 Srimati Radharani How can I “fall in love” – divine love (which I will call by its Sanskrit term, bhakti)? I cannot get bhakti by changing my hairstyle, by changing my wardrobe, my cosmetics or my name. I cannot get it by joining a religion, nor by leaving a religion; by being a member of a society or by not being a member. I can’t get it by changing where I live, or when I wake up. I can get it neither by following rules, nor by breaking them. All the rituals and magic in the world will not make it materialize. Nor can I grasp it by studying every book, every commentary, and every philosophy there is to study. Nothing I give away can give bhakti to me. Nothing I give up, nothing I forego, nothing I renounce, nothing I willingly suffer can bring me any closer nor push me any further from bhakti. No luck, chance, fate, fortune, or other blind mercy will bring bhakti into my heart. Then how? How? Only love can create love. I cannot get divine love until that monumentally rare event occurs wherein I encounter a person who has it. It is like a divine virus. When I finally meet a carrier, I must not miss that incredibly rare opportunity to myself become infected. How? The air from their lungs moves across the bhakti-saturated core of their being as it travels upwards, past their vocal chords, through their lips, and emerges in the sensorial world as a pronunciation of the beloved’s name, “Kṛṣṇa,” “Govinda,” “Śyāmasundara;” a proclamation of the beloved’s beauty, excellence and uncommonly attractive activities. These bhakti-infected vibrations enter through my ears into my nervous system and thus come into contact with my own conscious core. The circuit is complete. The transmission of the divine germ of bhakti has passed from one heart to another. There is no other way to attain bhakti. There is no other way. There is no other way, at all. I must find a person who has bhakti and I must expose my heart through my ears to the sounds of bhakti emanating from that person. Nothing else works, nothing else. The way I obtain the seed of bhakti is the same way that I nurture it, cultivate it, and develop it into fruit bearing vine enrapt around the strong, dark legs of the Kṛṣṇa-tree. There is no way to advance in the yoga of divine love besides opening our ears and heart ever wider to the transmissions of loving sound emanating from the hearts of divine lovers of Godhead. May we abandon all the vanities of all other means.
        
Kicking Leaves
Toronto, Ontario
As fallen leaves were tossed by the shuffle of the feet I looked up and imagined the street without automobiles parked at the edge. Replace those machines with pathways and green things and you would have something that would look awesome and handsome.
I incorporated into this day some hearing and chanting as usual. The message from our visitor, a monk hailing from Nigeria - Bhakti Vasudev Swami, was a breathing of freshness into the atmosphere. He's a scholar working on his PhD (Yes, even swamis can go to further their education). He spoke of the application of varna and ashram which recognizes one's natural propensity with regard to career inclinations and how to make pure our practical activities.
"Everyone must work," so Krishna states in the Gita. But how are you working? Is it with satisfaction that you execute your work?
The general key to happy life is you do what is natural for you. For this reason the four varnas (career-types) and ashrams (marital states) is established. Doctor, lawyer, Indian chief, monk, married, whatever niche we are in must become God-centered. Because we are all uniquely psycho-physically individuals, we require something in our life to anchor ourselves together. That anchoring is the spiritual component. It is that which is common ground to all. We are all spirits in essence. Our bodies vary, as do our different natures. The thing that glues us as one is the spiritual side of life. The Maharaja, Bhakti Vasudeva Swami, proposed a Krishna-centric life.
So on a second walk that I took to I tossed some autumn leaves just by accident and I likened it to turning our lives around and not being lazy with our spiritual selves. We must be active in both the spiritual and material lives.
8 Km
Warming Up
Burlington, Ontario
In fighting the common cold, I’ve found that walking is the way to combat it. It warms up the machinery, the body. I spent the night at a devotee doctor’s home, and mentioned to him that I’ll likely get up at an early morning dark hour and make my way down the Burlington trail, so I did. I warmed up my heart to Krishna through chanting, while warming up my body through mobilizing the legs. Along this beach side of Lake Ontario, rabbits were leaping about in happy numbers. I didn’t seem as a threat to them, it was their territory and their time at 4 AM. They were willing to share it.
A young couple (humans this time) passed by, and I wished them well, “Good morning, or good evening, whichever way you look at it”. That remark sparked some giggles. They got warmed up and so did my rabbit friends in the excitement at Fishermans’ Pier. For the balance of the day, my concentration was focusing on warming up to our guru, Srila Prabhupada. On November 14th, 1977, he passed away in Vrindavan, India, and corresponding to the lunar calendar, the anniversary happens to fall on this day. With ambivalence, I approach this day feeling cool and warm at the same time. It is understandable that sadness hits the emotion. As the day rolled out, with three programs attended, and all in his honour, I felt a growth of appreciation for his great contributions to the world. As I was hearing others speak, and I was obliged to the same, the heart softened somewhat. I have moved from Burlington to Toronto to Brampton and then to Mississauga for these events. I guess you could say that something stoked up inside. It is possible to warm a cold hearted someone like myself when the topic is so endearing as the pastimes of guru. One reaches the inevitable; you can’t help but feel the chills go away.
9 KM
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, March 2011)  Run around for Krishna! Get really excited for Krishna about what we are having to do:
“Oh, I have to do all these things! So many things I have to do for Krishna! It’s too much…..it’s too much! I have to do all those things. I don’t know how I can manage all of this? It’s too much.” This is perfect! This is how it should be! If you think: “I have too much service!” That’s perfect! You should have too much service. You should have so much service that you should be totally in anxiety: “I’m totally in anxiety about all this service!” Fantastic………fantastic! Because you want it, and not a second left to being in the anxiety about the material desires that are deeply rooted in the heart! This is how it is because we are so passionate, that we couldn’t just peacefully sit there and chant the whole day! 
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, March 2011)  By gradually being firm with the senses, they become weaker. Some people have spoilt senses which are just like spoilt children. Every time they cry, they get what they want, and then they cry more, just like spoilt children! So the senses are like children, and if we spoil them, they cry. Sooner or later, we have to be a little firm with our senses, its inevitable. If you just treat them to whatever they want then it is difficult!
 By Yadunath das
A few months back, I wrote you all asking for monthly financial support to help keep Prabhupada’s 1st western temple up, running and under ISKCON care. My reasoning was that this temple is of global concern and surely the worldwide ISKCON community has a stake in whether or not its bills can be paid |
