A nice house program about the meaning of surrender, a balanced and happy Krsna Consciousness Life with Krsna as the Supreme Life Coach who finds a perfect situation for all of us and how Krsna is not a square-headed autocratic adult.

 

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summary:

 

The night Srila Acaryadeva  arrived, he gave a wonderful darshan at Jaya Gauri

 

and Mahavira Prabhu's home. He walked around and talked with devotees first,

 

including some of the youth who have been active with the summer youth  bus

 

program that travels to many Ratha-yatras in the U.S. and Canada to  spread

 

Krishna consciousness. He agreed with them that we should do  something to help

 

people. He said, "Whatever we do, we should try to  help people."

 

 

Acaryadeva then began the darshan by  expressing that as he is getting older,

 

he is appreciating more and  more the association of devotees. He said that

 

people say they  appreciate his association, but he says he appreciates theirs.

 

He  said that when people come to him and want to hear from him about  Krishna,

 

it is the happiest, most satisfying thing for him! He feels  grateful because

 

devotees give him the chance to talk about Krishna and  in this way, purify him

 

and save him.

 

 

 In the course of his  discussion, Acaryadeva talked about psychological

 

atheism - -- that  instead of keepng Krishna in the center of our lives, we put

 

ourselves  in the center. And whatever we want, we see Krishna as acting to

 

fulfill our  desires. Acaryadeva talked about how in ISKCON, now that most of

 

us are  not living in the asrama, it requires more self-discipline to keep

 

ourselves focused and engaged in Krishna's service. He asked us, "If  scholars

 

were to look at what we're doing now, would they consider it  more a religious

 

society (performing rituals and ceremonies), or would  they see it as a

 

spiritual movement?" He urged us to be responsible to  see that we are making

 

this a spiritual movement.

 

 

 Then  Acaryadeva talked about surrendering to Krishna and said that if people

 

say that they're not ready to surrender to Krishna yet, it means that  they've

 

misunderstood the philosophy. "Krishna is the kindest person;  He doesn't hold

 

it against you that you turned away from Him." He told the story of Krishna

 

coming to Queen Vaidarbhi and reminding her of  their old friendship.

 

Acaryadeva said that Krishna is not some vengeful  God like the God of Abraham,

 

Issac, and Moses... He is our greatest  friend and well-wisher. He knows each

 

of us better than anyone else  ever will. And He has the perfect program,

 

tailor-made for each of us,  that will satisfy our emotional, mental, physical,

 

and spiritual needs  and help us to come back to Godhead. Acaryadeva said that

 

we have to  deal with our human needs because you can't go back to Godhead as a

 

frustrated though devoted person. Krishna knows what you need. It' s  not that

 

if you surrender to Krishna, He'll make you do

 

 something  you're not wanting to do. The bottom line is to trust Krishna.

 

He'll give you just what you need to make progress.

 

 

  Acaryadeva also emphasized that when we surrender, it's not like we can  stop

 

on a dime, just like when we're driving very fast in the wrong  direction. He

 

said that "once you make that very sincere declaration of  surrendering

 

yourself to Krishna, it's not that all your material  desires just suddenly go

 

away. No, it takes some time to actually come  to a full stop and to turn

 

around and go back so many miles to get to  the place where you started going

 

the wrong direction..." "So Krishna  knows this," Acaryadeva said, "and

 

sometimes it takes some time to get  there."

 

 

Acaryadeva has a unique way of thinking about things and a truly  memorable

 

way of presenting them. At one point, he told us that  "Krishna is so... not

 

stiff...He came as Lord Surfer  --not to strap some hard board around His

 

ankle, but He came as a fish.  And He didn't surf in some Californian or

 

Hawaiian waves... He was  gliding up and down the Waves of Devastation, which

 

were thousands of  feet high!"

 

 

 "And He came as a hog. Talk about how much  Krishna's not like the

 

Judeo-Christian God... Coming as a hog... sort  of goofy. Krishna's just so

 

remarkable!"

 

 

Srila  Acaryadeva also talked about being interested in people. He told a

 

story about devotees who were failing in their preaching because they  were

 

"just preaching." When either Prabhupada or he advised them to  really take an

 

interest in the people, they did so-- and the people  started taking an

 

interest in Krishna and began asking questions.  Acaryadeva said that there is

 

no question of devotion to God or love  for God without love for people. He was

 

saying that it's good that  we're not all in asramas "because now we  can

 

infiltrate society from wherever we are." By our characteristics and

 

activities, we can attract people to Krishna.

 

 

  Srila Acaryadeva also talked about cloning and in vitro fertilization  and

 

said that there is no "one right opinion" on these ethical and  moral issues.

 

He said that "people like to think there is, or should  be, one stand or view

 

that is the Vedic view, but scholars have always  disagreed." I asked about

 

prostitution and he referred the question to  Jaya Hari dd, who is pursuing

 

Women's Studies and History at the  University of Florida. She brought up the

 

idea of prostitution as a  business venture for women. To this Acaryadeva

 

added, "...one that  requires little capital to start... or overhead to run...

 

or  expensive equipment... Just use what you've got!"  That got everyone

 

chuckling!

 

 

  Srila Acaryadeva brought up the point of a marriage of love and a marriage of

 

prudence. He said he's heard from many women that security is an important

 

issue. Women--or men, he said, are often willing to make an exchange to get

 

something they value. He was beginning to say something about this being the

 

case in many marriages when someone  asked if he was saying that in all or most

 

marriages the women are  prostitutes! He assured her that this was not  what he

 

meant. Before he could say more about it, the topic suddenly  got swept into

 

talk about Jesus being buried in Kashmir, something  someone had read in a

 

book, to which Acaryadeva gave a very interesting  and scholarly historical

 

narration explaining why that was not true. He also mentioned " The Davinci

 

Code"  and said that the only thing that was really true about it was that

 

those who took over the Christian religion took the women out.

 

 

  When, near the end, a guest asked why it was so hard to surrender to

 

Krishna, Acaryadeva very kindly told her that "surrendering to Krishna  is

 

difficult in this age because people are moving so fast. They have  no time to

 

think deeply." He told her "but, if we just start from where  we are, and take

 

baby steps--we'll make progress."