The Journey Home: Autobiography of an American Swami

by Radhanath Swami

The Vedas also condemn idol worship. Historically, there were traditions in both East and West where people concocted forms and worshipped them out of superstition with no clear conception of the one God. Quite often, they had selfish or evil motives. It is this type of idolatry that has been condemned through the ages. In the age of the Bible and Koran, it was common among non-believers.

The aim is to please the Lord through surrender and love.”

By His will He may choose to appear in His own energy as a deity to help us focus our minds and senses in loving servitude.

In a similar way the Lord may appear in the tangible form of a deity to help us see and feel His presence and reciprocate with our love.”

“The river Jordan is chilly and cold. It chills the body but warms the soul.”

The love between Krishna, who is the beloved, and Radha, the lover, is the divine origin of all love.”

nothing had prepared me for the hidden truth of yoga’s greatest mystery: the mystery of bhakti, or devotion. And now I was learning that the keeper of this mystery was Radha.

I pondered on how the nourishing, compassionate side of spirituality is often overruled by the elements of power and control.

Others worship God as a great king, but here in Vrindavan…”—he gazed around and stretched his hand toward the forest—“…Krishna is at home. Here we love him as a friend, as a child, as a lover.”

A thorn had pricked deeply into my foot, causing me more discomfort than the horn of the bull. I reached down to extract the thorn reflecting that perhaps this was Krishna’s kindness—a token thorn to replace the bull’s horn.

His every limb is softer than fresh butter. Yet He may act with the power of a thunderbolt.

He expands to personally reside within the heart of every living being as our constant friend and witness.

I saw how loving God naturally awakened the qualities of an ideal human being, one with compassion for all.

“When I was a young man, my family made pilgrimage to Vrindavan. It was here that the net of the Lord’s grace captured my heart.

“You have entered Man Garh, the mountain of angry love. In this forest, Sri Radha feigns anger toward Lord Krishna to express Her unique love for Him and He comes here to plead for that love.”

“Love conquers the beloved Lord. It is His own sweet will to be conquered.

Wonderstruck, I asked, “But what will that small stick do to protect us from a wild leopard?” “Nothing, Krishnadas. Only the Lord can protect us.” He yawned deeply and closed his eyes, drowsily finishing his thought. “However, our duty is to show Krishna that we are doing our part.”

When a child is in danger, his only means of protection is in appealing to his mother or father.

“The basic principle of the living condition is that we have a general propensity to love someone,” he began. “No one can live without loving someone else. This propensity is present in every living being. The missing piece, however, is where to direct our love so that everyone is included and can be happy.”

“At the present moment, human society teaches one to love his country or family or his personal self, but there is no information on where to direct the loving propensity so that everyone will be happy.”

Perhaps, I thought, the miracle of being an instrument of kindness is the most powerful of all.

But sometimes Srila Prabhupada is criticized to the point of death threats for giving initiation to Westerners, ignoring the caste system, or for engaging women in priestly duties.”

Material consciousness is to forget an object’s relationship with God. Spiritual consciousness is to see everything in relation to God and utilize everything in devotional service.”

“Let us take this microphone, for example. If it is used to sing songs about mundane passion, it is material. If, however, it is used to sing the glories of the Lord, it is spiritual. It’s all a matter of consciousness. We want to use everything for a spiritual cause.

This morning, one guest made excuse after excuse to defend his immoralities and spiritual weaknesses. Srila Prabhupada listened, then his voice rose like thunder, “If you are weak, rectify it. If you have no determination, you have no character. What makes you different from an animal?”

“A spiritual teacher is required to have the courage of a British General and the heart of a Bengali mother.”

God is great because He is the origin of all of these opulences and possesses them without limit.

Service in separation is a test of our gratitude and love and that separation, I found, is also the sweetest union.

Father Bede Griffiths, a Catholic monk and author of several books that bridged the wisdom of Christianity and Hinduism.

Considering the rise of immorality and sectarian hatred, in several primary and high schools we offer courses in value education to combine students from Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Jain, Buddhist, and Parsi communities, teaching universal ethical values with stories and analogies from all the world’s great religions.

Bhakti Yoga is the science of transforming material into spiritual.

Our true home awaits us at the end of life’s perilous journey. It is a place of lasting peace, beckoning us to persevere until we, too, reunite with our lost love.