Service — Samadhi* — Lila**

When you engage yourself, under the guidance of your spiritual master, 
in transcendental welfare work, and you do so without a selfish motive 
but rather as a service real, without any hidden agenda, 
then this becomes samadhi.

— Srila B A Paramadvaiti Maharaj, today

* Samadhi – ecstatic state of consciousness in which the mind becomes completely still, one-pointed or concentrated, and the consciousness of the experiencing subject becomes one with the experienced object.

** Lila – Divine pastime

________________________

Some blog posts on service:

I want to serve You, I want to be with You (Srila B.A. Paramadvaiti Maharaj)
By serving. (Srila B.A. Paramadvaiti Maharaj)

So the real current is His pastimes (Srila Sridhar Mahraj)

Service, service, service (Srila Sridhar Maharaj)

Two instructions (Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu)

Service to the Absolute  (Srila B.B. Tirtha Maharaj)

Service, Beauty (Srila Sridhar Maharaj)
Service (Srila B.A. Paramadvaiti Maharaj)
Doing what you want to do  (Srila B.A. Paramadvaiti Maharaj) 
Devotional service is on an Absolute level (Srila B.A. Paramadvaiti Maharaj)

Selected Posts on Krishna Consciousness: (17): Played by God

Excerpts from The Loving Search for the Lost Servant 

By Srila Sridhar Maharaj

(Headings, linebreaks, notes by me)

Srila Sridhar Maharaj

Whatever you are attracted to (Srila Sridhar Maharaj)

Excerpt from Inner fulfilment

'

Srila Sridhar Maharaj

The most confidential part of knowledge (Srila Prabhupada)

Morning Walk, 
 Los Angeles, December 5, 1973  
(Excerpt)

Srila Prabhupada on a relaxed morning walk in California, expounding on the final, topmost, quintessential instruction of the Bhagavad Gita: Forget everything I have told you. Abandon all varieties of duties, religion and spirituality and just surrender to Me. Trust Me.

Maha Mantra with The Bhaktas in the Berlin Temple

The Bhaktas leading kirtan with our Godbrothers and Godsisters in the Berlin temple some time ago. This clip has a strange but wonderful vibe, at the same time cool and serene, joyous and pranksterish, and all innocent. Happy children of the Srila B.A. Paramadvaiti family. 

Associating with the sound incarnation of God (Srila Prabhupada)

Excerpt from a lecture on the Maha Mantra, 
given in New York, September 8, 1966

Srila Prabhupada

“If you want to spiritualize your vision, if you want to spiritualize your action, 

if you want to spiritualize the whole constitution of your existence, 

then you have to associate with the supreme spirit.”

*

The tent: Another lovely day (Pictures)

Last week in Fjärås, 36 km south of Nimaihuset: another lovely day of service to the Temple/Guru/Krishna. Perfect weather (clear sky, 20 C, mild breeeze), perfect tent-conditions (big flat lawn, no special arrangements), nice area, nice freeway-ride with the car, sweet company of devotees... Makhan Chor brought his fancy self-timer DSLR-camera on tripod.

We do take approximate timing, but so far we're just training (structure, order of sequence, time-savers — Subhal found a new one today...). In august it's time to get real. 

Today, a little more than an hour. Fast... Again... Three more weeks...

Vaishnava tent joke:

— How many devotees does it take to put up a tent?

— I dunno. 108?

— One. Then comes the servant of the servant of the servant.

More pictures:

Back to Godhead no. 23 (April 1969)

The cover of Back to Godhead no. 23, with Sri Krishna Chaitanya (Nimai) and the rest of Pancha Tattva — Godhead (the Absolute) incarnated and moving as five: Krishna Himself (the Superconsciousness/Supersoul, the Supreme Person); His first plenary expansion as Nityananda; His incarnation of Maha Vishnu and Lord Shiva combined as Advaita; His internal energy as Gadadhara; and His marginal potency as Srivasa.

Contents:

John Lennon on his way Back to Godhead

John Lennon in bed with Yoko Ono (middle of picture), surrounded by devotees and reading Srila Prabhupada's magazine Back to Godhead, no. 23 (april 1969).

Left to right: Rukmini devi dasi, Melvani the Muslim, Jayapataka das brahmacari, Baradvaja das, Himavati-Hana Kalbert, Himavati devi dasi, Yoko Ono, Sripati das, John Lennon, Hansadutta Das, Dayal Nitai das.

Hare Krishna Top 10 (3)

3.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono:
“Give Peace a Chance” (1969)

John Lennon using his fame to try to make a difference. Recorded in John’s and Yoko’s hotel room on their honeymoon, with famous friends, at a “Bed-In” demonstration for peace. Instrumentation: acoustic guitars, tambourines, and beating on suitcases, later drenched in echo by genius producer. Simple, sublime, beautiful.

The last words of the actual lyrics are “Hare Krishna, Hare Hare Krishna” (1:58), and during the extended repeating of the refrain, “All we are saying is give peace a chance”, Lennon adds “And chant the Hare Krishna” (2:56). Long glimpse in the clip of Krishna devotees singing along and dancing (2:01-13).

I am not this dream (Srila Prabhupada)

Lecture in Hyderabad, november 11, 1972 

(slightly edited) 

Srila Prabhupada putting on tilaka

Bhagavad-gita 2.15

yam hi na vyathayanty ete 
purusam purusarsabha
sama-duhkha-sukham dhiram
so 'mrtatvaya kalpate

SYNONYMS
yam — one to whom; hi — certainly; na — never; vyathayanti — are distressing; ete — all these; purusam — to a person; purusa-rsabha — O best among men; sama — unaltered; duhkha — in distress; sukham — and happiness; dhīram — patient; sah — he; amrtatvāya — for liberation; kalpate — is considered eligible.

TRANSLATION

O best among men, the person who is not disturbed by happiness and distress and is steady in both is certainly eligible for liberation.

Qüirio visited

Mexican artist-duo Qüirio (our dear Godbrother Mahavishnu das and Godsister Murli Manohara devi dasi, disciples of Swami B.A. Paramadvaiti), visited Sweden and Nimaihuset again (third time). They are on a world tour for several years, spreading their strong and beautiful devotional energy. This time in Sweden they gave concerts in Malmö and Gothenburg on the Baobab Festival (representing World Concious Pact), on World Enviroment Day, in Nimaihuset on a saturday feast, and in Restaurant Sattva (where Nimaihuset's Mahahari das distributes high-quality prasadam every weekday and supplies the temple with the very same on Saturdays). Here is a clip and some pictures from the intimate, fantastic concert in Sattva, with guest musicians Siddhanta das and Jnanaraj das from Nimaihuset. Thank you for this time, see you soon again!

"Gaura Arati", together with Nimaihuset's Siddhanta das on guitar (left) and Jnanaraj das on percussion (right). (Click here for album version.)

Some pictures: