1st Tue: Jul 5, 2016: Who Is Independent… will be discussed at the American Vedic Association Bhagavad Gita as It Is Fellowship: We celebrate our freedom, but who is free from the pangs of birth, old age, disease, death, natural disasters, emotional distress and the assault of other living entities? Learn how to escape these miseries at the next AVA gathering.
Program Schedule
7:00pm – 7:20pm – Kirtan (Congregational Call & Response Chanting) – Instruments welcomed!
7:20pm – 8:00pm – Bhagavad Gita Fellowship Discussion (Sanskrit & Philosophy)
8:00pm – 8:15pm – Questions & Answers
8:15pm – 8:45pm – Krishna Prasad – (Sacred Vegetarian Congregational Meal)
8:45pm – Onwards… Informal sharing, Devotee networking, Inspirational videos
Guests are welcome to arrive as early as 6:30pm.
Please call if you would like to assist in cooking, set up or other forms of community devotional service.
We begin at 7 pm, however, late arrivals are welcome to join us.
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Telephone: (805)640-0405 Venue: 687 West Villanova Road Ojai, California 93023
Always Free!
Current Events: Click Link below for Details how to Join Us in the Ojai Rathyatra Parade.
OjaiRathInvite2016
Guest Speaker June 5th!
Many nice Vaishnavas will attend the July 4th parade and some of them have indicated that they will stay for the AVA program scheduled the following evening. I therefore feel confident we will have the opportunity to hear from a nice guest speaker… come and find out who that will be!
Featured Commentary
Who Is Independent…?
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The police slaps him, and he says, “I am independent.” How is he independence? So that sort of independence we are having. We are kicked by maya always, and we are thinking, “independent.” This is insanity. He does not think, “How can I be independent? I must serve my senses. But I cannot enjoy my senses indefinitely… yet I am thinking I am independent.”
Those who think like this do not think properly. Where is his independence? He is born dependent on so many things like food, rains, clean air, good health, safe environment etc. Because we are part and parcel of God our constitutional position is to be dependent on Him.
Just like a child who declares independence. What is the meaning of that independence? Danger. That’s all. Simply inviting dangers. A child wants: “Oh, I don’t care for my parents. I shall cross the road. I shall go everywhere.” So if he is allowed to do that, that means he is simply inviting dangers. However if he remains under the protection of the parents, he is always safe.
So anyone who declare their independence from God is insane because they cannot be independent. Anyone who considers this carefully will realize they cannot be independent. Those who claim to be independent of God, are dependent on their sense pleasure. That’s all.
They may even voluntarily take some intoxication, and claim to be independent, but then they are dependent on maya. (Illusions) That’s all. Who is independent? Is there anyone independent? Nobody is independent. To think of independence is maya.
Best thing is to properly recognize how and who I am dependent on. Then that person will be protected.” That is Krsna consciousness. Material consciousness means thinking falsely independent. This is maya.
Just like in dream one may think there is a tiger. There is no tiger, but one becomes alarmed because of this false impression, “Oh, tiger is eating me. It has attacked me. Save me.” So this material existence means because he is insane, he is thinking there are so many problems, “The tiger is there. He is attacking me. This, that, so many enemies, friends…,” creating so many things. They are all false but if one does not realize that it is all a false hallucination it can be very disturbing. That’s all.
This is maya. Everyone is thinking, “Oh, there are so many problems I have to solve. I have to make this,.. I have to do that,.. there are so many things I must do!” But actually there is only ONE problem, how to accept Krsna. That’s all. And Krsna is so kind. He says, “Yes, you accept Me. Simply chant Krsna. I am yours and I will take care of everything. That’s real independence, real freedom, real liberation. Therefore, just like if electric bulbs are separated from the powerhouse, practically it has no value, similarly, so long we are separated from Krsna, we have no value.
But we are so unfortunate we can’t even do that. We make so many excuses. We let our senses drag us to so many unfulfilling destinations. We are too proud to admit we need Krsna’s help. So instead of surrender… we blunder forward and keep getting kicked by maya.
Caitanya Mahaprabhu teaches “Etadrsi tava krpa bhagavan” that “O Krsna, You are so kind that You have come to Me in the sound vibration of ‘Krsna.’ I can very easily chant, and You remain with Me. But I am so unfortunate that I have no attraction even for this.” You say people, “You chant Krsna; you get everything.” They will not believe it.
However, if you say, “You press your nose. You make your head like this, lift your leg like this,.. You pay me fifty dollars. I’ll give you some nice mantra.” Then they will say: “Oh… here is something!” Just see how they want to be cheated?
But Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the incarnation of Krishna as His own devotee clearly states: “Simply chant Hare Krsna.” Yet he warns us by His own statement: “Oh, what is this?”, etadrsi tava krpa bhagavan mamapi durdaiva: “You are so easily available in this age, but I am so unfortunate, I cannot accept it.”
So Krsna consciousness is freely being distributed, but we are so unfortunate, we cannot accept. Just see. And you give them bluff, you cheat them — they will say, “Ah, yes, welcome. Yes.” They’ll welcome it. And cheaters are always ready: “Oh, there are so many customers for being cheated. Let me take advantage of it.”
So Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura Goswami would say, “This world is the society of cheaters and cheated.” Those who will not accept the simple path provided by Lord Caitanya will be cheated by those who happily come up with all sorts of other so called methods for growing spiritually which are actually useless! The association of cheaters and cheated. So our mission is to protect them from this society of cheaters and cheated. (Paraphrased from a Room Conversation — May 10, 1969, Columbus, Ohio)
END OF FEATURE COMMENTARY
Kirtan Night Tuesdays
2nd & 4th Tuesdays 7pm Every Month: Kirtan/Movie Time!
Bring your instruments and join in singing the most uplifting and recommended sound vibration for this age – the Maha mantra. Musicians encouraged! There are many Vedic references which specifically recommend the chanting of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra as the most effective and advantageous means of reaching spiritual realization and counteracting all the problems of this age. Some of these verses are the following:
“These sixteen words–Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare–are especially meant for counteracting the ill effects of the present age of quarrel and anxiety. (Kali-Santara Upanishad)”
“All mantras and all processes for self-realization are compressed into the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. (Narada-pancaratra)”
The current video series is the biography of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. This true life documentary dramatizes the extraordinary accomplishments of how, at the age 70 years old, the Founder Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness came to the West and established the worldwide Hare Krishna movement.