The Wisdom Park

  I recently had the opportunity to visit the temple of Lord Gadagidu Veer Narayana in Gadag, Karnataka. After having darshan of the Lord, we sat under a shady tree to have our morning Srimad-bhagvatam class. While, we were having our class, I observed that few teenage, college going girls also sat nearby to have their breakfast together. I also observed that few elderly men were practising yoga asanas in one corner of the temple. There was one little puppy sleeping at the entrance of the temple without any fear. As I was giving the class, I heard so many birds who were chirping and flying around in the temple courtyard.  I was reflecting how so many different types of people and living entities were happily taking shelter of the temple of the Lord. And why not? After all, the Supreme Lord is the father of all and we are all His children. Our Supreme Father provides and gives shelter to us all and yes, the temple of the Lord is the home of our Father, t...

To reach our ashram at Chodan island, we need to cross the Mandovi river by the government run ferry service. As the ferry vessel was docking the other night, it scooped a tiny little fish out of the water onto the ground. The tiny fish was flapping desperately to live. I somehow managed to put the fish back into the river. The fish was happy to have got to live more and I was happy to be of some help to this small friend. I remembered a quote I had read long ago - "Helping one person might not change the world, but it could change the world for one person." How true it is. Whenever we get opportunities to be of help to someone, we should immediately grab it and try to do the best we can. Who knows, we may just save a life. Whenever, the ferryboat docks I try to be alert to look out for any fish that needs my help. Whether you travel in ferry or not, remember, there are always "fishes" out there who will need your help. Be watchful, be helpful. - Achyut Gopal Das

  Just completed a series of classes from the first canto of Srimad-Bhagvatam. We started these classes on April 15 and ended on September 28. Every day two classes of 30 minutes each, with few days gap in between. Total - 237 classes to be precise . My heart is filled with so much gratitude for being given this opportunity to speak from this great literature and complete the first canto. The experience is overwhelming. This will definitely be one my the biggest achievements, which I will cherish throughout my life. I am feeling so blessed that I feel, even if death comes to me at this point, there is no problem. My life has become perfect, that I have had the opportunity to read and speak from this great literature. Srila Prabhupada always said, "My purports are my spiritual ecstasies". Reading and speaking everyday, from every word of his purport has made me appreciate the truth behind Srila Prabhupada's statement. If one wants to experience ecstasy, one need not go ver...

  "Some people believe holding on and hanging in there are signs of great strength. However, there are times when it takes much more strength to know when to let go and then do it." - Ann Landers Everyone is sad about the retirement of M.S. Dhoni and Suresh Raina from international cricket. This shows how much love and respect these players have earned from their fellow Indians. Indians also should be proud of the example these players are setting by retiring timely, thereby setting a healthy precedent for the other players to follow. Voluntarily retiring at the right time by the elder generation in order to make space for newer and younger generation is a sign of maturity and wisdom. This has been the mindset of great leaders of this great land of India - to live with dignity and leave with dignity. This is the spirit and ethos of India. To hold onto a position till one is made to forcibly quit it, is not a dignified life. Only those wh...

It is stormy, windy and rainy in Goa for the last few days. Seeing the wind and the heavy downpour, I started wondering, "What an experience it would be to be in such a storm and wind in a boat in the middle of the turbulent ocean". A crazy thought, I guess.  But then I got this insight that, "Well, we are already in the middle of an ocean with violent winds around." The scriptures explain that, this material world is a huge ocean of birth and death, with turbulent winds and storm of problems and miseries all around us and we, tiny entities being caught in this terrible and powerful ocean are struggling helplessly to stay afloat and stable in the midst of all this drama. This material world is not so easy to overcome however powerful and expert one may be just as, even an expert swimmer is unable to swim across an ocean.  Therefore Lord Krishna tells us in Bhagvat-gita 7.14 "daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī mama māyā duratyayā" "This divine...

Being born in this world is not easy and being born as a woman is definitely not easy and being a chaste woman and trying to live a principle-centered life is definitely, definitely not easy. The struggles a woman goes through being a wife, raising children and running a family is many times beyond comprehension and very often, overlooked. Running an empire is easier than running a family. But probably the biggest challenge of womanhood is in being understood. Every woman looks for some man to empathize with her struggles and see her side of the picture. But instead of being understood, she is more often than not, misunderstood and exploited by the stronger sex.  One of the reason Lord Krishna appears in this world is to protect chaste ladies and teach a lesson to all those who try to exploit the innocent womenfolk. Krishna was born to help his helpless mother, Devaki who was being tortured by wicked Kamsa. Krishna cried seeing the suffering of Kunti Devi and s...

Every morning when I wake up and notice my breathing and observe my chest swelling up and down being pumped with air, I invariably remember a verse from the Srimad-bhagvatam which states that our breathing is like the breathing of the bellows of a blacksmith. Both the bellow and our body is made of leather. The bellow may feel that it is breathing on it's own and is fully independent but, it does not know that as soon as the blacksmith stops pumping air in it, it will stop breathing and lay lifeless. Similarly, we may be proud of our breathing and our life and may feel fully independent but, we don't realise that as soon as God decides to stop pumping air into our system, our body will stop breathing and lay lifeless.  What is there to be proud of when we don't even have control over our breath?  We should be grateful to God for giving us the wonderful opportunity and gift to breathe and live. And, the way we express that gratitude is by using ...

The recent passing away of His Holiness Bhakti Charu Maharaj has put devotees worldwide in a state of shock. He is yet another disciple of Srila Prabhupada who is no longer present with us now. I was remembering all the disciples of Srila Prabhupada who have in the last few years left this material world to join Srila Prabhupada in the spiritual world. With every departure of these treasured Vaishnavas and Vaishnavis, my heart is left a little more pained. Having grown up in ISKCON seeing all these inspiring figures, I just can't imagine living in a world without these personalities. Yet we know that the rules of this world is not going to change however we may wish for it to.  The fact is that in a few years from now, we will all be bereft of the association of the disciples of Srila Prabhupada, our fatherly, motherly figures. We know that on the spiritual plane, there is no separation. These personalities will ever be there to assist us, guide us and bless us. But o...

“That is all I want in life: for this pain to seem purposeful.” ―   Elizabeth Wurtzel Was very saddened to hear the news of the demise of Actor Sushant Singh Rajput not because he was a famous Bollywood celebrity but because he was a fellow human being. Human life or for that matter any life is precious and it shouldn't be taken away or given up whimsically. Only God gives life and only He can take it away at a time of His choice. GOD FATHER FROM BOLLYWOOD The news is going across that he committed suicide due to depression. People say that he was depressed because of nepotism and favouritism in the Bollywood circle where only those having connection with the "so called" big shots have a firm ground to stand on, the rest are subtly pressurised to quit. Sushant was bullied and harassed by few stalwarts of the industry. He tried his best to get into their good books and get their "so called" blessings because he knew that without their blessings, he c...

Who is in your heart and in  whose heart are you in? When we love someone, we want to fully enter into the heart and life of our beloved and we want our beloved to fully enter our heart and life. But in reality it doesn't happen with the relationships of this world. This is possible only in our relationship with Krishna because only He is selfless in His love and capable of satisfying us fully. Therefore Krishna says in Srimad-bhagvatam 9.4.68 - "sādhavo hṛdayaṁ mahyaṁ sādhūnāṁ hṛdayaṁ tv aham mad-anyat te na jānanti nāhaṁ tebhyo manāg api" "The pure devotee is always within the core of My heart, and I am always in the heart of the pure devotee. My devotees do not know anything else but Me, and I do not know anyone else but them." Rather than trying to give our hearts fully to the people of this world and being frustrated is to give our hearts fully to Krishna and never be...