July 23, Monday - Golden, British Columbia - Whitewater Rafting
We approach the town of Golden, British Columbia, around 6:30 a.m. and park at the Husky truck stop just outside of town. The tallest of the Canadian Rocky Mountains are all around us. The rising sun casts a golden glow on the snow-capped peaks and the green pine forests below. I notice the damage done by the skiing industry... wide swathes of tracks cut through the pine forests. We refuel the buses, dump the contents of our septic tanks, greywater tanks, and refill the freshwater tanks. The youth begin to wake up. We drive down to the public swimming pool and utilize their showering facilities on this cold Monday morning at 7,000 feet altitude. Golden is on the Continental Divide, high up in the mountains.
By ten o'clock we've finished our spiritual morning program and prasadam breakfast at the swimming pool parking lot. We drive up the
hills to the location of our outfitters, Alpine Rafting, who will take the 53 of us out on the Kicking Horse river for an "Ultimate Whitewater Adventure." After filling out some paperwork and liability release waivers we head into the school bus provided by the rafting outfitters that will take us to the put-in point. Our lead guide for the day is Eirick from Norway. He has no idea what he is in for. Two minutes into the drive, our youth break out into loud Namaste Narasimhaya prayers. The youth are chanting at the top of their lungs, and some of them begin to beat their hands against the ceiling of the school bus, using it as a mridanga. Eirick bobs his head back and forth. When we start chanting Hare Krishna he says, "Eh, I know that one! I have the Krishna Das album where he chants that song." Cool. Eirick asks about the significance of the songs we are chanting. It turns out his parents are buddhists, and he's traveled all over the world and has even been to our ISKCON Ratha-yatra festival in Vancouver last year.
Once we get to our put-in location, we are given wet suits, booties, life jackets and helmets. The guides instruct us in safety procedures to observe on the river. We break up into teams of six and one team of ten, and are assigned one guide per raft. The rafts are large inflatable nylon, self-bailing, with steering oars for the guide, who sits at the back, and one paddle each for the rafting youth. Each team carries their raft to the river side, puts in, and mounts. Off we go. The first few minutes on this opaque white glacier meltwater river are smooth and calm, where we practice "right forward - left backward" commands. Then come the rapids. ten-foot waves crash all around.
Our guide tells the youth at the front of our raft to "go high side," that is to jump onto the front of the raft to give it more weight and prevent the waves from tipping us over. They fall flat onto their stomachs at the front of the raft, one on top of the other. The waves crash over our heads. We reappear on the other side, only to be greeted by more waves coming at us from all sides. The rowing commands fly past our ears. "All forward!" - "Left back, right forward!" "Backward paddle!" After about a minute of intense rapids, we come to calmer sections of the river. Then to more rapids. Then to calm waters again. At one point the guide lets some of us jump in for a dip and swim alongside the rafts. I stay safely in my raft and try to film some video footage of the rafters behind us, braving the rapids we had just come through. I manage to catch a few good shots. The camera gets splashed and I quickly put it back into its water-proof case as we prepare to face more rapids.
By the end of the afternoon we arrive at the take-out point. I am soaked. There's water in my boots up too my heels. I unzip the boot straps and peel the wet boots off my feet. My skin is water-logged like a swollen raisin. "That was soooooo much fun!" I overhear one of the youth call out from behind me. I'm tired.
We board the school bus that will take us back to the rafting headquarters. Our lead guide Eirick from Norway is with us again. This time he brought along his guide buddy, Jimmy, who is from New Zealand. A few minutes into the bus trip he asks if we're going to sing again. Jimmy says that he came along because Eirick told him about our cool chanting earlier today, and that he had to hear it for himself. We can't refuse their invitation. Amal, Kumari, Kalindi and others lead several Maha-mantra melodies on the way back down the mountain. Jimmy is impressed. He wants to know more about what we do and who we are. He says he understands the benefits of giving up meat eating. He rarely eats red meat. He says he enjoys being a rafting guide because he gets to meet so many different people and find out about their cultures.
July 24, Tuesday - Sharanagati Farm Community, Ashcroft, British Columbia
Sharanagati is a farm community of Krishna devotees in the Canadian province of British Columbia, just south of Ashcroft. The Trans Canada Highway (TCH) winds its way across the landscape, following the Thompson River, next to the farm. We arrive at 3:00 a.m. The stars are shining brightly in the sky. There are no city lights here, no smog obscure our view of the sparkling night sky. I turn off the bus engine. There's silence. Intense silence. I can hear myself breathing. We're not used to this. It feels almost eery. Not a sound anywhere. Usually we park at truck stops or on busy city streets or parking lots near temples overnight. It's very calm and peaceful here. We park along the dirt road next to Kulashekar Prabhu's house, which he has converted into the official ISKCON temple of the farm.
The temple building has two stories. The ground floor houses the sleeping quarters for men, along with a large winter garden / porch that lends warmth to the building during the cold winter months. The top floor features the temple room, along with a kitchen, showers, and guest rooms, which are being used by the ladies today. The entire house is constructed from scraps of construction material and locally milled wood from the dead pine trees in the area. The water source is a trickle of a stream that comes down the hill behind the house. Kulashekar Prabhu uses solar panels to charge battery banks that power the electric lights that illuminate the temple room this morning. We hold kirtana for his large Gaura-Nitai deities.
After breakfast, Kartamasa Prabhu, our host, has arranged for us to split up into smaller groups of ten, to visit devotee homes in the Sharanagati community on a rotation system. He has prepared a questionnaire for the youth to use in interviewing the local devotees. We start out with a jeep ride to Kartamasa's trailer, where we board mountain bikes and ride down the winding dirt road to the home of Ghosh Thakur and Mother Girija. Their daughters, Kalindi and Gopal, own several horses which they make available for rides. While some of our group ride the horses, others meet with Mother Girija inside her cozy log-cabin home. She has beautiful deities with hand-sewn outfits, backdrops and gorgeous decorations all around the altar. She explains that during the long winter months, there's nothing much to do around here and so her and her family spend time making outfits, sewing for the deities. When asked what advice she has to pass on to our generation, she shares that devotee association is very important. That her hope for us is that we will always remain in the association of Krishna devotees.
Next we walk along a pasture to the house of Yadubara and Vishakha Prabhus, and their daughter, Hari Priya. Mother Vishakha greets us with a treat of "Goji berries" that she grows in her back yard. They are supposed to be very nutritious. We sit down in their living room for a short discussion with these two senior disciples of Srila Prabhupada. Invariably, we ask about Yadubara Prabhu's service of filming Srila Prabhupada. He shows us some of the video footage he is currently working on for the new DVD series, "Following Srila Prabhupada." It consists of the digital transfers from the original film reels of the footage that Yadubara Prabhu filmed when he followed Srila Prabhupada around the world from 1972 - 1977, with voice-overs of the various devotees that were present in each scene, remembering the incidents and telling the background story behind each event.
We climb the rutted forest road up a hillside and down again, to the Sri Sri Radha Banabihari ashram cottage cared for by Mothers Yamuna and Dinatarine. This straw-bale house is covered with layers of tan-colored clay, that makes for rounded walls and corners, and is surrounded by beautifully landscaped flower beds and gardens. It looks like a quaint hobbit cottage out of the epic "Lord of the Rings," only a lot more luxurious, fit for a royal couple. The masters of this house are Sri Sri Radha Banabihari, the gorgeous Radha-Krishna deities that are replicas of the Radha Raman deities in Vrindavan. Their altar is ornately decorated with fruits, flowers, and golden trim. Mother Yamuna's advice to us was that we should do what we love for Krishna, and to love what we do for Krishna.
After that, we drove in the back of an old pickup truck to Kalakantha and Jitamitra Prabhu's house, where we were treated to a wonderful prasdam lunch and cake in honor of their daughter Laksmi's birthday. After lunch, we were taken by pickup truck once again deep into the forest, to the start of the challenge / ropes course.
The ropes course was set up by Kartamasa and the Sharanagati youth for the summer camps (Camp Govardhan) that they hold here. First we hop through tires arranged strategically on the forest floor, to warm up. Next we scale several cut tree trunks that have been raised about three feet off the ground. The goal is to get from one end to the other without falling off and without touching any branches or supporting trees.
Then we have to get our entire team through an open hole in a vertical mesh of fake leaves, about four feet off the ground, without touching the mesh. The youth have to strategize and carry their team mates in creative ways. "Stay stiff like a stick, Jaya!", one youth yells. "Don't move or you'll touch the mesh!" yells another. Somehow we get everyone through to the other side. The last person runs toward the hole and dives forward into the arms of the others who are standing by to catch her. Next we have to scale a wall about 15 feet high and climb to the other side, assisting our team mates over the wall. Then there are some ropes courses... where ropes have been strung between trees and we have to maneuver from one end of the rope to the other without falling off. It's quite a challenge and I guess that's why they call this a challenge course. We have to work in teams to get things done.
We end the day with a pizza party organized by the Sharanagati devotees down at their festival site, on the shore of a small lake. One of the families who live here are Italian, and they are famous for their hand-tossed, home-backed pizzas. At dusk, just as the mosquitoes are coming out in force, we board our bus and head back to our sleeping quarters for the night (Kulashekar Prabhu's house, the ISKCON temple.)
July 25, Wednesday, Sharanagati Farm CommunityToday is our second day at Sharanagati. It's Ekadasi. Some of us attend part of the morning program at Mother Yamuna's house. By the time I drive the second bus load of youth to her house, the devotees are engaged in a lively discussion about what inspires each of them in Krishna consciousness. We go around the room in round-robin fashion and share our realizations. One lady shares something that she has recently read in Chaitanya Bhagavata, about how we can perceive difficult times in our lives as Krishna's mercy. She quotes an example of a certain river in India (Phalgu?) that has a dry river bed, but if you put your hand beneath the dry surface, there is water flowing. The difficult times we endure in this material world are compared to the dry river bed. And Krishna's mercy is compared to the water flowing just beneath the surface. His mercy is there, in the midst of all of our suffering, helping us get closer to Him.
Breakfast is in Bala Krishna Prabhu's raspberry patch. He runs an organic farm on the property, and today we're helping him pick the ripe raspberries that are weighing down several rows of bushes. Bala Krishna Prabhu explains that we can eat one, and put one in the bucket. Eat one, put one in the bucket. We offer the raspberry patch and begin our Ekadasi breakfast / raspberry picking adventure. With the 53 of us split up into teams of two, we are allocated to strategic positions in the raspberry patch and systematically pick all of the ripe raspberries from one end of the patch to the other. Halfway through the morning, we stop for a water break, and Bala Krishna Prabhu brings out home-made raspberry ice cream. Yum!
We have lunch there, which is a pot-luck prepared by various families. Mother Yamuna made the quinoa (with opulent morsels of cheese throughout). In the middle of the afternoon we depart for the town of Ashcroft, which is about 45 minutes away.
We're performing this evening at the Ashcroft Opera House. The name sounds imposing. Ashcroft is a town of 2000 residents and the opera house is an old historic building which has been restored by a devotee named Mahatseva Prabhu. He runs the place as a vegetarian restaurant with live music and entertaiment on stage in the evenings and on weekends. Tonight, we're booked as the feature presentation: DEVOTION. We park our buses on the side of the opera house, and get all the costumes and drama props, sound system and lights off the buses. Time to set up the show. Haridas and Nitai prepare the microphones. Markendeya sets up the lights. The dancers get ready in one room, the actors in another. Gundica, Gita and Varshana are busy putting make-up on all the performers.
"Ladies and gentlemen... Welcome to Devotion!" Anapayini, our director, starts the show. The dancers open up with Pushpanjali and an invocation piece. Maharaja Pariksit and Shukadeva Goswami set the scene. The actors put on another stellar performance. In the end, Mother Yamuna is crying and coming up to us and hugging us, wishing us all the best in our Krishna consciousness. Other devotees are crying. I again try to get some testimonials from the non-devotee audience as they leave the opera house. "How did you like the show?" "What did you think about the content?" Etc. One of the responses I got tonight from a young man was that he was impressed with the love and sincerity that our performers expressed on stage. He said that they had a lot of devotion... appropriately our show is named Devotion.
After the show, we mingle with the audience, eat prasadam with them, and later pack up, clean up, board the buses, and are on the road again by 10:30 p.m. The youth take rest on their bunk beds on the buses. The drivers drive through the night.
July 26, Thursday, Vancouver, British ColumbiaI wake up and look outside. We're parked in the ISKCON Vancouver Temple parking lot. I get up and see that it's already 6:30 am. I scope out the bathroom situation and then wake up the counselors, who wake up the other youth and get them to their respective bathrooms. I shower and get ready and make it to a portion of the deity kirtan after gurupuja.
Sri Sri Radha Madan-Mohan are especially beautiful today. The plan is to spend a day of rest and relaxation at the Vancouver temple, since we usually don't get to relax here whenever we visit during Ratha-yatra festival time. This will give the youth some time to do bhajans in the temple room, sort out their laundry, etc.
The counselors decide that we should do laundry today, since we will be driving most of the day tomorrow on a long haul from Canada all the way to the southwestern United States, on our way to Baja California, Mexico. So we drop off the girls at the laundromat on Royal Oak street, about seven blocks from the temple.
Then the bus drivers take the buses to various truck repair shops around Vancouver, looking for someone who can fix the air conditioning on the boys' bus, and repair the engine "Jake" brakes on the girls' bus. Meanwhile, the boys play some soccer in the grassy lawn area behind the temple property. I play goalie for a while. The ball is kicked out of bounds a few times into the boggy marsh next to the temple lawn. Ganga and Markendeya jump in to rescue the ball at various times. Both come back itching their legs and complaining about the stinging nettles.
At 1:00 p.m. I ask Aniruddha to give me a ride to the laundromat to pick up the girls' laundry. I had promised I would come back to pick them up but the buses are still not back from the repair place. So Aniruddha, the son of the vice president and one of the local youth coordinators, gives me a ride in his Toyota hybrid (gas / electric) car. The girls are a little disappointed that they'll have to walk down the hill back to the temple, but happy they won't have to carry their laundry.
Bhadra Nitai and his wife Kala Rupini Prabhus have cooked a wonderful 20-course prasadam feast for lunch, just for the youth. They are truly amazing cooks. Their kitchen is spotlessly clean. Everything is organized meticulously in tupperware containers, labeled, and there is not a speck of grease or spills anywhere in the kitchen. Everything is cooked in ghee. There is no oil anywhere in this kitchen. Between the two of them, they are cooking the offerings for Sri Sri Radha Madan-Mohan and the prasadam for all the devotees, day in, day out, year after year, at the Vancouver temple. Today they have outdone themselves. I cannot thank them enough for the outstanding prasadam they've cooked for the youth.
Finally the boys bus returns, unsuccessfully. Nobody in Vancouver was able to repair the air conditioning in one day. They wanted us to schedule time a week in advance. One mechanic looked at it and thought it was an electrical problem. Another said the compressors were bad. The parts would have to be ordered. So we decide to just call it quits on this issue. The boys have endured the no-air conditioning situation for a whole month already, and they have 22 windows they can open on that school bus.
By 9:30 p.m. I still haven't heard from the girl's bus. I am getting worried. We were supposed to leave Vancouver by now and be on the road. We have 26 hours to drive from here to Southern California. Then I get a phone call from our bus driver, Dravinaksa Prabhu. He is at Detroit Diesel, an affiliate of the company that builds the engine that is on our bus. The mechanics have removed the cover to the engine. They're three hours into the job. Apparently the Jake brakes (engine retarders that slow down the engine on steep downhills) are not functioning properly because there is a leak in the intake manifold gasket. To replace that gasket would take several hours, up to 8 hours, to get to it by removing half the engine parts... and the mechanic is saying that if they run into any other troubles it could take days. So he wants to keep the bus in the shop over the weekend and work on it some more. We cannot afford that time, nor can we afford the mechanic's rates of $106 per hour to TRY to fix the Jake brakes. So I have to make a decision. I tell Dravinaksa to have them put it all back together again and that we'll have no choice but to fix this when we get back to Florida at the end of the tour. We cannot afford that kind of down time. We need to keep on going.
By midnight the girls' bus finally makes it back to the Vancouver temple parking lot. The boys are asleep on the bunk beds on their bus. The girls are asleep on the temple mats in the temple room, an emergency situation. We wake everyone load up the buses, and proceed to drive towards the Canada / US border at Pacific Crossing, I-5. We get to the border by 2:00 a.m. and amuse the border patrol officers by our ragged appearance. Everyone is in their pajamas, or shorts and t-shirts, whatever they've been sleeping in. For the most part, we're red-eyed, with disheveled hair, some of the youth are barefoot because they were too lazy to find their shoes in the dark... A ragged, tired bunch. Normally we would not let them get off the bus like this, but both I and the other counselors are too tired to care at this point.
"Where have you been in Canada?" - "How long are you planning to stay in the US?" ... the questions the border patrol officers asks each one of us as we file through the turnstiles with our passports are repetitive and expected. Luckily the officers have a sense of humor. They wish us all the best and send us back onto our buses. We're now back in the US of A, crusing down Interstate 5 towards Seattle...
July 27, Friday, Drive to Southern CaliforniaThe goal for today is to get as much driving done as possible. We stop only to refuel the buses, and to stretch our legs and rest for a while around breakfast, lunch and dinner times. In general, we are getting quite used to the truck stop situation. Ask me what kinds of food and drink you can buy at any truck stop and I'll count them off to you. We cook each meal in the on-board bus kitchen, which is located at the back of the girls' bus (the larger of the two buses.)
We make good time. By late afternoon we are at the state line between Oregon and California, at the Klamath River Rest and Recreation area. Some of us jump into the river to refresh ourselves. Others hold bhajans on the lawn in front of the rest area bathrooms. We're waiting for dinner to be cooked. Jaya Radhe is preparing vegetable pasta with a white sauce. I make some lemonade with water, lemon juice and sugar. By about 7:30 p.m. we're ready to serve dinner. The youth line up behind the buckets, on the lawn, next to the rest area parking lot. Everyone has their own bowl and spoon in hand (we've discontinued using disposable plates, cups and spoons two years ago... and instead are asking each youth to bring their own and be responsible for them througout the tour.) I serve the lemonade halfway through the line so that those who don't have separate cups can drink and rehydrate themselves, before filling their bowls with pasta.
I place a phone call to Tukarama Prabhu, the Laguna Beach (California) temple president. It looks like we're making good time and will be able to stop over in Laguna Beach tomorrow. So I make arrangements with Tukarama to expect the youth sometime in the late afternoon tomorrow, and he promises to cook dinner for us.
We get back on the road by about 9:00 p.m., after everyone has had a chance to wash their dishes, use the restrooms, brush their teeth, etc. The bus drivers take turns driving through the night, while we sleep on our respective bunk beds.
July 28, Saturday, Crossing the Grape Vine, and Laguna BeachWe wake up in Bakersfield this morning... it's about 6:00 a.m. and the sun is about to rise. I am well aware of the perils that lie ahead. We are about two hours away from crossing the infamous "Grape Vine," a mountain pass that climbs up and up and up and up in the middle of the California desert. Attempting this mountain pass through the southern Sierra Nevada in the middle of the day with the boiling hot sun shining down on the black tarmac would be voluntary suicide. (We've overheated and ruined a bus engine on this climb back in 1996, on our then third bus tour.) So I try to instill a sense of urgency in our drivers to climb the Grape Vine before the sun gets to high in the sky.
At about 7:30 a.m. I get behind the wheel. We're now approaching the base of the ascending highway. The landscape around us is barren. Even thought it's only nearing 8:00 a.m., the sun is rising and we can start to feel the heat. The hills and mountains in front of us are tan brown, without any vegetation on them. We see the highway snaking up the side of the mountain in the distance. We're getting closer and closer.
I can hear the sounds of a kirtana starting in the back of the bus. Some of the youth who have risen by now and have showered on the on-board bus showers are wide awake and starting a late morning program.
I keep my eye on the water temperature gauge on the bus dashboard. It's rising. We're slowing down to about 35 miles per hour on the uphill climb. Just when you think that you're almost at the top, you see another, higher hill in front of you. The temperature is rising from 190 degress to 210 to 230.... at this point I switch off the air conditioning. The indoor air temperature rises quickly from the comfortable 76 degrees to a hot and sweltering 89 degrees. Someone yells from the back: "Can you please switch on the A/C?" We respond in a kind and gentle manner that we're unable to do so at this point.
The bus radiator water temperature stays at 230 degrees and doesn't cool off. We are on a steady climb... and the top of the mountain is nowhere near. It's time to switch on the heat. Literally. We turn on the bus heating system, which uses the hot engine water to distribute heat throughout the bus. If the youth were not complaining earlier, they are now. It's getting to be a cozy 96 degrees in the passenger cabin. We ask people to open the roof hatches (you can't open the windows on an MCI tour bus while driving.) Finally the elevation sign approaches, letting us know that we're crossing the mountain's highest point. Whew! And this is at 8:30 a.m. Imagine if we had arrived here in the middle of the day.
We are now on a steady descent. Our somewhat not-working Jake brake (engine retarder) is put, put, put-ting away... doing very little, but something, to retard the engine and keep it in the third gear on this long downhill grade. On the way up you're worrying about overheating, on the way down about burning out the brakes. We're only able to push the brakes for about 3 seconds every minute or so to just slow us down below 2500 RPM in third gear, in order not to burn out the brakes. Our bus is very heavy. It doesn't take much to burn the brakes, essentially creating a welded coating on the brake pads that ruins them and makes them ineffective. Finally, by about 10:00 a.m., we're on the other side of the Grape Vine, approaching Los Angeles.
Laguna BeachBy noon we arrive in Laguna Beach, California. This is a beach town. The whole place is organized around the town center, which is the lifeguard house on the main beach. We let the youth off the buses at a bus stop near the beach. They're excited to see the Pacific Ocean. (They'll see a whole lot more of it in the next few days.) They proceed to the beach for swimming and volleyball, while I drive Garuda 2 (the big yellow bus) back to the outskirts of town, where there's bus parking.
I cook lunch on the bus kitchen, then deliver lunch to the beach. Later, I park the bus near the Laguna Beach temple, at around 5:00 p.m. By this time the youth have walked to the temple (about ten blocks from the beach) and are getting changed into devotional clothing for the evening arati kirtana in the temple room. The deities here are beautiful life-size Sri Sri Pancha-Tattva, that is Their Lordships Chaitanya, Nityananda, Gadadhara, Adwaita, and Srivasa Thakur.
After evening arati, the devotees serve us a delicious dinner, consisting of pasta, salad, ice cream and sodas. We're back on the road by 10:30 p.m.
July 29, Sunday, ISKCON San Diego We wake up on Cass street, next to the Pacific Beach library. I am a bit disoriented as I get out of my bunk bed, trying to figure out in which direction the San Diego ISKCON temple is located. Apparently we're only two blocks away. I scope out the situation and find my way to the temple. I see that there is parking across the street from the temple, in front of the tire repair place, so I walk back to the bus, power up the engine, and pull the bus around the block.
It's 6:00 a.m. and I'm waking up the bus tour counselors and other youth, and directing them to the bathrooms. The boys are using the brahmacari ashram bathrooms at the back of the temple, upper level. The girls are using the upstairs bathrooms adjacent to the prasadam room in the front of the temple building. Most us us make it in time for greeting of the deities and gurupuja.
Their Lordships Sri Sri Radha Giridhari have always had a special place in my heart. We used to visit this temple on our early bus tours, back in 1995 through 1998, after which Jaya Radhe and I moved away from the West Coast and we've only been back to San Diego sporadically since.
Dravida Prabhu gives the morning lecture. He tries to make it intersting and relevant for the youth. Towards the end of his lecture, he reads about the pastimes of Sanatan Goswami, whose disappearance day we are celebrating today. He also sings us his poetic rendition of the bhajan, "Bhaja Hu-Re Mana," in English.
After breakfast, we meet with the boys and girls separately and have a couple of hours of review of the bus tour... How have things been going so far? Are there any ideas for improvement? How are people doing on the personal goals they set for themselves at the beginning of the tour? Are there any other objectives we'd like to set for ourselves and meet by the end of the tour?
The youth have the afternoon off, for personal time, rest, relaxation. Some of them need to go shopping, and walk to the stores along Garnet Avenue one block behind the temple. In the late afternoon we round everyone up again in order to get ready for our evening performance.
It takes about an hour for all of us to get ready for the performance. The dancers get changed first. Then those actors who have the most elaborate costumes get ready and wait in line for make-up. Gundica is our make-up artist par excellence. She begins the make-up on Hiranyakashipu, and then Hanuman.
The temple room begins to fill up with guests. The San Diego temple has advertised this performance on their email lists, and they've printed DEVOTION posters and put them up on the trees along Grand Avenue in front of the temple. At 6:00 p.m. evening arati kirtana begins. At 6:30 we start the performance. I'm sitting in the little room behind the temple office, writing the the bus tour diary while the play performance is going on. Usually I am there to support the performers, but today I'm in a hurry to get the diary uploaded since we'll be away from Internet access for a few days.
From where I'm sitting, I can hear the audience cheering and clapping in between the scenes. The dancers later tell me that they knew it was going to be a good performance when they heard the people in the audience sighing "Aahhhh" as the dancers threw the flower petals in the air during Pushpanjali. They said it was a very responsive audience. They laughed at the right moments, and cried during the emotional scenes. I'm glad first of all that so many people showed up to see the performance at this temple, and secondly that they were so responsive.
Afterwards, mothers Kripamayi and Kanti came up to me and expressed their admiration for the talent and sincerity of these youth. They wondered how Jaya Radhe and I are able to take care of 50 of them all summer long. I express my concern that I would like to see more parents travel with us. We need some mothers on the girls' bus, for instance, to give emotional and physical support to 33 girls. We've always struggled to find parents who want to spend two months traveling on a bus in tight quarters with so many teenagers and young adults. We're always open to suggestions. Please contact us at bustour2007@krishna.com.
July 30, Monday - Alisitos KM58 Surf Camp, Baja California, MexicoWe pull into our campsite at around 1:00 a.m. The border crossing went smoothly. The Mexican customs officer at the Tijuana border asked us where we were camping, shone his flashlight into our luggage bays and then wove us through. Apparently they're more lenient if you stay within a 75-mile radius of the US border. Our campsite is south of Rosarito, about 45 minutes north of Ensenada. It's an old surf camp. There is an overhanging cliff where we park our buses, which provides us with a panoramic view of the beach below.
We wake everyone around 6:30 a.m. and send them to the outdoor showers. Kalindi unpacks her Gaura Nitai deities whom she has picked up in Sharanagati. They are her childhood deities. She spends a good hour dressing and decorating them. We start the morning program kirtana, sitting in a semi circle around the deities, facing the Pacific Ocean.
The waves crash in a pulsating rhythm below our overhang. As the youth take turns singing the Guruvastakam prayers, my mind wanders. I observe first seagulls, then pelicans, then dolphins chasing schools of fish for breakfast. I notice that dolphins never swim alone. They always stay in small groups, keeping each other company. Perhaps out of social need, perhaps to keep strength in numbers. I am reminded how, similarly, as aspiring devotees we seek each other's association to maintain our Krishna consciousness. Life's challenges are more easily overcome in good association.
During the day, the youth swim in the ocean. The surf is up. Omkara and Deva rent surf boards from a local establishment. Various youth take turns trying to ride the waves. Radhanatha leads a team of people who help set up the tents in between the buses, which are strategically positioned in a "V" shape, facing the ocean.
After lunch, we are joined by His Holiness Romapada Swami, who has just arrived from the San Diego airport. He has arranged his busy schedule to spend three days with us here on the beach, in Baja California, Mexico. Romapada Swami has been serving as Executive Chairman of the North American Governing Body Commission of ISKCON for the past nine years. He is also a member of the "Succession of Leadership" committee. He is here to spend some time with the youth, and to encourage them to get more involved in ISKCON leadership.
Throughout the afternoon, Romapada Swami meets with several of us in one of the tents, to get a sense of our interest in and commitment to becoming more involved in the missionary work of ISKCON.
As the sun begins to set over the ocean, we begin a spiritual evening program with Kalindi's and our bus tour Gaura Nitai deities. The two sets of deities glisten in the setting sun. Kalindi's are white marble-looking resin. The bus tour Gaura Nitai are polished brass. Romapada Swami leads an initial discussion about the importance of our generation of youth taking on responsibiliy in the preaching mission of ISKCON. He explains that he himself has maybe ten years left to give, after which he'll be looking to retire. He laments that there are so few young people at the Temple Presidents' and GBC
meetings. He states his desire to dedicate himself to succession planning to see that ISKCON has a bright future. He would like to see the youth take over ISKCON.
July 31, Tuesday, Campo Alisitos, Baja California, Mexico.We hold a relaxed morning program with H.H. Romapada Swami. This morning's discussion is focused on obstacles that prevent youth from getting more involved in ISKCON. Dedication. Time. Money. School. Job Security. Feeling inadequate. Requiring specific leadership training. The list grows as Priya writes the headings on poster board paper and hangs the full sheets onto the side of our yellow bus. Premanjana manages the list of people who have their hands raised, who are eager to contribute to the discussion. "First Hari, then Uddhi, then Deva, then Lakshmi..." We take turns contributing to the list of obstacles that prevent us from getting more involved in ISKCON leadership and in the preaching mission.
During the day, the youth again surf the waves, swim, and relax after four weeks of non-stop traveling. These three days on the beach in Mexico serve as a short retreat to rejuvenate our bodies, to catch up on some rest and relaxation. There's work to be done, nontheless. Breakfast prep crew. Breakfast clean-up crew. Lunch prep. Lunch clean-up. Dinner prep. Dinner clean-up. Six teams are needed throughout the day to manage the essentials. The boys cook lunch. It's Mexican burritos with beans, salsa and hibiscus "tang" drink.
Dinner is campfire baked potatoes. We end the evening with a game of Krishna conscious charades.
August 1, Wednesday, Campo Alisitos, Baja California, Mexico.After the morning program kirtana, we continue our succession of leadership discussion. Today we're tackling solutions to the obstacles we listed yesterday. What would it take to get us more committed, to dedicate some time, to get training so we would feel more qualified to take on the challenge of the missionary work of ISKCON? The youth offer suggestions. We split up into small groups and tackle three or four of the "obstacles" each. We re-convene after half an hour and present our solutions to the whole group.
We even have a "loyal opposition" who have gotten together and decided that this whole discussion is a bad idea. That what the youth really need is help with education, college grants, and business loans to become successful materially... so that they can contribute financially to the temples and maybe later on in life, when they have life experience, they can consider getting involved in ISKCON management and leadership. Fair enough. We value their constructive input.
Overall, more than three quarters of the group are enthusiastic to at least pursue the theory of getting more involved in ISKCON's missionary work. That short-term commitments of six months, one year, or two years are more realistic goals to strive for. That ISKCON should set up systems like the Mormons have, where you contribute two years of missionary work when you're 18, and then the Mormon church pays for your college education, you are guaranteed employment in any Mormon business, and other benefits.
Premanjana, Haridas, and Priya have assembled a team of inspired youth who are considering taking on the challenge of managing the St. Louis ISKCON temple, turning it into a youth-run preaching mission. Romapada Swami is the GBC for that temple, and the current temple president, Pancha-Tattva Prabhu, is welcoming the youth to get involved in a serious way. I am inspired to see the flame of enthusiasm lit within these youth, to see them so inspired to take on the challenge of running the St. Louis temple.
The rest of the day continues much like the previous two. Swimming. Surfing. Lunch and dinner prep and clean-up. With the exception, perhaps, that pockets of youth are talking about what they thought of the leadership discussions so far. Premanjana, Hari and Priya are meeting in one of the tents, strategizing. Who, from among the youth who are serious to try and get more involved, should they pick to help them run the St. Louis temple?
Dinner is Mexican quesadillas, flour tortillas (chapatis) folded in half with grated cheese baked in the middle, with a dip of freshly made guacamole (avocados, spices and sour cream). Sarasvati from Chicago and other youth spend a good two hours pan-frying the quesadillas. Radhanatha and Premanjana keep the campfire well stocked with wood. Kalindi and Kumari lead blissful Hare Krishna mantra melodies during the evening bhajans around the campfire.
August 2, Thursday, Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico.Today we wrap up the succession planning discussion with a straw vote of hands of who might be interested to get more seriously involved in ISKCON's missionary work within the next two years. About three quarters of the group's hands go up. We write down the names. Then we switch gears to a general discussion about how leadership works in ISKCON. What is the role of the GBC? What are their meetings like? Did everyone know that there are Spiritual Strategic Planning Team meetings twice a year in North America, where devotees meet to improve ISKCON in strategic ways? "Welcome Mat" where we address how to welcome guests to a temple. "Youth Programs" for all ages. "Financial Solvency" to help temples maintain a positive cashflow. There are 50 "A" list priority initiatives, another 50 on the B list, and many more on the C list. That we need youth to get involved on the grass-roots level to improve ISKCON in all of these initiatives.
Several youth get excited about the possibilties they see to contribute positively towards the growth and improvement of ISKCON via the SSPT initiative process. I pledge that I will try to find funding to get those youth to attend the upcoming SSPT initiative meetings, to facilitate their becoming more involved.
After breakfast, we take down camp. The tents are cleaned, unpegged, disassembled, and rolled up. The buses are cleaned. "Maha clean-up" as we call it. (Maha means "big" in Sanskrit.) Romapada Swami leaves us at this time, to return to Los Angeles for succession of leadership meetings with senior devotees, to report back his findings.
We serve lunch at the campsite, and then head south to the tourist town of Ensenada. We plan to do a Harinama and let the youth go shopping, for gifts and souvenirs from Mexico. By the time we actually get to Ensenada, it is already 4:30 p.m. and the shops will be closing soon. So we let the youth go shopping in devotee clothes and forego the Harinama. That night we head north and cross the border back into the United States.
August 3, Friday, Los Angeles ISKCON temple.The buses pull into parking spaces along Venice Boulevard at around 3:00 a.m. A handful of us get up and go to the ashram showers at our Los Angeles ISKCON temple here on Watseka Avenue. Today is "gurukuli day" - the one day of the year set aside for the youth to lead the entire morning program. I get to the temple room with wet tilak just as the altar doors are opening, at 4:30 a.m.
"Jaya Sri Sri Gaura Nitai!" - "Jaya Sri Sri Rukmini Dvarakadhisha!" - "Jaya Sri Sri Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadra!"
Madan Mohan, Prithu Prabhu's son, leads mangala arati. Kuva leads Narasimhadeva prayers. Dakshina leads Tulasi arati. Amal (from our bus tour) leads guru puja. Shraddha leads Jagannathastakam. I don't stay for class as I take the bus tour boys with me, in the boys' bus, to Venice Beach, to help Madhuha Prabhu finish the set-up for the Ratha-yatra "Festival of Chariots." About half of the girls join us, as they've never done "set-up" before and are willing to try.
A team of about 15 girls stay at the L.A. temple and help string garlands of marigolds to decorate the chariots, while the rest of us drive to Venice Beach, park the buses on the festival site, and get ready to help finish the set-up of this mega massive festival. Los Angeles Ratha-yatra requires the largest set-up of tents of any Ratha-yatra in North America. We use all of Madhuha Prabhu's "Festival of India" tents and exhibits, plus about 30 more of Los Angeles ISKCON's (Ratnabhusana Prabhu's) tents and exhibits. L.A. have their own large main stage with tall tent over the top, and dozens of food booths serving smoothies, curd steaks, pizza, watermelon, a gift shop, a children's tent with its own stage, a music stage for bands to perform, etc. etc. etc. We finish set-up by about 1:45 p.m., and wait for the temple to deliver lunch to the site. It is getting quite hot out here on Venice Beach, an ocean-front suburb of Los Angeles, and host to the Ratha-yatra Festival of Chariots for the past 35 years. We take shelter in the shade under one of the tents.
Finally, lunch arrives. The cooks at the Los Angeles ISKCON temple have outdone themselves. It's a ten-course feast. Two subjis, lasagna, rice, dahl, salad, fruit salad, banana bread, lemonade... we eagerly devour the feast. Everyone is hungry and thirsty after a long morning of physical labor, setting up the festival. I look around the festival site and feel a sense of accomplishment, that we helped set up this festival so thousands of people this weekend can have a good time in Krishna consciousness.
After lunch, we drive the buses back to the L.A. temple and the youth proceed to wash their laundry at the laundromat behind the temple. We don't have much time. Three hours before the evening program starts at the temple, and we are supposed to perform DEVOTION in the L.A. temple room, right after evening arati. We rush to get our laundry washed and dried, and then get ready for the performance.
Temple room performances have their challenges. There is no stage. Any action that happens low to the ground is hidden from the view of people sitting on the floor behind the first row, basically anyone from the third row onwards. The Laksmi-Narayana dance scene, where Narayana reclines on the floor against Sesha naga, causes people to rise to their knees to see the action. Everyone is trying to poke their heads over everyone else's shoulders to see what is going on. The speakers of the temple sound system are positioned in the four corners of the temple room, causing echo and feedback problems for performers. Halfway through, we decide to switch to our own bus tour Yamaha three-way speakers. Haridas brings in the speakers and we switch seamlessly in between scene changes. Ahhhh... much better. We can hear the voices of the performers clearly now. The $4,000 in wireless microphones we invested in at the beginning of the tour is once again saving our performance (By the way, I still need your help to sponsor these microphones. They were not in our original budget for the tour and are still sitting on my credit card bill. Any help is kindly appreciated. You can make your donations out to youth@krishna.com via PayPal, or send check or money order in US funds to ISKCON Youth Ministry, PO Box 283, Alachua, FL 32616, USA.)
Overall, the show goes well. The Los Angeles devotees (about 300 of them crowd the temple room between the ground floor and balcony) applaud with a standing ovation. Naikatma Prabhu, who serves as temple president for ISKCON Denver, watched the performance and pleads with us to visit Denver and perform there when the bus tour passes through, after Vancouver Ratha-yatra. He asks if we can come for Janmashtami, but we explain that the youth are back in school by that time and that the bus tour is over the day before school (college) starts.
We end the day by driving the buses to the quiet surroundings of Venice Beach, parking on the festival site to spend the night. The youth fall asleep on their respective bus bunk beds. We prop open the windows of the buses to let the cool ocean breeze blow through.
Over the years I have developed my own ways to try to avoid inattention...which is always a constant struggle:
By Sankirtana Das
by Bhaktin Mahua, Kolkata
By Hari-sauri Dasa
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