Adwiteeya

Excellent Advice for Youth from Swamiji himself. If each of us follow this, our lives, our families and our country would be dharmic.
Have pride in our Indian culture and traditions. Bharata is the land of great people yogis, rishis, seers. Believe that you too have the power of adhyatma. You can gain that through japa, parayana and adhyayana. Swamiji has given a list of dos and don'ts. Here is a gist.

1. Devara Namasmarana
2. Make shuba sankalpa of the things you want to do today
3. Ekadasi upavaas
4. Thande-Thayi seve
5. Paropakara- Dhana, Dhaanya, Samaya, Sadvichara
6. Discourage intercaste marriages and divorce
7. Nityadalli Sandhyavandana, Gayatri japa
8. No outside food. Eat only neivedya
9. Wear Gopichanda mudra and Tulasi maala
10.Recite Vishnu Sahasranama and Vayustuti daily
11.Read Maadhwa books and listen to Maadhwa Pravachanas

For women
1.Namasmarana
2.Read Harikathamruthasara- daily 1 sandhi parayana
3.Sing Devara Naama at least 2 in the morning and 2 in the evening
4.Recite Narasimha, Durga and Dhanvantari Suladigalu
5.Keep Gopalakrishna murthi in Tulasi katte and perform puja to it daily with arshna, kumkuma and water.
6.Wear Gopichandana and Kumkuma on forehead. Recite shloka while doing it.
7.Learn about Habba, Haridana, Shraadha etc. that should be performed at home and make preparations for it.
8.Athithi Satkaara
9.Observe 3 days a month strictly

Damodara

I always wanted to know what's the meaning of 'Damodar' and why Jagannatha dasaru used only that name at the end of the Mangalacharan Sandhi of HKS. I found a great video of his holiness Sri Sri Satyatma Tirtharu where he explains the different meaning of the 'Damodara'.

Religious Symbols Are Important Too

There are some people who claim they believe in God but don't believe in rituals. They don't believe in going to temples, wearing religious symbols etc. I would like to say that this is not correct. Let's say Mr.A loves his home country India but is disrespectful to the Indian flag or the National Anthem. He may say that I love my country and don't need to show my love through these symbols like flag etc. But disrespecting the national flag is an offence and Mr.A may be jailed for that. You may have love for the country but you ought to show it to the flag which is representative of the country.

Similarly a person may love God and be a good person at heart but he or she ought to respect the rituals and representations of God which are for example- Saaligraama, Gopichandana, Temple, God's idol, God's photo, sacred texts like Bhagvata, Mahabharata etc., a brahmin or a person who performs puja, cow, Tulsi plant, mother Earth etc. which are representative of God. Although Lord Krishna is everywhere He has said that the above mentioned places are very dear to Him and we must respect these as much as God Himself.