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Tribhuvanath das and Padmapani das in Bombay, 1978

Dear Sriman Patita Pavan Prabhu,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Thank you VERY MUCH for your kind reply. So nice to hear from you. Kindly accept my apologies for the delay, but I just discovered your message. (I normally use another e-mail address, so don’t check this one very often, not expecting too much mail here.)

Nonetheless, it was TRULY GREAT to hear from you again. Thanks so much. I’m very happy to have made contact with you again after all these years. I always wanted you to know how deeply touched I was by your kindness and selfless service so many years ago. After I met you, things improved, I teamed up with Tribhuvanatha Prabhu and went to the Middle East for five years, etc. Of course, I’m such a lowly creature that everything I try to do for Srila Prabhupada is so full of faults that it’s not even to be considered service. My only genuine hope in hell is “hope against hope,” and the mercy of great souls like your good self upon my ever-fallen head.

It was a real joy seeing those photos of you — perched on a motorcycle (with black jacket), in front of the Taj Mahal with your dear family, etc. No matter what, due to your naturally exuberant and effulgent nature, you’re always preaching the sanatana-dharma as revealed to us so mercifully by our beloved eternal father and spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada — ki jaya!

As mentioned, I followed your instructions and typed in those early Prabhupada articles online. Now I think that they’ve made a book with them somewhere, but the ones you sent from the International Institute of Indology were the first to make their way onto the Internet for all the world to read, thanks to YOU! All glories to your kindness and service.

I’m surprised to hear that you’re past 60 already — however, from your photos, you still radiate the same youthful spiritual energy, as always. In fact, one of my favorite videos online is one of you at the London Rathayatra in ‘73 (I think), dancing like a transcendental madman for Srila Prabhupada. I’ve also seen video footage of you in the early New York temple, sitting before Srila Prabhupada in perfect yogic posture, appearing like the full Vaikuntha man that you are. Obviously, you’re no ordinary soul, and in fact, have blazed a trail further and faster than most of us could ever imagine in our wildest dreams. So I’m very grateful to you for your sweet and humble attitude towards this tiny insignificant younger godbrother of yours, who is hanging onto your dhoti as you ride your motorcycle back to the Spiritual Sky!

Good news that you and Hansadutta are friends. He is certainly a dear son of Srila Prabhupada and has rendered mountain loads of service to His Divine Grace. I’ll always remember the Kumbha-mela in Allahabad in 1977. Srila Prabhupada was there, and everyday the brahmacaris and perhaps a sannyasi or two would go out on hari-nama through the calvacade of babas, Sivaites, yogis, bhogis, etc., etc. etc. One day Hansadutta Prabhu led the kirtan down by the Triveni in the hot mid-day sun. At that time, we used to wash our dhotis in the river and let them quickly dry on the sands, if need be. Well, someone stole Hansadutta’s dhoti, but he continued to lead a rip-roaring kirtan in his kaupins. (We called them “brahmana underwear” back then.) He was completely detached and the kirtan was out of this world — and I was thinking, “Wow, this guy is cool!” He probably doesn’t know or remember me, but of course, we all know and remember him. Tribhuvanatha always spoke highly of him too. So it’s nice to see that you’re hooked up together in Srila Prabhupada’s service. Your websites are both very nice. Congratulations!

By the way, I’m so glad that you mentioned your dear wife, Raagini. I remember her well. We had some interesting conversations there in India during that two or three-day stay in the hotel (or whatever it was). Please offer her my sincere respects. Wonderful to see that you became a father too. Lucky girl to have you as her “Dad”!

As for Bobby Weir, that’s great preaching indeed. There are probably two people in the western world whose charts I’d like to know: Jack Kerouac and Jerry Garcia. To me, those two personalities had such a major impact on the counterculture and modern world history. Of course, Bobby Weir is kind of like Robin to Batman in that regard, but who can deny the incredible influence of the Grateful Dead? They somehow almost single-handedly kept the 60’s alive for 30 years. So you have certainly made a significant connection there, Prabhu. I’m sure that you’ve made many others too, and therefore I must commend you for your sincere and bold spiritual endeavors. Bobby Weir is one lucky dude to have met and befriended you. I hope that he’s had some delicious prasadam and has developed an appreciation for Srila Prabhupada, somehow or other. That would be a great blessing for him indeed.

I’ve been working on the Net for many years, trying to humbly spread love of Prabhupada, as best I can. But I’m hoping that perhaps soon I can take a break from the Internet and, like you, focus on writing and publishing with old-fashioned ink and paper. You’re a great inspiration in that regard because you’ve been doing it all along, whereas for me it’s only been a dream so far. However, life has been very interesting anyway, so I’m hopeful that Krishna and Srila Prabhupada will please kindly use me in Their service to whatever individual capacity I can muster to please Them. Kindly give me your blessings. (Thanks in advance!)

Well Prabhu, I’m really glad that we connected once again. I’m happy to know that you’re still out there, doing your thing for Srila Prabhupada and Krishna, as always. I humbly wish you and your family the very best in every respect.

Gotta run — am continually swamped with e-mails these days, and also care for my dear mother, who chants Hare Krishna everyday and who has a photo of Srila Prabhupada above her head at all times.

Best wishes — and if we don’t cross paths again in this lifetime, then at least know for sure that you always have my godbrotherly love and respect. Take care and thanks again.

Jaya Srila Prabhupada!

Your servant,
Padmapani das

(P.S. Attached is a photo taken in Bombay, 1978. Ah, the good old days!)

Date: Sun, 4 May 2008 17:39:59 -0700
From: pavandas@sbcglobal.net
Subject: From Patita Pavana (Uddharana) das Adhikary
To: jayaprabhupada@hotmail.com

My dear Padma Pani das Prabhuji,

Please accept my humble obeisances at your feet. All glories to Shrila Prabhuipada. I have noticed from your e-mail address that you are yet and forevermore a Prabhupada faithful. Many are the bakasuras, putanas, and aghasuras on the path to bhakti in Vrindavana dham who will readily waylay a devotee seeking salvation through the service unto the twin lotus feet of his Guru Maharaja.

The loss of faith of many has been a source of pain and shame, but it only strengthens the fact that we’ve got to carry on this wonderful service unto Shrila Prabhpada unto our last breath. It is wonderful that you have found me through the wonderful website which I would be proud to host and maintain. In truth, however this is the brainchild of Mother Dasadasanudasa devi dasi, the wife of Bhima Prabhu and living in Malaysia. She has created and maintained this World Sankirtan Party site under guidance of Hansadutta Prabhu. In fact, it is one of the few places that will indeed play host to my rambling Pavan’s Press.

Hansadutta agrees with most of the stuff I write, but he is kind enough to give me some leeway in the struggle of the individual soul’s pursuance of sanatan dharma, a divine realiziation that is perfected in the deeply personal concept of the Absolute Truth held by Vaishnava acharyas of this our ISKCON-Gaudiya line. In other words, the goal of life is service unto Prabhupada that is pleasing to His Divine Grace’s twin lotus feet.

Prabhu, Hansadutta was astute enough to find a statement from a rittwic representative of the bona fide Shri Ramanuja Sampradaya. This fellow, named Tatachar, is a Sanskrit school Principle I believe, and has initiated thousands.

The devotee who obtained this document is none other than the remarkable Madhu Pandit das who has created a beautiful ’skyscraper go-puram‘ mandir in Bangalore, based upon the hard line premise that Tatachar pursues. All ISKCON initiates are the Founder-Acharya’s disciples and denying a soul his right to serve Prabhupada is tantamount to theft.

Regarding Bob Weir, he’s a pretty good friend. My book Motorcycle Yoga reminded him of his first trip to India to put Jerry’s ashes in the Ganga. Placing Jerry’s remains in the holy Ganges was Weir’s idea, but Weir admittedly ‘can’t figure out where the idea came from’.

Weir became my astrological client, and I warned him an Amerivcan rock and roll star would be soon murdered. I guided his tour astrologically for a while. Then, a few weeks after I reported my fears to Weir, Dime Bag was shot dead by a ‘fan’. Weir came to respect my abilities. So I invited Weir to go to India with me and I’d find him villages he can play to, places where they’d never heard of the Dead, the last ones on Earth. ‘Nothing I want more, Pavan.’ he told me. The last time I saw Weir was when he came to visit me at my store to pick up a Shiva Linga. I’ve spoken to him since. Also Robin Williams stopped in my store to get his Shiva Linga after reading my book.

Raagini sends her best. We have crossed 60 years now, but nonetheless my chart shows I shall be making great changes soon. Whatever, the stars foretell, the Golden Age will soon be upon us. The question will be if we ourselves have done what we could for Prabhupada’s mercy.

I have the following books available:

1. What Is Your Rashi (The Lunar Foundation of Vedic Astrology) (from Bodhi Tree)
2. Motorcycle Yoga $16
3. Touring the Land of Krishna, 2nd Ed $15
4. Shri Chanakya Niti Shastra With Commentary (about $25, short run ed.)
5. Horoscope For Disaster: A Vedic Astrological View of Eclipses and Planetary Fights (about $30 short run ed.)
6. Shri Pushpanjali (a collection of Prabhupada’s flower-like analogies) $15

Shipping is extra.

I am still doing horoscopes, also.

My dear Prabhuji, I do thank you for the kind words. I do remember that you hand had swollen from filaria, a very dangerous problem, and that the West was incapable of treating you, hence I sent you some pills that were common in India, but unknown just an airtplane ride away. Shocking.

Anyway, all’s well that ends well, and if we can end it all with chanting of:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

…then this life will be sublime. All glories to Shrila Prabhupada.

Your seternal servant,
Patita Pavana das

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Pavan’s Press is proud to present our first Guest Editorial From Bhakta Bob.

Editor’s note: Ever notice how all these short-lived and sentimental devotee newsletters usually feature this highly-idealistic just-shaved-up semi-brahmachary writing for them named Bhakta Bob? I mean like, where are all the acharyas? Have they run out of ink?

Maybe Bhakta Bob is just some composite personality because his stuff appears here, there, everywhere. He’s the guy the “acharyas” convince into writing inspired yet basic stuff, inspiring stuff that makes your eyes wet, but from which you practically learn very little. And even though Bhakta Bob has had a lot of experience in writing cutsie copy, a lot of Bhakta Bob’s quasi-ISKCON-stuff seems to rest in the mundane. Truly. Does anyone remember those two Latin words Prabhupada used to separate the gurus from the posers: “bona fide”? Did anyone read “I Love Riding Around on My Bicycle” by Bhakta Bob Somebody on one of those “official” sites of ISKCON?

Not only that, but many of these well-meaning “Bhakta Bob ideas”—like the lukewarm milquetoast of Uni-faith’s “religious harmony” and “coming-togetherism” —are just NOT what Prabhupada had in mind. Truly compromising with those who kill cows in the name of religious freedom is at best a questionable activity when placed against preaching the true and very pure values of sanatan-dharma.

Well, with these words as our caveat, whether uttered in fear or doubt, we bring you an obligatory Vaishnava Newsletter “Bhakta Bob” piece, as mandated by an official directive received today from the “God Brotherly Council” and signed by the Minister of Printing Everything Bhakta Bob Ever Writes!” It is our hope that our Bhakta Bob has matured in devotion and his tender creeper of bhakti has flowered since his many yeoman contributions to ISKCON’s spin on yogic trivia and Hindu guesswork. We don’t want to bore you with the facts any longer, and we hope that you’ll send Bhakta Bob your letters of encouragement for his fine attempt below.

Anyhow, with introductions out of the way, Bhakta Bob herewith waxes sentimental over American folk songs in his latest piece “My Favorite Song”: -Ed.

My Favorite Song
by Bhakta Bob

Today it’s a given that thinking any worthwhile thoughts has fallen out of vogue. True, there are few amongst us who actually don’t think that life is a joke, and use the brain for its intended purpose. Way back when before the video game and television made a nation of absolute jerks and morons, among that group of descending IQ’s we call “The Americans,” family sing-alongs were a means by which people bonded. Women spread the sacred rays of their motherhood upon their children who imbibed many wonderful moral principles through singing along with Mom. And the lessons offered in old Irish ballad form had more twists than a double feature at the movies. Nowadays women no longer confer their fine qualities of selfless motherhood upon their children. The up and coming population would hardly make a rodent mom proud.

No, these days women have abortions and then go shop at Victoria’s Secret Underwear Supply House in preparation for the next one. Hey, has anybody out there ever actually seen a picture of Queen Victoria? My Ford Crown Victoria looks better. Whatever her secrets were, I’m sure that her husband had more! Like how to slip out the back door at bedtime! Anyway, this is an essay on folk songs, and I’m afraid that I’m being led astray here by my rascal mind!

As a boy, one of my favorite American folk songs went like this:
”Where the wind never blows and the sun never shines,
It’s dark as a dungeon way down in the mines…”

I was always intrigued by a place where there could be no wind, and darkness abounds. But of course after a long hard day in the mines, at least for the miners there was a light at the end of the tunnel, and everybody comes up from underground. When they get home, they’d sing about what an absolute hell it is down there and everybody became happy. The next day they’d go back to work. Work, eat, sing, sleep, repeat.

However, according to Shri Ishopanishad there really is such a place of (nearly) everlasting darkness where the demonic enemies of the Lord are sent directly upon leaving this world. This is the hellish region of this Universe called Naraka, which is described in the Fifth Canto of the Shrimad Bhagavatam. This ancient Vedic knowledge is the source of all knowledge of hell, as also narrated in all Mleccha Shastras like the Bible.

Shrila Sukadeva Goswami Maharaja describes these horrible hells to Maharaja Parikshit, as well as their location, for those who still have doubts. The Naraka region is just above the Garbhodaka Ocean, beneath Patala Loka. There the agents of Lord Yamaraja, the sheriff enforcer of the universe who is mentioned in the Gita as a part representative of Lord Krishna, punish debauchers, liars, spiritual posers, meat-eaters, unfaithful disciples who treat their guru maharaja with callousness and a lack of respect and other rascal non-devotees.

Perhaps the greatest darkness of mankind is to declare oneself “as God” or having become “one with God” or “Supreme Enjoyer” or any other folly based upon impersonal falsehood. Any philosophy that asserts equality with the all-pervasive Supreme Lord is based upon enviousness of Shri Krishna. Shri Krishna alone is the Supreme Enjoyer and anyone who tries to assume His post and enjoy extravagantly here in this world of mindless sense gratification—including men dressed in the cloth of renunciation—will feel the sharp sword-like leaves of Asipatravana (where trees have leaves sharper than scimitars). Bloodthirsty refugees from the steak and chop houses will be tortured by the rurus of Maharaurava where meat-eaters go for a good long time (before being reborn as animals for slaughter).

Shri Krishna alone is actually the One Without a Second and the Supreme Enjoyer of All Yagnas. The living entity’s true position and eternal shelter is found by serving His lotus feet, and for those who generate nothing but bad karma, their reward will be the bitter fruits of suffering in hell.

Shri Ishopanishad (3) states:

asurya nama te loka andhena tamasavritah
tams te pretyabhigacchanti ye ke chatma-hano janah

“The killer of the soul, whoever he may be, must enter into the worlds of the faithless, full of darkness and ignorance.”

A means “not” and sura means “pleasure.” Shrila Prabhupada explains. Hence, demons enjoying sinful things such as illicit sex, intoxication and meat-eating are doomed to suffer a demonic fate. Asurya has also been explained as “the place of no Sun.” And the best way to appreciate the Sun is to be without his life giving rays for as it is said ‘You never know what you have until you no longer have it”. No wonder brahmans pray to the sun, and brave kshatriyas attain to the Sun planet by dying in battle. Karna became the supreme warrior and world’s most generous man because he was the son of the Sun. Verily, the Sun is the universal life giver and localized incarnation of Lord Narayana. Hence, we worship the Sun God as Lord Surya-Narayana, and pray to him at each of the day’s tri-sandhyas, morning (where night meets day), noon (where morning meets afternoon) and sunset (where day meets night).

So the irony is that those who claim to have found the eternal white light of oneness must go to a place where there is no Sun. Some have interpreted this as one of the many meanings of asurya nama te loka or “to the place named for having no sun.” This is confirmed in the next line which reminds us of the hell called Andhatamishra, where horrible darkness pervades every inch. Those janam or persons who are atma-hanas, killer of souls, must suffer these unwholesome domains for a very long time. Shrila Prabhupada used to show us the shadow and say, “This is shadow and this is the light. Choose which one you want. This is your choice. Choose Krishna or maya. As Prabhupada reminded us with every issue of his own magazine, Back to Godhead:

krishna surya sama moya hoy andhakara
yahan krishna tahan nahi moyara adhikara

“Lord Shri Krishna is like the sun, while maya is nescience. Where there is Krishna there is no nescience.”

We are lucky indeed—for Shrila Prabhupada has paved the way and has unlocked the door to the realms of transcendence, the land of eternal light that lies on the other side of the Brahmajyoti. There beyond the impersonal rays of the Absolute where Shri Krishna is the undisputed King of Vraja and Lord.

We will not be like so-called Christians who believe that God will make His only son suffer with nails in his hands so everyone can get drunk on Christmas and seduce their secretaries! No, this is mode of ignorance rascaldom and the devotee cannot tolerate such offenses unto the lotus feet of his Guru Maharaja. He will not enjoy at the expense of the guru’s suffering, what to speak of committing sins on the strength of chanting. So we will all go back to Godhead, back to the Land of Krishna, once we abandon all pretenses to acharya-ship and—through giving up our false egos—humbly surrender to the divine lotus feet of Shrila Prabhupada through his immortal writings. Humble service alone is the devotee’s true example. It was Shrila Prabhupada’s example that left behind, to quote Shrila Bhaktivinode Thakur, his “footsteps in the sands of time.” From time to time the sense gratifier in saffron should ask himself, “What sort of reputation am I leaving behind?”

So now, as a new Bhakta called simply as “Bhakta Bob” I have heard the glories of Shrila Prabhupada and have dived into his nectarean shastras. Wonderfully, I have renounced any and all attachments to hokey American folk songs about mundane birth, death, etc. Now, my favorite song forevermore is:

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.

Yours truly,
“Bhakta Bob”

1. “Dear Bhakta Bob, Your writing shows, maybe, some potential. Please keep up the good work, anyway. And you can come clean our toilets so we’ll bless you with great renown for your literary talent.” –The Godbrother Council.

2. “Dear Godbrother Council, What gives? Individually you all like me, but collectively you despise me. Is that fair or are you just a bunch of politicians?” -Bhakta Bob

3. Hmmmm. Such is the pack mentality whose overall judgments and opinions override that of the individual members of the secret society. Any wild animal expert will tell you that this “dog pack” instinct is absolutely necessary for survival. –Ed.

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Rants, raves and rambles about the god of sorrow…

That dangblasted Old Curmudgeon who is me has just embarked on his third “Saturn Cycle,” the official entrance into old age. According to most people who follow “The Astrology of the Hindus,” a Saturnian time of planetary involvement, especially Sade Sati Number Three, is generally described thusly: #@%^&*/><@! .

What great maha-yogis and devotees all know, but sinful demons do not comprehend, Saturn can actually be one of the greatest benefics. Take India, for example. This great Saturn-ruled land has Saturnian influence in all in maximum extremes both vertically and horizontally. India has great self-made magnates and industrialists (Saturn’s power to give great heights to the worthy), great penitent yogis (Saturn rules austerity) and philosophy borne out of experience. India’s very poor and impoverished are legendary, too, (the “lower octave” of Saturn rules extreme forms of filth and decay; wasting diseases, breathing disorders of all sorts, slow and painful death; rot, garbage; loss of social status, family and friends; isolation, etc.) So, although Shanideva is known as a paapi, or sinful planet, this is just not the case. In truth, we are the paapis, and the bad karma that can follow in a waltz of Shanideva is not Shani’s, dear reader, but ours alone.

Shani’s job is to let us know in no uncertain terms that, yes, we really do live in the world of vikarma-phal or painful fruition of sinful deeds performed in this and other lives. The retribution is ours to enjoy. One of recent history’s very-Saturnian saints was Isha Putra Krishna-Rishi, otherwise known as Jesus Christ in the dialects of the mlecchas. And as Jesus summarizes Shanideva’s grim portfolio, “As you sow so shall you get yours.” Shanideva is precisely like the tick tock of the inevitable clock of karma, telling us at every moment that the final moments of judgement are steadily approaching. So Vaishnava astrologers recommend one cure and one cure only for a negative Shani cycle, one that is superior to all forms of austerity or yogic exercises. He who enters into malefic (1.) Shani dasha, or bhukti, (2) Sade Sati or Ashthama Shani, etc, should always chant:

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Ram Rama Rama Hare Hare.

This mahamantra is unsurpassed for preparing for any kind of malefic transit of Lord Shanideva in one’s life because it is meant for liberating the entire world from the bonds of karma. Who is there who can escape Shanideva and the laws of Nature? Only the devotee succeeds. Since we are all subject to the laws of Nature until the Supreme Lord Shri Krishna grants us release by His Own Sweet Will, then, the best path is to take refuge of the holy name of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Shri Shri Radha-Krishna.

Since everyone is bound by the stringent laws of karma as read through the position of Shanideva in a natal kundali or horoscope, then hari nama sankirtana is the only recourse. Unless this world takes to the sankirtan movement, its struggling citizens are doomed otherwise to unlimited rebirth here in this cold, dark material prison. Therefore, the conclusion is that any one who tries to appease the demigods with some mantra other than the one prescribed by Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is simply wasting his time by spinning his wheels here in Time’s eternal wheel of samsara. As Shrila Prabhupada often advised, “Water the root.” Since Krishna is the root of all that is, the only means of pleasing the demigods is to please the Supreme Lord.

In the Puranic glorification of Saturn mentioned above called the Shani Mahatmyam, the description Lord Shri Krishna’s sade-sati cycle is given. Yes, you read that right, Lord Shani is so powerful that he even vexed Shri Krishna Himself. Of course, no demigod or devata can ever overpower Lord Krishna. The Supreme Lord is not overpowered by mere planets as we fools of planet Earth. However, in order to appear as an ordinary man and thereby cheat the atheists who did not have the “good karma” to view the Supreme Lord, Krishna in His divine lila glorified His devotee Shanideva, just to teach foolish mankind how stringent and powerful the laws of Nature are.

Brothers and Sisters, the only way out of this painful mohajala, or web of illusion, is to surrender at the lotus feet of Shrila Prabhupada. None of those “fashion yogis” preaching in the sixties granted even one of their doped-up followers any one of the five liberations. Yet we have seen a few pious and sincere devotees achieve liberation in this lifetime due only to Shrila PRabhupada and none other. A few whom I am presuming to have become liberated whom I knew well come to mind like my Prabhu Shriman Suhotra das Maharaja. I knew Suhotra when he joined us in Boston, and now I’ve heard that he disappeared from this world at such a divine moment, in such a blessed way that he could only have achieved the anti-material Vaikuntha realm. I know a few “God-nieces and nephews” (actually, I consider us all brothers and sisters and do not like the condescending pomp associated with anything else) who remained faithful to Suhotra Swami as he tried to convey Shril Prabhupada’s wonderful message without any guile or motivation. So this is all due to the blessings of Guru Maharaja, that the Great Liberation of Kali Yuga, nama-sankirtana, is working as predicted by the great Shrila Shri Bhaktivinoda Thakura.

We are all so blessed just to have the darshan of Prabhupada’s lotus feet, or—better yet—to have understood the value of his teachings as revealed in the Purports of the Gita, Bhagavatam, Shri Chaitanya Charitamrita, and other Sanskrit and Bengali classics belonging to the periods of Sage Vyasadeva (3100 BC and earlier) and the modern Gaudiya Movement of Bengali Vaishnava that has continued to grow from the divine advent of the Golden Avatar in 1486 to the present. And which, it goes without saying, continues to grow around the world all thanks to Shrila Prabhupada. For Prabhupada alone can teach any unfortunate soul how to unlock himself from the iron grip of Shani and transfer to the shelter of Lord Krishna’s twin lotus feet.

Now Shani is so powerful that he even vexed Shri Krishna during the Supreme Lord’s advent upon this planet. Actually Shri Krishna was intent on not making waves and appearing as an ordinary human being to cheat the atheists, that he allowed Himself to be overcome by Sade Sati during His Shyamataka Jewel episode when many around the Supreme Lord as Dwarakapati actually came to doubt the Supremecy of Yogeshwara Shri Krishna. Lord Krishna was so kind to His devotee Shani deva that He allowed Himself to appear as though He was under the spell of material nature. I need not remind you devotees that Shani and all the other planetary deities are under Durga or Mahamaya, and Devimata is none other than the shadow of Shrimati Radharani, Who none other than the Supreme Gopi of Vrajadham and the Divine Beloved of Shri Krishna.

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More on Motorcycle Yoga…

Garcia and the Ganges

One of the most interesting reactions to the book Motorcycle Yoga came from long-time Grateful Dead member Bobby Weir. Bobby called me from a journey into Mexico to discuss his appreciation of my words. Bobby told me about the death of Jerry Garcia, whom he called his big brother. When Jerry died, his family wanted to bury him in the cemetery of an Episcopal Church in ritzy Tiburon, California. By some “miracle” Bobby insisted on Jerry being cremated and his ashes submerged in the Ganges. He told me about how Jerry Garcia’s remains were soon submerged in the mighty Mandakini, so famous for her ability to deliver souls as Shri Patita Pavani. You see, Bob went to Rishikesh with the ashes of Jerry Garcia.

For one hour on the phone that day, Bobby Weir, whom I used to see performing in Golden Gate Park in ’67, recounted his joy of realizing that Jerry’s destiny had been fulfilled by the grace of final sacred waters. And he said that Motorcycle Yoga’s chapter “Rolling With the River” about my trips along the Bhopal Road to Bhera Ghat, reminded him of his spiritual communion with India. “Thanks for writing this book,” Bobby kept saying with such warmth that I was immediately drawn to him.

Still More on Motorcycle Yoga

“Riding Solo to the Top of the World”

Recently my friend and fellow Enfield Bullet rider Gaurav Jani showed his one-man film Riding Solo to the Top of the World at a number of worldwide film festivals, where it was piled upon with fantastic reviews and prestigious awards. When the film played at our Bay Area Mill Valley Film Festival, Gaurav invited me to bring a few friends. I called up my riding buddy, Brent Becvar, who had bought about a dozen Motorcycle Yogas for friends, and he brought Bonnie Rait.

Gaurav is a rider who is in a class by himself in terms of raw guts, heroism and the courage to keep on going when all others would have turned back. Learn more about Gaurav’s unique film from his website, www.dirtrackproductions.com.

Here’s the letter Gaurav Jani wrote to me about Motorcycle Yoga:

Dear Pavan ji,
Here is what I feel after reading this amazing book by you. Frankly speaking, many of the things you have mentioned or have tried to explain will take most people some time to comprehend what it is all about. For example, me and my friends talk a lot about navigation and travel instincts: a perfect—yet subconscious—way to reach your goal or destination without trying very hard. How it comes naturally to some people and how some people just don’t get it, is a mystery. You are also trying to say that in the book, not only about travel but to reach to a higher understanding and a higher state. It is with the same reference I say that some people might not just get it, but still will be fascinated with the romantic idea of experiencing one day. I don’t know if I am making sense, but the wisdom, experience and contemplation in the book is by a person who, I think, is no longer a student, but a master, who has an instinct to find his way, it comes naturally to him. The book, I feel is as much about your journey on motorcycle as it is about the journey of your soul which you have under perfect control.

Unlike other books, you tell what the truth is, but leave it for others to seek it. The passion is naked and that’s what I really like about it. I think I agree with the Yogis who say that you have had a connection with India in your past life. Pavan ji, I am not flattering you here. Maybe I am not as good as you when it comes to expressing thoughts in words, but I had the feeling even before you mentioned in your book. Only an Indian can criticize with an open heart yet fall madly in love with this land. With foreigners its the other way around.

There is so much I want to say (and will say it in subsequent e-mails) for my Motorcycle Yoga was about you, your transformation, although you don’t talk much in details about life before that, but images from past and from your family in the book tell me it is about the journey of your own life and a the wandering of a beautiful mind which calls India home.

Pranams and respect, I wish I had read Motorcycle Yoga before I met you, there is so much more we could have talked about, something which I find very difficult to express over e-mails.

Gaurav
Gaurav Jani, Writer-Director-Producer of
Riding Solo to the Top of the World
Audience Award for Best Documentary: Kathmandu Int’l Film Festival (2006)
Golden Conch for Best Documentary: Mumbai Int’l. Film Festival (2006)
National Critics Award: Mumbai Int’l. Film Festival (2006)
Best Documentary Award (Biography): Signs Film Festival, Kerala (2006)

-Thank you for the very kind words, Gaurav. You know that I also appreciate your search and bless your road and your journey. –Pavan, Ed.

For copies of Motorcycle Yoga, please obtain your copy from Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s City Lights Book Store, Columbus and Broadway, North Beach, San Francisco, CA 94133 or from pavandas@sbcglobal.net.

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Shri Chanakya Niti-Shastra
Chapter one, verses 5, 6, & 7

1.5: A false friend, an insolent servant, and living with a poisonous serpent in the house are nothing but death.

Commentary: He who lays his trust in a wicked circle of companions is as foolish as that man from Kerala who died after a month in a cage with cobras while trying to get his name into the Guinness Book of World Records. A man is judged by his company, just as a guru is judged by the quality of his disciples, or parents by their offspring. (Chanakya has given us this shloka from Brihaspati Niti-sara {GP 1.108.25}.)

1.6: Money should be saved in case of a future emergency. The wife can be saved by sacrificing money, but ultimately one must save oneself even at the cost of wife and riches.

Commentary: Often a young disciple expresses a desire to sacrifice himself in order to save the entire world, to which the teacher invariably answers that the only way to save others is to save oneself. Unless one has elevated himself to the platform of transcendence above the three modes of Nature, he can do nothing to extricate others trapped by their own desires. Chanakya’s sage advice is to be prepared for any untoward event by protecting family, saved wealth and assets, but by all means save yourself first. Simply making a show of renunciation by taking up the staff and cloth of a sannyasi or the title of Maharaja will not save one from the well of material existence. A man dressed as a king in a well will die in the well. Only he who has climbed out of the well can throw a rope into the well for the benefit of others so trapped. (This verse appears in Garuda Purana 1.109.9.)

1. 7: Put aside some wealth in case of future difficulties. Never ask, “Why should a rich man dread hard times?” If Lakshmi, the Goddess of Fortune, decides to go elsewhere, even your savings will dwindle.

Commentary: Here Chanakya calls Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth, by Her name Chalitaa, or “She who is always moving.” Lakshmi is also sometimes known as Chanchalaa, or “unsteady”, as Chanakya will later write in 5.20. Wealth, which represents Her in this world, never stops moving from one hand to the next. Whenever a clever man becomes rich, others lay schemes for plunder—banks through exorbitant interest rates, governments through constant and excessive taxation, thieves through extortion and common citizens through lawsuits—all conspire to reduce a rich man’s accumulated wealth to zero. The Panchatantra of Vishnusharma laments, “Coming and going, money is nothing but a headache.”

Lakshmi is the wife of Lord Vishnu, and His association alone brings Her happiness. Therefore, the means to keep the Goddess who governs riches pleased is to see that some portion of your wealth is always engaged in the service of Lord Vishnu. There is a modern legend in India about the wealthy Birla family. It is said that three or four generations ago, a grandsire of that family was blessed by a sadhu. Now, this sage told him that his family would remain wealthy for generations provided whatever they earned was used in the service of the Lord. Birla was instructed to “never allow the mason’s trowel to rest.” Today for the sake of public good, the Birla family has constructed many beautiful temples to Lord Vishnu all over India. I have visited several of the magnificent temples constructed by the Birla family including: the Lakshmi-Narayana Mandir in Delhi, the Gita Mandir at Kurukshetra, the Vyenkateshwar Mandir at Hyderabad and the Gita Mandir at Mathura. Neither has the trowel rested, the wealthy Birla family, blessed by Goddess Lakshmi, continues their service to dharma and society.

Wealth and property are ultimately not ours to hoard, so to avoid a miser’s fate in the region of Naraka, where sinful misers are sent, one’s accumulated assets must be engaged for the pleasure and service of the Almighty Vishnu. Then Lakshmiji may condescend to make our home Her address. In this all-too-short spot of our life we will be wise to sing in one voice with the great 19th century Acharya Shrila Bhaktivinode Thakur, who said, “All that I have I tender at Thy lotus feet, O Husband of the Goddess of Fortune.”-End of Pavan’s Commentary in the matter of Chanakya Niti Shastra 1.5, 6 & 7

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The Divine Stellar Configurations in the Horoscope of:
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Founder-Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness

by Srimati Abhaya Mudra devi dasi

From the Editor: Prabhupada came into my life through an article in Fact Magazine just after His Divine Grace came to New York, in ’66. However, I first met Shrila Prabhupada face to face in the winter of ’68 in Santa Fe. At the time, the Santa Fe center on 411 West Water Street was the newest ISKCON temple. By Nov. of 1968, I had already read about Prabhupada in ‘66, had chanted in Tompkins Square Park in ‘67, attended Rathayatra in San Francisco in ‘68, and now I found myself sitting before His Divine Grace. It was late in the year, the deep winter, and the first question I posed to my spiritual master was, “Do you like astrology?” Shrila Prabhupada smiled at me very, very broadly and said, “Oh. So you like astrology?” Then he pointed his finger right at me. Feeling that His Divine Grace was urging me into deeper conversation, I continued, “What is your birthday?” He beamed. “Sept. 1st, 1896,” he replied with great satisfaction. His look was a dare, saying, “Go ahead, have a look at your Guru’s chart. See the exalted stars of your Guru Maharaja.” Of course, Shrila Prabhupada would never talk in this way, but I must say that his look said it all. So I smiled for the first time in his presence and asked, “What time?”

“About Four o’clock pm,” he replied.

Actually, I gave up astrology for several years so that I could read Prabhupada’s books and serve his mission. I had always wanted a Guru, and now was my opportunity to learn the perfection of Vedic culture from the most truly qualified perfected devotee on the planet. I wanted to learn to serve His Divine Grace, so I joined the newly-formed ISKCON Press under Shriman Brahmananda das Prabhuji. Actually, Prabhupada ordered me to go to New York upon initiation and become his bookbinder. So I gave up any notion of astrological study, or study of anything else but His Divine Grace’s books and lectures, until in London Shri Vijai Ranamukhadevaji walked up to me out of nowhere and said, “Hello, I am a Vedic astrologer.” Thus I realized that Prabhupada was giving me permission to study—if I could remain judicious about it.

At the time, several other devotees studied astrology under a Vedic astrologer who was obviously smitten with egoism and false prestige. I had met him and never liked him. In fact, when I explained his chart to this “teacher” just by seeing his face, it put him on notice that I was aware of his games. Eventually, the students of this astrologer were rejected by Shrila Prabhupada as they fell under the spell of non-Vedic illusions pertaining to material consciousness.

As far as my astrology teacher Ranamukhadevaji, he was officially a Buddhist, but he professed strong Hindu roots, or rather Vedic roots of the Tamil tradition in Shri Lanka. It was there from a Tamil pandit that he had learned this Vedanga jyotish. I used to meet with him at the British Museum library and we would discuss charts. He concluded that Shrila Prabhupada could only be Dhanush lagna, based on his bodily build. Once when Shrila Prabhupada came to London, Ranamukhadevaji, who kept himself in an absolutely impoverished state, presented Shrila Prabhupada with Lord Krishna’s horoscope engraved on a golden plate! Shrila Prabhupada took it nonchalantly and adequately blessed Ranamukhadevaji, who (unlike that other teacher) was always respectful to Shrila Prabhupada and honored His Divine Grace with the highest praise. What I really liked about Ranamukhadevaji is that he never interfered with a disciple’s budding devotion, except to water it. My astrology teacher was a Vaishnava at heart, one who worshipped Lord Krishna and who recognized Shrila Prabhupada as an avatara of Godhead sent to deliver the nectar of sankirtan.

Over time, I would present Shrila Prabhupada’s horoscope to a number of India’s greatest and most renowned astrologers for their opinions. Those who were non-envious all agreed that Shrila PRabhupada was no ordinary conditioned human being, but a divine representative of God Almighty. Pandit Shashikant Jain said the horoscope had but one flaw, which had to be there in order for such a perfect soul to have taken birth.

One of India’s truly great scholars, Dr. D. Arkasomayaji who was like a second father to me and who had won the greatest scholastic awards available in India, explained to me many details of Shrila Prabhupada’s chart. Dr. Arkasomayaji (whose name means “Sun and Moon”) spoke as I took notes. I sent Dr. Arkasomayaji’s respected opinion to Shrila Prabhupada, who was then giving his final blessings to the world from Vrindavana. Tamal Krishna would later tell me in confidence that “Prabhupada went into ecstasy” when Tamal read him my letter. However, His Divine Grace loved Dr. Arkasomayaji’s “review” of His Divine Grace’s sacred writings even more than his astrological reading which accepted Prabhupada as “the greatest spiritual master of the Age.”

Now not only the greatest scholars of India, but also Shrila Prabhupada himself, accepted Dhanush lagna, and for those who would like more on this issue, please obtain a copy of my Krishna conscious book on Moon signs entitled WHAT IS YOUR RASHI? from the Bodhi Tree (and not Krishna Culture).

Let me confirm to those who don’t know, that Shrila Prabhupada had a good command over the principles of Jyotish Shastra, as I once heard him summarize the deepest wisdom of jyotish to an inquiring gentleman on the Bombay apartment rooftop in four words. (Incidentally, I shall disclose those four words to the first person who brings me $100,000.)

So with those words of introduction, Pavan’s Press is both pleased and proud to present Shrimati Abhaya Mudra devi dasi’s understanding of the jyoti (light) that came into our dark lives in the form of Shrila Prabhupada. –Ed.

Light of the Stars

Smt. Abhaya Mudra devi dasi

The personified deity of Earth, Bhumi Devi, feeling pitiably aggrieved that Lord Shri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, was leaving her at the end of Dwapara Yuga—wished to know the Earth’s fate once He had departed. Naturally, she was sad that His lotus feet would no longer be blessing the Earth that His transcendental revealed pastimes would be drawing to a close. Lord Shri Krishna consoled His devotee by replying that for 5,000 years there will be dark ages full of wars and ignorance. Then, for 10,000 years His devotees will traverse the Earth thus lightening her burden lighter, and after His devotees leave, there will be only low class men left on earth.

If we accept that the beginning of Kali Yuga was dated after the battle of Kurukshetra, and to be more exact after the departure of the grandson of Arjuna, Maharaja Parikshit – the hero of Srimad-Bhagavatam (and who was the only one who was still able to control the dark forces of Kali Yuga), then the date is 27 February 3102 BC. The 5,000 years of dark ages, after which passing mankind has duly forgotten its glorious past, have already gone to an end, and now is the time of those 10,000 years predicted by Lord Krishna. So the next 10,000 years will write another chapter of transcendental history full of pastimes. If we calculate when those ten thousand years began, we would find out that they begun with the birth of Shrila Abhay Charan De, son of Gour Mohan De, on September 1st at 15:24, year 1896. This unusual boy born in Calcutta would later be rightfully known as His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

The glories of Shrila Prabhupada are unlimited and are impossible to narrate adequately. Except for Lord Ananta Shesh, the holy couch of Lord Vishnu, who is there in these three worlds who can properly describe the beauty of the Lord and His devotees? Though each devotee of Krishna is an individual servant of the Lord bound by a unique relationship, Krishna’s love is equal towards all His votaries. It is well known by all devotees that the holy name, pastimes, paraphernalia and devotees of the Lord are considered to be non-different from Him. The Lord’s pastimes are intertwined with His elects with whom there is a constant exchange, an ebb and flow of love or prema-bhakti. For there is none other who can impart this light of love than our spiritual master. Hence we devotees pray to Shrila Prabhupada thusly:

om ajnana timirandhasya jnanajanan salakaya
chaksus unmilitam yena tasmai shri gurave namah

“I who am standing in the depths and darkness of abject ignorance do offer my humble obeisances unto my (most dearly beloved) Shri Guru Maharaja for he alone has opened my eyes with his (blazing) torchlight of knowledge.”

In the jyoti of this light, let us now examine the horoscope of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. That Krishna has personally ordered Shrila Prabhupada to undertake this mission is visible from the place of his Chatra rasi—the place from which usually a bad karma is seen. For a conditioned soul, taking birth in this material world could be seen as a curse but, here we find an exalted Moon, representing the divine command of Krishna. The Moon is joined with Mars in Rohini nakshatra—the nakshatra of Krishna—representing the order Srila Prabhupada personally had to carry on with the mission, since Mars is also the ruler of his Aruda Lagna—which demonstrates how one is perceived in the world. So in a way Srila Prabhupada is also non-different from Krishna because his words represented the command of Krishna to spread the sankirtan movement far and wide and thereby decrease the burden of the Earth by the chanting of:

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare [1]

On many occasions Shrila Prabhupada mentioned that astrologers in his early childhood told him that during the time period of his planet Mercury, he would go to the West and make a lot of temples. And by the time Mercury mahadasha arrived, Shrila Prabhuapda had already renounced family life and accepted sannyasa. Mercury is an exalted planet in His chart joining debilitated Venus—the planet being debilitated in second from the Sun points to a person who had no problem with renunciation of worldly desires. [2] Mercury is the karaka (or “indicator”) for disciples, thus in this Budha-dasha or Mercury major period he founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Being in the 10th house (or karmastan, an “angular” house or kendra and the most visible house in a chart) Mercury definitely was shining bright.

The spiritual master’s atma-karaka or “significator of the self” is Rahu, and in this case it is in the sign of his office Aquarius [3] Even the evil planet became a messenger with the nectar of immortality in his trough, who brought it to us as a service – visible from Rahu’s aspect to the Sun, Jupiter and Ketu – all in the 9th house. Jupiter the ruler of lagna has joined powerful Sun in his own house and spiritual Ketu. This sign is his power lagna as well, and gave the thousands of temples all around the world. His writing is marked by exalted Saturn ruler of the house of writing, the 3rd, and again Mercury, 3rd from Aruda lagna – for most of his books He wrote in Mercury’s dasha.

When we zoom into other charts of the divisional system known as shodasha-varga, we see again and again repetition of planetary combinations indicating a sadhu and a liberated person. Some of the most obvious yogas are:

-Bhadra mahapurusha yoga (lit. “great man”), involving Mercury exalted in the tenth.

-Chandra-mangala (combination of the Moon and Mars together), which by itself is enough to make some one materially successful, but in Shrila Prabhupada’s case, the Moon is exalted.

-Gaja-keshari yoga: Caused by the Moon and Jupiter in mutual kendras, this planetary yoga instills in one the simultaneous qualities of both a lion and an elephant.

-Jaya yoga: Mercury confers also jaya yoga (exalted 10th lord) – victory over his enemies. [4]
-Saraswati yoga: The name is self-explanatory), again involving Mercury, Venus and Jupiter, and same planets participating in Shrila Prabhupada’s Brahma yoga as well.

-Mridanga yoga was conferred by the positions of Sun and Mercury, which distributed his glory and make him equally famous the way only kings could have been in ancient times.

-Kalpadruma and Parijata yogas when said combined Parivraja yoga (seen in the charts of ascetics) offered him a total success in preaching missions.

Kedara yoga for wealth and happiness, and most of all huge stability.

Raja yoga: There are many types of raja-yoga present in the chart.

-Chamara yoga gave His Divine Grace skill in many arts, as history has recorded.

Shrila Prabhupada has left his physical body, but ISKCON is his body as well. In many ways what is happening in the life of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness can be seen from the main planetary periods, which Srila Prabhupada could have been undergoing in His physical body right now, and we can make prediction. -Written 1 Dec. 2007

1. The burden of the Earth lessened with the appearance of Shrila Prabhupada and the sankirtan movement of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in the West, i.e., the Viet Nam War came to an end, then the burdens of the Earth have doubled since the disappearance of Shrila Prabhupada and the diminishing sankirtan due to the unfocused or misguided values of the current leadership which have substantially slowed down ISKCON’s “every town and village” movement. -Ed. back to text

2. Venus, the planet of sensuality is often found in debility in the horoscopes of true renunciate and it is one of the many, many wonderful specific features of Prabhupada’s horoscope. –Ed. back to text

3. Interesting that Rahu represents the Western world or mleccha-desh, where Shrila Prabhupada became known as the paschatya-desha-tarine. –Ed. back to text

4. It goes without saying that a pure devotee has no enemies, but Shrila Prabhupada was the sworn enemy of the evil principles of Kali Yuga, viz. meat-eating, illicit sex, intoxication and false philosophies of the insidious cult of Mayavada. –Ed. back to text

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The latest catalogue from Krishna Culture arrived recently, sent from their offices in Texas. Also known as Art & Culture, this impressive catalogue is run by a disciple of an ISKCON ex-“zonal acharya” of well-known past and of dubious future. The Krishna Culture catalogue contains an interesting mix of devotional literature, spiritual paraphernalia and books written by devotees and non-devotees, some good, some terrible. Mixed in with the bona fide stuff is a not-so-well disguised potpourri of quasi-Vedic hodge-podge, new age mumbo jumbo, yoga for physical rewards, mental speculation as well as books right out of the insipid school of mayavadism.

Pavan’s Press believes that vending non-devotional items in a catalogue that calls itself “Krishna Culture” is simply counter-productive to the cause of Krishna consciousness. If there is a need to vend non-devotional literature and paraphernalia on the part of Krishna Culture, we find ourselves wondering if the genuine articles in the catalogue are there to attract devotees to the false philosophies that reek of mayavadism. Why would bogus literatures be placed on equal footing with those scribed by a direct representative of Shrila Vyasadeva?

For the sake of my three readers, honesty demands that I make a confession. Krishna Culture told me a couple of years back that the catalogue’s selection would not include my own book Motorcycle Yoga because “devotees wouldn’t buy it.”

Hmmm, I haven’t seen too many devotees worshipping Sai Baba, either. And “Krishna Culture” carries among their “Devotional Statues” (would Prabhupada ever use this offensive terminology?) section, images of Sai Baba seated next to Shrila Prabhupada, who is positioned on the page under a “statue” of Buddha. Further, Krishna Culture identifies Shrila Prabhupada as “A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami”, which is a highly inappropriate over-familiarization with the spiritual master.

And, incidentally, my book Motorcycle Yoga is indeed a repository of progressively advancing Vaishnava thought all wrapped up in a series of very slow motorcycle rides. Motorcycle Yoga is Krishna conscious pure and simple aimed at preaching to a huge, previously-untapped group of non-devotees.

Motorcycle Yoga seeks to convey through the media of true roadside adventures the devotee’s all-encompassing vision of the Lord as the constant companion along the solitary roads of life. Sure, Motorcycle Yoga may be accused of being a big vague at times, but that is understandable considering the audience for whom it was written. It is aimed at an audience that wants to come to its own conclusions after examining the facts. It stands as an example of the softest type of preaching, yet it gives the philosophy in a straight-forward way without compromise. Motorcycle Yoga discusses hundreds of aspects of Krishna consciousness, or the eternal Vedic culture that is the birthright of every part and parcel of Lord Shri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. For the Krishna conscious rider, Krishna is there around every turn of the road.

From Motorcycle Yoga: “My Guru Maharaja, a Vaishnava who left this world in Vrindavana in 1977, did not deny that the all-transcendent Supreme Lord is the source of the brahmajyoti or ‘white light.’ He urged his disciples to go beyond merely merging with that spiritual light to the lotus feet of the Person Godhead. Above the act of merging the self into an ocean of light is discovering our eternal and reciprocal relationship with the Supreme Lord based upon our willingness to serve Him.”—Motorcycle Yoga p. 57

It is arrogance of egoism alone that keeps the living entity aloof from the instructions of Lord Krishna’s pure devotee. Do those who miss this opportunity of escaping material encumbrances through offending the pure devotee have a prayer of salvation? If Krishna Culture feels that words such as the quote above from Motorcycle Yoga are something “devotees won’t read,” then we wonder if they’ll take out a moment to ponder over the bona fides of this quote from the Lawbook of Manu:

“That disciple who offends his Guru Maharaja becomes an insect in his next life, a member of the larger species.” (Shri Manu Samhita)

The Discovery Channel is having a special on dung beetles of Africa, so those “disciples” who think that the path of Krishna Consciousness as a cheap catalogue item may tune in and learn about the mom and pop of their next lives! He who offends his guru has the choice of either learning to enjoy an armor-plated beetle body in the jungle of his next life, or learn here and now just how respect is properly offered at the lotus feet of a genuine pure devotee of the supremely powerful Lord Shri Krishna. As Shrila Prabhupada used to continually counsel his disciples, “Be very careful, you are dealing with Krishna.”

Would Motorcycle Yoga’s position as persona non grata at Krishna Culture have anything to do with my telephone call years back to them explaining that their catalogue had begun carrying texts influenced by Mayavada alongside Shrila Prabhupada’s pure Vaishnava literatures? “Oh, that is just astrology,” the company’s owner told me.

History verifies that Shrila Prabhupada alone created the interest in true Vedic culture and the sankirtan movement in the Western World. Real knowledge of Mahaprabhu’s divine path to transcendence did not exist here in the Western Hemisphere until His Divine Grace stepped off the good ship Jaladutta in Boston. Yet by refusing to acknowledge the spiritual master’s position as fully meriting the title “His Divine Grace,” the Krishna Culture Catalogue makes it appear as though our perfected Shrila Acharyadeva Shrila Prabhupada was just one amongst any number of other “masters,” yogis and “mystics” whose books are sold on equal footing with the genuine shastra of Guru Maharaja.

Pavan’s Press does not suggest that the baby be thrown out with the bath water. To rectify their offenses, future Krishna Culture catalogues should display a full page photo of Shrila Prabhupada as a “frontispiece” in each issue. Prabhupada’s books should be grouped together in the front of the catalogue out of respect for the true selfless pioneer who brought Krishna Consciousness to the west on the order of his own spiritual master. As well, all non-sampradayic literatures which will certainly confuse neophyte devotees should be removed from the pages of Krishna Culture. Books written by so-called “devotees” who do not explain the identity of the Supreme Personality of Godhead but rather wish to be known as famous authors who have learned to become expert at rewriting retellings they’ve read or heard and those books that do not reveal the living entity’s duty as servant of God, must be eliminated as worthless. Neither will calling the catalogue Art & Culture free the Krishna Culture folks from the devotee’s responsibility of accurately representing the path of Krishna consciousness as prescribed by Shrila Prabhupada. As is the duty of all Gaudiya Vaishnava literature, the Krishna Culture catalogue must be focused upon preaching the absolute necessity of public chanting of the holy names of God and going back to home, back to Godhead. Otherwise it will be nothing but a useless for-profit endeavor resulting in further material entanglement—more entanglement, and not the liberation of Krishna consciousness that the Founder-Acharya of ISKCON gave out so freely, the real purpose of a catalogue that prides itself upon the culture of Bhagavad Gita, the Culture of Krishna.

To look at the culture of Krishna, just see from the KRSNA Book how the Lord loved repaying His beloved Guru Maharaja Sandipani Muni. Or the Supreme Lord Chaitanya’s ecstasy in service to His Guru Maharaja Ishwara Puri. Or the great devotion that Shrila Prabhupada had for his own Shrila Prabhupada by coming West, alone, aged and penniless, and then changing the history of the Earth as the lightning rod for the next Sattwa Yuga.

Our beloved spiritual master, His Divine Grace Shrila Prabhupada, would never approve of members of ISKCON dealing in the murtis of unauthorized panths (temporary disciplic lines) not philosophically aligned with our own sampradaya.

The ex-zonal acharya who initiated the businessman and owner of Krishna Culture (and whose rambling musings are sold therein) knows this very well. Apparently he applies a different set of rules to his Godbrothers who are preaching Krishna consciousness, than to his own “disciples” who, like him, write useless, offensive books and send out misleading catalogues. Why these offenses at Krishna Culture have been going on for a number of years under the noses of the GBC without a whimper of protest raised at their elitist yearly summits is not so hard to understand once a cursory look at the track record of ISKCON’s so-called gurus and acharyas is scrutinized. Some Godbrothers have left a very pathetic legacy indeed, one that was based upon a small group of ordinary men trying to become equal with the shaktyavesh-avatar. Neither by rubber stamping another group of ordinary men as “gurus” will the day be saved. The tact of creating new less powerful gurus in the face of those who leave the mission only serves to exacerbate the problems. A house should not be constructed upon a sandy foundation in a flood zone.

But for those who have been left adrift in the sea of confused gurus, there is hope in sight. As Prabhupada used to say, “Anyone who reads and follows my books is initiated.”

Indeed, the followers of the particular mystic yogi whose “devotional statue” is depicted with Prabhupada in Krishna Culture generally worship him not for the blessings of the Divine Name or bhakti-yoga, but for cars, houses, wealth, etc. It is quite simple common sense that to indiscriminately sell the murtis and writings of non-sampradayic swamis and mystics only opens the door to impersonalism for our neophyte devotees. Also, it is general Vaishnava etiquette for any disciple to never and under any circumstances place some other swami’s image or murti, whether in the form of ink and paper, brass, wood, jewels, pancha-dhatu, etc., above or alongside one’s own Guru Maharaja or Grand Guru Maharaja.

The disciple’s true and righteous duty begins with full-fledged self-surrender at the holy lotus feet of his Guru Maharaja. For the disciple, the guru is the all-and-all. Period. What Krishna Culture engages in is nothing less than a blasphemy tolerated by an impotent body that has itself failed to understand the basic tenets of Krishna consciousness.

Sitting at Shrila Prabhupada’s lotus feet decades ago, I used to wonder at how the soles Prabhupada’s beautiful feet were actually the color of a reddish lotus or inside of a conch shell. The color on Prabhupada’s lotus feet denoted all that is auspicious, spreading over us the warmth of divine protection from a hostile world. Any catalogue that purports to represent “Krishna Culture” must offer homage to those two lotus feet of Shrila Prabhupada, and beg forgiveness for the neglect carried on for so many years under the noses of ex-zonal so-called “gurus” and “acharyas”.

The greatest mistake for the devotee is to doubt the word of his Guru Maharaja, who is none other than the divine grace of God in apparent human embodiment. So I am openly asking Krishna Culture to ponder this: Prabhupada said, “When Krishna Consciousness is perfect, is there any need to add anything?”

While I should expect ISKCON’s swamis, presidents, gurus, ministers, GBCs, teachers, New Age counselors, past life regressors, psychological advisers, Vedic astrologers and other highly-placed souls opening their hundreds and hundreds of collective mouths to protest this direct offense at the lotus feet of His Divine Grace, I hear only the deafening roar of silence, and this is plenty dismaying. It is the policy at Pavan’s to avoid unnecessary confrontations, but it is the duty of a true disciple to defend his Guru Maharaja from offensive on all fronts, from within and without the camp.

Devotees of ISKCON should insist that from now on the Krishna Culture catalogue must write “His Divine Grace” before the name of author of the Bhagavad Gita As It Is, Nectar of Devotion, etc. Also neither Prabhupada’s divine murti, nor his books should be lumped in with others. The spiritual master must be respected, and the new devotees must not be misled. The “ex-zonal acharya” who initiated the founder of Krishna Culture has allowed a potpourri of offenses to fester in the name of Krishna Culture. A public apology for the offenses that he has allowed his “disciples” to commit must be forthcoming as well as a general housecleaning at the catalogue.

Today, the matter of “zonal acharyism” may have been swept under the rug by the God Brother Council, who bring up the subject with poorly-concealed longing for their good old days when they were absolute and adored upon their thrones installed in the very house of the Guru Maharaja. Some have admitted that the acceptance of the Vyasa Asan in the house of the Guru was a grave offense, one for which a little much-needed atonement has been sorely lacking. Pavan’s Press shall not attempt to preach to a King Paundraka who seats himself upon the master’s Vyas Asan, for this would be either preaching to a plank of wood or to a dead body that has been strangled by its own asphyxiating offenses to a pure devotee. The closed ears of the arrogant destroyers ride with a cavalier spirit. Frankly, when a person who once printed letterhead calling himself “the Acharya of ISKCON” allows Prabhupada to be disgraced in his own “disciple’s” catalogue, I have to wonder where truth and leadership are to be found anymore. It’s a total disgrace to all the good work of Shrila Prabhupada to lump Bhagavad Gita As It Is, a book that fights Mayavidism as hard as Arjuna himself fought on Kurukshetra, with quasi-spiritual nonsense apashastras by “masters” discussing “Krishna conscious mice,” “the goddess within” and other suchlike rubbish.

The Editor of Pavan’s Press may be a mere householder, but he is a steady one because of a sincere faith in the dharma of duties and in sanatan-dharma, the eternal duty. The grihastha ashram is also sacred because it, too, is goes without saying that it too is an ashram, as much as brahmachari or sannyasa ashram. An ashram, that is, as long as the husband and wife are faithful to the tenets of the ashram. That wife who is true to her vow as a dharma-patni does not deserve abandonment to the wolves. Protection of the wife, daughter, mother, etc. is a sacred duty of men. Today, however sinful men slaughter their mothers in the McAbatoirs and Murder Kings. And what they do to the cows, they likewise do to their own womenfolk through seduction into illicit sex, another grave social evil and sin. As members of the grihasta ashram, we are also part and parcel of Prabhupada’s plan for world Krishna consciousness. To put this into focus, an imperfect execution of grihastha ashram, one that is sincerely dedicated before the lotus feet of Guru and Gauranga, is superior to making a show of the renounced order of life by becoming a sexy swami in the saffron dress of sannyasa-ashram. We are all entitled to preach; rather, it is our duty to speak the truth, but preaching Krishna consciousness should be free from a desire to be worshipped while committing offenses upon the strength of the holy name.

Feigning freedom from desire and then engaging in sexual intercourse with various married women “disciples,” as has been repeatedly performed by dozens of ISKCON’s so-called swamis and gurus is not only a personal disgrace, but a deliberate means of allowing criticism of our pure devotee spiritual master whose example was ever above approach. While one hundred disgraced men of the cloth have fizzled out without a whimper, the Krishna Culture continues to roll off the printing press still. “Sannyasis” enjoying illicit sex have allowed terrible offenses to run rampant within the Krishna camp. Guru Maharaja, whose desires were aimed at our salvation alone, left this world without making footprints, yet he left behind the biggest footprint ever made in the Western Hemisphere. How can Krishna Culture and the impotent body that oversees ISKCON continue to offend His Divine Grace in this way?

Even though I am the most fallen of all, a mere householder accused of being a grihamedhi as discussed above, I cannot remain silent, for the line must be drawn when it comes to direct insults at the lotus feet of our Guru Maharaja, His Divine Grace Shrila Prabhupada, by those who pretend to be his disciples and grand-disciples. Once again: Remember, Prabhus, there was no Gaudiya Vaishnavism in Europe, neither in North or South America, nor in any part of Europe or even in India’s neighbor, the Soviet Union, until Shrila Prabhupada stepped off the Jaladutta. Trying to minimize Shrila Prabhupada’s place as the Founder-Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness is the greatest rascaldom:

“Just as a man walking on the beach can tolerate the burning Sun on his head, but cannot bear the scorching sand against the soles of his feet, so Lord Shri Krishna tolerates an offense to Himself. But the Supreme Personality of Godhead cannot tolerate any offense whatsoever to His pure devotee.”—Shrimad Bhagavatam

The spiritual master is the life and soul of the disciple. It was Shrila Prabhupada who taught each of us, his devotees, through his every thought, word and deed; how a disciple must respect his own guru and guide. The spiritual master is nothing less than a sturdy rope-ladder out of the cold, swirling whirlpool of maya. The Guru Maharaja is the vessel across the great sea of samsara. He is the highway to heaven, the path to liberation, the personal friend of Krishna who can certainly obtain tickets for us on the Back to Godhead Express through the power of the mahamantra:

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

In 1967 when Shrila Prabhupada was planning the cover of the MacMillan edition of Bhagavad Gita As It Is with Brahmananada Prabhu, he told Brahmananada to print his name on the cover thusly: “His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder-Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.” And from then on, this is how the blessed name of our Guru Maharaja appeared on the cover of every subsequent book published by the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. As disciples, our only duty is to follow the single-minded will of the pure devotee, whose mind is constantly focused upon the lotus feet of the Lord. That is the duty of parampara, to obey the spiritual master and not concoct some unnecessary novelty like a Krishna conscious mouse that makes a joke out of dharma.

It is not that just ordinary man can put on saffron and wear the title “His Divine Grace.” Shrila Prabhupada talked the talk because he walked the walk. Unless one is a pure devotee, he must not accept such titles as “His Divine Grace” or “Zonal Acharya (?)” for the pleasure of his own sense gratification. Or he will be doomed to face horrible repercussions as offenses mount on top of each other due to the egoism and vanity worn by a false renunciate “writer/artist.” Prabhupada was known as “His Divine Grace” because he was indeed a pure ray of divine grace. Let not ordinary men try to duplicate his feats prematurely, but let them one and all honor our Guru Maharaja’s contribution of introducing the sankirtan movement to the Western World, by continuing to spread the chanting of:

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Prabhupada knew well how to separate the posers from the genuine devotees. He taught us that a true mahatma is one whose every breath is dedicated to inhaling and exhaling the divine name of Krishna. One who accepts this title “His Divine Grace” must be pure in every thought, word and deed—as demonstrated by Shrila Prabhupada. He must never allow his mind to dwell on objects of the senses as personified by the illusory form of the woman’s body in this mundane jagat, a place of continuous attraction and repulsion. A towering post based upon a false platform can only lead to a top-heavy fall-down. These are the “relative worlds,” and only those who have their heads buried in the lotus stems at Krishna’s lotus feet can escape maya’s steamroller of attraction and repulsion. Those who pretend to have achieved the platform of the paramhamsa while thinking like a turkey on Thanksgiving may face serious repercussions due to their public deception.

Over the years we have come to realize the boldness and courage shown by His Divine Grace Shrila Prabhupada when he took a pen into his lotus hand and wrote “His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.” The poet may contemplate whatever became of that pen. If only I had that pen, how I would worship it as though it was the very tusk instrument that Lord Ganeshji used to scribe Mahabharata under dictation from Shrila Veda Vyasadeva. His Divine Grace was (is) a ray of Vishnu and he was introducing himself with straight-forward honesty and without any sense of material attachment to name, fame, fortune egoism, etc.—unlike those amongst us who wanted the benefits of the post without earning them, as did our beloved spiritual master.

In summary, there is no doubt that our Shrila Prabhupada was indeed “His Divine Grace” because no other sage in the Western World—in the five centuries since the Divine Appearance of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu—brought West the illuminating philosophy of the power of the holy names of God. For the only panacea for Kali’s dark age, by the will the Supreme Lord Shri Krishna, is the Back to Godhead treatment brought by Dr. Prabhupada, the constant recitation of:

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Sure, anybody can rip off an honorific title. If there are degree mills from where you can purchase Post Graduate degrees, then there are churches that will sell you your very own certificates of divinity and sainthood. But when it comes to insulting Krishna’s pure devotees through foolish imitation and minimization of his own potency to enhance one’s own, the subtle laws are very strict.

In Old Bombay I once was accosted by a crazy American “yogi” who claimed to have the world’s highest initiation. His very name rhymed in chaste Sanskrit, a name-poem consisting of so many prestige titles that he needed a four-sided business card with which to sing and broadcast his own glories. This American chanted like a Vedic mantra the many verses of his own “sacred name.” Sacred, that is, in the sense of the ahangrahopasana, “an ordinary man who worships himself in a vainglorious attempt to imitate a real acharya.”

Yet, worse than such guru-posing; whether within or without ISKCON, is a deliberately false representation of the pure and original message of Krishna consciousness that Shrila Prabhupada gave us. Naturally, one cannot preach with potency in Krishna consciousness without full surrender unto the holy lotus feet of the Spiritual Master. One thousand times have we witnessed with no glee whatsoever the loathsome fate that has befallen the spiritual pretenders. He who without due qualifications usurps the gadhi of an acharya—especially the acharya of the Age—who is not only a paramhamsa but who is also an intimate associate of the Supreme Lord, sends himself and his followers to hell. This fate should be avoided by those who are sincere about spiritual life.

But there is salvation for those who having been misled astray wish to come back to Shrila Prabhupada. At any time we may crack open His Divine Grace’s supreme instructions and submit ourselves to the shower of life-saving mercy that overflow from his divine writings. Prabhupada was strongly in possession of a rare planetary combination (graha-yoga) that grants a sort of multi-generational power of mysticism down through seeming generations of the sampradaya. For the faithful the living guru is the lifeblood of his very existence, and the Guru Maharaja remains forever in his instructions. This is the most confidential of all realized wisdom.

Even today anyone who wholeheartedly and without guile surrenders to the airtight instructions of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada becomes his disciple, achieves liberation in this lifetime and goes back to home, back to Godhead, back to Krishna consciousness, the final goal. This may not be true of other so-called “gurus” of lesser potency. But it is our personal realization that Prabhupada still lives with us if only we can make the effort to reach him. For the guru and his message are both eternal. And to “link up” with that message we must take it “as it is” without pretension or offenses.

Patita Pavana das Adhikary
Editor, Pavan’s Press

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Message to: All ISKCON devotees
From: The Editor, Pavan’s Press
Re: His Divine Grace
Dear Prabhus,
Welcome to the issue and thanks for joining me along this wonderful path of glorifying His Divine Grace Shrila Prabhupada, our divine savior. Through the mercy of the Holy Names of the Lord Shri Krishna, the Hare Krishna mahamantra, we have been united in a spiritual family that Shrila Prabhupada named the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. As was Prabhupada’s work, this Society is completely transcendental. That is, it exists beyond time and limited space, and it is entirely spiritual by the will of the pure devotee. I ask each of you dear Godbrothers and Godsisters to please accept my humble obeisances at your lotus feet. All glories to Shrila Prabhupada, the Divine Leader of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s World Sankirtan Party.

Narada Amongst Us
You know, Prabhus, that it can easily be verified though shastra that our “singing guru,” like Shrila Shri (108) Bhaktivinoda Thakura Acharya, our beloved param-param gurudevaji maharaja, Shrila Prabhupada was none other than a direct representative of Shri Narada, who travels the entire Universe on the strength of the holy names. For those who worship the lotus feet of His Divine Grace Shrila Prabhupada as our only salvation from the mohajala of birth and death, this is not very stunning news. These words offered in service to Guru Maharaja are certainly no new revelation to the faithful devotee who has been initiated by the bath of nectar flowing from Prabhupada’s literature. It is no revelation at all for every link of the unbroken Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya Sampradaya, including Shri Narada, the singing guru of the entire Universe, was represented by Shrila Prabhupada when he walked amongst us. Yet, for those who are new to the path of realized knowledge, pure devotion and hard-core common sense that is Krishna consciousness; let me underscore that Shrila Prabhupada was none other than the paschatya-desha-tarine, the “deliverer of the Western world,” in the spirit of Narada.

Shrila Prabhupada was designated by all the past acharyas of the great Shri Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya Sampradaya to deliver the eternal message of sanatan dharma to the world. Krishna consciousness has created a foundation for real religious understanding in a world that has forgotten God. Even while religionists go through the motions of worshiping in their churches, mosques, synagogues, temples, gurudwaras etc., battles rage throughout the world. Forgetfulness of Krishna lies at the heart of the problems, and Krishna consciousness is the only cure for a world gone mad.

Thus Prabhupada arrived in the West in 1966 as a representative of not only his own glorious guru maharaja, Shrila Shri Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur, but as the representative of each successive holy teacher of our Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya Sampradaya. Thus we pray to the shuddha-bhakta, who is the transparent via media to each previous holy acharya as follows:

namaste saraswati-deve gouravani pracharine
nirvishesha sunyavadi paschatya-desha tarine

This means, in essence, loosely translated: “I humbly bow down before His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the foremost disciple of Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur. He spread throughout the Western world the uplifting message of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, thereby defeating the misleading cults of impersonalism and voidism. By spreading the nectarean rays of sankirtan to the Western world, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada is the savior of the planet.”

Devarshi Narada, the greatest Vaishnava troubadour and balladeer in the Universe, is the direct son of Lord Chaturmukha Brahma. This “four-faced” Lord Brahma, the “creator,” is our sampradaya-shrestha, and he is a pure devotee of Lord Govinda. Brahma’s love for Lord Krishna is revealed in his own words from the Brahma Samhita—govindam adi-purusham tamaham bhajami: “I worship Govinda, Krishna, the Primeval Lord.” These very words were discovered in the form of an old manuscript by Mahaprabhu Himself in the early 16th century while His lotus feet were blessing Dravida-desh with the wondrous sankirtan movement. The Lord passed this message down the sampradaya until Shrila Shri Bhaktisiddhanta Shiddhanta Saraswati, the Founder-Acharya of Gaudiya Math, rendered the Brahma Samhita into chaste English for the world’s benefit, including yours and mine.

It was none other than the great Narada Muni, the Universal acharya of Krishna consciousness, whose lotus feet are worshipped in every corner of the Universe, who gave diksha to Shri Vyasadeva. Now Shri Krishna Dwaipayana Vyasadevaji, the son of Sage Parashara Muni, is the very literary incarnation of Lord Narayana. This great acharya Shri Vyasa remains to this day the world’s most prolific author, because the greatest body of wisdom ever compiled was written down by him at the outset of Kali Yuga. It is recorded that Vyasa (a chiranjivi, or who remains on earth for a long, long time) personally gave initiation to Shri Madhvacharya, the incarnation of the wind god, at his ashram above Badrinath. For those who wish to have a hope of Sage Vyasa’s darshan must first bathe in the very cold Satopantha Lake.

In the Shri Ramayana of Valmiki we read of the great Hanuman, Lord Ramachandra’s most faithful servant. Hanuman was a true mystic with the siddhis of Vayudeva, the wind god himself. That is why in India we often hear the great bhakta Hanuman praised with the words pavana-putra hanumana kijai. Pavana-putra means that Hanuman, like Madhvacharya, is the son of Pavana or Vayu.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna says pavanah pavatam asmi, “among purifiers, I am the wind.” In the Treta Yuga, the wind god appeared as Hanuman, and then in Dwapara Yuga he appeared as the brother of Arjuna, the mighty Bhimasena, as powerful as a hurricane in the Battle of Kurukshetra. Then once again, around ten centuries back, the wind god Pavana or Vayudeva appeared on earth as Shrila Madhvacharya. It was this very pavan-avatara of Shri Vayudeva who placed the precious foundation stone of dwaita-vada for the fortification of our unbroken Shri Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya Sampradaya. See this:

“Chaturmukha Brahma and others on completion of their sadhana attain liberation and reach the ever-blissful Vaikuntha planets, the abode of Lord Shri Vishnu. There, too, they retain their individuality and enjoy the bliss due to them in a graded manner. This is the view of the Vedas.” -Shri Madhvacharya’s “Song of the Eternal Soldier.”

The names of the leading acharyas of our sampradaya are given in the order of their unbroken succession in the Introduction of Shrila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad Gita As It Is. As the thirty-second acharya in direct line from Lord Shri Krishna, Shrila Prabhupada‘s teachings are non-different from that of any previous acharya since the pure truth of our parampara flows through Shrila Prabhupada just like electricity flows through an unbroken silver wire. This Bhagavad Gita As It Is, the modern law book for mankind, was Shrila Prabhupada’s first major contribution to Western spiritual literature that was printed in here the West.

As the representative of Lord Brahma, Narada, Madhva, Mahaprabhu and of his own beloved guru maharaja, Shrila Prabhupada spread the moon-like rays of Lord Chaitanya’s sankirtan movement far beyond the borders of India. Shrila Prabhupada loved to sing Krishna’s name everywhere, broadcasting far and wide the glories of Krishna, in the mood of Sage Narada or Mahaprabhu. He is the modern patita-pavana, the deliverer of fallen souls through the power of the holy name. He came here for one purpose only, to take us back to home, back to Godhead through the transcendental potency of Krishna’s name. Therefore every deed of his life on Earth stands as the perfect representation of Sage Narada’s (lit. nara- “mankind”; da-“deliverer”). Shrila Prabhupada was a modern savior of man who knew that “There is no other way, no other way, no other way, but hari-nama in Kali-yuga.” (Naradiya Purana)

Shrila Prabhupada was the true representative of Shri Madhva, because His Divine Grace never compromised on the subject of dwaita, the eternal individuality of the soul in subordinance and servitude to the Supreme Individual Shri Krishna, the Soul of the Universe. Dwaita-vada, the path of dualism, is a concept Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu honed to perfection with His achintya beda beda tattwa, explaining succinctly that the individual soul is “simultaneously one and different.” Our Vaishnava philosophy makes perfectly clear that the fool’s impersonal dream of “becoming one with God” is a doomed farce. Shrila Prabhupada remained steadfast regarding the impossibility of impersonal liberation, merging into the brahmajyoti rays of Godhead espoused by the insidious cult of mayavada.

And certainly no one has represented Mahaprabhu with such single-minded faith and devotion as Shrila Prabhupada, who alone was responsible for introducing sankirtan to every town and village of the world. In the wonderful book Prabhupada: A Friend To All by our Godsister, the late, lamented Mother Mulaprakriti devi dasi, we see over and over through a hundred of her interviews with people that knew Prabhupada before 1965, that he had asked dozens of his associates to accompany him West. Each one had an excuse, family, job, health, etc., so, like Narada himself, Prabhupada came alone. He was Lord Chaitanya’s trusted solitary representative chanting on the mean streets of the Bowery, and along the highways of the world. He is the representative of Shri Rupa Goswami and Shri Krshnadas Kaviraja as verified by Shrila Prabhupada’s Nectar of Devotion translation of Shri Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu or his 17-volume Shri Chaitanya Charitamrita. He represented his own guru maharaja as his life’s mission, and taught us that “the order of the spiritual master cannot be separated from the disciple just as the soul cannot separate from the body in conditioned life.”

Shrila Prabhupada remains here with us today, in the form of his literature, his living teachings and the sankirtan movement which eternally have the undiminished potency to deliver souls from this ocean of birth and death. That is why we call our beloved Guru Maharaja as “His Divine Grace Abhaya Charanaravinda das Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabupada, Founder-Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.” That Society still remains the transcendental hope for a world gone mad, and Shrila Prabhupada remains at the center, the living guru continuing to bless generations forward through his eternal message of hari-nama.

Thanks, and we hope that you enjoy the issue.
Your servant,
Patita Pavana das Adhikary,
Editor, Pavan’s Press

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ALL GLORY TO SHRI GURU AND GAURANGA
PAVAN’S PRESS, Issue V

Pavan’s Press 5th Ed.,

“Letters of liberation” from the International Institute of Indology (Vishwa Vaidic Vidyasangha), an organization solely devoted to the lotus feet of:

His Divine Grace A, C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Founder-Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness

The Krishna Conscious Internet: Why Read Pavan’s?

The internet is nothing more than an infinitesimal fraction of the potency of the Supreme Lord. Therefore, since it is Krishna’s potency, it must be employed for preaching the glories of the name, fame, activities, abode, prowess, paraphernalia and devotees of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord. This “everything for Krishna” approach to the internet represents the teachings, as we have understood them, from the lotus lips of the greatest master of the Twentieth Century, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Indeed, it is this message of Krishna consciousness that is the brightest illumination of pure devotion to the Cause of the Supreme Absolute Truth. Simply stated, Krishna consciousness is the open door to the Kingdom of God, nay, it is the very sanatan dharma itself that leads the once-entangled individual entity to Vaishnava moksha though divya-bhagavan-seva, transcendental loving service unto the Lord of All, Shri Krishna. Indeed, this Krishna consciousness movement is the only true path back to home, back to Prabhupada, back to Vrindavana. May every user of the internet discover the Supreme Absolute Truth as taught in the Bhagavad Gita As It Is. Thanks to you all for your support of Gaudiya Vaishnava internet journalism. Written 23 Nov. 2007 corresponding to Shri Kartik Purnima, Shrila Prabhupada samvat 111.

Issue Five of Pavan’s Press contains:

Letter to the Prabhus – from the Editor regarding His Divine Grace

Krishna-Culture – Editorial: “The Krishna Culture Catalogue Must Properly Respect the Pure Devotee”

“Light of the Stars” – Smt. Abhaya Mudra devi dasi interprets the horoscope of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder-Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness

Chanakya Niti Shastra, 1.5-, 6, & 7 with Commentary by the Editor

The Saga of Motorcycle Yoga

Light of Bhakta Bob

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Pavan’s Press Presents: The Worst of Vaishnava Fiction…

“One Day in the Cave Above Yamunottari”
by Swami Garamhawananda

The seasons of the rains had ended, and now pilgrims were once again trekking through the peaks and valleys of Uttaranchal. Places like Badarinath (the northernmost of Bharatanhumi’s four dhamas and sacred tapo-bhumi of the revered Sage Vyasa); Kedarnath (India’s northernmost of the twelve jyotir-lingas); Go Mukha (“the cow’s sacred mouth” from whence begins the holy Ganga); Gangottari and Yamunottari each now witnessed a steady stream of pilgrims. They were seeking solace in the holy waters of the hills and before the divine forms of the Lord. Pilgrims were praying for refuge from the travails of karma that they’d momentarily left behind in the big cities down below, where a few days earlier they’d boarded buses for the pilgrimage of a lifetime.

Now, about three weeks after the final rains of the varsha-ritu or monsoon, an English yogi arrived here at Yamunottari, the “place where the Yamuna flows East.” Since Yamuna Devi, the goddess of the holy river, is the revered daughter of the Sun God, and an intimate devotee of Lord Shri Krishna, she is most worshipable among all the other holy rivers by the Vaishnavas. Indeed. She is also the wife of the god of the ocean, Lord Samudra-Narayana. So in this way she is married to Krishna.

Since she is indeed the daughter of Lord Surya Narayana or Ravi, who is a form of Maha Vishnu brightly dwelling in the sky above our heads, that place where she turns east into the direction of her father’s udaya (sunrise) is considered very sacred. Here the Sun god has sent his blessings by appearing as hot springs for the sacred purification of Himalayan pilgrims seeking refuge from the cold in the warm waters of forgiveness and healing here at Yamunottari.

Actually the Yamuna is equally sacred at any place along her banks, but devotees especially enjoy bathing in her purifying waters at places such as Yamunottari, Keshi Ghat, Vishram Ghat, Bhramar Ghat, Shringar Ghat, Akrura Ghat, Saraswati Nala, Ambarish Tila, Triveni, etc. The elevation of Yamunottari is a mere 10,500 feet and it is a quite comfortable altitude for most pilgrims and trekkers. Since time immemorial, many old and bent-over widows have walked the 150-mile “Himalayan Char-dham Route” holding onto the arm of their devoted sons. This is their last hope of a means of finding the Supreme Lord who presides over The Last Pilgrimage. Before arriving at that Unavoidable Destination Governed by Time, they have come here in the tradition of countless generations of ancestors to make peace with the Absolute Truth Personality of Godhead.

One day, an English yogi arrived at Yamunottari and was greeted by a few of the disciples of one Gaudiya Vaishnavite penancing there named Guru Charan Baba. No one knew from where Guru Charan Das Babaji had originated from years earlier. It had been maybe a decade now that Guru Charan had been living at the tiny Yamunottari Dham. Ten years earlier he had marched in and asked the local mahant, Mahatma Madhab Das Babaji, for “his kind permission to live in the cave for a few nights.” Shri Guru Charan had never left. A few years later, after Mahatma Madhab das and Guru Charan Ji had spoken to each other barely half a dozen times, Madhab das appeared at the mouth of Guru Charan’s cave. The sage yelled inside: “Guru Charan, keep a watch on the area and please be sure to keep the tantrics from camping here. Please care for the pilgrims and answer all their questions. The goddess has called me to Kanya Kumari in the South and I must begin walking. I shall return in a few years.”

Now, Guru Charan had domiciled there barely for another four or five years after the departure of Mahatma Madhab Das when his “darshans” or informal gatherings around him had caused a small following to spread his fame around certain quarters of India. So when he announced that he wanted to spend one year in silence or maunam, except for constant recitation of the Lord’s holy names, no one thought that such a penance could be completed. Indeed, it proved to be an impossibility with his followers constantly seeking his advice on all subjects. Some called him the Chanakya or Birbal of Yamunottari, while others called him simply referred to him as Bhakta Yamunadas Ji. Indeed his advice on all subjects was always given a serious consideration by Himalayan villagers and local yogis alike.

This mysterious yogi named Guru Charan had “neither a name nor a past”, he had once told a journalist from Calcutta. His name Guru Charan was “simply a description of how he hoped and prayed to spend his life.” And the only thing Guru Charan ever said about his past was that he had twice been initiated by Om Vishnupada Paramhamsa Parivrajacaharya (108) Abhaya Charanaravinda Das Bhaktivedanta Goswami Shrila Prabhupada. The first hari-nama diksha was in the winter of 1971 and a year later he had received his second gayatri mantra diksha. He had added to that bit of information that, “These were the most meaningful days of my life.” Then he told the journalist, “If you wish to continue, we will discuss Bhagavad Gita As It Is and nothing else.” Falling silent, the journalist backed out of the cave on all fours, and that was the end of a very rare interview.

It is true that, to this day, Guru Charan Ji prefers to discuss philosophy rather than the activities of this body, which he disdains as “merely a filthy, rotten bag of sewage.” Since he professes a strong devotion to Shri Krishna, he is often asked why he does not choose to spend his days in Vrindavana. To which he’ll typically answer that he’s “too sinful.” Conversation with him could be one-sided, if he was in the mood to speak. Yet if a point piques his interest, he catches onto every facet of it and will discuss nothing else for months. Points such “the means of finding the eternal function for the individual jivatma through surrender to the sankirtan-yagna of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu” in particular have occupied his conversations with both seekers of the truth and the merely curious. Otherwise, on a normal day, he can be heard in the back of the cave muttering constantly the mahamantra:

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

One day an English yogi calling himself “Bhrigu Maharaja” arrived at the cave of Yamunottari. Guru Charan had had the good fortune of evading any sort of dialogue and conversation for some weeks and he was feeling quite comfortable in speaking only the holy names of the Lord. His Guru Maharaja had taught that Krishna and His names are non-different, and Guru Charan, or whatever this mysterious yogi’s name was, took those words seriously, even if he felt that any number of his Godbrothers had neglected this vital detail and gone their own way.

A few yogis who lived in the area and who spoke a little English met this Bhrigu Maharaja at the opening to the cave, gently preventing him from entering. Bhrigu demanded the right to have Guru Charan’s darshan because “he had a few philosophical bones to pick with him.” Bhrigu Maharaja explained that he had accepted his Sanskrit moniker only after an explosive burst of yogic trance wherein he had “become God.” Now he wanted to straighten out this Guru Charan Das, this “servant of the feet of his Guru Maharaja.” Now the English yogi wished to “promote” Guru Charan and teach him how to “become God.” The exasperated followers of Guru Charan finally explained to the yogi that “Guruji can be a bitter pill to swallow.” And the British yogi “may not like what he has to say.” Finally the Englishman pleaded that as a visitor who had come from afar, he was none other than atithi devo bhavah or “the guest who has become God.” On these grounds, he gained an uneasy admittance to the inner sanctum of the naturally-heated cave wherein Guru Charan had heard the entire conversation.

In the light of the akhand deep, the burning ghee lamp, this Englishman calling himself Bhrigu Maharaja was surprised to make out that Guru Charan was also, like him, a middle-aged Westerner. Strange, he had expected this yogi to be an Indian. Suddenly, speaking up in his natural dialect, the Brooklyn-ese street lingo of an illiterate New York hood, Guru Charan said, “Beat it, you arrogant sack of crap, and just be glad that I’m not still living on the streets of Kings, where I met my spiritual master Shrila Prabhupada back in ’71. As devotees, we cannot tolerate the defiling of any holy place along the banks of Lord Krishna’s favorite river with impersonal, sinful blabber about becoming God. Now that I’ve been forced to listen to your rambling and speculative nonsense, it’s time for me to take a long bath in the sacred waters. Now exit the cave immediately or I’ll have a dozen non-violent yogis hog tie you and drag you out.”

-We warned you that this would be terrible. Hey, the unedited version was worse, yet. For a truly terrible experience, those who want a copy of the raw original version, may please contact the Editor. – Ed.

Last Word

Shrila Prabhupada has given an example that attempts, in a way His Divine Grace called “crude”, to try to convey the unknowable, the vastness of Lord Krishna’s energies, to his disciples. In his English translation of Shrila Rupa Goswamipada’s Bhakti-Rasamrita Sindhu, which Shrila Prabhupada gave us as Nectar of Devotion, he explains that since Lord Krishna’s energies are always expanding, by the time the Supreme Lord Himself has understood His limitless energies, His energies have expanded beyond even Shri Krishna’s own comprehension. Of course this is just an analogy, a gentle admonition to those who think that they know God. Such are the multifarious glories of Lord Shri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Remaining ever thankful to Shrila Prabhupada for his thoughtful guidance over the swirling deep ravines of materialism’s whirlpools, we must never allow ourselves to be fooled by the audacity of impersonalists and mayavadis who claim to know God, or even claim to have become God. With his simhacharya prowess, Shrila Prabhupada taught each one he met that he who would know God best must serve Him under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master.

Many thanks to all of you dear Godbrothers and Godsisters for reading this issue of Pavan’s Press. All glories to Shri Guru and Gauranga.

Till the next issue,
Your fallen servant,
Patita Pavana das Adhikary