More_writings

contents-

1. Jayananda tribute in Russian festival

2. Transcendental Emotions in Krishna consciousness

3. Cow dung ambush

4. You have to keep chanting

5. Jayananda's hand-written letter to Bhakta Jim

Here's a letter from Krishna Mangala das prabhu, on how Jayananda was honored in the recent Russian festival on the Black Sea,

Dear Vishoka Prabhu,

please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

I want to tell you a little about festival and distributing of your book.

About 3000 devotees has arrived on festival. And from the very beginning they've got an information, that Vaiyasaki Prabhu will not arrive and therefore an evening party dedicated to Jayananda, with slide-show may not take place. But anyway we have arrived with our Jayananda book. There was a mini-market on the festival, where everybody could buy Vaishnava attributes, books etc. The festival organizers have installed there a table with Srila Prabhupada's books and our book about Jayananda. Also in front of the entry of the main tent, where all main festivals actions occured. It was installed a little tent, decorated with enormous poster with portrait of Srila Prabhupada and his pronouncements and big inscription on tent "Preaching is our mission". In this tent the table of Padayatra took seat and table with Prabhupada's books and your book about Jayananda. Your obedient servant and one good devotee named Achiyuta-aravinda Prabhu were distributing the books in this tent during all the festival.

In two days after opening of the festival I have heard from organizers that evening dedicated to Jayananda Prabhu even so will happen. At first in one of the evenings in the big tent where all the devotees gathered after whole day of seminars by honored guests of the festival in different places, Bhakti Vijnana Maharaja has presented the book. He has shown it from the scene and has pointed to its importance for russian devotees and asked to turn attention on it. And Dina Bandhu Prabhu, Devideva Prabhu and Jayapataka Maharaja told about Jayananda on the following evening in big tent, lead by Bhakti Vijnana Gosvami. He told how this year we celebrate 30 years of the disappearance of Jayananda Thakur and he is a single ISKKON devotee except Prabhupada which is presented in vaishnava calendar and glorified his unselfishness and devotion. And after having spoken the honored guests, Bhakti Vijnana Gosvami has told about Jayananda's mother's disappearing. It seemed that devotees loved this evening very much. There was probably more than 2000 devotees that evening in the pandal. During that event we distributed our book about Jayananda straight in pandal.

Some devotees, who had found time to begin reading the book, told that read it with tear on eye. One mataji has told that has taken the book for a devotee, which is in prison and she was not allowed to send him Srila Prabhupada's books . For 7 days of the festival 455 books were sold, about 80 were presented to organizers, senior devotees and simply good people, also some amount of books was sent to Moscow publishers, which also distribute the Vaishnava books on the whole Russia and other country of C.I.S.

I was told, how at the last day of the festival Jayapataka Swami stopped at the inhabited case. There in front of entrance, on the pillar we stuck a poster with advertisment of the Jayananda book (we have stuck them on the whole territory of the festival). Jayapataka Swami looked at the big portrait of Jayananda on poster and he stepped towards it, then began embracing the pillar with portrait uttering: "My beloved vartma-pradarshaka-guru".

I want to send you some photos from the festival and video evening of Jayananda Thakur, as well as Russian edition of your book. Will it be enough 3 copies of the book in Russian or shall I send more? Shall I send it on your address, specified in book?

Thank you for sending your books. I has got them only for this weeks. The parcel got lost on post-office and on festival I have shown my Guru Maharaja only Russian edition. He said: "Nice book", and asked me how much time I worked on it and then thanked me. There I could not present him your book, but I ask a devotee to do it on Karttika in Vrindavan, when he will go on parikrama. It will happen soon.

I shall inform you about distributing the book in Russia and about devotees impression. Also Russian web-site about Jayananda was established (www.jayananda.ru ). There are for the time being just several chapters and recollections from your book and reviews by jayanandanugas, but it will be filled soon.

Now russian-language devotees will be able to learn more of Jayananda Thakur from your book, recollections and web-site.

Your servant

Krishna Mangala das.

Transcendental Emotions in Krishna consciousness

This is a response to an email from my friend, Padmapani das, he said-

Padmapani- “I think that you'll be able to relate to the spiritual
emotion. Some may use the word "sentiment," but hey, isn't this
bhakti-yoga we’re supposed to be practicing? Whatever happened to love and devotion? …. it [his offering to Srila Prabhupada] described how Prabhupada so kindly revealed to me that he's my (our) eternal father. Apparently some devotees can't handle that kind of talk, since I read it aloud once and was accused of being "sentimental. … I should warn you that I use the word "teardrop," and that's what might seem too emotional
for some, or many.”

Thank you Padmapani prabhu, I'd like to discuss why some devotees "can't handle that kind of talk" and talk about emotions in Krishna consciousness, and what is socially acceptable, so on, and give some of my personal experiences with emotions. First we'll examine the western psyche and attitudes on male emotions.

The John Wayne archetype is the standard of emotional shutdown in the American male psyche. Men don’t cry. This is engrained into our beings from the very beginning of childhood. On the school playground there are bullies who beat up other kids, and the goal is to make them cry, and then all other boys would laugh at the “cry baby.” This is the ultimate humiliation that is pounded into our heads from early childhood.

Men are in a world of heavy competition, which allows no room for
compassion or sentiment for others. Showing emotions such as shedding of tears is a sure sign of weakness and failure in a world of cut-throat competition. Especially in wartime, which is practically all the time, sentiment is not tolerated in a soldier. The man must be strong so that he can protect women and children and country. He cannot allow pity and compassion to cloud his judgment against aggressors who invade his homeland.

Men are not allowed to cry, only women do that. Thus we get the phrase, “its enough to make a grown man cry.” So the last thing that any man in our western world will allow himself to do, is to show emotion, to cry, to be seen with tears on his face, this is the ultimate humiliation. One of the few socially accepted outlets for male emotion is the phenomenon of whooping it up and jumping around like monkeys with wild gestures during a football game on TV. Emotions for God or having deep feelings for others, isn’t on the list. Pent up emotions often find release in perverted addictions.

Thus we have a John Wayne society of males with stuffed-down emotions, where tears are taboo. This is the politics of emotional denial in our western society, which was the atmosphere in which Srila Prabhupada introduced the path of bhakti, which is full of emotional exchanges with Lord Krishna, and which Srila Prabhupada stated that the shedding of tears for Krishna is the culmination of Krishna consciousness.

Devotees do not make a public display of crying for another reason. They do not want to cheapen the process of bhakti yoga with an artificial display of emotions. This is typical of the sahajiya class of devotees, who in the name of devotion, are often addicted to sinful acts like intoxication, and so on. I experienced this first hand when I first went to the temple in San Francisco and witnessed how a certain devotee would work up a frenzy of emotional dancing in the temple. Being naïve I thought this was advanced behavior, but I was later told how his cigarettes was seen to fall out of his shirt pocket after the kirtan.

So devotees have two barriers that impede the prospect of showing emotions for Lord Krishna or His pure devotees. First is the
psychological western taboo conditioning we have on sentiments, and second is the devotee proscription of public display of emotions. So when a devotee does have an emotional episode in which he feels great attachment to Lord Krishna or Srila Prabhupada, he must check any public display of crying, symptoms of ecstasy so forth. But, if he can find a place to be alone, in his home for instance, and if such emotions are
genuine and not artificial, then he can experience a release of
transcendental emotions that most men are never allowed, and that is the culmination of the goal of life, love of Krishna and His pure devotees expressed in tears. But even with restraints, sometimes we see an outpouring of spiritual emotions from even ordinary devotees, as we'll see from the following examples.

When we watch the DVD’s of Srila Prabhupada, we often see early kirtans where a certain mataji is crying profusely in front of Srila Prabhupada. If a male devotee did that, they would have pulled him aside and said, “Prabhu, you need to pull yourself together, this looks crazy.”

Like Padmapani said, emotion is a basic element of our process of
bhakti-yoga. The great acharyas avoid emotional display so as to not encourage the sahajiya tendency, even though they are always feeling profound emotions within themselves. Their feelings of prema will sometimes burst out, just like a reservoir of water will burst through a dam, sometimes they cannot contain their deep spiritual emotions. Srila Prabhupada has displayed his symptoms of Krishna prema in front of his disciples at times. We heard that Srila Prabhupada was chanting Jaya-Radha-Madhava and tears shot out from his eyes and sprinkled on devotees sitting several feet away. We cannot imitate such devotional rapture and symptoms, but often we can feel similar love for Krishna and
Srila Prabhupada, even if it’s shadow attachment. We must be feeling love of God, as Srila Prabhupada said that we can’t go on without having love for Krishna.

“Such shadow attachment or para attachment can develop by associating with a pure devotee or by visiting holy places like Vrndavana or Mathura; or if an ordinary man develops such attachment for Krsna and fortunately performs devotional activities in the association of pure devotees, he can also rise up to the platform of pure devotional service.” NOD > Attraction for Living in a Place Where Krsna Has His Pastimes.

Kusakratha prabhu, when he had his first meeting with Srila Prabhupada, he rolled around on the floor in front of Srila Prabhupada like a mad person. The other devotees didn’t approve of that display, but later they discovered it was a proper thing to do when first seeing Lord Krishna’s pure devotee. Kusakratha was willing to accept some raised eyebrows from fellow godbrothers for his rolling on the ground, but that was worth the risk. It wasn’t that he did this all the time, or that he was doing it artificially while hiding bad habits.

In a similar vein, Jayananda would wildly dance with jumping up and down, spinning in circles like a little kid when Prabhupada was coming to visit their temple. This is proper sentiment for Krishna’s pure devotee. This brings to mind the verse in Srimad Bhagavatam 11th canto, “As his heart melts with ecstatic love, he laughs very loudly or cries or shouts. Sometimes he sings and dances like a madman, for he is indifferent to public opinion.” > SB 11.2.40.

There is the passage of Jayananda dancing like a madman- “I saw Jayananda in the center, surrounded by 40 or 50 devotees, just going wild. The kartals and drums were like staccato transcendental machine guns annihilating every inch of maya for miles around. Jayananda was doing this dance, legs back and forth, twirling, going nuts, playing kartals like a madman, and everybody was equally mad, it was really powerful.” JT

I think we’ve all experienced some of these rare kirtans, where all the devotees are dancing and chanting with wild emotions, with uncommon bodily expressions, which we normally would not display, they seemed to happen for no apparent reason. This happened one evening in Berkeley when we were all jumping like two feet off the floor, as we were transported to another world, and we didn’t know of any particular reason or special occasion for such extraordinary enthusiasm.

Jim Sullivan relates this memory- “So I stayed about a minute or two and then I went over to mangal-aratik. And sometimes the mangal-aratiks in Los Angeles can be a little on the slow side. But I walked into this mangal-aratik and everybody – man, woman, and child, down to the last person – it looked like they were floating four feet off the ground. Everybody was in ecstasy, you could tell. And I just felt like Jayananda was at mangal-aratik.” [This was moments after Jayananda’s disappearance.]

“Feeling such transcendental sentiment, one sometimes laughs and sometimes cries, sings and dances like a madman, and sometimes traverses hither and thither. In this way there are various ecstatic symptoms evinced: crying, changing bodily color, madness, bereavement, silence, pride, ecstasy and gentleness. Frequently the person in love with God dances, and such dancing places him in the ocean of the nectar of love of Krsna.” >> Ref. VedaBase => TLC 19: Further Talks with Prakasananda

And the spiritual master will sometimes show extraordinary love for his sincere disciple, as seen in this account- Adi-keshava: So I saw Jayananda at that moment. He was just ... the look on his face was so ecstatic, you know it was like his crowning triumph. I couldn't help just bursting into tears, and I turned around and Srila Prabhupada also was crying, looking at Jayananda. And he said, "I am so pleased with him because he is so sincere."

Jayananda could evoke intense emotions and tears from ordinary people- “When the devotees made their appeal for a permit she shouted, “Where is Jayananda, I will only deal with Jayananda for this permit.” The devotees were surprised that she knew Jayananda by name and explained that Jayananda had passed away during the past year. The hardened, course bureaucrat, as tough as they come, you might say without the least exaggeration, immediately dissolved in tears and had to leave the room sobbing uncontrollably. When she returned after five or ten minutes she
gave them the permits and related how much she had appreciated knowing Jayananda.”

Even for us ordinary devotees, sometimes our emotions of love for
Krishna’s devotee will erupt suddenly from the heart, become manifest in eyes and tears, and we cannot check such intense feelings as result of remembrance of such an exalted devotee of Lord Krishna. There was the chance meeting with the devotee from France and our conversation of Jayananda Thakur- “And then this devotee become absorbed in thinking about Jayananda again and again, and he got visibly and transcendentally
emotional in his remembrance of the qualities and life of Jayananda, the emotions could not be contained, his emotional feelings for Jayananda came out unchecked, and it was a very touching sight for me.”

We find several passages in Radha-Damordara Vilasa, where Srila
Prabhupada and the devotees lost all inhibitions and experienced
transcendental emotions.

Narada Muni: When sometimes Prabhupada would display these emotions, it was because he just couldn't hold himself back. This was one of those times. The whole room was transported to Goloka. You were actually transported. Everyone went wild in that kirtan, and Visnujana was leading. Everyone was crying. It was almost like when Lord Caitanya reappeared many years later in the kirtan with Narottama dasa Thakur at Kheturi. RDV

The devotees shed tears when Prabhupada left their sight, in the early years of the movement-

On the last morning together the devotees accompany Swamiji to the airport. Some are crying. Jayananda wonders if he will ever see him again. Before boarding the plane to New York, Prabhupada requests them to remain Krsna conscious and to carry on preaching. With tears in their eyes they watch sadly as he passes through the gate and disappears out of their vision. RDV

In the following account we see that Srila Prabhupada was completely overwhelmed with uncontainable prema-

Satyanarayana: Srila Prabhupada, clearly overwhelmed with pure and uncontrollable love of Krsna, with eyes tightly closed and crashing the kartals madly, interrupted Visnujana at the crescendo of his chanting. Prabhupada seemed to have no choice. He had to take the lead away from Visnujana, and began chanting Hare Krsna so strongly, and so beautifully.

Then he began crying. He tried to chant through his tears. Prabhupada couldn't hold himself back. Everyone went mad. They began screaming and crying because it was such ecstasy. The devotion was so tangible that everyone was crying. In one overwhelming, stunning moment a spiritual shock wave of
realization shook us to the roots. A divine and rare spiritual event was happening right in front of us as we saw Srila Prabhupada overwhelmed. And then that wave of Love of Godhead hit us. A brief instant passed when many devotees could only gasp. Then, in one blinding moment, two hundred devotees were driven absolutely and uncontrollably mad: screaming, crying, and swooning at once, crying and crushing into the stage with
total abandon. Hundreds of arms stretched out to Srila Prabhupada, all of us crying and chanting, crying and chanting, crying, crying, until there was nothing but tears and love, as the devotees tried to chant, as they cried and whimpered, but couldn't anymore.

Prabhupada had displayed uncontrollable, pure, unalloyed love for Krsna right there for all to see. It was awesome to behold and feel -- the pure devotee's love and the Supreme Lord's oceanic response. We were, all of us, swept up, embraced, drowned, and devastated. That was the most amazing kirtan in the universe. It was divine. I cried for an hour. RDV

Such transcendental episodes are certainly wonderful, and very rare, and generally we avoid them, this is because Srila Prabhupada said that steady devotion is more important than having symptoms of ecstasy, and so he restrained his feelings of prema, which only came out on occasion, as if bursting out by force, so he writes- “Therefore real, steady bhava is definitely displayed in the matter of cessation of material desires (ksanti), utilization of every moment in the transcendental loving service of the Lord.” > SB 2.3.24

“Sometimes pure devotees restrain their ecstatic symptoms because people who do not understand them may become afraid or blasphemous. Also, sometimes people who recognize these symptoms, but who have not attained bhava themselves, will imitate them in order to get a good reputation as an ecstatic devotee. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati concludes that it is more
important to demonstrate detachment. Furthermore, the steady symptoms of bhava, as described in Bhakti-rasamrta-sindu (Nectar of Devotion), are important criteria for knowing if one is advancing in spiritual life.” >>
Ref. VedaBase => PM 4.4.5: Prabhupada's manifestation of steady bhava

Therefore we should restrain ourselves from displays of transcendental emotions and symptoms, but rather focus on steady devotional service to Srila Prabhupada and Lord Krishna, and detachment, and that is real bhava according to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta. At the same time
we should not deny the goal of Krishna consciousness, which is genuine feelings of love for Krishna and His devotees, which Srila Prabhupada said culminates in the shedding of tears.

Meanwhile, we should avoid emotional displays and cultivate unceasing steadiness in our service, either hearing or chanting or remembering, serving, or any one or more of the nine processes of devotional service as much as we can- “A higher Vaishnava once said that it is easy to imitate some of the symptoms of bhava, or love of God. But, there is one symptom of bhava that we can never imitate, and that is "ahuituky apratihata" or nonstop, unceasing devotional service to Krishna and His pure devotee.” JT

If I may, I'd like to relate some personal experiences with emotions in bhakti. There were a few things that tripped off personal emotional reactions, one was a bhajan by Srila Prabhupada, the slow nama-sankirtana bhajan, you could hear Prabhupada cry softly while he sang about the six Gosvamis, and sometimes I would get very tearful when hearing this bhajan. Then there was Visnujana Swami's mangala arotiks in the bus, when he parked the bus in the San Francisco garage for a month, I would stand at the back and often get very teary from his singing, it was amazing. Then there would be many times after Jayananda left us, when I would happen into a conversation with other prabhus about him, and often I would choke up and get slightly stunned, being unable to continue to talk, and just listen about him. Then there was the big one. I had a huge emotional experience that eventually was the cause of the Jayananda book. Some readers may have gotten that from the book, I'm not sure if it was clear or not. It started with one of my major nde's, near death experiences. There's 2 kinds of nde, the leaving the body and white light kind of nde, and there's another kind, where there are circumstances in which you barely escape death, or you are convinced you are about to die. I've had many near-death situations in my life. Looking back I'm convinced that Krishna was always protecting me just as He protects all of us who helped Srila Prabhupada. The big one was in 95 when I was convinced my heart was going out, getting jolting pains in my heart for a week. I lived in the mountain area in CA, and resigned to it, I thought, that my heart was finis. It happened mostly at night and I couldn't sleep for a week. On the 7th night, I managed to get to sleep, and that's when Jayananda appeared in my dream, we hugged and cried and he said, "everything's gonna be ok, don't worry." I had huge emotional episodes after that dream, with intense smaranam, thinking about Jayananda and things we did together in San Fran in 74/75. I never purposely induced any kind of emotional episode in my life, and so it was clear that it was from outside forces. I'm not advanced either, truthfully, not at all, so this wasn't the cause. But every day I'd lapse into an intense meditation and get hyper emotional, crying and so forth, alone in my room or alone in my car or walking out in the country. It seemed to impress very deep thoughts of Krishna consciousness in my mind, and Jayananda also seemed to be present when it happened, like he was right there, like I would envision his face every time. I was getting over-wrought by it, wondering if I was losing it, if I was going off the deep end. It became apparent that this was happening every day and out of my control like it was coming from somewhere out of me, not self induced. This went on for about 2 years, and then I wondered why, what did it mean, what was the purpose, where is the translation of it all, what is the purport, and then I realized I needed to do something other than just be emotional, I needed to do something about it. Finally good things started to happen, I started telling the stories online and then the book and website all happened. So in retrospect, it becomes clear that emotional bhakti is both the end and the means to our devotional life. It isn't enough just to reach an emotional state in relation to Krishna and His devotees, but there needs to be practical service in addition, or prior to it, as it is service to the great devotees that causes the culmination of tears and deep feelings to happen, the end result of bhakti to Krishna and His devotees, and that is the goal of our life. Hare Krishna, and still trying to be a servant, Vishoka dasa.

responses from;

Satyahit Prabhu-

Thank you very much for sharing especially the personal details at the end of your post prabhu. The main times in my life that intense emotion accompanied service are the times that I remember most . These are times that I feel the Lord reciprocated with me and these times showed me that the Lord is paying attention to us all the time . Causeless mercy .These precious moments will come with us at the time of death. They are real and not artificial anymore than God is artificial. However discussion of these things with many devotee's brings a blank. They do not relate . With or in sentiment there is no real emotion or it is shallow.

From Dhamaghosa dasa-

Dear Visoka prabhu---

Obeisances at your feet
All glories to Srila Prabhupada

Now this is the kind of nectar I wish to hear---Krsna prema pumartho mahan--Lord Gauranga stated THIS is the ONLY goal of life.................
I have also had many similar experiences of intense crying during kirtan, class, or remembering and I am not afraid to show them, although it can be embarassing at times.
But every once in a while Krsna does this to us to help us remember that this intense bhava is the actual goal of bhakti--just so we dont forget and get caught up in so many day to day affairs.

hope you are well
Damaghosa---chant dance take prasadam and BE HAPPY

Cow dung ambush

Jayananda would often show a playful mood. He wasn't all just work and no play. He would often say things and do things that reminded us that service to Krishna was fun and spontaneous, and just as Krishna has an amazing sense of humor, so do His devotees have a lively sense of humor.

There's an old time devotee here in New Vrindavan, very nice devotee, named Brikasanga das. As Jayananda had many devotees who assisted him, sort of being like Jayananda's sidekicks, like Murli-krishna and Indranatha, also Brikasanga was fortunate to spend much time with Jayananda as his sidekick, as I was also fortunate to have association with Jayananda for about a year. Whenever Brikasanga and I meet, in or around the temple, here in NV, we always hug and remember how it was, reminiscing on Jayananda and our luck of being close to him for a period of our lives. Brikasanga remembers the time when Jayananda and I were in the garage, next to the temple in San Francisco, and Brikasanga came in, and Jayananda introduced me to him, saying Brik was his old godbrother, and how they did so much service together. I barely remember that scene. Brikasanga also traveled with the Radha-Damodara sankirtan party, with Visnujana’s bus.

Well, Brikasanga told me one time how he and Jayananda went up to Sebastapool, to the farm owned by Naranarayana's father, who donated fruit and milk from his land and devotees went there often. There were some cows there, and he and Jayananda went to get some cow dung for a festival, I think it was Govardhana Puja. After collecting some cow dung, Jayananda and Brikasanga went to Sausalito and ran into a kirtan party there. Jayananda snuck up on them and started tossing cow dung around the party, maybe hitting a few devotees. Well, the devotees at first got real mad, thinking some non-devotees were attacking them with stool. Finally they realized it was Jayananda and Brikasanga, and they got blissful and did some return fire in the mock skirmish. I find this story to be very funny, for some reason. I can just imagine what the other people were thinking as they watched this scene. What they must have been thinking when the devotees were first mad, and then happy to have dung thrown at them? Only devotees can understand these transcendental events.

It’s so wonderful to have all these websites on our saints, Srila Prabhupada and Jayananda and Visnujana Swami and Tribhuvanatha Prabhu, like Prabhupadaconnect.com and Jayananda.com, and Visnujana.com and now these e-group sites, because the world needs a constant reminder and glorification of the real famous people of this world. The world media is daily glorifying the infamous heroes of Kali-yuga, sudras in the guise of musicians and actors, who have all bad habits. It’s a shame that the entire world is being forced into artificial attachment to sudras and the consequent mass exposure to the bad habits of these sudras. It is said that 96 teenagers get pregnant every hour. Need anyone wonder why? It’s because our so-called culture constantly advertises the sex life of these so-called “stars,” whom all the teenagers want to emulate.

The “stars” are actually infamous, and only the great devotees of Lord Krishna are really famous. Lord Chaitanya said a man is famous when he is known as a great devotee. This is real fame, as Srila Prabhupada says in his purport to Bhagavad-Gita 10.4-5:

"Yashah, fame, should be according to Lord Chaitanya, who said that a man is famous when he is known as a great devotee. That is real fame. If one has become a great man in Krishna Consciousness and it is known, then he is truly famous. One who does not have such fame is infamous."

There should be many more websites on devotee saints. Actually all of us are saints, [myself excluded]. Visnujana Swami said, "I was coming to the temple regularly and then I realized I'm living among saints." That stuck in my mind [Puskara telling story] that there could be saints living now. I thought, "That's far-out, he's living with saints." RDV

So all devotees are saints, and there are some rare devotees who were, [are] totally surrendered to Srila Prabhupada, and also humble, never thinking “I am such a big devotee,” and always compassionate, and thus greatly empowered by Lord Krishna. There is this statement by Gokularanjana on how Visnujana being empowered- “You could say he was an empowered devotee. He took Prabhupada's mercy very seriously. There was a story where he said, "It's because of your mercy, Srila Prabhupada," and Prabhupada said, "No, I'm distributing it equally, but you are taking advantage of it." And he was taking advantage of it.” RDV

Jayananda was always extending himself to other people, and going out of his way being compassionate to devotees, no matter how insignificant, not discriminating who was important and who was not. He would go and knock on their door, like some hotel room door, and give them encouragement to come back to devotional service. I heard how he went to a fallen devotee who was cooking in a restaurant, meat was cooking on the stove, and Jayananda didn’t judge, he just gave his association and shared prasadam with this devotee who greatly appreciated it.

Jayananda was the party man for Krishna -

Jayananda was always a party man for Krishna, he was always the festival man. He proved that Krishna Consciousness was always a party, and that service to Krishna is always joyfully performed. On the other hand, material hankerings, and the long struggle to satisfy such hankerings, is always hellish hard work. JT

Jayananda’s transcendental tricks-

When Jayananda arranges a program at a prison, he invites Kesava to come along. He also calls the Berkeley temple to invite Danavir.

"This is a very special engagement," Jayananda explains over the phone. "You have to make halava, and Simply Wonderfuls with lots of butter." Danavir is Mr. Enthusiasm, so he immediately runs out and purchases tons of butter. Then he cooks up an incredible batch of halava, just swimming in ghee, along with a batch of Simply Wonderfuls just oozing with butter.

The next morning, Jayananda and Kesava, with a few San Francisco brahmacaris, drive the van over the Bay Bridge to pick up Danavir and some Berkeley devotees for the prison program. They load two big pots full of halava and sweetballs into the back of the van, where Danavir sits, along with the Berkeley brahmacaris. When everybody is comfortably seated, Jayananda heads the van onto the freeway for the trip to the prison.

After driving down the road for barely five minutes, Jayananda turns to Kesava with a big smile on his face and says, "Well, you know, Kesava, maybe we ought to just taste this prasadam, so we'll be very enthusiastic for preaching. What do you think?"

"Sure," Kesava at once agrees. "I think it's a good idea." He turns around and calls out to a brahmacari in the back. "Jayananda thinks we should sample a little of the prasadam to get us in the mood. Hand out a Simply to every devotee, and pass some up front for us." So the brahmacari gives a Simply Wonderful to every devotee and passes two up front for Kesava and Jayananda.

After finishing his Simply, Jayananda says, "Boy, that was really good. We should sample a little of the halava, too. What do you say, Kesava?"

"Yeah, I think you're right." Kesava turns around once more and tells the brahmacari, "Pass out a little halava to each devotee, and send up a plate for Jayananda and me." Because Jayananda is the person making the suggestions, nobody disagrees.

After finishing his halava, Jayananda tells the devotees in the back, "That halava was great. Maybe we should have just one more Simply Wonderful." Kesava immediately gives the order for everyone to take one more Simply each, and send several up front for the driver.

"Boy, this prasadam is the best I've ever had," says Jayananda. "And that halava was so good, too. Let's have a little more. What do you think, Kesava?"

"Yeah, Prabhu, you're definitely right about that." Kesava turns again and requests the devotees in the back, "Pass out a little more of that halava to everybody." Enjoying the delicious prasadam, the devotees happily drive to the program.

Danavir is also enjoying the mood of the devotees, but a little anxiety creeps up on him. He wants to make sure that there is still enough prasadam for the program. He leans over to have a look in the pots. To his amazement, there is nothing left -- not a grain of halava, not a single Simply Wonderful. The pots are completely empty.

Danavir is plunged into anxiety, "Oh my God, we're so sinful. We're so fallen. We've eaten all the prasadam that was meant for distribution at the jail."

Just then they reach the prison. As they pull the van up, they are stopped by the guard. Jayananda rolls down the window, and the guard sticks his head into the van. He looks sternly at the devotees and says, "So you know the rules. You guys don't have any food with you? You know you're not allowed to bring any food inside." Jayananda has a big grin on his face, as Kesava assures the guard they have not brought any food. RDV

Sometimes a joke will start a whole war-

Krishna Book, chapter 75- Duryodhana came to the palace with his younger brothers. Duryodhana was decorated with a helmet, and he carried a sword in his hand. He was always in an envious and angry mood, and therefore on a slight provocation he spoke sharply with the doorkeepers and became angry. By the craftsmanship of the demon Maya, the palace was so decorated in different places that one who did not know the tricks would consider water to be land and land to be water. Duryodhana was illusioned by this craftsmanship, and when crossing water, thinking it to be land, he fell in. When Duryodhana, out of his foolishness, had thus fallen, the queens enjoyed the incident by laughing. King Yudhisthira could understand the feelings of Duryodhana, and he tried to restrain the queens, but Lord Krsna indicated that King Yudhisthira should not restrain them from enjoying the incident. Krsna desired that Duryodhana be fooled in that way and that all of them enjoy his foolish behavior. When everyone laughed, Duryodhana felt very insulted, and his bodily hairs stood up in anger. Being thus insulted, he immediately left the palace, bowing his head. He was silent and did not protest. When Duryodhana left in such an angry mood, everyone regretted the incident, and King Yudhisthira also was very sorry. But despite all these occurrences, Krsna was silent. He did not say anything against or in favor of the incident. It appeared that Duryodhana had been put into illusion by the supreme will of Lord Krsna, and this was the beginning of the enmity between the two sects of the Kuru dynasty. This appeared to be a part of Krsna's plan in His mission to decrease the burden of the world. >>> Ref. VedaBase => KB 75: Why Duryodhana Felt Insulted at the End of the Rajasuya Sacrifice

Krishna’s funny friend, Madhumangala-

For example, Krsna had one brahmana friend whose name was Madhumangala. This boy would joke by playing the part of a greedy brahmana. Whenever the friends ate, he would eat more than all others, especially laddus, of which he was very fond. Then after eating more laddus than anyone else, Madhumangala would still not be satisfied, and he would say to Krsna, "If You give me one more laddu, then I shall be pleased to give You my blessings so that Your friend Radharani will be very much pleased with You." The brahmanas are supposed to give blessings to the vaisyas (farming and merchant caste), and Krsna presented Himself as the son of Maharaja Nanda, a vaisya; so the brahmana boy was right in giving blessings to Krsna. Thus Krsna was very pleased by His friend's blessings, and He would supply him with more and more laddus. >>> Ref. VedaBase => NoD 41: Fraternal Devotion

Krsna's funny brahmana friend Madhumangala gets laddus to eat by hook or by crook. When Madhumangala eats the laddus he shouts, "Give me more! Haribol!" and makes a funny sound by slapping his sides under his armpits with his hands. >>> Ref. VedaBase => Song 4

Deep down inside, we all know we are not these bodies-

This is a cartoon joke, I happened to see. I never look at newspapers, but this happened to be lying on a table, and I saw this joke. This man with a big beer belly was standing in his undershorts in his house, his wife there, and he said, “Now be honest, does my body make me look fat?”

You have to keep chanting

or Episodes of pretense in devotion, fluctuating consciousness on the path to pure bhakti

This is the first of a series of writings on the phenomenon of how spiritual consciousness will sometimes fluctuate from divine to mundane, sometimes slightly and sometimes up and down like a yo-yo. All neophyte devotees generally experience this. Even some great devotees may have been recorded to have a temporary cloudy period of life, and I'll give some examples of that later.

Jayananda said one time, "You know, things don't always go just right in Krishna Consciousness, You have to keep chanting.” He said this to Karandhara, as we read-

“At the time, Karandhara couldn't imagine how anything could go wrong in Krishna's service. Years later, however, as he found himself still remembering those words, Karandhara could appreciate the real potency of what Jayananda had said. "So many things may come and go. Just have faith in the Name." - from “Remembering Jayananda” by Kalakantha Dasa.

It is not so amazing that this happens. If I were not irregular to some degree in devotional service, then I would be a pure devotee. Pure devotees are fixed in constant devotional service without any lapse in service or memory of Lord Krishna. Pure devotees are not sometimes nil in Krsna consciousness and sometimes solid in Krishna’s service, they are always steady in spiritual consciousness.

Some of us have some ebb and flow in our devotion, and are therefore struggling while striving to become pure in devotional service. Sometimes the struggle of the material world really gets to us, like the pain of distress from the body or mind, or sometimes it's petty desires not dovetailed with bhakti-yoga. As householders the problems of raising children, and paying rent, and disappointments in life, with friends, relatives and so on, can be hard on our Krsna consciousness. The pain of the really bad things that happened in the movement can distract us from the pure goal. We are advised to follow the example of the Gopis, who did their household duties, but only meditating on Lord Krishna while going through the motions of domestic life.

We are hard on ourselves, we judge ourselves severely, especially when we are in a down period of life, which is inevitable for neophytes. Our Krishna consciousness may turn off and on until we become pure devotees who are unalloyed and fixed in consciousness upon Lord Sri Krishna every moment of the day and night.

Until we reach this exalted platform, we may be caught up in some degree of wavering consciousness. If we were all pure devotees, then we would solve our Krsna consciousness social problems in a few days and the movement would expand like it did in the seventies, because pure devotion breeds pure desires to cooperate and serve Srila Prabhupada and his mission, and we would be thus empowered by Lord Krishna and Srila Prabhupada to execute the mission.

We read about Krishna in Srila Prabhupada's books, as much as we can, but mostly it's like a remote viewer. It's like seeing the pastimes from a distance, having perception of a spiritual reality out there in another world. Reading can be sort of like being there, experiencing it, and sometimes I have wondered what it would be like to actually be right there with Krishna in His lila, living the spiritual reality of His holy dhama, and seeing His pastimes first hand, and the following passages are examples of these kind of meditations.

One morning I was listening to a recording of harinama, and hearing the ever-sweet holy names of Radha and Krishna, and somehow I was feeling some deep mood of sentiment, feeling some bliss. Probably feeling some kind of attachment in my mundane life, and some lamentation over my wretched material condition, and was shedding some tears, which seemed to be some kind of transcendental ecstasy.

At that time I was thinking how very nice it would be if I was actually experiencing transcendental bliss from these tears, not from material reasons, and that I was actually hearing and chanting the pure names of Radha and Krishna, suddha-nama, and all Their sweetness of sublime pastimes and forms and qualities were all being manifest within my heart and I was transported to the spiritual world and being engaged in ecstatic service to Their lordships under the expert superintendence of Their exalted servants.

Thus I was relishing the pretending that I had reached the goal of life, tasting the pure name and pastimes and service of Sri Sri Radha Krishna, right there in Their divine abode of Goloka Vrindavan, far far away from the mundane world of illusion.

As such I felt a shadow attachment to the bliss of pure bhakti-rasa, by pretending to be in that divine state of service. It was as if I was actually there, doing the real service. How wonderful was the feeling! But alas, as I plummeted down out of the meditation, down back into the reality of sometimes remembering Krishna, and sometimes not remembering Krishna, it became painfully manifest.

Then, at another time, I was reading the Krishna Book, and for a while I was pretending that I was also there, right there in the pastime of Lord Sri Krishna, with His cowherd boyfriends, in sankhya rasa, playing with balls of amalika fruits in the forest of Vrndavana, and tending His transcendental Surabhi cows, who were decorated with jewels and mineral paints from the minerals of Govardhan hill, and gold plated horns, and bells hanging around their necks by suspension of silk neck ties.

The cowherd boys were running after Krishna, some saying, “I will touch Krishna first,” and another saying, “no, I will touch Krishna before you do.” They were all exquisitely dressed in colorful silken dhotis and waist cloths with buffalo horn and small flutes by which to call the cows, and Sri Krishna would call every single cow by his name, saying “oh dear Hamsi, dear Candani, dear Mukta, please come with us along the path of the Vrndavan forest,” and Krishna blew His flute and buffalo horn.

Then after a while I was relishing the bliss of Sri Krishna pauganda lila in the forest of Vrindavan and a short while pretending that I had made it to His abode, to Lord Krishna’s eternal road show, traveling from one universe to another, that I had completed my course of bhakti-yoga here on earth, and was successful in my vaidhi bhakti program as given to us by our dear Srila Prabhupada, and I had overcome the klasas and aparadhas and anarthas and had amassed heaps of pious activities by participation in Lord Caitanya’s sankirtan movement, and thus I was promoted to the next universe where Lord Krishna had moved His dhama and entourage and paraphernalia, and the planet where He had advented to perform His scheduled pastimes , there for the deliverance of those souls who were rotting in material existence.

Thus while pretending to be there and doing that sankhya rasa with Sri Krishna and His friends, I was swimming in pure un-adulterated bliss of Krsna prema, love of godhead, far far away from the mundane affairs of this material world of Devi-dhama, and after some while the influence of time caused the strength of my pretension to waiver and slacken, and once again I found myself in the doldrums of hackneyed affairs of the hard struggle for existence, in competition with other jiva souls to squeeze out a few drops of pleasure in the harsh desert of this material world.

So, like Jayananda said, it can be hard sometimes, things don't always go the way we like sometimes, but we "have to keep on chanting." And somehow, by the causeless mercy of my divine master Srila Prabhupada, may I have a hope to pray to him and the previous acharyas, may I pray to Jayananda prabhu and to Lord Nityananda prabhu, to please help me reach steady Krsna consciousness before time fades away. Hare Krishna, praying to be your eternal servant, Vishoka dasa.

Hare Krishna,

Here is a transcription of an extremely nectarian hand-written letter from Jayananda to Bhakta Jim, now Jaya-nitai dasa, expressing the glories of association of devotees and revealing to us Jayananda's rare humility and love for Srila Prabhupada.

Nama om Visnu padaya krsna-presthaya bhutale

Srimati Bhaktivedanta svamin iti namine

Namas te sarasvate devam gaura vani pracarine

Nirvisesa sunyavadi pascaty desa tarine

Dear Bhakta Jim,

Please accept my obeisances, all glories to His Divine Grace by whose causeless mercy we’ve been afforded the association of devotees. I’m hoping that someday I’ll develop a little appreciation for Srila Prabhupada’s causeless mercy upon me. The most glorious association in the material world is like stool compared to the nectarian association of devotees. The association of devotees can free us from all miserable conditions because Krishna is in the center of their association and only Sri Krishna is infallible and unconquerable and the supreme pleasure eternal. So association of devotees is our life and soul. So it was very kind of you to come here. Also Murli-krsna mentioned that you brought that Maha. When I saw that prasadam in that foil, my heart jumped about 10 beats. You know how lusty I’ve always been for prasadam. Practically I honored all of it, I distributed a little, but I was overwhelmed with greed when I saw those milk sweets and Ksir, etc. I haven’t been taking those things for a long time, so somehow Krishna made a timely arrangement. Please offer my obeisances, to Citsukananda and all devotees there. Please accept my prayers for you continued advancement in Krsna consciousness and our eternal relationship with our beloved Spiritual Father, guide, and preceptor Srila Prabhupada!

Your servant, Jayananda das