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Lecture at ISKCON Seattle
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ECO-Vrindaban Board Meeting Minutes 10/11/2015

Mission Statement: ECO-Vrindaban promotes simple living, cow protection, engaging oxen, local agriculture, and above all, loving Krishna, as envisioned by Srila Prabhupada, the Founder-Acharya of ISKCON New Vrindaban.

Participating Directors: Chaitanya Mangala (chair), Kripamaya, Madhava Gosh and Ranaka

Participating Advisors: Jaya Krsna, Sri Tulasi Manjari and Radha-Krishna

Participating Managers: Nitaicandra

Recording secretary: Jamuna Jivani

1. Mukunda’s Monthly Report

Mukunda reported on the previous month’s projects:

• Bahulaban Barn: The restoration of the exterior is nearing completion. At some point a decision needs to be made as to how the upstairs will be used. In the meanwhile it will remain locked for the winter.
• Village Council Steering Committee: The Committee prepared a one-page presentation about a proposed Village Association and a short survey that will soon be presented to some local devotees for feedback.
• Bahulaban Water Test: The results are expected by the end of October.
• Recycling Project: Connecting with the Marshall County authorities has been a challenge. Mukunda desires to meet people who can help move this project forward. He will network with a group of like-minded “green” people who meet monthly in Wheeling.
• Temple Barn: The goshala received some maintenance repairs, but needs more: fencing, gutters, insulation, etc. Mukunda, Ananda Vidya and Lalita Gopi have made a prioritized list. Mukunda has begun the work and will continue for the next several months, two days per month.
• Skills Training: Nitaichandra and Mukunda took a four-day course in Restorative Agriculture. They intend to implement some of their learning in the next growing season.
• ECO-V’s Conference Room: Construction is progressing slowly, but nicely. It is on schedule to be completed by the December Joint Board meetings.

2. Nitaicandra’s First Monthly Report

Nitaicandra reported on the previous month’s projects:

• Gardens: The community gardens have mostly been on hold for 2015 and now Nitaicandra is preparing the beds for 2016. A cover crop has been planted and two oxen have been temporarily moved to the Garden of Seven Gates. He met with Madri from the temple kitchen regarding seasonal cooking and quantities.
• Oxen: Nitaicandra began working with the oxen and crew at Bahulaban.
• Permaculture Training: Nitaicandra attended a Restorative Agriculture conference with Mukunda.
• Orchard: The apples are being harvested and sorted. The pears are next.

3. Update on Community Folklorist

Kripamaya reported that Sankirtan is interested in this role. Kripamaya will follow up with Sankirtan to see what ideas he has. Kripamaya and Radha-Krishna will brainstorm ideas for a proper service description. The position will most likely be managed by ISKCON New Vrindaban (INV) and Jaya Krsna would oversee its direction.

4. Garden of 7 Gates 2 Pole Barn Grant

Jaya Krsna, Mukunda, Nitaicandra and Ranaka will review the present situation and develop a proposal for how to proceed with this project.

5. Garden of 7 Gates 200 sq ft Prototype House

The prototype house is approximately half-way completed. Nitaicandra would like to continue the work on this project and will meet with Jaya Krsna to discuss the next steps. From that Nitaicandra will develop a budget for what it would cost to complete this project.

6. Solar Equipment

There is $2K remaining in the budget designated for this project. The ECO-V managers will review the current situation and propose how to proceed.

Appropriately, Prabhupada had described himself as “a man not to be disappointed.”  He was convinced that if there were a center where people could come hear from a pure devotee, the genuine God conscious culture of India could begin in America.

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(©syamarani dasi, used with permission; wwwbhaktiart.net)

[reposted from Oct 2009]

Often I have spoken
of matter’s “naked form”—
its conditions upon us
or rather how our body
is subjected to tribulations,
conditions and diminishing returns
with misery sometimes
reaching such a pitch
that cruel death
seems a welcoming friend,
but “death” is only another beginning
as we take birth again
to pursue the same things repeatedly
looking to fulfill our spiritual urges
through external, physical bodies—
a vain hope against hope!

Then there is our internal
“naked form” of inner desires
unconscious before—
but now as a devotee
our “dark side” revealed:

read more

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 11 April 2010, Durban, South Africa, Lecture)

Saintly people can touch the heart of all. In this day and age, as soon as we speak about a saintly person, we turn to Srila Prabhupada first. He is the emblem of a saintly person for us. His qualities of saintliness are important and becoming saintly should be at the forefront in our spiritual life. Spiritual life is not about belonging to a society, it is not about being part of a certain temple, it is not about belonging to a certain group of people – that is not enough. That is just some arrangement to give us support in becoming saintly people. Krsna says that the sadhus, the saintly persons, they are dear to him. And Krsna is dear to the saintly persons and thus never for a moment, does he forget the saintly persons, not for a moment are they out of his mind.

“I’m a little Vaisnava, come and play with me.
When you come to my CLASS, this is what you’ll see!”

While studying the process of creation, based on an article by H.G. Urmila Devi, Upper Elementary students created illustrations of their understanding and impressions on the subject.

Hare Krishna! The highest study in the land of higher studies
Chaitanya Charan das: Visiting the inconspicuous Matchless Gift storefront that at first glance had nothing spiritual to recommend itself drove home like never before Srila Prabhupada’s pragmatism. As I contemplated how the surroundings had been squalid and sordid during the days of the counterculture, it struck me how revolutionary Prabhupada had been. Starting amidst the most impure of circumstances, he had by the potency of bhakti not only purified many people here, but had also made this place the starting point for a global movement that had purified millions all over the world. We need to share bhakti where we are amidst whatever cultural setting we find ourselves in; we can’t wait for the utopia of a more conducive setting. Just as a surgeon can’t demand ideal hygienic conditions while treating people on a battlefield, we can’t demand ideal cultural conditions while sharing bhakti with the world. Commitment means doing what we can with what we have – now.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20730

The post Early morning parikrama with Radhanatha Swami in GEV’s Vrndavana forest (Part 2) appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

Shyamasundar: Once we were in Mayapur. We had an old—I think it was a 1948 Hudson or some old, big car. And I was driving. We had left the main road. If you have been on the main road you know how bad it is. You can imagine how bad this secondary road was like. We were going to visit Lalit Prasad, who was Bhaktisiddhanta’s living brother, who was a very old man then.

Dear Devotees,
Please accept my humble obeisances,
All glories to Srila Prabhupada,

Calais and the refugees.

On the 21th October 2015 we set off from Bhaktivedanta Manor with two vehicles loaded with Prasad and provisions such as sleeping bags, tents, clothes etc. We were heading to a place called the ” Jungle “, just outside of, Calais in France, where there were 6,000 refugees struggling to survive in the worst conditions imagable.

After a short ferry crossing we arrived at the refugee camp. It was raining, mud everywhere, people were wandering around aimlessly, desperation on their faces. Within seconds of arriving we realised that the situation was much worse than we expected. Some people had been living here for 3 months or more. There were a dozen portable toilets , no showers, no communal buildings, no kitchen, a few people were trying to cook some porridge on a open fire. fi

It is an automatic expectation that there would be someone in charge or at least some kind of order, But no, not here in the jungle. So we just drove down through the water and mud into the heart of it, and got on with the mission. It was a little scary to be honest. Hundreds of desperate people surrounded the van. The first task was to get people to make a queue which needed all hands on deck, and our team sprung to action. Soon we were distributing delicious rice, subji, cake, apple pie, apples and oranges. We were going as fast as possible as it was important to keep up the momentum , if we spaced out the volatile situation could kick off.

Desperate suffering people were pointing to their muddy feet , broken shoes and sandals, no socks, and going without a bath for months, and they stood in the relentless rain with tears in their eyes. We had the shoes they needed but it would create a riot if we were to attempt to distribute them. distribut

After a few thousand plates of Prasad were distributed we reflected on how we were going to distribute a van load of clothes. So we opened the back door of the van, drove and started throwing the bags out, left and right, as we drove around the camp. The clothes were quickly snapped up and we were able to cover most of the camp, ” Indiana Jones Style ” Jo

We are distributors of Prasad, we don’t claim know the reasons why these people are here and what are the political solutions, civil wars, bombings, weapons of mass destructions, illegal wars, or maybe people coming to the UK to get a better life. We do know that these people are eternal spirit souls suffering the pangs of material existence, and are in need of special mercy.

Srila Prabhupada was not averse to helping the “needy”. In Mumbai my wife Moksha Laxmi was instructed by Srila Prabhupada to start a school for the street kids who were coming to the temple. He also wanted to have clothes for them.

Your servant Parasuram das

Food For Life’s Wroclaw Project (Album with photos)
Peace, Love & Prasadam…23.10.2015
Find them here: https://goo.gl/eh5mfD

Hare Krishna! Football, Friction and Faith in the Holy Name
They wear special cloth, prepare foods only eaten on these rare days, and congregate in mass around a few exceptional people that are taking part in a ceremony lasting over 3 hours. All the while they chant two and three word phrases together in cadence, which creates and encourages a collectively desired experience. I remember 4 years ago, when we first began regular harinama’s at the football games. A rag/tag group of us led by me, a 2 year old bhakta at the time, were chanting with some regularity on campus with little regard from the ‘local’s.’ Ann Arbor Michigan, home of the University of Michigan, is considered the ‘smartest town in America’ according to recent studies on such useless things. So smart these folks were, that they had no regard or respect for the sankirtan party we would feebly and yet faithfully assemble. Our party would look even more pathetic amid the wash of Maize and Blue on Saturdays outside ‘The Big House’, the temple where pig skin is worshipped by 100,000+ of America’s best and brightest on fall Saturdays in Ann Arbor.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20724

Hare Krishna! Sri Govind Gau Gram Prachar Yatra: IDVM’s offering at ISKCON 50
On the auspicious day of Dwadasi, October 25, 2015 in the attractive precincts of Sri Sri Radha-Madanmohan temple, Hyderabad, the inauguration ceremony of the Yatra was conducted. The Yatra team had readied one Sankirtan bus with Sri Sri Jagannath Baldev Subhadra. Since it was Srila Prabhupada’s desire to travel to villages in a vehicle, he is also present in his deity form besides the Lordships. A simple program was conducted at 9 in the morning amidst the enthusing crowd of devotees. HG Basu Ghosh prabhu (Vice Chairman, ISKCON Bureau and Temple President, ISKCON Baroda), HG Vedanta Caitanya prabhu (Temple President, ISKCON Hyderabad; Sri Sanskritananda Acarya (Sanskrit Pandit & Go-rakshak) and HG Anandamaya prabhu (Head, BBT-Hyderabad, Telugu) were present to witness the occasion.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20721

Hare Krishna! Sadhu Sanga Bliss in Vrindavan – Maan Sarovar and Bhandiravan
During the month of Kartik, many devotees assemble from various parts of the world to Vrindavan in order to recharge their spiritual battery. Parikrama allows an opportunity for devotees to nourish their bhakti through the medium of visiting various places of pastimes of the Lord, hearing of those pastimes from senior devotees and serving the vaisnavas. With this in mind, HH Subhag Swami Maharaj organised a series of programs in different places across Vraja during this holy month. In preparation for Kartik Maas, on 26th October 2015, Maharaj took 170 devotees from a range of places across the globe to Maan Sarovar and Bhandiravan. Buses left from our ISKCON campus at 6am. Class was given by Maharaj on the banks of this most holy pond. The tears produced from Radharani, from her deep feelings of separation from Krishna formed this reservoir of water we see today. Maharaj mentioned that although feeling separation from the Lord is our goal, it can only be achieved when we stop sense gratification, as Srila Narottam Das Thakur states in his celebrated song.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20718

Hare Krishna! Prasadam distribution etc. to the refugees in Calais, France
Parasuram das: It was a little scary to be honest. Hundreds of desperate people surrounded the van. The first task was to get people to make a queue which needed all hands on deck, and our team sprung to action. Soon we were distributing delicious rice, subji, cake, apple pie, apples and oranges. We were going as fast as possible as it was important to keep up the momentum , if we spaced out the volatile situation could kick off. Desperate suffering people were pointing to their muddy feet , broken shoes and sandals, no socks, and going without a bath for months, and they stood in the relentless rain with tears in their eyes. We had the shoes they needed but it would create a riot if we were to attempt to distribute them. After a few thousand plates of Prasad were distributed we reflected on how we were going to distribute a van load of clothes. So we opened the back door of the van, drove and started throwing the bags out, left and right, as we drove around the camp.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20714

October 27. ISKCON 50 – S.Prabhupada Daily Meditations.
You were alone in the city
where no one knew Krishna.
Only a backward boy came,
but Krishna in your heart
was your direct companion.
You had kept your courage on the lonely Atlantic,
and now alone in the ocean of vices.
The Lord protected you,
just as He protects the sages in the forest.
Loitering in neighborhoods
thinking how they could be transformed
for Krishna’s mission.
But it seemed impossible,
and you went to Scindia’s man
to ask when a ship was returning.
Still you extended your stay again:
Let me try a little longer.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20490/#27

Hare Krishna! Easy 5 minute austerity this Kartik month to calm the disturbed mind and please Lord Krishna
Vaisesika Dasa: The happiness and distress that every human being experiences are two extreme states of the mind. Everyone welcomes happiness but depression, dejection, and demotivation are not welcomed. WHO (World Health Organization) predicts that by 2020, depression will be the second-leading cause of global disability. Modern science is still struggling to deal with depression that attacks 1 in every 20. Here is where the instructions that Lord Krishna spoke in Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna, who was depressed and demotivated, are utilizable. After hearing Bhagavad Gita Arjuna got out of his negative thoughts and depression, fought with full motivation and won the war by the mercy of Lord Krishna.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20704

The post Daily Darshan – October 27th, 2015 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

YOU ALONE

You were alone in the city
where no one knew Krishna.
Only a backward boy came,
but Krishna in your heart
was your direct companion.

“Murali Manohar” Dance by Radha and Lalita (5 min video)
Kathak Fusion on the song from “Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje”
Artists: Radha (Srimati Radharani), Lalita (Krishna)
Performed on 25th Oct 2015 at Samadhi Auditorium, Sridham Mayapur
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/AUKWh5

Damodara month! (4 min video)
Srila Prabhupada: During this Damodara month, if one manages to capture Krishna with the ropes of pure devotion, he will be released from the bondage of repeated birth and death. – Srila Prabhupada, October 1972
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/L4J6wz

Tomorrow is the first day of Kartika here in Vrindavan (Album with photos)
Indradyumna Swami: Tomorrow is the first day of Kartika here in Vrindavan. One can just feel the excitement in the air. Everyone is busy preparing for the most auspicious month of the year. Ananta Vrindavan dasa arrived in the afternoon and even before he put his bags down we were out capturing the mood of Vrindavan through the lens of his camera. For the next month we’ll be producing, almost daily, photos albums and short videos of our parikramas with 400 devotees. All for the pleasure of those who can’t be present in Sri Vrindavan during this special time.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/KYIU8a

Hare Krishna! Immortal Longings
Ravindra Svarupa dasa: Our inability to sustain relationships is at the heart of our predicament. All our happiness and our achievement depend upon our successfully perpetuating relationships, and our ultimate failure to do so is called death. Small losses prefigure the larger one. We want to live, to expand our organism, to increase the power of our being—in short, to overcome death. As sex is the act of creation of life, we turn to it to commune with the energy of life itself and to prove our vital power. This power becomes embodied in offspring. Our family becomes the nucleus of a fortification composed of real estate, money, social connections, privilege, and power. We feed our vital force by competing with enemies and destroying them. In this way we prosper and gloriously expand. Yet all these activities have a desperate and driven character. We are trying to fool ourselves. For at heart we know very well that nothing can protect us, that all our powerful friends, aristocratic relatives, and sweet-faced children are fallible soldiers in the war, and that all of us are doomed.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=4018

A Day of Kartik month In ISKCON Vrindavana (4 min video)
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/Jo9Gf2

Continued from part 1 here and part 2 here

Shelter amidst trouble

In the last leg of my trip, I was supposed to be in New York for 2-3 days and in Detroit for 2-3 days before returning, but somehow the New York stay didn’t work out and I also got too many other invitations. So during the last 5 days, I ended up visiting 6 cities in 6 different states. My last stop was at Detroit, where my brother Harshal has settled along with his wife Priyanka and where my father and my brother’s parents-in-law had come. During our subsequent family re-union, my brother’s father-in-law, who runs a travel agency among several other businesses and who along with his wife flew back to India with me, helped me navigate the many legal intricacies associated with international travel. My maternal uncle who has settled in Detroit, America, shared many photos of my infancy and childhood – even his and my mother’s childhood – thus taking us all down nostalgia lane. Seeing that world of loving relationships reminded me that I needed to recommit myself to my monkhood. After all, I had hurt so many of my relatives by my decision to become a monk, and the least I could do to mitigate that hurt was to become a committed devotee, thereby sharing with them whatever spiritual credits I might accrue by Krishna’s grace.

My father playfully reminded me that some ten years ago, I had said, “America was a terrible country filled with materialism and I would never go there.” And yet here I was in America. I acknowledged this change as another example of time tempering the judgmentality of a new convert. Harshal pointed out that during the last twenty days I had traveled through 12 American states: Florida (Alachua, Orlando, Jacksonville), Colorado (Denver), Arizona (Phoenix), California (Los Angeles, San Jose), Oregon (Portland, Corvallis), Washington (Seattle), New York (New York City), New Jersey (Plainfield), Ohio (Columbus), Massachusetts (Boston), Michigan (Detroit) and Illinois (Chicago).

Actually, I had had no intention of traveling so much during my US trip, but I don’t know how it happened – my dumb social reflexes coupled with my difficulty in saying no, I guess. Predictably, my body couldn’t maintain the pace and during the last 5 days, I had acute cough and cold during the day. Thankfully though, it would subside enough in the mornings and evenings for me to be able to speak as expected. Still, I have learnt my lesson and won’t be traveling at such a pace again.

In comparison, my US tour started sedately, with I being in Alachua for the first ten days, including two weekends. My trip had been arranged by Hari Parayana Prabhu who is a Chemistry Professor at Florida University and is conducting a vibrant Gita study program for University of Florida students. I stayed at his place and he and his family made me feel at home by their informal hospitality. And Hari Parayana Prabhu and I had many stimulating discussions interspersed with bantering repartees. I also had many enlivening discussions with several senior devotees there including Shesha Prabhu, the Director of the ISKCON Board of Education and the current chairman of the GBC-EC (Governing Body Commission – Executive Committee). He lavishly appreciated my classes and later wrote to me saying that he was hearing my “Value Education and Spirituality” lectures on Youtube and encouraged me to transform that content into a book.

Sri Govinda Datta Prabhu, an IIT post-graduate and an Intel software engineer, coordinated my trip from Alachua onwards. He has resourcefully carved a niche for himself from which he is doing important innovative outreach. He drove me to many of my programs in San Jose, Los Angeles and Seattle – and got me to programs in time even when the GPS predicted that we would be late. When he got me in time from Portland to Seattle for the evening program, I told the devotees there, “Today, I have realized a modified version of a traditional saying: Where there is Sri Govinda Datta Prabhu, there is a way.” Laughing, we agreed that during our future travels we had better find a better way.

Because of my negligence in looking closely at my schedule, I ended up having to travel to three cities on Ekadashi on Oct 8. I have been fasting on water on Ekadashi for over a decade now, so fasting itself was not a problem. But never before had I traveled so much while fasting. I had a morning Bhagavatam class in Corvallis, which was some two hours away from Portland, where I had stayed on after an evening program the previous day. At noon, I had a university program in the nearby Oregon University, after which I had to travel for nearly 5 hrs by car to reach Seattle for an evening program. On Ekadashis, I tend to drink a lot of water and that meant stopping frequently to visit restrooms. When we couldn’t find a rest area along the way, we had to look for a restroom in some store and found a Macdonald’s. I couldn’t but smile at the irony that the only time in my life I entered a Macdonald’s was to use their restroom. Anyway, exasperated by the repeated breaks and the attendant delays, I decided to stop drinking water for the rest of the journey. As my throat and stomach started getting parched, I started reciting verses from the Bhagavad-gita. Soon I found myself transported to a higher level of consciousness, far beyond the irritation of thirst and the congestion of the traffic. And I was peaceful, even blissful, by the time we reached Seattle for the evening program. I usually don’t prepare the content of my classes, but I do prepare my consciousness by prayerfully reciting verses. That’s what I had circumstantially done more intensely than usual that evening. And during my subsequent class I found myself more absorbed in Krishna than during any other class in the whole US tour. The lesson that evening reinforced for me is life’s highest teaching, one I hope to cherish throughout my life: “Remembrance of Krishna is my ultimate shelter amidst problems, be they self-created such as careless planning or world-created such as traffic jams.”

Choosing fiddles while Rome burnt?

A spiritual highlight of my travels in the East Coast was my visit to the Tompkins Square Park and the Matchless Gift storefront center. My visit to Tompkins Square Park was the only time I went outside of the ISKCON world into America proper. Though I had traveled through one-fifth of America’s fifty states, most of the time I was in temples, devotees’ homes or cars, or in flights. In the Park, near the very tree under which Prabhupada had done public kirtan for the first time some five decades ago, now a free concert was going on and people were relaxing all around. The music was there, but the mantra was missing.

Visiting the inconspicuous Matchless Gift storefront that at first glance had nothing spiritual to recommend itself drove home like never before Srila Prabhupada’s pragmatism. As I contemplated how the surroundings had been squalid and sordid during the days of the counterculture, it struck me how revolutionary Prabhupada had been. Starting amidst the most impure of circumstances, he had by the potency of bhakti not only purified many people here, but had also made this place the starting point for a global movement that had purified millions all over the world.

We need to share bhakti where we are amidst whatever cultural setting we find ourselves in; we can’t wait for the utopia of a more conducive setting. Just as a surgeon can’t demand ideal hygienic conditions while treating people on a battlefield, we can’t demand ideal cultural conditions while sharing bhakti with the world. Commitment means doing what we can with what we have – now.

Contemplating how Srila Prabhupada started with what was available and pressed on by doing what was doable – and achieved something so massive and magnificent – drove home the reality of Krishna’s mystical potency. Prabhupada came to America not merely to conform to some ritualistic formula; he came to transform people, providing them spiritual solace, doing whatever it took. Many of the controversies that had recently consumed my mental energy were akin to Nero worrying about which fiddle to play while Rome was burning. The legend is that the Roman emperor Nero was playing a fiddle while half of Rome burned down. Adapting the legend, I felt like Nero being conflicted about which fiddle to play. That is, I risked the danger of becoming so consumed by conflicts over relatively minor issues as to neglect the all-important work of dousing the fire of material existence by sharing the shower of Krishna’s merciful message. No doubt, being faithful to the tradition is important, but equally, if not more, important is being faithful to the purpose of the tradition: making its message of spiritual love accessible to everyone.

Expanded conceptions of bhakti

The biggest difference between Indian ISKCON temples and American ISKCON temples that struck me was that almost all American temples were run by householder devotees. The time when Srila Prabhupada had preached in America was the period of the counterculture, when multitudes of young Americans were exploring alternative ways of living, including Eastern spirituality. But the counterculture phased ended over four decades ago and correspondingly the number of Americans coming to our movement decreased drastically. At the same time, many Indians found ISKCON to be a cultural home in America. Among various Indian organizations there, ISKCON has retained the most cultural elements from India: Deities, kirtan, dhoti-kurta / saree and prasad. Most of these Indians had come to America for pursuing their careers and they naturally choose to become grihasthas.

As I had lived mostly in temples with strong brahmachari ashrams, I was intrigued to see temples run largely, if not entirely, by householders. Obviously, I had known that even in India some ISKCON temples were run by congregation devotees. But seeing first-hand many temples, at various stages of development, being run by congregation devotees drove home the extraordinary dedication of these devotees. It sank into me that the grihastha-brahmachari debate, that sometimes paralyzes young devotees, is so parochial and is ultimately inconsequential. Bhakti is too universal to be restricted to any ashrama, and the need for sharing bhakti is too urgent to wait for any particular ashram to solidify itself. Christianity is spreading rapidly in India, primarily due to the evangelical efforts of missionaries, most of whom are married couples. Self-evidently, the majority of our movement is going to be grihasthas. To the extent the anti-grihastha polemic that unfortunately goes in some parts of our movement is stopped and the contributions of grihasthas are acknowledged, appreciated and channelized, to that extent the bhakti legacy can be spread rapidly.

Most American temples don’t have any brahmachari ashrams at all. Temples that have both ashrams have a blessing that needs to be cherished. By avoiding an adversarial relationship, the two ashramas can synergistically make Krishna’s message of spiritual love widely available.

During my meetings with many devotee couples, I was struck by the gravity of the responsibility of parenting – and the dedication with which many parents were embracing it. I came to know several parents who were home-schooling their children or had come together to open devotional schools, as in Alachua and Seattle, or had moved halfway across the country to have their children study in a devotee-run school. Indeed, for many parents, the desire to pass their culture to their children made them more committed to their own bhakti practices. I tried to serve all such parents by speaking at Jacksonville on “Parenting Principles from Bhagavad-gita.”

Another thing that struck me was the opposite effect of the same culture on Indians and Americans: those very cultural elements of ISKCON that attract Indians often cause reservations among Americans who fear that they are joining a Hindu religious group. So though many Americans are interested in yoga and even bhakti-yoga, especially kirtan, they frequently pursue these interests through forums other than ISKCON. Given the aversion of post-modern people to institutionalized religion in general and the specific reservation of many Americans to ISKCON because of it appearing like a Hindu sect, devotees have had to come up with various strategies for outreach. Primary among them are separating the outreach initiatives for Indians and Americans, with some places having different programs or even different centers for each group; doing yoga, sacred sound and vegetarian cooking programs where the ethnic aspects are downplayed or selectively portrayed; and having American devotees do outreach to Americans.

The US trip expanded my conceptions forcefully by reminding me to not judge others based on externals. I found that a scholarly devotee I had known through email interactions delighted in putting on an unkempt appearance and then flummoxing others with his deep insights. I also met a senior Prabhupada disciple who had a pet dog and was wearing shorts, but when he started talking, his heart’s devotion became evident. When he described how he had cried for days at the sudden demise of Tamal Krishna Maharaj and almost broke down while speaking about it, I remembered the Chaitanya Charitamrita’s narration of Gadadhara Pandita’s misjudging Pundarika Vidyanidhi based on externals. No doubt, the externals do help in fostering the internals. But the externals don’t guarantee the internals and the internals don’t need the externals.

Rudyard Kipling had said a hundred years ago:

“East is East, and West is West,

And never the twain shall meet …

But there is neither East nor West,

Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,

When two strong men stand face to face,

Though they come from the ends of the earth!”

My US trip confirmed for me that the East and the West have many important, even irreducible, differences. And neither is likely to trump the other in the near future. Just as many in India are increasingly standing up to Western cultural imperialism, so too many in the West are likely to object to some aspects of the bhakti culture, seeing them as fronts for Indian cultural imperialism. But underlying such surface differences is the reality that we are all human beings and that our human heart longs for the love of the divine heart. By the grace of the sublimely strong acaryas, many people are becoming strong enough to rise beyond preconceptions and attain the shelter of Krishna, who forever plays his flute to invite everyone, both in the East and the West.

The post The highest study in the land of higher studies (Reflections on my US trip 2015) – Part 3 appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Continued from Part 1 here

Illuminating Association

During my visit to Denver, I had the association of Keshava Bharati Maharaja on the morning before and after I gave the Bhagavatam class. Maharaja heard my class from his room and when I returned to meet him, he appreciated the class and blessed me with a tight, long embrace. Our meeting of minds was instant – when Maharaja with endearing humility stated that he was just a fool living on a hill, referring to his staying at the Govardhan ashrama, I felt inspired to play on the word “fool” which in Hindi means flower and replied, “Yes, Maharaja, you are a flower adorning Govardhana.” When I commented that many people reduce scriptural scholarship to the capacity for memorizing and quoting verses, he spontaneously moved forward and shook hands with me in agreement. When I asked Maharaja how he maintained warm relationships with devotees who held antipodal positions on various sensitive social issues, he quoted the Gita 6.9 about being equipoised towards all. In fact, he quoted it thrice during our hour-long talk. I consider the verses of the Gita to be among my best friends. And just as discovering a new facet of a friend thickens our bond with them, so too did the repeated and relevant usage of this verse by Maharaja thicken my friendship with it.

At the Bhakti Center in New York, I met Satyaraja Prabhu, one of our movement’s most prolific authors. He is one of my writing heroes and we are both Back to Godhead co-editors. While reviewing articles, we often have jovial and serious email exchanges. Appreciating my consistent writing, he had a couple of years ago lovingly deemed me “the Indian Satyaraja.” During our meeting, I reminded him of that and he joked, “Given how well you are writing now, maybe I should be called the American Chaitanya Charan.” When I protested that my writing was nowhere near his, he replied endearingly, “Ok, you be the Indian Satyaraja, I will be the American Chaitanya Charan. And we will be spiritual brothers.” He had attended my class at the Bhakti Center and he appreciated my quoting Woody Allen (“I am not afraid of death, I just don’t want to be there when it happens”). He told me that he is planning to imbibe Allen’s humorous style in his upcoming autobiographical book. We discussed various styles of writing and I marveled at his genius when he told me that he could envision in his mind a full article with its layout before he got down to writing it.

While in Los Angeles, I went to Santa Barbara to meet HH Giriraja Maharaja. As a disarmingly courteous host, Maharaja himself came out to receive us, then took me to his altar room and blessed me with his association for over 3 hours, 2 hours exclusively and 1 hour during a group lunch. I have served Maharaj as an editor for several years. During the course of the service, our candid and deep interactions, many over email and some in person, have made him one of my closest spiritual uncles. After talking about various contemporary issues, we focused on the book that Prabhupada had asked him to write: the history of ISKCON’s Juhu temple. We discussed how to diversify into new genres of writing, how to overcome writers’ block and how to synergize speaking and writing. I explained my idea for a new book called “The yoga of journaling” wherein I plan to channelize the New Age interest in journaling towards helping readers use their intelligence as the counselor of their mind, thus subtly conveying the Gita’s insights about our inner landscape. Maharaja liked the idea and gave his blessings for the book. When our meeting concluded, Maharaja offered his best wishes for the rest of my US trip. I thanked him and responded, “Maharaja, the best of my US trip has already come now that I have got your association.”

Monkish missteps

Whenever I travel by flight, I ask for a wheelchair. At Indian airports, the wheelchair assistant had always been a male. When I had gone to Australia six months ago, I was escorted for the first time by a female assistant. Initially, I was taken aback, but over time, I have got used to female wheelchair assistants – they are usually middle-aged with a matronly air. But at Seattle, I was escorted by a young female wheelchair assistant who was iPhone-toting, gum-chewing and endearment-uttering. Every other sentence she spoke to me was filled with “honey”, “darling” and “dear.” Maybe it was a part of her normal behavior or maybe it was a front for getting a bigger tip, but her familiar manner left me discomfited. Still, seeing the whole situation as a test, I endured it.

While traveling, I usually don’t talk with neighbors except for an initial courtesy greeting. Departure from any place is usually preceded by some intense socializing. By the time such socializing ends, my introvert nature is screaming for oxygen, and I need to attend to it by tuning out the rest of the world and focusing on some intensely introspective activity such as praying or reciting verses or chanting or journaling. And my travel-neighbors, respecting my preoccupation, don’t usually initiate any conversation. But not always.

When I was going on a flight from Columbus to Charlotte en route to Boston, the middle-aged lady sitting next to me greeted me with a bright smile. As I returned her greeting and settled into my seat, she peered at me and then asked excitedly, “By any chance, are you a monk?” I nodded, feeling apprehensive at her excitement. On my affirmative response, she moved towards me, as if to embrace me. Maybe it was just my imagination or maybe she checked herself on seeing the alarm on my face. Anyway, she squeezed my shoulder and said, “During my last three trips, I have found myself sitting next to an Indian – and we had such interesting talks. I am so delighted to have an Indian monk sitting next to me now.” She had read the Gita and was very interested when I told her about gitadaily. We had a nice talk, though my cold prevented it from going on for too long. When she got off, she suddenly turned around, put her hand on my chest, smiled and told me, “Hope you recover from your cold.” We monks refer to women as mothers (mataji). I hadn’t addressed her thus, thinking that she as an American would find that form of address unfamiliar, even odd. Yet I couldn’t but be touched by her maternal concern.

On another occasion, I gave a talk at the Oregon State University (OSU) on the topic, “The Search for Happiness – Collecting the material or recollecting the spiritual?” A girl, who was studying environmental science and had come for the first time to the yoga club, was very interested throughout the class and asked a good question. When the class ended, she came forward with a bright smile to shake hands with me. If she had been an Indian woman, I would have folded my hands in Namaste, but she probably had no idea what that meant. Did I have a right to reject her courteous expression of appreciation, which was meant for the deliverer of Krishna’s message, just because it was offered in a cultural form incompatible with a monk’s code of avoiding physical contact with women? A few days ago, a senior devotee had told me that during his morning walks Prabhupada always greeted people with “Good morning” – not “Hare Krishna.”

Deciding that my role as a spiritual teacher was more important than my role as a monk, I shook hands with her for just a moment. It was after twenty years that I shook hands with a woman. Actually, I don’t remember shaking hands with any woman ever, but I must have received some congratulatory handshakes from my female co-students after I had cracked GRE in college some two decades ago.

I had hoped that shaking hands would be the end of it. But far from it, she asked whether she could have a photo clicked with me. Where I come from, the idea of a monk posing for a photo with a girl was unacceptable. I looked around for the organizers to intervene, as they would probably have in India, but they seemed to have gone missing in action. I had known for long that my social reflexes were much duller than my intellectual reflexes, but just how dull they were I came to know in the next few moments. As I was trying to wrap my head around her request and think of a courteous way of declining, I saw her giving her phone to a friend and coming to stand next to me. Maybe I shook my head in amazement at the bizarre idea and she took that as an assent. And before I could do anything to stop it, the photo had been clicked. Alarm bells started ringing in my head as it filled with the specter of someone googling me and finding my picture with her. Jolted into action, I tried to salvage the situation by asking all the other students there to come for a group photo and requested her that if she planned to put any photo on Facebook, she put the group photo and not the photo of just the two of us.

How far apart were the cultural universes that we monks have to navigate became clear to me that evening when I came to the Seattle temple for a program. While entering the temple building, my crutches slid on the somewhat slippery floor and I fell forward. For me, such falls are not uncommon, but for onlookers, they are often causes of alarm. The devotee who was escorting me to the temple hall immediately picked me up from the left shoulder and a mataji who had been watching me enter sprang forward to help me rise from the right. Maybe someone glanced disapprovingly at her, but for whatever reason, as soon as I rose, she shrank back, apologizing for having touched me. I reassured her that she had done nothing wrong, thanked her for her help and moved on, thinking about the radical contrast in cultural expectations between the afternoon handshake and the evening shoulder-lift. I realized how the culture in India protected monks, and I appreciated more those who were striving to be monks outside that protective culture. If faced with shaking hands with a woman again, I will probably err on the side of caution and politely refuse, explaining my culture’s way of greeting with folded hands.

Practicing monkhood in a non-devotional culture doesn’t come with a clear-cut instruction manual. We have to use our intelligence, pray for pure intention and do our best. Sometimes we get it right and sometimes we don’t. That’s life.

(Continued here)

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