Thursday, October 4th, 2018
→ The Walking Monk

Moundsville, West Virginia

To the Hills

Raj sat behind the wheel, with me up front, as passengers Partha and Uttama from British Columbia rode in the back seat. The four of us were enroute to the first ever, official, ISKCON men’s retreat, promoted cleverly as the MANtra Retreat, hosted in West Virginia, in the hills. Our walk-less trip took us eight hours, and much of it through some fierce rain. https://www.instagram.com/p/Boiw0Hbl29M/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=1wut5krq0j139

Periodically I pulled out my pet book for the time—a second read of Mukunda Goswami’s book, “Miracle on 22^ndAvenue.” Any piece of literature which features the pioneer years of the Hare Krishnas is what I am most fond of for its contemporariness—it’s happened in our lifetime. I am indeed a sucker for those times of change—the ’60s. I even interested our car crew in the detour to Butler, Pennsylvania, where fifty-three years ago our guru, Prabhupada, stayed for one month. One can marvel at that—that the first place of his teaching the Bhagavat philosophy outside of India was in Butler, and not New York City. https://youtu.be/LzSjg3xT01Q

With the rain pouring down as it was, we still managed to take pics of the old YMCA where he stayed, and the home of where his sponsors, the Agarwals, were visited by him on a daily basis, and where he cooked a bhakti-packed meal for them each day.

By the way, monks can cook, play chess, do janitorial services and even walk treacherous trails. Sigh. I walked through here three years ago.

May the Source be with you!

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We need to forgive ourselves to give ourselves to Krishna
→ The Spiritual Scientist

[Sunday feast class at ISKCON, Portand, USA]

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Krishna has faith in our potential – let’s have faith in his potency
→ The Spiritual Scientist

[Congregation program at ISKCON, Portand, USA]

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Lessons in life
→ KKSBlog

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 27 June 2015, New York, USA, Bhagavad-gita 9.33)

Question: You mentioned the shooting incident. I am curious to know how this specific experience affected you in a personal way, if it is not too personal to share?

I will keep it simple. I do not want to speak about the material side of it, you know, the conspiracy, who pulled the trigger and all that. That is for the tabloid newspaper so we leave that out. I could see that the ultimate cause of all this was Krsna, so I did not get into the mood of who did it! It was Krsna who sent this to me.

It was not just a freak incident. There were people who were trying to get rid of me and that was really what was going on. And I sort of thought, ‘What is wrong with me that people want to get rid of me? Why is that? What did I do?’ I started thinking about that. Of course, whoever resorted to means of shooting someone in the back is not a person of good character. That is quite obvious. I might possibly call him a bit crazy; someone who goes to such an extent. But still, what did I do to agitate this crazy man to that point!? I had to ask that question, ‘What is it in me that caused this?’

For a long time, I had been the leader of our temple in Vrindavan; I was in charge for a long time. Everyone who needed to buy something had to come through me and I had got used to it; I had all the strings and I had gotten used to it. I tried to be reasonable. I thought that was how I should be. I thought that I should be reasonable with people. So I tried to be kind of what I thought is reasonable, to be what is commonly accepted to be reasonable. But, you know, what is your criteria for what is reasonable!? It is not so easy to determine.

So I attempted to be reasonable with everyone because I was controlling so many facilities. People would come all day and ask, “Can I use this, can I have that or can I do this?” And I had to decide. So I tried to be reasonable but it was by my criteria and maybe it was not always reasonable to others and people were left dissatisfied and I could see that I needed to change. I had to stop the impersonal attitude and become more personal and more sensitive to people. You cannot just leave some one completely dissatisfied to the point where it just begins to fester and like ferment inside. I could see that I had to change and become more sensitive and try to satisfy everyone.

So I changed, something changed. I am more conscious of it and trying to be more conscious of it. So even when someone wants something crazy, I try to deal with it in a personal way whereas before, I would have just said no. At the same time, it forced me to be humble for a while. I got reduced by the whole experience – I lost my power, lost all power and I could barely lift my arm for two years before I could function. So I was reduced, thrown back on myself and it also gave me some time to sort of look more at what was inside.

Was life so much about all the external achievements!? You know, your identity becomes so mixed with your achievements – I had done all these things therefore I had control of all this and that. Then I had nothing left – no money, no car, no energy and just reduced. I have always been someone with lots of energy so in whatever I do, I just throw all my energy at it. So if you take everything away, no problem, just with my energy I will be back, I am that kind of a person, you know, a high energy person. But at that time, even my high energy was gone. I had nothing except what was inside, that was all.

So I was forced to have a real good look at what was inside; the love I had inside, and I realised that it was not that much. It was less than I thought I had; I did not have that much. So it forced me to deeply reflect, which was beneficial. I would not be here and I would not be doing what I am doing now if that incident did not happen. Now I try to live a life not for myself but for other people, and give as much as I can, and I do not think I would have been able to do that in the same spirit as I am doing it now, without having gone through that experience. Anyway a very serious aspect; a very serious topic…

The article " Lessons in life " was published on KKSBlog.

Viva Kultura: The Great American Tour
→ ISKCON News

This video sums up 7 weeks of presenting Krsna-consciousness to the people of America through the performing arts by Indradyumna Swami and the Viva Kultura festival group. Such cultural presentations are both entertaining and spiritually uplifting as they are centered around Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His transcendental pastimes.

Govardhana Puja & Snana Yatra – Sat 10th Nov
→ The Hare Krishna Movement New Zealand

После года интенсивной проповеди собираюсь домой, в Шри Вриндавана-дхаму
→ Traveling Monk

Tomorrow, after a year of intense preaching, I am going home to Sri Vrindavan dhama. It is only by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada and the saints that I can return. I often remember the words of Srinivas Acarya as he departed Vrindavan for preaching. As soon as he left, he was hankering to return.

“Shall I, a worthless person ever again see the deities of Govinda, Gopinath, Madan Mohan, Radha Vinode, Radha Mohan and Radha Damodar? Will prabhu Sri Gopal Bhatta ever bring me back to Vrindavan or give me the opportunity to serve his lotus feet again? Shall Lokanath Goswami, the incarnation of kindness, bestow his grace upon me again? Catching hold of the hair of this sinner, will the gracious Bhugarbha Goswami ever bring me back again? Will Raghunath Das Goswami, the embodiment of kindness, ever again fulfill my desires? Srila Jiva Goswami is the light of the poor and the unfortunate people. Will I ever see his feet again? O associates of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, will you ever again bring such an unfortunate soul as me to Vrindavan and allow me to enjoy your company”

[ Srila Narahari Chakravarti Thakur, Sri Bhakti-ratnakara ]

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Special Cida Dahi Festival in Bali
→ Dandavats

This year in the island of Bali, Lord Nityananda showered His causeless mercy to the devotees. For the second time this year the grand Cida dahi festival was held at the Merta Sari beach. This program was not planned however. HH Subhag Swami arrived in Bali a few days prior to the festival and spontaneously commented, ‘We should have a Cida dahi festival!’ The local devotees took this instruction seriously and as a result within a short span of only three days was this festival arranged.

Chant: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

And Be Happy!!

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