The other day I didn't get enough sleep. But during the usual reserved time, I sat down for japa anyway. I had to be extra-vigilant during the chant in order to remain awake, and had to will my energies to rush towards the syllables each time I pronounced them. The tension of beckoning sleep against the normal programming of the mind to do japa at this hour eve
rday provided a wonderful dynamic that was a bit thrilling.
I was listening to a Japa workshop conducted by Bhurijan Prabhu in Melbourne....he was emphasising the importance of hearing the Holy Name. All the devotees would chant together at the same speed along with him and make a concentrated effort to properly hear what they were chanting.
I started another blog page where I found it very easy to upload pictures and lectures. It is:
There is not much there now. There are some recent photos, without comments, and some recent lectures. More will come as I get things sorted out. I will keep using both depending on which is more convenient.
The following are some excerpts from emails that I have received from Gopi lila’s husband, Haribhakta written on the 20th and 22nd. Please keep her in your prayers, as Haribhakta so nicely states below, “ to carry her through her treatment and soothe her soul”.
From the 20th: “Just wanted to inform you about Gopi lila’s health. She has been having some pain in her lower abdomen area and was experiencing some bleeding. She went in for a check up and was diagnosed with a tumor on her cervix. The doctors will know in a week how serious she is. Three days ago she started losing a lot of blood and she fainted a couple of times. She was then rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. She has stabilized and they have been able to stop the loss of blood. She was also given a blood transfusion yesterday and will be given another one either today or tomorrow.”
From the 22nd: “The current situation seems quite serious. She has been diagnosed with cervical cancer. Apparently there are four stages in cancer and the doctors suspect that hers is stage 3 (they still have a couple of tests to run). Either tomorrow or the next day, the doctors will perform furthur tests, whereby they will determine how serious the cancer is, where it has spread, etc, after which they recommend a combination of radiation and chemo therapy or surgery if it is very serious (stage 4).
Yes prayer is a powerful force and we would love for the devotees,
especially in New Vrindaban, which is very dear to us, to keep her in their prayers - to carry her through her treatment and soothe her soul.
Thank you for your kind words and prayers and I will communicate them to Gopilila.
Wishing you the best, Hari Bhakta Das
Bhishma
Krishna told the Pandavas how Bhishma had formerly been Dyau, the leader of the Vasus. By Vasishtha’s curse, whom the Vasus had offended, they had been obliged to take birth on earth. Although the rishi had granted that they could soon return to heaven, he ordered that Dyau remain on earth for some time, as he was the Vasu’s leader. The Vasus were born as Ganga’s sons, but she had cast each of them into the Ganges at birth, so that they could quickly return to heaven. When Bhishma was born however, she had not cast him into the river. Rather the other Vasus had endowed him with their own power and he had become equal to all of them combined. Thus he was invincible on earth.
This is a test for Smart People… I have determined that you qualify.
The following short quiz consists of 4 questions and will tell you whether
you are qualified to be a professional. Scroll down for each answer. The
questions are NOT that difficult. But don’t scroll down UNTIL you have
answered the question!
1. How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator?
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The correct answer is: Open the refrigerator, put in the giraffe, and close
the door. This question tests whether you tend to do simple things in an
overly complicated way.
2. How do you put an elephant into a refrigerator?
by mrupa
Madhuvana-smokey, cold, crazy, and dirty.
Madhuvana-one of the 12 forests of Vrndavana where Dhruva performed austerities and met both Narada and Lord Visnu face to face.
Madhuvana-an extension of the Lord Caitanya half of Golaka Vrndavana where Lord Caitanya and His associates reside eternally. Where ISKCON along with Srila Prabhupada are and where Lord Jagannatha must be the predominating Deity, as He is in Jagannatha Puri.
Madhuvana-Where Srila Prabhupada and His servants would sometimes reside when He visited New Vrndavana.
Madhuvana–now torn down and “gone”. For a time it was cultivated by Vidya and Madhava Ghosh when they lived there. Now there are only two engraved stone markers remembering Hladini and her dear Godsister Kunti Devi at the base of the tree that used to stand at the back of the tin shed.
Madhuvana-Big Lord Jagannatha was installed there on Gaura Purnima long long ago, after returning from Pittsburgh. (I’m not sure of the year anymore)
MADHUVANA-The chicken coop where the devotee family lived, ( I used to know their name, the husband worked for Spiritual Sky and I think later on Prabhupada’s books after they moved to LA). The fields on each side (one of these was home to Resham the highly territorial ox),the tin shed next to the temple housing the bucksaw for cutting firewood, as well as Cakradhari and his wife for one summer.
It was very crudely subdivided into about 10ft squares; storage or housing made no difference. There was a rickety wooden frame of sorts ‘built’ as an extension from the back wall of the shed that had black plastic stapled around it-the shower facility for everyone. (quite literally a real scream in the winter time).
There was an outhouse across the often shoulder high grassy field. The drain water dump, the water tank, the kids, the Prabhupada houses, the Dhruva ghat-now obliterated, the grazing area (all downhill), Jarasandhadhama, the haunted furnace room, the truning milk can covering the hole in the floor by the stove in the kitchen, the ‘walker’ upstairs, reflexive chanting while falling asleep (standard operating procedure to keep ghosts from attacking you),
The dirt and stone wall basement, the sewing room with a hole completely through one wall and no window in the other. (great cross ventilation especially about January or February). The asrama room, the rats in the walls (excellent maha thieves), the crazy people, crazy teacher, and crazy kids, also the simple sincere sweet people like Candraraikekha and others, the crazy husbands.
Guru Puja Room/Dining Room
Cultural Program (Prasadam Hall)
Courtyard
Prasadam Tent
Baladeva Purnima marks the final day of Jhulana Yatra.
by course@UltimateSelfRealization.com at August 23, 2007 02:30 AM
Most of the students entering College this fall, members of the Class of 2011, were born in 1989. For them, Alvin Ailey, Andrei Sakharov, Huey Newton, Emperor Hirohito, Ted Bundy, Abbie Hoffman, and Don the Beachcomber have always been dead.
Some excerpts:
2. Humvees, minus the artillery, have always been available to the public.
11.Rap music has always been mainstream.
23.Wal-Mart has always been a larger retailer than Sears and has always employed more workers than GM.
42.Women’s studies majors have always been offered on campus.
44.Thanks to MySpace and Facebook, autobiography can happen in real time.
49.Virtual reality has always been available when the real thing failed.
58.They get much more information from Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert than from the newspaper.
63. Avatars have nothing to do with Hindu deities.
See full list here.
BY RASIKA MURARI DASA
August 22, KUALA LUMPUR (WED) - After meeting at the resident of Dr. Srivas pr in Balakong, we car pooled to Universiti Tenaga Nasional (Uniten). By the time we arrived, there were some 70 students very eagerly aiting for the show to begin. The boys (Prajindra and Prabhu) were still ery busy with their final arrangement. They were constantly moving about letting up the sound system, projector, screen, lighting and etc.
After about half an hour, Hemalan, took the microphone and started the announcement, introducing the speaker, HG Vishnu Caitanya pr. and the evening’s itineraries. By this time there were about 120 students, lecturers and guests in the auditorium.
Then the show began with very sweet bhajan and chanting of Hare Krishna Maha Mantra. Since, this is their fourth session and many of our boys are kind of active in the Indian Society of Uniten, they have been entrusted and given a free hand in managing the entire show. Factually, everyone enjoyed the short but sweet kirtan, including the chief guest Ms. Vathana (Secretary) and Mr. Siva (lecturer).
At about, 8.45pm, HG Vishnu Caitanya pr. took the center stage and made everyone bolted down to their seat with his mesmerizing presentation on the topic of Bhagavad Gita the jewel of the scriptures. Giving many practical analogies, cracking jokes, tactfully relating songs lyrics with life’s impediments and seriously pointing out the flaws in modern
education and civilization, he captured the trust of the audience and promptly directed them to the supreme instruction for the age of the Kali, “Kalau tad Hari Kirtanat.”He then led the chanting of the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra with great response from the students and ended his an hour and half lively presentation. The organizers are planning for a six
session Bhagavad Gita classes as a continuity measures and many have agreed to participate. We have also extended our invitation to them to attend the Sri Krishna Janmasthami Celebration in SJMKL. (more…)
I just got the following very inspirational email from His Grace Sankarshan das Adhikari. He makes an appearance in the introduction to "On Leadership".
My Dear Sita Pati, since you are thinking very creatively about how to expand our mission I just wanted to share with you a recent "Thought for the Day" I sent to my readers that resonated with many people around the world who are now stepping forward asking for training:
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Thought for the Day-Sunday 19 August 2007
We Are Seeking Global Leaders
We are currently seeking serious men and women worldwide who are dissatisfied with the status quo of their own consciousness and the global consciousness, who would like to fully dedicate themselves to personal and global enlightenment. There is no greater need in the human society than the wide scale introduction of an enlightened paradigm based on a spiritual understanding of the self in a harmonious relationship with the Supreme Self. This enlightened science is presented in full detail in the Bhagavad-gita and the Srimad Bhagavatam. We are now prepared to train anyone who is serious about attaining
and sharing this supreme enlightenment with a world that now needs it more than ever. Can we count you in? Let us know.
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Sankarshan das is from the old school. How old school? He owns the domain www.iskconpreacher.com. Yes, that's right - he's OG.
Now, listen to this snippet of audio that I recorded with Sankarshan prabhu recently in Austin Texas, where he talks about opening the first temple there with His Holiness Visnujana Swami. We talked for about an hour on this subject, but my mp3 recorder ran out of room, so this will have to do for now! (Sorry)
Five moods of transcendental relationship with the Lord.
Our unique, individual relationship with the Lord is evoked by the perfection of devotional service. Unfortunately, in the present status of our conditioned life we have not only forgotten the Lord, we have forgotten our eternal relationship with the Lord. By engagine in the process of devotional service, called svarupa, we can revive that eternal relationship.
The Lord has a wide variety of different relationships with his devotees. These transcendental associates may be in relationships with Krsna in one of five different ways: in a passive state (neutrality), in an active state (servitorship), as a friend (friendship), as a parent (parental affection), or as a conjugal lover (amorous). As noted in the last few Feature articles in this series, the Cowherd Boys and the Gopis are among those in the sakhya-rasa category, enjoying friendships with the Lord. Today, we begin a look at the most fundamental relationships, those in the mood of santa-rasa, or neutrality in a passive state. Included in this category are the land and sacred places; trees, grass and flowers; animals and birds; and paraphernalia and ornaments.
“By the grace of the Lord, …the spiritual consciousness of every species of life can occupy its proper place, and these species can express their spiritual affection for the Lord in the santa-rasa, as displayed by the land, water, hills, trees, fruits, and flowers of Vrndavana during the presence of Lord Sri Krsna, the Personality of Godhead. The Lord reciprocated the feelings of the inhabitants of the forest of Vrndavana. When there was rainfall, the Lord took shelter at the feet of the trees or in the caves and enjoyed the taste of different fruits with his eternal associates the cowherd boys.” (more…)
If you don’t have an internet presence, you are invisible to the MyFace generation. This has implications for a preaching movement. Fortunately, ISKCON has an outreach there in the form of Planet ISKCON, even though many of the older layer of devotees, and their younger clones, haven’t figured it out yet.
You go Madhava Ghosh!
Here's the latest feedback on "On Leadership":
I read the thing. Looked good to me. Not arrogant or condescending. I thought it was wicked.
-Raivata das
I read your book, and I commend your attempt. I especially appreciate that you’ve included a section on “everyone is a leader”.
Have you read it yet?
Download a copy of the ebook and check it out.
I'm working on version two, and I'm incorporating the feedback that I am getting, so please keep sending it in.
Ma reggeli kérdés-felelet Kecskeméten.
What devotees say they need, consistently, and have been saying for years, is more opportunities for the type of friendships that can only be achieved with small groups of supportive friends, and at least one spiritual guide/adviser who they trust. Although everyone can become initiated by anyone who they feel inspires them, we can no longer indicate to them, directly or indirectly, that such a relationship will provide everything they need.
Certainly for sustaining our members—and for members now read ‘congregational members’ (translation: Vaishnavas of independent finance and residence) which is far more important than merely initiating them, we must be able to answer the following questions:
So we have to purify our hearts of our dirty desires, which are forcing us to act for sense gratification and suffer. And in this age the purification is very, very easy: Just chant Hare Krishna. That’s all. This is Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s contribution.�
- Srila Prabhupada
In the BBC news, Indians cry foul at the introduction of “graphic” sex education in schools…
Several weeks ago I was contacted by an old acquaintance, Richard Leigh. Richard was hired to assist on the set of my last 'Cooking with Kurma' TV series, filmed ten years ago in Carlton, Melbourne.
Although he washed pots as the cameras rolled, Richard has since shed his yellow rubber gloves and gone on to do bigger and better things; he is a filmaker, and also the Facilitator/Producer of the Campfire Online Short Film Festival, a not-for-profit film festival exploring matters of faith, religion and spirituality.
Richard asked me if I would be interested in watching the August selection, picking my favourite, and writing a launch piece/review. I agreed, and enjoyed the stimulating challenge.
Watch the 3-minute film "Carousel" then scroll down and read my review
entitled 'The Art of all Work'. Tell me what you think.
By Gokulananda dasListen my heart to the ancient Voice of our dearmost Friend Who eagerly awaits our return
Submitted by Bhakta Rod Today we heard the news that our godbrother and friend Vrsa dasa had passed away in Perth, Australia. Vrsa is survived in Perth by his wife, his 14-year old son and 19-year old daughter, his 25-year old son and 28-year old daughter, his mother and father, his younger sister, and his eldest daughter, who gave birth to a son 5 hours before Vrsa's death.
By Praghosa Das NYCI offer this in response to the recent articles on "education" submitted by both HG Urmila Dasi and HG Karuna Purna Dasi.
By Eklavya DasaThese are the new ISKCON World Holy Name Day Posters designed by the World Holy Name Day International team deputed by the GBC. You can download and print these FREE high resolution versions at A3 size.
Over the years I have developed my own ways to try to avoid inattention...which is always a constant struggle:
I will attempt to give some idea of the Polish Woodstock Festival and in particular, Krishna's Village of Peace, the Hare Krishna festival that went on there. I describe what I was personally most involved with. I do not have the energy to describe it all. Our stage show and our tents were extensive. I described more about these aspects of Krishna's Village of Peace on my web sites of previous years: 2001, 2002, and 2003.
The Temple Tent
Especially in the evenings there was always lively chanting and dancing going on in the temple tent.
pictures of Krishna’s pastimes blessed the walls.
Both the devotees and the Woodstock attendees chanted and danced, and at sometimes as many as fifty people crowded into that small tent.
Sometimes the devotee ladies taught different dances to the new people. Sometimes people danced in circles or in chains. Just see the happiness of the people dancing!
Once in the afternoon we had a small gathering, and the seven people I gave mantra cards to all chanted along with us, half of them dancing as well. We felt happy to see the people enjoying the kirtana.
One blond girl came all three days and danced happily in the temple tent. She also came to at least two of the four Ratha-yatras. I asked her what she thought of our event. She liked the music, the food, the people, and the whole atmosphere. She is from near Krakow, and I introduced her to some Krakow devotees, Indulekha Dasi and her husband. In this way, she can have some connection with devotional service after the Woodstock is over.
I danced with one boy by interlocking arms and swinging around him around. When we changed directions by changing arms, he had to move his cigarette from one hand to the other. Finally, he gave up and tossed the cigarette away.
One girl in the temple tent asked me about what tilaka was, and I explained it was sacred clay from India. She wanted some. I bring my tilaka with me to put on before Ratha-yatra and before doing questions and answers, so I went to get it. I found a devotee lady willing to show the girl how to put it on. When she was done, I asked the girl if she wanted a piece of tilaka. She did, so I gave her a small lump. Her friend and other nearby Woodstock attendees could not appreciate her interest in the tilaka, but somehow it was really important to her, and she did not seem to care what the others thought.
We chanted till 1:20 a.m. each night there in our temple, and the last night we went to 3:15 a.m. We hoped to go to 5:00 a.m. but our security force was not completely in place because everyone was tired from the festival. They were afraid some of the many wandering, rowdy drunk people might hurt us. It is nice to connect with people at the end of the festival, but staying up till dawn the last day could be dangerous. We decided to try to chant the next day, as the prasadam serve out would continue and people would come. If Woodstock happens again, perhaps we could plan a harinama for the day after, just as we had one the day before. I am sure people would appreciate, and I am sure enough of us love harinama, so even in our exhausted condition, a number of us would still be into it.
The wonderful Ratha-yatras are likely the most powerful events of our whole festival because they touched so many people there. The big cart and the lively singing and dancing of the devotees created a natural curiosity in people’s minds. I was very pleased to see the happy smiles of the onlookers as the Ratha-yatra approached.
This year was extra special because the last Ratha-yatra lasted six and a half hours! After four hours, Indradyumna Swami realized there would not be time to do the second Ratha-yatra scheduled, so he decided to make the first one extra long. He announced that we would continue another two hours, and we should not pay attention to our bodily aches, hunger, thirst, exhaustion, or whatever, but push on and take advantage of the great opportunity the Ratha-yatra affords—to share the happiness of Krishna consciousness with many, many thousands of people. Indradyumna Swami was amazed that although the cart was so large that cars had to drive over the curb and on the grass to get around it, no authorities complained about the six and half hour obstruction to traffic. In any other city, he said, the authorities would never let us get away with that.
I like to chant my japa before breakfast, but because of the long Ratha-yatra, I didn’t have breakfast till 7:30 p.m.! I had so much fun, however, I didn’t really notice the austerity.
I would often pass out invitations although I prefer chanting and dancing. I realized that no matter how many distributors we have, a few people go by our party without getting an invitation, and so I considered that my distribution of flyers to those people would be a help and felt satisfied to give more people the chance to come to the festival and benefit spiritually in an ocean of different ways. I became involved in the Krishna consciousness movement seriously as a result of getting a flyer for a temple, so I have faith in their power to transform lives.
We were scheduled to do two Ratha-yatras per day, but the next to last day of the Woodstock, we did not have time to do the second one. Prema Harinama Prabhu was so enthusiastic he encouraged me to organize another harinama. We got Indradyumna Swami’s permission, an amplifier, instruments, and several security guards, and twenty-five devotees attended. We went out for an hour from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. and distributed many flyers for Krishna’s Village of Peace. We were all glad that we went out again and felt victorious that more people heard the holy name and got invitations from our efforts.
More young people chanted as well as danced this year on this years’ Ratha-yatras. The beautiful smiles on their faces was heart-warming to behold. One girl, with a lollipop in her mouth, also chanted the mantra to my great surprise, as that is a little tricky to do, even for a seasoned chanter. Sometimes Indradyumna Swami showed the young people great mercy on the young men by dancing with them.
One of these boys later helped diligently to take down our festival, and another we met twice on harinamas the day after the festival.
In addition singing and dancing, many Woodstock attendees would happily help pull the cart.
At intervals the devotees would throw fruit from the cart into the crowd of Woodstock attendees surrounding it.
The people were very blissfully jumping and grabbing the thrown fruit, and eating it with great relish, meditating on its transcendental taste.
Once devotees brought whole cases of fruit onto the cart to throw off, and Indradyumna Swami personally threw the fruit into the crowd.
After the Ratha-yatra returned to Krishna's Village of Peace, kirtana with dancing would continue for some time, with the massive Woodstock site with its thousands of tents in the background.
The Ratha-yatra cart had influence in additional to that shown during the procession. When standing in the middle of our site, it was an object of pictures and inquiries. Some boys wanted to climb up on the cart to get a close up picture, and we let them with the permission of security. From the cart, Lord Jagannatha, Lord Baladeva, and Lady Subhadra, along with their representative, Srila Prabhupada, would bless Krishna’s Village of Peace by their glance.
Illuminated at night, the Ratha-yatra cart was an impressive site.
When people inquired about the Ratha-yatra cart, I would explain that Ratha-yatra festival has gone on in a city in India called Puri for thousands of years. We are now doing it all over the world in Los Angeles, New York, London, and other big cities. Next week we do Berlin. In different religions people go to church to associate with God and those devoted to God and thereby advance spiritually. However, in the Ratha-yatra festival God and His devotees go out to see the people and bless them with spiritual advancement. That simple explanation disclosing the Lord’s merciful nature would always make the people smile.
Questions and Answers
I saw Dhanesvara Prabhu in the audience, and I felt bad for him as he is senior person, and he didn’t have a chance in questions and answers either. To be fair, I should have given him half my time, but I was too attached to what little I was given. So I told him, he could start after I had done forty-five minutes. I hoped the next devotee would be willing to give up some time to Dhanesvara Prabhu as well, but I was wrong, and rather than just take fifteen minutes, Dhanesvara let me do the whole thing.
Hare Krishna Kirtana in our Main Tent
Very gradually more and more people joined in, and by the end of the kirtana we probably had twenty-five devotees and twenty-five of the Woodstock attendees dancing happily together. I later mentioned to Indradyumna Swami that I worried at first that no one was getting into the dancing but in due course they did and that it must have been the power of the Holy Name. He replied affirmatively and indicated that it is always like that. It noted that it took a while this time. His secret appears to be just to keep on chanting with faith.
Some famous Jamaican musicians were there to play on the main stage, and Indradyumna Swami developed a relationship with them.
They also participated in a very lively kirtana to a tune the devotees love on our main stage at near the end of the evening of the next to last day of the festival. Many people had a great time dancing and chanting to it. On the final night of the festival the Jamaicans accompanied our festival singer Tribhuvanesvara Prabhu, who sang Hare Krishna to a very catchy tune on the Woodstock main stage to hundreds of thousands of people for ten minutes around 2:00 a.m. It was well received.
I only knew 18 Days, whose lead singer is my friend, Candrasekhara Acarya Prabhu (below).
I did not feel like cultivating an appreciation of other devotee rock bands at this point in my life. I was happy to dance to the nice Hare Krishna tunes that they played as well as their song “Giri Govardhan”, a favorite among the devotees.
Food
As usual the halava is most well received. One of the people who highly praised the prasadam was heading to the Baltic coast for a holiday after the festival, and I encouraged him to come to our festival there where we have a much greater variety of prasadam that tastes even better than this. Usually I use the topic of the food to introduce the idea of vegetarianism.
The devotees distributed just over 100,000 plates in four days, as is usual at this event.
By Sankirtana DasNot Buying It is an article from NY Times House & Home section of June 21. It's about a new movement which has cropped up during the last decade in New York, and perhaps a few other cities, which rejects the consumeristic life style of buying the things we normally need and want.
by Bhaktin Mahua, Kolkata
On the evening of 28 June, leaders from Nama-hatta centers in 24 Parganas (South and North), Howrah, Midnapore (East and West), and Kolkata assembled at Sridham Mayapur to participate in the “First Southern Regional Nama-hatta Preacher’s Workshop, 2007,” held from 29 June to 1 July.
On Friday morning at ten o’clock, about two hundred Nama-hatta leaders introduced themselves during the opening welcome ceremony. At four o’clock, the three-day workshop was formally inaugurated by HH Gauranga Prema Maharaja, Director of ISKCON Sri Mayapur’s Nama-hatta Division. After sandhya-arati, Padmanetra Prabhu, one of Mayapur’s leading Nama-hatta preachers, lectured on the purpose and objectives of the Nama-hatta program.
After writing to Malati dd with offers of assistance that came through this site, I received the following response:
BY SHAIKH AZIZUR RAHMAN
Aug 22, CALCUTTA, INDIA (WA POST) (WED) — Members of India’s large Muslim minority are often adopting Hindu names and dress styles in an attempt to avoid widespread prejudice that keeps them from housing and jobs. Shaikh Salim, a Muslim who runs a food stall in the central office district of Calcutta, uses the common Hindu name Shankar Maity and calls his stall “Shankar’s Fast Food.”
Shaokat Ali, a Muslim student who came to the city to do his master’s degree in English, tutors Hindu students using the name Saikat Das and keeps a large picture of the popular Hindu goddess Kali hanging on a wall in his room. Jahanara Begum takes off a silver talisman embossed with ‘Allah’ in Arabic each morning, replacing it with a spot of vermilion powder on her forehead and red-and-white conch bangles of a married Hindu woman before heading to work in a fish market, where she is known as Parvati - the name of a Hindu goddess. (more…)
As all of the Temple area residents should be aware of, there is still a shortage of water supply with the New Vrindaban Water System. Although we’ve had so much rain lately, that has no real immediate effect upon the lower levels of water in the ground far below us where our well get the water from. It takes many many months to years of time for that to happen.
So please be extra conservative, especially now, as with these upcoming festivals and big weekends, the demand of water will be much more than usual with all the guests coming.
Please no washing of vehicles, filling of large water containers for any reason, etc.
Thank you, Jaya Murari dasa
A couple of weeks ago, I picked up a book called “Master of Love and Mercy: Cheng Yen”. A Buddhist nun from Taiwan, she founded the Tzu Chi foundation that performs many humanitarian works. She has relieved many millions of people from their material suffering and was nominated for the Nobel peace prize.
Actually I thought the book was terribly written, I really wanted to know more about her philosophy, and I struggled to read the boring details about the author’s travels. It’s also hard to read such atheistic literature claiming that Buddha is not actually God and in fact we are all Buddha. But looking past that, the book gives a tiny glimpse into the life of a true saintly person, somewhat comparable to mother Theresa in her tireless work to aid the material suffering of the sick and poor. One thing that I have always believed is that when someone is suffering very badly materially, it is hard to bring them to the spiritual platform. But if we first relieve (somewhat) their material suffering; by providing medical care, prasadam, and other basic needs of life, then, once they are out of immediate material distress, they are more able to focus on spiritual questions.
Then a couple of weeks ago I picked up a copy (from the temple gift shop) of the wonderful book written by Sarvabhauma Dasa “Servant of Love- the saintly life of Kirtida devi” Just released, it tells the story of an Indian bodied devotee who came to the States from South Africa to work as a nurse. It wasn’t until much later in life that she started coming to Radha Kalachandji Mandir, and at the time she was quite sick too. The book tells of the remarkable unwavering service attitude that she had toward the Dallas devotees, the Vrajabasis when she was in Vrndavan, and her beloved guru Tamal Krishna Goswami. Kirtida always put everyone before herself and would even neglect to eat or sleep so that she could serve the devotees. This amazing devotee went to Vrndavan to leave her body, but the holy Dham actually gave her renewed strength and several years later she set an example for everyone by leaving her body in the western dham of Dallas.
The irony of the titles of these two books is interesting. One who follows buddhism ultimately considers themselves the master or controller, believing they themselves have the power to attain nirvana. Whereas for devotees, the highest position is that of servant. Kirtida devi never though herself anything more than the servant of the devotees, she would simply assist them in their services, never asking to do important services like dressing the deities, she was content to assist the Pujari in washing the arati plates, or the devotees in putting Sri Sri Radha Kalachandji’s outfits away.
I never had the opportunity to meet Kirtida devi, as she passed away several years ago, but Sarvabhauma Prabhu of Houston has done a great service for the devotee community, especially women looking for spiritual role models, by recounting this amazing story of the glories of Kirtida devi.
When will I attain the dark treasure known as Lord Krsna? When, agitated with ecstatic love, will I give my heart to Lord Krsna? When will I consider Lord Krsna more dear to me than my own life's breath? When will I be able to see Lord Krsna's moonlike face?
When will I regain my master's association? When will I happily return with singing and dancing to the shore of the Yamuna? O friend, when will this auspicious day be mine?
When, in the company of Lalita and Visakha, will I meet Lord Krsna? When will I be able to offer various gifts to please Him? When will destiny be compassionate to me? When will my destiny become like a virtuous person who is an ocean of good qualities? When will this good fortune be mine?
Cruel fate has made me poverty-stricken and I do not have even a penny to purchase the goods sold in the marketplace of pure love for Krsna. Nevertheless, Narottama dasa says: "My life's hope is to renounce everything and attain the prince of Vraja.
Last updated:
August 23, 2007 06:16 PM
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