Is there only one life? Do we have only one chance at happiness? Are YOLO & FOMO the phrases to live by? 

Devamrita Swami, a world-traveling Krishna monk, explores this concept in the light of the knowledge given in the ancient yoga texts.

Talk with Mantra House, LA on 4th March, 2021.

For more wisdom visit:

facebook.com/devamrita.swami
www.devamritaswami.com

One Body, One Life, One Opportunity: Milking the Magic of the Moment - Devamrita Swami

Jahnavi Jivana TNK 3.8.18

Complete lectures given by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada on Canto 1, Srimad Bhagavatam.

Dogs' Philosophy Revealed - Srimad Bhagavatam 1.2.4

Namarasa Das 24hr Kirtan New Vrindavan 16.6.19

Festivals

Sri Radhastami - London 1969-09-18

Deity Installation--Why Krishna Comes to This World-London 1973-08-21

Don’t think that because you are wearing saffron it does not mean you are not going to be complacent. We find this is the reason most grihasthas lose their faith in sannyasis and sadhus and babajis and brahmacharis because they see them just lying around, eating rotis. They are not doing any seva, they are not struggling, they might sleep on the ground, but so what? The animals are also sleeping on the ground. They have to be actually honestly striving, struggling, working hard, performing austerities for the benefit of humanity and for the service of Krishna. That type of person we want to associate with.

How To Overcome Complacency?

Vrindavan is wherever you are serving your spiritual master and if you are sitting right in Vrindavan but you are not pleasing your Guru Maharaj, you will not see Vrindavan in truth. Narottam Das Thakur prayed ‘vishaya chariya kabe suddha ha ’be mana kabe hama herabo sri-brindabana.’ He's praying to Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, “when will I give up all my desires for material enjoyment? When will I put aside all separate interests other than, because factually anything that is against what pleases Guru and Krishna is sense gratification? He said only then will I really see Vrindavan. Who could be living in Vrindavan but never see Vrindavan as it is, because Vrindavan can only be seen by the eyes ‘premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena’ that are blessed with the self of love which comes only by the mercy of Krishna and the mercy of Krishna comes in relationship to how we are pleasing His devotee and submitting ourselves humbly to His lotus feet.

Vrindavan Is Wherever We Serve Our Spiritual Master

When a devotee gives in charity, he doesn’t think that ‘I am giving something which is mine.’ He thinks that ‘this is the property of God and is meant for the benefit of others, and I am simply the servant delivering it for the benefit of others. I don’t get credit, the master who has created it, the Lord who has sent it to this person, he gets the credit, I am only did the deliverer, I am only the servant.’ This is knowledge. But even such charitable understanding of life is so rare in this age of kaliyuga. In this age everything wants to take more and more and more and more. For me, for my family, for my society. This is the mentality of Shishupal, who want to take the property of Krishna and enjoy. And the jiva soul which is part and parcel of Krishna, is also meant simply meant for Krishna’s service. As Rukmini is simply meant for Krishna’s service. And the exploitative forces of this world being directed by material energy or maya are trying to take our consciousness which is meant for Krishna, trying to take it and exploit it, rape it, use it for its own exploitative purposes. And the whole human society is simply victimized by the exploitation of materialistic forces.

Exploitative Mentality Of Maya And It's Remedy

Queen Kunti prayed for tribulations, because it helped her to always be crying out for Krishna’s mercy. If we hear every day with the proper frame of mind from the sadhus, Srimad Bhagavatam, we don’t have to be put in terrible tribulations. Through hearing we understand that we are already in tribulation, whether we are in the crocodile mouth at the present time or whether the crocodile is about to devour us, they are both urgent emergency conditions of life. If we are not being crushed by Maya, we are about to be crushed by Maya. We should see it and we should know it, and we should help one another to never forget it. Don’t be complacent, don’t waste time. We may have tilak and kanthi mala and we may be wearing dhoti, but don’t be complacent. Don’t take Krishna Consciousness for granted, don’t think everything is all right, don’t think Krishna is giving me what I want and I can enjoy life and at the same time make a little spiritual advancement.

Don't Be Lethargic

Now what does it mean to control the mind? Krishna describes that one must control the lower self with the higher self. Lower than the mind is the senses and higher than the mind is the intelligence. If the mind becomes a victim to following the dictation of the senses, then your mind is your worst enemy. But if your mind is willing to accept the dictation of higher intelligence, your mind is the best friend. 
Now the next natural question is ‘what is our higher intelligence?” The higher intelligence is very simple to understand. The higher intelligence is the word of Guru and Krishna people think their higher intelligence means their own discriminant discriminatory faculties to decide what is right and what is wrong. The real higher intelligence is the word of God as it is coming to the Shastra and as it is coming to the Guru. That

Key To The Success Of Yoga

Radhanath Swami is a Vaishnava sanyassi (a monk in a Krishna-bhakti lineage) and teacher of the devotional path of Bhakti-yoga. He is author of The Journey Home, a memoir of his search for spiritual truth. His teachings draw from the sacred texts of India such as The Bhagavad-gita, Srimad Bhagavatam, and Ramayana, and aim to reveal the practical application of the sacred traditions, while focusing on the shared essence which unites apparently disparate religious or spiritual paths.
Born Richard Slavin, on December 7, 1950, in his teens he came to confront a deep sense of alienation from suburban Chicago life and the civil injustices of mid-century America. At the age of nineteen, while on a summer trip to Europe, his internal struggles culminated in a commitment to search for God wherever it might lead him. Meditating on the Isle of Crete, he felt a supernatural calling and the next morning set off alone to find spiritual India. The Journey Home documents his odyssey as a penniless hitch-hiker though Greece, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and finally India. There he lived as a wandering ascetic, first amongst the forest dwelling Himalayan yogis and later amongst a wide variety of gurus and spiritual practitioners throughout India and Nepal. Ultimately, he was led to the holy town of Vrindavan, where he found his path amongst the Bhakti-yogis.
In Vrindavan he found the teacher he was searching for in A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896-1977) the founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), and representative of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, (the Krishna-bhakti tradition stemming from the 16th century mystic avatar Sri Chaitanya). In choosing Bhaktivedanta Swami, as his guru, Radhanath Swami felt compelled to shear his matted locks and reenter Western society with a mission to share the sacred wisdom he had received. This return exemplifies the form of devotional yoga which is at the heart of Radhanath Swami’s teachings, a spiritual practice expressed as tangible action meant to bring about personal fulfillment and benefit the world.
At the the age of 31 he took the monastic vows of a Vaishnava sanyassin and became known as Radhanath Swami.
Today Radhanath Swami travels regularly throughout India, Europe and North America, sharing the teachings of Bhakti-yoga. He resides much of the year at the Radha Gopinath Ashram in Chowpatty, Mumbai. For the past twenty-five years he has guided the community’s development and has directed a number of acclaimed social action projects including Midday Meals, which daily serves more than 260,000 plates of sanctified vegetarian food to the children of the slums of Mumbai. He has also worked to establish missionary hospitals and eye camps, eco-friendly farms, schools and ashrams, an orphanage, and a number of emergency relief programs throughout India.
