How to be free from miseries and anxiety?

As long as you are looking for happiness you will find so much sadness in your life.

As long as the motivation for your activities is your own pleasure, you will find so much pain in your life.
As long as the motivation for your activities is your own happiness, you will find so much distress in your life.
As long as the motivation for your activities is to find honor you will suffer so much dishonor in your life.

Until you work and you act for the pleasure of Krishna you have to suffer the dualities of material existence. That is why Krishna says in the third chapter (BG 3.9) work done as sacrifice for Vishnu has to be performed otherwise whatever work you do with any other motivation than the pleasure of Krishna you will only cause bondage.

So as long as we do what we like to do we should understand that we are extending the perplexities of our own bondage in material existence. But as soon as we do what Krishna wants us to do, what the great devotees on behalf of Krishna are telling us to do, through that process we gradually become free from all the miseries and anxieties of the material world.

H.H.Radhanath Swami

Radhanath Swami on Humility and Servant attitude

What does it mean to be humble?
Real humility is to truly from one’s heart accept I am the servant. How can I serve you and mean it. Not just say it but mean it. Back your words by action and be the servant.

What does it mean to be the servant?
To not be the enjoyer. To live for the pleasure of Krishna.

- H.H.Radhanath Swami

Radhanath Swami on Love

Whatever your way of life may be, whether a businessman or a doctor or a lawyer, or whether it is housewife or a student or whether you have wife and children. And it is not that you must necessarily give up your responsibilities in this world; because there is a need for all these various professions for human society to function. But the greatest need for the people who are engaging in these activities are; doing it with the understanding of truth. Because truth awakens love, mercy and selfless service to all others, and that is the greatest need. In this world, there is not enough love, compassion and truth. In this world if that was there, everything else would have been provided. All shortages are due to greed and envy if you examine the situation of our planet today. So therefore to perform your duty in this state of divine consciousness, the consciousness of love, which is within you, that is the great gift, which is available in your life. So please we are not concerned with converting a person from one religion to another, we are not concerned with recruiting members. We are simply concerned with enlightening the persons to truly take advantage of the opportunity to realize the principles of universal truth and love; that is within your own heart. Thank you very much!

-H.H.Radhanath Swami

Radhanath Swami on Prema Bhakti

The treasure of prema-bhakti (pure loving devotion) is the only thing that satisfies the soul. It is the only true goal of life. It is the only eternal position. Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu explains you cannot find that treasure of prem-bhakti even in the scriptures. There is only one place it is to be found. The essence of the scriptures is that and that alone. But you can only find it in the hearts of the devotees who have surrendered their lives in the dust of the lotus feet of the Vaishnavas. To those devotees, Krishna is manifesting the essence of all shastra, the essence of the truth. Without gaining the favor of such devotees, the treasure of prema-bhakti is unattainable by anyone. This is the great esoteric mystic teaching in the school of bhakti. Yasya prasadad bhagavat prasado yasya prasadan na gatih kuto api. Simply by pleasing our guru maharaj, simply pleasing the exalted Vaishnavas, Krishna is pleased and when Krishna is pleased only is the treasure of prema-bhakti revealed in our hearts.

- H.H.Radhanath Swami

Radhanath Swami on serving two masters

Even when Krishna comes to this world, materialistic people find faults in Him. So do you think you are better than Krishna? Do you think they are not going to find fault in you? If you become a nice materialist some other class of nice materialist will find fault in you and the devotees will think you are crazy. If you enjoy your senses the devotees say you are in Maya you are a rascal and if you chant in Kirtan, the materialist will say you are insane. You are gone crazy. Therefore Lord Jesus said you cannot serve two masters. You will either be loved by one or be hated by the other. You have to choose your master. Then he said you cannot love God and mammon simultaneously. Similarly Lord Sri Krishna explains in this verse that what is night for all beings is the time of the awakening for the self-controlled. Therefore in Krishna Consciousness this is our great ambition ataḥ pumbhir dvija-śreṣṭhā varṇāśrama-vibhāgaśaḥ svanuṣṭhitasya dharmasya saḿsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam O best among the twice-born, it is therefore concluded that the highest perfection one can achieve by discharging the duties prescribed for one's own occupation according to caste divisions and orders of life is to please the Personality of Godhead. We have no other concern. Whether we make profit or whether we make loss, whether we are successful or whether we fail, whether the world loves us or the world condemns us…we are not concerned, we will do our best for Krishna’s sake and if it is pleasing to Him, then our life is perfect. That is all.

Serious movement for serious people

So when we take to Krishna Consciousness on the basis of guru, sadhu and shastra, we have to understand what is truth and what is real. On the basis of guru, sadhu and shastra, we have to live our life. You see, Krishna Consciousness, this is a serious movement for serious people. Prabhupada said better one moon than millions of stars because however many stars are there in the sky, they give no light. But the full moon lights up the entire atmosphere. There is no need for lights in the full moon. The light rays of the moon are so powerful that they light up the whole earth. Yet the rays are cool and refreshing. They are sweet like nectar. So better one full moon than millions of stars or millions of electrical bulbs. Srila Prabhupada used to say if I told people what they wanted to hear…I could have millions of followers. But because I am speaking the truth of what they need to hear to purify their lives most people are against me and only a few serious people want to surrender to God utterly because that is what I am teaching that we must live for Krishna that we must surrender to the divine will of Krishna and that surrender means to put aside our own preconceived ideas of what will make us happy to put aside our own false-ego to put aside our natural affinities and attachments and try to please our guru and Krishna. In this world we are brain-washed to want to be the master to be the enjoyer but in Krishna Consciousness we are taught to be subordinate.

Radhanath Swami on Prema

In Vrindavan there was the Pulinda. One Pulinda woman was selling fruits. She cried out, “Is any one want to buy fruits?” Krishna came running to get some fruits. In those days there was no paper currency. There was the bargaining process. We got real things and we gave real things, it was an exchange of real things.

If you are hungry and you have a hundred crores of rupees, you cannot eat the rupees. So Krishna ran to fruit fender with some grains in His hand and he was enthusiastic and He is the supreme personality of Godhead, how charming and how sweet. He could not keep the grains in his hands. He could keep the sun in orbit for three hundred three hundred eleven trillion years during Brahma’s life. He can keep the sun on the orbit, He can keep the earth on the orbit, and He can keep everything in whole creation, not only in this creation but in unlimited universes. But that same absolute truth as the son of Nanda, He was such a charming little boy that all the grains are falling as He was running. By the time He gets to the fruit vendor, there was hardly anything in His hand. He does not know, He just shows. He was smiling. That Pulinda woman, she was so charmed to see Krishna’s beautiful smile, His wonderful form as just the little child. She was not thinking that this is param brahmana the Supreme Personality of Godhead. She was just thinking He is such a beautiful innocent little boy and He wants fruits. So He gave her nothing and she filled his arms with the best of her fruits, all that he could hold and more. He was so happy. Can you imagine that she was filing the fruits on His arms and He was smiling thinking so nice? Then Krishna ran home.

The Fruit vendor lady she was thinking so what I did not get anything in return. I made Him happy. She was just remembering that beautiful form and that smile of His pleasure upon her. That was greater wealth in anything that she could have possibly had. Then she turned around and she saw that her basket was full of jewels. According to Jiva Goswami, “It was not that she was become ecstasy because now she was rich with jewels. She left the jewels and what put her in ecstasy. It was the jewel that Krishna placed on her heart, the jewel of love for Him. She did not care about the other stuffs. She had the ultimate perfection of life. So who ever we are, wherever we are coming from, if we just make that choice to give pleasure to Krishna, Krishna gives us the ultimate wealth, the ultimate jewel of Prema or love. The ultimate and the only real aspiration of the heart.

-- HH Radhanath Swami

Radhanath Swami on slavery

In this world we are brain-washed to want to be the master to be the enjoyer but in Krishna Consciousness we are taught to be subordinate…in very very frank terms, we are taught slavery to be a slave. Who wants to be a slave in this world? People fight for freedom and we are striving to give up our freedom and be a slave. What does that mean? To surrender means to surrender your freedom to surrender your independence and as Prabhupada used to say to become a Vaikunta man to become Krishna’s man. Of course when we decide to do that the power of the gesture of that love is so great that Krishna becomes subordinate to that love.

- H.H.Radhanath Swami

Radhanath Swami on Very Nice

The greatest pleasure of a devotee is to place his head at the feet of Krishna and His devotee – I am your servant eternally. Those who like this idea…very nice…those who do not like this idea…very nice. That is our conviction. Everything is very nice. Whether they stone you…very nice…whether they throw flowers upon you…very nice. When I am in India people put garlands on me…when I am in campus in America, people throw tomatoes, eggs, water, buckets of water, apples, potatoes, stool, urine…so many variety of things I am offered when I am chanting Hare Krishna. What the acharyas are teaching us is to receive them all in such a way that it is very nice. They throw stool ,urine and stones at you…very nice…Krishna is reciprocating and if they throw garlands…yes this is for Krishna also. Whatever our occupation is understand that our fulfillment of life’s desires is only when Krishna is pleased. Let us aspire only for this – His eternal loving service. Thank you very much. Hare Krishna
- H.H.Radhanath Swami

Radhanath Swami on fitting in with the crowd!

If you really want to come close to God you have to be indifferent to what the man and women of this world think about you. You have to simply try to please Krishna…that is all. Srila Prabhupada told us whatever you do...people will criticize us. Therefore our concern is simply to please our guru and Krishna. We are not concerned with anyone else. If you are concerned with everyone else, then you are welcome to rot in this world birth after birth after birth because there is only one way out and that is to please Krishna. Pleasing Krishna means becoming anti-material.

-H.H.Radhanath Swami

Radhanath Swami on Love

Bhishma in the Mahabharat explains the definition of love. Love is to repose all affection in one object and there is no living creature on earth that we can repose all our affection in. It will always be divided. Only Krishna has the power to attract and to accept all the affection of a living being. Because the soul has eternal love that is simply longing and dying to be expressed and directed towards someone. But we cannot express or offer all our eternal love to some temporary form or object or person of this world. Only Krishna can reciprocate that love. Therefore to love means to love God and without love of God, in the true sense there is no love at all. What goes in the name of love in this world is a type of mutual exploitation tinged with selfishness. It is affection but it is not love. sa vai puḿsāḿ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje ahaituky apratihatā yayātmā uprasīdati. The supreme occupation [dharma] for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted to completely satisfy the self. That is the goal of life. Love of God is the Supreme goal, the perfection of life. It is the purushartha siromani. Of all the goals of life, of all the attainments, it is the crest jewel, it is the highest, and it is the only level of consciousness that completely satisfies the heart.

- H.H.Radhanath Swami

H.H.Radhanath Swami on the games of MAYA

We find in the story of Vishvamitra muni. What kind of tapasya he had performed? Who could do what he has done going into the deserts in the middle of summer with eight fires around you without eating or sleeping or drinking for years at a time, going to the peaks of the Himalayas up to his neck in the waters of the Gangotri with ice around him for years at a time. We have hard enough time if a mosquito lands on us, our mind gets disturbed, “May be I get malaria or something like this.” Vishvamitra muni, what kind of tapasya, undisturbed, he did not move a limb of his body, but Indra was also afraid of that, he must be wanting my abode. So through Kamdev, he sent Menaka. And Menaka, her bangles made sweet sounds. What craziness? after giving up all the pleasures. Vishvamitra muni was a great and powerful king, he gave up everything. And some little pieces of metals clinging together ! But maya has so ridiculously put us to shame. What really she offers us? what is sex? Srila Prabhupada said, you just cut open the container; what is inside; mucous, blood and stool, urine and pus. You go to the polyclinic at Mira Road and you see what is inside peoples body; it’s disgusting. As soon as the body opens, all it is terrible substances, they smell horrible, it feels horrible, they look horrible. Little thin layer of coating and we are mad for it and infatuated by it, and it is in the process of being wrinkled and by time whatever looks pretty now, it is going to be just baggy in a few years, you know it. Yet maya in such an embarrassing situation, for the pure eternal soul which is a part of God which is full of bliss, to become infatuated and attached to a lump of flesh. It is ridiculous, there is some spell, and some metal clinging each other, bangles, what is so great about that. But Vishvamitra muni could not meditate anymore because if those metal pieces of bangles bumping against each other terribly, he could not tolerate. So such a mental game that maya plays on everyone. Maya means that which is not, it is not enjoyable, but it appears enjoyable, but it is not beautiful but it appears beautiful. So he ended up getting married to Menaka and after living with her for some time, he realized that I have fallen down, I made a big mistake and he regretted everything. So he went back and began to perform more tapasya greater that ever before. So Indra sent another heavenly damsel, Rambha. She was also very beautiful and she also very beautiful and she also had nice bangles and anyway when she was singing beautiful songs and everything. And when Vishvamitra muni saw her, he understood that she has come to induce my lust, but I will not allow it to happen and he remembered what had happened last time and he became intolerably angry and by his glance, he cursed her to become a block of salt or stone. And again he lost the merits of his tapasya because he fell down to anger.

- H.H.Radhanath Swami

Radhanath Swami on Fault Finding

Seek and you shall find. If you are looking for faults, you will find faults in everyone and anywhere, if you are looking for the good, you will find the good everywhere and anywhere. It is a question of what you want. Krishna will reveal Himself according to how you approach Him. Shishupal only saw faults in Krishna, whereas Arjuna, Yudhishtar, they only saw the glory of Krishna. According to how they approached Krishna they were saved. Krishna is in the heart of everyone. So finding faults with the devotees is a disease, it is a contagious disease, it is a sickening disease and seeing the good and virtues in devotees is opulence. It’s a benediction. So we should not be diseased, we should not spread disease; we should spread love and goodness.

H H Radhanath Swami Maharaj

What is submissive hearing

It means putting aside all your preconceived ideas, accepting yourself to be a fool and being willing to accept the superior authority without challenging the spiritual master and great sadhus. To open your heart, to open your mind, to open your ears, and to hear

H.H.Radhanath Swami – lecture SB 04 30 08 - 07-06-1991

Love and Trust

Love and trust breaks down when we have separate interests, separate motives, when we want to be the enjoyer, when we want to be the proprietor, when we want to be the controller.

Love and trust is established when we want ONE thing – to be the humble servant, to be the humble servant of Krishna, of the spiritual master, of the sadhus (saintly people), to be the humble servant especially of one another. You cannot separate Guru from his devotees.

- H.H. Radhanath Swami

Radhanath Swami on surrender

Those who do not want to associate with Sri Sri Radha and Krishna, those who are not anxious to come to the temple to be with their devotees, the representatives of Guru Maharaj, we can understand they are having serious problems. Whatever they say, they can make so many excuses but really they want to enjoy independent of Krishna and they don’t want to be bothered by hearing about surrender. - H.H.Radhanath Swami

Humility

Humility is not a weakness. Ignorant people think that to be humble is to be weak. Of course, material conception of humility - that may appear to be true, but that’s not humility. Real humility is to see that the power of God is within me and within everything. Real humility is to give up the ego that I am the doer. And thoroughly dive into the truth that Krishna is the doer. And to be an instrument of the highest power. Real humility is the greatest power in all creation. Because it connects us to the power of the Absolute truth. We cannot be connected as long as we have false ego. Its all around us. Humility tunes us in to the highest power. Ego tunes us in to the other frequencies and it just complicates our lives...This is why we remain in this material world, because we are blaming other people, blaming other situation for our situations, we really never seek a solution, which means turn to God. Gajendra didn’t blame the crocodile, he didn’t blame the family members and his friends for not being able to help him. He just understood, this is an opportunity to turn to God and he became perfect. He tried his best, we all have to try our best to deal with reversals.

-H.H.Radhanath Swami

What is Real Wisdom?

It is hard to have deep relations. The reason is that more you are controlling, more you become addicted and condition to controlling spirit. You want to control everything and everyone and you can’t have deep relationships as long as you are controlling. So there is little love for people who are extremely successful. It’s always been that way. The only way they can be is if you take a humble position and really accept people as your equals. So here is the promise, people are fighting, fighting to get there and then when they get there they can’t give up what they have and at the same time, it’s a very lonely and unsatisfying life.

Srimad Bhagavatam is trying to break through the misconception of this type of dream for happiness. That is why Srila Prabhupada was so strong when he spoke there is no really no happiness in the material world. All the so called happiness is just on the level of this ever chaning waves and foaming bubbles. In the 1st canto Prabhupada says, "All of our happiness, all of our possessions, all of our relationships in this world are like foaming bubbles on the surface of the ocean of material existence and all these bubbles any movement will burst into oblivion." So are we going to be attached to the bubble or we are going to be depth of what’s deeper in the ocean. He krsna karuna sindhu. Deeper down there is ocean of Krsna’s mercy, Krsna’s kindness, Krsna’s love. That’s where we want to dive deep. The entire ocean is Krsna’s love. We are attached to the foaming bubbles. Jiv Jago Jiv jago.

Mahaprabhu say’s wake up sleeping souls. Usually waking us means to get us out of the sleep, it’s disruption. Just like if you are having a really sound sleep and the alarm clock rings, what’s your first reaction. You don’t have to say it publically. First reaction is it’s a disturbance. Is it not ? You are sleeping, you are dreaming that you are having a vacation with your lover on a tropical island and all of a sudden. Today there are so many alarm clock’s, different bells. All of sudden (Maharaj makes sound of alarm clock). You just turn it off. It’s disruptive but wakes you up. So the problems in this world are like alarm clocks, the reversals and difficulties. Because when things keep going our way we just stay in our dreams. Yes, we stay asleep. May be good dream, may be bad dream. When reversals comes, it is like a alarm clock to wake us up. But we have a choice of actually waking up from that alarm clock, now they have snooze controls. Snooze controls means, "Yeah I know I should wake up, I should become serious about my spiritual life, but later. I will do it after this and this and this is complete, then I will do it.

So some people just turn off the alarm clock and just go back to sleep. Some people do the snooze control thing, which means I knew I turn it off, I am little wake up, I will become serious like Kailash of Narad Muni. He was always on snooze control. Yes Gurudev, I know there is suffering, I know I should be chanting the name of God and associate with saintly people, but I will do it later. Just let me do this more, let me sleep little longer, then I will do it. After all last night I didn’t got so much sleep, just a little longer. Wake up. Life is short. You should take advantage, take the opportunity now and the tragedies that come upon us transform them into blessings .That’s wisdom, wisdom is not memorizing slokas, wisdom is applying the slokas to your life and what does it mean, here is a sloka

Tat te anupamkam
Wisdom is when there are reversals which appear to be a curse however painful, distasteful and unacceptable it may appear, to transform it into a blessing by trying to go deeper not deal with it on the level of foaming bubbles in the waves but to go deeper and this Srimad Bhagavatam is taking us deeper.

--HH Radhanath Swami

Pralambasura...

Pralambasura is greatest of the demons. Do you know what he represents? He represents lusty inclinations. Lusty inclination towards sex and subtle sex, craving for profit, adoration and distinction. Whenever these influences come into your heart, you should recognize Pralambasura has come. And these particular anarthas are very much like Pralamabasura because they disguise themselves as our friends, with the promise of happiness, with the promise of relief. And this is how maya whispers to us. If you have a position, if you have prestige, if people honour and respect you, you will be happy. And then we motivate ourselves in order to get those things. What to speak of illicit sex, it is such a promise of happiness of pleasure, it is a demon in disguise. It can only be killed in the presence of guru and Krishna in your heart.

The desire for prestige is very deadly. Srila Visvanath Cakravati explains three reasons of falldown for devotees which are most prominant: kanak -desire to accumulate wealth; kama - desire to enjoy the opposite sex, desire for sex life; pratistha - prestige.

These three things are sure to corrupt our spiritual life.

As far as prestige goes, the desire for adoration and distinction is Bhakti Siddhanta Sarasvati said it is as abominable as the dung of a boar. It’s recycled stool through a boar.

It is abominable. That is how we should see our desire for prestige. But even in the spiritual societies, people are so driven by this desire for prestige, I am better than you, we learn the scriptures, if you know the scriptures, taking on the most fallen position and let me just learn this so I can serve my gurudev, the Vaishnavas then learning scriptures is very very good, but sometimes we become more learned than others and we think I am better than others. I am more advanced than you. How many slokas you know? How many people can you defeat? How many people can you leave spell bound when you give a lecture? It’s wonderful if you can do all that stuff providing its in the mood of the servant of the servant, but if you start thinking I am better than others, and you start longing for prestige, and when you do it you start expecting and demanding respect , what are you doing? You are simply tasting the dung of the abominable boar, according to Bhakti Siddhanta Sarasvati Thakur, our parampara guru. He was so graphic because it’s such a deep burning in people’s hearts.

Now the desire to feel valued, the desire to feel appreciated, it’s just natural within everybody but when we want honor, respect and prestige, it’s very dangerous form of sense gratification and it’s the major cause of falldown. It’s Pralamabasura disguising himself. I make you so happy, just get this position, get this prestige, get this honor, get this sex life, acquire and acquire, acquire more materialistic things. Disguised as your friend, this voice, but no, that voice is only out to destroy your bhakti. Hare Krishna! And that is a fact. That is maya’s whisper, that is Pralambasura ‘s whisper promising you everything, disguised as your best friend, but the only mode of invasion of all these influences is to corrupt the life, entangle you into material bondage and destroy your bhakti. Hare Krishna!-

H.H. Radhanath Swami Maharaj

mind- thing of its own

Everyone should be very humble. No one should be proud. No one should think they are great. Because as soon as you think that way you are already in the clutches of maya and all the rest will follow subsequently. So if someone like Lord Shiva or Lord Brahma or Vishwamitra muni or Saubhari muni, if they were bewildered due to inattentiveness if their minds drag them down into such embarrassing conditions then what is our position? Our position is very humble. Srila Prabhupad explains the remedy of not falling into Maya’s control...How does maya work..essentially through the mind?. Maya can create so many external phantasmagoria that is trying to either create attraction or aversion, but essentially, it is only successful if it affects our mind.....a great soul can be like a lotus flower in a very very muddy place of material world where there is distractions everywhere. By Maya’s potency there is distractions from the path of truth within & without, but maya can only be successful when maya diverts our mind. Emerson has said that mind is such a thing that it can make hell into heaven or it can make heaven into hell. What is this mind? You cannot touch it, you cannot taste it you cannot feel it, you cannot see it. Its so subtle subtler than air, subtler than space. But yet it is all powerful within this world. It is due to the mind alone that the conditioned soul is trapped within the repetition of birth and death. Where a head of state can take birth as a dog. Where a demigod can take birth as an insect. That is the power of the mind where a person with all facilities could take their next birth as a worm in the stool of a hog. That’s the power of the mind. And who are we to compete? Its very difficult. Vishwamitra muni lived in the Satya yuga and Treta yuga. He was a real yogi who can perform severe tapasya and who was able to control the mind.. If you cannot control the mind you cannot control the senses. That illustration in our Bhagavad Gita that body is like our chariot and the senses are like five wild horses that just want to taste, want to touch, want to see, want to smell, want to hear and what is the mind? The mind is the reigns and intelligence is the chariot driver. If we have good intelligence & we are listening, listening to the need of the soul, listening to Krishna, then the intelligence that comes through Guru, Sadhu, & Shastra....and through the mind we can control the senses and then our human form actually goes in the right direction. Otherwise there are 84,00,000(8million 400) species and the soul can end up in one of those chariots. So it is very critical to control the mind. But the problem is it is very difficult I don’t think anyone needs too many analogies or examples to know how difficult it is to control the mind. Does anyone needs to be convinced and anyone attempting to do so is already convinced. All day everyday mind is very difficult to control. Maya is all powerful in this world.--

HH Radhanath Swami