Travel Journal#20.6: Tallahassee

 Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 20, No. 6
By Krishna Kripa Das
(March 2024, part two)
Tallahassee
(Sent from Tallahassee, Florida, on April 6, 2024)

Where I Went and What I Did

The last two weeks of March, I mostly stayed in Tallahassee, chanting Hare Krishna for an average of three hours each day on the Florida State University campus during the week. I would pass out free cups of halava to promote our Krishna Lunch program at the university, and I would also tell people about our campus and temple programs. I would have Srila Prabhupada’s books on my table for a donation, and I would give out “On Chanting Hare Krishna” for free. I had many nice experiences which I tell about. Weekends I would chant Hare Krishna in Cascades Park. 

The last day of the month I was happy that four devotees joined me. Gaura Purnima was our big event in late March, and it was a great success because of the cooperation of many devotees, and over fifty people attended.

I share quotes from Srila Prabhupada’s Srimad-Bhagavatam, Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, and The Nectar of Devotion, and also from one of his lectures. I share notes on Niti-sastras by Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami. I share notes on a recorded lecture by Niranjana Swami and on lectures by Tallahassee temple president, Govinda Kaviraja Prabhu. I also share a comment on Puri Ratha-yatra from Bhagyasri, a native of Odisha. I have a separate section where I tell about Upananda Prabhu, a Prabhupada disciple who was a brahmacari and a friend of mine, who later took sannyasa as Avadhoot Mahraja, and who left his body recently.

Thanks to Uddhava Prabhu for the photo of our harinama in Cascades Park.

Itinerary

January 8 – April 11: harinama and college outreach in Tallahassee
– April 6: Tallahassee Ratha-yatra
April 12: Gainesville harinamas
April 13: St. Augustine Ratha-yatra
April 14–23: take care of mother in Albany
April 24: fly to Amsterdam
April 25: Brussels harinama
April 26: Kadamba Kanana Swami Vyasa-puja in Radhadesh
April 27: King’s Day harinama in Amsterdam
May 4–5: Birmingham 24-Hour Kirtan

Chanting Hare Krishna in Tallahassee

Before chanting Hare Krishna for an hour in the evening in Tallahassee after my trip from New York, I was happy see the three Krishna Lunch posters on the kiosk by the main FSU library were still there after 13 days and just needed a little more tape. Two students spontaneously told me they were coming to Krishna Lunch at FSU the next day and eight took the free halava. A 71-year-old man from Brooklyn bought the Higher Taste and would have taken a second one if I had it.

While I was talking with three FSU students about Krishna Lunch and bhakti-yoga, another student came up and asked, “Do you fly?”
I thought she was asking if I had mystic powers, so I said, “I’m a monk but not a flying monk.”

Turns out she was the one who came up to me in Washington Square Park the previous Wednesday, and asked, “Are you from Tallahassee?”

The Mormon missionary on the right was very excited to hear about Krishna Lunch at FSU because of her good experience with Krishna Lunch when she did missionary work at UF. I reminded her about God's deprecation of meat eating in their scripture and encouraged her to bring her friends with her to Krishna Lunch at FSU.

I’ve been coming to FSU for years, but never have so many students told me they tried Krishna Lunch at FSU and loved it. 

On Friday, this young woman came up to me and said she tried the lunch for the first time on Thursday, and she really liked it. Then on Sunday and on Monday a student told me he or she recently tried the lunch and loved it. Next day another student did.

The one with the red-tipped hair also asked to volunteer.

I saw this T-shirt message on harinama outside the entrance to a gospel concert.

While I chanted Hare Krishna during our Gaura Purnima abhiseka in Tallahassee, different families bathed the Deities (https://youtu.be/-zvrG8bfkn8):

Different individuals also bathed them (https://youtu.be/QGfL3fY_PBg):

Here Satyaraja Govinda Prabhu chants different names of Lord Caitanya during the abhiseka in Tallahassee, while I bathe the deities (https://youtu.be/21CNmgtqxWg):

The kids then did a drama of the pastime of the deliverance of Jagai and Madhai (https://youtu.be/oRkfjMKs_tE):

I chanted the Gaura Arati kirtan on Gaura Purnima (https://youtu.be/EIEWUg1TVoA):

The kids led the Nrsimha Prayer afterward (https://youtu.be/WpjwB3uyKbw):

I also gave a class in which I attempted to convince our largely Indian congregation that Lord Caitanya is an incarnation of Krishna Himself (https://youtu.be/nrdWUaNwi14):

A student told me he tried our Krishna Lunch at FSU the day before [kofta day], and he really liked it. He said he’d have to try the other days. He mentioned that his friends were trying it for the first time that very day [chili day]. He ended with, “Keep playing. You always sing beautifully.” Imagine if we had a real kirtaniya here! Or even if I had a singing partner!

That day we sold out of chili and halava [80 plates], and Govinda and I had to eat leftovers!

The next weekend Krishna Caitanya chanted Hare Krishna at the ISKCON Tallahassee Saturday evening program (https://youtu.be/LxBoeUoDjgQ):

Next his father, Satyaraja Govinda Prabhu, chanted Hare Krishna there (https://youtu.be/3cikCouuq0o):

I was telling a friendly vegetarian Christian the story of a Hungarian distributor of Prabhupada’s books who met a lady who said she had a vision in which Christ appeared and advised her to become vegetarian to become closer to God. The student said, “Christ appeared to me and told me to become vegetarian too!”

There is Facebook scam where they make a duplicate of a friend’s profile and then message you as if it's coming from your friend saying how they won a lot of money from some grant agency that really exists and you can too if you connect with a certain pseudo representative of that agency. So watch out for it. It reminds me of the Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura quote, “This world is the society of the cheaters and cheated.”

These two students seemed favorable so I invited them to sing a few mantras with me. They declined saying they weren't good singers. Then two girls came, one a friend of the one in the photo. I said we were going to sing a few mantras. She loved to sing and her friend was also agreeable. So I passed out my three shakers, and the two girls chanted three mantras with me. They also took the free halava and menu for Krishna Lunch at FSU. It's nice to meet people who are open to new experiences.

The guy in that picture said his high school teacher told the students that George Lucas got the idea of "the Force" in Star Wars from Bhagavad-gita!

One of the most enthusiastic recipients of my promotional mango halava one day at FSU was a woman who ate Krishna Lunch at UF as a student over 20 years ago. Neither her husband nor the three kids, one of whom hopes to attend FSU, were brave enough to try it. As she walked off she told her family that it was her favorite Indian dessert. I yelled after them, “People do not know how good it is!” Finally her husband tried some of hers. Thus we see that Krishna Lunch gives people firm faith in Krishna prasadam!

I had one extra halava I was trying to distribute as I was packing up my table. One student passing by was telling her friend, “I can’t say ‘No’ to anything.”
I said to her with a smile, “You can’t say ‘No’ to anything? Take this free dessert!”
She took it. 🙂

At FSU people sometimes make positive comments about my chanting of Hare Krishna on the campus, but it’s not always like that. Once in the UK, a guy put a 1£ coin in my donation box and said, “This is for your singing lessons!”

I met an Indian girl named Lavanya who was happy to hear ISKCON exists in Tallahassee. I had heard of the name but never met an Indian girl named that before. I told her that, adding, “usually they are named Priyanka or Asha or something.” She was with a friend, and she said, “My friend's name is Priyanka!”

This young man was fond of eating Krishna Lunch at UF during his undergraduate and graduate years. He was happy to learn of Krishna Lunch at FSU, where he works as a dentist.

I was so happy on the last day of the month, a Sunday, I had four devotees to chant with at Cascades Park. 

Here is my harinama report for March 2024:

My Remembrances of Avadhoot Maharaj (Upananda das ACBSP)

On March 26, I learned from Bhakta Jeff, who was with NYC Harinam back around 2016 or so, that Avadhoot Maharaj, who we both would see in Tampa in recent years, left his body in Mayapur, on the disappearance day of Madhavendra Puri. That sounds pretty auspicious to me. I would be lucky to leave my body at such a place and time.

I knew Avadhoot Maharaj mostly in his previous ashram as Upananda Prabhu, a brahmacari disciple of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. He lived with Sadananda Prabhu in a camper parked behind the San Diego temple when I lived there between 1988 and 1994. They would make several flavors of bliss bars, and I always enjoyed eating the maha offered to Radha Giridhari. For a while another devotee named Rasananda Prabhu joined them, and I would refer to them as “The Ananda Brothers.” They would all sometimes be willing to join me for my extra harinamas on the weekends, and thus I would always invite them. Upananda always seemed peaceful, blissful, and friendly to me.

Once Upananda told us that after being a brahmacari for some time, he decided to put on white. The next time Srila Prabhupada saw him, he sternly said, “Who has given you permission to put on white?” As a result of that he went back to being a brahmacari.

Once we did harinama on Pacific Beach on a Saturday, and we encountered an MTV film crew and the famous MTV personality of that time named Pauly Shore. I was never aware of that scene, and I had heard of neither MTV nor Pauly Shore. I invited Pauly to try the carob-coconut burfi I made for the harinamas and which I would personally distribute. When he seemed reluctant, I broke one in half and ate half to show that it it was legit. Then I offered Pauly the other. I think he was still too doubtful to take it. Upananda was aware of who Pauly Shore was, and I recall he spoke in a pleasing way with him about our philosophy, and that impressed me. Badrinarayana Prabhu (now Swami) later told us that his daughter saw us on MTV.

I continued my relationship of doing harinama with Upananda Prabhu after he became Avadhoot Maharaj. Sometimes we were in Tampa at the same time, and I would invite him on harinama at University of South Florida and he would come as before. Here on March 9, 2021, he humbly plays karatalas, although an exalted personality (https://youtu.be/5q0_QK4Ao4E). 

We all had to wear masks on the campus because of the COVID restrictions. The rest of the party are devotees from NYC Harinam, who all happened to be in Tampa at that time.

I wish that he will achieve the full mercy of Lord Caitanya for his service to His mission. Srila Prabhupada writes, “One who executes Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s mission must be considered eternally liberated. He is a transcendental person and does not belong to this material world. Such a devotee, engaging in the deliverance of the total population, is as magnanimous as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu Himself.” (Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Madhya 15.163)

Photos

While I was chanting on Landis Green, I noticed in the distance that the students had set up a bicycle-powered blender, something I had never seen before.

Insights

Srila Prabhupada:

From The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 7:

“One should not neglect following the principles of devotional service, nor should one accept the rulings of devotional service which are more than what he can easily perform.”

From Srimad-Bhagavatam 9.15.40, purport:

“Brahmanas, ksatriyas, vaisyas and sudras become beautiful by their qualities. Brahmanas are beautiful when they are forgiving, ksatriyas when they are heroic and never retreat from fighting, vaisyas when they enrich cultural activities and protect cows, and sudras when they are faithful in the discharge of duties pleasing to their masters. Thus everyone becomes beautiful by his special qualities.”

From Sri Caitanya-caritamrita Adi 9.29, verse and purport:

“Not considering who asked for it and who did not, nor who was fit and who was unfit to receive it, Caitanya Mahaprabhu distributed the fruit of devotional service.”

Purport: “This is the sum and substance of Lord Caitanya’s sankirtana movement. There is no distinction made between those who are fit and those who are not fit to hear or take part in the sankirtana movement. It should therefore be preached without discrimination. The only purpose of the preachers of the sankirtana movement must be to go on preaching without restriction. That is the way in which Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu introduced this sankirtana movement to the world.”

From Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Antya 17.67–69:

“Ecstatic love for Krishna is wonderfully deep. By personally tasting the glorious sweetness of that love, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu showed us its extreme limit. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is wonderfully merciful and wonderfully magnanimous. We have heard of no one else within this world so merciful and charitable. O people of the world, worship the lotus feet of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in all respects. Only in this way will you achieve the nectarean treasure of ecstatic love for Krishna.”

From Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Introduction:

“It is the unique and highest development of love of God that is given by Caitanya Mahaprabhu.”

“In our original relationship with the Supreme Lord there is real love, and that love is reflected pervertedly through material conditions. Our real love is continuous and unending, but because that love is reflected pervertedly in this material world, it lacks continuity and is inebriating. If we want real, transcendental love, we have to transfer our love to the supreme lovable object—Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is the basic principle of Krishna consciousness.”

“In the maha-mantra—Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare—the word ”Rama” refers to Balarama. Since Lord Nityananda is Balarama, ”Rama” also refers to Lord Nityananda. Thus Hare Krishna, Hare Rama addresses not only Krishna and Balarama but Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda as well.”

“The author of the Caitanya-caritamrita prays that just as Krishna attracted the gopis by the sweet sound of His flute, He will also attract the reader’s mind by that transcendental vibration.”

From Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 1:

“In the second stage, which is called dasya-rati, a person appreciates his position as being everlastingly subordinate to the Supreme Lord, and he understands that he is eternally dependent on the causeless mercy of the Supreme Person. At that time there is an awakening of natural affection, such as is felt by a son who grows up and begins to appreciate his father’s benedictions. At this stage the living entity wants to serve the Supreme Lord instead of serving maya, illusion.”

From a class on Srimad-Bhagavatam in Bombay on December 29, 1974:

“We are sleeping, but this maha-mantra, Hare Krishna, if we hear somehow or other . . . Therefore the greatest beneficial activity or welfare activity is to chant this Hare Krishna maha-mantra so that others can hear. But unfortunately, when we chant loudly, others they think, ‘It is nuisance.’ That is the difficulty. But actually it is the process of awakening: ‘Get up, get up, get up, get up.’”

Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:

From Niti-sastras:

“If anyone has absolute power, it is Krishna. The spiritual master may represent that absolute power, but he does it on Krishna’s behalf, without claiming the power for himself. Because he represents Krishna’s absolute power, his disciples will obey him. Therefore, he is careful to speak only what Krishna speaks. If he does otherwise, it is only a matter of time before his power is usurped by the material energy.”

“Not only is Krishna consciousness meant to bring the individual soul to the platform of eternal bliss, but it is also meant for implanting a foundation for civilized life in this world.”

“We can make the Vedas our mother and have a loving relationship with them.”

“ ISKCON is brilliant, the preaching field is brilliant, and the obstacles on the preaching field are brilliant. Just the existence of so many nondevotees is something to feel enthusiastic about—all this wonderful work awaits us in Prabhupada’s service. We are on the ground floor of a mission that is destined for success. We should always remember our fortune.

“This is the positive outlook Srila Prabhupada gave us, and it is sacred. This is ISKCON’s beauty.”

“We don’t need to dwell on the negative aspects that would be there even in the material world. ISKCON is not finished. When we hear these statements, we can recognize them as the words of those who can no longer see ISKCON’s beauty. We can still see positively and make an effort to keep Prabhupada in the center. Then ISKCON will be beautiful, and we will be beautiful by our relationship with it.”

“If we are motivated by envy instead of compassion, we will desire what they have rather than give them what we have—the gift of Krishna consciousness.”

“We came to a spiritual movement to free ourselves from the rat race, but we may still be maintaining the desires that made us enter the rat race in the first place.”

“If Krishna wants to kill someone, no one can stop Him, and if Krishna wants to save someone, no one can kill him. Krishna personally designates the time of death for each of us. Therefore, devotees do not have to worry about when death will occur. Death is not something impersonal for a devotee, and not only a result of karma. Neither is it an injustice, or a void, a ceasing to exist. Time is Krishna’s representative. Passing time reminds us to practice Krishna consciousness before it is too late.”

“We were on a walk in Mayapur and I asked, ‘Prabhupada, on the one hand you say Krishna consciousness is gradual, but you also say that we should be urgent about it and try to finish up our business in this one lifetime.’
“Prabhupada replied that no one should ever think he is mature. He should think he has a long way to go in his advancement and very little time to achieve it.”

“We must save our own souls first, even if we also want to help others. I remember another incident where a devotee loved to read, but sacrificed reading for work. When he retired from his job, his eyesight failed and he couldn’t read. This is what time does. A whole life can pass by before we know it.”

“We have to keep remembering Krishna through everything, just as Arjuna had to remember Krishna during the battle of Kurukshetra.”

“None of us can help another the way Krishna can help him. Therefore, when we remind others that Krishna is the supreme friend, we also become a true friend.”

“One who thinks he is the most learned man is not actually a learned man. Learning leads to realization and makes one humble.”

“Lord Brahma had many sons. Svayambhuva Manu was the progenitor of mankind and produced population. He was a good son. The Kumaras refused to have children. They were also good sons. Narada left home to travel throughout the universe, broadcasting Krishna consciousness. He was a good son. There is no one nature that constitutes a good son.
“Similarly, in ISKCON, Prabhupada has many good sons. He has brahmacari book distributors, good grhasthas, and quiet, efficient, clean pujaris. He has managers and simple servants. Because they are all faithful to Prabhupada, they are good sons.”

“From the very beginning of our devotional lives, Srila Prabhupada encouraged us and said some remarkable things. He said that if someone is a poet in this world, he would become a poet in the spiritual world.”

“Srila Prabhupada himself set this example. He left the Radha-Damodara temple in Vrindavan, which is situated on the bank of the Yamuna and surrounded by the best friends, the Vraja-vasis. He went alone to America, where the rivers, city life, and people were all contaminated. By his compassionate example, we are now able to understand higher values and to seek out residence in a temple, to take advantage of the holy rivers, and to know who our true friends in Krishna consciousness are.”

“Devotees in the Krishna consciousness movement need not be overwhelmed either by poverty or by wealth. Better they remain simple and pure, as Prabhupada did, in the face of either condition.”

“If we could always see the common enemy in the form of time and death, it would help us not to look at each other as enemies.”

“Revenge is nonexistent in the heart of a pure soul. Even if he is angry, he will still be forgiving, as in the case of Narada Muni, who became angry to see the sinful acts of Kuvera’s sons. Although Narada cursed them, he cursed them in a merciful mood, and arranged to give them Krishna’s darsana in Vrndavana.”

“How to be cleverer than the clever nondevotees, and yet maintain one’s purity and brahminical reputation is a subtle art. It should be learned with care.”

“We can depend on Krishna to out-cheat those who think that they have cheated Him.”

“Westerners, particularly Americans, are so attached to their ‘mobility,’ which they misidentify with freedom, but which is another name for restlessness.”

Niranjana Swami:

From a Gaura Purnima lecture on March 21, 2019:

Some people think we have to package bhakti to make it easily accessible, but that is not how Lord Caitanya did it. He made bhakti easily accessible by practicing it Himself and manifesting the ecstasies of love of Godhead thus attracting people.

Govinda Kaviraja Prabhu:

One servant of my guru who served him for three years realized he could never predict how our guru would act in any particular situation.

When one takes prasadam regularly, questions about self-realization begin to arise in the mind of the person.

We learn in Srimad-Bhagavatam how to relate with the Lord in the course of different life situations through many examples.

In life  many persons give us things, but ultimately all these things are being given to us by Krishna.

Bhagyasri, a Odhishan woman attending the Tallahassee Saturday program:

There are always miracles associated with Puri Ratha-yatra. One year not long ago it rained the whole night after the Ratha-yatra, and the area around the chariots which were parked at the Gundica temple got wet but not the chariots themselves.

-----

I met a young Indian woman on the campus named Ananya. That reminded me of one of my favorite verses in Bhagavad-gita, one which tells the power of remembering Krishna. Actually Prahlada Maharaja was amazingly protected from so many attempts on his life simply because of remembering Krishna. Jayananda Prabhu, disciple of Srila Prabhupada, who did so much service on the early ISKCON Ratha-yatras, had a verse book in which this verse was mentioned.

ananya-cetah satatam
yo mam smarati nityasah
tasyaham sulabhah partha
nitya-yuktasya yoginah

“For one who always remembers Me without deviation, I am easy to obtain, O son of Pritha, because of his constant engagement in devotional service.” (Bhagavad-gita 8.14)