During His householder life, the Lord did not display many of the miracles which are generally expected from such personalities, but He did once perform a wonderful miracle in the house of Śrīnivāsa Ṭhākura while saṅkīrtana was in full swing. He asked the devotees what they wanted to eat, and when He was informed that they wanted to eat mangoes, He asked for a seed of a mango, although this fruit was out of season. When the seed was brought to Him He sowed it in the yard of Śrīnivāsa, and at once a creeper began to grow out of the seed. Within no time this creeper became a full-grown mango tree heavy with more ripened fruits than the devotees could eat. The tree remained in Śrīnivāsa's yard, and from then on the devotees used to take as many mangoes from the tree as they wanted.
Swing
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Preface and Introduction
SB Canto 4
The sage Maitreya said: Lord Śiva was silent after speaking to Satī, seeing her between decisions. Satī was very much anxious to see her relatives at her father's house, but at the same time she was afraid of Lord Śiva's warning. Her mind unsettled, she moved in and out of the room as a swing moves this way and that.
SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13
When the milk and curd are kept high on a swing hanging from the ceiling and Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma cannot reach it, They arrange to reach it by piling up various planks and turning upside down the mortar for grinding spices. Being quite aware of the contents of a pot, They pick holes in it. While the elderly gopīs go about their household affairs, Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma sometimes go into a dark room, brightening the place with the valuable jewels and ornaments on Their bodies and taking advantage of this light by stealing.
When she entered the room, she saw Kṛṣṇa standing on the ulūkhala, a large mortar for grinding spices. Having turned the mortar upside down, He was stealing butter hanging from a swing and was distributing the butter to the monkeys. As soon as Kṛṣṇa saw that His mother had come, He immediately began to run away, and mother Yaśodā began to follow Him. After going some distance, mother Yaśodā was able to catch Kṛṣṇa, who because of His offense was crying. Mother Yaśodā, of course, threatened to punish Kṛṣṇa if He acted that way again, and she decided to bind Him with rope. Unfortunately, when the time came to knot the rope, the rope with which she wanted to bind Him was short by a distance equal to the width of two fingers. When she made the rope longer by adding another rope, she again saw that it was short by two fingers. Again and again she tried, and again and again she found the rope too short by two fingers. Thus she became very tired, and Kṛṣṇa, seeing His affectionate mother so tired, allowed Himself to be bound. Now, being compassionate, He did not show her His unlimited potency. After mother Yaśodā bound Kṛṣṇa and became engaged in other household affairs, Kṛṣṇa observed two yamala-arjuna trees, which were actually Nalakūvara and Maṇigrīva, two sons of Kuvera who had been condemned by Nārada Muni to become trees. Kṛṣṇa, by His mercy, now began to proceed toward the trees to fulfill the desire of Nārada Muni.
SB Cantos 10.14 to 12 (Translations Only)
They would sometimes jump around like frogs, sometimes play various jokes, sometimes ride in swings and sometimes imitate monarchs.
As the gopīs sang in praise of Kṛṣṇa, their feet danced, their hands gestured, and their eyebrows moved with playful smiles. With their braids and belts tied tight, their waists bending, their faces perspiring, the garments on their breasts moving this way and that, and their earrings swinging on their cheeks, Lord Kṛṣṇa's young consorts shone like streaks of lightning in a mass of clouds.
The ladies of Vraja are the most fortunate of women because, with their minds fully attached to Kṛṣṇa and their throats always choked up with tears, they constantly sing about Him while milking the cows, winnowing grain, churning butter, gathering cow dung for fuel, riding on swings, taking care of their crying babies, sprinkling the ground with water, cleaning their houses, and so on. By their exalted Kṛṣṇa consciousness they automatically acquire all desirable things.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Preface and Introduction
Vṛndāvana is actually experienced as it is by persons who have stopped trying to derive pleasure from material enjoyment. "When will my mind become cleansed of all hankering for material enjoyment so I will be able to see Vṛndāvana?" one great devotee asks. The more Kṛṣṇa conscious we become and the more we advance, the more everything is revealed as spiritual. Thus Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī considered the Vṛndāvana in India to be as good as the Vṛndāvana in the spiritual sky, and in the sixteenth verse of the Caitanya-caritāmṛta he describes Rādhārāṇī and Kṛṣṇa as seated beneath a wish-fulfilling tree in Vṛndāvana, on a throne decorated with valuable jewels. There Kṛṣṇa's dear gopī friends serve Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa by singing, dancing, offering betel nuts and refreshments, and decorating Their Lordships with flowers. Even today in India people decorate swinging thrones and re-create this scene during the month of July–August. Generally at that time people go to Vṛndāvana to offer their respects to the Deities there.
CC Adi-lila
This verse is quoted from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.30.39). When the rāsa dance was going on in full swing, Kṛṣṇa left all the gopīs and took only Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī with Him. At that time all the gopīs lamented, and Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, being proud of Her position, requested Kṛṣṇa to carry Her wherever He liked. Then Kṛṣṇa immediately disappeared from the scene, and Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī began to lament.
CC Madhya-lila
"All men and women were accustomed to enjoying the beauty of the shining face of Lord Kṛṣṇa, as well as His shark-shaped earrings swinging on His ears. His beautiful features, His cheeks and His playful smiles all combined to form a constant festival for the eyes, and the blinking of the eyes became obstacles that impeded one from seeing that beauty. For this reason, men and women became very angry at the creator (Lord Brahmā)."
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Teachings of Lord Caitanya
Vṛndāvana is actually experienced as it is by persons who have stopped trying to derive pleasure from material enjoyment. "When will my mind become cleansed of all hankering for material enjoyment so I will be able to see Vṛndāvana?" one great devotee asks. The more Kṛṣṇa conscious we become and the more we advance, the more everything is revealed as spiritual. Thus Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī considered the Vṛndāvana in India to be as good as the Vṛndāvana in the spiritual sky, and in the sixteenth verse of the Caitanya-caritāmṛta he describes Rādhārāṇī and Kṛṣṇa as seated beneath a wish-fulfilling tree in Vṛndāvana, on a throne decorated with valuable jewels. There Kṛṣṇa's dear gopīfriends serve Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa by singing, dancing, offering betel nuts and refreshments, and decorating Their Lordships with flowers. Even today in India people decorate swinging thrones and re-create this scene during the month of July–August. Generally at that time people go to Vṛndāvana to offer their respects to the Deities there.
Nectar of Devotion
As we have already explained, there are different ceremonies to be observed, such as the birthday of Kṛṣṇa, the birthday of Lord Rāmacandra, the birthday of some prominent Vaiṣṇavas, the ceremony of Jhulana-yātrā with the Lord sitting on a swing, and Dola-yātrā (the Lord's activities in the month of March). In all festivals the Lord is seated on a car, and the car moves through different streets of the city so that people may take advantage of visiting the Lord. In the Bhaviṣya Purāṇa it is said, "In such a ceremony, if even a caṇḍāla (dog-eater), simply out of curiosity, sees the Lord on the cart, he becomes counted as one of the associates of Viṣṇu."
Regarding Kṛṣṇa's heroism in fighting, there is the following statement: "My dear killer of the enemy, just as the elephant while taking bath in the lake destroys all the lotus stems within the water by swinging its trunk, so simply by moving Your arms, which are compared to the trunks of elephants, You have killed so many lotuslike enemies."
Kṛṣṇa played with His intimate friends sometimes by fighting or wrestling with their arms, sometimes by playing ball and sometimes by playing chess. Sometimes they carried one another on their shoulders, and sometimes they exhibited their expertness at whirling logs. And the cowherd friends used to please Kṛṣṇa by sitting together with Him on couches or on swings, by lying together on their beds, by joking together and by swimming in the pool. All these activities are called anubhāva. Whenever all the friends would assemble in the company of Kṛṣṇa, they would immediately engage in all these functions, especially in dancing together. Regarding their wrestling, one friend once asked Kṛṣṇa, "My dear friend, O killer of the Agha demon, You are very proudly wandering among Your friends trying to exhibit Your arms as very strong. Is it that You are envious of me? I know that You cannot defeat me in wrestling, and I also know that You were sitting idly for a long time because You were hopeless of defeating me."
Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead
Sometimes They steal butter, yogurt and milk and distribute them to the monkeys. When the monkeys are well fed and do not take any more, then your boys chide, "This milk and butter and yogurt are useless—even the monkeys won"t take it.’ And They break the pots and throw them hither and thither. If we keep our stock of yogurt, butter and milk in a solitary dark place, your Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma find it in the darkness by the glaring effulgence of the ornaments and jewels on Their bodies. If by chance They cannot find the hidden butter and yogurt, They go to our little babies and pinch their bodies so that they cry, and then They go away. If out of fear of these naughty boys we keep our stock of butter and yogurt high on the ceiling, hanging on a swing, although it is beyond Their reach They arrange to reach it by piling all kinds of wooden planks over the grinding machine. And if They cannot reach, They make a hole in the pot. We think therefore that you’d better take all the jeweled ornaments from the bodies of your children.”
In the meantime, Mother Yaśodā returned to the churning place after setting the overflowing milk pan in order. She saw the broken pot, in which the churning yogurt had been kept. Since she could not find her boy, she concluded that the broken pot was His work. She smiled as she thought, "The child is very clever. After breaking the pot He has left this place, fearing punishment." After she sought all over, she found her son sitting on a big wooden grinding mortar, which was kept upside down. He was taking butter from a pot which was hanging from the ceiling on a swing, and He was feeding it to the monkeys. She saw Kṛṣṇa looking this way and that way in fear of her because He was conscious of His naughty behavior. After seeing her son so engaged, she very silently approached Him from behind. Kṛṣṇa, however, saw her coming toward Him with a stick in her hand, and He immediately got down from the grinding mortar and began to flee in fear. Mother Yaśodā chased Him to all corners, trying to capture the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is never approached even by the meditations of great yogīs.
They were always playing hide-and-seek with Their boyfriends or jumping or fighting with them. Sometimes, while His friends were chanting and dancing, Kṛṣṇa would praise them, "My dear friends, you are dancing and singing very nicely." The boys played at catching ball with fruits such as bael and āmalaka. They played blindman's buff, challenging and touching one another. Sometimes they imitated the forest deer and various kinds of birds. They joked with one another by imitating croaking frogs, and they enjoyed swinging underneath the trees. Sometimes they would play amongst themselves like a king and his subjects. In this way, Balarāma and Kṛṣṇa, along with all Their friends, played all kinds of sports and enjoyed the soothing atmosphere of Vṛndāvana, full of rivers, lakes, rivulets, fine trees and excellent gardens filled with fruits and flowers.
Lectures
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
So we have to practice this Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Here, in this material world, we have to work. Without work, you cannot maintain even your family, your body. That is not possible. Śarīra-yātrāpi te na prasiddhyed akarmaṇaḥ. Kṛṣṇa says (to) Arjuna that without karma you cannot maintain even your body. So you have to work. Śarīra-yātrāpi te na prasiddhyed akarmaṇaḥ. And this material world means you have to maintain by working. And spiritual world means na tasya kāryam kāranam ca vidyate. There is nothing to work, as Kṛṣṇa has nothing to work. He is simply enjoying What is called? Swing. So Kṛṣṇa is enjoying, and Kṛṣṇa's associates are enjoying. They have nothing to work. That is spiritual world. Cintāmaṇi prakara sadmasu kalpa vṛkṣa: (Bs. 5.29) that is a different world. There is no material body. Therefore there is no need of the material body. That is a different world. But in this material world we have to work. Tṛtīyā-karma-samjñaṇya avidyā-karma-samjñānya tṛtīyā śaktir iṣyate. This material world means you have to work and adjust things for your maintenance. That you cannot escape. But still, we have to become Kṛṣṇa conscious.
Conversations and Morning Walks
1969 Conversations and Morning Walks
Allen Ginsberg: Okay.
Hayagrīva: I think once they get into the chanting, your melody might be a little difficult for them to follow. I'm not sure. Because it varies. There's variation there.
Allen Ginsberg: The problem, though, is that I've never been able to swing with it before. That's why I haven't used it. So what I would suggest is... Okay. We'll practice it tomorrow.
Hayagrīva: We can swing, I'm sure we can swing something.
Allen Ginsberg: Yes. But whatever we do, we got to swing.
Hayagrīva: That's for sure. But there've been... See what you think of various melodies. We play various melodies and see how we can come out. Another thing, do you want to have responsive chanting?
Prabhupāda: Responsive chanting must be there.
Allen Ginsberg: That would be interesting, yes.
Prabhupāda: Otherwise everyone will become tired and that will be chaotic. Response. That's nice. Then the audience will respond.
Prabhupāda: The Gosvāmīs were doing like that. Nidrāhāra-vihārakādi-vijitau **. They were discharging their duties, and if sometimes they still could not finish the chanting, they would forego their eating and sleeping. Eating and sleeping, say, seven to nine hours. Then we have to sacrifice our sleeping and eating.
Paramānanda: But the Gosvāmīs, they didn't swing axes all day, did they?
Prabhupāda: Yes. (chuckles)
Paramānanda: They didn't do hard physical work.
Prabhupāda: No, they were writing books. So they were writing. You have to manage. You see? How can I suggest, "You can do this, you can do this"? Everyone has to do. Just like I do my work according to my own routine, you see, similarly, one has to... But if sometimes, by chance, you do not get any time for reading Bhagavad-gītā, that does not harm very much because you are already engaged in Bhagavad-gītā. Any duty here in New Vrindaban... Just like Kṛṣṇa was inducing Arjuna to fight. That fighting was also within the program of this devotional service. Similarly, anything working within this New Vrindaban, that is also counted reading Bhagavad-gītā. So in some day if you don't find, read Bhagavad-gītā, but that chanting must be finished. That is very essential.
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Nanda Mahārāja did not know who is Kṛṣṇa.
Dr. Patel: When did he know that He, Kṛṣṇa was really the son of Devakī? I think after the... just now only.
Prabhupāda: Just now only. He is disclosing. He has given... (break) ...bahūni me janmāny atītāni tava cārjuna. Same thing. "I had many, many births before." That is confirmed here.
Girirāja: "Just as demigods are always protected by Lord Viṣṇu, so the devotees of your child will always be protected by Nārāyaṇa." (break)
Prabhupāda: ...accept that process. (break) ...cation. (break) Without any advertisement, without any..., how one can stop this?
Indian Man (2): It is not possible. (break)
Girirāja: "The child is very clever. After breaking the pot He has left the place fearing punishment. After she sought all over she found a big wooden grinding mortar kept upside down, and she found her son sitting on it. He was taking butter which was hanging from the ceiling on a swing and was feeding it to the monkeys." (continues reading from Kṛṣṇa Book; rest of tape is unintelligible) (end)
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Oh. American or enemy's captured?
Bali-mardana: It looks like American artillery.
Siddha-svarūpa: When I was a young boy, we would play with my friends. We would stand on this and try to knock each other off, push each other off the cannon.
Prabhupāda: It can be... No.
Siddha-svarūpa: No, it doesn't swing around.
Prabhupāda: It is from the last world war? (break) ...far it goes?
Bali-mardana: About ten miles.
Prabhupāda: Oh. (break) ...such cannons are meant for killing aircraft. (break) ...London blitz, blitz, they were attacking from aircraft and from ground also, simultaneously. (break) ...beginning, they were conquering over Belgium and neighboring... Morning, one country, and evening, one country.
Bali-mardana: Blitzkrieg.
Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) ...is the name of somebody?
Siddha-svarūpa: There was a queen named Queen Kapilani.
Prabhupāda: Oh. (break) ...Hawaiian queen?
Siddha-svarūpa: Yes. (break) No.
Prabhupāda: Oh yes.
Dr. Judah: Yes, that philosophy of Altheiser's, and Hamilton and some of the others, so-called "death of God theology," of course, was a phase through which Christianity went through but I think has lost its, certainly, its efficacy at the present time. I think it's probably had an effect certainly on some, but I would not say that is characteristic of Christian theology today. In fact, I see a swinging back to a more conservative position. And, of course, as far as the people are concerned, there is this need for an experiential relationship with God, which has gone through all of the churches and which is called the charismatic renewal, and this has been very influential in many of the churches.
Jayādvaita: But he was trying to say that because God is dead, now we have to revive our relationship with Christ. And then he equated that that everyone is, that means we have to have a relationship with all the human beings.
Dr. Judah: Yes. It is put on a, certainly, on a more humanistic scheme.
Jayādvaita: And now people want to know Kṛṣṇa.
Dr. Judah: Yes.
Revatīnandana: Did they actually seriously think that the Father was dead?
Dr. Judah: Yes. (break)
Prabhupāda: ...dead, then what kind of God he is?
Dr. Judah: Yeah. He wouldn't be any.
Prabhupāda: If the God dies and ordinary animal also dies...
Dr. Judah: Yes, it was what they called "atheistic Christianity." (laughter)
Prabhupāda: You cannot know. Because you are foolish, you cannot know. Just like the example is given: there is reel. You know? What is called? The children...
Paramahaṁsa: Swing?
Jayatīrtha: Ferris wheel?
Prabhupāda: No, no. In your country there is not, but in India there is a reel, reel-like. It rounds the thread for flying kite. What is called?
Kṛṣṇa-kanti: Just a ball of string.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Spool.
Paramahaṁsa: Kite line.
Prabhupāda: Kite line? How it is?
Paramahaṁsa: How it is? It's a line for a kite, and it's wound upon on a stick, and to make the kite go higher you unleash...
Prabhupāda: Yes. So it is going on. Sometimes the kite is going on, it is also rounding. And when the kite is coming down, that is also rounding. But you see one thing. But one thing is coming down; one is going up.
Prabhupāda: Ācchā?
Harikeśa: Yes. They've found that.
Prabhupāda: Why don't you try for it? (laughter) You are supporter of Darwin's theory. (laughter)
Harikeśa: They may find them swinging through the trees.
Prabhupāda: Jump over from tree to tree. I have seen here. There is...
Brahmānanda: Yes.
Cyavana: In this area there are monkeys.
Prabhupāda: Very... and they are also chased by another bird, monkey-eating bird. They'll go and capture and take him and throw him in the ground, and he falls down and dies. Then the bird eats. You know the monkey-eating birds? I have seen in Los Angeles zoo. Not very big, but they want to eat monkeys.
Harikeśa: Oh, the monkey-eating birds in Los... Yes.
Prabhupāda: So for eating, sleeping, mating and defending, everyone has got full intelligence. This monkey-eating bird also knows how to do his job. So that is not intelligence. Even this lowest-class bird, they... Even small flies, they also know all tricks how to exist, struggle for existence.
Kīrtanānanda: (break) ...come and dance at āratik?
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Kīrtanānanda: If they want to swing their arms, why not come to ārati and dance? (talking about people exercising on beach) In 1966, Prabhupāda, we went up to Dr. Mishra's āśrama upstate. And there was some yogi from the New York Institute there, and he said that automatically, just see these devotees, automatically they are doing everything that we are teaching, just by this one process of chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: That is the statement by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Viha hoite sarva siddhe hoi betaman. By practicing this chanting, you'll get all perfection.
Kīrtanānanda: One morning we were out walking in a sunrise, and Hayagrīva pointed out, "Oh, there's a very beautiful sunrise," and you said, "The sunrise is not very wonderful, but He who has made it is wonderful."
Prabhupāda: The point is, they glorify the scientists, another scientist, but they are so fool they do not glorify who has made that brain. You cannot make that brain.
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Ādi-keśava: Every time the wind blows it begins to bend back and forth in the breeze.
Bali-mardana: It swings.
Ādi-keśava: It swings back and forth in the breeze, and all the windows fell out. When we were two years ago in Boston, every day we used to hear how more windows had fallen in, so they made it all with wood. So it was a huge skyscraper with wood in the windows instead of glass.
Bali-mardana: Still they are not utilizing it.
Ādi-keśava: No, it's still bent, it cracked open.
Bali-mardana: It cost them over sixty, seventy million dollars and they cannot use it.
Ādi-keśava: It cracked all the concrete in the sidewalk because it was bending back and forth.
Prabhupāda: Which way?
Devotee (1): Left.
Prabhupāda: They have no estimation, that "So far we can come, then we'll fall"?
Bali-mardana: It all depends upon the foundation.
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Why? I have already transferred?
Mahāṁsa: That came just five days back. So now we'll be working on it full swing because we have some money.
Prabhupāda: So the bank has transferred?
Mahāṁsa: Yes, Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: So the prospect is nice?
Mahāṁsa: Oh, yes.
Prabhupāda: People are coming?
Mahāṁsa: When I came... When I went to the South, to down South, there was about 270 people.
Prabhupāda: Coming.
Mahāṁsa: Yes. But then, when I returned, there was only fifty people.
Prabhupāda: Why?
Mahāṁsa: Because the prasādam quantity was cut down.
Prabhupāda: Why cut down?
Mahāṁsa: I don't know.
Prabhupāda: So you don't know. Then who knows?
Mahāṁsa: Well, Tejas and Haṁsadūta, they said to cut down the prasādam quantity.
Hari-śauri: We saw one man in the Rāmānuja camp, too. He hadn't sat down for eighteen years. He carried a small swing with him, so wherever he went, he would go underneath a tree and hang the swing and lean on it. And he'd not sat down for eighteen years. (laughter) He had bandages all over his legs.
Bhāgavata: They have concocted this. It is not written in Vedas anywhere.
Prabhupāda: No, there are. Hiraṇyakaśipu did it.
Bhāgavata: That is a Vedic...?
Prabhupāda: Yes. But what did he gain?
Bhāgavata: He got this. (laughs)
Prabhupāda: What did he gain? Became a rākṣasa and was killed.
Gurukṛpa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, I went to Jagannātha Purī today, and I looked at this land that Gargamuni was looking at, and I don't think it's a very good idea because it's too central. It is right with all the hotels, and therefore the atmosphere there is not a very serenic atmosphere. But just maybe one mile down the beach I saw, which is still on the main road... It is within ten minute rickshaw. The atmosphere reminds one of Lord Caitanya, and the water there is much cleaner because it is away from the sewerage of the main city, similar to our Vṛndāvana, not far off, but five or ten minutes. It is the best place in Purī.
Prabhupāda: So put this matter in the GBC meeting.
Hari-śauri: I found the address of one man who offered us some land. You remember in Bombay you wanted someone to look at this land.
Prabhupāda: Yes, yes, yes.
Bhavānanda: This palanquin parikrama is very rough. You're bouncing up and down. You're going swinging sideways.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: (aside:) It's not as rough as traveling to Māyāpur, though, not one tenth as rough or one fiftieth. You know, all you got to do is go on a rough road. It's nothing. This palanquin is smooth compared to that, going slowly and being carried. I think the main point, Śrīla Prabhupāda, is that we have to consider going as opposed to staying here with the possibility of being at the..., under the care of this other kavirāja. That to me is the choice. This kavirāja will give medicines... First of all, we can try to convince him to stay, but failing that, he's giving a series of medicines which he expects will be proper according to the condition. But naturally the condition can change on any date. Then what will we do?
Prabhupāda: I say no medicine.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No medicine. We should reject this kavirāja.
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Brahmānanda: Yadubara was asking how much time the kavirāja would stay with you in Māyāpur.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Every few days he'll be there, every two days, every three days.
Yadubara: He said like that?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, he's prepared to do that.
Bhavānanda: Śrīla Prabhupāda? Is there some... You're feeling some bad effect from these medicines that you want to reject them? (pause)
Prabhupāda: At least there is risk of life.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: By traveling.
Prabhupāda: I see that.
Prabhupāda: So as you think... But this morning I was fainting.
Bhakti-caru: That is because this parikrama is very strenuous, Śrīla Prabhupāda, this jerking and swinging.
Prabhupāda: So how...? How? How we can?
Brahmānanda: So three hours to Delhi, then the plane ride and then three hours to Māyāpur?
Bhakti-caru: No, I mean that is out of the question.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It's not out of the question. We were considering doing it. (laughter) It's only three hours away. (laughter)
Brahmānanda: The cars are coming.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The cars are coming. The tickets are booked. It's not out of the question. Śatadhanya's in Calcutta. (laughter)
Bhakti-caru: But then again there is one advantage, that all along he can lie down. His Divine Grace can lie down.
Upendra: The only time he feels faint is when he's sitting up.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So Upendra says that the time that you get faint is when you're sitting up. If you lay down you don't get faint. If the issue is that you got faint, then that's only because... I've seen you sitting in this bed and getting fainting sometimes, sitting up, fainting. Laying down... You can't faint when you lay down. Fainting is when you're sitting up. But practically the whole time you'll be sitting up, I mean laying down. And neither fainting is not necessarily... That is not a sign of death, fainting.
Prabhupāda: Fainting means of death.
Correspondence
1967 Correspondence
You will be glad to learn that centers at the following places are going in full swing: (1) New York; (2) Montreal, Canada; (3) San Francisco; and the following centers are going to be opened at the following places within the next several months: (1) Boston; (2) Washington, D.C. (3) Vancouver, Canada; (4) Los Angeles; and (5) New Mexico (Santa Fe).
1968 Correspondence
Here in Montreal there is postal strike. So I am posting this letter in Buffalo where one boy is going tomorrow morning. I think unless there is very important business you can suspend correspondence to Montreal address. My visa is up to 3rd of September 1968, and if by that time my London yatra is not completed, then I will have to extend the visa period. I think you should start for London as early as possible. The plan already made by you is agreed by me. So you can go ahead with the plan. Our only plan should be henceforward to spread the Sankirtana activities and sell our publications. Publication of Back To Godhead is entrusted to Rayarama, and for publication of books, Brahmananda is entrusted. For business Gargamuni is entrusted. So let us combinedly execute the Krishna Consciousness movement in full swing.
Regarding yourself and Jadurani: You are both very sincere servitors to the cause of Krishna, and Krishna will give you necessary intelligence how to behave with one another. I am glad to learn that the girls under the guidance of Jadurani are doing nice painting work, and I am very much inclined to have many many Sankirtana pictures painted like the one which was in your Boston temple, on the wall, while I was there. I have one photograph of this picture and it is so nice that I feel my joys unlimited. (See enclosed sketch for identifying the exact painting I am speaking of). Our Madhavilata is also a good artist. She is painting a very nice picture of Radha Krishna seated on a swing. But she is a little independent spirited, and wants to wander with me. Anyway, she is a sincere good soul, and let her do the work in her own way. But it is a good asset for her that she has attraction to hear me. That will make her all right in the due course of time, and it may be that she will also come out a great painting assistant in our society.
1969 Correspondence
I am in due receipt of your letter of March 2, 1969, along with the German handbill, which appears to be very nicely presented. I could not read anything save and except the known lines of Hare Krishna, and A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami. So the press work is started and I am sure as soon as Jaya Govinda arrives in Germany the press work will go on in full swing. Jaya Govinda is very much anxious for the press work at your end because he writes like this: "I think of the printing press lying idle (as far as I know) in Germany, and as printing and the graphic arts field is what I have the greatest amount of experience and training in, that seems to be the place for me to go." This means he is very anxious to come to Germany and I am glad to learn from your letter also that you are trying to get him in Germany by the end of this week. This means perhaps you have already arranged for his come back to Germany. If not, please do it immediately because it will be a great help to our German center, and I am sure you will be able to start BTG in our press there in the German language immediately on his arrival.
So we are not impersonalists or voidists. Our program is to enter into the association of Krishna. But we cannot enter within this association without being completely disinfected from the contamination of material sinful life. It is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita by Lord Krishna Himself that only those who are absolutely cleansed of all dirty sins can be engaged in Krishna Consciousness in full swing. In other words, those who are fully in Krishna Consciousness can be free from material contamination and thus enter into association of Krishna. There will be no botheration for you of family life, provided it is carried on in full Krishna Consciousness. Follow this idea and you will be happy. The Western world needs this help, so try to do this welfare work for the human society.
1972 Correspondence
As for your questions, Lalitananda means one who takes his pleasure from Lalita, who is one of the chief Gopis around Krishna. So you are the servant of one who takes his bliss from Lalita. Yes, if there is arrangement for swinging the deities sometimes, that is all right. Anything may be done which will be pleasing to the Lord, and He is often fond of swinging motions. You may place cows and peacocks on the altar at Montreal, that will be nice. So far I am concerned, I have no objection if there is carved form of guru on the Guru-Gauranga altar, but one thing, is unless that sculptor is very excellent, it should not be attempted. How will you get photos from all angles of vision for the carving process? Unless it can be done very nicely, just perfectly realistic, he should not do it. Yes, God is always there in His Arca Vigraha form, either as Krishna or Rama or Caitanya, whatever. So He must be offered all respects as if He is there personally present, and if you are always sincerely chanting and following our Krishna Consciousness programme of chanting and other things you will very quickly develop the eyes to see Krishna there.
1973 Correspondence
Yes, that is correct, the deities should never be bathed with water or something like that. Always bathe them with the mantra process. Of course the big deities should be bathed daily! Should not the Supreme Personality of Godhead, if He is recommending to us as brahmanas to bathe so many times, should he not also take bath? There is no objection either to applying the jewels to Their bodies with beeswax or to swinging them in the public functions in the temple on Sunday, so long there is very nice jhulan or swing being profusely decorated. Radha and Krsna may be swung in this way, but you may avoid swinging Lord Jagannatha like that. Yes, that will be very nice if your men go to South America for opening some new centers. They may write to me in that connection.
1976 Correspondence
You have suggested that some men are best engaged in doing business. I agree. All grhasthas who are interested in doing business should do so in full swing. Yat karosi yad asnasi, yaj juhosi dadasi yat/ yat tapasyasi kaunteya tat kurusvamad arpanam (BG 9.27). Let this be the guiding principle. So let all the grhasthas who wish to, execute business full-fledgedly in the USA and in this way support Gurukula. Business must be done by the grhasthas, not by the sannyasis or brahmacaris. Neither the sannyasis or brahmacaris can be expected to support Gurukula.
1977 Correspondence
P.S. No feasting in the evening of Caitanya's birthday. Fasting all day till evening moon rise. Then take Prasadam like Ekadasi. Next day you can have full swing feasting. On the birthday if can take a procession of Kirtana on the street it is very nice.
| Page Title: | Swing |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, Mayapur |
| Created: | 16 of Mar, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=7, CC=3, OB=7, Lec=1, Con=13, Let=9 |
| No. of Quotes: | 40 |