17 March 2012

KKSblog.com - Controlling the conditioned nature part 2

KKSblog.com - Controlling the conditioned nature part 2

Controlling the conditioned nature part 2

Posted: 16 Mar 2012 04:57 AM PDT

(HH Kadamba Kanana Swami, 7th March 2012, New York) Lecture: Caitanya-caritāmṛta Part 3

There are many things in the Hare Krishna movement I have done that I would have never done! At one point they made me into a bookkeeper! I do not know if you can judge characters, but you have watched me here for a few days and I don't look like your average bookkeeper! Generally people who are bookkeepers are steady, regulated and like things in order, and I think that you have already noticed that I'm a little wild!

So usually wild people do not make such bookkeepers, and I must admit that when I was doing the books in India, if it was one or ten rupees out, then I would put the one or ten rupees in from my own pocket, since I would rather do that then going through the whole calculation one more time! It balanced…. even if it's ten rupees out – no problem, I'll put them in, since I'm not going to find the missing rupees! But a real bookkeeper would say:

'No…no it doesn't balance. There is something wrong here. Now I have to do it again and find it.'

That I could never do… but I did it for Krishna, and yes within it I could also appreciate something, although I hate bookkeeping and I still do! It is about safeguarding Krishna's property, and being very responsible about Krishna's property, and that is something I gained by being a bookkeeper, whereas my conditioned mind goes like:

'Oh my god. Imagine: Me a bookkeeper! That means that all my colourful side of my personality will have no more space…'

But then the other side begins to grow a personality who wants to actually develop a sense of responsibility for Krishna's interest. In this way many aspects of a personality grow in this Krishna Consciousness!


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Controlling the conditioned nature part 1

Posted: 16 Mar 2012 04:39 AM PDT

(HH Kadamba Kanana Swami, 7th March 2012, New York) Lecture: Caitanya-caritāmṛta Part 3
In the beginning there is a little bit of oppression in our nature, but that is not our real nature since that is our false ego – the false role that we temporary accepted as our self. That one has to be kept boxed in and sometimes in a strait-jacket (or in control). That one cannot be given a free rein since it has to at least be kept on reins!

The eleventh Canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam is offering the example of a horse. It is saying that:

'Controlling the conditioned nature, is done like controlling a horse with the reins! And that one must cannot hold the reins tight all the time!'

Here's this horse and it is bursting with power. You cannot only hold this horse back and make it only do slow steps. I mean sometimes you just got to give him the free rein, and let him have the full burst of power and fill his potential, and run! So in dealing with our conditioned nature we cannot just say:

'Finished! I'm finished with you!'

That would be fanaticism, and that kind of fanaticism is the kind of situation where suddenly later on, on the path you will encounter, when you are walking then there is a dark force path and you go around the bend and suddenly you get mugged! When you look at the guy's face – it's you… it's yourself! Then you get mugged by yourself! You encounter yourself later on, you get attacked, and yourself comes back with a vengeance – then you get those kinds of situations!

The eleven Canto gives the answer by using the example of the horse. So what does that mean by giving the reins? It means that sometimes we must engage this nature – we cannot deny it all, since we have got to use it. We have to find something to do where our nature is satisfied! So spiritual life is not: 'denial… denial… denial' – no. But isn't this lower if you just engage this nature? Isn't this karma-yoga? Is this the lower path? I mean isn't it higher if you just make a sacrifice for Krishna? Isn't it the best if you just do it for Krishna, what you hate the most? No leave it up to Krishna, since we do not need to search out what we hate the most, and do that as an offering for Krishna!

Don't worry and just try to do what you like to do for Krishna and automatically in the cause of serving Krishna in that way the situation will change… We don't need to search out what we hate the most since that comes on its own in the material world. But when it is sent by Krishna, then we must accept it by saying:

'That's all right. Now Krishna has sent this to me as a test for my purification. I must need it.'

If we search it out ourselves, then we are masochists, and we will be weak within ourselves in that position. The theme is being natural and engaging our nature but within the boundaries of Krishna Consciousness, and not just within the boundaries of what is authorised by Krishna, and then we will see that if we do so, we begin to discover many things within our nature that we didn't know was even there… and in this mood of surrendering to Krishna, one goes outside of his preconceived ideas, because one is meant to take up things that one would never do!


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Srimad Bhagavatam classes and Kirtana in New York

Posted: 16 Mar 2012 01:43 AM PDT

While staying in the Bhakti Centre in New York (6 – 11 March), Kadamba Kanana Maharaja gave two classes on the Srimad Bhagavatam (SB.3.31.33 and SB.3.31.45-46). Then during the Sunday feast he gave a talk, which was also based on a verse from the Bhagavatam (SB.11.5.32) and was given on the topic of Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s appearance day.
Below the classes you will also find the Sunday feast kirtana.

To download the classes just right-click the title and ‘save target as’.

KKS – SB.3.31.33 – 6 March 2012 in NYC

KKS – SB.3.31.45-46 – 12 March 2012 in NYC

KKS – SB.11.5.32 – 11 March 2012 in NYC

 

KKS – Sunday feast kirtana – 11 March 2012 in NYC


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KC is about being and developing oneself

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 03:01 PM PDT

(HH Kadamba Kanana Swami, 7th March 2012, New York) Lecture: Caitanya-caritāmṛta Part 3


You cannot offer the Lord something ordinary! An ordinary apple will not do. It has to be the best apple! The Lord must have the best, and that is very much the standard of Vaikuntha, and that's the rule – the best of the best to be offered. And that must be so, because after all He is the greatest, and the greatest must be given to Him!

But in Vrindavan it is different, since Krishna is everything. We just give him everything. There's no more measuring, since you go to your limits. So therefore going back to the earlier point of how this spirit of Goloka is the love of God of the sankirtan movement, it is not limiting the personality but rather it is developing the personality! Vrindavan is filled with rugged individuals and why is this so? It is because one becomes stronger and stronger in using all one's abilities. Therefore Krishna consciousness is about being oneself and developing oneself rather than oppressing oneself!


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