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Find that Deep Part Inside of You Devotees can be thought of in three categories according to their advancement – conventional, committed and confidential. These categories have been presented by His Holiness Keshava Swami and I want to elaborate on this. A very important point is the attitude of these different devotees. The conventional devotee […]

It is more that just a song I think in the chanting of the Holy Names, we all have to go on a journey. It usually starts by us liking the singing of the Holy names. Who wouldn’t like singing? Where I come from we would always sit together in the evening and sing. That

The Real You Who needs Krsna? It is the person who begins to one day think, “I am actually Your part, I belong to You, I have my position in the spiritual world, but I somehow got lost here in the world.” Our journey back home, back to Godhead, starts really when we begin to

The right mood When talking about the 9 processes of bhakti, our acaryas give considerable attention to kirtan. Now, in his Bhakti-sandarbha, Srila Jiva Gosvami says, sankirtan (kirtan done together with many others) is even superior to kirtan. The reason he gives is that sankirtan creates delightful devotional feelings. Sankirtan creates such feelings when it

An overlooked key for good chanting Many, many years ago, I read a verse in Srimad-Bhagavatam which I could never forget. It speaks about a certain way of approaching Krsna. A way of approaching Krsna that is totally different from what I have mostly been doing during my 50+ years of practicing Krsna consciousness. At

Six practices in japa that bring great results In japa, one understanding or awareness is most important: ”I’m now chanting Krsna’s name and: He is listening to my chanting.” When you have this in place and while you keep that awareness, you can additionally invest in six practices in your japa that will bring great

Question on surrender: We hear acaryas (e.g. Bhaktivinoda Thakura) say the Lord only listens to and fulfills the prayers of one who practices saranagati (surrender). On the other hand, in the Bhagavatam (e.g. 8.3.17) we find statements that say Krsna is always attentive to us. How can we bring these two statements together? Answer: These

How to increase our desire for hearing about Krsna? We must hear the narrations about Krsna – about the person we wish to get to know. We are, after all, in the movement for Krsna consciousness. In order to increase your relationship with someone, you need to know more about the person. I think we

The Art of Prayer As devotees of Krsna, we should know about prayer. Different acaryas teach different ways of praying. Srila Rupa Gosvami has instructed us to pray in three ways. The first way is dainya-bodhika, which means something like an apology. It is the mood where the devotee realizes his or her imperfections and

The authentic path in bhakti is subtle   Question: How do you balance living an authentic life with the advice and opinions given by devotees who are mentors or almost gurus. Sometimes you may feel you have to neglect their advice and do what you think is right. On the other hand, you’re unsure if