poetry

And then, in 1936-it's a long history-during this Vyasa-pūja day, this Vyasa-pūja day, whatever I studied about our relationship with my Guru Maharaja I expressed in this poetry, and since that day my Godbrothers used to call me "poet." And Guru Maharaja also very much appreciated this poetry. Now somehow or other you have found it. [laughs] I thought the poetry is lost, but I do not know how it was found out by some of our disciples. I think it was found out in London museum or somewhere else by Guru dasa. They had a stock of Harmonist, and from the Harmonist, my Guru Maharaja's paper, this poetry was found. Otherwise I thought it was lost. So anyway, this poetry is "Adore, adore ye all the happy day, blessed than heaven, sweeter than May." So I heard that the month of May is very pleasing in the Western countries, so I compared the happiness of this day with the May Day. They call May Day?    (More...)

Prabhupada: Yes. "When he appeared at Puri, the holy place, my lord and master, His Divine Grace." So Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura appeared as the son of Bhaktivinoda Thakura, his fourth son. Bhaktivinoda Thakura, he was family man. He has several children, sons and daughters. So Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, known in his previous life as Bimala Prasada Datta, son of Kedaranath Datta... His father, Bhaktivinoda Thakura, his name was. He was magistrate and he was manager also, the managing board of Jagannatha Puri. The system is the local magistrate becomes the official manager of the managing board of Jagannatha Puri. So at that time he was situated in Jagannatha Puri, and Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura appeared at Puri. And the Ratha-yatra, the Ratha-yatra ceremony, takes place, and sometimes the big ratha stops at interval. So the house in which Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura appeared, in front of that house the ratha stopped. So his mother took the advantage and... Because Bhaktivinoda Thakura was magistrate, so the son, the little baby, was brought before the ratha, and the pūjaris allowed him to bring the child before the Deity, and the child was placed before the Deity and a garland was offered by Jagannatha. So that was the first sign of his becoming the acarya. In this way there are many incidences. So therefore his birthplace is mentioned, "the holy place, my lord and master, His Divine Grace." "O my master, the evangelic angel, give us thy light, light up thy candle. Struggle for existence, a human race, the only hope, His Divine Grace."    (More...)

So by that process, lower animals, and then the chronological order is there. First of all aquatics, jalajaḥ. Jalajaḥ means aquatic. Then sthavaraḥ: trees, plants. Then flies, then birds, then beasts, then human being. In this way, bahu sambhavante, after many, many millions of years we get this opportunity of human life to realize God. And this civilization is denying, refusing the opportunity to the human society to understand God-such a soul-killing civilization. It is a fact. They are denying: "What is God? There is no God. Everything is science," although they cannot explain science. They cannot do anything; simply talking like nonsense. Last night some girls came, so they are students of botany. So I asked them, "Can you manufacture a seed which can give birth to a big banyan tree?" "No, sir, it is not possible." Then what kind of botany you are studying? Actually what is their science? They talk simply something which is going on in the middle portion. Where is the beginning and where is the end of knowledge, that they do not know. They are theorizing only in the middle. They do not know janmady asya yataḥ [SB 1.1.1], where is the beginning of this science. That is... Beginning is Krsna. Krsna says, aham sarvasya prabhavo [Bg 10.8].    (More...)

So forty years ago. I remember the same thing as it is in 1922, and still the same thing is going on. There is nothing new. We have nothing to do new. Simply let us present as it is; it will be successful. There is no... You see. The spirit of my writing is the same. "Misled we are, all going astray." This soul-killing civilization is misleading us. We must know it, this very misleading civilization. Our real aim of life is to understand our spiritual identification and search out our relationship with God, Krsna. That is our real business. But this modern civilization is misleading us in different ways. So I wrote this, that "Misled we are, all going astray. Save us, lord, our fervent pray. Wonder thy ways to turn our face, adore thy feet, Your Divine Grace." So this portion he very much appreciated.    (More...)

So we have to find out ways how to turn the current. The current is sense enjoyment. Material life means the current is sense enjoyment, and this current has to be turned-sense enjoyment of Krsna. Sense enjoyment is there, but the material civilization, the misled civilization, is that the sense gratification is taken personal. When this sense gratification will be turned towards Krsna, then our life is successful. Just like gopis. Apparently it appears that gopis, they were attracted by young boy, Krsna, and for their sense gratification they made friendship with Krsna. No. That is not the fact. The fact is that gopis used to dress themselves nicely because by seeing them, Krsna will be satisfied, not that for their sense gratification. Generally a girl dresses herself to attract the attention of the boy. So the same thing is there, but it is Krsna's sense gratification, not the gopis'. The gopis did not want anything. But Krsna will be satisifed. That is the difference between lust and love. Love is there, only possible when it is diverted towards Krsna. That is love. And beyond that... Not beyond that..., below that, everything is lust. So we should always remember this. The senses are not stopped, but when the gratification of the senses is directed towards Krsna, that is bhakti, or love. And when the sense gratification is directed towards personal self, that is lust. This is difference between lust and love. So Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura knew this art, how to turn our activities for the satisfaction of Krsna. This is Krsna consciousness movement. Therefore I... "Wonder thy ways to turn our face, adore thy feet, Your Divine Grace."    (More...)

So "Forgotten Krsna, we fallen souls, pay most heavy the illusion's toll." Because we have forgotten Krsna we are paying heavy, heavy toll, tax, taxation. What is that taxation? The taxation is nivartante mrtyu-samsara-vartmani [Bg 9.3]. This human life is meant for understanding Krsna, but instead of understanding Krsna we are understanding the so-called material science for sense gratification. This is our position. The energy which was given by nature to understand Krsna, that is being utilized how to manufacture something for sense gratification. This is going on. This is maya, illusion. Therefore it is "pay most heavy the illusion's toll." Toll tax. That we are paying because we have forgotten Krsna. Therefore now we have manufactured the nuclear weapon-Russia, America-and you will have to pay heavily. They are already paying heavily. The armament preparation is going on. More than fifty percent of the income of the state are now being spent for this arm..., heavily. Instead of other purposes, it is being spent for military strength, every state. So that heavy toll we are paying. And when there is war there is no limit how much we are spending for this devastation. So why? Because we have forgotten Krsna. This is a fact.    (More...)