Tattva-viveka
Tons of fun in Finland
Krsangi Dasi - December 1, 2004 8:12 pm
Hi,
as some of you might know Guru Maharaja is coming to visit us in Finland after Christmas. He'll arrive in Finland on December 26th and leave on January 2nd for Poland.
We're very happy to welcome all the devotees living in Europe (or elsewhere for that matter) to come here to listen to Swami and spend the New Year with us. Besides us Finns some devotees are coming from Holland and Sweden, and we'd be glad to see some new faces here.
We'll be having daily programs at our house, and some devotees are also staying here, but we can't guarantee a place to stay for everyone. Some devotees have booked rooms in a nearby hostel. The rates are reasonable, and the place is from what we have heard quite nice.
There are some low-cost airlines that have flights to Helsinki, which is the closest airport to Porvoo where we live. Let us know if you're interested in coming here and we'll help you figure out how to get here.
Once here the program will be listening to lectures, eating too much and sleeping too little. (All that's needed for a fun-filled week!)
Your hosts for the evening, Krsangi and Kamalaksa
Nanda-tanuja Dasa - December 1, 2004 11:26 pm
Wow, that’s great news! Looking forward to new MP3 CDs from that trip!
Caitanya-daya Dd - December 2, 2004 8:37 pm
Maybe one day i'll be able to go to Finland and meet the nice devotees of whom i've been hearing such nice things. 
Nanda-tanuja Dasa - December 20, 2004 8:30 pm
People form www.gaudiyadiscussions.com are asking if Guru Maharaja will be visiting Croatia during his trip. http://www.gaudiyadiscussions.com/index.php?showtopic=2751
Krsangi Dasi - December 28, 2004 7:23 am
We now have Swami here in Finland.
It is very nice.
We think we just might keep him here.
K & K
Nanda-tanuja Dasa - December 28, 2004 7:48 am
We think we just might keep him here.
Oh-oh, looks like Kamalaksa's tofu is a part of ingenious conspiracy. Please switch to unleavened bread as soon as possible! 
Dhiralalita - December 28, 2004 3:14 pm
It seems in this photo that Swami is now beating the big mirdanga! The brihat-mirdanga.Forrest - December 28, 2004 7:05 pm
Thanks for posting the pic Krsangi. Could you tell us who's in the pic, for us who don't know who's who in Finland?
Guru-nistha Das - December 29, 2004 11:59 am
From the left: Jananivas, Mathura natha, Hanna, Syama Gopal and Krsangi.
It´s been very nice,Guru Maharaja´s presence, the lectures and aratis have been really sweet.
Yesterday we were having a program at Jayanta Krsna´s and Sulochana´s place (disciples of Narayana Maharaja and good friends of ours). After the lecture Guru Maharaja told some cool stories of adventurous book distribution. He told us how in the 70´s he had distributed books at the airport disguised as a hippie, and how it was a constant cat and mouse- chase with the security guards. He told us that Krsna helped him get away from situations that seemed impossible and he could just feel when it was best to changer the scenery..
I find these stories very interesting because for me it shows practically how Krsna uses his devotees as his instruments. And i´m a boy, so stories of going undercover and running away from the security is easy to catch my attention. Haha.
Guru Maharaja spoke also about his Godbrother (was it Narayan Maharaja?) who had been doing exeptional preaching work in Poland, and how the Polish were so strictly forbidden to participate in any religion, that the devotee had to go to bars to preach, let the people drivk a little first so that they would not be so withdrawn and scared. That was very interesting too, since we are travelling there on Sunday.
Jagannatha - December 29, 2004 3:27 pm
Yes, thanks for posting the photo, Krsangi, but please don't keep him there! I'm looking forward to hearing the recordings of the lectures. I've been thinking about Swami in Europe, and had a dream that he asked me to help him pick out marble for a temple altar. Not sure where that was, though.
Guru-nistha Das - January 1, 2005 2:34 pm
now that I have a little spare time, I could tell you a bit about Guru Maharaja´s visit to Finland.
Guru Maharaja came on Sunday. Jananivas and I went at Krsangi´s and Kamalaksha´s house earlier to look after the sauna that was heated for GM. I was a bit nervous and excited of course. Just a little before 6 PM Kamalaksha called that they were approaching Porvoo. We lighted the candles and checked that everything was alright. Few minutes after that GM came and we payed our obeisances and escorted him to his red chair ( a pretty modern version of a Vyasa) and he gave a short talk. He spoke a little about the flight and how things are at Audarya, a new plan of building a separate house for the cows and of getting more of cows. He also mentioned that Agnideva, Citta Hari and Dayal Govinda are forming a bhajan band and GM asked if I would like to take part in it. I was naturally attracted to the idea because I have been playing in bands for years and touring eith them. After the speak GM went to sauna. Kamalaksha and Krsangi had made GM fine christmas presents. Krsangi had knitted a long scarf and Kamalaksha had asked his grandmom to knitt a beige hat for GM that read "swami" on it. I have to admit I was a bit skeptical towards the hat beforehand but it turned out that Guru maharaja really liked it.
On the next day was the first lecture. Bhrigu came and Mathura natha came from Sweden as well. Also, a new face, Hanna, came from the eastern part of Finland. She had heard about GM through internet. Devotees were asking questions and most of the lecture Guru Maharaja was talking about the different bhavas, what they really mean, how they function in relation to each other and so on.
It´s always a humbling experience to listen to our Swami. There´s so much to learn and to realize.
After the lecture we got into the same mood than in the two earlier visits of GM: Kamalaksha was giving the orders and we worked efficiently but it still didn´t feel like we were in the army. Everybody knows that things are done for Swami´s sake. The spirit was again cheerful and it´s really nice that this group of people seems to come along quite well.
Later in the evening came Syam Gopal from Holland and Kardama from Belgium and also Mikko and Nea from Helsinki. Guru maharaja continued explaining about the bhavas and gave a really vivid picture of the spiritual world. It´s beautiful how GM can describe these really high topics in a way that is tangible and becomes desirable. Who wouldn´t want to live in that reality?
The morning lecture on Tuesday started with Kamalaksha asking about humility and what it´s really about. This was interesting, because we had been talking a lot about it before with the hosts and now we would get an authorized answer. GM started with the part of Siksastakam where Sri Caitanya says that one should be more humble than a blade of grass. GM first explained about how material desires are the opposite of humility, because in a material state of mind everyone thinks to be the owner and enjoyer. It´s based on a false sense of owning the things we have and is like a criminal´s mindset. We should approach the Holy Name by thinking that we owe nothing and that we are unworthy.
Krsangi asked what´s the difference between a humble person and a person with low self-esteem. GM said that a humble person feels satisfied in himself, where as a person with low self-esteem doesn´t. I really liked the aswer. So common sense, but i had never understood the difference. He continued that humble people know their natural state of being as a part of the whole and feel good although they may say things like a “worm in a stool is better than me” and so on.
Kamalaksha continued the discussion and said that it´s normal in Finland that if you are confident, people think you´re puffed up and proud. GM answered that he didn´t think confidence and pride are the same thing. If you have something that is worth to be proud of then it´s OK. There´s nothing wrong in feeling confident in being part of Lord Caitanya´s group. GM continued that confidence is mentioned in Upadesamrita as a positive characteristic.
This makes a lot of sense to me. It seems that if you are confident, it´s much easier to serve your Guru and the vaishnvanas. I have been having a little trouble with being confident enough in serving Guru Maharaja, at first I was really nervous all the time and didn´t quite know how to conduct myself. But after this lecture I decided that I ´ll try harder to overcome my insecurities, because I don´t want anything to check me from serving Guru Maharaja properly.
After the lecture we ate prasadam cooked by the hosts and it was great, once again. To be honest, I´m almost jealous of how well they take GM into consideration. I think Kamalaksha is a good example of how confidence can be of great help when performing one´s service.
Now i have to go again, but I will continue my report soon.
Vamsidhari Dasa - January 2, 2005 12:54 am
Thanks for the report, but unfortunatelly you cannot keep Guru Maharaja!!!!!!
Guru-nistha Das - January 2, 2005 1:10 pm
On Wednesday happened an interesting event. There were a lot of people on the evening lecture and the mood was very nice. After few hours the program started to draw to its close. It was time for the last questions. Bhrigu raised his hand and asked, with a funny grin on his face, that in what circumstances should a person take a new initiation if he is not satisfied with his/her previous guru.
GM gave an answer and Kardama was right in front of him. Kardama used to be a disciple of Harikesa Swami. Suddenly Guru Maharaja extended his hand to Kardama and said: So is that a deal? Everybody started laughing and afterwards when i talked to Kardama and said "so you didn´t shake hands?" He replied "No, i was so shocked by the insident. It´s not every day that you get to high five with a Sannyasi!"
Bhrigu went to see our Swami after the lecture and when he came down, he asked me if I could pick up japa mala from Helsinki for this one devotee that was going to be initiated. It took a second to understand that he was talking about himself. Wow!
On Thursday was Bhaktisidhanta Sarasvati Thakura´s disappearance day. I had to get the japa mala to Bhrigu from my roommate´s room. Krsangi had given her beads before and Kalamaksha didn´t find any proper ones from Helsinki. The problem was my roommate was sleeping and i had to sneak in to "steal" them. I was being a burglar for a good cause.
GM gave a good talk about Bhaktisidhanta Sarasvati. He noted that he had had the fortune to get three different kind of pictures of Bhaktisidhanta through his three mentors. Srila Prabhupada would talk of him with reverence and awe. From Sridhara Maharaja he would get the philosophical side of Bhaktisidhanta and from Puri Maharaja the affectionate and loving side.
After the morninglecture Guru Maharaja initiated Bhrigu. He decided to change his name slightly. Bhrigumuni das changed to Bhrigupada das. We were naturally happy for him and I´m really glad to have him as my Godbrother. I know he can give a lot for our group.
Vrindaranya Dasi - January 2, 2005 2:14 pm
Jaya! Wonderful to have such a learned and refined gent in the family, Brighupada! Are we going to get any pictures???? Congratulations!!!!
Nanda-tanuja Dasa - January 2, 2005 5:54 pm
Wow, what a wonderful news to start a year with! I’m honored to have you as my godbrother, Brighupada. Dandavat pranams.
Bhrigu - January 2, 2005 7:25 pm
Thank you guys; I am so honored to be formally accepted into Guru Maharaja's fold. I was kind of nervous during the morning. During the arati before the class and initiation, I noticed that the smiling mouth made with sandalwood paste on my main Sila had partially fallen off. That happens often, but this time it still hung on a bit -- but the wrong way... 
I quickly made sure that it fell of completely. However, when I payed my obeisances after the arati, I noticed that my brahmin-thread had also fallen off my shoulder, so that it was down by my feet. That was already a much better omen, since I had planned to take it off immediately after the arati anyway, long with my neckbeads.
Guru Maharaja mentioned during the class that he wanted to change my name slightly. He then started to speak about the Bhriguvalli part of the Taittiriya Upanisad. Oh, "Bhrguvalli Dasa", I thought. Sounds a bit funny, I thought, but I was already getting accustomed to the idea when Guru Maharaja started speaking about Bhrgu's kicking Lord Vishnu, and then I understood: Bhrigupada Dasa. Also Krishna (and my Sadbhuja ) wears Bhrgu's footprint on his chest, as a mark of his tolerance. What a wonderful name! I can still be "Bhrgu," but now my name has a connection to Krishna's lila. Now I just have to live up to it...
After the class, I went upstairs to hear the mantras. Hearing Guru Maharaja pronouce them into my right ear was a very special experince. We hear that all the tirthas enter the ear at the time of initiation, and I felt a little like that. A very powerful, almost physical experience. That evening, I threw my old beads, brahmin thread and neckbeads into Porvoo river. I felt sad to give up my old beads since we have gone through a lot together (and since I generally hate all kinds of changes) but simultaneously very relieved. This feeling has intensified during the days since. I feel that I am entering a new and exciting stage of my life, safe under the protection of Guru Maharaja.
Your servant,
Bhrgupada Dasa
Citta Hari Dasa - January 2, 2005 7:34 pm
Haribol! Welcome (formally) to the family, Bhrgupadaji! It's nice to have you along. I'll second Vrindaranya's question: what about the pictures??
Vamsidhari Dasa - January 2, 2005 11:06 pm
THIS IS SO WONDERFUL. JAYA SRI GURU GAURANGA!
JAYA BHIRGUPADHA PRABHU!
WELCOME EVEN TOHUGH YOU HAVE BEEN HERE FOR A LONG TIME. I AM SO PLEASED TO HEAR THIS BEYOND WORDS. HARI BOL!
Vamsidhari dasa
Dayal Govinda Dasa - January 2, 2005 11:16 pm
Just to add to the festivities, that's great news Brighu. We're delighted and honoured to have you amongst us.
You do know that means you have to come to Audarya more often now though : )
Hopefully see you soon.
Dayal Govinda dasa
Madangopal - January 2, 2005 11:36 pm
Congratulations Bhrigupada!
Guru-nistha Das - January 3, 2005 8:51 am
Friday was the last day of 2004. We went to a walk with Guru Maharaja, because the day was beautiful. The atmosphere was relaxed. I was nervous because the sidewalks were really icy and GM was slipping a lot. I tried to walk behind him so I could catch him if he would fall, but luckily I didn't have to use my Jedi instincts.
On Saturday most of the visitors had left and we had a rather intimate morning program. Guru Maharaja was talking about the concept Radha-Krishna and how we are not a monotheistic religion. GM talked about how Krishna interacts with his sakti and we listened carefully. I was again blown away by the fact that such big and philosophical concepts can be explained so sweetly.
On the evening lecture GM talked a lot about how our present (mis)conception of life is all about death and how we have to let go of our attachments and start living in the real world. Considering my new situation, I was absorbing everything like a dry sponge. It really hit home and it was nice to get some encouragement that there's nothing to lose. He said: the profession of a grave digger, it's not so bad. But if you're digging a grave to yourself, then it's really bad!
I couldn't but keep nodding with a stupid grin on my face.
I don't have any pictures of Guru Maharaja's visit, but I'm sure Kamalaksha will post some soon.
Guru-nistha Das - January 3, 2005 12:51 pm
Yesterday evening we said our bye byes to Krsangi, Kamalaksha and Syam Gopal at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport. We had few hours time before the boarding started so we sat down with Guru Maharaja and talked about monastic life and all the new stuff that will happen at Audarya. I was impressed by the fact that there's so much going on at Audarya with so few people. It feels good to be able to help doing more. And it was comforting that GM made clear that nothing happens at the expense of the devotees' psychological well-being.
The flight was good, it took only two hours. At the Warsaw airport we were greeted by Lila-Sakti and a young man named Gnievko. We jumped to Lila-Sakti's car and drove three hours to a town called Kielce, where Gaura-Sakti lives. During the travel Gnievko told us that Gaura-Sakti had done great preaching work. There would be 25 devotees in the program and he had had at least Aesthetic Vedanta, Gopal-Tapani Upanisad and the Guru-parampara booklet translated into Polish, they would only have to be printed. GM said that the preaching will really start to bear fruit when the Polish translations are out because many in Poland don't understand English. I was feeling quite humbled, if you know what I mean
We arrived at 12 PM and there were Gaura-sakti, Premarnava and Rohini-nandana welcoming us at the guest house. GM spoke shortly and we went to sleep after 12:30. I don't know about GM but I was dead tired.
This day started with a really Polish breakfast. The portions were huge and I served a tray to Guru Maharaja and sat with him while he was eating. He asked if I was nervous and I said I wasn't at the time. GM said that he encourages his disciples to speak out and say what they have in mind because otherwise unspoken issues just grow and make a bigger disturbance. He said that his disciples are like his limbs and that if the limb doesn't communicate his problem to him, then he himself will suffer as well. I said that it's hard to know how to act sometimes, because in the scriptures you can find descriprions of disciples who didn't eat for weeks because their Guru didn't ask them to etc. GM just replied "that's not how it goes in my ashram". It made me feel good, naturally.
The morning program was nice. The devotees were appreciative and the kirtan made me think of how reserved we are in Finland. The Polish devotees were all smiling and rising their hands and at one point GM ripped off the mics from his chadar, jumped up and motioned everyone to stand up.
The lecture was about the beginning verses of chapter 9 of Bhagavad-Gita. The tempo was kind of slow because of the translation but it didn't affect people's concentration.
Shyam Gopal Das - January 3, 2005 2:36 pm
I just got back to a computer with internet here in Holland. It's nice to see Gurunistha posting from Poland too!! I will post something soon about my experiences this special week. But I'm off to take a nap now.
Babhru Das - January 3, 2005 5:19 pm
Let me belatedly join the chorus of congratulations for Bhrigu. We knew this was coming, and we're happy to hear of your--and our--good fortune.
Kamalaksa Das - January 3, 2005 8:04 pm
These are some random thoughts accompanied with pictures from the 26th of December to the 2nd of January. I hope you enjoy them as much as we all enjoyed having Swami over here.
Kamalaksa Das - January 3, 2005 8:05 pm
The boys
Jananivas and Bhrigu, with Mathuranath in front.
Jananivas is the vegan of our group, who from time to time gives us his evil eye for induldging in milk-products. He is happy to please though: give him some crushed soy beans and he's happy as a clam.
Bhrigu on the other hand can appreciate most preparations, as long as they follow the Gita's instructions; juicy, fatty and wholesome, pleasing both the heart and soul.
Kamalaksa Das - January 3, 2005 8:07 pm
Initiation
The morning Bhrigu got initiated. In an ironic twist of fate our own Mr. Fire-sacrifice didn't get to burn anything on the day of his own initiation. Still, I think Bhrigu took some consolation in the fact that the given day was Bhaktisiddhanta's dissapearence day.
It was a very nice moment. To be honest with all of you, a moment many of us had been either hoping of waiting for for quite some time.
Prior to getting to the point of sitting in front of Swami, there were some practical considerations that needed to be tended to. We learned about the initiation the night before, and thus began a quest for brahmana threads (not available at our local supermarket), neckbeads (we only had single stranded ones) and japa beads (the ones we located were one bead short, which would have made finishing the rounds quicker, but they were still deemed unsuitable).
Somehow or other we made some phone calls in the middle of the night and pulled all our resources, and made it in time.
Bhrigu was later characterized by Swami as "a good catch". I don't think anyone in their full senses would object.
Kamalaksa Das - January 3, 2005 8:08 pm
Dahl
As my ability to cook proper dahl didn't pass Swami's test he himself decided to come and supervise the procedure. Everyone was happy to see him in the kitchen, and I did my best to follow his cooking.
(I am glad Vrindaranya wasn't overseeing this, since I strongly suspect her heart would have stopped beating at the sight of the amount of ghee used...)
Needless to say, Swami's dahl was voted superior by measurement of the emptied kettle!
Kamalaksa Das - January 3, 2005 8:10 pm
Dahl II
Swami still in the kitchen, stirring the dahl.
Guru-nishta may be known for many good qualities, such as his ability to surrender which exceeds anything I will experience in this lifetime, but cooking is not one of his strong points.
I can honestly say that many times I have seen his preparations, I have decided to fast for the rest of the day. Even his dishes have less-than-apetizing names such as "skull" and "tofu splash" (when he was explaining the preparation of this dish I though he was pulling my leg!) I'll leave him to post the recipies, should anyone want them. But let it be known that there have been times when even he himself couldn't consume what he created!
So, he was nervous for for a good reason about the possibility of having to cook for Swami. I think that somehow this information leaked to Swami (it wasn't me!), so it was decided that if some cooking needed to be done in Poland, Swami would take care of it. Such a wise man!
Kamalaksa Das - January 3, 2005 8:11 pm
Kamalaksa in kitchen
I remeber the look on Guru-nishta's face when he first came to our home for dinner when I explained that the first thing one has to do when cooking is envision the whole dish. One has to see that the colors on the plate are appealing, and that the appearence of the dish is almost as important as how it tastes.
He thought I was crazy.
You still think like that Guru-nishta?
I really enjoy cooking for large groups, and if I somehow am able to serve the vaisnavas in this way the I view it as my perfection. I cannot claim to understand Krishna, nor lord Chaitanya. But I do understand that when His followers come over they are often times hungry. I took great pride and pleasure when I got to carry the plate upstairs to Swami. And it gave me great happiness as he agreed to eat most of what we cooked.
Kamalaksa Das - January 3, 2005 8:12 pm
At Jayanta Krishna's and Sulochana's place
On Tuesday night we drove to Jayanta Krishna's and Sulochana's place located near Helsinki, but on the other side from our point of view. The drive is a one and a half hour one, which by American standards isn't anything.
We heard a very nice talk, but especially sweet was the more informal talk which took place while eating. We heard from Swami about him and his friends preaching in Eastern Europe, which were quite adventurous times to say the least. We also heard of him running around the LA airport dressed in different wigs and funky clothing, outrunning security while looking for confused souls in search of Krishna.
Kardama and I had quite a ball envisioning Swami all dressed up. Oh, I would pay much for a picture from that time!
Upon leaving Swami noticed a pair of small Krishna-Balarama deities in our hosts' shelf. How the story continues will be revealed in a later episode. Stay posted!
Kamalaksa Das - January 3, 2005 8:14 pm
The famous falafel which turned out to not be a falafel
From left to right we se Narayani, Guru-nishta and Jananivas hiding in the background.
You can find the recipe in an other thread. Enjoy! (Or serve, as Swami would have it...)
Kamalaksa Das - January 3, 2005 8:15 pm
Some philosophy
Twice a day we gathered to listen to Swami speak. Many of the talks were questions and answers, which suited us really well. We have many questions regarding the finer points of Gaudiya vaisnavism, but also quite many regarding practical issues.
Bhrigu summed it up nicely after one of these sessions. He said "isn't it wonderful that someone takes your questions seriously!" Before, in different groups you were even scared to ask questions, and many times you were dismissed by being told that "what kind of stupid question is that?" or even ridiculed for asking.
Many times you got the feeling that the person asking for questions did it mostly for social reasons, not so much to really enlighten the listeners. Not so in Swami's case: he patiently answered all our queries up to a point where we didn't come up with any relevant questions.
So prior to the talk in one of the last days I had to ask Swami to speak from his heart, as we were running out of questions. (The best question we could come up with was "how does it feel to be a Swami?", which even we understood to be a less than worthy question.)
Still, even it was answered in a very nice way during the evning talk.
Kamalaksa Das - January 3, 2005 8:18 pm
The audience
We didn't get quite as a big an audience we would have liked (probably the holiday season took its toll). Still, I can take pride in the fact that those attending the talks were genuinely interested, not only on an intellectuall level, but as a way of making a change in their lives.
As a personal sentiment I have to confess I feel more at home in a smaller, more intimate group, and thus I was quite content to the turn-up. I know it's not a very high thing to think, but that's how I feel for the moment. I have had my time in a group where progress was measured in quantity, so I probably carry with me some aversion for that kind of thinking from the old days.
Krishangi on the other hand would like to have all the people in Southern Finland come over and get initiated. She is more outgoing in comparison to me, and has less reservations about people.
In the picture you can see (from l to r) Bhrigu's back, Narayani, Hanna, Kardama, Mikko's nose, Krishangi's sari, and Shyam Gopal's arms.
Kamalaksa Das - January 3, 2005 8:20 pm
Porridge
In the morning Kardama made porridge for the group. It is but nourishing and cost-effective. He added some blueberries for extra flavour to make it even more palatable.
I personally would starve rather than eat porridge! But that's just picky old me...
Kamalaksa Das - January 3, 2005 8:21 pm
Porridge II
As Brahma-muhurta is defined as the time approximately two hours prior to sunrise which is very beneficial for conducting spiritual practises, we in Finland are quite lucky. At least in wintertime that is. For in December the sun really doesn't rise before some time in between nine and ten.
This means you get to sleep longer in the mornings and still get the bonus.
(Bhrigu, our pukka brahmana, didn't quite agree with my rather selfish and convinient analysis... He spoke about something called renounciation and discipline. Go figure!)
Still, the boys are enjoying breakfast with the sun slowly creeping above horizon.
On a related note: After three days in the country Swami finally remarked "oh, so you get the sun here! I thought I wouldn't be seeing it at all!"
Kamalaksa Das - January 3, 2005 8:22 pm
Singing
We also got around to sing quite some. And it sounded quite nice, though I must admit we could do with some more training. Not so much in singing as in learning the lyrics. Especially as we had people from Narayana Maharaja's group who came to listen to Swami, who knew all the lyrics by heart.
We still have so much to learn. Even the basics are still a bit blurry. But on a more positive note, we also should have some time to learn. And you have to start from somewhere, right?
As Swami said in a talk, its easy to be humble when you don't have anything to be proud of.
In the background you can see Mikko in the red sweater, as well as Victoria in a brown shirt.
Kamalaksa Das - January 3, 2005 8:23 pm
Singing II
On Bhaktisiddhantas disappearence day we sang quite a few songs depicting the spiritual master. As you can see, the amount of songbooks in our house was quite limited, so we had to do some sharing. It went well though. Plus Bhrigu knew really many of the songs by heart, so at least one of us over here up North has hope.
Pictured (from l to r) Bhrigu, I, Swami and Mathuranath.
Kamalaksa Das - January 3, 2005 8:24 pm
The walk
One day Swami decided to take a walk. This made me happy for several reasons. I like Swami a lot. And I like walking a lot. So a combination of the two has to be something especialy nice, right?
Plus, we finaly got to see Swami wear the winter boots we aquired for him (unfortunately no seen in the picture) as well as the scarf knitted by Krishangi, and the woollen "swami" hat made by my 87-year old grandmother. Some vaisnava-seva better late than never!
The walk was very nice. We first headed towards the river, then crossed it along the newly constructed bridge. (The world's most beautiful bridge according to a local newspaper, but that information might just be slightly biased...) Then we walked by the river to the old part of Porvoo, with buildings from as early as the 17th centurty.
The weather was perfect. Just a few degrees below freezing, with the sun shining in the winter sky. We talked about different things, telling Swami about the town, and about the Finnish winter. He then told us his childhood winters in Chicago where somewhat similar, and how he and his brother used to go running on the ice there.
In some context which I fail to recall I also told Swami how, if someone would have asked me five years ago, what Krishna consciousness was, I could have given an quick and exact answer.
If someone would ask me the same question today, I told him, I would simply stutter, and finaly have to admit that I wouldn't know.
He said that it was a good sign, and that you could see that I was making progress. That knowing the unknowable is impossible without the grace of the unknowable. I'm not alway so sure. Sometimes I feel I'm just getting dumber and dumber. Or filling my head with everything except Krishna consciousness.
In the picture (l to r) Bhrigu (note the fancy hat!), Krishangi, Swami, Guru-nishta, Shyam-gopal (note the red ears as he didn't want to wear a woollen hat!) and Hanna.
Vrindaranya Dasi - January 4, 2005 12:06 am
Jaya! Thank you for the pictures and wonderful commentary!
Dayal Govinda Dasa - January 4, 2005 2:15 am
I'd like to second the thanks.
It's been quite nice to be on the other side of the computer screen for this tour, I now understand how eager people are for these reports. I must be more attentive in future.
Please don't leave us hanging with the story about the Krsna Balarama Deities.
Guru-nistha Das - January 4, 2005 5:50 am
Thank you, Dear Kamalaksha, for sharing with the world how excellent cook i am
Yesterday morning, when Guru Maharaja was eating his breakfast, he mentioned that he had seen Krsna Balarama deities on a shelf at Sulochana's and Jayanta Krsna's home and they were not worshiped. He said that he had had a dream of them the previous night and asked me to contact Jayanta Krsna if they would like to give the Deities for Guru Maharaja to worship. Jayanta Krsna and Sulochana agreed and now we will arrange it that we can take Krsna Balarama with us to Audarya!
Narada-kunda Dasi - January 4, 2005 12:00 pm
Would someone kindly share Swami's itinerary in Europe? Is Poland the last leg of his tour?
And when is his next visit?
Thank you...
Swami - January 4, 2005 12:14 pm
Yes, Poland is the last leg and on the 8th of January Guru maharaja and I will fly back to San Francisco.
Nothing is decided as to when GM is coming to Europe again, but he will probably come to Finland in the summer.
Guru-nistha Das - January 4, 2005 12:18 pm
Oops... (if there would be a smiley that was blushing, I would use it now)
The previous post was sent by me, we are using the same computer. Sorry.
Vrindaranya Dasi - January 4, 2005 12:29 pm
Wow! I don't suppose that anyone has a picture of the Krsna-Balarama Deities to post?
Shyam Gopal Das - January 4, 2005 2:07 pm
I don't remember anyone taking a picture as they were kind of hidden and are quite small. Guru Maharaj only noticed them on the way out and I remember him looking at them in a special way.
Guru-nistha Das - January 4, 2005 2:12 pm
No, unfortunately not. I didn' even see them myself, but GM told that they are about five inches tall.
Yesterday when we were driving to attend the evening program, GM made some remarks of the architecture of former Communist countries. He said that they are without exception very gray, impersonal and industrial. There was no space for individuality in those times.
These little informal chats are great. He is obviously not attached to the world he's observing and that makes his comments so much more interesting.
On the evening lecture Guru Maharaja continued to explain the ninth chapter of Gita. At one point he was talking about the difference between Goloka and Vaikuntha. He said that the USA is the world's biggest military might, but still you don't see tanks or missiles or soldiers anywhere. They are there but the are on the background for the sake of peaceful living. Then he paused for a second and said: that's not quite how it was in the Soviet Union. This seemed to really get the attention of the Polish devotees, they were laughing like anything. The lecture was quite philosophical and I was happy that it was translated, because I had more time to think. I understood the acintya part but not the bhedabheda
After the lecture many devotees had questions concerning personal problems. Premarnava asked why Maya is so strong and why does it feel like the more he tries to proggress, the further he gets. Guru maharaja answered that Maya is strong because it's Krsna's shakti and everybody laughed at the obviousness of it. He also said that there is no question of going backwards if a person keeps good company and holds on to his sadhana. It may seem like we are not proggressing but it's happening beneath the surface.
Syamasundara - January 4, 2005 3:13 pm
Not so in Swami's case: he patiently answered all our queries up to a point where we didn't come up with any relevant questions.
Oh you should have been in Eugene back in the days during the sunday feasts.
The smelliest, most clueless hippies would ask the most out there questions, GM would listen, make a space rocket of words to fetch their question orbiting in the universe, and always, always, always bring it home to Mahaprabhu and Radha-Krishna, and in the mood of the particular book he was writing at the moment.
Mathura-natha Das - January 4, 2005 3:33 pm
I saw the Krishan-Balaram deities, and they where standing on a shelf, and it was quite easy to miss them when passing bye. I remember that when my eyes met the deities i was kinda chocked in a supprised way "What are Krishna-Balaram doing there?" But i´m happy that GM wants to take care of them since they looked a little lonely...
Guru-nistha Das - January 4, 2005 3:47 pm
Today I woke up to Guru Maharaja switching the lights on and off and saying it's time to get up. I was caught off guard and was just trying to think where I was. Poland? Right.
A cool polish devotee called Deva Puri dasi was cooking the breakfast again. I took the tray to Guru Maharaja and wondered why there was so much bread and cheese. I mean, who eats ten sandwiches in the morning? Then it dawned on me. Last night after the evening lecture Gnievko and me were sitting at the kitchen table and GM joined us and asked for a cheese sandwich. Gnievko had given a little inside knowledge to Deva Puri. Polish people are sweet, no doubt. One of the most hospitable people I have met.
On the way to hold the morning lecture, Guru Maharaja asked if I had noticed a difference between Finnish and Polish driving habits. It wasn't hard to notice. Lila-sakti dasi drove like crazy. I have been to Poland once before and I've never been so scared of driving. When Krsangi was taking us to the airport few days ago, she was driving as carefully as a grandma with an electric-scooter and right from the Warsaw airport, the journey became a lot more hectic. GM laughed as Lila-sakti was showing her driving skills. He said that even this is nothing compared to India.
At Gaura-Sakti's, GM continued with chapter 9 of the Gita. He got a little carried away in further explaining the philosophy of acintya bhedabheda and didn't read a single verse from chapter nine, and I think it was great. So many fine points. GM has been talking a lot about how unique the concept of God is in Gaudiya Vaishnavism. He explained: In what other tradition is there an idea that God has a problem? How could it be possible? Doesn't it mean that we are in big trouble? If the maintainer of everything has a problem we all have a problem. The problem of God is, that he is in love. All the problems that we find in the material world concerning love relationships, is a reflection of God's problem. And what potential there is for a person who helps God solve his problem. That's what Gaudiya Vaishnavas try to do.
It was a charming presentation. It's a pretty revolutionary idea that we can actually help God in his personal life.
After the lecture an older lady approached GM and gave him a woolen pillow. I think it was sweet. Yesterday after the lecture, Gnievko took two brass bells from a plastic bag and started to ring them. At first I was a bit confused, I didn't know if he had gone mad or was it some kind of a Polish tradition, but it turned out that they were meant for the cows at Audarya. It was a fitting present, since GM had just previously said on the lecture that we should know everything about cows and talked a lot about them.
Hm... I hope I'm not being too specific with my reports. Let me know if they are too long, ok?
Krsangi Dasi - January 4, 2005 4:46 pm
I would like to point out that I usually don't drive "as carefully as a grandma with an electric-scooter", but it was snowing hard and I didn't want to end up hitting some tree with Guru Maharaja in the car. Let me assure you, dear Tattva-viveka members, that I normally drive really fast but really well, and even Guru-Nistha admits this.
K.
Shyam Gopal Das - January 4, 2005 6:37 pm
I can tell Kamalaksha and Krsangi are missing Gurunistha already and vice versa.
Krsangi Dasi - January 4, 2005 7:09 pm
I don't have much to add to Kamalaksa's description of last week, but there's one thought that I wanted to share with you.
It seems to me that quite some devotees end up leaving Gaudiya Vaishnavism and turning to Buddhism. They seem to have lost their interest in Krishna. Listening to Guru Maharaja talk I was thinking that he talks about Krishna in a way that makes him sound so real, so close to us. It is as if Krishna was an old dear friend of Guru Maharaja who he's been speaking with upstairs right before coming down to speak to us.
This makes it even harder for me to understand how someone could turn away from Krishna, the sweet friend of our Guru Maharaja. Listening to him I feel that I also want to get to know Krishna, to love him, and to meet him. Wherever Guru Maharaja wants to take me, I'll follow.
Yours,
Krsangi
Guru-nistha Das - January 5, 2005 7:40 am
Yesterday, after the morning lecture we went back to the guesthouse. Guru maharaja said he would like to make the dahl and so I started to boil the lentils. As Kamalaksha has kindly made it known, I'm probably the worst cook in the long history of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. And it irritates me that I don't know much about anything, because it's making my service to GM rather limited. There's a verse in the Gita where Krsna describes his devotees, and one of the qualifications is that s/he is expert. I didn't understand it at the time when we had our latest Gita meeting, but now it's clear like spring water. I must become expert. GM deserves better. So, having these thoughts in my head while boiling the dahl, once again I had to admit my ignorance: "Um... Guru Maharaja, do you use curry in dahl?"
I served GM's lunch again, one of my favourite things of the day. We talked about Kamalaksha's cooking and what a great couple Krsangi and Kamalaksha are. I told GM that sitting in their kitchen is like being in the middle of a quality sitcom. GM laughed heartily and it's obvious that he has a lot of affection for them.
The evening program was somehow very intense. GM was talking about how it is possible for us to come under the influence of svarup- shakti. First he talked about the verse of Bg. chapter 9 where Krsna describes devotees and non-devotees. He said that a devotee in this occasion means a bhava-bhakta. Bhava-bhaktas are the real reason why Krsna descends on Earth. GM explained the constituents of bhava and explained that those who are on the level of bhava, are under the influence of svarup-shakti. When explaining how we can reach that state, he made an analogy of a little company, that really doesn't have possibilities to grow to it's full measure on its own. But if the little company is showing potential and sincerely asking help from a big company, the big will purchase the small one and that way the small company can grow the way it could have never imagined before. The stock options will rise to the sky. The same way we have to show potential and interest in coming under the spiritual reality and pray for those who have bhava, who are the lifewire of svarup-shakti manifesting in this world. It's only by their grace that we can grow to our full potential.
Rama Priya asked how one can have a closer reltionship with her/his spiritual master (I was feeling so priviledged. I feel like I'm not worthy of this, but at this point it's useless to start apologizing, better just to do the best I can.)
GM answered that one has to be interested in what the guru has to say, to show potential, and this makes the guru interested in the disciple.
When we were driving back to the guesthouse, I asked GM if the current of svarup-shakti is stronger if one is in physical proximity with his guru. GM said that basically that's the case.
When we got out of the car and I was holding a big black umbrella above his head as we were walking towards the house, I felt secure and calm.
Guru-nistha Das - January 5, 2005 1:20 pm
When GM was taking his breakfast (we have a new record! More than ten sandwiches on the plate) he asked me for the second time today how I was doing. I realized that he had to be thinking I was on a bad mood, because I hadn't talked much in the morning. I explained that I'm doing really good and that it's a very Finnish characteristic that if you don't have anything special to say, you don't speak. GM added "unless you've had a couple beers".
Yup. That's Finland.
The lecture was again full of different concepts and ideas. This time it was a bit easier to follow because I was taking notes. GM has been talking about how the ninth chapter holds in it the secret of secrets, the king of knowledge, but he adn't mentioned yet what the secret was. The answer should have been obvious: bhakti.
GM said that love itself is essential knowledge. When you love, you just know what to do. It comes naturally.
GM made a point that Krsna is purchased by his devotees. Nothing else really gets his attention. And that is because a devotee proper is under the jurisdiction of svarup-shakti. GM said that in fact, the devotees are more important than Krsna. My brain took a few extra rolls. What?
GM explained that the real devotees are under svarup-Shakti, which is a manifestation of Krsna's "better half", Radha. GM had explained this many times before but I guess I wasn't thinking enough.
Guru Maharaja continued: the main quality of Krsna is his love for his devotees. Then, what kind of a devotee is he who loves Krsna but not his devotees.
This made me think about the people who critisize GM. The more I get to know GM, the more furious I become towards those people. In the name of some stupid institutionalized narrow-mindness they critisize a pure vaishnava. Gnievko told me earlier that a lot of people in ISKCON Poland are angry that GM is here. I have to bite my lip not to use any swear words. And as GM said on the lecture today, we have to stay as far as possible from those people, to be able to respect them from a distance. I don't know if there's enough room in this universe to keep so much distance that I can start to respect them.
Vrindaranya Dasi - January 5, 2005 2:37 pm
Hm... I hope I'm not being too specific with my reports. Let me know if they are too long, ok?
They are perfect. Really loving them. The personal reflections are great.
I'm also relishing the exchanges between the Finnish devotees. Priceless. I agree we should pitch a K K & K (Krsna, Krsangi, and Kamalaksa) sitcom to the networks (reality show?).
Guru-nistha Das - January 5, 2005 3:44 pm
"I agree we should pitch a K K & K (Krsna, Krsangi, and Kamalaksa) sitcom to the networks (reality show?)."
Hahaa. That would be 1000 times better than the Osbournes.
Guru-nistha Das - January 5, 2005 4:10 pm
GM had mentioned an interesting point on the lecture. He said that Krsna may personally arrange that his bhava-bhakta seems to fall down. I found it interesting because it's so normal now-a-days that a guru falls down and his disciples are sure to say that it was Krsna's arrangement.
So the question is how to differentiate between a person whose fall down really is Krsna's work and a person who had just pretended to be a bhava-bhakta but never wasn't?
GM explained that what the devotee does after the falldown shows his real level of advancement. If it's Krsna's arrangement, he will rise to heights that he had never been in before and if it was just a pretender exposing himself, he will not be able to hold onto his previous standard. GM commented in the car when we were driving back that in the case of, for example, Harikesa it's not very hard to see which cathegory he was in.
It was sweet when after the lecture when we had just hopped into Lila-Shakti's Peugeot GM asked me "Well, how did we do?" What can you say? Good as always.
GM had many darshans today but I didn't dare to easedrop although I had wanted to. Devapuri was funny a bit earlier today when she tried to ask from GM what he would like for lunch. GM said lasagne and Devapuri nodded and said yes, yes. Few minutes later it turned out that she had never made lasagne and didn't have any cookbooks. She was just so enthusiastic to serve GM that she probably would've tried to make a human-size portrait of Stevie Wonder out of cheese if GM had asked. She rules.
Babhru Das - January 5, 2005 6:22 pm
GM explained that the real devotees are under svarup-Shakti, which is a manifestation of Krsna's "better half", Radha. GM had explained this many times before but I guess I wasn't thinking enough.Guru Maharaja continued: the main quality of Krsna is his love for his devotees. Then, what kind of a devotee is he who loves Krsna but not his devotees.
This made me think about the people who critisize GM. The more I get to know GM, the more furious I become towards those people. In the name of some stupid institutionalized narrow-mindness they critisize a pure vaishnava. Gnievko told me earlier that a lot of people in ISKCON Poland are angry that GM is here. I have to bite my lip not to use any swear words. And as GM said on the lecture today, we have to stay as far as possible from those people, to be able to respect them from a distance. I don't know if there's enough room in this universe to keep so much distance that I can start to respect them.
This is an important point. It seems it's possible to feel the necessary respect for some only from that distance. That's one reason I was happy to be able to move away from where I lived before. Last week I visited the San Diego ISKCON center, where I offered different kinds of service for several years. On Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura's tirobhava the temple president kindly requested that I give the morining class. The few devotees who were there were very gracious and seemed to appreciate the points I tried to make, one of which I supported by reading from Swami's Sri Guru-parampara. However, when I went in the eening, a prominent ISKCON sannyasi/guru gave the lecture, which was nothing but political propaganda, replete with wholesale criticism of all of Srila Prabhupada's godbrothers, in the guise of glorification of Srila Sarasvati Thakura. I was stunned, then seething. I found out that I wasn't the only one in the room unhappy with the talk. But far too many in attendance seemed to think it was great. Just see how the culture of ISKCON has changed, that so many experienced members are now inured to such foolishness.
Regarding the Polish ISKCON devotees, Guru-nistha's comments reminded me of an incident on the Web a few years ago. Someone in California had written asking who Siddhasvarupananda was, since his son was associating with Siddha's follwers there. Someone responded with a diatribe that echoed the nonsense we heard in the '70s. When I wrote that, since I knew Siddha personally since 1970, I knew that most of the accusations were, old, tired, and false, and went on one of my tears about the dangers of vaishnava aparadha. This devotee responded that he was only distrubed because Siddha and his followers were making a lot of devotees in Poland. My reply to that was that they should celebrate lost souls being brought to the service of the holy name and just keep some distance from other groups if they couldn't appreciate them. Moreover, ISKCON Poland should be grateful to Siddha's folks because they helped ISKCON fight a dangerous lawsuit there. Tusta Krishna's testimony was apparently devastating to the case against ISKCON.
Srila Sridhar Maharaja's warnings about institutional consciousness are important to heed. We seem to find reasons every day to be grateful to benefit from his realizations and those of our beloved Swami.
Guru-nistha Das - January 6, 2005 6:47 am
Yesterday when I was sitting on my bed and reading Sri Guru and His Grace, GM came in and said with a funny tone in his voice "Looks like you're enjoying a good book". When we were walking to the car, GM reflected on the time when the book came out. He said that at that time there was a lot of confusion with the concept of a real guru. The discussion of Prabhupada's successor was going on. While we were driving to Gaura-sakti's GM was explaining the whole background of how Sridhar Maharaja was giving siksa to ISKCON devotees and how GM came in contact with him. I listened greedily.
It was the same book that I was reading, that made GM understand that here is a real guru. He said that he read one quarter of the book and it was clear to him that Sridhar Maharaja was to be his guru. Lila-sakti turned to the frontyard as GM said "and as a result we are here today". Amen to that.
The evening lecture started with the verse patram puspam palam toyam... and GM was underlining how easy and efficient the process of bhakti is compared to other paths. He said that anyone can make an offering to Krsna, "Even the Polish people". Gita shows the supremacy of bhakti by contrasting it with other paths. Some people confuse it to mean that the Gita is recommending different approaches, but GM said that in reality it's only about bhakti.
After mentioning that at this point of Gita Krsna becomes emotional while thinking of his devotees, GM explained that we should pray from Krsna for sakti to serve our Gurudeva, and Krsna gives it easily, because his problem with his devotees is that he wants tos erve them, but they don't want to take anything from Krsna. So Krsna does it in a hidden way through us. GM pointed out that we are all fruits of this kind of thinking. Prabhupada came to the west because Bhaktisidhanta asked him. On the Jaladhuta Prabhupada wrote a poem to Krishna where he asked for sakti to make his service to his Gurudeva possible. GM said that it's an ever unchangeable fact of life, that if Radha is pleased with you, your life will be successful. Prabhupada understood that and he wrote to the poem, that Bhaktisidhanta Sarasvati's svarup is a handmaiden of Radha and he wanted to please Radharani by spreading bhakti to the world. Prabhupada pleaded to Krsna that he can please Radha by empowering Prabhupada with his sakti and helping him to be successful. GM played the part of Krsna: "O, I can please Radha by doing that?! Balarama, come here! Go inside this man immedeately." The reason behind Prabhupada's success was Krsna's desire to please Radha.
What a beautiful explanation. After the lecture I said to GM that Prabhupada was basically blackmailing Krsna and GM laughed and said "Exactly. That's how Krsna's friends deal with him".
I'm happy that I don't have a Christian upbringing. It would probably be a lot harder to accept that God can be such a colorful person.
Bhrigu - January 6, 2005 9:37 am
Thank you so much Gurunistha for these postings. I really like how you summarise points from Guru Maharaja's lectures and tell us about small, personal incidents and exchanges with Guru Maharaja. Please keep up the good work! Could you also tell us a bit about the devotees in Poland? Do many people come to the classes?
Shyam Gopal Das - January 6, 2005 10:31 am
I'm impressed by your reports Gurunistha, every morning I check TV in the hope that you have posted something new!
btw. for those with some spare time and wondering what Poland looks like: check http://www.zalibarek.com/poland/ for the scenic spots
Guru-nistha Das - January 6, 2005 12:01 pm
Thanks guys. It's just so fun to write (and live these times!) that I don't really need to make any effort. I'm lucky that I have an internet connection in "my" room, so I can still memorize all the feelings and words that were spoken.
Something about the Polish devotees: the seem to be really sincere and I'm really impressed by how much Gaura-Sakti has made here. All the devotees have come to GM through him and he's just a very humble guy. On the lectures there has been about 15 to 20 people, all devotees. No public programs.
Well, Devapuri I have already introduced.
Then there's Lila-Sakti a lady in her 40's. She's got some serious backbone, it seems. She does everything in time and very precisely. And she drives like no western man has driven before.
Then there's Gnievko, a 23-year-old devotee who lives on the Polish mountains. He has been in ISKCON since the year 1997, but when he read the report that Gaura-Sakti had written about Audarya and GM on a Polish Vaishnava website, he was totally sold. He said that he thought that it couldn't be possible that there was such a person as GM but when he met him, he knew it was true. Gnievko is sleeping also at the guesthouse because he speaks English, and he will be initiated tomorrow, among four other devotees (Our Finnish recruiting team is really getting behind! Emergency meeting!). His wife gets initiated as well.
Then there's Premarnava, a metal/punk kid in his twenties. He's got a Krsna Conscious band called Omkara in which his girlfirend sings. Premarnava asks the most questions on the lecture. His girlfriend also attends the lectures and is an initiated disciple of Indradyumna Swami, but I can't remember her name. Yesterday she was here at the guesthouse, doing seva for GM. That was cool.
Rohini-nandana is also a guy in his twenties. He seems really sincere and I felt bad for him when he told me that he had tried about 8 times to go to Audarya but they never give him a visa. I can't imagine how bad it feels when he has a real calling to go there but just can't. I'm feeling priviledged again. His girlfriend will get initiated as well.
I haven't talked with the other devotees so I can't really tell much about them, but I like the atmosphere here. It's more emotional than in Finland (where wouldn't it be more emotional than in Finland?) One thing I've noticed is that the polish male devotees don't use dhotis. Gaura-Sakti wrote me earlier that you can get hassled for wearing a "skirt" so it's understandable. Yesterday when we walked to the apartment from the car, a group of men were talking loudly close to us. When they saw our clothes they fell completely silent. Then they started to whisper something. I was ready to kick some Poland-thug butt but luckily they weren't so tough afterall. 
After the initiations of tomorrow there will be something like 16 initiated disciples of GM in Poland. Yesterday I mentioned to GM in the car that Krsangi is always trying (half)jokingly to think of her friends who could take initiation from GM so that we don't get left behind from the Polish and GM laughed and said "That's good. The spiritual world is full of that kind of competition".
Guru-nistha Das - January 6, 2005 2:36 pm
It was kind of hard to rise today. The clock rang at 4:30 and the same pattern went on in my head: Where? In Poland. Right.
I'm so ridiculously psyched about my new life that it's hard to get sleep in the night because I think of everything that's happened and worry about the flight tickets and recordings and GM's prasadam and what not.
In the morning I was chanting in my room and GM came in. He said good morning and I replied. Then he waited for a while and said "Pay your obeisances" I didn't hear it and he said "That should be the first thing in the morning when you see your guru, you should pay your obeisances". I bowed down and felt like an ass again, but in a good way.
It's ekadasi today so we had a little fun with Gnievko and made a pretty spectaculiar (I admit, to use that word is exaggeration) fruitplate to GM. I took the plate and some yoghurt to GM and sat down.
When we were in Finland, Kamalaksa told about this beautiful mansion in the archipelago right next to Helsinki. It costs 700 000 Euros (1000 000 dollars) and Kamalaksa said that he could really imagine a temple there.
When GM was eating his magnanomous (hahaa) fruitplate, he brought up the subject again. He said he was interested in the mansion. I said it's rather expensive and GM replied "Krsna is not a poor man, you know?"
We were also talking about commitment in spiritual life and I said that I have a tendency to be afraid of responsibility and that I should get rid of it. "Yeah, you should", GM replied. "But sometimes you are afraid of responsibility because you don't find pleasure in the reason why you should take responsibility. You follow?" Then he continued " I wasn't a very motivated person before I met Prabhupada. But he made me take so much responsibility and do so many things".
The morning program was special today. You probably think that I just say this of every lecture because I don't dare to be honest but really, these Poland lectures have been awesome. For some unknown reason I really got into the Kirtan today. It was super sweet and GM worshipped the Mrdanga with the concept of "tough love" in mind. Loud beats. There must be so much hidden feeling in the Kirtan that we are just missing out on.
Today was the last lecture on the ninth chapter. It was time for a conclusion.
GM started with the famous verse that says that even if a person who is very misbehaved is exclusively worshipping Krsna, he is to be considered a sadhu. This verse obviously rises a lot of controversy (I mean, if a person who is in the position of a Sannyasi is throwing pieces of "adult entertainment" DVDs out of his window to the street, as has happened in Finland, I wouldn't be the first to cite this verse.)
The moral, religious world tries to explain this verse away and it's hard for them to accept it, but GM said that we should be careful that we don't undermine bhakti alltogether with our explanations. I was a bit confused with this.
GM made a remark that at first I couldn't connect with anything. He said that Krsna is really misbehaved. Then he continued that Caitanya taught through his exemplary behaviour how to understand his own (=Krsna's) misbehavior.
GM said that the verse under discussion is talking about bhava bhaktas. Then he asked "how is it possible then that a pure devotee is misbehaved?"
GM gave some more "conservative" explanations on the verse, but as a conclusion he told us the realization of Bhaktivinoda Thakur. Bhaktivinoda said that this verse is about the "irreligious" feelings that Krsna and the gopis are feeling towards each other. And this so-called misbehavior is in fact the highest thing there is. And by glorifying the Gopis' misbehavior we actually become religious, or rather suprareligious.
So this was what GM meant earlier by mentioning how Lord Caitanya's exemplary character taught us to understand Krsna's misbehavior. There were so many fine points in the lecture that I can't tell them all, but I dearly recommend to get the Poland MP3 (and the Finland MP3 of course) when it comes out.
When we hopped into Lila-sakti's Peugeot once again, GM said that he thought the lectures were a pretty good reading of the ninth chapter. I said that it's really helpful to understand the point from different angles of vision and see fresh connections between everything when every lecture has some of the same concepts but keeps adding into what's already been said. GM chuckled and said "Yeah, that's what I've been doing for 33 years now." GM also said that he said a lot of things he had never said before, it was just coming from his mouth and he was even himself amazed of some things he said. He said he had wished that he had thought of them before he made the commentary to the ninth chapter of his Gita. "Maybe I'll write a new book based on the ninth chapter", he said.
We talked all the way back to the house.
It's funny, in these five days with GM I've learned unlimitedly more about spiritual life than in the seven years I was hanging on the outskirts of our tradition. GM mentioned on the lecture previously that Lord Caitanya didn't write any books because he wanted to make a point that teaching by example is more important. I have no doubt about that.
Jagannatha - January 6, 2005 4:35 pm
Today is Ekadasi (right?) and I am taking some extra time for hearing and chanting -- including reading the entire "Tons of Fun in Finland (and Poland)" postings. Thank you so much for taking the time to write your accounts. I feel like I'm there when reading them, and getting to know all of you. I so much admire your willingness and ability to be yourselves. I am a product of another era in ISKCON where the training was that we should all be exactly the same, devoid of individuality. I'm still trying to shake that, particularly in the association of Swami and this community of devotees. I'm very grateful for your association, and of course for Swami's incredible wisdom and devotion.
I can't wait to hear all the European lectures on the MP3 CDs.
Guru-nistha Das - January 6, 2005 7:35 pm
Thanks Jagannatha. Believe me, if Swami would've not made it very clear to me that he wants his disciples to think for themselves and show some of that individuality, I would be stiff as a salt statue in his presence. And that's what I was too at first. But he made it obvious that by being ourselves we can serve him better, so there's two flies down at one strike (I doubt if that finnish saying really translates...)
I can imagine that ISKCON loses so much potential because people don't dare to be themselves so the authorities can't engage them in the best way and so much talent gets lost.
On the other hand, there's a huge possibility in my opinion for our group because our Swami encourages people to be real and that way he will see what they are good at. We have huge potential because we have the best captain of the whole seven seas
p.s. I apologize if I sometimes come off as thinking that I know more about things than I really do. I just love to write down how GM influences my thoughts.
Swami - January 7, 2005 7:48 am
Ladies and gentlemen,
the time has come for the last report from Poland, Europe.
GM had a lot of darshans yesterday. At about 3 PM I took the tray to him and sat down. GM said that he had liked what I had written in my report about becoming furious to people who critisize him. " You have bias, that's good. Devotees should be passionate about what they are doing".
When we were driving to the evening lecture in Lila-Sakti's confident ride we didn't talk much. Just before arriving at Gaura-sakti's GM started talking about Sri Guru and His Grace. He said it was unbelievable that the ISKCON authorities refused to see that it was the real thing. It made me think about what ISKCON would be like today if the authorities had let Sridhar Maharaja take the charge, or if they had even listened to him. What an opportunity they wasted.
Because the ninth chapter was already explained thoroughly, the evening lecture was a questions & answers-session. It started with a very siddhantic question. Devapuri asked for a recipe for the dahl GM had cooked on Wednesday. I think it was hilarious and everybody were laughing.
Premarnava asked about GM's ideas about preaching and how it would be most effective to push Lord Caitanya's movement forward.
Guru Maharaja said there are two main reasons why someone's preaching isn't effective: s/he lacks spiritual potency and lacks contemporarity. One has to sort out what's essential and what's not and that requires some realization. He talked a lot about how Prabhupada was flexible and contemporary in his own way. Sometimes it feels like Prabhupada's so-called followers thought that only Prabhupada had the right to adjust the details and after that, the details become principles and are set to stone. I don't find that to be very good logic because as GM has pointed out many times, the world is a lot different from the 60's and 70's. GM said that the temple model has gotten old. "Earlier you joined and went straight to the street to collect some money. That's not a good idea"
GM stressed that it should be taken into consideration right from the beginning that the life of a monk is not for everybody. He explained that instead of a monk institution we have to put emphasis on strong community, because that's what's realistic for most people. Of course there would be monks too, but not that everybody tries to be one. GM said that the community should be tight but people should have enough room for themselves so that they can feel comfortable.
GM said that the most effective way to spread Krsna Consciousness is to be Krsna conscious. This makes even more sense to me know that GM has been talking for the whole week how bhava comes to the world through pure devotees.
How could someone give something he doesn't have?
Hm... sounds like those zen-buddhist riddles.
Premarnava wanted to ask if it was hard for GM personally in his early days to come out of the influence of material nature, but the idea was hard to catch at first because the translator started by saying "He wants to ask about your personal life". GM replied "I don't have one". We had to laugh again.
Got to run now, we have some packing to do.
NrsinghaDas - January 7, 2005 4:57 pm
Swami must be speaking in third person again, its so funny when he does that.
Shyam Gopal Das - January 7, 2005 5:49 pm
You know what's even funnier? Gurunistha and computers.
Gopakumardas - January 8, 2005 8:13 pm
GM is not speaking in third person. Guru-Nistha has just probably used the computer after GM was signed on to Tattva Viveka. So his post came under GM name.
While im posting I thought I'de share a picture of GM from Janmastami this year.
Guru-nistha Das - January 10, 2005 6:20 pm
Oh no... I did it again.
I'm sorry. I hope that I can at least inspire others on their spiritual path and show them that somebody is doing even worse than them, by embarrassing myself publicly every once in a while... oh well.
in fact GM said on one lecture in Poland "It's alright to make mistakes because that way you learn". So I'm just following my spiritual master's orders 
Anyway, I'm finally at Audarya and this place is something else. GM encouraged me to keep writing (he actually liked my reports!) although we're not on tour anymore, so you'll be hearing my confusing stories in the future too. Stay tuned.
Jananivasdas - January 15, 2005 12:36 pm
heh!
fun we had...me and guru-nistha saw some smoke.etc. 
im sorry that i didnt stay there too long i had my work,etc. 
hopefully SWAMI got the krishna-balarama deitys?
i remember when swami saw the deitys.he went silent,he gave obeicanses with his eyes and hands to the deitys! it was such a sweet moment.it will stay in my mind forever.
the deitys have been "hangin"out long time at jayanta and sulochanas home.they got 'em from a devotee who couldnt take care of them.in audarya they will get the most perfect home!!! JAY KRISHNA-BALARAMA!!!
jananivas das
ps.hopefully guru-nistha hasnt poisoned swami with his awesome cooking skills??? 
Mayapurcandra Das - January 19, 2005 10:35 am
Yesterday after the lecture, Gnievko took two brass bells from a plastic bag and started to ring them. At first I was a bit confused, I didn't know if he had gone mad or was it some kind of a Polish tradition, but it turned out that they were meant for the cows at Audarya. It was a fitting present, since GM had just previously said on the lecture that we should know everything about cows and talked a lot about them.
Dandavats!
Pranams!
It is my first post on Tattva-viveka, so I want to ask you -dear devoties-for yours indulgence (my English is not so good).
Guru-nistha wrote about the bells , so I want to show this bells.
We had given to Guru Maharaja the bells 
, and we recived from Guru Maharaja new names: mayapurcandra das <gniewko> and my wife Ganga-devi dasi