It's not the critic that counts.

In the sacred arena of Street Sankirtan sadly many devotees have been persecuted, thrown in jail, put in psychiatric asylums and even murdered around the world.

This poem is dedicated to them -

“It's not the critic that counts, nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or whether the doer of the deeds could have done them better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly, who errs and often comes up short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause.

And who, if at best in the end, knows the triumph of higher treatment and high achievements.

And at worst, if fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his soul shall never be with those cold and timid ones who know neither victory nor defeat”

(Taken from Theodore Roosevelt the 26th President Of The United States, from 1901-1912)

In regards to this quote, Srila Prabhupada told us we can take "good instructions" from anyone, from a Brahmana (Priest or teacher), a sudra (Labourer) or even an untouchable or the most fallen, if it is good instructions. (Quoting the 20th Century Indian Caste System)

This is because wise words like Gold, can NEVER be contaminated no matter who says them.

In other words, if Gold is found in a unclean place, or even in stool, it is still pure Gold.

And so are good instructions.

PHOTOS - The first photo is of Hladini devi dasi ACBSP a great devotee of Lord Krishna who was murdered in Africa in 1990 while preaching the Sankirtan Movement of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and trying to protect other devotees from being persecuted.

"Loyalty" and "surrender" in the Spiritual Planets in God's Kingdom, are ALWAYS expressed on a "two way street" that can ONLY be experienced when "two" are having loving respectful reciprocal exchanges of feelings.

Loyalty and acts of loving devotional service are only fully possible in the Spiritual Worlds where the relationship with Krishna is ALWAYS expressed in a "two way" contributing exchange.

Without this basic rule in the Spiritual Planets, there can NEVER be genuine love within one's relationship with Krishna.

Emotions expressed in a "one way" mood without the contribution of loving exchanges only experienced in a "two way" relationship, is NOT love at all, it is selfishness and exploitation which are also the qualities of impersonalism.

The "Spiritual World's of Vaikuntha and Goloka Vrindavana are NOT a dictatorial "one way" directive, or a domineering demanding place where God or Krishna does all the thinking and decision making for everyone, NO, the Spiritual Planets are NOT full of "mindless drones" and impersonal like that.

The fact is, in Vaikuntha and Goloka Vrindavana there are ALWAYS loving exchanges, cooperation, personal unique individual contributions and reciprocation going on between Krishna and His devotees eternally.

Srila Prabhupada - "Love is reciprocal, voluntary, good exchange of feeling. Then there is love. Not by force, no, Krishna does not want to become a lover like that, ‘You love me, otherwise I shall kill you!" (Washington DC July 8, 1976)

And "loyalty" is ALSO a "two way" street!

Krishna will NEVER "force" us to do what we do not "choose" to do because we are NOT Krishna's mindless drones of "yes" men or women. 

Srila Prabhupada - "Krishna does not want to become a lover by force, from the point of revolver. ‘You love me, otherwise I shall kill you!’ That is not love; that is threatening. Love is reciprocal, voluntary, good exchange of feeling. Then there is love. Not by force; that is rape. Why one is called lover, another is called rape?” (July 8, 1976 in Washington, D.C.)

Surrendering to Krishna and His pure devotees is NOT impersonal, it does NOT mean you have to give up your intelligence, free will, personality, individuality and the awareness of being an independent unique contributing person you are eternally.

The Spiritual Worlds are NOT an impersonal domineering mindless totalitarian placeof forced loyalty for the individual jiva souls with their relationship with Krishna. 

No, the Kingdom's of God (Vaikuntha and Goloka Vrindavana) are not like that, there is ALWAYS loving respectful nurturing exchanges of feelings and service based on reciprocation between Krishna and His devotees.

Devotee - "Srila Prabhupada why do we have free will?"

Srila Prabhupada - "If you have no free will, then you are a stone. The stone has no free will. You want to be stone? Then you MUST have free will! But don't misuse your free will. But don't try to become stone either. That is not life". (August 5, 1976, New Mayapur France)

Vipina Purandara - “Why doesn’t Krishna protect me from thinking independently from Him?"

Srila Prabhupada - “That means you lose your independence. That is force, in Bengali it is said, ‘If you catch one girl or boy, ‘You love me, you love me, you love me.’ ” Is it love? “You love me, otherwise I will kill you!’ Is that love? (July 8, 1976 in Washington, D.C.)

Krishna does NOT want those who are denied being able to voluntarily choose for themselves how to offer their own unique personal contributions, giving their best, or even reject Krishna if they choose.

There is always a choice and must be that way for love to really exist.

The Spiritual world's of Vaikuntha and Goloka Vrindavana are "personal Kingdoms" based on loving exchanges and cooperation between Krishna and His loving devotees, it is NEVER a "one way" demanding forceful relationship.       

Ultimately we are all Krishna's servant as His parts and parcels, and His very dear friends however, that does not mean we have to give up our "free will", "individuality" and "sense of independent self" to be Krishna's friend and servant.

Regarding Free will.

So yes, the conclusion is, of course there is ALWAYS free will in Goloka Vrindavana and Vaikuntha as part and parcel of the constitutional make up of every marginal living entity (individual jiva soul).

And yes, Krishna ALWAYS allows the jiva souls to have their freedom because if He didn't allow free will, then genuine meaningful loving exchanges will NEVER exist. This is why Krishna ALWAYS allows free will.

Srila Prabhupada has made it clear, it is only by Krishna’s sanction and approval the jiva souls have their freedom (free will) to begin with, so how to understand this? 

The fact is, as said above, if Krishna denied the jiva soul's their free will, then they would NEVER be able to experience love or know what love is in a personal way because ultimately love can only exist in a "two way" exchange of feelings, it can NEVER be "one way".

Emotions expressed in a "one way" mood without any exchange between two, is NOT love at all, it is selfishness and exploitation which is really impersonalism.

Therefore without free will, without the jiva soul's in their full spiritual potential have their freedom to voluntary contribute their own personal offerings by having independent choices, even though fully dependent on Krishna, the jiva soul can NEVER experience wonderful loving exchanges, reciprocation and experience their own personal unique offerings of individual contributions to Krishna.

As Prabhupada says, without "free will" we are no better than dead stone!

“Free will” or the ability to “choose” is eternally part and parcel of the jiva souls (marginal living entities) natural constitution and ALWAYS exists without beginning or end in ALL the Spiritual Planets.

However, free will in its full potential, is ONLY fully experienced in Vaikuntha and Goloka Vrindavan, which is the jiva souls original perpetual home.

As Srila Prabhupada has explained, the relationship between Krishna and the individual soul is NEVER a "one way" domineering relationship that denies personal contributions and choices that can only exist in a "two way" relationship.

No, love is ALWAYS based on the reciprocation between two because love can only exist when there are two as Prabhupada explains-

Srila Prabhupāda – ”Unless there are two persons, where is the question of love? Love means two persons, then there is exchange, then there is love. I must deal with you open-hearted, you must deal with me open-hearted, then there is love. So if you want to love Kṛṣṇa, God, then these things must be there”. (August 9, 1976, Tehran)

Srila Prabhupada – “So everyone can know that independence means one can use it properly, or one can misuse it. That is independence. If you make it one way only, that is not independence, that is force.” (Los Angeles, June 23, 1975)

Srila Prabhupada – “So, unless there is a possibility of misusing our free will, there is no question of freedom.” (Dialectical Spiritualism, Critique of Descartes)

Ultimately each individual soul is a unique PERSON who can choose for themselves how to voluntarily serve Krishna the Supreme Personality of Godhead and cause of all causes, or ignore Him if they choose. 

As Prabhupada explains, Krishna never forces you to surrender to Him, never forces you to love Him, that must be voluntary.

Srila Prabhupada – “Krishna NEVER forces you to love Him, that MUST be voluntary. (Melbourne June 25, 1974)

Srila Prabhupada – “Love is reciprocal, voluntary, good exchange of feeling. Then there is love. Not by force, no, Krishna does not want to become a lover like that.” (July 8, 1976)

Devotee – "In Srimad Bhagavatam, it says that Krishna did not want us to come to this material world. If Krishna did not want us to come, why are we here?” Why doesn’t He save me from thinking like that?”

Srila Prabhupada - “That means you lose your independence. That is force, in Bengali it is said, ‘If you catch one girl or boy, ‘You love me, you love me, you love me.’ ” Is it love? “You love me, otherwise I will kill you!’ Is that love? So Krishna does not want to become a lover like that, on the point of revolver. ‘You love me, otherwise I shall kill you!’ That is not love; that is threatening. Love is reciprocal, voluntary, good exchange of feeling. Then there is love. Not by force; that is rape. Why one is called lover, another is called rape?” (July 8, 1976 in Washington, D.C).

The jiva souls in Vaikuntha and Goloka Vrindavana are forever expanding their expression of individual offerings with personal contributions based on free will and selfless loving exchanges and reciprocation with Krishna, it is NEVER a one sided master/slave relationship with God or Krishna in GolokaVrindavana or Vaikuntha.

Real love or Bhakti is reciprocal, as said above, it is NEVER a "one way street" where surrender to Krishna takes away one's sense of self, individuality and personal contributions.

This is important to understand because each individual jiva-soul has their own independent personality, sense of self and unique personality and characteristics that THEY only have and no other jiva soul has, that is part and parcel of each individual marginal living entities make up as the independent unique "person" they are eternally.

Srila Prabhupada - “Because you are Son of God you have got independence, full independence, therefore you have acquired the quality of your father. "So God does not interfere with your independence”. (Conversation Melbourne, Australia June 25, 1974).**.. 

"Bhu-gola" simply means a spherical or round global shape. So there are "three Earth" (Bhu-gola) descriptions in scriptures explained here.

"Bhu-gola" is a Sanskrit word that also decribes our "Earth Planet" as a "round global sphere".

It is NOT flat as some primitive religions and their less intelligent followers have claimed due to their nonsense ignorant version of their scriptures.

This also includes those who  WRONGLY believe Vedic texts claim our Earth planet is flat.

There are "three Earth" meanings to the word "Bhu-gola".

In the Srimad Bhagavatam (Bhagavat Purana) "Bhu-gola" simply means "spherical, round or a globe".

The earth planet we live on is a "round global sphere" existing in the ocean of outer space and is 7,917.5 miles in diameter, it is NOT flat Srila Prabhupada clearly tells us-

Srila Prabhupada - "On the ground our earth looks flat but when you go up you will see our Earth planet is a ball, a global sphere" (Lecture New York 1966.)

Also the Sanskrit word "Dvīpa" does NOT only mean flat Island, the word has two meanings -

1 - "Islands" or "continents"

2 - Round planetary globes or spheres situated in the ocean of outer space.

Srila Prabhupada - "The planets are called dvīpas. Outer space is like an ocean of air. Just as there are islands in the watery ocean, these planets in the ocean of space are called dvīpas, or islands in outer space" (Caitanya Caritamrita Madhya 20.218, Purport)

Furthermore, the word "Bhu-gola" is not only a description of our Earth globe, but also describes the shape of the massive outer Brahmanda universe, that surrounds and incases our smaller inner universe, with its 14 planetary systems in it, that exists deep inside the surrounding outer Brahmanda universe.

There are billions of these greater Brahmanda universes that all originate from the breathing and pores of the sleeping Maha Vishnu as seen in painting below.

Deep within each Brahmanda, also known as a celestial egg ("Bhu-gola") as seen in painting below, there is an inner smaller secondary universe.

The sizes of both the outer Brahmandas and there inner secondary universe vary in size based on how many heads the Brahma in each universe has.

Our universe inside our Brahmanda is considered small because Brahma has only 4 heads.

In other universes within other Brahmandas, their Brahma may have hundreds of heads, even thousands or even a million, yes, it is almost inconceivable to understand.

Our small universe deep inside our surrounding Brahmanda, is described as being 500,000,000 yojana (4 billion miles) in diameter.

And is often called "Bhu-gola" because it is also a round spherical universe inside the greater spherical Brahmanda.

"Bhu-gola" simply means spherical or round as a global shape. So there are "three Earth" (Bhu-gola) descriptions in scriptures. 

1 - The greater earth (Brahmanda) (Bhu-gola)

2 - The inner earth inside our Brahmanda is called "Bhu-gola" universe with its 14 Planetary Systems also called "Bhu-Mandala" 

3 - And "Bhu-gola" also refers to our small earth global sphere we live on within our middle planetary system called Bhuloka as well.

"Bhu-gola" describes the "Earth globe" as a round spherical planet, which is just a spec in one of the 14 planetary systems within our small universe also often called the Bhu-Mandala universe situated deep within the surrounding Brahmanda outer shell.

"Bhu-Mandala" is described in the 5th Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam as our inner material universe 4 billion miles in diameter inside our Brahmanda.

In this way, our small "Bhu-Mandala" universe with its 14 planetary systems, that is also described as "Bhu-gola", is surrounded by the greater "Bhu-gola" (Brahmanda) universe that encases our 4 billion mile diameter Bhu-mandala or Bhu-gola universe.

Therefore we can see that "Bhu-gola" means - 

1 - Our "Brahmanda universe" 

2 - The "inner secondary material universe inside the Brahmanda", 

3 - Our "Earth planet" within one of the 14 planetary systems that all exist within the inner secondary universe.

All the above are spherical like a ball in shape.

As explained, the size of our inner material universe deep inside our surrounding Brahmanda universe, is 500,000,000 yojana in diameter (4 billion miles).

One yojana is equal to eight miles.

Therefore -

8 times 500,000,000 yojanas = 4 billions miles (4000,000,000 miles).

So our Earth global sphere (7,917.5 miles in diameter) we humans live on and is NOT 4 billions miles in diameter as some foolishly claim.  

Therefore our Earth planet CANNOT be Bhu-mandala according to the figures in the 5th Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam! 

There it says Bhu-Mandala is almost 4 billions miles in diameter (500,000,000 yojanas) and is a far too large description to be our Earth Planet or globe. 

Now the diameter of our outer greater Brahmanda universe (celestial sphere or shell of 7 material layers) is massive, it is 44 quadrillion 444 trillion 444 billion miles in diameter.

And that diameter can be just from the outer edge of our inner 4 billion mile diameter material universe.

This means the full size of our Brahmanda greater universe could be double that size according to some Vedic scholars.

In other words, if the measurement is taken from the outer edge of the inner 4 billion miles diameter spherical universe inside the Brahmanda, then the diameter of our outer surrounding Brahmanda shell is twice that size.**

Srila Prabhupada explains below that fall down from the Spiritual Planets is very rare and most jiva-souls "choose" to NEVER fall down.

Srila Prabhupada explains fall down from the Spiritual Planets is very, very rare and most jiva-souls NEVER fall down.

The following is a discussion with Srila Prabhupada where he explains that falling down into the material creation is very rare.

Most jiva-souls "choose" to NEVER fall down from the Spiritual Worlds of Vaikuntha and Goloka-Vrindavana and enter the mundane decaying material universes.

Dr. John Mize – “Did all the souls that were in the spiritual sky fall out of the spiritual sky at once or at different times, or are there any souls that are always good, they’re not foolish, they don’t fall down?”

Srila Prabhupada – “No, majority, 90%, they are always good, they never fall down."

Dr. John Mize – “So we’re among the 10%."

Srila Prabhupada – “Yes. Or less than that. In the material, whole material world all the living entities they are. Just like in the prison house, there is some population, but they are not majority. The majority of the population, they are outside the prison house. Similarly, majority of living being, part and parcel of God, they are in the spiritual world. Only a few fall down."

Dr. John Mize – “Does Krsna know ahead of time that a soul is going to be foolish and fall?”

Srila Prabhupada – “Krsna? Yes, Krsna may know because He is omniscient."

Dr. John Mize – “Are more souls falling all the time?”

Srila Prabhupada – “Not all the time. But there is the tendency of fall down, not for all, but because there is independenc. Everyone is not liking to misuse their independence. The same example: Just like a government constructing a city and constructs also prison house because the government knows that somebody will be criminal. So their shelter must be also constructed. It is very easy to understand. Not that cent percent population will be criminal, but government knows that some of them will be. Otherwise why they construct prison house also? One may say, “Where is the criminal? You are constructing” Government knows, there will be criminal. So if the ordinary government can know, why God cannot know? Because there is tendency."

Dr. John Mize – “The origin of that tendency (to fall from Goloka) is?”

Srila Prabhupada – “Yes.”

Dr. John Mize – “From where does that tendency come?”

Srila Prabhupada – “So everyone can know that independence means one can use it properly or one can misuse it. That is independence, that tendency is always there. If you make it one way only, that you cannot fall down, that is not independence. That is force. Therefore Krsna says, yathecchasi tathä kuru. “Now you do whatever you like.” (Bhagavad Gita As It Is. lecture, Mayapur, June 20, 1973)