Chappan bhog

Been busy spring cleaning the house and trying to do some serious reading. With limited access to a computer, my life is dramatically changing, for the better.

Chappan Bhog, the blog dedicated to bringing out recipes of bhoga being offered on a daily basis at home is now online. Here is the link http://chappanbhog.wordpress.com/. The recipes are going to be a mish mash predominantly featuring South Indian dishes that I grew up eating. So, if you fancy offering vada, sambar masala dosa, or boondi laddu you are welcome to visit the site. Not a great cook but I'm trying to sincerely learn and will attempt to share the recipes along the way.

Our own little battles.

While going about our own day to day activities from time to time one is faced with their own little battles of Kurukshetra, sometimes with other devotees, family members, and mostly the mind. Sometimes Mr. Jekyll takes over and at other times Mr. Hyde becomes very powerful, snuffing out the all the goodness with a sip of his very own magic potion. In this age of quarrel and hypocrisy, we are often faced with "catch 22" situations and conflicts. Our success lies in effectively dealing with conflicts. Relationships are intrinsic to the soul. One can live without a microwave, a bed or even a computer, comfortably, but everyone wants to relate to someone. Just looking around my own neighborhood, I always see single old men and women with just a pet dog to keep them company. Shopping around in the grocery stores I see again; old men and women all alone unable to even pick a can of peas and drop it into the shopping basket,that it requires so much effort. Absent mindedly picking up a can of olives, I wonder what my plight will be in the years to come. Will I be fortunate enough to live in the association of devotees that I take so much for granted?

Guru Maharaja's words on the 4 principles of community building come to my mind:

1. Treat everyone you encounter as if the success or failure of your spiritual life depends on the quality of your interactions with them.
2. Reflect on the person you love the most, and aspire to treat everyone with that same quality of love.
3. View all conflicts as your own fault first.
4. Realize that people in your present environment might very well be the people with whom you will live out your life, and who are likely to be with you at the time of death.

I put my hand into my jacket pocket and find a folded sheet of paper, notes that I jotted down from a seminar on Devotee Relationships by my God brother- Bhuta Bhavana Dasa, January 1, 2009. That it should surface when such thoughts are going through my mind were indicative that I should note it down someplace else. I am summarizing the contents here:

Relationships are intrinsic to the soul. Our quality of existence is intrinsically related to our relationships. All qualities that we develop are a result of association- good or bad. From the Srimad Bhagavatam, Canto 1 we see that "Actual association of devotees brings about a quick change in life for spiritual realization."

The first, fundamental principle of establishing and maintaining good relationships is knowledge. Often times devotees are afraid in their dealings with other devotees in stating the facts for fear of committing Vaisnava Aparadh.It is stated in Harinama Chintamani by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur that we actually commit aparadhs by not dealing with a conflicting situation appropriately. In order to serve a devotee better it is not wrong to judge the devotee by his/her qualities and understand them. The 6 loving exchanges mentioned in the Upadeshamrita are important instructions. Krishna consciousness is so powerful that by following it through, with the blessings and empowerment we experience something far superior to our karma. We must therefore make a conscious attempt to include the 6 loving exchanges in our day to day activities, by being humble, with the single goal of pleasing Krishna. Building trust amongst devotees and non-devotees requires that one practice these 5 trust building measures viz: share relevant information, honor commitments,clarify expectations, admit mistakes and make amends. The Lord teaches different lessons through conflicts. Vaisnava Aparadh is the topmost offense and one must constantly engage in cultivating the positive while avoiding the negative. In order to achieve tolerance and to learn to discriminate the situation, one has to hear and read regularly. Addressing the situation, tolerating without envy and checking our motive for all actions, addresses the conflicting situation effectively.

Though it does seem like a long list of things to do, in reality there is just one point- Is my thought and consequent action going to please Krishna? In my own activities I felt that sincerely attempting to practise the the 6 loving exchanges has made a difference. Constantly living the philosophy is not easy when you are dragged into situations of conflict. This Friday, at the weekly Bhakti Vriksha gathering, we met a newcomer with a very unusual name- 'Bhagavad Gita.' Turns out that her father was so taken up with the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita that not only did he memorize all the verses of the Bhagavad Gita, but also ended up christening her with that name. A name that conjures up visions of a battlefield, powerful warriors engaged in a fierce battle. Powerful warriors; who are relatives and a constant reminder of our own battles of Kaliyuga. In our case, who wins the battle? you may ask. Ultimately the wolf that is fed is the one that wins the battle! For devotees it is very simple for it is the one on the side of Krishna who wins the battle and If Krishna is on your side it is only because He is pleased with your actions!

Krishna Balaram-Some Pictures.

Wonderful dancing of Krishna and Balaram

Excerpt from a lecture by HH Varsana Swami, Submitted by Manoj

The holy dham is to be respected as the expansion of the Lord Balaram, Who sets the scene for the pastimes. And what are the Lord's embellishments, decorations?Mother Yasoda comes into Krishna's bedroom, singing sweet songs about the loving pastimes that took place before and she wakes up Krishna. And then all the cowherd boys come and they assist in dressing Krishna. And to please Mother Yasoda, He puts on jewelery and fancy clothes, and the cows… they won't even give milk until they have darshan of Lord Krishna.And then what happens! Krishna goes to the forest. He takes off the fancy jewelery that Mother Yasodha put and that gets covered with the forest gifts. The flowers and the peacock feathers, the mango twigs, and Krishna decorates Himself … the Gopis see this about 20 miles away, premanjana churita bhakti vilocenena, with eyes anointed with the salve of love, they can clearly see what is going on 20 miles away. They say, why is He dressing so nice? How's He dressing … Like a dramatic actor. Somebody who is about to do a stage performance, a dramatic act, and they are suspended in rapt attention, from inside their houses 20 miles away or so. Why is He dressing so nicely ? Is He dressing to please the cowherd boys? Well, they are dressing Him, so that's not it. Is He dressing to please Mother Yasoda? Well, she already dressed Him. So who is He dressing to please?Who do young boys dress to please? Young girls … So the Gopis feel very happy.Nanda Maharaj, Mother Yasodha and the elders all follow Krishna upto the point where Krishna assures them with a look, we'll be alright … you can go back … we'll be well behaved … And then painfully they go back …And then as the acharyas explain, as soon as Nanda and Yasodha turn to go back, Krishna and the cowherd boys turn like baby elephants who just got released. So the cowherd boys are joking and talking. So when the devotees asked Prabhupada, what do the cowherd boys talk about … Prabhupada said, Non-sense, ofcourse. But it has all got one purpose and one center, and that is Krishna. Which creates harmony, and peace, and sweetness, through out all of creation. And carrying that message of peace through the process of sankirtan is the most benevolent activity and the only antidote to the hideous influence of cruelty. So when Krishna and the cowherd boys begin to play, naturally all the cows, the birds, the peacocks get into a very playful mood and the cowherd boys … they also like to fight. How do they fight? with nuclear missilens … No … with flowers. They launch flowers. Sometimes they play ball …And then Vrndavan forest is not a dull inert, inanimate forest, full of darkness. Everything is enlightened. So understanding Krishna's mood, it creates a stage. And one of the cowherd boys starts drawing out his design, how the stage should be, with a stick. Ok, this is the center stage for Krishna and Balaram, Who come on. Krishna like a sapphire, and Balaram like an emerald. And Krishna's bluish effulgence, cast a nice bluish hue all over the forest and Balaram, when He gets enlivened, He starts sparkling like lightning. And the cowherd boys decide, ok, the musicians can go on this side and the deer and the rabbits sit in front, creating an audience. And then Krishna and Balaram come on to the stage, bow down to the audience, to bhumi, to Goddess Saraswati, Goddess of music and dance, and then they begin to Dance. Krishna begins dancing like a peacock. And the earth planet is so blessed, that no where else in the universe does Krishna dance. No where else does He even appear and bless the planet with the emblems of His bear lotus feet. So Krishna begins to dance. And everyone begins to sing. Krishna then begins to adjust His clothing, in a very accentuated manner. And then Krishna begins tap dancing. Creating a musical rhythm. When Krishna and Balaram begin to dance, They become to attracted in mutual love for each other and everyone witnessing this lila become so filled with love for Krishna and Balaram that their natural response is to embrace and love one another. If we have love for Krishna, you cannot have enimity for anyone or anything …And then Krishna, begins playing His flute and this enlivens Balaram to start dancing in a way no one can imitate. When Balaram gets enlivened, How would you compare? He gets so enlivened that with one hand on the ground and His whole body pivoting in the air and His lotus feet, circling in the sky, that just enlivens Krishna to no end … so that Krishna cannot even contain His joy, and Krishna begins dancing which culminates in doing cart-wheels around Balaram, who is rotating on His hand, with His body in the air and Krishna is doing cartwheels circumumbulating Him While simultaneously playing His flute; While simultaneously taking the dust from Balaram's feet in the air and also Distributing that dust to everybody in the audience until finally all that anyone can say is WONDERFUL ! WONDERFUL ! And Krishna begins boasting … Can anyone in the world out-do us in dancing … And everyone say NO WAY … First there is the competition who is the best. And the cowherd boys to please Krishna, they dance the best. But finally Krishna and Balaram dance even better until finally everyone in the forest and the earth is so enthralled and the sound even penetrating the outer coverings of the universe reaching Vaikuntha, Lord Narayan begins smiling. And Lakshmi is asking, What is causing you so much pleasure?There is such a correlation between love and wonder that everyone is just enraptured by the dance. And then as Srila Prabhupada points out, Krishna and Balaram, not having undergone the hair cutting ceremony, everything is dancing … Their ear-rings, Their hair … Their garlands, Their ornaments, everything …If we have love there will be no room for malice in our hearts. It is not by hatred, or fighting that malice can be killed, but it is only by love is envy stilled. This is a lesson repeatedly emphasized in the life of Haridas Thakur. And the symptom of love is humility, service attitude. The expression is service. And who is the best servant - Krishna is the best everything. He is also the most humble. Because after this dance, theatrical performance, that enraptured and enchanted everyone, everyone is saying - Krishna, you're the best … And Krishna saying yeah, Iam the best … And Sridama comes and says, Hey Krishna, you know I got evidence that under the cloak of darkness you sneak out sometime and take dancing lessons from my older sister. Sridama is Radharani's brother … So you know, Krishna says, Yea … I was actually kind of presumptuous to proclaim that I am the supreme dancer when I've got my own teacher.Ofcourse, this is all so esoteric and above our heads we should understand that we don't have connection with anything spiritual, except by the Grace of our Spiritual Master, the supreme expression of love, kindness and mercy, who has come to redeem us from the plight of this world and save us from the viciousness that destroys everything and everyone in this world and teaching us how to sing and dance in sankirtan.Sankirtan has two meanings - everyone coming together to sing and dance; and also means everything being used in the missionary work of Srila Prabhupada and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to develop love for Krishna, which is the purpose of our chanting Hare Krishna. By one mantra Which consists of three names, Hare Krishna and Rama, we can derive our dormant Krishna consciousness and counteract all the evil tendencies of the age of Kali, perfect the human form of life, benefit all living entities, by assisting one another in the path back home, where everyone lives eternally, in perfect peace and harmony.

Object or Subject?

AmmaNiyAzhvan walked a long distance to reach Bhattar and fell at his feet and asked him "Please teach adiyEn something in which to take refuge in".
Bhattar taught him the meaning of Azhvar's "nedumArkkadimai" pasurams and told him "Knowing the Lord is only knowing Him in half. "It is by knowing His devotees that one knows Him in full".
ammaNiyAzhvan said "Learning many things is no good. I will forget them all. This much is sufficient", and followed Bhattar's advice from that day forward.

This is an incident from the life of Parasara Bhattar. Today being Rama Navami,and also for the past few weeks I have been thinking about Sri Hanuman. As I think of him, different thoughts race through my mind. I think of how, when I was a little girl I took him away from the Dasara display at home. Wrapping him up in a shawl, I used to carry him around, talking to him, feeding him and making him lie down next to me. He was my friend, I was so enamoured by the bright paper mache murti of Hanuman, that they found it hard to convince me that he is part of the Ram Parivar display and cannot be carried around like that. In those days we did not have the soft toys that are available now. Growing up, I watched my mother worshipping a picture of Hanuman who was of a greenish hue, with an upright tail that almost looking like a flag. The tail was worshipped with a paste of sandalwood and kumkum for 40 days and at the end of it, a garland made of urad vadas was offered to the picture. It is a puja that people take up for fulfillment of different material desires and my mother was no exception. For many days well into my youth I thought Hanuman was God or the God as in Supreme-Perumal (Lord Visnu is referred to as Perumal). On knowing that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and Hanuman his Dasa-eternal servant. I was not convinced how I should digest this information I had received and very warily cleared the space that I had in my heart for Hanuman to include Krishna. Hanuman being the pure devotee and servant that he is slowly, steadily was leading me to the lotus feet of the divine couple.

Recently, I learnt that in Thailand they have paintings of Hanuman that show him lying down in his gigantic form with his tail outstretched as a bridge, and the army of Rama crossing a the ocean, holding on to his tail. The US President Barack Obama has been in the news for having in his possession a small icon of Hanuman. Even a moment's association with a devotee is said to be so precious. A popular line to get even the most shy Sunday School kids, to get talking is to ask them about their favorite he man, super man etc., "My favorite has always been Hanu Man," This almost always brings about a kind of camraderie amongst us.

Last week at I was listening to HH Dhanurdhara Swami talk about Brhad Bhagavatamrita, Narada's quest for the top most devotee and his meeting with Hanuman. Learning about this unique quality of Hanuman was very timely. He mentioned how we have to endeavor to become the object of the Lord's love rather than trying to become the subject of love and adoration Hanumanji was endowed with 8 mystic siddhis, immense strength, but yet he chose to become the object of love as opposed to becoming the subject of love. So simple yet so profound.

Going back to the first few lines of the post, "It is by knowing His devotees that one knows Him in full". As devotees representing our own spiritual masters and ultimately Srila Prabhupada, imbibing this mood of Hanuman is essential to a strong foundation in spiritual life, in properly representing the mission of Srila Prabhupada. Praying to Hanuman for spiritual strength and guidance in serving the lotus feet of the divine couple I beg him to let me hang on to his divine tail for dear life.

"asadhya sadhaka swamin, asadhyam thava kim vadha /rama dhootha kripa sindho: math karyam sadhaya prabho.

Windbeutel Samskara.

It would not be wrong to call ourselves a bundle of Impressions or Samskaras. Some, from this very birth and some from lifetimes before. In my own life, apart from the actual passages of rites, like marriage, childbirth and subsequent Namakaran Samskara, Initiation etc., some very strong impressions are those associated with people, places, and food. The impressions of the delicate looking Mrs. Sen, forehead adorned with a lipstick bindi in my kindergarden years, the impression of picking cashew fruits on the way back from school. Eating rose cookies at the home of Ms. Phyllis, during Christmas. Going for a haircut with my father, perched on bar of his bicycle. Listening to Chandamama Stories from my mother. Playing hopscotch with friends on the streets till dusk. Visits to the British library on St. Marks Road in Bangalore, followed by drinking tender coconut water from the roadside vendor, or slurping the kesar flavored kulfi from the Bowring institute stall. Sitting down with my parents, brother and sisters to have lunch together, each sharing the happenings of the day with the others. Stealing mangoes from the neighbor's tree with all my friends. These samskaras can be called as Bhog Samskaras, or the material impressions, arising out of sense gratification.

In the latter years, it has been and is being steadily replaced with spiritual samskaras, related to the Lord, Sitting on the side steps of the Ranganatha temple in Sri Rangam learning to chant on the japa beads from my husband, visiting the Thanksgiving program at the then Brahmachari Ashram in New York with my husband, and wondering "Where am I?" Almost slipping in to Shyama Kund in Mayapur, or trying to have a dip in the Ganges without getting asphyxiated by fear. Seeing the Panca Tattva, Radha madhava and the Asta sakhis for the first time. The list can go on and on..
One such impression is that of eating 'windbeutel' literally translated to mean wind bag in English. Here are a few lines that I wrote in the memory of this pastry.
Embedded in my mind

like a pearl in an oyster shell

Are memories of Lueneberg

and eating creamy Windbeutel.

What is known as cream puffs here is known as windbeutel in Germany. Bite sized fluffy pastry injected with delicious cream. My friend Namrata or maybe Arshinder introduced this dessert to me and ever since this taste has been lodged in my conscience.

Bhoga Arati by Bhakti Vinod Thakur in my limited understanding sums up the menu of the Lord. All his likes are listed there. So, just before Gaura purnima this year out of my box of impressions sprang out this windbeutel. After all the 7th verse speaks of the Lord enjoying exactly these preparations:

"There are puns (replace the p with a 'b') made with white flour and sugar; puns filled with cream; laddus; and dahl patties boiled in sugared rice. Krsna eagerly eats all of the food."

So I embarked on my quest for the recipe. To my dismay eggs were the most important ingredient in the recipe for choux pastry, profiteroles or eclairs. Never the one to give up, I tried one recipe with egg replacer and the result was spongy feeling flat discs that wobbled around on my baking pan. The dough just failed to rise to the occasion. Scouting around in Kurma Prabhu's website, I was further discouraged that vegans and vegetarians had still not perfected it. So I settled for custard filled donuts. But, after a while, I found another recipe for carob eclairs on a link to 'Food for Peace' by Rambhoru Dasi..my joy knew no bounds, at last a recipe without eggs. But the result was not very great.

Custard donuts, ready to be filled with custard, When filled, it reminded me of the pots of the gopis, filled with butter.

Strawberry cream filled eclairs waiting to be topped with carob.

From a class on Samskaras, by HH Mahanidi Swami, "Hating or liking anything causes an impression in our minds. We have to learn to like things related to Krishna because its organic, its our Swabhav. Anything related to Krishna we should accept, aanukulyena sankalpa, healthy samskara, healthy raag (attachment). GOOD spiritual samskaras free one, are progressive, purifying, helpful, beneficial and should be cultivated at the expense of material samskaras.."

So much for my cream puff making. As always there is a lesson to learn. I was persistent in my endeavor to please my own senses. Where was Krishna in this picture? So often we make Palak paneer, because "oh!my son likes it!" or macaroni and cheese because,"my daughter likes it!" Anyway I learnt my lesson that on the pretext of preparing it for Krishna I was making it for myself, the result naturally had to be poor. Vulnerability is an asset in spiritual life, because had I been empty of my own desires like the windbeutel (wind bag) I would have definitely allowed a higher force to enrich and fill me up with the intelligence to proceed in the right direction. Spiritual endeavors result in spiritual Samskaras. Before starting to cook anything now, whenever I see the red light glowing in my mind, I stop and check "for whom am I making this particular offering Krishna, me or my family?" The earlier experience of eating windbeutel is now replaced with the ones of trying to make them for Krishna.

With that said, off I go to make some fudge, for Jagannath.