you see something you don't like. At least let me know you opinion, maybe I can adjust myself and change. But generally we don't want to hear anything critical of ourselves. We think that those who flatter us

are our friends and those who pint out any deficiency in us, they must be our enemies. But the vedas, they take a very strong point and they say: No, who flatters you is your enemy, just increasing your ego. And who does point out your deficiencies, he is indirectly or directly your friend, because he makes you aware that 'hey, things can't just go on that way. I got to change.' if you want to change, find out what change you have to do. Otherwise you don't know what's next. But if you keep yourself at the lotus feet of the devotees in a humble state of mind then you know what's next. Next is Krishna, mangal-arati, Srimad Bhagavatam class, chanting rounds, getting up early, making sadhana, cleaning the temple, taking prasadam. That's what's next when you are with devotees, because devotees won't let you go off and get lost in this material world. They are so kind, they go

after you when you are in maya."

"When we are living with offenses against other devotees; speaking bad about them, accusing them wrongly, or talking of their fault, when you are not required to do so, you are definitely on a dead end street. And some dead end streets are long. You go into that direction for a long time until you get to the end and realize that you have to return. Offensive mentality is a dead end street. And it may even end up in fall-down. So we should be very cautious in our life not to go into dead end streets. Enthusiastic serving and preaching is never a dead end street."

"Do not be surprised if there are a lot of obstacles in the way of your preaching activities, rather be surprised if somebody takes up the path of spiritual life. We are spirit souls surrounded by the kingdom of Maya. Do not be attached to the results of your activities. Good association, a sincere heart and strong determination will help us to make our lives successful."

"The social development of women amongst women is wonderful. The social development of men among men is also wonderful. When they come together there should be some principles at least. Some joined service, no problem, they can associate. But if there is any type of unrestricted association between men and women it's bound to become a tremendous mess."

"Your character is better when you live with others. People, the more they live alone the more they are crazy. They are like hiding within a shell, but inside that shell they are like monsters. They are afraid of contacts with others, because they can not show their monster face in front of them. In

association with other you have to recognize your deficiencies. The association will show you, where your character needs some improvement. Most people need to learn, how to behave themselves. Our children in the west do not know how to behave themselves. They have no discipline. They are on the internet, in front the TV, smoking dope or cursing everybody. They have no money, have no jobs, they are hanging around ... And what do they become? Neonazis or who knows what."

"The sadhus make the sacred place more sacred. So to get their association and get their blessings is very essential for spiritual life."

"Staying in the holy place, in the association of sadhus and listening about the Supreme Lord is very auspicious. It is important to get enthusiasm. We need enthusiasm to become servants. Servant means serving, working with others, for others and working on one self. If we are not ready to work on our self, if we are not ready to fight with our ego, we can not become servants. If we are not ready to serve with others, there is no question of realizing our limitations. And if we are not ready to serve the sadhus, we will not be able to understand anything. We need grace from all

sides. Spiritual life is to long for this grace and to develop appropriate behaviour is very imporant in this process. When we get the grace, what are we doing with this grace? Do we want to enjoy the grace or do we want to serve the grace?"

"Everyone of us is pronouncedly weak. If we remain in the association of those who are strong then we will become stronger. But if we stay in the association of those who are weak then we will become weaker. So, an example, an advice, a principle for all of us is to be always in the association of those who are spiritually strong."

"Tell me who is your company and I tell you who you are. All of us are weak. In this world, everyone for himself is a very small and weak link."

"Of course, sometimes you have to stand up for yourself: yes, that is me, because I want to be that and this is my evolution. But nevertheless, if the weak becomes aware of how weak he is, then it is his decision to connect with the strong ones so that he will not be destroyed by his weakness. That is the only decision you have to become strong."

"Fact is that in the company of strong and convinced persons everything becomes so easy and nice. The trials that come, are also there to make us stronger. Occasionally one has to suffer a little before he realizes some things."

"If you find strength in the association of people who know how to control their senses, you will make spiritual advancement. If you associate with others who do not abide by the regulative principles, it will not be so conducive for your spiritual advancement."

"Lets search out the association of those who have found joy in the higher taste, in a life without sex, or who are at least faithful to their family."

"Regarding bad experiences with devotees, a burned child shies away from the fire, but I remember one important instruction Srila Sridhara Maharaja gave to us, specifically to devotees whose initiating spiritual masters have abandoned their duty. He said: “Never feel cheated by Krsna.” Consider it your bad karma that you had to go through such a painful situation, and simply pray to be able to learn something. Of course you can also understand that surrender to Krsna is not such an easy thing. You cannot take it for granted that everything works perfectly. But if you asked me 'who is trustworthy?’ I would put it in a very few words. He must be a person who is trying to take the service to his spiritual master as his life and soul. He is somebody who will never get unreasonably angry with someone. He is not sectarian. He appreciates all vaisnavas. He has a desinterested nature and impartial judgement and a strong common sense. Those who do not take their relationship with Guru and Krsna very seriously, they will take their relation with you much less very seriously. What to speak of spiriutal masters. Just to know how to choose one's friends, one should take all this in consideration. If they do something very wonderful and they invite you to participate then you can try it. If you do not choose anything then you have no good association and nothing nice to do. So there is always some risk in life and we are always depending on the grace of Krsna. By His grace we are eating and sleeping and by his guidance He will provide us with good association."

"In my own life, after I lost my dear Srila Prabhupada, who gave me two initiations, I met another pure devotee, Srila B.R. Sridhara Dev Goswami Maharaja, who gave sannyasa to me. And after he went back to Krsna and the world surrounding me was submerged in sectarianism, I met another pure Devotee, Srila BP Puri Maharaja. He emphasized to me, that in front of Krsna all devotees are equal and that we should all work together on our common causes."

"In my work as a secretary for the world vaisnava association, for the first five years of its existance, I had the mercy to get to know practically every Gaudiya acarya on the planet plus most of their leading disciples. I am very thankful for that experience. The more I know, the more grateful I am to have met Srila Prabhupada. Undoubtedly, there are many wonderful devotees in all missions, but still to meet those who are very advanced and who also have some skill of communication and understanding eastern and western Vaisnavas at the same time, such a person is rare to find."

"I pray that you may be succesful to meet the most beautiful Vaisnavas and thus achieve happiness in your devotional service, because unless you achieve happiness, how will you be able to make others happy?"

"When we visit the Holy Dham, we should avoid the offences against the Holy Dham. Plus Srila Sridhara Maharaja said: Vrindavana is a state of consciousness. So we should always try to be in that consciousness and try to make Vrindavana present every where we go. We should also speak about he glories of Vrindavana and chant the Holy Name so we will become qualified to actually serve Vrindavana."

"I’m going to the real Vrindavan and those who like to can come with me."

"If you are coming to Vrindavan to please your own senses, that is not Vrindavan, you should leave immediately. You should go there to please the senses of Govinda."

"Every place where devotees live and try to please the senses of Govinda, there is Vrindavan."

"Srila Prabhupada took the glories of Vrindavana all around the world and it is quite reasonable to say that every devotee should send some help, in whatever way he feels inspired."

"Mother Ganges was jealous, because Lord Krsna bathed in His childhood pastimes in the Yamuna. Then, pleased by her prayers, the Lord appeared again as Caitanya Mahaprabhu and performed His childhood pastimes in Mayapur. Eternally united since the Triveni, Ganga and Yamuna flow tightly ambraced down, into the ocean, giving all of us life and joy and the transcendental enviroment."

"All these holy places should be spotlessly clean and must be protected against the noise and other Kali-yuga contaminations. If you do not push something up, it will certainly go down. All together we can do it."

"Pilgrimages to sacred places present the great opportunity to get out of the normal way of life to forget about the daily troubles, to come closer to yourself and it is perfect to face the problems of life in a sacred and elevated manner."

"It is my proposal to cultivate sincere Vaisnava friendships and see when it is convenient to do what together for our Sampradaya. (about WVA)"

"Let Vaishnava love be forever glorified; the path of love, free of the obstacles, even of reverential feelings of Vaikuntha. Let the great spirit of Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur inspire us all to accomplish the almost impossible in this age of Kali. That is to give up all pride and sectarianism and to dance together in true happiness."