Radhanath Swami's Blog, page 3
April 7, 2023
The Power of Choices
Eleanor Roosevelt famously said, “I am who I am today, because of the choices I made yesterday.”
You may choose to get on an airplane to London, but once the plane takes off, you can no longer choose a different destination; you’ll have to get off in London. Still, you can make new choices as to what you do while you’re on the plane and after your arrival.
This simple analogy says much about life. We are responsible for our choices. Whatever reactions we are presently undergoing due to past choices, we can choose to respond in a way that will be beneficial for ourselves and those around us. That is how we shape our future.
Wisdom is nourished by accepting good guidance, learning from mistakes, then moving forward in a positive direction. The tendency to stagnate due to guilt, frustration or depression can be overcome by uplifting company and positive choices.
It is important that we establish goals, values, and priorities in our lives. Like a captain in a ship at sea keeps his attention on his compass, we need to be attentive to
our moral compass, especially to help us navigate through stormy times.
On the boat of life, you may not have control over which way the wind blows, but you do have control over the sails and how you are going to respond to the winds of change. We cannot always change our circumstances, but we can choose how we respond. If we focus too much on what cannot be changed it leads to frustration, however if we focus on what we can change, it leads to growth.
Choice of words can make or break a relationship, choice of timing can affect the outcome of our pursuits, a choice of diet and exercise can determine our health, and a choice of our consciousness can change our experience of life. Our choices create impressions in the mind that enable us to act beneficially even in challenging times, almost like a second nature. If we perspire in a time of peace, it can protect us from bleeding in a time of conflict, in other words if we make the right choices when things are going well, it gives us inner strength to make the right choices when things are not going so well.
Srila Prabhupada has written, “The greatness of a person can be estimated by how they respond to provoking situations.”
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Why Relationships Fail
My friend who is a marriage counsellor shared with me a story which gives us insight into this subject.
A couple came to her in tears. They had been arguing for weeks. Each took their turns to explain their issues. Several sessions passed discussing the harsh words and mental pain that they both suffered.
The counsellor was trying to find an underlying cause for this breakdown.
Finally, the husband, besides himself with anger and frustration blurted out “She has absolutely no respect for me. My ego cannot bear it anymore.”
The counsellor asked, “Can you remember a time or event when you first felt this feeling toward her?”
He answered, “Yes, every day for breakfast, she gives me the end piece from a loaf of bread. Why doesn’t she give me the good bread. When I grew up, my family would feed the dry, crusty end peace to our dog or throw we threw it in the trash. This is an insult!”
The wife was visibly shocked by his words. She burst into tears and exclaimed, “Where I am from in Italy, the end parts of the bread loaf is considered to be the best part. When I grew up, my family would fight for the end piece. To respect my husband, every morning for breakfast I sacrificed my own enjoyment to give the end piece to him. I’m sorry, I didn’t understand.”
He was from the USA and she was from Italy.
Suddenly, he cried. “I’m sorry I didn’t understand you.”
They had failed to understand what was valued by the other. They made up, and grew from the whole experience. As far as I know, they are, kind of, living happily ever after.
Soon after I heard this story, I was dining with a family in their home near Rome, Italy. Everyone wanted the end piece of bread, but out of respect they gave it to me, their guest. Remembering the story of the married couple, I accepted it. It was a small sacrifice to please them. For I too grew up in America.
On the surface this problem was due to miscommunication. Studies on relationships have found that many relationships do end because of misunderstandings or miscommunication. Still, these issues are often symptoms of a much deeper issue. We tend to place ourselves in the centre of the relationship instead of placing the other person in the centre. If both people focus on placing the other person before themselves there would be a much higher level of communication.
My dear friend and brother, Bhakti Tirtha Swami has said,
“Many people today enter into relationships to complete themselves, to complete their loneliness or emptiness they think I am half a person the other person is half a person and when we come together we will complete each other, however it should be that I am a whole person and the other person is a whole person and when we come together it is not what we can get out of the relationship but what I can contribute in the relationship.”
A spiritual principle for relationships, particularly marriage, is to appreciate ones partner as God’s beloved child entrusted in my care.To love means to serve, to love means to actually go the extra mile to make the other person feel valued and loved. Both people in a relationship need to understand this sacred ideal. It is not about one person controlling the other but rather understanding and helping each other become better versions of themselves.
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The Power of Habits
We all know that diabetes can cause death. And that cigarettes can reduce our life expectancy. But what most of us do not know, is that loneliness can have a similar effect on our health.
On Valentine’s Day last year, the BBC launched the largest ever Loneliness Experiment with 55,000 people from around the world. They found that loneliness is as bad for our health as having a long-term illness such as diabetes or high blood pressure. Loneliness has shown to be as bad for our health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day and to reduce our life expectancy by up to 8 years. The epidemic of loneliness is spreading so fast that it is estimated to affect 1.1 million British people and up to 50% of all Americans.
In the U.S. 1 in 4 people have said that they have no one person to confide in. To make things worse, 75 % of people say that they’re unsatisfied with the friendships that they do have.
Loneliness is not simply that we are alone, rather it is the feeling that you are not connected or loved by the people around you. This is why so many people feel lonely even though their lives are full of people. We may be in relationships, friendships or even be married, yet feel that ache in our hearts.
The root of our disconnection from others is a disconnection from ourselves. When we are not in touch with ourselves, it is very easy to feel alone even in the company of others. We may spend time following others on social media and less time discovering ourselves. We may spend time taking selfies, but less time becoming self-aware. We are prone to superficial relationships with others, simply because we have superficial relationships with ourselves. However, we can overcome loneliness by reconnecting to our true inner self.
The common thing between all of us is the spirit inside. Once we connect with that spirit within us, we are naturally connected to everyone else, in the deepest and most meaningful way. This lets us transform relationships centered around gossip into those focused on giving, from interactions based on lust into ones built on love, and from exchanges based on the externals of our bodies into those based on the internals of our heart.
We may fail to have exchanges of love, because our own hearts are empty. But, when we dig deep and connect to the spirit inside, we are able to access the
foundation of love which lies within, allowing it to flow into every aspect of our lives. Making every exchange we have more fulfilling and feeling fulfillment even when no one else is around.
Mother Teresa has said: “We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread, but there are many more dying for a little love.”
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September 30, 2019
September 24, 2019
Meeting with B. K. S. Iyengar and ‘The Journey Home’ Club
On the evening of 21st December 2013, Mr. Santish Gupta, hosted a ‘The Journey Home’ book club meeting at his home in Pune. The Gupta family owns the Crossword Book Store a very popular chain in India.
The yoga legend BKS Iyengar addressed the meeting through a letter he had written to the organizers. He was to be the chief guest, but was unable to grace the occasion due to a health concern, and so had invited Radhanath Swami to come and see him at his residence prior to the event. The two met and shared heart-felt appreciation of each other. Mr Iyengar gifted Radhanath Swami his latest book ‘Core of Yoga Sutras’.
Later, at the book club meeting, Mr. Iyengar’s full letter of appreciation was read out by Mr. Gupta.“Sri Sri Radhanath Swamiji whom I know very well since years, who has struggled with life and death to reach this level…. may the Swamiji’s journey guide the listeners to follow the path of salvation, may God bless the meeting with spiritual knowledge and experienced wisdom.”
Mr Rishikesh Mafatlal, a leading industrialist, joined the Gupta family in appreciating Radhanath Swami. “In our lives we come across a variety of people—our parents, relatives, children, family, friends. Several people move our hearts, a few really help us in the most difficult times. It is rare to find, if we were to nominate just one person who can be the most important person in one’s life. In my experience of almost 28 years with Radhanath Swami, I have come across several people, by the hundreds if not thousands, who would consider that Radhanath Swami is the most important person in their lives, and that includes my family—my wife, my children and myself. His speciality is that with his gentle character, along with sharp intellect and amazing humour, he really wins people’s hearts. His non-judgmental approach—as if he has understood our situation—is rare to find in this world.”
Radhanath Swami addressed the five hundred guests, speaking stories from ‘The Journey Home’.
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September 23, 2019
Radhanath Swami Inaugurates Govardhan Ecovillage
On December 24th, 2011, Radhanath Swami presided over the official opening of the Govardhan Ecovillage and Farm Community (GEV) spread over a scenic landscape of 60 acres near the Sahyadri mountain range, a two hour drive from the city of Mumbai in Maharashtra, India. The inauguration ceremony was marked with the presence of Mr. Nana Saheb Patil, the Ex-secretary of the Agricultural Ministry for the Government of Maharashtra, and 150 senior members of the Radha Gopinath temple congregation.
Under the inspiration and guidance of Radhanath Swami, a dedicated community began the development of the GEV in 2003 with the aim of demonstrating the principles of self-sufficiency and localized economy and highlighting the importance of living in harmony with nature by presenting a sustainable living model. Gradually they have developed fundamental aspects of the ecovillage including organic farming, cow protection, education, rural development, alternative energy, eco-friendly constructions and sustainable living.The inauguration marked the opening of the ecovillage as a retreat center with green design cottages, auditorium, seminar and conference rooms, an Ayurvedic wellness center, and a yoga center. With these latest developments the GEV will serve as a place of education in the fields of the traditional sciences of Yoga and spirituality.
The opening ceremony began in the morning with a small parade of bullock carts and guests who were led by Radhanath Swami, accompanied by kirtan, from the main entrance of the village to its centrally located new auditorium. There, Radhanath Swami shared the vision and dream behind the creation of Govardhan Ecovillage. He mentioned that it was the desire of his guru A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada to develop such projects away from cities to serve as a place for people to find relief from stress using spiritual practices. ”Simple living, high thinking is the principle that is the basis of this rural community”. Radhanath Swami added “though we all have individual mothers, Mother Earth is the mother of all life on the planet. Thus Mother Earth is common to all of us and we are heavily dependent on her. Living in harmony with Mother Earth is a big responsibility. This is a most important sacred principle we must remember.”
While thanking those involved in the project he spoke of the mood in which they worked saying that the whole project is conceived in the spirit of devotion and keeping God as the center. “We can build structures but if we don’t cultivate non-envious, egoless camaraderie inside then the structure is as good as empty.”
The ecovillage has been built for the modern lifestyle needs of both individuals and corporate groups. GEV hopes to serve as a model of how spirituality can integrate the needs of a modern society with traditional answers. All we need to remember is, as Radhanath Swami says, “In the quest for technology we keep taking from mother earth, but as we grow we should reciprocate.”
The structures of the ecovillage are made of natural materials such as cob, rammed earth and Compressed Stabilized Earth Blocks which are made by compressing a combination of earthen materials with added stabilizers without the use of furnaces to heat the bricks. The natural property of earth changes when it is heated. The use of raw mud for building houses has many advantages – its local availability and ease of processing makes it the most energy efficient building material. Houses made of earth give warmth in cold atmospheres and provide a cooling effect in hotter climates.
Some other ways the ecovillage strives to live in harmony with Mother Earth:
In consultation with organic farming experts, all inputs and outputs are natural
Only indigenous varieties of grain are grown
Instead of chemical fertilizers, cow dung and natural compost are employed
Cow urine and neem oil serve as organic pesticides
Bulls are favored over machinery for plowing
The solid waste management and waste water treatment center minimizes its carbon footprint
For alternative energy, a bio-gas plant has been established to generate electricity for uses such as water pumping and irrigation
Solar energy provides energy for street lights and water heaters
Cottage industry manufactures various cow-based products
20 different types of vegetables, 10 varies of fruit, 9 varieties of flowers and 4 kinds of grains are grown on the farm
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July 29, 2019
Russell Brand
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