Archive for January, 2008
Saturday, January 12th, 2008
My India Diary-Part 10
Day 23-24 Mayapur-Calcutta-Puri 12/29-30
We left Mayapur with the fortunate association of HG Ananda Tirtha Prabhu and his wife, HG Radha-Sundari Mataji, joining us for the ride to Calcutta. We all guzzled coconut water, debated what to do when a street dog is dying on the beach next to the Ganges, and celebrated Mauricio’s first passing of water in natural, outdoor conditions. Ki Jai!
We had a quick stop-over at the ISKCON Guest House in Calcutta, stuffing ourselves with thalis, and then I watched, utterly fascinated, as some of the local boys played a pick-up game of cricket. On the ride to the train station it was decided that one of my new services at New Vrindaban would be to impersonate Indian cinema legend Amitab Bachchan for guests on the weekend. The checkbooks will open and the donations will roll in like tidal waves.
The train ride was pretty damn hellish. The possibly communist train conductor wouldn’t let me one measly extra blanket, deciding I had an advantage over the working class. He also not-so-gently woke me up at 530 am as we arrived in Puri. At this point, I’m pretty damn grumpy and burnt-out with moving like a tourist sardine in a tin-rickshaw. I’d rather be back at New Vrindaban hauling something heavy through the snow and chilling with Ghosh and Soma over lunch prasad. However, there is one cure to this grumpiness, and that is to hit the ocean. Nothing like getting tossed around by 15-foot waves to get humble again.
We take a short tour of beautiful, mystical Puri in the evening, stopping first at Toto Gopinath Temple, meditating heavy on the sankirtan mission of Mahaprabhu and how fortunate we are to be directly following in His footsteps. We then travel to the Bhajan Kutir and birthplace of Srils Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur, the home of Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya, and the Bhajan Kutir of Haridas Thakur, praying deeply for the spiritual strength that is essential for the true preacher of harinama-sankirtana. Each and everyone of us must work internally and externally to be able to give the Holy Name freely and powerfully. As I meditated on the fact that Mahaprabhu was just here, I could sense that what had unfolded already, wand what is to unfold by our own hands and the mercy of the Lord is the only solution for this chaotic, in-need-of-love world. We have chosen the highest profession and we must, indeed we can’t go back on that choice.
Day 25 Puri 12/31
Last night was pretty hellish, with swarms of mosquitoes attacking my cactus-hide. I turn on the fan and curl up under a makeshift mosquito net, and then proceed to re-catch the cold I had in Vrndavana. I know, I know….this is rather exciting. Sick and grumpy. Sick and grumpy.
I stumble over to join Mauricio for a few rounds in the Samadhi of Haridas Thakur, meditating on the very beads he chanted on, saturated with pure love of the Holy Name. Pretty far-out. If we even unplug the salt-water from our ears, we can hear his vibrations cooling the fires of lust and passion in our own hearts.
We hit the beach again for a little therapy. Justin and I want to get some tubes to enhacne our wave-riding experience, but no luck, so getting dumped on my head by 15-foot waves doesn’t really make me feel better. I try to sleep in the sand and sub, and Justin makes some locals’ day by sharing pictures and addresses. He gets thoroughly weirded out by their intense need for friendship with an American person. There is no more peculiar excitement for some Indian people than hanging out with a white man. They must think we are all movie stars.
Up on the roof to watch the sunset over the Indian Ocean. The sun just kinds dissolves into the haze, with no fireworks. Kirtan in the evening in the temple room, inspired by Mauricio’s always-grooving dancing, gets me off the bodily platform for at least a moment. Now my only goal is to finish my big 7-Up. For some reason my body has gone completely haywire and the only thing I crave is 7-Up.
Puri is wonderful, so I am praying to return in a mood of service, not so affected by my externals, sometime in the future.
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Saturday, January 12th, 2008
More Humble Than a Blade of Grass
Hare Krishna. These are two wonderful photos of His Grace Vaishesika Prabhu. He is inspiring the whole world with his unbounded enthusiasm. I am sure there are a few of you out there who will be glad to have them. I know I am always filled with joy upon seeing his loving face. I am also inspired to leave this computer and finish my rounds.
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Saturday, January 12th, 2008
A Visit To New Vrindaban
By Bhaktin Lacie
Hare Krsna,
I woke up at 4am today, 30 minutes before planned and head downstairs for yet another beautiful mangal arti. I have been to mangal artis all over the place, but New Vrindaban’s are always the sweetest. It’s like waking up on Christmas morning with your family… whether it’s Christmas time or […]
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Saturday, January 12th, 2008
“Affirmation” by Donald Hall
To grow old is to lose everything.
Aging, everybody knows it.
Even when we are young,
we glimpse it sometimes, and nod our heads
when a grandfather dies.
Then we row for years on the midsummer
pond, ignorant and content. But a marriage,
that began without harm, scatters
into debris on […]
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Friday, January 11th, 2008
Case Study
If it were music, it would be Mahler’s
Ninth Symphony, the requiem;
if a Bridge hand - set three,
doubled and vulnerable.
Of weather conditions, a drizzling day,
just above freezing, with wind.
A dialogue would be eristical,
with condescending looks.
Or if a house - the roof would seep,
with black mold growing in hidden places.
Color would be gray:
unfocused, dim, and fading.
In a […]
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Friday, January 11th, 2008
Gourangi fall 2007
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Friday, January 11th, 2008
Yogamaya
lyrics and music by Devananda Pandit
Kamsa rallied evil kings and then set out to commit atrocities.
He behaved inimically towards the Bhoja and the Yadu dynasties.
He first divided kingdoms then he conquered all according to his plans.
Soon he was the ruling king all throughout the land.
When the pure hearted Devaki was pregnant for […]
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Thursday, January 10th, 2008
Midnight in a Perfect World.
Midnight? the year is just beginning.
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Wednesday, January 9th, 2008
Tired
I’m tired. As usual.
I’m tired of being tired.
I’m tired of being tired year after year.
I’m too tired to continue to expend the energy to wear the mask to function with the neuro typicals inside the box in a way they find acceptable.
I’m tired of waiting for the hand of fire to touch my lips.
I’m tired […]
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Wednesday, January 9th, 2008
Lord Nrsmhadeva close-up
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Wednesday, January 9th, 2008
“Caedmon” by Denise Levertov
All others talked as if
talk were a dance.
Clodhopper I, with clumsy feet
would break the gliding ring.
Early I learned to
hunch myself
close by the door:
then when the talk began
I’d wipe my
mouth and wend
unnoticed back to the barn
to be with the warm beasts,
dumb among body sounds
of the simple ones.
I’d see by a twist
of lit rush the motes
of gold […]
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Wednesday, January 9th, 2008
My India Diary-Part 9
Day 21 Mayapur 12/27
Pretty homesick for New Vrindaban today. Not sure exactly why, but I feel a great need for some down-hoe love, some service hauling something heavy in the deep snow, and I miss all the devotees there who are my dear friends. One reason may be is that there are just too many people here for me to focus and go deep. One thing that I’m learning about myself on this trip is that I really don’t like big crowds of pushy people.
We took a short trip around Mayapur, going to Yoga Pitha, the birthplace of Lord Caitanya, where we performed a rousing kirtan with Caitanya’s freshly purchased mrdanga. We also visited Srivas Angan, the ISKCON Jagannath temple, and the Caitanya Math, where a group of devotees were holding a wonderful program at the samadhi of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur for his disappearance day.
Taking Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur’s advice to seek the shelter of sadhus when visiting the Dham. we spent a lot of time at the magnificent gurukula built in Bengal-Zen style by HH Bhakti Vidya Purna Maharaja. We were there for his daily Bhagavatam class, and some key splashes of nectar were that we can only experience Krsna fully in the present moment. Not in the past or in the future, in which pur perceptions are governed by time and the modes. For Krsna, there is no time as we know it, and every moment is an ever-fresh experience. If we can immerse ourselves in the experience of the present moment, rather than analyzing it in any certain way, we can begin to realize what going beyond mundane time, and we can understand better the way Krsna is arranging things for us.
Another drop of nectar was that the Holy Name, even by offering it in nama-bhasa, takes away all sins, but that we cannot fully realize the effect until we accept and surrender to His love and plan. Then, we will have full shelter and purity, even as the material nature still acts. We met Maharaja privately later on in the day, speaking some brahmacari katha. Maharaja encouraged a strong program, with the emphasis on making sure strong, proper training is being offered, and care. So that even if a brahmacari wants to get married, because he has been properly trained he will be able to embrace the challenges and difficulties of switching asramas in the proper mood. It’s not just a matter of needing a woman, or not needing a woman. Only a properly trained brahmacari can handle caring for a wife and children, helping them back to Godhead.
We were deeply inspired by the internal and external aesthetics of Maharaja’s project, and we all deeply pray to take birth again soon so that we may be properly trained up in Navadvip Dham.
Day 22 Mayapura 12/28
Woke up and took a japa stroll to the super-sattvic atmosphere of HH Bhakti Vidya Purna Swami’s gurukula, where there I was greeted by HG Ananda Tirtha Prabhu, fellow New Vrindaban Brajbasi, who gave me a guided tour of the facilties, including the wondrous temple room with its collection of various Nrshinga deities and silas. In Maharaja’s class he spoke a point that neither Maya herself, nor the material nature, is actually the illusion. It is when we see and acit in such a way that we separate the material nature from its rightful owner, Krsna, that we fall into illusion. When we try to lord it over, falling into the traps and dwelling on the past and future, that we become responsible for creating the illusion.
Justin and I then took advantage of the local barber-shop walla, and we both find ourselves so fresh and so clean hair-wise for the first time in a couple of weeks. A freshly-shaved head actually cuts through my various head-games and firmly reminds me that I should act as a devotee. We followed that with another transcendental dip in the Ganges. Caitanya and Mauricio engaged in some Ganga-clay therapy by smearing a whole bunch over their bodies and letting it dry, turning them into ghostly nag-babas. Justin got to witness a local dog take its last breaths and twitches right next to the Ganga before passing on to something better. He hopes to be as fortunate to die on the banks of the Ganges.
We followed that excitement with a down-home pizza party with Ananda Tirtha and his wife, Radha Sundari, and we then had the association of HG Prahlada Nrshinga Prabhu, a wonderful devotee from Argentina, very warm with no pretensions and some astrological sakti. He regaled us with a few wild stories from his days in Miami and New Vrindaban and gave us all encouragement to continue on the path of bhakti.
In the evening we took a short boat-ride over to Bhaktivinode Thakur’s house, stopping to take darshan of the huge banyan tree outside the front gate. Only the California redwoods are as impressive a sight in the tree department. The Thakur’s house was filled with realizations, and it was very easy to imagine him rising early in the morning to inspire all future generations of Vaisnavas with his writings and visions. I pray to live long enough to see that “exceedingly beautiful temple” rising along the horizon from the very balcony where the Thakur has his vision. We owe our lives to hi, for he truly paved the way back to Godhead for us.
Tomorrow, off to Puri. Not enough time her, in ISKCON’s most realized project. I pray to only to return to offer service to the Vaisnavas here, as they continue to build the spiritual capital of the universe.
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Wednesday, January 9th, 2008
My India Diary-Part 9
Day 21 Mayapur 12/27
Pretty homesick for New Vrindaban today. Not sure exactly why, but I feel a great need for some down-hoe love, some service hauling something heavy in the deep snow, and I miss all the devotees there who are my dear friends. One reason may be is that there are just too many people here for me to focus and go deep. One thing that I’m learning about myself on this trip is that I really don’t like big crowds of pushy people.
We took a short trip around Mayapur, going to Yoga Pitha, the birthplace of Lord Caitanya, where we performed a rousing kirtan with Caitanya’s freshly purchased mrdanga. We also visited Srivas Angan, the ISKCON Jagannath temple, and the Caitanya Math, where a group of devotees were holding a wonderful program at the samadhi of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur for his disappearance day.
Taking Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur’s advice to seek the shelter of sadhus when visiting the Dham. we spent a lot of time at the magnificent gurukula built in Bengal-Zen style by HH Bhakti Vidya Purna Maharaja. We were there for his daily Bhagavatam class, and some key splashes of nectar were that we can only experience Krsna fully in the present moment. Not in the past or in the future, in which pur perceptions are governed by time and the modes. For Krsna, there is no time as we know it, and every moment is an ever-fresh experience. If we can immerse ourselves in the experience of the present moment, rather than analyzing it in any certain way, we can begin to realize what going beyond mundane time, and we can understand better the way Krsna is arranging things for us.
Another drop of nectar was that the Holy Name, even by offering it in nama-bhasa, takes away all sins, but that we cannot fully realize the effect until we accept and surrender to His love and plan. Then, we will have full shelter and purity, even as the material nature still acts. We met Maharaja privately later on in the day, speaking some brahmacari katha. Maharaja encouraged a strong program, with the emphasis on making sure strong, proper training is being offered, and care. So that even if a brahmacari wants to get married, because he has been properly trained he will be able to embrace the challenges and difficulties of switching asramas in the proper mood. It’s not just a matter of needing a woman, or not needing a woman. Only a properly trained brahmacari can handle caring for a wife and children, helping them back to Godhead.
We were deeply inspired by the internal and external aesthetics of Maharaja’s project, and we all deeply pray to take birth again soon so that we may be properly trained up in Navadvip Dham.
Day 22 Mayapura 12/28
Woke up and took a japa stroll to the super-sattvic atmosphere of HH Bhakti Vidya Purna Swami’s gurukula, where there I was greeted by HG Ananda Tirtha Prabhu, fellow New Vrindaban Brajbasi, who gave me a guided tour of the facilties, including the wondrous temple room with its collection of various Nrshinga deities and silas. In Maharaja’s class he spoke a point that neither Maya herself, nor the material nature, is actually the illusion. It is when we see and acit in such a way that we separate the material nature from its rightful owner, Krsna, that we fall into illusion. When we try to lord it over, falling into the traps and dwelling on the past and future, that we become responsible for creating the illusion.
Justin and I then took advantage of the local barber-shop walla, and we both find ourselves so fresh and so clean hair-wise for the first time in a couple of weeks. A freshly-shaved head actually cuts through my various head-games and firmly reminds me that I should act as a devotee. We followed that with another transcendental dip in the Ganges. Caitanya and Mauricio engaged in some Ganga-clay therapy by smearing a whole bunch over their bodies and letting it dry, turning them into ghostly nag-babas. Justin got to witness a local dog take its last breaths and twitches right next to the Ganga before passing on to something better. He hopes to be as fortunate to die on the banks of the Ganges.
We followed that excitement with a down-home pizza party with Ananda Tirtha and his wife, Radha Sundari, and we then had the association of HG Prahlada Nrshinga Prabhu, a wonderful devotee from Argentina, very warm with no pretensions and some astrological sakti. He regaled us with a few wild stories from his days in Miami and New Vrindaban and gave us all encouragement to continue on the path of bhakti.
In the evening we took a short boat-ride over to Bhaktivinode Thakur’s house, stopping to take darshan of the huge banyan tree outside the front gate. Only the California redwoods are as impressive a sight in the tree department. The Thakur’s house was filled with realizations, and it was very easy to imagine him rising early in the morning to inspire all future generations of Vaisnavas with his writings and visions. I pray to live long enough to see that “exceedingly beautiful temple” rising along the horizon from the very balcony where the Thakur has his vision. We owe our lives to hi, for he truly paved the way back to Godhead for us.
Tomorrow, off to Puri. Not enough time her, in ISKCON’s most realized project. I pray to only to return to offer service to the Vaisnavas here, as they continue to build the spiritual capital of the universe.
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Wednesday, January 9th, 2008
Vegan Cooking Workshop #1 2008
Today was quite wonderful. I woke up and chanted japa with Sri Kishore Prabhu. JC came over for our first one on one yoga session of the year. I taught him pranayama and a moon series to add to his surya which he practiced last semester. Today we had lots of fun sustaining various asanas. This was new to him but I was comforted having someone to suffer with me. Yoga is definitely a love hate relationship.
After dropping him off at school I went on another prayer walk through campus. I sat for some time noticing the thousands of faces which I do not know. The thousands of souls who have not had a chance to hear about Krishna. I think this quarter I am going to start setting up a book table on campus. One week Ill do Wednesday and one week Ill do Thursdays. I miss book distribution!
After my walk I returned home and caught up on some email. Then I prepared an individual vegan pizza for lunch which made me fall a sleep for a good hour. After my slumber and a cold shower I headed out to town for some shopping. Its great going to the same store on the same days of the week year after year. I now know many of the employees at each store and have great conversations with each of them. Im trying to inspire all the high school grocery bag kids to start coming to our programs. They said they are into it but they have to ask their parents for permission.
I was planning to cook for only 60 people. On face book, only 30 confirmed so I didn’t think it would turn out so great. I was wrong. I arrived at our location at 6:30 and already students started arriving to help out. Students just kept coming and coming. We prepared whole wheat pasta, sesame bread sticks, organic salad, dressings, pasta sauce, primavera vegetables, carob cake, and rasberry lemonande. There was so much help, that when i finally stepped up on my soap box for announcements it was exactly 8 pm! I couldn’t believe it. We cooked the compete meal from scratch in one hour exactly! There were so many hands helping out.
Over a 100 students attended. I thought only 30-50 would come. It was our first one of the quarter and I didn’t send any invites until the night before. No advertising. Simply Krishna. This is definitely a sign that this year is going to big huge. I have to brainstorm, how are we going to facilitate so many people in cooking?
By ten everything was cleaned up and I returned to the center to meet Ananda Vidya Prabhu. Krishna really blessed me by his association. Ananda Vidya Prabhu is my big borther. He has always watched out for me and encourages me in our activities.
The rest of the week looks busy. Please pray for us.
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Tuesday, January 8th, 2008
Kurma’s Interview With Abolitionist-Online
TRANSCENDENTAL HIGHER LIFE
Kurma Dasa from the Hare Krishna’s Interviewed on animal rights, vegetarianism and karma-free living. Interview By Claudette Vaughan
Kurma Dasa is one of the world’s leading proponents of pure vegetarian cuisine. Dubbed “Australia’s Vegetarian Guru,” Kurma has been writing cookbooks, teaching students and hosting internationally broadcast TV shows for over thirty-five years. Kurma’s innovative […]