Love affair that is called ISKCON

The love affair between Lord Krishna and Srila Prabhupada took the shape of what we now call ISKCON. This love is ever increasing and we, the followers can be a part of this love as long as we are faithful, loyal and loving to our eternal guru that is Srila Prabhupada.

Srila Prabhupada started this movement to facilitate this love between the individual living entities and Krishna under the care and guidance of an expert teacher that is Srila Prabhupada.

Just as a lover will send gifts to His beloved, similarly, Srila Prabhupada is sending so many living entities as gifts to the Lotus Feet of Lord Krishna as an expression of His love towards the Lord. Hence we are eternally indebted to our Guru that is Srila Prabhupada.

This symbol of love – ISKCON is to be cherished and propagated to all the lands so everyone is given the opportunity to be a part of this divine loving interchange between Lord Krishna and Srila Prabhupada. Let us pay our tributes to our Guru that is Srila Prabhupada.

While there may be apparent mundane problems within ISKCON, still, this house that Srila Prabhupada built for the world is by no means mundane but a spiritual storehouse of treasure of unalloyed love towards that Supreme Absolute Truth. For making this treasure of love accessible to everyone and allowing everyone to be a part of this divine lila, let us pay our tributes to our Guru that is Srila Prabhupada.

Let us pay our tributes again and again to our Guru that is Srila Prabhupada by sincerely chanting

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Hare Krishna

Mediterranean Lunch

My wife and I prepared a Middle Eastern type lunch last week. My wife made the delicious Greek style soup and the herb roll bread. I made falafel and hummus as fillers.

The soup, herb roll, and hummus were taken from Kurma das prabhu.

Greek style white bean and vegetable soup - Fasoulada

Any white bean are preferred such as cannellini, black eyedbeans, lima, navy or haricot beans. Beans soaking time is one hour or over night.

2 cups white beans of your choice
8 cups water
1 teaspoon asafetida
1.5 cup copped pealed tomatoes
3/4 cup diced carrot
1 cup chopped celery including leaves
2 tablespoon tomato paste
1/4 cup chopped parsley
2-3 tablespoon virgin olive oil
1/4 freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon sugat
1.5 teaspoon salt
chopped parsley for garnish

Pressure cook the soaked beans. Heat the oil, saute the vegetables, add the remaining ingredients and return the pan to full heat bringing to boil, then reduce to simmer and cook until vegetables are tender. Add the beans and stir in the salt. Serve the soup hot and garnish with parsley.

Chickpea and Sesame Paste Dip (Hummus bi Tahina)

200g dried chickpeas, that's one very heaped metric measuring cup
¼ cup lemon juice
½ teaspoon yellow asafetida powder (to replace two cloves garlic)
6 tablespoons tahini
1 teaspoon salt

Soak the chickpeas in cold water overnight or at least 12 hours. Drain and place the chickpeas in a large saucepan. Cover with cold water, about three times the volume, and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for an hour or until the chickpeas are tender, topping up with water if necessary.

Drain the chickpeas, reserving the cooking liquid. Cool slightly then rub the chickpeas well to loosen the skins. Cover with cold water and the loose skins will rise to the surface. Scoop them off and discard.

Place the peeled chickpeas in a food processor with the lemon juice, asafetida, tahini and half of the salt. Process to a smooth puree, adding some of the reserved cooking liquid if necessary to achieve a smooth result. Add the remaining salt if it needs it.

Falafel (googled it)

2 cups dried chickpeas (soaked overnight and boiled the next day)
1 teaspoon Asafetida
3 tablespoons of fresh parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon cumin
2 tablespoons All purpose flour
Salt
Pepper
Oil for frying

Combine chickpeas, asafetida, coriander, cumin, salt and pepper (to taste) in medium bowl. Add flour.Mash chickpeas, ensuring to mix ingredients together. You can also combine ingredients in a food processor. You want the result to be a thick paste. Form the mixture into small balls, about the size of a ping pong ball. Slightly flatten. Fry in 2 inches of oil at 350 degrees until golden brown (5-7 minutes). Serve hot.

how to attract the mercy of the Lord

It is mentioned in the revealed scriptures that to gain entrance into the pastimes of Sri Sri Radha and Krishna in Sri Vrindavan Dham in Goloka is the highest goal of life and the most confidential of all knowledge.

It is through unalloyed bhakti only, is entrance granted. Unalloyed bhakti is the sole property of Lord Sri Krishna. In other words, only Lord Krishna grants unalloyed bhakti in the hearts of aspiring devotees. Pure devotees or representatives of the Lord are more munificent and magnanimous that they travel across the universe to plant this seed of unalloyed bhakti in the hearts of everyone and give everyone the opportunity of Krishna prem (unalloyed love of God).

So when something as great as Krishna prem (unalloyed love) is granted to a living entity, it is only (100%) by the mercy of the pure devotees or the Lord Himself.

Since bhakti is the sole property of Lord Krishna, it precludes all other qualifications from the aspirant. In other words, it is not that we can buy bhaki by studying the scriptures, or performing austerity or giving in charity or following the Vedic codes of religion….no, it is only possible if Krishna Himself grants it to us.

So if we have any realistic chance of getting bhakti then we have to seek the mercy of Guru and Krishna. The only way we can seek the mercy of Guru and Krishna is if we beg for mercy. The only way we will beg for mercy wholeheartedly is if we feel we are unqualified for if we think we are qualified then we will not beg for mercy wholeheartedly.

So the key to advance in Krishna Consciousness is to always feel unqualified and hence always have our hearts open eager to receive the mercy. By sincerely feeling unqualified for the highest benediction we attract the mercy of Guru and Krishna.

In this age of Kali, this rare mercy of love of God is being freely distributed by Lord Nityananda prabhu and Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. We can access this free mercy by sincerely feeling unqualified so we can open up our hearts eager to recieve this mercy. To feel unqualified, we need to sincerely pray to Krishna to remove the mountain of anarthas (impurities) such as lust, greed, anger, envy, pride and illusion from our hearts for we cannot do it on our own. H.H. Radhanath Swami mentioned in one of his lectures that removing our impurities is like an ant trying to move the Himalayan Mountains; it is very difficult because we are against the material energy (maya). So Maharaj said if we give up bad habits, take shelter of the Holy names, and constantly beg for Krishna’s mercy, then Lord Nityananda prabhu will deliver us to the Lotus feet of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu thus granting us entrance into the eternal pastimes of Sri Sri Radha and Krishna in Sri Vrindhavan Dham.

Hare Krishna

Narasimha Caturdasi recipes

Creamy Tomato and Basil Soup

On Narasimha Chaturdasi day, my wife made some delicious recipes for the Lord. She made Creamy Tomato and basil soup for the Lord. It came out really tasty and creamy. The recipe is as follows;

1 tblspoon Olive oil

1 teaspoon asafoetida

14 ounce chopped tomatoes

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup vegetable stock/water (we used water)

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 cup milk or 1/4 cup heavy cream

1 tblspoon maple syrup

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil

In a medium pot on medium heat, heat the oil and saute the asafoetida till it slightly releases its flavor. Add the tomoatoes and saute till soft. Then add the chopped basil and saute for couple of minutes. Add the water (or vegetable stock) to the pan and bring it to a boil on a high and once it starts to boil, bring it to medium heat and allow it to simmer for 15 minutes.

Remove the pot from the heat and after it cools, blend it in a food processor along with the other ingredients. After the blend, tranfer it back to the pot and heat it briefly and finally garnish with parsely or coriander leaves.

The recipe takes about 30 mins from start to finish. The reciped was taken from La Dolce Vegan book.

Pav Bhaji

My wife also made Pav Bhaji for Lord Narasimha and it came out very nice especially the bread was delicious. Below is the link to the recipe. It took about an hour to do the pav bhaji. In 1.5 hours, Lord Narasimha was offered a hearty meal.

note: instead of onion and garlic, please use asafoetida.

for the pav, the link - http://onehotstove.blogspot.com/2005/04/bombay-street-food-pav-bhaji.html

The bread recipe from Kurma prabhu - http://www.iskcon.net.au/kurma/2006/05/19

Hare Krishna

Glorifying a Vaishnav

I grew up in what you can call “critical household”…in other words, criticism rules! One of the big blocks for me in Vaishnava etiquette is glorifying devotees. I find it very difficult to glorify anyone let alone devotees, making me a miser.

While glorification is Vaishnava etiquette, at the same time, one shouldn’t engage in superficial glorification just because it is etiquette. We should try to, in all sincerity, glorify our peers, seniors and juniors. So, our glorification should come from the heart and not merely from the mouth. By glorifying someone from our heart, we gain their love and trust and more importantly we please the person. Vaishnava etiquette is all about pleasing devotees thus at the end pleasing the Supreme Lord.

I want to glorify a special person I am long due of any sort of glorification. This person has put up with my shenanigans for sometime and for some reason still sticks to me. In all honesty, there are very few people who can put with my idiosyncratic behavior…one such person who tolerates me day in and out is my wife.

For many number of reasons I am in due of glorifying my wife. Actually, I don’t think I have ever praised her in the 12 years I have been with her. So I would seek this public forum to say a few words about her.

While I and my wife have many differences, in fact we are night and day. I don’t think there is one thing we can both agree upon. It can be anywhere from a small thing to a big thing…we never agree to the same thing. This, indeed, was difficult for me simply because this is the type of person I am…I want people to agree with me. Krishna, being the most merciful towards me, sends me a better half just to disagree with everything I say or think. So you can imagine, our household is always filled with excitement (to say the least). But I have no less than sincere gratitude for my wife for everything she has done.

There are many material favors and services she has done, while it is important, it is temporary and has no real value in the grand scheme of things. So I am not concentrating on that much, but above all, my wife has been instrumental in shaping my spiritual life. Apart from teaching me valuable lessons, she has guided me to my eternal relationship with my guru maharaj H.H.Radhanath Swami, from that opened up many wonderful avenues to association with my godbrothers. For that, I am eternally indebted to my wife- Thank you!

Glorifying doesn’t mean to flatter one’s ego, glorifying essentially is glorifying the Lord Himself because we glorify the devotee in connection with Krishna. In that regard, I am eternally indebted and grateful to my wife for connecting me to my guru and the Parampara and for teaching valuable spiritual lessons of tolerance and love. She has been an instrument of tolerance and patience towards me. She has sacrificed much of her comforts on my wish, and she is willing to tread the path I am willing to make towards Krishna. In spite of all her physical and mental limitations, she neverthless engages in duties just to please me. All this shows her faith in her husband and faith in her guru, thus pleasing the Lord.

I personally gain inspiration from the faith she has for her guru maharaj. While I confess I do not have such faith or attachment, it is inspiring to live with someone who has that faith...again thank you.

I hope one day, I do not commit offense against her and sincerely try to live a life of proper Vaishnava etiquette and encourage each other in our march back to God.

I sincerely thank this wonderful personality with a grateful heart.

Thank you for everything!

Hare Krishna

strawberry glazed cheesecake

Lord Narasingha is a ferocious incarnation of Krishna. So I thought I can make a cheesecake and appease His furious anger on Narasinga Caturdasi day. I offered the cheesecake the next day as it had to be chilled. Below is the cheesecake recipe and glaze recipe. It sure looks delicious. The strawberry glaze was done by my wife.


New York Style cheesecake

Crust:

6 Tbs. Melted Butter
1 1/2 Cups Crushed Graham Crackers
2 Tb. Sugar

Mix together and place in a spring form pan. Using a flat sided, flat bottomed glass, press material into the corners of the pan; and smooth the bottom and sides. Bake 10 minutes. Set on wire rack to cool.

Filling:

1 Cup Ricotta Cheese
2 pkgs. Cream Cheese
2 Cups Sour Cream
3/4 Cup Orange Blossom Honey
1 1/2 tsp. Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice
1 1/2 tsp. Frontier Herb Co’s Almond and Vanilla Extracts
1/4 Cup Ener-G Egg Replacer (dry)
3 Tbs. Swans Down Cake Flour or Pastry flour

Set dairy products out an hour ahead of time. They need to be at room temperature. Beat ricotta and Cream Cheese until smooth. Add Honey and Sour Cream. Mix thoroughly. Add the rest of the ingredients. Beat well.

Pour into the cooled Spring Form Pan. Bake 45 minutes to an hour until golden and set. Remove from the oven and set on wire rack to cool. Refrigerate 24 hours before removing form. Top with fresh berries and a melted jelly glaze.

Strawberry glaze:

8 oz. strawberries (cleaned and hulled)
1/3 cup granulated sugar,
1/2 cup water,
1 Tbs. lemon juice
1 Tbs. cornstarch

Combine the sugar, water, lemon juice and strawberries in a saucepan. Stir to dissolve the sugar into the liquid while bringing it up to a boil. Once the mixture begins to boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for about ten minutes. Remove from then heat and strain the liquid from the strawberries. Press on the solids to squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Set aside the strawberries and return the liquid to the pan. Bring the liquid back up to a simmer. Whisk 3 tablespoons of water into the cornstarch and then pour it into the simmering liquid. Increase heat and whisk until the glaze comes to boil. Continue to whisk while the glaze boils and thickens, about 5 minutes. Pour into a bowl and set aside to cool. Once the glaze has cooled down, place it in the refrigerator to chill.

Book distribution 2008

I was out of town for the better part of last week to a conference in Denver. I got the opportunity to visit ISKCON Denver and meet the deities and Srila Prabhupada. I was happy to have visited the temple.

This weekend was Narasimha Chaturdasi and was a special day for Vaishnavas around the world. It was this day (Sunday) that the Lord appeared as Half-man – Half-Lion incarnation to protect His beloved devotee Prahlad. We can learn so much from just this incarnation. Anyways, I thought as an offering to the Lord, I do some service. So I decided to go out on book distribution (on saturday). It has been some months since I went on book distribution knocking on doors.

The original plan was that my wife accompanies me and we both knock on doors and share the mercy of Srila Prabhupada. But due to some service to our deities, she stayed back and I went alone to knock on doors.

I live in a college town and since this is summer time, there were not that many people in their homes. However, I did manage to talk to a few and distribute the books. My last house was an Indian student (a married householder).

Initially, the person totally rejected the books and did not want to do anything with “religion” and another “belief” system. I sensed a deep sense of prejudice in his voice towards any religion. But I insisted, and soon I found out I was talking to another Richard Dawkins. He was arrogant, impudent and very proud of his scientific background and everything to do with science. If this is not enough, his wife (another scientist) joined the debate and it was two against one battle.

During the whole debate, he was insulting my beliefs, the concept of religion, and at one point openly derided Srila Prabhupada’s books. I still insisted. I did not take anything personal as my only goal was to somehow give him a book. Although, he insulted my intelligence and my abilities of discrimination, by God’s grace, I did not get angry at him.

We argued for more than an hour. I was standing at his doorstep for more than an hour and trying to convince him to take a book. This person barely allowed me to express my views and he kept banging in his theories very strongly. We touched so many points from definition of science, methods of scientific enquiry, theory of evolution, quantum physics, cellular functions, dinosaurs etc etc

I used all of Srila Prabhupada’s arguments (that I know) and he could not answer them…his constant reply was that science is “working on it” and we may find answers in 100 years. Although, he could not answer all the questions, he nevertheless was “pounding” me to the ground. My only goal was to give him the book but unfortunately after so much time I did not convince him.

I openly accepted defeat to pacify his ego and humbly requested to take the book for more insights into spiritual subject matter. He was too proud to take the book.

At one point, he challenged me saying “you convince me why the soul is eternal. If you convince me, I will take all your books”. I thought about the question and I replied “the soul is eternal just as why the salt is salty, sugar is sweet and fire has light and heat. Eternality is the property of the soul”. His response was sugar is sweet and the salt salty because of the atoms contained within the sugar and salt. I asked him why is it created like that?...of course, he thought that was not even a correct question?

Anyways…I finally decided to leave. At the end, he gave a victory speech basically undermining the process of religion and glorifying his “scientific” community and deriding all those who are “less informed” of true scientific knowledge (including myself). At the end, he wanted to throw me a bone and so he asked “ok…are you doing this (book distribution) for a sales account or for your resume account or for other purposes”…I thought may be I can give him the book if I showed I am interested in money. I said “I am doing this for my sales account”. So he asked me how much the books cost. I said anywhere from $1 to $5. He said the books are not worth that much money. I asked him (one last time), can you not even spare $1, he said no and finally I shook hands and left.

Over the two days, I was reflecting on this debate and pondering what I should learn from this conversation. I am happy that I learnt many things on how to answer more categorically and more objectively. I learnt that while presenting spiritual knowledge, we make many assumptions. But if I just made the conversation very clear and simple without too many details, then my message would have been easier to understand. I realize, looking back, I could have given different replies to the challenges he made.

At the end of the day, I am happy to have learnt something in the art of debate and argument and how it is very important to actually repeat the instructions of the Sampradaya and not our own mundane intelligence. The key I believe is to deliver this message as is and at the same time confidently and boldly (which I did not exhibit) and not worry too much about how the audience will receive it.

Our mission Srila Prabhupada says is to give the opportunity of Krishna Consciousness to as many people as possible and not be attached to success or failure, honor or dishonor, pleasure or pain. We surrender to our Guru, Parampara and the Lord and deliver the message as a postman without attaching ourselves to the results and without messing with the message. In other words, have faith in the words of Guru and not rely on our own mundane intelligence. Krishna sees our efforts and sincerity for at the end of the day, Krishna is the cause and the doer and not “I”. So the lessons i learnt are

• surrender to Guru parampara (I mean i have to have faith in the strength of the parampara and its message and not on my own mundane intelligence and not worry too much about what people think about me)
• Humility of heart as the servant of the servant
• compassion to all living entities and
• desire for no honor/prestige for oneself

These are the main things required for us to fulfill the order of guru and ultimately please Krishna. I pray to that Almighty Govinda to give me those attributes to engage in His service.

I also wish and pray that the householder and his wife understand the science of Krishna Consciousness and thank them for giving me an opportunity to serve my Guru maharaj, Srila Prabhupada and Krishna.

Hare Krishna