Notes for healing

In the chapter of the Krishna Book titled "Prayers by the Demigods for Lord Krishna in the Womb," Srila Prabhupada cautions against the tendency to relate to God in a somewhat impersonal way. We understand that Krishna, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, has both personal and impersonal aspects — He is simultaneously one with everything and different from everything. It is easy to see and appreciate the power and energy of Krishna in the world around us, but sometimes not so easy to see or understand Krishna as a person. Who is He? What does He do? The call of the soul, the dharma of life, is to reawaken our relationship with the person Krishna. Prabhupada says we have to have some "feeling for the Personality of Godhead" and to become "affectionately attached" to the Lord. How do we do that? How do we awaken those feelings? A good place to start is to ask ourselves: what do we love about Krishna? Maybe it is His flute playing, or His dancing with th...

Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja In the seventh canto of Srimad Bhagavatam (7.10.15), Prahlada Maharaja prayed to Lord Nrisimhadeva to forgive his father's offenses. Even if someone does something wrong to a Vaishnava, the devotee does not become envious. He never develops an inimical attitude toward any living entity, even an envious person. Although envious people and demons harass devotees, a Vaishnava never thinks ill of them. Rather, he prays to the Lord: "Please excuse him. Please change his nature." As the verse (Bhag. 5.18.9) says, khalah prasidatam — "Let envious persons be pacified." You can pacify a snake using a mantra or ausadhi (medicinal herbs). But envious persons cannot be pacified. Only the Supreme Lord can do it. Therefore, a Vaishnava-sadhu prays to the Lord for their deliverance. Such is the nature of a Vaishnava-sadhu. The Lord's Sudarsana Cakra weapon was rushing to the scene. The Sudarsana Cakra protects devotees. At that ...

By Bhakti Charu Swami A Vaishnava does not want to criticize anyone. In Vrindavan, for example, there was one very, very exalted Vaishnava. One day there was a mahotsava, a festival. Many people were invited. This devotee noticed that one Vaishnava was not there, so he asked what had happened to him. Someone said that he had done this and that, and so they had not invited him. This very senior Vaishnava got up and started to walk toward the door. When asked why he was leaving, he said: "For such a small fault you have rejected him, but you do not know all the faults that I have. I know that if you were to find out about them, you would reject me as well. Before that happens, I decided to leave." That is the mood of a Vaishnava. He is as humble as a blade of grass. If we want to become Vaishnavas, we should not find faults in others. Those who are in management have the thankless task of identifying problems and trying to rectify them. We should leave that work to them. M...

What the great sages seek in silence, what the mystics trace through the shadows of thought, what the yogī pursues with breath held still and eyes closed upon the void, It's a little cowherd boy. A child with skin the color of rain about to fall, with a peacock feather the wind cannot take from him, who walks barefoot among the cows and knows the name of every one. He is not in the ether, not in abstraction, not an idea, not a principle, not a force. He is someone who receives love, and who returns it in ways the heart cannot finish counting. The great seekers looked for him inward, they crossed oceans of silence to find him, and in the end they found him outside, standing in a green field, Laughing and playing his flute.

There is a very subtle trap we can fall into in any significant relationship in our lives, whether with a partner, a friend, a teacher or disciple, or someone in our family. The trap is called selfishness, and what makes it so difficult to recognize is that it almost never announces itself as such. Most of the time it arrives disguised as "I know what is right," or "this is best for both of us," or "I am doing all of this for you." Today I want to speak about this from my own experience in marriage, because it is the space where I have been able to see it most clearly. But as you read, I invite you to think about all of your significant relationships, because what applies between spouses also applies between devotees, between teacher and disciple, between friends, and between brothers and sisters of blood or of the heart, even in our relationship with Krishna. Neither Erasing Yourself Nor Erasing the Other There is a tension that every deep relationshi...

By H.H. Bir Krishna Das Goswami In my travels I have noticed many devotees suffering from the effects of emotional dependency, or attempting to free themselves from it. I am impelled by my desire and need to help devotees to write about this subject. Emotional dependency can affect GBCs, Presidents, Gurus, brahmacaries, householders, disciples, authorities, preachers, husbands, wives, gurukulis, sannyasis, vanaprasthas, children, women, and just about everyone else. The symptoms of emotional dependency differ from person to person and may include depression, anxiety, anger, backaches, headaches, heartaches, regressive traits, over-dependence, violence, and more. There are two basic categories of persons who are emotionally dependent in our society. One is the dominant authority figure, and the other is the person who is emotionally dependent upon that authority figure. Both types of personalities suffer due to this dynamic. In addition, one may be emotionally dependent upon an in...