Everyone loves ??

Everyone loves Jagannath. Though some of us find Him different looking we are nevertheless attracted to Him. This was very evident from the Rathayatra that we had in Queens, New York last Sunday. These deities are very different, because they were carved in New Jersey by Kalpavrksa dasa, our God brother, who is a very empowered devotee. Their very first public appearance was two weeks back, where they were brought to our Sunday feast hall. By some strange orchestration of events They came home from the Sunday feast and are presently being worshipped by us.Last Sunday They went on Their first Rathayatra. Rathayatra in Fall I thought? I began to agree with the Pandas in Puri for a minute, but the weather was far from windy, it was warm and wonderful.

So, it was a wonderful ride to Queens needless to say. I had to slide down and sit on the floor of the van so that I could hold Jagannath's lotus feet and prevent Him from sliding down the seat. On reaching Queens They mounted their chariot also made by Kalpavrksa Prabhu. The Rathayatra was part of a Peace march held by the Indian community there to commemorate Mahatama Gandhi's birthday on October 2nd. So, Mahatma Gandhi posthumously :-) lead the way, on this occasion. The star of the show was of course Jagannath. The kirtan party rocked the already colorful streets of queens with their sonorous voices and djembe beats. Jagannath Balabhadra and Subhadramayi, looked resplendent dressed in blue and red silks and mercifully let the devotees bind them with the seat harness ropes. An apt meditation in the month of Kartika. Krishna das our enthusiastic 11 year old was the helper to Jagannath's pujari (his sister). Again the personal aspect of worship taught by Srila Prabhupada accented the whole Rathayatra. All devotees marveled at the fact that they manifested locally. Devotees stopped by to talk to Jagannath. Some kids addressed Him as Jaggu, Jaggli. One Mataji quietly walked up to the Van where They were seated ready to go home after the long ride, thanked Them for coming and requested Them to be back next year, all as if conversing to a dear friend. After Their first Rathayatra, the Lords came back with a satiated smile. I was musing about how much They love the devotees and the locations They choose for Their outings and how merciful They are.. The whole incident was as if from Srila Prabhupada Lilamrita with Jayananda Prabhu working on the Rathayatra cart in the streets of San Francisco. I was reflecting on the past where I would try to serve the deities all by myself. After repeatedly hearing the glories of Jayananda Prabhu, I now understand that when service is shared with the goal of pleasing Krishna, it gets accepted by Krishna and is also very sweet.

In the past month I was thinking of starting a daycare from home and was wondering how the experience would be like. Some how things did not go as per our plan, and I am now babysitting 3 wonderful children, in addition to my own. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to see if its a dream or if its real that They mercifully accepted our meagre accommodation. I will miss Them when They leave. Service is like an umbilical cord that keeps us connected to the Lord and makes us alive and spiritually nourished. As I turn off the lights bidding Them to please sleep well I pray hard to Guru Maharaja to direct them to my heart where They can stay forever.

tava kathāmṛtaḿ tapta-jīvanaḿ
kavibhir īḍitaḿ kalmaṣāpaham
śravaṇa-mańgalaḿ śrīmad ātataḿ
bhuvi gṛṇanti ye bhūri-dā janāḥ

The nectar of Your words and the descriptions of Your activities are the life and soul of those suffering in this material world. These narrations, transmitted by learned sages, eradicate one's sinful reactions and bestow good fortune upon whoever hears them. These narrations are broadcast all over the world and are filled with spiritual power. Certainly those who spread the message of Godhead are most munificent.

Thank you Srila Prabhupada!

Not a devotee..

Kids are very good with using KC concepts to their convenience and I experienced in this instance the meaning of the word 'boomerang.' I had been listening to the series of classes on Brahma Samhita by HH Mahanidhi Swami and time and again I marveled at the poetic eloquence of Lord Brahma. Listening to the descriptions of the spiritual world and Lord Krishna I began appreciating the artists in our movement, especially some who painted such wonderful pictures of Sri Radha Krishna merely by listening to descriptions by Srila Prabhupada. In the Brahma Samhita Lord Brahma describes Krishna thus:

The matchless beauty of Krishna, the Supreme Lord of Goloka, is being described. Krishna, the all-pervading cognition, has a spiritual form of His own. The form of Krishna is not a fanciful creation of imagination formed after visualizing the beautiful things of the world. What Brahma saw in his ecstatic trance of pure devotion, is being described. Krishna is engaged in playing upon His flute. That flute by his enchanting musical sound attracts the hearts of all living beings. Just as a lotus petal produces a pleasant sight, so the two beautiful eyes of Krishna who causes the manifestation of our spiritual vision, display the unlimited splendor and beauty of His moonlike face. The loveliness that adorns His head with peacock feather figures, the corresponding feature of the spiritual beauty of Krishna. Just as a mass of blue clouds offers a specifically soothing, pleasant view, the complexion of Krishna is analogously tinged with a spiritual dark-blue color. The beauty and loveliness of Krishna is far more enchanting that that of Cupid multiplied a million fold.
Based on these descriptions I came to an inference that all the nice pictures of Krishna can be made only by devotees or only devotees can understand the beauty of Krishna and therefore represent his beauty and other opulences in a fair manner. As I was thinking so, some relatives of my husband presented our daughter with a Dasavatara set made of wood. Krishna in the Dasavatara set lacked His usual Tribhanga pose and was short stumpy and unlike Krishna..I commented to my daughter- "Only devotees of Krishna can make a replica of Krishna at least somewhat perfectly." This found a place among her gray cells.

Soon it was Janmastami, it was my turn to makeover a plastic doll to resemble little baby Gopal for a diorama. I was perplexed. Here was this somewhat disproportionate doll staring at me. How on earth am I going to make it look like Krishna. The search for paint began, Krishna is blue not peach complexioned. Armed with a Krylon blue spray I set to work, the result was a disastrous looking blue child. All my hours of hard labor was ruined.. I then realized Krishna is not the material black color. How could something in the material blue/black color be even slightly appealing, what to speak of being all attractive? Praying fervently I set to work again and came up with a lighter shade of blue, painted the eyes, hair, made the clothes, put the jewelry on. I tried to fashion shark shaped earrings with sculpey clay, but some how it did not work. My daughter walked by took one look at Him and said " Amma, you know you are not a devotee." Swallowing my pride even I had to agree with her on this one..

Reciprocation

The very first thing that I observed when I was new to the Gaudiya Vaisnava ways was the personal aspect of worship. How the Lord has a special plate, a bed and is treated like a person. In the Srivaisnava worship, as a child I would observe how they would make pots of Naivedya/bhoga and take the steaming hot container and place it directly in front of the Lord. No spoon, no water, no plate even...The ways of worship taught by our Acharyas felt so sweet and natural in comparison. Though we have incorporated the pancaratrika method of worship, there is a certain sweetness present in our worship which is not present in any in any other tradition, in my observation. Over the years quite a few times I have felt reciprocration from our deities on small insignificant things, but significant enough for me to understand that " Yes these deities are really present." Why the Lord would choose to interact with such an insignificant soul like me is a question which completely overwhelms me at times.
So we were busy making 4000 Khajas for our Rathayatra festival early this month. It was a hot and humid day, the kids, not to be left at home came along. Amidst settling their fights and trying to focus on the quality of Prasadam we were making, we were tired at the end of the day. The next step involved packing the khajas in small ziploc packs, labeling them and getting them ready for distribution. Khaja being a favorite of all devotees, I was worried about how to get the devotees to pack all the khajas without their taking any for themselves. Eaten up khajas meant more Khajas to make and we were running out of time. Thinking it would be unfair to both the devotees making the Khajas and the devotees packing them, I got back home and made some Khajas for the devotees who would be packing the Khajas in the Bhakti Vriksha the next night. That way the ones made for distribution would remain untouched.. The next day Khajas were packed and the devotees packing had their share. It was then that one devotee handed me my box in which i had packed some shukto prasadam for her almost a month back. I opened the box and to my delight found Khajas from Jagannath Puri Dham in there.. The Lord had reciprocated by making sure that all the devotees had prasadam straight from the Dham. Such is the speciality of developing a relationship and interacting with the Lord. Was just wondering what the Brahmavadis must be thinking but checked myself saying " I better not get there."

Sri Swarup Damodar insisted that this very swetmeat be fed to the Giriraja Goverdhan Sila given to Sri Raghunath Das Goswami by Caitanya Mahaprabu.
TEXT 303

ei-mata kata dina karena pujanatabe svarupa-gosani tanre kahila vacana

TRANSLATIONAfter Raghunatha dasa had thus worshiped the govardhana-sila forsome time, Svarupa Damodara one day spoke to him as follows.

TEXT 304

"asta-kaudira khaja-sandesa kara samarpanasraddha kari' dile, sei amrtera sama

TRANSLATION"Offer the Govardhana stone eight kaudis worth of the first-classsweetmeats known as khaja and sandesa. If you offer them with faith andlove, they will be just like nectar."

TEXT 305

tabe asta-kaudira khaja kare samarpanasvarupa-ajnaya govinda taha kare samadhana

TRANSLATIONRaghunatha dasa then began offering the costly sweetmeats known askhaja, which Govinda, following the order of Svarupa Damodara, wouldsupply.

TEXT

306

raghunatha sei sila-mala yabe pailagosanira abhioraya ei bhavana karila

TRANSLATIONWhen Raghunatha dasa received from Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu thestone and the garland of conchshells, he could understand the Lord'sintention. Thus he thought as follows.

TEXT 307

"sila diya gosani samarpila `govardhane'gunja-mala diya dila `radhika-carane,

TRANSLATION"By offering me the govardhana-sila, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has offered me a place near Govardhana Hill, and by offering me the garlandof conch shells, He has offered me shelter at the lotus feet of SrimatiRadharani."

Time and again I feel so blessed to be part of such a wonderful and sweet process given to us by our Acharyas and Srila Prabhupada and pray that I always serve the Lord and His devotees.

Connecting the dots.

Thoughts lead to Actions, Action to habits, habits to character. The collective characters of individuals forms the culture of a nation. Its really not so hard to connect the dots. In the past three months, on two occasions I have received racist comments from young boys in the age group of twenties. I was called names and when I responded by laughing it away and thanking the person, I guess it irked them more. I do not want to go into details of the last incident because it pains me to see a nation that has embraced a culture of swearing. It seems to have become the national language, that anyone who doesn't speak that language is considered a misfit. The whole of last week one thought rewound and played itself back in my mind. It were the words of HH Bhakti Vasudev Maharaja. The thought was that Krishna gives the best to His devotees! I was very deeply affected by this simple story. Maharaja spoke on determination and about the cowherd boy Swarup who returns to the spiritual kingdom after a long sojourn and is seated with Krishna for a meal. The meal is cooked by none other than Radharani and brought before Krishna. Krishna takes a bite, contorts His face in mock distaste and puts it into the mouth of Swarup. By doing so Krishna wants Swarup to taste the best. Radharani's cooking can never contain any flaws, Krishna just wants to give the best to His devotees and hence hatches this plan.

The best however is not defined in our terms, but in Krishna's terms. The best could be an embrace, pat on the back or a kick in the face. Knowledge sharpened by the words of the shastra is absolute knowledge they say and, though you cannot alter any situation, the way you react to a situation is certainly under your control. By reacting aggressively to the remarks, I would have stooped down and betrayed the words of shastra, guru and sadhu. Though I put on a brave front and smiled at the comments, as I turned around hose pipe in hand, my face flushed with anger and hot tears spilled out onto my cheeks. Tears of anger at the lack of proper leadership, tears of anger at the media that exploits the mind of young children making them zombies and filling them with hatred. I wiped my eyes and tried to justify it as my karma, as Krishna's love coming in another form but my tears indicated that I had failed in my understanding. I had let anger to take control of me even if momentarily. I had succumbed to the taunts of identifying with this body. This material world is a School of Love and to learn to Love one has to pay a hefty price involving stepping out of our comfort zone. I reflected on the bumper stickers God Bless America! and thought yes America does need blessings special Blessings.

Believe it or Not!

On Saturday, the 11 July we had the third Rathayatra in Atlantic city. This time we were given the seva of Bringing Srila Prabhupada to the venue. While the other devotees called up to say that the roads were clogged with beach traffic, we sailed into Atlantic city with Prabhupada sitting in the passenger seat of our Nissan Quest. Head held High he rode on majestically. The Rathayatra was on the Boardwalk. All parking slots were taken and the cops were ready for the parade as well. As we sat around wondering one lady who apparently had changed her mind pulled out of the parking lot. As we parked and jumped out enthusiastically waiting for the cart to arrive, we noticed that the parking had been paid for 7 hours. Unknowingly, this lady had just earned pious credits for serving a pure devotee of the Lord. The cart arrived in a Penske truck. As they went about setting up the cart, The Lords arrived in a van. Seated in the back seat in a reclining position, They looked gorgeous in a pink outfit with a blue border. With lot of seva on hand i did not have the time to make Bhoga for the Lord. All through the way my mind was chastising me for not planning and bringing an offering for the Lord. After a few minutes one of the devotees approached me and asked if I could offer the afternoon lunch to the Lord. I had just read that just offering water to the Lord, the Lord would be pleased. Here was my chance to offer. Along with the paratha, sabzi and fruits was a bottle of water. Pulling out a ziploc bag from my bag, I placed a Tulasi leaf in the water bottle and offered it to the Lord. After His Bhoga, The Lord was eager to proceed to Vrindavan and knocked of the foil lid that I had placed as a screen signalling He was ready to mount the chariot. The Rathayatra was ecstatic from start to finish. Remembering Janananda Maharaja's words from 2 years ago, I tried to dance and call out the names of the Lord as loudly as I could. When we reached the venue where prasdam would be served, one man in a black body stood around observing Srila Prabhupada and the arotik that was taking place. On seeing my husband he apparently mentioned " This man is very strong, He does not even blink." Not wanting to spoil his mood my husband just smiled in agreement. A little while later I approached the cart for something and as I stood around listening to the devotees singing the Jagannath Astakam Prayers, he said " Miss is this an Indian festival?" I explained to him that it is a festival of the heart where we were sharing our happiness at the Lord's return back to our hearts after long years of separation. He was clearly intrigued by Prabhupada and asked a few more questions. When I said that our only true relationship is with the Lord he exclaimed concurred and shook my hand. As I reluctantly shook hands with this inquisitive stranger Jagannath Baladev and Subhadra looked on. I ran to the devotees and asked them for a cookie. All the 4000 cookies that we had made had been distributed! One devotee put his hand into his pocket and pulled out a cookie he had saved for himself, thanking him I went back and handed the cookie to the man. He thanked me and went on to examine the cookie label. I mentally thanked my Guru Maharaja for whatever little service I could render.

Srila Prabhupada ki Jaya. Jagannath Ratha Yatra ki Jaya.

Sarvatma Snapanam

cheto-darpana-marjanam bhava-maha--davagni-nirvapanam

shreyah-kairava-chandrika-vitaranam vidya-vadhu-jivanam

anandambudhi-vardhanam prati-padam purnamritaswadanam

sarvatma-snapanam param vijayate sri-krishna-sankirtanam

Glory to the Sri-Krsna-Sankirtana, which cleanses the heart of all the dust accumulated for years and extinguishes the fire of conditional life, of repeated birth and death. This sankirtana movement is the prime benediction for humanity at large because it spreads the rays of the benediction moon. It is the life of all transcendental knowledge. It increases the ocean of transcendental bliss, and it enables us to fully taste the nectar for which we are always anxious.

I was just reflecting on this beautiful verse of the Siksastakam prayers and how I practically felt this cleansing last Saturday. It was an intense day for all of us devotees starting with wonderful mangala Arotik, followed by cleaning up a huge shed, a marathon pizza making session that took 4 hours. I felt drained by the lack of sleep, but I was determined to attend the Bhakti Vriksha that very evening and wanted to drown in the nectar of the holy names. The Kirtaniyas took their place. As if connected by an invisible bond all those with a penchant for music filled in the slots forming a natural circle. The kirtan began with the chanting of the Mahamantra and I felt layer after layer of tiredness peeling from my body. As I sat absorbed in the kirtan, I felt my eyes turning moist listening to Kalpavriksha Prabhu's chanting. Srila Prabhupada's words "Chanting should be like the cry of a child for his mother" rang in my ears and pictures of the drowning soul saved by Lord Visnu seated on Garuda flashed across my closed eyes. As they started singing Jaya Sri Krishna Bolo jaya Radhe, I felt all the weariness melting away, as if i had been bathed in the cooling waters of Mother Ganga. With all my insecurities rising into thin air, I felt safe in the company of the holy names that had enveloped all the people seated there..No one went back the same person that day. They had tasted the sweetness of bathing themselves in the nectar of the holy names. One mataji had slipped away from home almost 40 minutes away from the venue to drink in this nectar and sat mesmerized by the sound of the kartals, mridanga and the sweet names of Krishna. Sarvatma Snapanam Param Vijayate Sri Krishna Sankirtanam. Clearly, everyone there experienced this first hand that Summer Saturday night! An overwhelming gratitude for Srila Prabhupada surged in my heart and I felt thankful for being a part of this wonderful sankirtana movement.

Tasseography

Fresh herbs from Jagannath Vallabha Gardens!

Tasseography or Tasseomancy is the art of reading tea leaves. After a cup of tea has been poured, without using a tea strainer, the tea is drunk or poured away. The cup should then be shaken well and any remaining liquid drained off in the saucer. The diviner now looks at the pattern of tea leaves in the cup and allows the imagination to play around the shapes suggested by them. They might look like a letter, a heart shape, or a ring. These shapes are then interpreted intuitively or by means of a fairly standard system of symbolism, such as: snake (enmity or falsehood), spade (good fortune through industry), mountain (journey of hindrance), or house (change, success). Now Don't read this and wonder why I'm talking about Tasseography and about tea when we vow to not take any intoxicants,tea or coffee included. Nope, I'm not breaking my 4 regs here. The drinker of the tea in question here is transcendental and the message I received is transcendental too..Read on.. So, The Lord was sick all these days and my good friend Geeta Mataji wanted me to have something as a gift for our wedding anniversary, something that will stay as a reminder to serve our worshipable Lord Jagannath through thick and thin. So, she gifted me this cute teapot and tea cup to serve Jagannath some tea during His Anavasara and also handed me some fresh herbs right out of her Jagannath Vallabha Garden at her home. I promptly used it to serve the Lord some fresh mint leaves, rosemary and ginger tea with honey and squeezed some fresh lime, set out the table with some poda pitha, and cashewnut cookies. After the Lord was done drinking I drained the contents into another cup and tried reading the pattern, using my imagination, and I once again received the message so often repeated in the Bhagavad Gita. I felt privileged to serve the Lord and receive such confidential knowledge. I vowed to take this reading to heart and intensify my faith in rendering service to the best of my abilities. Here is the message for my future and my present, as read from the tea cup of the transcendental Lord:

ksipram bhavati dharmatma sasvac-chantim nigacchati kaunteya pratijanihi na me bhaktah pranasyati

TRANSLATION He quickly becomes righteous and attains lasting peace. O son of Kunti, declare it boldly that My devotee never perishes.

Bhagavad Gita 9:31.

Off Mark

A week ago I was busy in the kitchen. It had been raining heavily outside and the the rain was just tapering off when I heard a soft thud. On walking to the window I saw a mass of gray plastered onto the outside of the window glass, a little above the lotus feet of Lord Nityananda. The feet that I had made of sculpey clay and painted had fallen off from the wall and so I had temporarily rested it against the window. The gray mass looked like fur and I felt my stomach doing a somersault, wondering what it was. The gleeful screams of some school children attracted my attention and in an instant I knew what the grey thing was. The children, two boys aged around 10, with unkempt unruly hair, were carefully wetting newspapers in the water, making a ball from it and were looking for the next window, the next target on which to fling their creation on. Jagai and Madhai I said and sighed to myself. That they had become attracted to Nitai's feet even if they were hurling paper at it signified some ajnata sukriti. They were off mark though, as you can see in the pictures. It set me thinking that Nitai's lotus feet are not so easy to attain. Cooling like millions of moons, Nitai's lotus feet provide the key to attaining love of Gauranga or Radha Krishna. My mind and senses are like this little Jagai and Madhai hurling self concoted nonsense at the lotus feet of Nitai continuously especially while chanting the holy names. Nitai, however is so patient and merciful that he gives me so many chances to get to the mark. As Sri Locana Dasa Thakura says.

akrodha paramananda nityananda raya
abhimana shunya nitai nagare bedaya

Lord Nityananda Raya never gets angry. He is always in ecstasy, supreme bliss. He has no false ego. He wanders to every town and village in Nadia chanting Hare Krishna, dancing, and offering krsna-prema (love of Krishna) to everyone indiscriminately.

Seeing through another's eyes.

As we were studying about Chapter 6: How to Discharge Devotional Service in the Nectar of Devotion, the class reached a discussion on the worshippable rivers like Mother Ganga and Yamuna. The discussion found its way to the topic on being able to see the dham. Seeing the dham requires the mercy of Gopisvara Mahadev who is the gatekeeper of the dham and also that of the Vrajavasis. The question arose "Can we partake the water from River Yamuna or Ganga?" "Can we risk having a dip in the water?" From our viewpoint Yamuna or Ganga is another river that is polluted by tonnes of industrial waste and fecal matter. It is a place where the ashes of the dead find an end, the beginning of a hope that the departed souls move on to an auspicious life in the future!

I remembered a class that I heard by HH Mahanidhi Swami on how every realized soul beginning with Caitanya Mahaprabhu, started parikrama of Mathura Mandal-Vrindavana by having a dip in the Yamuna. Though devotees (aspiring or fanatics), we still tend to forget how Yamnua Mayi is a person, how Ganga Mayi is a person and how they have a spiritual form in the Spiritual world. While we look through our pricey coolers and judge the Yamuna as being filthy, polluted and dirty, Mother Yamuna is looking at us wondering "There he comes with years of filth and he/she is going to dump all of it in my waters."

Description of Yamuna Devi from the KRSNA Book, Chapter 58

While they were resting and drinking water, they saw a beautiful girl of marriageable age walking alone on the bank of the Yamuna. Krsna asked His friend Arjuna to go forward and ask the girl who she was. By the order of Krsna, Arjuna immediately approached the girl, who was very beautiful. She had an attractive body and nice glittering teeth and smiling face. Arjuna inquired, "My dear girl, you are so beautiful with your raised breasts--may I ask you who you are? We are surprised to see you loitering here alone. What is your purpose in coming here? We can guess only that you are searching after a suitable husband. If you don't mind, you can disclose your purpose. I shall try to satisfy you."
The beautiful girl was the river Yamuna personified. She replied, "Sir, I am the daughter of the sun-god, and I am now performing penance and austerity to have Lord Visnu as my husband. I think He is the Supreme Person and just suitable to become my husband. I disclose my desire thus because you wanted to know it."

While we hold our noses for fear of throwing up, Mother Yamuna or Ganga cannot bear the stench of our perspiring bodies, the stench of our inflated ego and the stench of our sometimes diseased and sore bodies.

She who is fragrant with scented ointments from Lord Krishna’s transcendental body has taken on the sins of countless sinners and has become tainted. It is not They who are polluted, it is us, and the reflection of our own lusty impure hearts is the pollution visible today.

As one verse in the Yamunastakam reads:

May Sri Yamuna, the daughter of Suryadeva, who is the famous splendid spiritual river flowing through the Bhuh Bhuvah and Svah planets, who burns away the greatest sins, and who is fragrant with scented ointments from Lord Krishna’s transcendental body, always purify me.

This discussion and my own thoughts made me realize our insignificance and the greatness of the benedictions of Krishna and His many wonderful associates and devotees.