The Less You Have, The More Peacuful You Are!

The advertising industry's chief business is to get you to consume as much as you can. Buy, touch, taste, and smell, have more. They even go so far as to say you must have it - if you don't get it, well then you are going to be unhappy. But of course you have to have it, after your next door neighbor has one - you should have one that is better than his. And so it goes, as we work harder to get all those lovely things that are going to make our lives that much better. You know what it's like when you've had too much to eat; you feel a little uncomfortable in your stomach. Well that's what it's like in material existence. Those in that type of lifestyle, say you must have more! But even though they have more, they are still not satisfied. The less you have, the more peaceful you will be! It’s an illusion – a colossal hoax! The less you have, the more peaceful you are! Human life was meant for plain living and high thinking – not complicate living, with no time to think.

Everyone wants to be happy. Some of us seek happiness through our families, in natural and healthy living, in successful careers, active social lives, fine gourmet foods, gambling, or through sports and exercise. Others experience happiness in politics, the arts, academia, or in hobbies ranging from mechanics and computer science to drama, philanthropy, welfare work, and literally thousands of other activities that comprise man's unending quest for pleasure. Millions of people find their happiness in liquor, mood elevators, tranquilizers, or other drugs.

Each day doctors and scientists discover more about how the human mind and body work. Yet with this abundance of scientific knowledge and space-age technology, which vastly outstrips that of all previous generations, is modern man really any happier than his predecessors?

The basic problem in our search for happiness is that our sources of pleasure are all limited.

To achieve this unlimited and imperishable happiness one need only chant and hear what sages of ancient India have for millennia called the Great Chant for Deliverance, the Hare Krsna mahä-mantra. This simple sixteen-word mantra is comprised of sound vibrations powerful enough to awaken the natural happiness within everyone.
Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare
Hare Räma, Hare Räma, Räma Räma, Hare Hare

In recent years, millions have learned how to chant the Hare Krsna mantra and experience this true, spiritual happiness. It is the most popular mantra in India, the homeland of meditation, and differs from other systems in two ways. First, the complete mantra is chanted (not just a fragment of a mantra) and, second, the mantra is chanted aloud (not silently)

Get the higher taste - Chant Hare Krsna and Be Happy!

It was Prabhupada's strong desire, that we distribute his books and make them widely known as far as possible. If we study the pastimes of Srila Prabhupada when he first started writing about Krsna and Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, we will be astonished at his immense faith in Krsna and the instructions of his spiritual master, Bhakti Siddhanta Sarasvati Maharaj. He told Srila Prabhupada, that if he ever got money, that he should print books. Today many years later, the manifestation of that perfect instruction, given by the perfect Person, Lord Sri Krsna, is being witnessed all over the world, from north to south and from east to west. Millions of Srila Prabhupada's books and his Back to Godhead magazine from the BBT's printing press are going out daily. There is hardly a place on the face of the globe where Srila Prabhupada's books are not distributed. Every day thousands of Srila Prabhupada's book distributors are going out handing out the mercy to people to all walks of life and they are becoming devotees of Krsna. By distributing Srila Prabhupada's books, not only are we fulfilling his desires, but we are making spiritual progress with every book that we distribute. The servants of God come to propagate God consciousness, and intelligent people should cooperate with them in every respect. By serving the servant of God, one can please God more than by directly serving the Lord. The Lord is more pleased when he sees that His servants are properly respected because such servants risk everything for the service of the Lord and so are very dear to the Lord. The Lord declares in the Bhagavad-gita (18.69) that no one is dearer to Him than one who risks everything to preach His glory. By serving the servants of the Lord, one gradually gets the quality of such servants, and thus one becomes qualified to hear the glories of God. The eagerness to hear about God is the first qualification of a devotee eligible for entering the kingdom of God. SB 1.2.17 when we distribute a book, the person who receives the book is benefited and the one who distributes the book is benefited. By distributing Srila Prabhupada's books, we are personally assisting lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in his sankirtan mission, in this way He will become pleased with us and we will be recognized by Him. In such a way, the mercy that He is giving us will be increased and we will be eligible for entering the kingdom of God.

In the ten years that I have been distributing Srila Prabhupada's books, I have been astonished at the potency that his books have on peoples lives. Each day when I am distributing his books, I have amazing encounter with the special spirit souls who take them. What makes me even more enthusiastic to distribute his books, is when I see how with enthusiasm, people are taking his books. Sometimes people are completely bewildered why they take the book in the first place. I once distributed a book to a lady lawyer who was in a hurry. I could see that she was in the mode of passion, which of course is quite understandable, considering that downtown; the material energy is the prime factor, as people scurry like ants to their anthills to increase their desire for their material betterment. She gave me a donation and I gave her a book, which I thanked her for taken. As she turned around to leave, she said, "yes thank you, I don't know why I am doing this?" I replied to her, it was because she was a sincere seeker of the Supreme Absolute Truth. Some times a person might not want to take a book, but a the last minute takes one. George Harrison writes in the Krsna book, "Everyone is looking for Krsna. Some don't realize that they are, but they are." So there are so many devotees out there, we just have to go out and find them and give them Srila Prabhupada's books.

Who does not read books? One just has to pass by news agents, book stores and libraries to see the vast variety of books there are to read. But if we study what is on the shelf, we will discover that such books do not have any significance on the lives of people who read them, they do not liberate them from material bondage. Srila Prabhupada's books contain knowledge of the spiritual world and Krsna, which will liberate them from such bondage and suffering, the result of which will bring them peace in their lives. Bhaktisiddidanta Sarasvati Maharaj described the printing press as a brhat mrdanga , a big mrdanga. Although the mrdanga drum had traditionally been used to accompany kirtana, even during the time of Lord Caitanya, and although Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Maharaj himself led kirtana parties and sent groups of devotees chanting in the streets and playing on the mrdanga's, such kirtans could be heard only for a block or two. But with the brhat mrdanga, the big mrdanga drum of the printing press, the message of lord Caitanya could be spread all over the world. So Srila Prabhupada's books are travelling all over the world, we just have to help him, and in no time, the world will be flooded with love of God and the causeless mercy of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu!

Chewing The Chewed!

It was about 5pm, I was taking the trolley back to Old Town station after a blissfull day of distributing Srila Prabhupada's books. I sat down on my seat, and noticed that the majority of people, looked lifeless. It was almost as if every ounce of energy had been drained out of their bodies. No one was even talking - I put my digital camera on to video mode. When I replayed it, I began to understand what Srila Prabhupada said when he spoke of, chewing the chewed. Srila Prabhupada writes in his purport Srimad Bhagavatam 3.9.17

"Persons who are determined to totally rot in false, material happiness cannot become Krsna-minded either by instructions from teachers, by self-realization or by parliamentary discussions. They are dragged by the unbridled senses into the darkest region of ignorance, and thus they madly engage in what is called 'chewing the chewed.'

NB Look at the man sitting on the bench next to the door. They say that the face is the index of the mind: He has most certainly been hammered hard by the full force of material nature!

Harinam - Halloween LA 31st October 2007

Hollywood's Santa Monica Boulevard, pulsed with excitement on Halloween night as hundreds of thousands of Halloween revelers flocked to the famous Boulevard for the 2007 West Hollywood on Wednesday, October 31, 2006 at the Halloween carnival. For the thousands that thronged the boulevard, it was the night that they had been wating for for the whole year - at last they could become the person they always wanted to be (at least for on night!). They wore their fantasy costumes with great pride and much enthusiasm, you could be whoever you wanted to be: You could be a Jeddi from Star Wars, (complete with laser weapon), a devil with horns, a pirate, Dracula, and you saved up the whole year for your costume!

As a traditional event, the devotees, from LA, and devotees who had travelled from San Diego, nicely dressed with dhoti, kurta arrived amidst the fantasy, with the real thing, the holy name of the Lord and the chanting of the Hare Krsna Maha Mantra. Crowds of people watched with great enthusiasm, as some devotees gave out Srila Prabhupada's books and prasadam cookies - some even came to chant with the devotees, with their costumes, even a group that looked as though they had stepped right out from the stone age, complete with Jembay drums, with a night that they would never forget. All glories to Sri Sri Gaur Nitai - All glories to Srila Prabhupada!