One thing I do occasionally is teach English in preschools here in Japan. It’s a lot of fun, and I learn a lot of things. Today especially I learned three things…

1. THE MEANING OF LIFE

Yeah, from kids.

If you need a philosophy degree to learn the meaning of life, I do not really think it is the meaning of life –since life does not exist in a university library.

The most basic truth about a kid is that it doesn’t matter how fat or skinny or pretty or ugly or tall or short or light or dark or rich or poor or “cool” or “uncool” you are. If you treat a kid with love, the kid will come running to you with a smile on his or her face every single time you come around.

That is the meaning of life.

Love.

It just goes to prove that the ultimate essence of a living entity is love. We are made of it, made for it, and we need it even more than we need food, water or air. Every living being, especially when they are still new and unruined – like kids, will always come running towards love. Why? Love is the meaning of life.

The whole point of life and spiritual realization should be to seek out the purest, deepest, most sublime form of love. Philosophy and religion and spirituality is not really supposed to be about morality (dharma) or mysticism (siddhi) or knowledge (jnana) or even liberation (mukti). These things are only supports leading us towards the perfection of love – the ultimate goal, prema-bhakti: divine love.

2. LOVE HURTS

The next thing I learned is that love hurts.

OK, there is this one little boy who especially loves me. But whenever I come to the school, on that day he always gets very cranky, cries all the time and gets tired very fast. Why? Love hurts.

Now this gets me thinking… if love is the goal and meaning of life, why does it hurt?

And then I realized there are two grades of love. One is like iron, the other like gold. Both are metallic and so appear similar at a glance from a distance but the value of each is dramatically different. One kind of love is common, the other is uncommon. One is base, the other is purified.

Animals and human beings start out by developing common love. And that love hurts. Common love retains the faulty ego-centered concept of life. You see, my little friend at school, he cries when I come because he hates it when I play with any other kid. He always wants me to pick him up, play with him, talk to him, et cetera. His concept of love is self-centered. As far as he is concerned, everything about me exists only in terms of how I relate to him. He is the central figure and I am an accessory which brings him happiness due to possessing love for him. He has not learned yet that such love causes agony – even though he spends his whole day crying when I come in.

Unfortunately, only a few of us ever learn this lesson.

There is another type of love, which is purified and puts the beloved in the center and the self as an accessory for the beloved. This love is extremely blissful and practically never seen on earth in its full form. The main obstacle making it so rare is: Who is really qualified for the absolutely central position that absolutely pure love requires?

Now, people have many different ideas of who or what “God” is. All of them have some truth in them, but to me the central and most important feature of the Supreme Life is to be the one entity perfectly qualified and attractive to be the absolute center of infinitely pure love. This conception of divinity looks almost nothing like an old man on a throne, and has just about nothing to do with thunderbolts or stone tablets, nor even a meditation posture. It looks a lot more like a beautiful young boy and girl in a natural setting, surrounded by intimate friends, and intrinsically rooted into the soul of every soul. We call this conception of Godhead “Radha-Krishna”.

Common love hurts because such love results in selfish attachment to the object of love. And such attachments are the cause of all suffering – according to all my favorite philosophers, and according to all the little kids I hang out with, too. Therefore, even the joys of such love eventually become pains, and induce philosophers and housewives alike to doubt that love is really the meaning of life.

Divine love, however – radha-krishna-prema – results in selfless attachments to the object of love. Thus both the joys and tears experienced in such divinity are blossoming expansions of the most sublime spiritual bliss inherent (though in only a potential form at present) within the deep soul of both you and I.

3. JOY IS NATURAL

I watch these kids, and play with them a lot. We play with stuff like… cardboard, paper towel rolls, sometimes something fancy like a plastic ball. When I hang out with adults it is a lot different. It seems like with adults “having fun” usually means doing something elaborate or unusual like going out to karaoke, a restaurant, a movie, or whatever. But kids, they do not seem to need any props to have fun.

I think it means that the soul is ananda-maya – it is composed of bliss (an intrinsic quality of pure love). When the body and mind are very young they are soft and fresh and working great. They don’t get as badly in the way of the natural bliss in the soul.

Of course kids get bored too, but it is usually not really young kids who get bored. It is the older ones whose minds and hearts have started solidifying from prolonged exposure to object-oriented, externalized human culture. But even those kids, watch them. Look at the enthusiasm they display when they do go to the amusement park or get a new video game. They dive into it. Adults just cannot compete with their zeal. I think it is because the aging body tends to form an increasingly hard shell over the soul’s natural energy and happiness.

Let’s say I want to meditate. What do I need to do?

Pre-requisites

First I must understand what “meditation” is. It is concentration of the heart upon a specific subject.
Next I must understand how the heart “concentrates.” The heart focuses naturally and spontaneously upon whatever is naturally and truly most dear to it.

The Challenge:

Here is the challenge. Let’s say I am going to practice meditation, keyword “practice.” Practice means I am going to follow a routine, a regimen, a program, an exercise, a discipline. None of those words sounds anything remotely like “natural and spontaneous.” But “meditation” is supposed to be the full concentration of the heart on what is naturally and spontaneously most dear to it. So how can I practice being natural???

That is why meditation is freaking rough.

It’s easy to change a light bulb. It’s a little hard to change a habit. But meditation means changing myself, changing my heart. That is the most challenging thing anyone could ever attempt. I am going to try to convince my heart to fully concentrate on something other than what it now naturally and spontaneously considers dear.

In the beginning my heart is spontaneously convinced that self-centered benefits are the best and most attractive things. Therefore my heart easily and fully runs toward meditation on such subjects. I don’t need to sit in any yoga posture, or count on beads how many times I am successfully practicing selfishness per day. It happens naturally, spontaneously, all the time.

The point of meditating is to put a new idea into my heart: The idea that selfless love of the root of all beings, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the best and most attractive thing in the world. For that I am going to need a regimen, a routine, a discipline, a coach, etc.

The result of exercise is that muscles grow and strength becomes natural. The result of practicing a guitar is that the fingers move spontaneously and allow natural self expression on the frets of the instrument. The result of meditation on this concept of bhakti (pure love for Godhead) is that it will start to come more and more naturally, until it is truly spontaneous and natural.

The objective I meditate on will eventually stop requiring “practice” and will achieve the “perfection” of being a natural, normal and spontaneous part of my heart.

Advice

Srila Sanatana Goswami, a sixteenth century grand master of bhakti meditation, left me the following advice about how to practice meditation.

Step 1: Decide who is Boss (mahah samkaranam)

The foundation of practicing meditation is developing true self-strength and declaring myself to be the boss of my concentration (“mind”). I am going to decide what I concentrate on. I have to make this declaration my motto and stand by it at all times. I will decide what attracts my attention, I will not let the force of habit and conditioning drag my attention wherever it desires. I am the boss here, and I am declaring control.

Step 2: Purity is the Force (shaucha)

I am not talking about washing hands and being germ free. I am talking about my habits. Remember, I just declared that I was taking control of my concentration/ mind away from my habits and conditionings? That is something like a small hobbit walking up to a huge fire-breathing dragon sitting atop an mound of treasure in the halls of an ancient mountain and saying, “HEY YOU! I am declaring control of this treasure.”

Get ready for a fight. But how stupid would the hobbit be to feed the dragon? Or give him a machine gun? That would be dumb, very dumb.

I am telling the dragon of my habitual conditionings to vacate the premises because I am taking back control of the treasure of my mental concentration. Now comes the fight – the actual practice of meditation. Step two is not to feed and arm the dragon!
Purity is the force.

Impurity will give force to the dragon of habitual conditionings.

The practice of meditation is not something I can do for five minutes a day. Nor for two hours a day. Nor for eight hours. Nor for any amount of time except always. My whole life has to change, and become “pure” so that my practice of meditation has a fighting chance of defeating a dragon.

What do I mean, “pure”? I mean that I am going to have to stop feeding the habits that condition my heart to consider selfish things attractive and desirable. No need to glorify these habits by enumerating them here. But identifying these habits, especially as they polymorph themselves into ever more devious shapes in an effort to survive, and mustering the renewed determination to extinguish them… that is a very important part of meditation.

Purity is not instantaneous. But start now and keep working towards it.

Step 3: Shut Up (Mauna)

I am going to try to be more pure, right? So I ought to shut up about it. Shut up about myself, and especially shut up on all the topics connected to the habits I want to shut down.

The best way to shut up is to speak up. Speak up about the new idea I am planting in my heart. Speak up about things related to pure devotion to godhead. Shut up about things related to I, me and mine.

The more noise pollution I make on topics related to habits I want to avoid, the more I reinforce those habits. I want to defeat the dragon of conditioned habit who currently controls my mental concentration – so I don’t want to give him extra strength by indulging in those habits. So far so good. But now in step three it is time to realize that I should watch my mouth. “Hey dragon, I don’t want to tell you how to completely kill me, but I heard the other day some people talking about it, and well, they say that if you…” I mean, how stupid would that be? Very. So I will not only stop the habits that condition my mind from its new objective, I will also stop blabbing about topics directly and indirectly connected to those habits.

Step 4: Know What I Am Doing (mantrartha-chintana)

Now, I have (1) declared control over my powers of concentration. (2) I have stopped feeding the habits that pull that concentration out of my control. (3) I have stopped expressing affection for those habits by shutting up about them. At this point in the game I am really ready to actually do the meditation.
It is time for the mantra to meditate upon.

In my case I take the mantra saturated in the sweetest, more deeply enchanting and charming mellows of pure ecstatic and affectionate love for the Reservoirs of Bliss – Sri Sri Radha Krishna.

hare krishna hare krishna
krishna krishna hare hare
hare rama hare rama
rama rama hare hare

The advice at step 4 is that I have to “get a clue.” I can’t just be flapping my mouth, clueless to what I am doing. What is the point of this mantra??? What is it’s purpose. When meditating on a mantra I have to keep its point and purpose at the forefront of my awareness at all times.

In this particular instance, the point of this mantra is sublime. It is to please Radha Krishna with no ulterior motive, no purpose at all… except the natural joy of pleasing Godhead. To focus on this while enunciating the mantra is the most effective way to meditate upon the mantra. Each syllable of the mantra will gradually reveal different emotional expressions of desiring to be pleasing to they who the mantra name. If I focus on this I will accelerate rapidly from practice to perfection. If I just absentmindedly chant a mantra I will stall and put-put-put towards the ever-distant goal.

Step 5: Relax (avyagratva)

Speaking of “acceleration” I have crashed off the road on more than one occasion, usually with pretty severe injuries. Acceleration is not everything when it comes to meditation. If I want to make it from New York to Los Angeles (though God would only know why ), it’s not just about driving fast. It is about endurance. And if I overdo it on the speed I am going to wind up in jail or in a hospital.

So the advice is, once I am meditating with a purposeful mind, relax. The destination of enlightenment is far away. I need to come to grips with that. I am not going to get to L.A. in 30 minutes no matter how fast I drive. So it is better to be patient and measured and favor endurance over short bursts of enthusiasm.

Step 6: Cheer Up (Anirveda)

As far as I get it, step 5 and 6 are really two aspects of the same advice. In step 6, Srila Sanatana Goswami is telling me to, “Cheer up. Why be glum? Sure, it is going to be a prolonged effort to reach the goal you are trying to get to, but why be so grim and depressed about it? Be happy that you are making an effort. Be happy with every little bit of progress you make. Each bit is so valuable.”

And another thing I learned about this. I should be “enjoying the ride.” Going back to the trip from NY to LA. I could get all impatient about it and try to go faster and faster and wind up dead, or I could slow down. Why don’t I want to slow down? Because I am glum and depressed about the trip, that’s why! But now Sanatana Goswami is asking me why on Earth I am depressed about being on a trip from the misery of selfish love towards the ecstasy of selfless love? Realizing that I should “enjoy the ride” I can slow down and make each turn carefully and surely.

Enjoying the ride actually makes the ride itself become like the destination – and this is where my practice of concentrating my heart would itself start to become natural and spontaneous.

Where and When Does it Come From?

Historically speaking, “Krishna Consciousness” in its exact current form began in West Bengal, India towards the beginning of the Modern Era of human history at the end of the fifteenth century. The founder was Sri Krishna Caitanya, more simply called “Mahaprabhu,” the Great Master.

It existed in slightly different forms long before that, dating back at least to the earthly advent of its central figure, Krishna, roughly 5,000 years ago in North-Central India.

Philosophically speaking, “Krishna Consciousness” refers to the inherent state of enlightenment. There have always been such enlightened souls in the universe, so Krishna Consciousness has existed in some form or another since the dawn of existence.

Who is Krishna? Who am I?

Krishna is the One Supreme Being from whom all beings emanate, but being “one” has an “imperfection” – loneliness. That is why the one becomes many and eternally manifests countless persons, places and things; including me and you.

Who am I? I am not this temporary physical body, nor am I any emotion or concept connected to my body. I am an eternal fragment of Krishna. Like my source, I too desire not to be lonely. Both Krishna and I want to experience the joyful feelings of oneness and togetherness that are inherent in the emotions of love. While under the influence of illusion I seek this fulfillment apart from Krishna, but when enlightened I realize unlimited fulfillment of these desires by focusing them on their original source, Krishna.

How Do I Realize Krishna and Become Enlightened?

I simply need to practice doing things for the sake of love for Krishna. There are unlimited possibilities, but a simple and effective way is to lend my ear to hearing about Krishna’s all-attractive, divine personality.

Mahaprabhu taught the version of Krishna Consciousness most appropriate for the conditions of modern life. This version does involve silent personal meditation but more strongly emphasizes the value of hearing about Krishna in social, entertaining, and engaging formats, especially involving music. Both in private meditation and in musical format the main thing to do is to hear Krishna’s names, especially the maha-mantra:

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna

Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama

Rama Rama Hare Hare

Hare invokes the Goddess of Love. Krishna invokes the supremely enchanting and attractive Godhead. Rama invokes the source of all joy. Hearing and reciting these names for the purpose of sharing oneself emotionally with Krishna is the primary method of enlightenment on the path of Krishna Consciousness.

Thanks for reading.

I’ve been sitting here for hours. It’s a funeral; my friend died.

At uncertain intervals people get off their plastic chairs, fine tune their careful solemnity, and walk slowly to the coffin. The coffin perplexes me.

See, this is my first funeral and I’m still trying to figure things out. My friend is gone—and what does this long box represent?

I thought it was empty. They said he was gone.

I get up and walk forward slowly… I stare at carpet out of duty… I reach the coffin, and take a curious look …

It shocked me so bad…

Bill’s right here!! He’s right here!! They told me Bill was gone — but here he is — right here in the coffin. Same eyes, same hair, same brain, same DNA.

I blurt, “Hey Billy! Man, you’re too wild, man! What kinda stunt is this!?” I wheel around to face the people. “Hey, it’s a practical joke or something, right? Bill’s not gone. He’s right here!”

Needless to say, I was escorted out. They stare at me in disbelief—“Are you from some other planet or something? Can’t you understand? That’s not Bill in the coffin. Bill’s gone, he’s gone.”

How can Bill be “gone” when his entire body is right there? Simple: he’s not the body.

All of Bill’s body is there in the coffin—even all his brain cells, his heredity, and his DNA—but Bill is gone. The body’s there, but the person is gone.

The person is not the body.

You can understand this form another angle if you’re willing to try a simple experiment. Go dig up your old baby pictures (Cute? I hope so). Anyway, find a mirror. Look at your body in the mirror. Look at your body in the pictures. Two very different bodies you got there—but both are somehow considered yours.

From a chubby little baby body to a “cool” adolescent body… and someday to a wrinkled-up old body. The body constantly changes, but you remain. Same person, changing body.

You are different from the body.

Doubt: You say that my body has been changing throughout my life, while I have remained the same person, and therefore I’m different from my body. I don’t agree. I think I have changed with my body. I am a different person now then I was ten years ago.

Answer: True. Not only does my physical body change, my mental body is also in a constant state of flux. Likes and dislikes change, goals and plans change, I even subtly change my concept of identity. This shows that the real me is neither the body nor the mind.

I remember being totally into dinosaurs and Little League, with my self-concept wrapped around a five-year old body and mind. I also remember being into Twisted Sister and leather jackets in junior high. But behind all my changing identifications is the changeless I. Otherwise, who went through all those changes and remembers them all?

Beyond the body and the mind is the real me.

Doubt: You say the body is always changing, and we remain through all the changes—so we must be different from the body. But the body isn’t totally changing. There are similarities between the body in the baby pictures and the body in the mirror. Brown eyes then, brown eyes now, etc. And the navy-anchor tattoo I just got will still be there when I’m 70.

Answer: If you study it closely you’ll see that the body really is always changing. Similarities in growth appear because cell structures like eyes and hair replicate themselves in specific patterns determined by DNA and stuff like that. Although the cells are constantly changing, there appear to be similarities, because they change within regular patterns.

From ancient mystic scriptures to the smutty tabloid pages in the drug-store check-out line, you hear the word a lot these days — “reincarnation.” What is it, anyway?

Simple: After you die, you get born again in a different body.

Sounds kinda wild at first, maybe. But if you sit down and give it a fair think-over, you’ll see the logic of it.

The last article explained how you are not the body.

Understanding this, you can easily get a grasp on reincarnation. Remember that experiment, comparing your baby pictures with the baby face that confronts you in the mirror? You saw two very different bodies, but they both belonged to one person—you.

You used to have a tiny infant’s body, now you have a mature body, and someday you’ll have a wrinkly body. Somehow, you’ve been imperceptibly changing from one body to another as time passes by. From here it’s not such a gigantic leap to understanding reincarnation. Just as we change bodies throughout life, we also change bodies at the time of death.

It’s a bit more drastic, but it’s the same basic principle.

How it Works

You’d be surprised how many people belive in this kind of thing. But few have a clue as to the details of how reincarnation works. The ancient knowledge of the Hare Krishna movement, however, explains the subject exhaustively. We’ll just give you a quick summary of the essentials.

First of all, we’re not simply a self in the body. We’re a self in two bodies: a physical body and a mental body.

The physical body is that familiar thing made of flesh and blood and stuff like that. The mental body is formed of the three subtle elements known as manah (mind), buddhi (intelligence), and ahankara (false ego, or conditional identity).

At death the mental body and the self get kicked out of the broken-down physical body. The mentality carries the self from the physical body to the next, to fulfill the hopes and desires of the mind, intelligence, and false ego.

The Purpose of Reincarnation

All right, in a weird way it sounds pretty reasonable and convincing—but what’s the purpose of the whole thing? You get born, you die, you get born again, you die again… What’s the use of it all?

Yeah, it is pretty dumb to get born and die over and over again. But sometimes desires and dreams overthrow our better judgment and we do dumb things. That’s basically how we got involved in this cycle of birth and death to begin with.

Desires and dreams impel us to build our hopeful sand castles of material happiness — which are smashed flat again and again by deathly waves in the ocean of time.

The purpose is to learn the lesson that finding any lasting satisfaction in this costume-party world is hopeless. The whole idea of self-realization is to stop reincarnation, to stop taking off and putting on bodies, to halt the endless parade of masks marching before the forgotten face of the soul.

The frustration of reincarnation is to give us the hint that the fulfillment we seek can only be found by waking up our long-dormant perpetual identity, the true self, who lives outside the avenues of time, beyond the borders of birth and death.

Doubt: If I really have lived past lives, I should remember them.

Answer: I have serious trouble remembering what happened yesterday. Five years back things become a dim haze. Memories of my early childhood are practically forgotten. And my birth is entirely unknown. Is it really such a surprise that I don’t remember previous lives? I can’t even easily remember what I ate for lunch last week!

Doubt: OK, this is like “Karma”. Right? I suffer or enjoy because of what I did in the past. That’s supposed to teach me a lesson and gradually move me toward self-realization or something, right? Well, my question is: What good is it for me to be punished or rewarded for something in a past life that I don’t even remember doing? How is that supposed to teach me a lesson?

Answer: Suppose you rob a bank and get caught, convicted, and locked up. Then one day you get in a fight and bang your head. Bam! Suddenly you can’t remember who you are or how you got into jail. But then your cellmate tells you, “Hey, man, you robbed a bank. You belong here.” Now it all makes sense, and if the system works (which admittedly it rarely does) you’ll learn your lesson, and when you get out you’ll go straight.

This whole world is also a sort of a jail. Ultimately, we’re all on death row, and in the meantime there’s plenty of bad stuff that happens to us—like diseases, wars, getting ripped off. If we’re smart enough to ask “Why?” and look for the answer in the right place—such as the ancient books of wisdom called the Vedas—we’ll understand that it’s because we screwed up in our last life. Instead of working toward self-realization so we could stop reincarnation, we did whatever the heck we wanted, impelled by the desires of the body and mind. And so we wound up with another miserable material body in this prison house of the material world. This is an example of the law of karma.

Doubt: “Karma!” I can’t believe you. To think that people deserve their suffering—it’s just a reaction of their past activities—what a horribly insensitive, cold-hearted outlook.

Answer: If you’re not familiar with the term, karma is the natural law that “every action has an equal opposite reaction.”

Yes, it’s true; people who are suffering are really just  “getting their karma,” getting justice. But that doesn’t mean we prance around famine victims, sneering and pointing fingers – “Hah! You deserve it, buddy!” Of course not.

Reincarnation and karma don’t interfere with our compassion for others. In fact, by understanding the complete philosophy, a person becomes totally compassionate toward everyone and gains knowledge of how to help people become free from karma and suffering.

Karma

During his days as a monk, Vic DiCara stayed involved with the hardcore scene. Playing with some of the most popular bands of the time not only brought him fame but gave him a chance to field many questions from his fans and others.

HERE’s a letter he got:

Let’s face it man, you joined a club just like everyone else. You all dress the same. You all have the same bald head. You all believe the same things… You totally gave up your individuality, man. Sheep. You joined the herd, that’s all. You give it up. You’re no longer a person.

HERE’s what he wrote back:

You seem to value individuality very highly. But what you say in your letter destroys true individuality and defines people as nothing more than blank robots ready to be programmed.

According to you, a person has to be made into an individual by the clothes he/she wears, the music he/she listens to, etc. It’s the things we do that make us into the individuals we are, and if we don’t do the ‘right’ things (like if we shave our heads and wear robes) we lose our individuality.

If I have to make myself an individual, then I must not be an individual to begin with. I must be some kind of blank slate who has to go out and buy my personhood and wear my “individuality.”

You’ve turned individuality into something bought from thrift stores and hair salons.

I don’t subscribe.

Being Krishna conscious, I don’t take individuality so cheaply. An individual
is something I am, not something I be­come. Real individuality is not the clothes you wear, or the style of your hair. It’s deep inside the self—an unalterable, eternal reality.

Take 300 people. Give them all the exact same haircut, dress them all up in identical 3-piece suits and ties, and line them up against a white wall. That’s 300 people with exactly the same clothes and hair. But if you go and talk to them, you’ll find each one remains a unique person, a unique individual.

Our dress doesn’t make or break our individuality. A green vinyl spiked jumpsuit and purple beehive hairdo make me no more or less an individual then an orange robe and a shaved head, because individuality has nothing to do with external appearance.

Therefore, just because all the monks dress similarly doesn’t mean they’ve lost their individuality.

“But you all believe the same thing. That makes you one big herd of sheep…”

I don’t get your logic. You’re saying individuality is preserved only as long as people disagree with each other? As soon as they all agree, they become a bunch of clones, a “herd of sheep?” That’s a zany philosophy, bro.

In math everyone believes 2+2=4. Everyone believes the same exact thing. Do you plan on writing to all the mathematicians, informing them that they’re all a bunch of mindless followers, a herd of sheep with no individuality?

Like math, Krishna consciousness is an empirically verifiable science that deals rationally with the subject of spirituality. Thus it’s no more unusual for two monks to believe the same basic things than it is for two mathematicians to believe 2+2=4.

A person’s individuality is not lost by becoming Krishna conscious. On the contrary, our true individuality will not fully manifest until we become Krishna conscious.

A spiritual practitioner intensely loves individuality and personality, knowing that these qualities are two of the most essential qualities of the deepest self. But when we plunge into material consciousness, we bury that priceless individuality, smothering the self under mountains of ego, profiles, and false identities.

Mainstream society “educates” us to live as if we are our physical bodies. That makes us objects, non-persons, non-
individuals.

Here is how a regular, mainstream educated fellow thinks:

- I see the self as the physical body.
- The  body is a collection of atoms and electrons.
- Atoms and electrons are objects, without personality or individuality.
- Therefore I see myself as an object, without personality or individuality.

The body is a costume of the soul, a temporary character accepted in the fantasy-role-playing game of material life. To become Krishna conscious is to gradually rise above the confining illusion of bodily identification and uncover the true self, the real individual person—the person behind all the masks, beyond all the labels.

Krishna consciousness does not take away individuality. It reveals the fullest potential of individuality by reviving the original spiritual identity.

The show is finished, and the equipment is loaded. The van sits before the front door, and I sit inside the van. It is cold and windy on the German shore.

Three guys approach—young, clean cut & straight-edged. They want to do an interview… “I don’t need Krishna,” says the spokesman, with an unforgettable German accent. “I have my own way.”

“That’s cool…” I say. “What ‘way’ is that”?

Lots of hesitation. Lots of stuttering. Lots of eyes darting back and forth between the three of them. Finally the spokesman speaks up: “I believe in my own self. I rely on my own self. I follow only my own self.”

“You believe in your self, rely on your self, and follow yourself. Great… Who is that self”?

More darting eyes and stuttering. Sentences begin, but are consumed by confusion, and silence dominates. They cannot answer.

I ask them, “How can you believe in it, rely on it, and follow it if you don’t even know what it is”?

Silence is spoken in German.

“See, that’s why you do need Krishna consciousness.”

No comment returned.

“The first point is that the self is not the body”.

He sits up straight in the van chair and says, “Yes. I am not the body. I am the collection of the ideals that my brothers and I share in common.”

“These ideals are not the self,” I say. “They’re all impressed upon you from out-side yourself.”

They eventually agree: The self is beyond the body and ideals of the mind. Then I ask, “We know what the self isn’t. But, what is it?”

“The spirit?”

“Yeah. The self is a particle of spirit, a part of the complete spirit. Just like a guitar string is a part of the complete guitar. If you rip off that guitar string and throw it on the sidewalk out here—what value does it have?”

“Nothing.”

“Yeah, not a whole lot,” I say. “It’s useless. But when you connect that string to the complete guitar, tune it up and that—it has so much value, right? It can make music. It can make songs… The string is valuable when it works for the complete guitar; but on its own, sitting on the sidewalk, it’s worthless. The part becomes useless when it’s not connected to the complete unit.”

They nod.

“The self, the individual spirit,” I continued, “is a part of the complete spirit. When the self tries to live separately from the complete self, he or she is like the guitar string rusting on the sidewalk. And  that’s what we’ve done—disconnected ourselves from the Complete. Just like the guitar string, our value is forgotten, our meaning is forgotten. Most of our time is spent trying to fill in the gaps of a hollow life as we loiter on the sidewalk.”

“The real nature of the self,” I enthusiastically continue, “is to serve the complete self, just like the string serves the complete guitar and reaches its highest expression and fulfillment in the process.”

“What do you mean, ‘complete self’?” they ask.

“You know: Krishna. The highest expression of the self is to serve Krishna.”

“Oh.”

“That’s what it really means to ‘follow yourself’..That’s Krishna consciousness”.

They were thoughtful. I was thankful.

Vic DiCara

Way, way back in time (long before what’s recorded in the thickest McGraw-Hill history book) a simple soul sat cross-legged on the clean earth, emanating sound vibration.

Retrace your steps through the ages and arrive at a time when the waters are fresh, the air is pure, the people are peaceful, and the earth is bountifully green. Tread the soft dirt path into the village, past gently roaming cows, through clean courtyards of smooth-walled huts. Enter the Vedic Age.

A crackling fire is fueled by butter and sesame, encircled by the fair, noble population. In unison, they punctuate the air with exacting rhythms of vibrantly precise sound. They are chanting the Hare Krishna mantra.

In the ancient language of Sanskrit, man means “mind” and tra means “to free.” So a mantra is sound that has the power to liberate our mind from conditioning and illusion. Sound is the most powerful force in the world. Go to any concert for proof. Sound brings hundreds of thousands of people together and makes them dance and jump and scream. Sound can change nations. Sound is power.

From that remote village up to today, the Hare Krishna movement has been based on music and sound. The power of Krishna conscious sound can completely emancipate anyone and everyone from the shackles of mundane existence and give direct experience of sublime spiritual pleasure.

Material sounds nail you down deeper and deeper into the material world. Talk about the rich and famous. Sing about the sleek and sexy. Poison the brain with sounds about people’s bodies, and how they exploit the world for the gratification of those bodies.

Spiritual sounds break you out of the rut and return you to your original spiritual consciousness. Talk and sing about the true self—that is spiritual sound. The most powerful of all such sounds is that which focuses on the most powerful of all selves—the Supreme Self, Krishna.

There are no rigid rules or restrictions. Anyone can take advantage of this mantra meditation thing, no strings attached. This sound vibrates directly from the spiritual platform and is heard by the inner ear of the soul. When heard or sung with attentiveness and sincerity, the mantra begins to wipe the dust from the mirror of your heart, until you can finally see yourself again—and Krishna.

It works. You might as well see for yourself.

Doubt: Chanting…..Isn’t that brainwashing?

Answer: Don’t fall for that scare tactic. Of course it’s brainwashing. So what? So is everything else. Everything that goes into your brain is going to wash or stain it in some way.

If my clothes are dirty, they should be washed. Chanting the mantra will wash away the dark stain of materialism and selfishness that’s been so deeply ingrained in our minds by years of social indoctrination.

Doubt: That’s just because there’s a whole elaborate philosophy behind the chanting. People can convince themselves that they like chanting and that it’s helping them in all these different ways. If you had that kind of philosophy behind chanting Coca Cola, it would work just as good.

Answer: OK, prove it. Write up a line and psyche us up to chant it over and over again, for hours on end, every day, over thousands of years—so that we feel happier and more fulfilled the more we chant. If you just take a sound, put some philosophy behind it, and have it be as successful as Hare Krishna, I’d like to see somebody do it.

Musicians are constantly trying to do just that, to write a song that people will want to listen to over and over again, deriving fresh inspiration every time. They all fail. Their songs fall off the charts.

Why are the mantras (such simple jingles) the only ones to ever succeed? There’s clearly something unique about them which sets them apart from mundane sounds. “Hare Krishna” is a spiritual vibration, not a mind hype.

HOW TO

Maha means “great”
Mantra means “sound that frees the mind from ignorance”

You can chant the mantra anywhere and at any time, but it is best to set a specific time of the day to regularly chant. Early morning hours are ideal.

The chanting can be done in two ways: singing the mantra, called kirtana (usually done in a group), and saying or reciting the mantra to oneself, called japa (which literally means “to speak softly”). Concentrate on hearing the sound of the mantra. As you chant, pronounce the mantra clearly and distinctly, in a prayerful mood. When your mind wanders, bring it back to the transcendental sound.

It is good to chant on japa beads. This not only helps you fix your attention on the mantra, but it also helps you count the number of times you chant the mantra daily. Each strand of japa beads contains 108 small beads and one large bead, the head bead. Begin on a bead next to the head bead and gently roll it between the thumb and middle finger of your right hand as you chant the full Hare Krishna mantra. Then move to the next bead and repeat the process.

In this way, chant on each of the 108 beads until you reach the head bead again. This is one round of japa. Then, without chanting on the head bead, reverse the beads and start your second round on the last bead you chanted on.

Initiated practitioners chant at least sixteen rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily. But even if you can chant only one round a day, a good principle is that once you commit yourself to chanting that round, try to complete it every day. When you feel you can chant more, then increase the minimum number of rounds you chant each day—but try not to fall below that number. You can chant more than your fixed number, but do your best to maintain a set minimum each day.

The japa beads are considered sacred, and it is therefore recommended to keep them in a clean place. To keep your beads clean, it’s best to carry them in a special bead bag. (available from the temple store)

George Harrison chanting Hare Krishna on japa beads.

KIRTAN

Kirtan is a form of devotional chanting. Its roots go back over 500 years to India. It is a form of Bhakti Yoga, the yoga of devotion, and has the power to open the heart. The singing is accompanied by musical instruments and rhythmic drumming. The audience is encouraged to participate by chanting, clapping and even dancing. It is hard to resist the urge to join in! In its heartfelt expression, kirtan can induce profound states of meditation, bliss, and ecstasy.

There is a sweet sound vibration that penetrates through all layers of coverings and makes God dance. That sound vibration is kirtan. It is a mysterious connection that draws people to each other.

Kirtan

Kirtan is a boon and blessing that can awaken the perfection of one’s life and carry one over the ocean of miseries that are abundant in the material realm, the realm that is filled with tings that we cannot understand. There are wars and disease, death and people in constant anxiety. Kirtan transports the soul out of there.

Without kirtan life is empty, meaningless, devoid of anything substantial. It is the best friend, shelter, water to quench thirst. You got to try.