His Grace Jivananda dasa Vanacari is a disciple of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, the Founder-Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness and has been practicing Bhakti-yoga (the yoga of love) since 1973. He is a renounced Vaisnava Monk, an initiating Diksa Guru, a renowned scholar in the ancient teachings of the Vedic Literatures and an effective spiritual/personal counselor. While constantly traveling worldwide, he helps people to develop their dormant love for the Supreme, one another and all living entities as he teaches “The Science of Self-Realization.”
By the Order of Guru
As a traveling monk since 2005, His Grace Jivananda dasa Vanacari has been engaged in ministering to the spiritual welfare of human society. Out of so many human beings who are suffering, there are a few who are actually inquiring about their position, as to what they are, where they come from, etc. In the conditioned state, a living entity accepts his body as himself and forgets his eternal relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead and continually acts on the interest of his body by performing all sorts of misconceived activities, which lead to his perpetual bondage in repetition of birth and death.
His Grace Jivananda dasa Vanacari works to revive that lost and forgotten relationship by revealing the deep and eternal truths embedded within the Vedas and by practicing a life of devotion steeped in love and affection for the Supreme. To practice yoga means controlling the senses, and bhakti-yoga means purifying the senses. Purified consciousness means acting in accordance with the instructions of the Lord. By associating with devotees of the Lord one can directly experience one’s eternal nature (pratyakṣāvagamam). By experiencing one’s eternal nature, one becomes thoroughly blissful (susukham) and becomes engaged in the devotional service of the Lord. This is the whole sum and substance of purified consciousness. Devotional service to the Lord is very simple: one should always engage in the service of the Lord, should eat the remnants of foodstuffs offered to the Deity, smell the flowers offered to the lotus feet of the Lord, see the places where the Lord had His transcendental pastimes, read of the different activities of the Lord, His reciprocation of love with His devotees, chant always the transcendental vibration Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, and observe the fasting days commemorating the appearances and disappearances of the Lord and His devotees. By following such a process one becomes completely detached from all material activities.
The transcendental bliss enjoyed in pure devotional service is like an ocean, whereas material happiness and even the happiness to be derived from the realization of Brahman effulgence are just like the water in the hoofprint of a calf. In the Tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Lord Krishna tells the gopīs that they would have to accept their own service as the ultimate reward of their devotion to Him, since nothing awards as much happiness and knowledge as devotional service itself. When one sincerely chants and hears the holy name and fame of Lord Krishna, the heart is purified and gradually one can appreciate the actual, blissful nature of their existence in Krishna consciousness, loving service to the Lord. His Grace is always desiring to serve Krishna and is always interested in spreading the knowledge and devotional activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, throughout every town and village.
