namahatta.org - Congregational Development Ministry

• IPM is actively arranging for leading preachers to visit prisons and lead prison preaching programs. We encourage inmates to organize these programs with at least five to ten people attending. Please give us sufficient notice and instructions on how to co-ordinate such a program and we will be delighted and eager to hold a Krishna consciousness sat-sanga program.

  Param vijayate Sri Krishna sankirtanam

  Contact bhakta Jerry with details.

• If any inmates need a copy of Tirtha Prabhu's The Definitive Guide to Practicing Krishna Consciousness in Prison, or, if you are in need of Srila Prabhupada's books in Spanish, or, if you are in need of CDs or cassette tapes of lectures and bhajans, please contact bhakta Jerry.

• IPM is now offering deity altar pictures for those inmates who are willing to take on the responsibility of deity worship within their facility. This nice altar set comes compliments of Candramauli Swami and has all the altar pictures necessary on a nice 8.5 by 11 inch cardstock paper. We are also providing descriptions and prayers to help inmates properly worship their deities. For an altar set please contact bhakta Jerry.

by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

...Continued from the last issue...

If you hear about Krishna, if you chant about Krishna, if you think about Krishna, if you worship Krishna, if you render some service to Krishna, if you offer everything to Krishna, you'll see Krishna always, twentyfour hours a day. This is bhakti-yoga. My students in the Krishna consciousness society are following these principles: They are cooking for Krishna, dancing for Krishna, singing for Krishna, talking for Krishna, going around the world for Krishna— everything for Krishna. Anyone can adopt these principles. Where is the difficulty?

by Chandrasekar das

“The benediction moon of the mercy of Sri Caitanyacandra shone only in the courtyards of the professional brahmanas proficient in various rituals, and the prominent and wealthy vaisyas who were as laden with laksmi as the beehives overflowing with honey in Sri Vrindavana-dhama. Sri Gaurahari and his brother Sri Nityananda Rama never chanted the holy names amongst the contaminated masses, which included prisoners of state, students, women, the lowborn, sudras, simple villagers, the forlorn, the distressed, and the unsophisticated.”

—Swami Bogananda’s Bogus Caitanya Upanisad

“Everything is so surrea l… As the senses flash before me … I see the mirror, but I am unable to see my reflection for the dust … ‘Flash’ I see the womb and I know it covers the embryo … ‘Flash’ I see the opposite sex … a feeling of heat burns, there is smoke and that’s how I know there is fire … ‘Flash’ I see Krishna and I awake from my nightmare.”

What does my dream mean, where does it come from and why is the flash of the opposite sex so intense that it stands above the others? These questions and many more roll through my mind like marbles in a whirlwind. Fortunately, there is a way to stop the whirlwind and collect my marbles, but in order to do this I must first understand why my marbles have tumbled from me.

By Bhakta Kendrick Curry

Everyone wants to be happy. The sad truth is that most of us do not understand what true happiness is, where it is found or how to go about attaining it. Fortunately for us all, the Supreme Lord, Sri Krishna, has given us the keys to happiness in His famous discourse, the Bhagavad-gita. Once we come to know the source of and the means to achieve happiness we can understand that our focus must be within ourselves, for happiness is an intrinsic quality of our true self.

By Bhakta Carl Sheppard

... He found his mind on his first birthday, surrounded by giants and bright colored balls of light. He suddenly realized the giants and balloons were there for him and because of him. His shrieks of laughter filled the room when he found his mind. When he was two his mind found its creativity, joy and happiness. When he was four he was punished and he found pain and suffering because he could not understand what he did wrong. At six, the bull calf he loved and nurtured was killed for food by his father. He loved Billy the bull and stayed with him everyday. At night he would sneak out into the pasture and sleep curled up with the bull. When Billy was killed his mind found hate, anger, fear, revenge and horror. And when he was thirteen he found freedom by running away from his farm in California to San Francisco.

By Bhakta Arthur

By Bhakta David Lightsey

By Bhakta Victor

During the segregation period a vast amount of energy had been put into litigation against this unjust punishment. It was unacceptable since I had not engaged in any activity that would warrant an investigation and since no real investigation was actually taking place. Later, another realization came that there was no existence of punishment and only promotion. Had Krishna called in the wilderness in order to bestow and perfect His favor? That is, He granted me the favor of being in close association with a devotee and granted me the opportunity to become a part of this great movement.

We can become so entangled in our personal concern that we start reacting instead of acting. I felt most dumb-founded having no knowledge of the acting energies of Krishna. Certain officials may have believed they were delivering punishment to me by the segregation and then the transfer to a potentially more dangerous institution very far away from my hometown. Indeed, it was easy to tune and zoom in on negative energy. But it requires a trained eye in order to tune and zoom in on the positive energy that’s sometimes strangely mixed with the negative energy.

By Bhakta Jerry

I remember a particular day in freshmen biology class very well. We were informed of our next assignment: a bug collection. Here I am, studying the science of life, surrounded by dead animals stuffed and hanging on the walls, surrounded by many species petrified in jars, smelling the aroma coming through the window of cooked animals from the Burger King down the street, and now I am being forced to partake in the study of life by killing more creatures. Is it any wonder why vegetarianism, based on the principle of non-violence, is a shock to Westerners?

Reprinted from The Spiritual Scientist
By Radheshyam Das (M Tech IIT, Mumbai, Director, IYF),
Chaitanya Charan Das (BEE &TC, Editor, The Spiritual Scientist)

A two inch tongue can kill a six foot man. This traditional saying is being confirmed by modern obesity statistics. The prosperity of the Indian middle class is showing up - in a not-so-pleasant way in the burgeoning waistline, of over 25% of urban Indians. Obesity is the cause of diabetes, hypertension, heart attacks, strokes and a variety of other chronic diseases. Unlike infectious diseases which are curable, chronic diseases need lifelong care, leading to enormous expenditure.

The same trend is seen globally. Obesity, if left unabated, is set to overtake smoking as the number one cause of preventable death in USA.

Srila Prabhupada writes in his commentary on Sri Isopanisad, mantra 11: “The …advancement of material knowledge for sense gratification is the path of repeated birth and death.” The culture of vidya, or transcendental knowledge is essential for the human being to get out of the diseased material condition of life. What exactly is transcendental knowledge?

Dear Prabhu, Greetings of love, joy and peace.

At the current time, I chant the maha-mantra with my catholic rosary. I enjoy chanting and I chant every day. Chanting definitely connects me to the eternal source of enlightenment and bliss. This source is Krishna.

Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The essence and total foundation of all religion is to be found in Krishna consciousness. Krishna consciousness uplifts humanity and generates true peace for everyone that becomes part of it.

I am very fortunate to have discovered this divine jewel which beacons forth and leads to the path of spiritual liberation. Lord Krishna is truly the reservoir for all knowledge and pleasure. If a person walks with Krishna, that person will never experience anxiety or turmoil. The inner peace that results from worshiping Krishna is spirituality at its highest point.

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less; we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment; more experts, yet more problems; more medicine, but less wellness.

These are truly troubled times we live in. People have forgotten that just as matter cannot be created or destroyed (a log burned turns into other forms of carbon, ash and smoke) neither are souls created or destroyed. They just take birth in different bodies.

By becoming so attached to this world, people forget that they are spirit souls. They become attached to everything, from their bodies to their cars. When the gas tank in their cars runs empty, they say, “I’m out of gas,” No, the car is out of gas.

by Carl Sheppard

nama vinu kali-kale nahi ara dharm
sarvamantra-sara nama eisastra-marma

“In this age of Kali there is no religious principle other than the chanting of the holy name, which is the essence of all Vedic hymns. This is the purport of all scriptures.”

Sri Caitanya Caritamrta Adi-lila, Ch. 7 Text 74

I am often amazed at the vast quantities of hope and joy that the message of the Vedas has brought into my life from so many different angles when it seems as though we are living in a world of turmoil where hope and joy should be the exceptions rather than the rule.

Dear Chandra

Hare Krsna.

Thank you for your letter which I received yesterday. I am very glad to hear from you and for your help to be a servant of Lord Krsna.

About myself, at present I am convicted for murder and I am under the sentence of death…I have been in prison for the past nine years…I was in a cell with some other prisoners and we were cleaning out the cell when I came across a book that a guy was throwing away. I asked him for it and I got someone to read it to me. It was about Lord Krsna. I thought about that book for awhile and I made up my mind that I would become a servant of Lord Krsna. From then to now, I have grown stronger in the Lord with the help of a devotee.

Michael Ramdawar
Trinidad, West Indies

By Jana Janmadi dasa

On July 11, 2006, I participated in oral arguments in the Texas First Court of Appeals (Houston), Case 01-04- 00820-CV. This was an appeal proceeding the lawsuit I filed based on the relatively new Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act (TRFRA), V.T.C.A. Civil Practice & Remedies Code @110.001 et sequentes.

The TRFRA prohibits the government from making any law or rule that substantially burdens a person's free exercise of religion unless the law or rule is made to further a compelling government interest and is the least restrictive means to further that interest. Generalized security fears are not a compelling interest.

By Tirtha dasa

With even a small understanding or our precarious situation we may properly inquire, "What possible hope is there for me to ever break free from my past, from my habits and deep conditioning?" We may not be very educated or may have even lost some degree of our ability to think clearly – our nerves may already feel shattered – leaving one unable to think and focus properly. Or we may currently find ourselves in a situation of seeming total chaos, with unending noise and innumerable distractions all around us.

By bhakta David Lightsey

In the July-August issue of Freedom Newsletter, in the Questions and Answers section, a question was raised concerning atonement. This is a question I have often encountered in my own experience. Sometimes this question arises during the course of a discussion on Christian theology or can be a carry over by the novice from such perspective.

The Christian doctrine emphasizes repentance and teaches that man is endowed with a sinful nature. Due to this nature, one must have faith in the sacrifice of Jesus, as atonement is provided through him. Taking refuge under the umbrella of Christ’s death, one can become reconciled with God.

The perception that we are separated and essentially sinful is grounded in false ego. In the Bhagavad-Gita, Krishna explains we are born deluded by pairs of opposites. We are ignorant. Ignorance impels us to do "dirty deeds." The false ego is the personification of this sinful nature we perceive in ourselves. In actuality, we are eternal servants of Krishna.

By Bhakta Jerry.

Hare Krsna!!

It is with great pleasure that IPM brings forth this issue of our Freedom Newsletter. I thank all the inmate bhaktas for engaging in devotional service and providing me with the material to put the newsletter together.

This issue has two wonderful essays, one on thr first page and the other on page 5, about the mercy of Krsna which comes through the guru.

It can be very difficult to understand the position of the spiritual master so we perform many acts to help us understand his importance. One of these acts is singing the Śrī Śrī Gurv-aşţaka prayers which you will find on page 6. Every morning these prayers are sung at the Mangala-arti ceremony in temples around the world. It is recommended to start the day off honoring the spiritual master because when the spiritual master is happy, Krsna is happy and, hence, you are happy.

Billy Graham’s daughter was being interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her, "How could God have allowed such a horrible thing to happen on September 11th?"

Anne Graham replied deep and wisely:

"I believe God must have gotten very sad with what happened, just as much as any of us did. For so many years we have told God not to poke His nose into our choices, get out of our government and out of our lives. Being a gentleman as God is, I believe He calmly left us. How can we expect God to give us blessings and protection when we ask him to leave us alone?

By Janmastami dasa

 

Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gita:

To those who are constantly devoted to serving Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.

(BG 10.10)

In his purport to this verse, Srila Prabhupada states, "A person may have a bona fide spiritual master and may be attached to a spiritual organization, but still, if he is not intelligent enough to make progress, then Krishna from within gives him instructions so that he may ultimately come to Him without difficulty." I take this purport as an example of my life.

I was fortunate enough to first encounter devotees in the late 60's. I was even blessed to have met Srila Prabhupada and hear him speak on more than one occasion. However, due to my foolishness and stubborn independent streak, I never stuck around Srila Prabhupada's movement or the devotees for very long. I always left, looking for an adventure but, eventually, I settled down.

We had a very nice Gaura- Purnima celebration here.

Jagannatha Pandit prabhu came and gave a very lively discourse of Krishna consciousness and other philosophies. The program was well attended, about 17 inmates. The inmates were very enthused by the program. He will be coming again in May, along with Candramauli Swami. The guys are very anxious for this program.

Krishna is really showing His special mercy to us here, even though we are so undeserving. The Gita Nagari devotees have given us a complete set of H.H. Bhakti Tirtha Swami Maharaja’s books for the library here. A lot of the inmates really like the Spiritual Warrior series; guys from other religions paths in particular. Despite his disappearance, Maharaja is still preaching to people and showering them with Srila Prabhupada’s mercy.

All of this would not have been possible if it were not for the selfless service of ISKCON Prison Ministries and their mercy.

Janmastami dasa (Mark Devenney)
Bradford, PA