A Tale of Two Tomatoes

Some fruit and herb bhoga for Jagannath said my friend Geeta, as she stuffed a plastic carry bag into my black cloth bag emroidered with green parrots and inscribed with the word Radha.Thoroughly preoccupied by thoughts of how I can cook the next morning, I absent mindedly nodded my head in reply to her. It was 11PM by the time the program with HH Bhakti Charu Maharaj concluded on Friday evening. I had to be up at 3:30 AM the next day to get set and reach for Mangal Arotik at 5 AM. I had promised to make rava idlis and sambar for Maharaja's breakfast but did not have the time to go grocery shopping and hence, did not have the ingredients, especially the taste enhancing ingredient for sambar- Tomatoes. Sambar without tomatoes! I thought how am I going to make it. I had requested a devotee to bring two tomatoes for me at the Friday evening program and she promptly forgot. Devotees living close to the temple volunteered to go home and bring some for me. I stopped them looking at the time.Its too late to go shopping now and I have work for atleast 3 hours before I can hit the bed, I thought. For a split second, I looked at Radha Vrindavan Chandra and wished "Maybe Geeta mataji has put some tomatoes in there for Jagannath," but, it was time to leave and the thought got pushed out of my mind. I got home and got ready for the next service, making garlands for the sweet Radha Madan Mohan deities at whose home the Mangal arotik was..All of a sudden, on an impulse, I walked to my bag and pulled out the bhoga bag first. I opened it wanting to store it away properly for the deities.A first I pulled out a small ziploc with roses, another with some fresh oregano and rosemary, a grapefruit, a mango and something wrapped in paper.Wondering what could be so precious to be wrapped in paper, I opened it carefully.I could not believe my eyes when I saw two shiny ripe tomatoes staring at me from the bag..Just the right quantity that I needed, not more, not less. Once more Jagannath and Srimati Radharani had reciprocated, fulfilling my desire to serve. I ran to Jagannath who was beaming at me with a mischievous smile and thanked Him for being so kind to me..Later while narrating this to my friend Geeta, I was recounting other more serious instances in my life where Sri Radha Krishna have literally preserved what I have, and carried what I lack, and that I was not able to come to terms with their mercy starting from giving me these tomatoes, to not letting me down in other circumstances. As I paused speaking, she simply said " Digest the mercy." It is so hard to digest, knowing that  I have no qualification to receive mercy.The sincere desire to serve Vaisnavas surely attracts this mercy. I recalled the  verse from Srimad Bhagavatam on how one becomes the rightful inheritor of the Lord's mercy. (SB 10.14.8)
tat te 'nukampāḿ su-samīkṣamāṇo
bhuñjāna evātma-kṛtaḿ vipākam
hṛd-vāg-vapurbhir vidadhan namas te
jīveta yo mukti-pade sa dāya-bhāk
My dear Lord, one who earnestly waits for You to bestow Your causeless mercy upon him, all the while patiently suffering the reactions of his past misdeeds and offering You respectful obeisances with his heart, words and body, is surely eligible for liberation, for it has become his rightful claim.
I am still overwhelmed when I think of the Lord's mercy and still grapple with thoughts of how to digest the mercy when it comes. Cetainly the Lord's mercy is Ahaituki- causeless!

While on one hand this incident may seem as simple reciprocation, it instills faith, renews faith and provides practical realization that the Lord is personal to the extent that we are personal. The Lord is all merciful, we have to be open to receive it and digest it when it comes.

Madhukari on Krishna Road

This past weekend when we visited Prabhupada Village, Sandy Ridge North Carolina, I was wondering, "Looks like a sleepy laid back place, suitable for a retreat. What is there to see?" I decided I would go with an open heart and embrace whatever comes my way. But from the beginning to the end the journey was very sweet. Madhukari http://vedabase.net/cc/madhya/20/81/ is a term that is used for begging alms. Just as the bees go from flower to flower and hop about collecting nectar from one and then move to another and yet another, similarly we went from one devotee's home to another like bees seeking nectar.We received so much mercy. The temple of the holy names, that is name of the temple atop the winding roads that lead to Prabhupada village. When you enter the temple you do not find Radha Krishna deities as you would in all other ISKCON temples, but instead there is a beautiful framed painting of the Panca Tattva occupying the center place on the altar. As our devotees burst into Kirtan, I could not stop myself from dancing. The mood of Sankirtan was so warmly felt at the temple. The road on which the devotees live is aptly named Krishna Drive. With so many devotees being Srila Prabhupada disciples even a little associating with them is so refreshing and gives one an idea of the energy that must have surrounded Srila Prabhupada. Our first stop was at the home of Sivananda Prabhu and mother Madan Mohan Mohini. Here I saw practically the kitchen standards Srila Prabhupada talked about. The kitchen was spotless and huge enough to cook up a feast for at least a hundred devotees. The deities Radha Shyama Sundar were resplendent. Srila Prabhupada had miniature book cases, a small khol/mridanga, a rocking chair and a small shawl neatly folded across the chair. The entire altar was detailed and meticulous. We had wonderful burfi prasadam and heard the amazing story of how Sri Radha Shyamasundar came to reside there. Here I prayed to adopt the same cleanliness standards to please our own deities. Thanking the devotees we hopped on to our next stop.
The next stop was at the home of mother Anantatma, who we were told braved the Russian intelligence agencies to spread the message of Srila Prabhupada. As she very animatedly spoke about the causes for the failure of farming communities, we learnt a lesson or two. Accepting oatmeal cookies prasadam, we moved on to our next stop,as I prayed to be able to preach fearlessly some day. Next we were at the home of mother Maharha and Mitrasena Prabhu. Here we were treated to yet another exquisite Darshan of Sri Radha Sharad Bihari and Gaura Nitai. Mother Maharha designs deity dresses and is an artist. From the time I saw a picture of Srimati Radhika by mother Maharha I was curious to meet and seek her blessings. The pictures were not mere art.It was an expression of her love and in the truest sense, it was a window to the spiritual world. She was so kind to give me some dress patterns for Gaura Nitai, copies of all her pictures and her most valuable time and association. From her we accepted bread prasadam which was also imbued with devotion like her other skills. Time was ticking, we had to move on to our next destination. The next stop was at mother Arcana Siddhi and Karnamrita Prabhu's home. I am an avid reader of both their writings and felt privileged to have their brief association. The deities Radha Gopinath and Nimai Nitai looked at us with merciful eyes. Seeing Guru Maharaja's picture on the altar made us immediately feel warm and loved. Here I prayed that I be able to write and inspire people to love one another giving up false identification with the body. Accepting burfi prasadam which was out of this world, we stopped at our next destination, the home of mother Citra and Mathura Prabhu. We were amazed by their simplistic way of living and their love for everything organic and natural. Here I prayed to imbibe this same mood of simplicity and respect for the cows. Leaving Krishna road enriched with so many gifts we entered Sita drive and honored lunch prasadam at the home of Mother Sudevi and Sarvadrk Prabhu our hosts. Clearly these were devotees who knew and understood the value of devotee association. Despite their early day they made sure we were comfortable and well fed.
I shall never forget all the alms that we collected on Krishna Road in Prabhupada Village that Monday Morning.
Jaya Srila Prabhupada.

Offering

Dear Gurudeva,
Please accept my humble obeisnaces, All Glories to Srila Prabhupada. All glories to your lotus feet.

As I was talking to one devotee , I was thinking of your specific mission to spread compassion, love, and enthuse everyone to take up service. Many are of the opinion that LOVE is easy to come by. Anyone can teach living entities on how to care for and love each other they say. I have to disagree with the statement, because love is more than just affectionate dealings. Love is the opposite of Lust. So in that sense teaching devotees how to love each other would mean removal of the deadly Anartha called lust and it is no mean mission. It is one of the most difficult and arduous tasks that a spiritual mentor can take on. You once mentioned in a class that teaching can be both personal and impersonal. It becomes personal when the teacher takes an active interest in the life of the student and gives them what they 'need.' You are such a teacher who has given me what I need. The past year has seen us go through a roller coaster ride and as I try to reflect on what I learnt at the Samskara festival in 2004,viz. " Seeing Krishna in everything," I realize practically that Krishna exists in a kind word as much as in a racist comment. Krishna exists in a everyday dealings and not always in the way we picture Him to be. Thank you for teaching us how to see Him. In the past year I have felt more and more dependent on the will of the Lord and less dependent on my own thinking. At your Vyasa Puja celebrations and the following Gaura Purnima festival, I experienced an overwhelming gratitude for taking us under your fold. Without your teachings I would have been totally at a loss to deal with events both good and bad. Thank you for teaching us that a situation is not under our control, but how we respond to it is surely under our control. Thank you for being there at every step of my life.

your servant

Nitya Navina Dasi.

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.