The Vrajavadhus at ISKCON Punjabi Bagh (Album 12 photos)
The Vrajavadhus were excited to be with the loving devotees at ISKCON Punjabi Bagh. Their enthusiasm in sharing the holy names extinguished our withered heart’s quench. Their jubilance sprang forth many oceans of transcendental waves that flowed from their hearts to ours.
We are truly grateful for their kindness and hospitality. Their love that embraced us once again.
We pray to remain eternally engaged in the loving service of such merciful Vaishnavas. Thereby somehow gain the special favor of Sri Nama prabhu.
Thank you dear devotees at ISKCON Punjabi Bagh, for accepting us in your association and service. We pray to Srila Prabhupada to we may please you.
“O sun of the Holy Name, even the dim light of Your early dawn ‘namabhasa’ devours the power of the darkness of the material world and gives those who are blind to the truth the insight to follow the path of pure devotion to Krishna. What learned person in this world can possibly fully describe Your transcendental glories?”
Stava-mala by Srila Rupa Goswami http://goo.gl/dslihJ
The tide was coming in. It was ocean water being filtered through the mangrove thickets. A small party of us took to the dry man made trail through those thickets, yet the water infiltrated and we were forced to adventurously wade through the cool liquid before we reached higher and drier ground. The ocean tide did come unexpectedly, though a sign at the entrance of the trail gives warning that the trail will eventually become immersed.
We took to walking over the roots of shrubs for the great escape and to higher elevation, and then to the road. It was a fun task that also involved a baby stroller with precious contents inside. It was an exercise of ‘Don’t Panic!’ Methodical steps had to be taken.
Our location was the Matheson Hammock State Park, a lovely place of palm trees by the swamp, and manatees in the water.
Oops! Two of the boys did what you’re not supposed to do. They shimmied their way up a coconut tree and brought back down 8 gorgeous coconuts for quenching the thirst. Without a machete, it’s rather tough getting to access the nectar within. Whatever was extracted was great though, it gave fuel, and spurred at least, myself, on. We reached the park’s end, an admirable beach front which loops around creating a harbor of sorts.
No one dared to swim. My companions are Floridians who have thin blood, and temperatures were rather low, even for a Canuck like myself. Besides, we were tight for time. We had to dash off for the Sunday Feast.
Guests did come to the chant and feast program. Students from FIU turned up. I spoke with the theme, ‘We are not these bodies, but spirits’. We also did a viewing of ‘Gita: Concise’, our drama that we filmed in India. It met with good response, and enhanced the topic of discussion. All’s well that ends well at a Sunday Hare Krishna feast.
I took Vitaliy, who’s from Detroit, to Coconut Grove where our guru, Srila Prabhupada, had sat to deliver some lessons by the shade of three banyan trees in 1975.
Halloween madness had quite significantly subsided by 5:30 am. The Atlantic Ocean was remarkably tame and there we sat placidly. There was utter stillness to the exception the sound of the odd fish surfacing and making a minor splash. It was a perfect setting for mantra meditation. It was opportune for reflection not only in the water but on the benevolence we received from above – from our guru that came before us to help us see the world from a spiritual perspective.
I had spent a good chunk of the day seeing members of our Miami community on one-on-one approach. You have here diverse demographics, and of skin tones – white, black, brown and varying shades of them.
Before tucking myself into bed I shared with a group of devotees an excerpt from the book, “By His Example”, authored by Guru Das. “After eleven years, Prabhupada continued to reiterate the idea: ‘You are not this body: you are spirit soul’. ‘We must give up these bodily designations’. ‘You can change your country but you cannot change your eternal identity’. ‘We must constantly be reminded about the Bed-rock work principle of Vedic philosophy – we are not the body’.
I wanted to thank Ekanamsa Siva for the use of his art gallery where we held a lively kirtan and a session from “Tales from Trails”.
I caught the tail-end of the night life in the Alachua area. By “night-life” I mean the deer, the fox, owl and others doing their nocturnal roaming. I was executing my japa, chanting and walking when I could hear the creatures or at least spot traces of them, all but for the armadillo. This fellow was clearly visible and active in someone’s front yard. I felt confident that this guy will achieve his tummy’s goals.
Now, if we fast-forward to Miami Beach street life we will see a world of creativity mixed with monk-taboo visuals. It’s the Halloween scene on Lincoln Road and the nighttime crowd responds well to the kirtan. Some of the attire is rather risqué but I found one costume out of this realm a real killer. One fellow was donning a costume that portrayed the Ebola virus. It was awesome! It is my experience that when you deliver the mantra with drums to a night crowd, they love you for the beat you create. It makes them dance. Many of the onlookers clutch onto the words of the mantra. People are always willing to learn. That being said, there are some limitations to enlightenment when people are under the influence of liquor or drugs. This became clear when talking to one of the Polish devotees among us. He said, “I try talking to the people about philosophy but they’re not in the mood”.
It stands to reason. There is Count Dracula, Batman and Robin, cowboys and Indians and ebola personified to distract you.
Paul Rodney Turner is dubbed as the “Food Yogi” and is the International Director for Food for Life Global. We hiked some trails together at Lake Louisa State Park. It was a rather delightful hour-long struggle through deep sand until we came to the long pine needles laid out to create a virtual unsinkable floor as a trail. Paul (also known as Priyavrata as a devotional name) gave me the previous night a complimentary copy of his excellent book, “Food Yoga”.
I particularly like a quote in his book by George Bernard Shaw on the topic of nature’s power, “Think of the fierce energy concentrated in an acorn! You bury it in the ground, and it xplodes into an oak! Bury a sheep, and nothing happens but decay”.
This statement became significant since we were walking under the canopy of trees, not necessarily oaks but pines whereby many pine cones were strewn all around us in addition to the needles. Paul shared with me his video on feeding the homeless when he was in Colombia. He was happy to know that I fed some rice to a sand hill crane right out of my hand the day before.
With us was his fiancée, Jagannath Priya, and Arjuna, a hip-hop bhakti DJ. I’m not quite sure how he is dubbed but he composes great music – very dancey and very conscious.
We had put in some trekking and dreamed away at the same time. It even entered the conversation during brain-storming to start a Festival of Consciousness travelling road show; something that displays and distributes healthy food by Paul, music which is Arjuna’s niche, and my passion – theatre. Other features can be utilized.
So much talent is there that can affect a change in the culture of our world.
Before the crack of dawn I heard something crackling. A brittle dead branch snapped off its tall tree hitting several other branches on its decent to the ground. I cleared it while on the road side during this early trek. Also I heard a rustling in the bushes but my flashlight was not quick enough to detect which animal. Roosters made their cry. It started with one, then another, and another coming from different directions, different farms. This was followed by the chorus of coyotes. Crickets were conspicuous by their absence.
At juncture highway 237 I turned a right towards Gainesville anticipating a pick up from Ananta Sesha. The road’s shoulder was practically nil so with oncoming traffic I stepped into the landof wet grass. Seeds of this clung on into the hundreds. And as I plucked them from my robes I felt no encumbrance because with each flick of seed I uttered a mantra. The modus operandi is to transcendentalize every action.
Eventually Ananta came and drove me to the Gainesville Krishna House for conducting a Q and A session on the philosophy of Bhagavat Dharma. Questions were meaningful, not robotic inquiries or lacking in substance or relevance. They had depth. And their responses, in terms of effectiveness, lies in the ears and reason of the listeners. It’s not for me to say.
The other book end to the day was a presentation of Tales from Trails followed by an offering of ghee-drenched cotton sticks in homage of Damodara, Krishna as a child. At this Bhakti Center in Clermont a good crowd really took to song and dance.
The sun had just then risen, it’s light danced upon the waters of Bindu-lake, and the reflections danced upon the wall of the cottage where Kapila and his mother sat, rapt in conversation.
Pointing to this, Kapila said, “The sun in the sky reflects off water, and the reflection illuminates a wall. Similarly the light of consciousness reflects off the mind and illuminates the inert body with sentience.
“When I saw this beautiful light on the wall,” Kapila said, “I wondered, ‘Where does it come from?’ Looking more carefully, I saw that it was a reflection of the lake. Then I wondered, “Why is the lake so bright?” Looking up, I then saw the rising sun. This is exactly how we can begin to see reality. We see the beautiful signs of life illuminating a body, and should wonder, ‘Where does this light come from?’ Examining it carefully, we can see that this light reflects from the sentience within us. Then we can also ask, ‘Where does that light come from?’ Until we arrive finally at the self-luminous source of all sentience.”
"A pure devotee cannot forget the Supreme Lord for a moment, and similarly the Supreme Lord cannot forget His pure devotee for a moment. This is the great blessing of the Krsna conscious process of chanting the maha-mantra Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare."
The G-20 conference is a forum for the governments of 20 major economies around the world. Collectively, the G-20 economies account for 85% of the gross world product.
This year, the conference is being held in Brisbane and leading up to it the city is celebrating with various events around town.
The devotees were invited to attend a G-20 parade starting from the Goodwill Bridge on the Brisbane river. About 60 devotees attended, chanting and dancing, much to the delight of the crowds that had gathered for the event.
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 29 October 2014, Vrindavan Dham, India, Srimad Bhagavatam 5.13.22)
Question: You have mentioned that logic can sometimes make us dull and this maybe is an example of how that works. In your class, I am trying to be logical and I am having a little difficulty, as what you have said seems like a circular kind of reasoning. You were saying that we are all running to apparent limitations and we have to break through these, we have to extend ourselves in order to get the mercy. But then you said that if we get the mercy then we will be able to go beyond our limitations. So it sounds like that in order to go beyond our limitations, we have to go beyond our limitations! Limitations, you have said, make us stumble, we are very much challenged by it, and because of it we cannot do it. But then, you are saying that in order to get the mercy that will enable us to do it, we have to do it – we have to put some effort. So it seems that even before getting mercy, we have to do something anyway. Could you please explain it a bit more?
Your question is refining things and that is appreciated. Yes, we have to make an initial effort to take the mercy which is so widely available. But we have to make that initial effort to take advantage of it. It is something like ‘stretching’. Stretching means we are stiff and our hands can barely get passed our knees, so we have to make that first effort. One day, as we stretch, our hands will be on the ground. So, like that, first we receive some causeless mercy, mercy we never asked for, mercy that just appeared in our life. Then it is up to us to take that mercy and take advantage of it. As we take a little advantage of some mercy, immediately we get more and that will give us more strength and enthusiasm to again take some more shelter. So, it is simultaneously going on: we make a little effort to take a step and immediately so much mercy will come our way which will give us strength for another step and for more mercy coming. In this way, we will make progress as it is a combination of both personal effort and mercy.Damodar-lila shows us those two fingers – one for the mercy and one for the personal endeavor of Mother Yasoda. Only then Yasoda was able to tie Krsna.
Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Vaibhava by Bhakti Vikasa Swami.
“After much hullabaloo a babaji remonstrated. ‘Siddhanta Saraswati is not a renunciate, and therefore not eligible to establish a samadhi for a renunciate.’ Prabhupada thunderously retorted. ‘I am the only initiated disciple of Paramahamsa Babaji Maharaja. Even though I am not officially a renunciate I am a celibate bramachari. By the grace of Babaji Maharaja I’m not secretly addicted to abominable habits nor engaged in fornication as are certain simian people.'”
Sravanam Kirtanam Camp, 25-28 October 2014, Dakor, Gujarat, India (Album 272 photos)
We should not forget the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra under any circumstances. It will help us in the greatest danger, as we find in the life of Gajendra. (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 8.3.1 Purport) http://goo.gl/f8awAi
The Сhairman of the TOVP project, Ambarisha das together with his wife Svaha dasi visited Mayapur recently.
(Album 8 photos)
They were very impressed to see how everything is progressing nicely and how quickly the construction is going. Anybody who comes to the construction site can now get a clear picture of the temple as its transcendental form takes shape, how grand it looks, and how much we have achieved in such a short period of time – from 2010 when the construction started. http://goo.gl/vCuhaV
3 miles or 5 kilometres is what it takes to get on foot to the local temple. 3 miles or 5 kilometres is the same distance it takes to return. The return or my accommodation place is at the home of Ananta Sesa and Vaishnavi, a south Indian couple and two sons, who very well look after me.
I had delivered the Bhagavatam class before my return. And the topic was about the choices we make in life. There is a tremendous amount of freedom experienced by all of us in this world of choice. When trained how to see the world in its proper perspective bearing in mind our true identity as a spirit that can mingle in the atmosphere of the three energies (modes) then good decisions can be made on the basis of knowing.
The three energies are satva (thoughtfulness), rajas (passion) and tamas (darkness). When our perspective on life is clouded by tamas (darkness), when everything is clouded with respect to goals, it is difficult to make objective decisions. You are too subjective to see the good choice you have.
The text which I spoke from referenced from Canto 10 and although the topic about Krishna and Princess Rukmini was clearly from another world, they mutually chose each other as spiritual lovers. The choice was vast. But nothing was as organic as the natural attraction they had for each other. When it came time to pick and choose for tying the knot a letter was written by her, sent to Krishna by a brahman priest about the mutual fondness and so, as a natural consequence, an elopement took place.
On another not it is with full congratulations that I appreciate the choice made by two people and the community to move ahead in their devotional life. Scott became Shasvata and Nirmala became initiated as Namamrita.
It dawned on me. There are two things that I like to have near me, at least two.
A road under my feet and a microphone at my mouth.
I get a charge out of the sand at the side road enroute to the Krishna Balaram temple. It’s a faint worth doing with the softness underneath. I was on my way to this particular destination when I dwelt on the prospect of saying a few things, perhaps anecdotes, about the guru on the anniversary of his passing. By lunar calculations, Srila Prabhupada passed on this day back in 1977. I was slotted to say a few words, not many, because I was at the head of a queue (being the guest) while others were anxious to say something too.
I did get the mic, by the way, but I ended up over-extending myself. There is always much to say in appreciation of the person who’s done so much to improve your life. When I think about the multiple benefits one word comes to mind that I’ve achieved and which I’m grateful towards. The word would be “confidence.”
When I was in my last year in my teens and I met the monks that represented him (our guru) I was a jittering, nervous person. I was shaking like a leaf but I knew if I spent enough time with them I might evolve as a stout tree trunk, ready to accept a challenging world.
The world that I knew before and after taking up the simplicity of a monastic are really two different universes. I’m grateful to be where I am but anticipating greater gains of spiritual maturity. It is necessary to penetrate deeper into the realms of bhakti. More focus and concentration is required. As one martial artist, an acquaintance, put it, “It’s better to dig deep one hole instead of jumping to numerous shallow holes.”
I believe it’s not only leaders of the Abrahamic faiths (Christians, Jews, and Muslims) that get busy on week-end days. I think it holds true for most monks, swamis, and brahmanas too. People make an extra effort by way of convenience on those days to push the spiritual button and engage their communities more so than on other days.
It really doesn’t matter which time of the week one reserves for the spirit, or what time of day, or special observances at certain times of the year, as long as you do something.
Today, Sunday, the temple packaged a festival of Diwali (a common celebration as a New Year), Anna-kuta, a festival of food to honor Krishna’s Govardhan Hill and the Kartik month, a focus on baby Krishna—all combined.
To accomplish the good time that comes out of the event, the kitchen was a busy bee-hive, as was the altar, the temple room itself and living quarters with extra overnight guests staying over. Oh I forgot the office. Frankly, that’s where I spend a good amount of time. It’s a meeting place, really and it’s hard to get out of that box for a stretch or a walk.
I managed after the fun of the fest to reacquaint myself with quiet only to walk through a modern-day version of an old Celtic celebration by mere displays of Halloween’s orange and black. Yes, residents go all out to exhibit massive inflatable black cats, ghosts, zombies, headless horsemen and everything ghoulish.
“Where are the good ol’ fashion pumpkins? You know, the jack-o-lanterns?” I asked within. In one sense the whole affair appears a weird twist to the eve of All Saints Day. People seem to get a chill and a charge out of anything scary.
One thing I’ll keep in mind is what our guru, Srila Prabhupada, once said about people not having a sufficient scare or fear of maya the illusion of the world. Rather we flirt with temptation and dance with delusion. To be honest, it’s time for all to re-define our weekend and big-time fun.
Michael and partner, Saskia, came to have lunch with me. Michael and I have been friends since we found each other via internet. He’s a follower of God. He also likes the road and walked the expanse of it across Canada. That’s what we have in common.
I listened to the time he was in Grand Forks, British Columbia, as he walked through. I hope he doesn’t mind me saying it. When a guy asked him where he was from, he said he was from Toronto.
“So how’d you get here?”
“I walked.”
“You walked all the way from T.O.?” said the guy in disbelief (we’re probably looking at 3 – 4 thousand kilometres. He alerted his friends. They came over and shouted, “Boot! Boot! Boot…” The town’s custom is that you drink beer from a boot. So Michael did that. Actually, he ended up drinking two boots worth, and that pretty much finished his walking for the day. We had a good laugh as Michael told his story.
Michael went through a lot of personal transformations during that walk. He helps people currently with addictions and is moving on with producing a documentary of the wisdom you learn from the road.
Michael and Saskia are a great couple. We parted when I was whisked away for a program where a family was honouring their new house. A homa (fire ceremony) was held and conducted by priests. I spoke from The Gita to a full house. We chanted and then feasted. In the process, I felt as if I landed in my stomach boot-loads of coconut water. I was definitely in the mood to walk after that, especially to burn off the calories of the curries.
I clicked away with camera (on my phone) to capture what I’m seeing. Posterity has it’s place when you fall in love with your trails. Mud Creek was my path. The people who are also on the path were glowing as much as the leaves were.
The leaves! Yes, they are on top of you, they are under you and they are all around you because it’s autumn.
The other day I was talking ot one of our congregants, The Leafs, the hockey team. His sons are fans of the players. Whether the team loses the game or not, the boys are faithful.
In Sanskrit the word for faith is called shradha. It means, as our guru put it, “Trust in something sublime”. It would make sense that the power behind the creation, including a hockey team, would be the most sublime entity of all. In fact, I would say there should never be a disconnect between creation and its Creator. That would be the greatest illusion to even think about separating them.
So here I am shooting away, registering great scenery and appreciation of what’s there. This venture repeated itself in the evening. Two monks, Brihat, Hayagriva, and I took to a woodsy trail in a Thornhill forest before conducting a 9 Devotions Workshop. The group we engaged was a Russian community. Very receptive they are, and very responsive. Here again, the folks were aglow, but in devotional practices because the workshop is very much hands on and heart touching.
A quote from Vladimir Borisov, “Some people listen with their stomach, some through their knowledge, and some with their mind. Very few listen with their heart.”
And I forgot to mention the man who brings the medicated drinking water, another who brings daily soup, another who brings and takes medicated bathing water and the accountant.
