An Authentic Life 1.1 for pdf - Universalist Radha-Krishnaism

quitoes. There was no body surfing, but great snorkeling,
especially when Mr. Punja took me out on a
boat. It was also not the type of preaching I wanted to
do even though Swamiji wrote telling me how
pleased he was with me for doing this.
Swamiji often used the phrase yasya prasädäd
bhagavat-prasädo yasyäprasädän na gatiù kuto ’pi which
means, “By the mercy of the spiritual master one receives
the benediction of Krishna. Without the grace
of the spiritual master, one cannot make any advancement.”
However, it often seemed to mean,
“You’d better do it or else.”
❡
I was spoiled by life in Hawaii. I was out of
management for over a year and deep into my spiritual
practices. I found it difficult chanting even sixteen
rounds of japa when I was doing sixty-four.
Meditating on my spiritual identity was mostly out of
the question.
Mr. Punja rented a bungalow for me and several
devotees to work out of. Since he paid the rent
and our startup costs, he wanted to handle temple finances.
I knew the person who controls the finances
controls everything. I had to deal with finances and
temple politics. I stayed in Fiji two and a half months
like this and became depressed.
When I received a letter from Swamiji saying
he was extremely pleased with me because I did
something “tangible . . . without any consideration of
your self-interest” to please him, this was no longer
acceptable to me and was the final straw. I didn’t be-
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