Question:
What mood should I cultivate to surrender to Krishna and effectively do something to save the world?

Answer by H.D. Goswami:
There is a simple solution to the common predicament that we want to do something wonderful for Krishna, but we feel unqualified. In fact, we must have both the above sentiments to really surrender to Krishna.

If we want to do something wonderful to help the world, but we also feel qualified that “I can do this myself,” then we have no impetus to surrender to Krishna, and we are operating on the level of false ego.

On the other hand, if we feel dependent on Krishna, but lack the desire to help the world, we again feel no reason to surrender to Krishna, since we are content to pursue our own little spiritual life, with no deep concern for the world.

And now, our hero: one who wishes with all their heart to change the world, to see the world changed, and yet feels unqualified. In this case, one must surrender to Krishna more and more, begging Him to empower us in His service. In this real Krishna conscious state, one realizes that only Krishna can save the world, but we beg Krishna to use us as His instruments.

I can clearly see Prabhupada saying to us many years ago in Rancho Park in Los Angeles: “Krishna is going to save the world. So surrender to Him and He will give you the credit. Otherwise he will give it someone else. But you take the credit and make your life glorious!

Conclusion: you should not surrender to mediocrity. Rather, surrender to Krishna and He will use you in a glorious way to spread the mission of His pure devotee, Srila Prabhupada. Your talents and intelligence are a gift form Krishna and no one, including Krishna, wants to see a child neglecting or wasting the loving gifts of the parent.

Dear Devotees,

Jaya Prabhupada! Greetings from Israel! I have come to this ancient land by the kindness and generosity of the devotees.

I am a guest of the ISKCON Harish community, led by Gunavatara Prabhu and his wife, Varshabhanavi Devi, two excellent devotees. The devotees here are wonderful hosts and are doing everything possible to facilitate my stay.

In general, the Israelis are intelligent and talented, and the weather is nice! I am staying in Caesarea, a city built by the Romans to administer Israel at the time of Jesus. From my apartment, I can see the Mediterranean Sea.

As you may know, Lord Krishna mercifully fulfilled my desire, and I finished my novel before leaving for Israel. I am now working full-time on the Mahabharata. I am going through the entire Sanskrit text and then will begin to write the first volume.

On Saturday, May 2, 2015, I will give a Ustream class on Lord Nrsimhadeva in English at 6:30pm Tel Aviv time.

With best wishes,
Hridayananda das Goswami
April 30, 2015

Question:
Can we honestly believe that every faith, based upon logical and acceptable values, is authentic and not contrived? For example, how should we understand the 10 Commandments in relation to Krishna consciousness?

Answer by H.D. Goswami:
Jaya Prabhupada! Yes, we can say that the 10 Commandments are objective and valid moral- religious principles. These commandments are originally from the Jewish Old Testament and were accepted by all Christian groups.

Krishna explains in the Bhagavad-gita that knowledge and morality come from goodness (sattva-guna). Obviously, in every part of the world, throughout history, some people were in goodness. For that reason, they understood objective moral principles and something about God’s preeminence and glory.

In every religion, we observe that some believers are in goodness and others in passion or ignorance. Believers in goodness, of all religions, share a common knowledge, goodness, and piety.

Krishna consciousness surely has that goodness, but it also offers the more advanced knowledge about God and soul. Our purpose is not to refute or to beat other religions, but to complete and enrich the spirituality of everyone.

With best wishes,
Hridayananda das Goswami
April 8, 2015

Dear Devotees,

Jaya Prabhupada! I am writing to confirm that the strict policy of Krishna West is to always respect the local standards of other ISKCON projects, such as temples and preaching centers, whenever we visit them.

Thus, any devotee who gives class, leads kirtana, serves the Deity, etc. must strictly follow the standards and rules of each temple and preaching center. I personally do this whenever I visit an ISKCON temple or preaching center.

I have often stated that the purpose of Krishna West is not to change, challenge, or disturb other ISKCON projects, but rather to create new projects in cooperation with existing ISKCON centers.

The basic principle of Krishna West is to respect the society or community in which we live. So just as we respect the culture of western non-devotees, we must also respect the culture of Vaishnavas in ISKCON temples and centers whenever we visit them.

Thank you for honoring these principles.

With best wishes,
Hridayananda das Goswami
April 4, 2015

Dear Devotees,

Jaya Prabhupada! I wish you all a happy, healthy, Krishna conscious Rama-navami.

Today, by the mercy of Lord Rama, the GBC and I came to a final agreement regarding my own traveling/preaching and Krishna West.

As of today, Lord Rama’s Appearance Day, there are no special restrictions on myself or Krishna West, and so we are free to preach within the general rules and laws of ISKCON.

My special thanks to all of you who have supported me personally, and our project, throughout this interesting process.

With best wishes,
Hridayananda das Goswami
March 28, 2015

Dear Devotees,

Jaya Prabhupada! I have accepted a very generous invitation to visit Israel, and will be there from April 27 to June 21, 2015.

If any of you would like to come there during that time, Ramdas Prabhu will very kindly arrange inexpensive accommodations for visiting devotees. Israel is close to Europe and cheap flights are available from almost everywhere in Europe.

If you would like to come, please write directly to Ramdas Prabhu to work out practical details. For example, it will be necessary for visiting devotees to have a rented car, which is also very cheap in Israel. However, every devotee need not rent a separate car. Ramdas Prabhu will coordinate these practical matters of rooms and transportation.

Please also tell other devotees in your respective countries of this invitation. Thank you!

I pray that you are all well and happy in Krishna consciousness.

With best wishes,
Hridayananda das Goswami
March 17, 2015

Question:
As long as we have the deity forms of the Lord and the Mahamantra in Sanskrit, we are going to be somewhat bound to a certain culture of origin. Can we really cut our ties with singing the Mahamantra and dancing before the deities?

Srila Prabhupada said our movement was chanting, dancing, and feasting. So like it or not, the Hare Krishna Movement (Gaudiya Vaishnavism, bhakti yoga, etc.) is a culture bound to its origins, which are found on the Indian subcontinent.

Answer by H.D. Goswami:
Thank you for these observations. The following occurs to me:

1. You are right that inevitably some of our core practices, such as chanting Hare Krishna and celebrating the Deity, are unusual in Western culture. Hence, the need to do all we can with flexible details to soften the culture shock of the inflexible core practices.

2. Example of doing this right: George Harrison produced an enduring smash hit, “My Sweet Lord,” with the Mahamantra. But he adjusted the adjustable and encased the Mahamantra in great, popular music.

3. Prabhupada certainly wanted us to hold Rathayatra everywhere, but his goal was not that we “create confusion” or “repulse” some people, even if we cannot entirely avoid that. In India, where Prabhupada was more intimately familiar with cultural norms, Prabhupada made every possible adjustment to attract the public.

4. Keep in mind that virtually all of Prabhupada’s activities in the West took place during a highly anomalous period when tens of millions of young people actively sought alternative, exotic spiritualities. That historical window has now shut.

5. Keep in mind that the same nitya-siddha Prabhupada made little progress in his pre-Jaladuta Indian preaching. Result: he revamped his strategy. In fact throughout Prabhupada’s life, whenever the preaching was not progressing well, he changed tactics. Examples from his sannyasa life:

• Switching from the failing League of Devotees to Back to Godhead distribution in Delhi.
• Switching from BTG distribution to Bhagavatam production.
• Leaving India to come to America.
• After the four-sannyasi scandal of 1970, switching his headquarters from Los Angeles to India.
• Stopping in India the pillars of ISKCON’s western expansion — public sankirtana and street book distribution — in favor of a life member program.
• Starting and then suddenly stopping the In God We Trust political party.
• Arranging marriages and then giving up the practice when most arranged marriages failed.
• Switching from street sankirtana to book distribution as the main western outreach.

There are many other examples. The main point is that Prabhupada never insisted on doing the same thing, over and over again for decades, when it wasn’t working. That is what ISKCON in the West has done after Prabhupada left: the same tactics for decades, even when the western mission does not grow. That is not following Prabhupada.

I think we all agree on these points.

With best wishes,
Hridayananda das Goswami
March 14, 2015

I wish all the devotees a Happy Gaura Purnima! Prabhupada used to say that at this time of year, we should “chalk out” our service plan for the coming Vaishnava year.

So now is the time for us to dream and plan for another year of ecstatic service to Srila Prabhupada’s mission.

With best wishes,
Hridayananda das Goswami
March 5, 2015