There's a way in which Prabhupāda talks about in the Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta that our real project in life is to establish a temple within our hearts. And he says, once you're able to cleanse that temple, of all the anarthas, as one would clean an area and thus build a proper place for the Lord to sit, then once you've established the Lord there, you can hold a festival and distribute prasāda to everybody. So in the Bhāgavatam, Nārada Muni says, iti mūrti abhidhānina mantra mūrti amūrtikam (SB 1.5.38) —The Holy Name itself is our Deity, mūrti, directly Kṛṣṇa, full form. And if we have the oppo ..read more

nārada muni, bājāy vīṇā 'rādhikā-ramaṇa'-nāme nāma amani, udita haya, bhakata-gītā-sāme When the great soul Nārada Muni plays his vina, the holy name, Radhika-raman, descends and immediately appears amidst the kirtan of the Lord’s devotees. (1) ------------------------------------------------------------ To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthespark.com/next-steps/ask-vaisesika-dasa/ ------------------------------------------------------------ Add to your wisdom literature collection: https://iskconsv.com/book-store/ https://www.bbtacademic.com/books/ https ..read more

If we can know what the heart of God is, what He likes particularly, and if somehow or other, we could contribute to that to please Him, what would our life be like? Well, according to the logic of the scriptures, which talks about watering the root of a tree, if we figure out that by watering the root of the tree, the whole tree becomes nourished, and we also, as we discussed yesterday, Prahlāda Mahārāja, points us to a principle through which we can be fully satisfied—not partially, not temporarily, but fully and eternally satisfied—naivātmanaḥ prabhur ayaṁ nija-lābha-pūrṇo, mānaṁ janād avid ..read more

It's A Good Idea To Assume You Know Nothing | Pilgrimage of The Heart | 13 Feb 2025 by Vaisesika Dasa ..read more

tāhāṅ vistārita hañā phale prema-phala ihāṅ mālī sece nitya śravaṇādi jala The creeper greatly expands in the Goloka Vṛndāvana planet, and there it produces the fruit of love for Kṛṣṇa. Although remaining in the material world, the gardener regularly sprinkles the creeper with the water of hearing and chanting. https://vedabase.io/en/library/cc/madhya/19/155/ ------------------------------------------------------------ To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthespark.com/next-steps/ask-vaisesika-dasa/ ------------------------------------------------------------ Ad ..read more

This morning, I woke up and I was thinking of all the things I had to do and problems I had to solve, and "How am I going to do this all?" And then I just started praying, and I said, "Kṛṣṇa," there's a picture of Kṛṣṇa on my wall, and I can see Him as soon as I wake up, "Kṛṣṇa, I think I need a little help. If You could empower me to deal with all the duties that I have to do today." And I immediately felt satisfied, because I just left it to Kṛṣṇa. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu taught this simple process. It's very intuitive. It feels quite natural. There are simple parts to it, and He wanted every ..read more

In the Age of Kali, intelligent persons perform congregational chanting to worship the incarnation of Godhead who constantly sings the names of Kṛṣṇa. Although His complexion is not blackish, He is Kṛṣṇa Himself. He is accompanied by His associates, servants, weapons and confidential companions. https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/11/5/32/ ------------------------------------------------------------ To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthespark.com/next-steps/ask-vaisesika-dasa/ ------------------------------------------------------------ Add to your wisdom liter ..read more

In the Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa has a student named Arjuna, who asked Him various questions. One of the ones that I've always appreciated was, "How do you tell if somebody is spiritually advanced?" And he asked, "How does such a person sit? How does he walk? And also, how does the person speak?" And all of these are indicative of what's inside ourselves—how we speak, how we think about the world, where we walk, where are we going, using our legs. Sometimes we say we "vote with our feet." And Kṛṣṇa said to Arjuna, when He first answered that, "When one is able to notice that the mind is a factory t ..read more

Prabhupāda gives the commentary following Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura's explanation, of these ṣaḍ-garbhāsuras. Ṣaḍ means six. Garbha means womb. Asuras—they were born into Devakī's womb because of a curse, but they're representative of anarthas—unwanted habits and sentiments that are deeply rooted within the heart of someone who's been hanging around the material world since time immemorial, and those must be overcome before one can invite Kṛṣṇa into one's life. And they represent kāma, krodha, lobha, mada, moha, mātsarya—these dastardly six, which are the enemies of the soul. Devakī was afr ..read more

Everyone can become a great devotee, being freed from offenses 100% simply by one's determination and effort. We can remember also that "determination" has the word "terminus" in it; it means to finish something. In the case of chanting japa, there's a complete mantra, there's a complete round, there are complete 16 rounds, and so forth. And if we set ourselves in a mode where we're finishing and being very careful and attentive to finish the mantra, hearing it all the way through, and remembering also that when Yaśodā tried to bind Kṛṣṇa, that there were two inches lacking in the rope each ti ..read more