Planet ISKCON

Australian Youth Bus Tour.
We are pleased to announce the first ever ISKCON Youth Bus Tour Australia in 2016! Ever wanted to check out the amazing places that are tucked away along the east coastline of Australia? This is your chance! From 10–26 January 2016 we are planning two weeks of adventure packed days and kirtana filled nights! Sand tobogganing, surfing, bonfires, waterfall swimming, festival feast cook ups, city sightseeing, maha harinamas and festivals all along the way are only some of the adventures we have in mind.
The year 2016 marks ISKCON’s 50th Anniversary and what better way to celebrate than a travelling bus of inspired youth, the future of the next 50 years of ISKCON.
At the moment, we are looking for expressions of interest, exploring how many of you are keen to spend an awesome two weeks of the summer together. Please visit the Facebook page or website and drop us a comment.
Facebook: Bus Tour Australia
https://www.facebook.com/bustouraustralia
Website: http://bustouraustralia.com/

By His Grace Alone! (Album with photos)
Indradyumna Swami: Towards the end of Kartika our parikrama party journeyed in wooden boats down the sacred Yamuna river to the famed ashram of Durvasa Muni.There we spent a wonderful day chanting the glories of Srila Prabhupada and recounting his pastimes amongst us. All of us realized that it was by his grace alone we had the good fortune to come to Sri Vrindavan dhama.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/OVcG4a

Right then and there, I decided that I wanted to feel what they were feeling. It was the real thing—everything I had heard and read about chanting while growing up as a devotee, yet which evaded me as if it were a myth—here it was as clear as day right in front of me, in real live human beings. In a matter of seconds, all my cumulative desires, aspirations, ambitions, priorities and hierarchies faded into the pale, replaced unequivocally by this overbearing drive to taste what they were tasting in this immensely deep, peaceful, prayerful kirtan. This jolted my entire being, literally wak- ing me up from a dullness at least a decade strong. Mystically my senses suddenly seemed to sharpen. For instance, I suddenly became aware of the smell of incense that I couldn’t distinguish minutes earlier. The plants in the middle of the room—I was now convinced they were all tulasi plants. “This is it,” I thought to myself. “This is Vrindavan. This is kirtan. This is Krishna Consciousness.” Continue reading "This is Vrindavan. This is kirtan. This is Krishna Consciousness!
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The post How did the soul enter during the birth of 100 Kauravas from Gandharis miscarriage? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

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The post Aren’t renunciates who lose semen accidentally denying bodies to the souls present in their semen? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

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The post During the birth of twins does the soul split into two? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

When couple try to mate to have children they may not have children always but only by Krishna’s blessings they do. How does that work? meaning semen may have soul but cannot turn into a baby in the womb of mother. Also some times prematurely, soul leaves meaning miss carriage? what’s happening? Of course there is a karma factor but its not very clear in this case. please explain

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The post During conception, how do sperm, egg, soul, karma and Krishna’s will inter-relate? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

By Kesava Krsna Dasa

Sometimes devotees think that by working hard for Krishna, on the order of the spiritual master, even if there is some neglect of personal sadhana, hearing and chanting, success in spiritual life is assured come what may. Is this empty optimism? Or does the order of the spiritual master supersede all other considerations?

It is tempting to assure oneself that being engaged in all nine angas of Bhakti to lesser or greater degrees trying to please the guru, the assiduous, intense performance of service can counter and make up the deficit of personal neglect. ‘I am being engaged so much, in fact, I have little time to complete my rounds. But Krishna is merciful. He understands my situation.’

The ‘work now, samadhi later’ ethic can be misunderstood. If working hard now in genuine practical service, furthering the cause of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is pleasing to Sri Sri Guru and Gauranga, then surely the merciful Lord will overlook these shortfalls ‘ or will He? There were times when the merciful Srila Prabhupada was aware of these problems with some of his GBC men.

After all, by continuous engagement in devotional service, we are assured thus: ‘Therefore, one has to work in Krishna consciousness to satisfy Krishna or Vishnu; and while performing such activities one is in a liberated stage.’ (BG 5.1 purport) Are things really as simple as this? Or is the ‘satisfaction’ of Krishna or Vishnu the real criterion?

By ceaseless exertion, and toiling with blood, sweat and tears, there is no doubt it will be pleasing. But if the guru enquires, as he does with certain disciples, ‘How are your rounds going?’ and is met with an admission of neglect, it will add bitterness to an otherwise sweet return. Do pleasing hard work and disregard of promises made at initiation time go well together?

If the basic vows, especially the chanting of rounds falter, and the sadhana slackens, in spite of being a super-active hard worker, it is indicative of a deficiency in ideal consciousness. Far from being ‘liberated,’ if when the time comes for samadhi, one will not have the slightest taste for it anyway, making it an elusive retirement hole in the ground.

If this trend continues for years up to old age, the grounded consciousness will cause the statement ‘work now, samadhi later’ to become ‘neglectful work now, struggle with samadhi if it ever comes.’ Attaining the level of samadhi is no light matter. ‘Samadhi means ‘fixed mind.” (BG 2. 44 purport) Srila Prabhupada does not mean nistha here either. ‘When the mind is fixed for understanding the self, it is said to be samadhi.’ (BG 2. 44 purport)

Such an understanding surpasses the usual knowledge related to sadhana Bhakti. ‘The highest perfection of self-realization is to understand that one is eternally the servitor of Krishna’.’ (BG 2. 53 purport) To be clearer, Srila Prabhupada is referring to a natural or spontaneous level of devotion; ‘In Krishna consciousness, one comes directly into communion with Krishna, and thus all directions from Krishna may be understood in that transcendental state.’ (BG 2. 53 purport)

If true samadhi is so natural and high by most expectations, then the ‘work now, samadhi later’ command has profound implications if understood properly. Working now really means that while doing active physical service, we simultaneously work to increase the quality of chanting and hearing to the point they cease to be chores. When our chanting and hearing becomes a natural exciting relish, this should stand us in good stead for samadhi.

If however, after years of neglect doing pleasing great service, the time for samadhi may never arrive at all. One will have to struggle to attain nistha and ruci at least, as if by force, which would render the whole exercise a troublesome one. It will be like a neophyte or a mystic yogi trying to get somewhere: ‘The concentration of the mystic is mechanical, whereas that of the pure devotee is natural and spontaneous.'(SB 1.9.39 purport)

While a lot can be said about the immense devotee-power and never-ending hours required keeping Iskcon going, it would be a worthwhile effort to realize that the ‘samadhi later’ goal should not be impeded. Indeed it began ‘yesterday’ and is an ongoing quest to apply the saying ‘the end justifies the means.’ Only samadhi can be a true end to a life of sensible work.

Ys, Kesava Krsna dasa ‘ GRS.

Does semen from men contain souls in it? or men has the ability to create, carry souls with in them in the form of semen? Or soul only enter when female release egg and semen enter into it to make a life?
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Honesty and truthfulness, then, are two essential elements of humility. They manifest as one's ability to honestly assess oneself, to recognize and admit one's own faults and defects as a conditioned jiva, and to admit the truth of one’s compromised situation. Sadly, many of us try to create a false image of ourselves, both to posture, to convince ourselves of our own greatness, and to manipulate others into believing that we are great, too. Only through internal honesty can we begin to make real progress in spiritual life. Thus, to clean out the conditioning that has accumulated in the heart over many lifetimes, one has to first recognize its presence, to admit that it is there, and then to do the needful -- to remove it in all earnestness. Without such truthfulness, how can we make tangible progress in developing humility? Continue reading "Least But Not Last: A Few Words on Humility
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Raman Reti Apartments Vrindavan.
An exclusive Iskcon UK development for UK devotees, members and patrons. Conveniently located very close to the Krishna Balaram Temple inside the parikram path next to BB Govinda Swami and Indradyumna Swami. Only 2 Units left!
Apartments are designed with many “green” features to help preserve the Vrindavan environment and are as Vastu compliant where practical within the constraints of the building site.

The post What was Prahlada Maharaja, a Krsna bhakta, Narayana bhakta or Nrsimha bhakta? appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

By Keshav

On Friday, December 4, 2015, members of the ISKCON Toronto Temple Council were invited to attend an official “Meet-and-Greet” with the Toronto Police. Aimed at bringing together members of the Toronto Police with leaders from the South and West Asian communities, the event was held at the beautiful headquarters of the Toronto Police, located at 40 College Street, right in the heart of downtown Toronto.

The event saw close to 100 attendees from all different communities and organizations. The highlight was the attendance of Police Chief Mark Saunders. He addressed the crowd with a nice speech about how the Toronto Police deeply value the contributions of community leaders.

There were also speeches and presentations from other groups and community leaders. The host then invited any attendees to come forward and introduce themselves and their organization. We had a chance to introduce our temple, what we do and the ways that we serve the community at large!

With that, the event continued with mingling over food and refreshments. Very nice connections were made and we are looking forward to attending future events with the Toronto Police!

More photos: http://iskcontoronto.blogspot.it/2015/12/south-asian-leaders-meet-and-greet-with.html

A visit to ISKCON New Govardhana - Sri Sri Radha Govardhanadhari (Album with photos)
Oh, how glorious are they whose tongues are chanting Your holy name! Even if born in the families of dog-eaters, such persons are worshipable. Persons who chant the holy name of Your Lordship must have executed all kinds of austerities and fire sacrifices and achieved all the good manners of the Aryans. (Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.33.7 Purport)
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December 9. ISKCON 50 – S.Prabhupada Daily Meditations.
Anyone who studies Prabhupada’s books becomes educated in the most important subject. Whenever a follower of Prabhupada hears a discussion of God-consciousness, he spots contradictions or a “poor fund of knowledge” wherever it occurs. Even a young brahmacari can note the flaws in the presentations of learned theologians or clergymen. Theologians are puzzled as to “why bad things happen to good people.” Some of them theorize that God may be all good, but He is not all powerful. Some say that God cannot have a form, or that God exists only in human relationships – but one who knows Srila Prabhupada’s teachings can see this is a poor fund of knowledge. One of the benefits of a good education in any field is that one easily handles opposition from prejudiced or ignorant persons. Sometimes Prabhupada would be challenged, “What is your faith?” Prabhupada usually replied, “It is not faith, it is fact.” He also said, “You may believe or not believe, that is a different thing.”
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Written by Nandan 

Friday, 13 November

Maharaj took his leave of Vraj and the sunburnt plains of North India and headed for the lush, tropical delta of Bengal in East India. Specifically to the Holy Dham of Mayapur, home of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and his intimate associates. When driving from Kolkata airport to Mayapur, one gets a real glimpse of the Bengali countryside. It hasn’t been hit so hard by industrialisation so it looks quite similar to how it would’ve been 500 years ago. Even from a material perspective, it’s an attractive place – flat as a pancake, covered with a carpet of green and liberally sprinkled with coconut and palm trees, huge lakes and shimmering rivers. One can easily imagine the Lord in his childhood frolicking about in these fields and taking dips in the rivers.

Of course, the material world is never so simple! So for us mere mortals, one also had to deal with mosquitoes, the humidity and a bewildering array of creepy crawlies. Maharaj arrived late in the evening and was provided with his regular room at the end of the senior brahmachari ashram. Not surprisingly Maharaj was pretty tired and swiftly took rest.

Saturday, 14 November 2015

Disciples, admirers and friends came to see Maharaj the next day. It was good to see that he had recovered from his shingles but he also mentioned various health issues he had to deal with. A lot of it was just down to the ageing process and Maharaj accepted it in a naturally philosophical manner. His room was in a good location with plenty of sunshine coming through and a balcony which had a direct view of the TOVP domes. A magnificent sight. When asked what his plans are in Mayapur, there was an instant come back, “Meetings, meetings and more meetings!!” He is a key member of the Mayapur development committee but one sensed that he was doing this service more out of duty than relish!

At lunchtime, Maharaj was with a host of disciples namely Nimai Prabhu (his personal servant), Tulasi Prabhu (a wonderful disciple from Bulgaria), Pradyumna Prabhu (a family man and disciple from Germany) and Sridhar Prabhu (a disciple and electrician from South Africa). Maharaj was giving them all advice for their spiritual lives and he asserted the point of being the ten percent that does ninety percent of the work in the movement.

He also encouraged his grhastha disciples to move to Mayapur and the value of going there, particularly to Sridhar Prabhu who was abroad for the first time. Sridhar had decided within a day to come to Mayapur, got an instant visa and even though he had trouble with customs and was only here for three days, he stated that he wouldn’t have given up this moment for anything.

Soon the mood became lighter as Maharaj and his disciples had a conversation about the different nations and their varying national characters! Maharaj found the Germans to be more polite than the English, particularly in airports. There was also talk about the crime rate in Vrindavana, some devotees looked a little concerned but Maharaj pointed out to try and see Krsna in everything, just keep looking for Krsna and we will be fine. Then he spoke at length to Sridhar Prabhu about life in South Africa.

I also asked Maharaj about his meetings in Mayapur and he talked about the immense work needed to develop the Mayapur city complex. Quite mind boggling; there was talk of nodes, transport links, housing, electricity, water, etc. as well as liaising with the Indian government and especially the local government. No mean feat, indeed! We talked about dealing with the locals, I mentioned how the Vraj locals seem to have more of an edge to them than the Nawadvip locals. Maharaj laughed, “That’s what you think!”

Shortly after, a tall Czech devotee came and identified that he doesn’t really feel like he gels with the Czech temple and struggles with reconciling his Czech identity. Maharaj made the point that whatever body we have will stay with us and will colour how we are seen by the world. Maharaj is always the ‘Dutchman’ even though he has been living in different countries for decades now. At the same time, depending on one’s nature, one will thrive in a certain type of temple. For example, the Czech culture has that old Soviet style authority about it which permeates the mood of that temple. It will resonate with some but not with others.

In a similar vein the Manor temple in England has a certain corporate flavour to it and this won’t be everyone’s cup of tea either. He said this while grinning at the British guy in the group… myself!

HH Kadamba Kanana Maharaj ki Jai!

True Education

In response to my article, Accusations Against Rāgānugā Sādhana, someone asked:

Who is the source of the “accusations” you are responding to?

An ISKCON Sannyāsī recently said these things while doing an otherwise excellent job of explaining the subject during a seminar.

It seems to me that ISCKON leaders are very cautious about allowing devotees to feel that they have experienced high states of spiritual bliss or elevation.

Rāgānugā-sādhana has nothing to do with experiencing a high state of spiritual bliss or elevation. All that is required is a strong and clear desire to achieve a certain type of friendly, parental, or romantic love for Krishna. Rāgānugā is a practice for conditioned jīvas, by which we can eventually attain those three types of relationships with Krishna. It is not a perfected state. A person in the perfected state is known as a Rāgātmikā. A person who is not in the perfected state, but strives for it, is known as a Rāgānugī.

In the early days of the Hare Krishna movement, the “hippies” of that time may have been more inclined toward “imaginative ecstasy” based on cultural conditioning, drug experiences, etc. Maybe that is why leaders caution against it?

Maybe.

In general the assumption that you have achieved something monumental only goes to demonstrate that you really don’t even comprehend what “monumental” truly means. And thinking myself “advanced” is a fairly sure sign, most all of the time, that I don’t really even know what “advanced” truly is.

If one experiences some ecstatic feelings during kirtan, how can such feelings/visible actions be accommodated and honored without pessimism? Is there any precedent for how to regard such displays in a congregational setting? I feel like the default perception might be a pessimistic one.

Love (bhakti) produces emotions – so its no surprise that practices of love (bhakti-sādhana) would often produce emotional responses in the practitioner. In fact, we should be extremely skeptical of our practices if they don’t. 

Real bhakti is called bhāva-bhakti, and it produces real emotions continuously and very powerfully. Bhāva-bhakti is the initial stage of perfection in bhakti-yoga. It is “sudurlabha,” a very extremely rare accomplishment. Safe to say that basically no one that we see practicing bhakti is at that stage. Out of a few million practitioners, I estimate, I would expect to find 1 who has attained bhāva.

However, the two stages preceding bhāva (ruci and āsakti) also consistently produce relatively profound emotional states. And even in the stages preceding these, the same results begin to dawn occasionally. So, even the new practitioner should expect to occasionally experience significant emotional responses from their devotional practices.

In Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu, Śrī Rūpa Goswāmī explains that Bhāva can be “approximated” by people who have not actually attained it. This approximation is called an abhāsa. He says there are two types of bhāva-abhāsa: The first is an intentional imitation with ulterior motives (prati-bimba bhāva-abhāsa). The second is a genuine reflection of bhāva, which comes as a result of the power of bhakti (chaya bhāva-abhāsa). By contact with the powerful practices of bhakti, and with deep practitioners of bhakti, some “shadow” of that power falls on our heart, and even that shadow moves our emotions as powerfully as our more profound conventional emotional experiences.

So, when we encounter or experience an emotional response to our devotional practices, in kīrtan for example, we simply need to assess if it is an intentional imitation or not. Intentional imitations are done to become famous, get respect, get money, get attention, and so on. These should be discouraged, and rooted out from the family of practitioners, because they only disturb the communal garden of bhakti. If it is not a nefarious imitation, we should be happy and welcome it as confirmation that the practices we are engaged in, and the guru and saṅga in which we engage in them, are genuine and empowered.

Vraja Kishor das
www.vrajakishor.com

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Baker Extraordinaire: Amber Borsotti!
Mandakini devi dasi: Sydney-born Amber Borsotti was two years old when she was first introduced to the Hare Krishna Vedic lifestyle. Three years later she was enrolled in New Govardhana gurukula where she remained for the next six years before relocating to New Nandagram, Victoria.
Amber returned to Murwillumbah when she was 15, settling into householder life by the time she was 16. A busy and dedicated mum, she has five children ranging in ages from four to 17.
With the family growing up, Amber and her husband, Leonardo, considered some working options. They finally agreed to venture into the bread-making business. Amber had entertained four passions in life: architecture, psychology, fabrics and food. Having produced quality bread on the farm in earlier years, friends and family members had often urged her to “go into food”.
Months of hard work followed as the couple researched equipment and painstakingly developed their own special recipes. The result is an impressive home bakery and an outstanding product called ‘Levadura’, which consists of organic, artisan sourdough (a much healthier and tastier alternative to commercial bread).
When a retail opportunity opened up at Uki Farmers Market at the end of September, Amber and Leonardo took the initiative, and on their first outing ended up selling their entire stock.
Production has since increased from 50 to 90 items twice a week, and still there is a demand for more.
The bread is naturally leavened, requiring Amber and Leo to “rise” at 1.00 am on Wednesday and Saturday mornings to prepare their batch.
Variety being the spice of life, alongside the basic loaves there is much to choose from. For example, savoury loaves like Olive, Rosemary and Pecorino; Dark Euro-style Rye with Caraway and Fennel; and Vegan Fruitful Loaf and Sweet Spiced Rye and Fig, to name a few. Melt-in-themouth croissants and chocolate scrolls, as sampled by the author, must be tasted to be believed.

Academic Excellence.
Syama Sakhi devi dasi: The Bhaktivedanta Swami Secondary School at New Govardhana, Iskcon Australia, is intent on creating an environment of academic excellence, Krishna conscious goals and understanding, and meaningful character development. To these ends, this year the gurukula has invited various guest speakers to the school and taken students to different events outside of school. This allows students to broaden their understanding of this world and their role in it.
One such event students attended was the GRIP leadership conference for secondary schools. GRIP is an independent organisation that exists to train and develop leaders with a special focus on school students and the educational sector. Hence, our school captains, Anjali, Gaur, Bimala, Balaram, Lakshman, Suniti and Kalindi received the opportunity to attend the GRIP leadership conference that took place on the 26 October at the Tweed Civic Centre.
The aim of the one-day conference was to inspire secondary school students to take up effective leadership roles in their schools. Through topics like, ‘How to improve your public speaking skills’ to ‘How to make your events more dynamic’, the conference offered our students a chance to broaden their leadership skills. It also enabled them to meet many other teenage students from across Australia.
The whole event was excellent. The students experienced their first professional conference and made valuable contributions throughout.
We are hopeful that through such training offered by the gurukula, the students will be able to develop excellent leadership skills valuable to their life inside and outside of school.

By Nanda Priya Nivedita Devi Dasi

While the rescue face for Chennai’s recent flood is over here comes the most difficult phase – the after math. Battered by rains, Chennai is now looking for relief- Relief from not just the heavy showers and a flooded city, but looking forward to hygienic food, shelter, clothing and medical assistance. It’s now that Chennai needs you the most.

Help the helping hands – Like the rest of the city, ISKCON Chennai is also waking out of the shock and reaching out to the people with nourishment, medical aid and personal needs. ISKCON Chennai volunteers are tirelessly trying to help all the affected places. Over 6000 plates of Prasadam are being distributed everyday. Besides distributing in public shelter houses, the volunteers are moving even into streets still knee deep in water and giving the Prasad door to door. A total of 30,000 plates of Prasadam have been distributed. We want to expand that to more areas in Chennai adding items like water, bed sheets, mosquito repellents, new clothes, tooth paste, brush etc.

Preventing any epidemic is a need of the hour. ISKCON Chennai has organised a medical camp in residential areas surrounding the temple. The doctors, the corporation cleaners are in need of basic utilities like gloves , face masks etc. Supply of medicines to the people is essential as well. With your donations ISKCON Chennai can do much more!

Not to forget that the Chennai temple has suffered heavy damages in the current flood situation.Estimated losses to the temple are very large.We request devotees and well wishers to come forward and help us for these loses as well.
Your servant,
Nanda Priya Nivedita dd

Shortly after getting married my wife and I visited my grandmother. She was 82 years old at the time and had been married for over 50 fifty years, my grandfather had passed away around 10 years previously. One evening our conversation led to her reminiscing some of her experiences in marriage. She shared that my grandfathers policy was to always to resolve a disagreement before the end of the day - don't sleep on an argument he would say - "always forgive one another". If you sleep on a dispute it gets buried, issues build up and create an inimical mood. Always forgive one another, no one is perfect, forgive them for their shortcomings, forgive yourself for your shortcomings, and move on. Continue reading "3 Pieces of Helpful Advice for Marriage in Bhakti
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Vijaya Dasa (Book Distribution Minister @ Iskcon) Prabhupada December Marathon (10 min video)
There is no doubt about it, to distribute books is our most important activity. The temple is a place not for eating and sleeping, but as a base from which we send out our soldiers to fight with maya. Fight with maya means to drop thousand and millions of books into the lap of the conditioned souls. Just like during war time the Bombs are raining from the sky like anything. (Letter to: Ramesvara — Bhaktivedanta Manor 3 August, 1973)
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/j631AF

BLUE HOME MUSIC CAFÉ

First there was the Blue Home Recording Studio. Then came the Blue Home Artworks Gift Shop. Now enters the Blue Home Music Café.

“Blue Home” is the brainchild of a fairly new New Vrindavan resident, Jesse Hanson, who is assisted and supported in the endeavor by Lilasuka dasi, his wife, a long-term resident of New Vrindavan. Residents and visitors to New Vrindavan used to have fun shopping at Jesse’s Blue Home Artworks Store, which was packed with original handcrafted products. Sometimes, shoppers would be content to come in and hang out, sipping ginger brew and munching on one of Dharmakala’s World’s Best Cookies.

The Blue Home Artworks Store recently closed. However, the “Blue Home” name lives on in Jesse and Lilasuka’s current Blue Home Music Café. Jesse is a lifelong songwriter and musician, who used to offer recording services at his Blue Home Recording Studio in Pittsburgh, PA. So he felt the Blue Home name would be appropriate for a homey music café in their newly-built house in the New Vrindavan area.

Jesse and Lilasuka are very interested in contributing to the re-creation of a wonderful village atmosphere in New Vrindavan, where so many of their friends are living. This desire, fueled by their strong love of making music and potentially inspiring people on their respective spiritual paths, gave birth to the Blue Home Music Café.   They recognize that there are many talented songwriters and musicians in the local community. They also want to encourage artists and performing artists to hone their skills, and to give community members and guests the opportunity to appreciate the culture abounding in New Vrindavan.

The Café’s debut, Saturday, November 7, was received very well as a neighborhood event.   The second café on November 21, was as lively as the first, well attended by people of all ages.   They hope to continue this music-and- veggie-soup trend every other Saturday. The event features a variety of music performed by local, New Vrindavan area, musicians or performing artists.

What they say… About Blue Home Café:

Katherine, who happened to be spending the night at the Palace Lodge, dropped by the Blue Home Music Café, and commented, “Thanks for your warm and delicious welcome.” She sipped the veggie soup, while relaxing in Lilasuka’s new overstuffed armchair.

A fellow musician/percussionist, Devala (Leon) commented:

“Thank you for inviting me, these are the events that make a village…!”

This sparked a bit of “village” talk:

Lilasuka replied: “I love the ring of that word- “village”! It’s so homey. Thanks, Devala.

Plus, I love the village we live in.”

To which Devala responded: “I like that word also very much. We can say “when you are from the same village, everyone knows your name.” It brings people together.”

One young lady, who wasn’t able to attend, but who is an excellent singer, albeit sometimes suffering from “stage fright”, so is hesitant to perform at the Blue Home Music Café, offered this comment:

“So sad we missed it! Can’t wait for the next one! Do the musicians play up in the balcony? That’s a good cure for stage fright! Haha!”

Another person kindly wrote:

“We are looking forward to it. Please let me know what I can do to help. Was very nice to see and hear all the visitors in the pictures you posted.”