Well, maybe we can just give a quick definition of this word: surrender. It also sounds a slightly intimidating from the word itself: surrender. Somebody says, "Surrender your passport," or something, or there's an image of somebody getting chased by police in a car and trying to run away, and then finally they surrender. It can be applicable to us, but śaraṇāgati and the path of taking shelter of Krishna can be more comprehensible in the sense that it describes six methods of taking shelter of Krishna. Śaraṇāgati means that path.

So, the first one is to accept everything that's favorable. When there's something favorable to your devotional service, you accept it. That's a kind of surrender. And then, giving up things that are not favorable. When somebody points them out to you that these things won't help your bhakti, you may not be able to give them up right away, but when it becomes your intention, and then you work at it, you finally give them up. That is surrender. Another is that you develop the awareness that The Lord is your maintainer, nobody else. You may have some source of income (briefly inaudible) is to be humble. And then finally, ātma-nivedanam, or offering yourself to Krishna that "Krishna, I'm yours. Everything I have is yours. Even myself is yours."

So, does that sound doable? Yes? Then no problem. You're doing it. By the way, you're already doing it. It's a process. If you can have a good strategy for your life, try to have your midlife crisis as early as possible, and then use the last part of your life, or whatever part. Don't even have a midlife crisis, just keep doing what you can to be Kṛṣṇa conscious throughout your life. You'll get more and more favor from Krishna, and you'll also develop more determination and steadiness and everything else. So you have a way better than equal chance of having complete success. So don't worry. Mā śucaḥ.
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The Process of Devotional Service | CC Madhya 22.1-23 | HG Vaisesika Dasa | 11 Jun 2025

Sometimes, devotees can try to be more Catholic than the Pope. Prabhupāda had certain ways; he had a certain mood, and it wasn't fanatical. We were fanatical, a lot, and a lot of times we amplified certain things Prabhupāda said and just took that as all in all. We think that by being more and more austere, physically punishing our senses and so forth, that we become more advanced. It was in youthful energy like that; it's not sustainable. It can even make the heart hard. I'm not saying we should not be austere to some degree, but we should observe how Prabhupāda was. He was austere for the right reasons, but not just for the sake of it. Like when he went to Kumbha Melā, he went there to preach. It wasn't like he was after some benediction from the Kumbha, you know, Kumbha Melā, right? You're supposed to bathe at the right time, get some benediction from Lakṣmī. Prabhupāda didn't care about that. He wanted that we go there and distribute books and prasādam.

Prabhupāda went here, there, and everywhere. His mission was always the same, and he was always aligned with the same principles that his spiritual master taught him. And if we stay aligned with the mood and mission of our guru and the Guru-paramparā very clearly, then we can navigate through life. The decisions we make are based on what's the main thing: the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. (27:31)
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Stay Aligned With The Mood & Mission of The Guru Parampara | HG Vaisesika Dasa | 12 Jun 2025

Kṛṣṇa does admit in the Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta when He meets Gopā Kumāra, He says, "I made special arrangements for you, although I'm neutral with everybody. I made you take birth in Govardhan, and I came personally. That spiritual master that you met, that was Me. I came personally because I've been waiting too long." So there are ways that Kṛṣṇa tries to bring us back to Godhead, and especially when we take a step towards Him, then He takes license to pull us further. I love this whole section. 

There's a story I heard from H.H. Girirāja Mahārāja about how in Bombay (Mumbai), when he was the temple president, there was a young man who was helping with the translation for the Marāṭhī Gītā. And he would come to see Prabhupāda regularly to check the translation and ask him philosophical questions. I don't know if Prabhupāda spoke Marāṭhī, but his father would come with him because he his father wanted to get some darśana with Prabhupāda. And the father had a habit of smoking, and he was ashamed of it. So Prabhupāda knew that, and after a few times visiting and knowing that the man was ashamed of it, and Prabhupāda asked, 'Are you still smoking?'" And he said, "Yes," very ashamed. He said, "I need your special mercy to give this up." And Prabhupāda said, "Yes, you can get Kṛṣṇa's special mercy, but it means that you become so miserable that you'll be forced to give it up." Then he said, "Would you like special mercy?" And the man said, "No, no, no, no, I'll do it myself. I'll volunteer." So there's a little push-pull going on. You can do this—they used to say—you can do this the easy way or the hard way. If you want to do the easy way, just make up your mind: sarva-dharmān parityajya, "that's it, I surrender."
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The Process of Devotional Service- 2 | CC Madhya 22.24-43 | HG Vaisesika Dasa | 12 Jun 2025

I took some devotees from a faraway land who visited California into a forest called Muir Woods, and it's got a stream going through it. One day, when we were walking through, we saw a ranger in there pulling out something: these long tongs, in gaiters on boots that go up to your hips. And so, we stopped by to talk to the friendly ranger. That's what you should do: always talk to a friendly ranger.

And we asked him, "So, what are you doing?" And he said, "I'm taking micro trash out of the river." And I said, "What's micro trash?" He said, "You know how people open a pack of gum and that little piece that's left over somehow blows away in the wind and ends up in the water? Or somebody else throws pennies in because they think it'll bring them good luck? Everything everyone does ends up in the water, and it disturbs the sensory perception of the fish. And the fish are an important part of the ecology here," he said.

And then he told us the story of the Coho Salmon who lived there. He said, "They're born here in this little area, and then they migrate downstream from the fresh water all the way to the ocean. And they swim around in the ocean for thousands of miles for several years, and then they come back to the very stream in which they were born. Not only do they do that, but they also swim upstream to find the very pond where they were born."

And I said, "How do they do that?" And the ranger—and rangers know stuff—he said, "It's by smell. They can smell their way back. Of course, there are various theories, but that's a prevalent theory," and he presented it to me that day.

And when I walked away, I was thinking, "Aha, this is our process too! Not by smell, but by hearing. We can hear the spiritual world. Golokera Prema dhana Harinama Sankirtana." When we chant Hare Krishna, and we can hear that, the sound of "Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare, Hare" doesn't sound like anything else in this world. When your ears become so sensitive that you realize this is a different sound that comes from the Spiritual World, and you listen to it, the more you listen to it, the more you're drawn naturally to the spiritual world. It compels you. It changes your heart. 'Ceto-darpana-marjanam' – it cleanses the mirror of your mind, all at once, because Krishna is wonderful, and He's all-powerful, and He loves us. And if we chant His name over and over again and listen, then we will be drawn to the spiritual world.

So we're endeavoring for this, and we know that if we're minding our own business, one day, Krishna came and knocked at our door, and we opened it, and He said, "Let's go right now, back home, back to God." He puts out His hand. Would you go?
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Don't Spoil Your Consciousness | HG Vaisesika Dasa | 15 Jun 2025

This is the sensitivity of the heart of a Vaiṣṇava—that he or she will see within everyone the good qualities. What to speak of a dog who wants to join the party, and he considers him part of our group and Prabhupāda had such quality, he would invite people to stay. Of course, he said it is not a hotel for lazy people, the āśram, but there were some devotees who were slightly dysfunctional, and devotees would complain. And Prabhupāda was very tolerant because he said, "They have not understood the mercy of Lord Nityānanda."

So we can remember Śivānanda Sena and how accommodating he was. We don't know what is inside people, what that flame is for devotional service that we can fan, that can grow into something. And that's one of the great exhibitions of life, is to see that grow within somebody's heart.

We can always make a facility to give people something so they can be connected. Prasādam is very nice. Distributing books is the heartbeat of our Sampradāya. Chanting the holy names everywhere is very important. Writing articles on science and producing short presentations to give people an idea of how to interpret various scientific theories, to understand the context of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Braja Rasa Bhāvana Prabhu has done a presentation on the big bang that was well received. He followed the footsteps of Sada Puṭa Prabhu and put together a nice presentation. I haven't seen the second one, which was about Darwinism or Darwinian evolution, but I heard that was well received also. These are important presentations. People are aimless or misguided, and all of you have a great opportunity as young people who are Kṛṣṇa conscious and also highly educated to give guidance to people all over the world.

So please remember that the Vaiṣṇavas are welcoming of every living entity, and that the more you give yourself to Kṛṣṇa, the more He takes care of you. He takes care of you anyway; He takes care of all animals and everyone. But it's a very personal duty for Kṛṣṇa, a duty of love, to take care of His devotees.
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The Path to Success is Marked by Many Comebacks | HG Vaisesika Dasa & HG Nirakula Dasi | 16 Jun 2025

Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad Gītā asked us to manage our expectations, and he tells us that the material world is a place of suffering. I know this is a family show, and I don't mean to bring a downer to everybody, but it's just a fact. It's there in the Bhagavad Gītā, where Kṛṣṇa says, "duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam." "Duḥkha" means what? Duḥkha, misery, and "ālayam," it's a place. So duḥkhālayam is the place where you go to get misery. So if you manage your expectation and you know that this is a place of misery, when various inconveniences come to you in your life, you won't be so disappointed, because you'll know that's what happens here.

So there's a way that we deceive ourselves, and we say that when my circumstances change, I will become happy. When my circumstances change. What kind of circumstances need to change in order for me to be happy? (Audience: job) I've got to get a different job. What else, to be happy? I've got to have more money or less, because if it's less, see me afterwards, I can help you out. What else? (Audience: Weather) If the weather, if the weather changes, then I'll be happy. What else? (Audience: clothes) If I just had the right clothes, I don't have the right clothes yet. (Audience: car)  I need a new car. Yeah, to be happy, I need a new car. I need to be immortal, yeah, then I'll be happy.

The problem is the circumstances are always changing, and from moment to moment, when I depend on the circumstances, then my fortune changes and my mood and attitude change. So here's the healthy outlook. Would you like to hear the healthy outlook? Okay, only half of you said yes. The rest of you, cover your ears. When I purify my heart, I'll become happy. You can say that, it sounds nice. When I purify my heart, I'll become happy.

Here's a limited outlook: The world is an opportunity for my enjoyment. It's a very limited opportunity. Here's the unlimited opportunity. Are you ready? The world is an opportunity for service. Yes, so devotees learned from reading Bhagavad Gītā that every circumstance is an opportunity to improve my devotion to to Kṛṣṇa. And this is possible because we're human, to make changes in our life, to adjust. So we have voluntary life changes versus forced life changes. Have you ever been forced to change something in your life? Were you happy about it? Not so much, maybe. But you can make your own list and say, "These are the items that I'd like to change in my life so that I can be on the right track." And these are called voluntary life changes, or VLCs, or there's reactionary life changes, which means

How to Be a Happy Human | HG Vaisesika Dasa | 13 Aug 2023

There are various ways in which we can organize our lives so that we elevate our consciousness. Now, the first and most important is to take an inventory of what we call the soundscape, or the soundtrack, of your life. Do any of you have a soundtrack in your life? If any of you have ever been to a movie, they have soundtracks. That's what defines the era of the movie, isn't it? Yeah, you look at a movie, you can also understand from the very beginning, after the opening credits, when the movie comes on, you can tell if it's a comedy. If it's kind of whimsical music. "Oh, this is going to be funny." If it's very—there's a dark "uh oh, somebody's getting killed here"—mystery. You know, this is all defined by the soundtrack.

And so there's a way in which we also have a soundtrack in our life. And Sūta Goswami addresses this. He's talking about elevation of consciousness, and then he describes a series of practices, or one practice, that evolves our consciousness. One practice that sounds simpler, doesn't it? Technically, it begins with meeting somebody who has a better soundtrack than we have. So he says, and I'll quote what Sūta Goswami spoke to the sages:

śuśrūṣoḥ śraddadhānasya
vāsudeva-kathā-ruciḥ
syān mahat-sevayā viprāḥ
puṇya-tīrtha-niṣevaṇāt
(SB 1.2.16)

That means, if you can meet somebody who's spiritually awake and their taste in hearing is transcendental sound vibration, they like it. They're absorbed in it. What's more, they've been around others who like it, and they've evolved their consciousness. So he says, if you can get around such people, high-minded souls, and do some sevā—means, try to assist them in their life, in whatever they're doing. If you do that, that rubs off on you. It's a technique that Kṛṣṇa mentions in the Bhagavad-gītā also about getting knowledge from a wise person. He says, "Tad vidhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ." 

When you want knowledge, approach a person who already has it, but do it in a mood of submission. Don't go there saying, "Yeah, I heard that before, yeah, I know that." It'll close the person down. Just be really open. Don't say, "I already know that," ever. Then also render some service. Back when I was a kid, it was cliché that you would bring the teacher an apple. I don't know if they have that here in New York. Are you supposed to bring your teacher an apple? Did you know that ?
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Upgrade The Soundtrack of Your Life | HG Vaisesika Dasa | Bhakti Center, NY | 15 Jun 2025

Part 18 of Srila Prabhupada's series of classes on the Nectar of Devotion given in Vrindavan, India.

A transcript of the class can be read here: https://goo.gl/RKYDoP.

1972 Original Audio

Nectar of Devotion Part 18 - November 11, 1972 - Vrindavan

His Divine Grace, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896-1977) is widely regarded as the worlds pre-eminent exponent of the teachings and practices of bhakti-yoga to the Western world. He is the Founder-Acharya (spiritual master) of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), a world-wide movement dedicated to the philosophy and practice of Krishna Consciousness.

The Prabhupada Podcast offers an easy way for listeners to hear Srila Prabhupada's classes on a daily basis. As a project of the Bhaktivedanta Archives, the recordings offered in the Prabhupada Podcast are the newly available raw audio files of Srila Prabhupada's discourses.

For more information on ISKCON and Srila Prabhupada, please visit www.iskcon.org.

For more information on the Bhaktivedanta Archives, please visit www.prabhupada.com.

Nectar of Devotion Part 18 - November 11, 1972 - Vrindavan

PrabhupadaPodcast

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