Journey Home - Interview

Interview by Joshua Greene      

Q: What motivated you to write this memoir?

Radhanath Swami: For many years friends and well-wishers asked me to write this memoir because they heard me tell stories from time to time. But I always resisted because I felt it would be an act of arrogance to write a story about myself. But then something happened that changed my mind.

My very dear friend Bhakti Tirtha was brought up in the ghettos of Cleveland in the ‘50s and ‘60s and rose up to be a Princeton graduate and religious leader of the Bhakti movement and traveled around the world. Such people as Muhammed Ali, Nelson Mandela, Alice Coltrane were taking guidance from him. He wrote many books. He called me to his bedside in Pennsylvania in the last stages of cancer. I went just to offer my love and respect to him. At that time he said something that really changed my life. He said, “I want to die in your arms. Please stay with me.”

I spent the next eight weeks at his side, discussing spiritual inspirational subjects. And one day he looked at me with very deep concern in his eyes. He took my hand and said, “Why are you hesitating to write this memoir that everyone has asked for?” I expressed my heart. “Is it not an act of arrogance to write about myself?” He said, “This is not your story. This is the story of a young man who was called to try to find the same truths that everyone is searching for in this world. If your story can help other people on their spiritual path, then it would be arrogance not to write it.” Then he took my hand and said, “Please promise me, on my deathbed, that you will write this book.”

Just a few days later, surrounded by hundreds of loving well-wishers and followers, His Holiness Bhakti Tirtha passed away from this world. In honor of his love and friendship I have written this book, “The Journey Home.”

Stand on the real platform

Thursday, 13 May 2010 10:31 Written by TVD

Truth is bright like a sunshine. Nothing can ever cover it but still we  become covered by our own illusion. A life is full of events, unexpected or expected experiences, decisions and choices and new realizations at every step. One of the most depressing this is to evaluate our life according to our own terms and conditions. Unfortunately this is the cause of major depression in people. We honestly see our weakness but never address them or fail to go to the right place to address it.

This is because we base everything on a very wrong platform. The platform is mental platform which can be our mind or other minds. It has no real substance in it. Mind is a fast moving plane. It takes us for a ride everytime we put faith in it. We base our existence on it, either our view of world, belief in God, respecting others, deciding what is right and wrong , basically every thing we do. And this is the real cause of all worries and faithlessness and pure exploitation of ourselves and others.

The solution is stand or base everything on a platform of truth. And that truth is Veda, the knowledge coming from God. The essence of it is readily available in the form of Srimad Bhagavatam, which is the essence of all vedic knowledge. And it must be heard from a genuine practioner without his mental concoted input.

Really, if we are serious to seek out the best path then we just take this, because it has already been chalked out for us. Ofcourse this needs our effort to move from mental platform to platform of knowledge. This is the path of all great souls.