Author Archive
Wednesday, July 11th, 2007
Maggie’s Veggie Deli in Donegal, PA!
I just wanted to give a promised shout-out to Maggie’s Vegetarian Deli, featuring all organic, locally grown foodstuffs, located just off the PA Turnpike, exit 91 into Donegal, 5 miles or so up a very scenic drive on Route 711 North.
The New V. Brahmacari Ashram contingent representing at BT Swami’s Samadhi installation stopped at Maggie’s on the way back from Gita Nagari and feasted….with the cherry on the sundae being the first customers ever to receive a free bowl of tofu ice cream for dessert. Devotees are once again opening doors.
Highly recommended for a bonafide stop-off on your way to or back from Gita Nagari and beyond.
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Tuesday, July 10th, 2007
“Blessed by the best…”
dad?ti pratigrhn?ti
guhyam ?khy?ti prcchati
bhu?kte bhojayate caiva
sad-vidham pr?ti-laksanam
Offering gifts in charity, accepting charitable gifts, revealing one’s mind in confidence, inquiring confidentially, accepting pras?da and offering pras?da are the six symptoms of love shared by one devotee and another.
The whole experience of being in person and in service for HH Bhakti-Tirtha Swami’s Samadhi installation last weekend at Gita Nagari can be summed up in one word…ecstatic!
The association of Vaisnavas relentlessly pursuing the theme of sharing loving exchanges was ecstatic!
Seeing and chillin with the boys from the Manhattan ashram was ecstatic!
Personally seeing the quiet splendor of Gita Nagari for the first time was ecstatic! Radha Damodara ki jai!
Stepping inside Maharaja’s humble, majestic samadhi and praying harder than I ever had before was ecstatic!
Hearing HH Jayapataka Maharaja tell the about various mystical and esoteric pastimes of Lord Jagannatha was ecstatic!
Making sure (almost) everybody shared the love of veggie-soy shish-kebobs was ecstatic!
Sleeping in by “accident” on Sunday morning was ecstatic!
HH Radhanath Maharaja’s Sunday Bhagavatam class, about taking on a mood of service in responsibility in our spiritual lives as a way to make the best advancement, was super-ecstatic!
Being crammed in little ol’ Honda Civic Dasa with four New V. brahmacaris and one “garden boy” was also quite ecstatic!
The Transcendental Hustler racks’ em the night before in Pittsburgh
The Fews rock in the free world
Loving exchange
HH Jayapataka Maharaja spreads the love
HH Bhakti-Tirtha Swami Maharaja ki jay! May we always remember you are always with us, quite literally. May we strive to follow in your exalted footsteps and become ideal Vaisnavas so we can turn right around and save this planet!
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Thursday, July 5th, 2007
Spiritual Fitness
HG Partha-Sarathi Das is rare-in his humility, dedication, sincerity, and compassion. Having met him at this year’s Festival of Inspiration at New Vrindaban, playing kirtans with him, watching his worship his awesome Nrshinga Silas, sharing encouragement on the paths ahead, I was struck once again by the fact that even though I’ve never met this person before in this life, like so many other devotees, I felt like I’ve been intimate associates with him for lifetimes.
He is also rare because he is currently serving his third tour of duty in Iraq as a soldier in the United States Armed Forces. As of my last communication with him, he is in an undisclosed location, suffering from unwell health, but he is alive, in the spirit of devotion, and spreading the Holy Name, even in the most hellish of hellish environments.
You may or may not agree with the politics of his personal lifestyle choice, but it doesn’t take anything to pray to Radha and Krsna for his well-being and safe return. He has many years ahead of loving devotional service that we all need to be part of.
This is the first in a series of articles written by Partha-Sarathi Prabhu about his experiences as a devotee fighting in Iraq…
Spiritual Fitness
By Partha-sarathi dasa
Today is the day prior to my moving up north to Iraq. It is also the day of the prayer breakfast that I was invited to speak at. I gave a power point presentation that I titled Spiritual Fitness. The intent of my presentation was to heighten awareness of spiritual life and to introduce soldiers to the basic teaching of Bhagavad-Gita. I decided to use four verses
I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who perfectly know this engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts. Bg 10.08
The thoughts of My pure devotees dwell in Me, their lives are fully devoted to My service, and they derive great satisfaction and bliss from always enlightening one another and conversing about Me. Bg 10.09
To those who are constantly devoted to serving Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me. Bg 10.10
To show them special mercy, I, dwelling in their hearts, destroy with the shining lamp of knowledge the darkness born of ignorance. Bg 10.11
Being in the Army physical fitness is the main focus. We teach soldiers’ everyday how to kill, but we never teach how to die. Being soldiers we live with the fact that every mission might be our last and how the chance of death is everywhere. It is a cold, hard fact that stares at us everyday. Spiritual Fitness is needed everyday. We should encourage and remind each other that God is there with His hand out reaching for us, making opportunities for us to come to Him. I could see as I was explaining these points that it was an intense feeling among the soldiers. They were completely focused.
As I ended my slide show, and asked if anyone would have an objection against us chanting the Maha Mantra. To my surprise they agree and I put a slide on the computer with the Maha Mantra so they could sing along. I closed my eyes and prayed to Krsna to allow these men and women feel the power of chanting His name.
As the tempo of the kirtan increased, I saw most had huge smiles on their faces and those who didn’t, were nodding their heads in time to the beat. Finally I finished and put my final slide up, a picture of Krsna holding a chariot wheel and charging after Bhishma. The captions said don’t waste this life. Chant and live a sublime life.
Everyone then enjoyed their food and I set up my book table and answered some questions. More and more soldiers instead of eating where at the book table taking free books. The Holy Name grabbed onto their hearts. Just as one works muscles to better perform in combat, chanting Krishna’s Name is working the muscles of the brain. This is true fitness… spiritual fitness.
The Absolute Truth is Sri Krsna and loving devotion to Sri Krsna exhibited in pure love is achieved through congregational chanting of the holy name, which is the essence of all bliss.
CC Adi 1.97
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Tuesday, June 26th, 2007
Srimad-Bhagavatam Meditation: 8.7.44
It is once again time for a guided meditation on the ripened fruit of the tree of Vedic knowledge, the Srimad-Bhagavatam.
I humbly ask you to read first the translation and Bhaktivedanta purport to today’s verse, the 44th verse from the 8th Canto, 7th Chapter.
tapyante loka-tÄpena
sÄdhavahÌ£ prÄyaÅ›o janÄhÌ£
paramÄrÄdhanamÌ tad dhi
purusÌ£asyÄkhilÄtmanah
Ì£It is said that great personalities almost always accept voluntary suffering because of the suffering of people in general. This is considered the highest method of worshiping the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is present in everyone’s heart.
Deep within my unconscious. the fear of what needs to be gone through, of what needs to be done, to fully have the realization of this verse lurks like a hungry crocodile, waiting to chomp down on my big comfortable elephant-leg.
It very rarely bubbles to the surface, because if I am expert in anything, I am expert in hiding myself. At the slightest tings of distress or discomfort, looking for the nearest secluded location to sleep it off. Any tendency to future bloom is instantly retracted.
But I misunderstand again…the real meaning of renunciation, of austerity. Prabhupada simply says in the purport that the true realization of this verse is to simply engage in this process of Krsna consciousness for the welfare of the whole world. Nothing else pleases the Lord more.
It is not a matter of cutting off, of whipping oneself, or working or fasting into sickness. This is life?
As my boy Balarama Chandra says “For me as an “American boy”, following the regulative principles, chanting my 16 rounds, reading each day, speaking pleasantly, keeping good relationships, and sharing Kc with others is hard enough. I don’t know what else I can do? All the American comforts keep calling me, emailing me, text messaging me, and standing before me with folded hands begging “how can we serve”.
Dancing and singing and soaring while others sit in traffic jams and offices with stale coffee, relishing the transcendental surprise, clean, fresh air, stepping out on a limb, not sitting in a self-mediated stupor, learning to truly help others, feeding their souls. Breathing deep…
Everyday I pray to discover a little bit more and more about what it really means to live.
Only by bliss, knowledge, and realization can one reach the point of humbly and effectively spreading the mission of sankirtana-yajna, even at the expense of personal comfort and happiness, which is all I’ve ever known. There is no other way. Any other way dries the heart, and causes it to crumble.
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Tuesday, June 26th, 2007
New Vrindaban Bloggers Unite!
Hear ye! Hear ye!
The long and sometimes exhaustive efforts of His Grace Madhava Ghosh Prabhu have finally bore fruits.
Now, all at one time, in one sparkling package, you can check out the exploits and insights of the very vibrant and dynamic New Vrindaban Blogosphere.
Check it all out at www.newvrindabanbloggers.org
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Wednesday, June 20th, 2007
Turning The Material Into The Spiritual
For those in and out of the know, here is a very interesting piece about the process of turning material foodstuffs into spiritualized prasadam (the mercy of the Lord.
Here is a link to the original post, from www.gopala.org. The full article is below
The phenomenon of something changing from material to spiritual is an extraordinary one, but it is something we as devotees are involved in daily—often several times a day. It happens when prasadam (unoffered food) becoming prasadam, or food sanctified by the Lord.
When I was a new devotee in Montreal, we arranged a program that was to be given on campus at McGill University. The leaflet advertising the program read, “See matter transformed into spirit before your very eyes.†That title certainly drew interest from a lot of people.
During the program, the temple president was giving the presentation, and he was leading up to this point. Finally he said, “OK, now it’s going to happen. You are going to see spirit manifest before your very eyes.â€
The students were sitting on the edge of their seats. The plate of unoffered food, which was the feast for that day, was brought in and placed in front of a picture of Panca-tattva (Lord Chaitanya and His four main associates). A devotee then bowed down, rang the bell, and uttered some mantras.
Finally he stood and declared, “Here it is! We brought in ordinary food, and now it’s transformed into spiritual substance.â€
And before anyone could challenge, he said, “The proof will be that you eat it now and see the effect that it has.â€
As Krishna says, pratyakshavagamam dharmyam: “The principle of religion is understood by direct experience.†(Bhagavad-gita 9.2), or in this case, the proof is certainly in the tasting. Those who have tasted Krishna’s prasadam know that it has extraordinary potency, and eating it is a very different experience from eating food that isn’t offered to the Lord with love and devotion.
So when does prasadam become prasadam? When it is offered, certainly. But for an offering to be successful, it must be accepted. When Krishna accepts what we offer to Him, it becomes prasadam. The word prasadam means “mercy,†and in the Bhagavad-gita Lord Krishna says, prasade sarva-duhkhanam hanir asyopajayate: “Receiving the mercy of the Lord destroys all misery.†Therefore, when we eat (or, as we say, honor) prasadam, we feel elated. prasadam destroys the results of our past sinful activities. Rupa Goswami says it makes us feel “very auspicious.â€
And what is it that is really being accepted? Is it the foods itself? Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gita (9.26),
patram pushpam phalam toyam
yo me bhaktya prayacchati
tad aham bhakty-upahritam
ashnami prayatatmanah
“If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit, or water, I will accept it.†He says, “I accept the bhakti.†You may offer a leaf, a flower, fruit, milk, or ghee-cooked preparations, but the devotion is what carries those preparations to Krishna, and that’s what makes Him inclined to accept it. Sri Ishopanishad (Mantra 5) tells us, tad dure tad v antike: although Krishna is very far away, He is also very close. So wherever we are when we offer something to Krishna, devotion brings Him right to us.
We should recognize, however, that not all offerings are on the same level; they depend on the nature of the devotee. Although there are many ways to categorize devotees, in this case we may consider three types: motivated, pure, and love-saturated devotees. Consequently, their offerings will fall into one of these three categories.
The Motivated Offering
A motivated offering is when something is offered to Krishna with the idea that some material benefit will come in return, such as liberation from material suffering: “If I give this to Krishna, I’ll be prosperous, I’ll be healthy, my children will find suitable spouses,†and so on. Or someone might desire to be free from suffering, or to recover from an illness—this is offering with motivation. But even that motivated offering can be done in two ways. If it is done through the guru-parampara, the succession of gurus, then Krishna will accept it, because pure devotees are very merciful, and to elevate motivated devotees they beseech Krishna to accept their meager offerings. In other words, it is the purity of the devotees in the guru-parampara that transforms the impure offering into a pure offering. If a motivated person just makes an offering whimsically, however, not through a guru-parampara, then the offering doesn’t become prasadam but remains prasadam. Yet still such offerings have value in the sense that the person is thinking, “At least I am offering this to Krishna.â€
Of course, whatever way people think of Krishna is beneficial. Akama, sarva-kama, moksha-kama: without material desires, full of material desires, or desiring liberation. In each case they become gradually purified. But unless Krishna exercises some extraordinary mercy, He doesn’t accept food offered with ulterior motives. Yasyaprasadan na gatih kuto ‘pi: “Without the grace of the spiritual master, one cannot make any advancement.†(Gurvashtaka 8th verse) Krishna won’t accept something unless it comes through the guru-parampara.
An interesting question often arises regarding congregation members or new devotees who are not initiated but who are making offerings: Are the offerings prasadam or prasadam? In this case we should consider the potency of the disciplic succession. The disciplic succession is not restricted to initiated devotees. If someone receives an instruction from an authorized Vaishnava to offer food, then Krishna will accept their offering. Krishna won’t reject their sincere approach, because such persons are, in effect, accepting the guru-parampara even though they have not yet gone through the process of diksha.
The Pure Offering
The second type of offering is the pure offering, when a devotee offers something to Krishna to please Him. A devotee has no selfish motives; he only wants please the Lord. Therefore at home he offers food to a picture, to a deity, to a shalagrama-shila. And in the temple, pure-hearted pujaris try to please Gaura-Nitai and Radha-Krishna. But even in this category there are two types of offerings: regulated and spontaneous. Regulated offerings are done out of duty, following all the rules and regulations. The other also involves the devotee doing everything just right, but out of a spontaneous attachment to the Lord. Such a devotee has a certain degree of affection, and the dominant thought is not one of obligation—â€I will do this because I’ve been instructed to by guru and shastra.†Yet by doing things according to guru and shastra, devotees awaken their natural attraction to Krishna and perform spontaneous acts of devotion out of affection. This affection is a little different from mature love, spiritual love, but it is genuine. Still, both these pure offerings have to be made through the guru-parampara.
The prasadam is also different in this category. When you offer something to Krishna out of duty, He accepts it out of duty. He feels duty-bound. In the Bhagavad-gita (3.24) Krishna says, “If I didn’t follow the rules and regulations, then other people would be misled.†Krishna is acting out of duty. But Krishna considers that of all the devotees who are surrendered to Him, the one who is offering things to Him with affection is most dear to Him. Consequently, Krishna reciprocates in kind: He responds with loving affection toward that devotee.
Naturally the question arises, Are there different kinds of prasadam? And the answer, then, is yes. Krishna says, ye yatha mam prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajamyaham: “As all surrender unto Me, I reward them accordingly.†(Bg. 4.11) According to the quality and quantity of devotion with which one makes an offering to Krishna, that offering proportionately becomes prasadam. It is interesting to note that a devotee’s ability to taste prasadam will also be in proportion to his or her ability to offer prasadam. In other words, devotees will taste the spiritual nature of prasadam in the same degree they are manifesting devotion in the offering.
The Offering in Pure Love
The third kind of offering is that which is done with pure love. When devotees come to the stage of loving devotion, Krishna directly accepts offerings from their hands, and He reciprocates with them in kind. Loving devotion is that which is exhibited by Krishna’s eternal associates in the spiritual world, where He is directly engaged in tasting all the types of love His devotees offer.
So what is it that’s different, and how is it that prasadam becomes spiritual? The food looks the same before and after the offering, but what actually happens is that Krishna reciprocates with the devotion of the devotee by manifesting His svarupa-shakti, or His daivi-prakriti, His internal spiritual potency, to the degree that the devotee allows. By “allows†I mean to the degree the devotee wants, or to the degree that he manifests a quality and quantity of devotional service. When Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was in Jagannatha Puri and tasted Jagannatha prasadam, He became overwhelmed by the ecstatic taste of the prasadam. He glorified the prasadam and could directly taste the saliva of Krishna’s lotus lips mixed in with the food. He went on to glorify the effect of the touch of Krishna’s lips.
This is what happens when someone in loving devotion tastes food that has been offered to the Lord. And in this case, no doubt, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s ability to taste the potency of the prasadam exceeds that of the brahmanas who offered it to Lord Jagannatha. But, still, that prasadam is Krishna’s internal potency. It is non-different from Krishna, and it is dynamic. A loving devotee may taste more of the spiritual potency present in prasadam than was originally manifest to the pujari who offered it.
We may also consider the examples of Prahlada Maharaja and Mirabai: Both were given poison to drink, but because of their great loving devotion, the poison was transformed into nectar and had no effect. Why is that? Because both poison and nutritious food are part of the relativity of this material world. But when we offer something with love to Krishna, then Krishna’s sac-cid-ananda potency manifests in that food. In this way, poison becomes as much prasadam as a pakora does.
Offering Our Lives
We shouldn’t think, however, that an “offering†is simply the prasadam or food we offer to Krishna. Devotees make their entire life an offering:
yat karoshi yad ashnasi
yaj juhoshi dadasi yat
yat tapasyasi kaunteya
tat kurushva mad-arpanam
Krishna is saying, “Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer or give away, and whatever austerities you perform—do that, O son of Kunti, as an offering to Me.†(Bg. 9.27) Ultimately every breath a devotee takes is an offering: when devotees sleep because they need to maintain their bodies for Krishna’s service, then that sleep becomes an offering to the Lord; their eating to maintain their bodies so they can remain healthy to serve Krishna is an offering to the Lord; when they receive anything—food, soap, money—all of these things are offered to Krishna. In New Vraja Dhama (the devotee farm community in Hungary) anything the devotees acquire or receive, they first offer to Radha-Syamasundara, the presiding deities, on a tray that sits before the altar. In this way the practice of offering everything to Krishna becomes natural.
We should learn how to offer everything. We rise early in the morning, and the first thing we do is offer prayers to the Lord. We chant Hare Krishna not as entertainment but as an offering to glorify Krishna. And when someone lives like that, then in one sense the act of making the offering becomes unnecessary (although devotees do it to set the example) because such devotees are always absorbed in doing everything for Krishna. Therefore, yo me bhaktya prayacchati—the bhakti is already there, and Krishna is very eager to receive it. In fact, Krishna follows behind devotees to accept their loving devotion every moment of the day, in every movement of their bodies, and in every thought they manifest in relation to their devotional service to Him.
Ultimately this is what we aspire for, and this is what loving devotees do: they live for Krishna, and thus everything they do becomes Krishna conscious—it becomes prasadam. The cowherd boys simply sit down with Krishna and eat from their lunch packs—they don’t make any offering to Krishna. When they offer something to Krishna, they take from their lunch packs and put it right in Krishna’s mouth. Or they may even bite off half a sweetball and then say, “Oh, Krishna, just see how wonderful this sweetball tastes!†and put the rest in Krishna’s mouth. Yo me bhaktya prayacchati: it’s just their love. The formality and technicality of offering is no longer relevant, because what Krishna really wants is the love and devotion. That’s all that actually interests Him. And whether Mother Yashoda offers her breast milk, the gopis offer their bodies, the cows offer their milk, the cowherd boys wrestle and jump on Krishna’s shoulders—everything becomes prasadam because everything is an offering of love.
Our business in Krishna consciousness, therefore, is to live in this world of prasadam and thereby become prasadam ourselves. This is what Krishna concludes in the Bhagavad-gita (4.24) when He says, brahmarpanam brahma havir brahmagnau brahmana hutam …: “A person who is fully absorbed in Krishna consciousness is sure to attain the spiritual kingdom because of his full contribution to spiritual activities.†If we’re thinking about offering everything to Krishna, if our physical acts are an offering to Krishna, if our words are an offering to Krishna, then ultimately we become an offering to Krishna. Then we become prasadam. And Krishna is always very eager to taste the wonderful mellows of our loving offerings to Him.
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Monday, June 18th, 2007
Acting With a Swami
If you unfocus your eyes, you’ll see we were wearing military fatigues
Maharaj shows us his definition of serious
Mahraj shows Gopinath how to “feel it!”
Gopinath “feels it!”
“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts…”-Jaques- As You Like It Act II, sc. vii-William Shakespeare
The week before the recent International ISKCON GBC meetings here at New Vrindaban, I visited Haridas Prabhu hard at work tilling the land, where he informed me that his Guru Maharaja His Holiness Bhakti-Marg Swami would be running a theater workshop/producton during his stay.
Haridas told me that I would have to shave up…my stomach, and put on a sari for my role. I blanched. He laughed, and vaguely told me he was just kidding. In any case, after some very fruitful theater experiences during the winter here at the New V, the first ones of my life, I was down for much more of the real thing.
Bhakti-Marg Swami is not your average member of the renounced order. Canadian by birth, he has been practicing the monastic order for the past thirty years.He can be found in these modern times visiting Radha-Krsna temples worldwide and engaging all and everyone daring enough to put on unique and powerful productions of ancient Vedic tales and truths.
I was drawn to Maharaj right away. He is the kind of personality with an immense and even ferocious amount of creative energy, yet he doesn’t put up any pretensions and all he wants to do is share his passion of devotional theater with you and bring out your own unique talents, no matter how hidden.
As another rag-tag group of New Vrindaban Players assembled before Maharaj, we were all a little uncertain of ourselves and if we can hold up to the professional standards that Maharaj was very well-known for. We began by displaying our emotions of anger. I looked more peeved than furious, and Maharaj graciously said “we’ll work on that.”
And work it was….every night for two hours we had to try and lose ourselves, to abandon our heavy egos, and to fine-tune so many subtle details. If you were paying enough attention, there were many a lesson to be kept and saved for everyday devotional life as well, which is an entirely different kind of performance theater, but nevertheless…
I was thrust into one of the lead roles, as Vasudeva, father of Krsna, as we performed the pastimes of Krsna’s birth up to his smashing of the demon Kamsa from the Tenth Canto of the Srimad-Bhagavatam.
What got smashed was my poor temporary body, as the role of Vasudeva required me to be thrown and kicked across the hard temple floor numerous times a night during rehearsal, and I also had to stand-in in the role of Krsna a few times during the climactic pro-wrestling scene of the show.
I’m pretty sure I mildly sprained my ankle at one point during the rehearsal, of which I’m still recovering from. But I’ve never had more blissful bruises.
Maharaj was expert and gracious and demanding and a real saint to be with and work with as we got closer to showtime. With more time, we would’ve no doubt been able to rise up to a fully professional standard, but the real magic was seeing how a bunch of inexperienced thespians were shaped and molded into a real group of Players, ready to dazzle and enlighten.
The performance of “Tenth Canto”, complete with the compositions of the grand Igor Stravinsky, closed out GBC Week at the New V in smashing form, wowing sannyasis and simple souls alike. With hope and pleasure, Maharaj asked us to keep the show alive and make it a regular feature of the ever-growing New Vrindaban Players. We plan to perform it next for Janmastami in September.
P.S Check out www.thewalkingmonk.org for updates on Bhakti-Marg Swami’s third walk all the way across his home-turf of Canada.
P.P.S I have suspicions I might be able to find a video of our production of “Tenth Canto”, so stay tuned here, as I will post it as soon as possible
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Wednesday, June 6th, 2007
What’s Really Going On?
I just wanted to highlight a blog from the excellent Atma-Yogi site run by Sita-Pati Prabhu
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Friday, June 1st, 2007
Intoxicated
A dear friend asked what the term harinama meant. It is the congregational chanting of the Holy Names of the Lord (Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare). It can be done anywhere, at any time, in any situation, with any number of people. Like a rising full moon, it spreads the rays of the most beneficial benediction over each and everyone. Indeed, there is no easier way to become self-realized in this crazy day and age than this method.
Saturday nights in New York City are a time of intoxication. We joined in, guzzling the sweet nectar of the names of the Lord on subways and the steamed sidewalks alike of lower Manhattan. Even if you didn’t like what you were hearing, you still received eternal benefit. Consider it a gift from the Manhattan Asrama to you and yours as the hot summer begins.
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Saturday, May 26th, 2007
Water, Water Everywhere…..
Last Tuesday night, at a jam-packed program at the Astanga Yoga Studio and Sri Ganesh Temple in Manhattan, His Holiness Radhanath Swami spoke about the need to clean the pollution from the ecology of our hearts,so that we will be able to clean the pollution from the ecology of our surrounding natural environment.
Maharaja gave a startling, personal example, in which he related that during a recent visit to the Himalayan Mountains, the same mountains he had wandered through thirty-five years ago in search of the Truth, he noticed that the formerly pure-white snow-capped peaks had become stained gray and black from the immense air pollution spewing from India’s major cities.
He then related a very sobering bit of news he had heard from one of his scientist associates, in which because of this pollution and its resultant climatic alterations, there is every chance that two of India’s biggest and most sacred rivers, the Ganges and the Yamuna, may dry up by 2050.
The fact is that the body of this planet and our own physical and emotional bodies are on the verge of chaotic collapse. Who can chant Hare Krsna in the streets of Manhattan when the streets of Manhattan have been swallowed up by the Atlantic Ocean?
My first reaction, being a prideful rascal, was one of dare I say pleasure to hear one of the most spiritual personalities alive on this planet using the plight of our earthly environment to forcibly get across his point of the drastic need for a immediate re-spiritualization of the planet.
As I try to become more absorbed on this path of devotion to Krsna, to rid myself of my lusty attachment to all that is material, I cannot shake the plain truth that unless we as devotees move more towards the forefront of the worldwide movement for sustainability, we will be losing a grand portion of our ability to spread the rays of the benediction moon that is this sankirtana movement.
What must we do within our institution of ISKCON to make these environmental issues a priority in our outreach? What can we do as individual devotees and as individual temples to help make these issues a priority? At New Vrindaban, even though we live in a vegetarian community and are trying to systematically protect a number of cows, we struggle to convince the majority of the community to not use wasteful styrofoam, and previous composting and recycling programs have been lost in a haze of inefficiency and indifference. It is a very uphill battle.
Radhanath Swami said that the waters of the Ganges are always completely pure, but when mixed with polluted elements, the waters appear to be unclean. We must remember that the Ganga water, like the nature of the soul, is never contaminated.
Like the filtering of this water, we must begin by filtering out all polluted elements within our selves so that we can face the challenges of this world with positive, forward-thinking consciousness. True action begins within ourselves, but we must begin now, and move quickly, because it may already be too late.
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Friday, May 25th, 2007
Manhattan Impressions
Reporting from the center of the Universal Capital of Maya, Manhattan, USA….
Every part of one’s individual nature gets bombarded the moment you exit the Holland Tunnel. The senses begin to jump and shout, the mind suffers from whiplash as the eyes desperately yank it from one visual “delight” to the next, and the body suffers from foul odors, car horns, and the threat of imminent termination due to whatever today’s social-political situation happens to be.
I’m beginning to lose my wide-eyed stare towards NYC. I begin to realize and agree with Caitanya’s opinion that this whole gigantic artificial apparatus is simply not good for one’s health.
However, the soul gets solace as well. Of that, there can be no question, because I’m surrounded by the best group of brahmacaris in the world, the Manhattan Ashram All-Stars.
As we hit the steaming streets for harinama, bringing the Holy Names of the Lord to where they are needed most, so many impressions take me. I think about all this city has had to go through in the last six years, and how these citizens, shell-shocked from falling skyscrapers and the usual traffic jams, actually have a tremendous, merciful openness to the sound of the Lord.
Hare Krsna is part of the fabric of this city. The dust of Prabhupada’s footsteps is embedded in the concrete. Our robe-wearing, funny-haircut, booming-drum parade of misfits is actually a welcome sight for nine out of ten New Yorkers. From street-sleeper to soccer-mom, we are greeted with smiles, folded palms, and those two magic words….Hare Krsna.
But there is little time for romance. All around us, The Beast rises, whispering that we are too late, that the time of devouring of all that is pure and holy is near at hand. Maybe if we hadn’t spent twenty years devouring ourselves as a society….The Beast wants to test our faith….I think The Beast is very ignorant of who he’s up against.
In the Srimad-Bhagavatam, Prabhupada writes that “Unless one is convinced of a better life after renunciation of the present life, one cannot stick to the renounced order of life simply by artificial dress or staying out of the home.”
All at the same time, being in America’s most first-class ashram whilst being in the middle of raging passions unencumbered, I realize I’m not quite convinced of this better life yet, but that looking outside, I can see whatever attachments I still have give off a temporary, noisy stench, and that the more I chant Hare Krsna for myself and for the benefit of others, the more I’ll actually become something more than just an American boy pretending in Vaisnava clothes.
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Thursday, May 24th, 2007
‘Rasslin
There are a few legitimate Vedic sports, and wrestling is one of them. This is what happens when five brahmacaris are cooped up in our very small Honda Civic Dasa for hours on end.
All I know after getting beat senseless is not to mess with THE JUGGERNAUT (AKA THE JAGANATOR)!!
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Tuesday, May 22nd, 2007
The Unexpected
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Tuesday, May 22nd, 2007
The Baltimore Ratha-Yatra
Big ups to the devotees of ISKCON Baltimore for staging a wonderful parade and festival for the pleasure of Their Lordships and the enlightenment of all those who shared in the sights, sounds, and tastes.
Here is our dear Bhakta-Dan getting his first opportunity at one of the highest transcendental pleasures, distributing Prabhupada’s books. Within minutes, he had that unique taste that comes from this very special service and passing out books left and right with all the gusto he could muster. From what I saw, I think this kid’s gonna make it back to Goloka sooner rather than later. As you can see in the photo below, he was feeling the true mellow of self-satisfaction in the divine loving service of the Lord.
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Friday, May 18th, 2007
“….more tolerant than a tree”
trnad api sunicena
taror api sahisnuna
amanina mana-dena
kirtaniyah sada harih
“One who thinks himself lower than the grass, who is more tolerant than a tree, and who does not expect personal honor yet is always prepared to give all respect to others can very easily always chant the holy name of the Lord.” (Siksatakam V.3)(Adi-lila 17.31)
The best spiritual advice I have received so far is to always wear this verse of Lord Caitanya’s as a garland around one’s neck. Every devotional situation, from the sweetest bliss to the heaviest sauce, will find its most transcendental fruition if I can just remember to imbibe and act upon this best of advice.
However, because I’m a very fallen and conditioned soul, who cannot even begin to realize that serving the lotus feet of the devotees of the Lord is clearly my only alternative in this maddened world, I find it very hard to wear this verse as a garland around my neck…
I find it very hard to be inspired when inspiration is not externally present. I find it very hard to deal with my proud intelligence, and my yapping, relentless mind. I find it very hard to plan for the bright future when all I do is think about the past. I find it very hard to stay awake in the morning, and my hearing and chanting often suffers.
I find it very hard to break bad habits. I find it very hard to not just simply do my own thing, especially when I perceive everyone else acting of their own independent accord. I find it very hard to avoid strong, negative opinions. I find it very hard to avoid politics. I find it very hard to not completely fall apart if I do something wrong, or perceive that I have offended someone.
I find it very hard to be challenged. I find it very hard to stay focused. I find it very hard to stay steady. I find it very hard to stay celibate. I find it very hard to always remember you, my dear Radha-Vrindaban Chandra.
On the other hand, it’s easy to breathe. It’s easy to walk into the temple and see Your lotus eyes. It’s easy to feel the love of Your devotees. It’s easy to be grateful to Your devotees for picking me up out of the mess I made.
These are just the simple confessions of a dangerously small devotional creeper. I pray to You and to you to help me tend my garden. If this candidness helps me to move closer to truly being humbler than a blade of grass and more tolerant than a tree, then let me never hide the feelings of my heart from those I trust the most, the devotees of the Lord.