Wednesday, April 30, 2008

travel journal#4.8: The Only Happy People in London!

  Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 4, No. 8
By Krishna-kripa das
(April 2008, part two)
The Only Happy People London!
(Sent from Amsterdam on 4/30/08)
Where I Am and What I Am Doing
 
I spent almost five weeks in London doing three hours of harinama almost every day. Then by the invitation of Kadamba Kanana Swami, I went to Amsterdam for Queensday, a mammoth street celebration which the devotees do harinama at on April 30. That I will describe in my next issue as it would make this one too large and too late.
Devotional Notes

"Such a false conception [of I am the enjoyer and all I possess is mine] can be given up by thinking, 'I belong to Krishna and Krishna belongs to me.'"—Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura on Srimad-Bhagavatam 11.17.54 from Uddhava Gita

Mukunda Dasa, a devotee from 1974 in Amsterdam, once walked to the temple with the desire to help out with Food for Life and another favorite service. When he arrived he found that Food for Life was not happening that day and neither was the other service, so he returned home, having done no service at all. The next day when he went to the temple, he asked the devotees what they needed done, and he was given some service which he happily did.

Harinama in London

Saturday night always has a lively harinama in downtown London. Parasurama Prabhu plays ukulele and Mother Ratnavali plays jdembe, along with the usual Hare Krishna instruments. We have some very enthusiastic female dancers who smilingly grab ladies from the crowd watching our performance, and pull them into the center to dance with them. It is entertaining both for the ladies and their friends and family who watch the fun from the side. Many of the induced dancers and their spectators take invitations. A guy with a British flag medallion stuck to his suit danced erratically through our party at one point. You really never know what will happen on the London Saturday harinamas. A few weeks back Superman and his friends danced with us.

For me the high point was when a respectably dressed man in his fifties, a little pudgy, with glasses and a round face, joined us in a very jovial mood for the last few blocks to the temple. In our conversation after the harinama, he said, "You know what I like about you Hare Krishnas. You are the only people in London who are happy!" We talked briefly. He had come to Govinda's Restaurant sometimes and read our books. Because he is attached to eating meat and drinking liquor, he says Krishna consciousness isn't for him, but he appreciates what we are doing. The most amazing thing for him, however, which he restated several times as I talked with him, is his realization that the Hare Krishnas are the only people in London who are happy.

On Sunday, Prabhupada disciple, Gaura Prabhu, a nice drummer with dozens of delightful Hare Krishna tunes, lead kirtana and Mother Sukhayanti, bouncing from person to person in her youthful enthusiasm, distributed flyers and a book. I was pleased that although our party was small, the two devotees were so enthusiastic it was a great experience nonetheless. We walked to King's Cross where we have a small center with a food distribution program and a weekly kirtana, lecture, and prasadam program. On the way back, Sukhayanti brought one lady she met to the Sunday feast. I suggested to the London devotees that they could make a Sunday harinama a regular event, gathering up people with nothing to do and bringing them to the Sunday feast, as we have done at some of our other temples in our ISKCON history.

 
The next Saturday evening, when our harinama party was stopped, I was passing out flyers to people who appeared to enjoy watching us dancing. I encouraged one young couple to dance with us, and amazingly enough they did, and their friends did, and then a whole group of ten people was dancing, some imitating the devotees and some doing their own thing. It was so lively, and I was happy, for once, to be an instrument in inducing their participation.

A Feast to Remember

Mother Gopi Bhava who works at Soho's Govinda's Restaurant is credited with cooking a notable feast—the only Sunday feast I recall, in twenty-five years, with two curd subjis. It is also the only one with trifle, a typical British dessert made with cake, custard, fruit, jelly, and whipped cream, which was very tasty. Gopi Bhava felt the devotees always see the trifle at the restaurant but never get to eat any, so she affectionately wanted to treat them.


 

Book Distribution

I hardly ever go out on book distribution. I do not like to talk to people. I never know what to say. I never have. Somehow Jai Nitai Prabhu, the temple president, made such an earnest entreaty to get everyone to go out on maha-Saturday, the last Saturday in the month, when everybody in the temple and congregation is encouraged out, that I decided to surrender. I meant to do an hour before the 3 p.m. Harinama, but I spent the day doing computer work and only had fifteen minutes left. I was intimidated by the prospect of stopping the people on bustling Oxford St. and sought those on side streets who were not moving. One person give me 18 pence for a book, less than half its printing cost. I felt a little bad but decided to go out more later. A devotee suggested I try selling books on the evening harinama, and so I did. The first people I talked to, a Russian couple, also gave less than the printing cost. I mentioned to the man about one of the devotees in our party who spoke Russian, a hard working devotee from the Polish tour, and I noticed the couple followed us to Chinatown. I talked to one middle-aged man who was a Buddhist practitioner. He asked about our philosophy. As a true Buddhist, he rejected the necessity of God. I asked where the creation came from and the system that governs karma. He ascribed those functions to material nature herself, which I said sounds a little hard to conceive. He and his friend who had spent time together at Buddhist asramas talked with me for a while, and his friend, claiming he was impressed by my sincerity, give me all his change, as had the others who had bought books from me, although this time it amounted to about 9 British pounds ($18), and thus made up for the previous two people who had given too little. That was Krishna kindness on me. I had not been in anxiety about the previous poor donations, but I was happy to see it balance out. Later a lady took another book for a pound.

Srila Prabhupada's book distribution ki, jaya!

Friends and Enemies

Gadagraja Prabhu, a key participant in Soho temple's Krishna Community Shop, told nice real life stories in class. Before he became a devotee, there was one person he just hated, and that person hated him. Whenever they saw each other, they would fight, calling each other ill names and punching each other out. After he become a devotee, in the course of distributing Srila Prabhupada's books, Gadagraja spied his former enemy. Surprisingly, he now felt no enmity in his heart toward him, although he was apprehensive about the man's reaction to him. The man saw him, but now that Gadagraja had the shaven head of a devotee, he didn't recognize him. He asked if he was a Hare Krishna, and he said he was. Apparently Gadagraja's former enemy had received a Perfection of Yoga from another devotee and wanted some explanation as to what it was about. They had a nice exchange, and the former enemy even offered to watch Gadagraja's stash of books whenever he distributed in that area!

On the other hand, before he became a devotee, Gadagraja had a close friend who he did a lot of activities together with. As Gadagraja was becoming a devotee, however, the friend said negative things about the devotees and tried to discourage him, and the two became more distance.
 
We can learn from this that we cannot always see who our real friends and enemies are, in the ultimate issue. An apparent enemy can assist us in our service to Krishna while an apparent friend can hold us back. We can also see that devotional service can purify our hearts from deep rooted enmity toward others.
 
My Favorite Holiday
(a submission to Back to Godhead's "In Your Own Words")

Srila Prabhupada's appearance day is my favorite holiday because then devotees reveal through their heartfelt offerings the inspiration behind their life of devotional service to Srila Prabhupada and his mission. It's also special because you hear Prabhupada stories you never heard and relish again those you have heard many times. Prabhupada brings everyone together. His Vyasa Puja Day brings out the best in all of us more than other holidays and pools our inspiration, giving us spiritual strength for another year of service. Not only that, but the feast, cooked with great devotion and frequently one of the most opulent, often features his favorites like kacauris, karela, and laddus, another very pleasant way to remember Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada's Vyasa Puja Day ki jaya!

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

travel journal#4.7: London

Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 4, No. 7

By Krishna-kripa das

  (April 2008, part one) 

London

 (Sent from London, England, on 4/15/08)

 

 

Where I Am and What I Am Doing

 

I am still in London doing three hours of harinama almost every day. I also give a few lectures a week, between the Bhagavatam class, Gita class, and lunch program lecture. Amazingly I got to give a two-hour lecture on Lord Rama on his appearance day at midday and lead half of the two-hour harinama in his honor. My health was getting better but suffered a setback, as I ate too much at Rama's feast.

 

 

Devotional Notes

 

   Once Dr. Patel of Bombay asked Srila Prabhupada if "Rama" in the Hare Krishna mantra referred to Lord Ramacandra. Srila Prabhupada explained that if Dr. Patel was devoted to Lord Ramacandra, he could take it that way. When Dr. Patel left, Srila Prabhupada told his disciples that actually it refers to Lord Balarama, but there is no difference between Lord Balarama and Lord Ramacandra. Lord Balarama is the source of all incarnations, and therefore the source of the other Ramas, Lord Ramacandra and Lord Parasurama.—Bhakti Visrambha Madhava Maharaja

 

Gaura Prabhu, disciple of Srila Prabhupada, once gave a Bhagavad-gita to the librarian at the largest Indian reservation in Canada. The next year, when he visited the library again, the librarian explained how a Christian minister outside the reservation was looking for a book on Hinduism to teach classes about other religions at his church, and he borrowed Srila Prabhupada's Bhagavad-gita As It Is for that purpose. We can never guess what will happen when we distribute Srila Prabhupada's books.

 

 

Harinama in London

 

Krishna-vidhi Prabhu is expert in encouraging the people we meet to participate. We met to groups of students on field trips in London. In each group, Krishna-vidhi got several students to dance along with us. Several also took photos. By Krishna's grace, I had two flyers left, one for each group.

 

One day a group of eight or ten teenaged friends decided to hang out by our harinama party. Two of the girls imitated our dancing. Then the two devotee ladies from Finland encouraged the two to come join with them and they danced in a circle for some time. Then each lady linked arms with one of the girls and swung her around. Finally, the two devotee ladies swung each other around and as did the two girls. Then the girls saw our Hare Krishna maha-mantra sign and without any inducement by us began to sing along, finally getting it down after a few attempts. We smiled and nodded at them to encourage them. I was amazing how they must have chanted for five minutes or so during the twenty minutes they spent with us. Sometimes also they would move in and out, following the devotee dancers. I was impressed. Such enthusiasm to chant for more than just a few mantras is very rare. And most people do not spend as long as twenty minutes with us. I was praying they would get some special mercy from Krishna.

 

Once day, Krishna-vidhi asked me to lead, and my favorite tune came to mind, which is rare for me. It has at least three parts and is difficult to sing, going from the lower end of the musical scale to the higher end. Although I like it, I cannot sing it very well, but I had hardly heard it at all the whole time I was here in London and really missed it. In Mayapur, I would hear it at least once a week, and they like it at the Hungary farm. Instead of playing karatalas, I just danced and passed out flyers, as I sang with considerable delight just to hear the tune again. Krishna Vidhi said one lady came across the street to watch and listen to the kirtana, and Madhukari Dasi sold her a book. I was happy to participate it that.

 

One day an older lady, passing our chanting party, said with disdain, "Get a job!" Tired of hearing such insensitive, ignorant talk for so many years, I turned in her direction, and shouted, "We have a job, and it is better than yours!" Whether she heard or understood, I do not know, but I felt at least the truth should be asserted. Distributing spiritual knowledge is the best service to God and humanity.

 

Sunday Feast Conversation

 

   At the Sunday feast, I lamented as the new person who I planned to talk with during the feast decided to serve out instead of eat. I thought I could pray to Krishna that I might sit next to a new another person I can talk to about Krishna consciousness. But then I thought, "Why should I bother? He knows I want to talk to a new person." There was also a subtle feeling that if I pray, and he doesn't send somebody I might become angry with Him, which is certainly inauspicious. So didn't worry about it. As it turned out I sat next to a primary school teacher, who teaches religion among other things. He came for the first time by the advice of a friend. He liked the prasadam. He noticed we Krishna's like to preach more than the other Hindus. I explained we like to give spiritual knowledge to benefit people. Not necessarily that we are into converting people. Krishna says in the Gita one who shares His message with others is most dear to Him. He asked if there was a word for that. I said, "Pracar", the Bengali word for preach which had coincidentally appeared in the last two morning classes on Caitanya-caritamrita.

 

   He had a doubt about how the holy book of such nonviolent people could take place on the occasion of a war, and with Krishna advocating that Arjuna fight. I explained one must understand the entire context from Mahabharata. Arjuna and his brothers were rightful heirs to the throne, but their cousins tried to poison them, tried burning them by setting fire to their house, and finally rigged a dice match in which Arjuna and his brothers lost the whole kingdom. They even tried to strip Arjuna's wife naked in the government assembly. They were clearly not qualified for government office, and Krishna as the Lord, wanted the rulers to be competent people who would look after everyone's spiritual and material benefit. Krishna Himself went on a peace mission, showed his universal form of great opulence, and requested some land for Arjuna and his brothers. His cousins thought Krishna was merely bluffing them with some magic and declared they would not give them as much land as fits on the head of a pin. It was in that situation, that Krishna induced Arjuna to fight to reinstate righteous government. Furthermore, warriors on both sides, who died in the presence of Krishna attained spiritual perfection, which for the demoniac ones would never have happened otherwise.

 

   Brian, the new guest, asked what it was like after the war, and I told him that Arjuna and his brothers ruled the world and everyone prospered by their competent guidance.

 

   He told me he plans to visit India in August and spend some time in an ashrama. I mentioned about Chowpatty, and the self-sufficient farm near Belgaum. He clearly had a nice time said he expected to come back, and I told him about the restaurant and lunch program, if ever he is in downtown London during the week or Saturday. I urged he take advice from us on his trip because we often go to India, and at the very least we can keep him from getting misled. I get him my card. As he left, I reminded him about the free book the devotees here in London kindly give to first time people. The nice exchange with the guest made my day.

 

   Three or four new guests came to the lunch program when I gave class. It was nice for me since I got to review the whole philosophy. One young lady inquired if there was a secular version of perfection, where one cares for the needs of other people without so much spiritual focus. I explained that as an occupation, she could do welfare work if she wished, but that is not a substitute for spiritual service. Unless we serve God our soul will not be satisfied, and unless we engage other people in God's service their souls will not be satisfied. If the son of a rich man leaves home and spends all his money, we can help him by giving some shelter or food, but the best help is to reconnect him with his father. Then all his needs will be met in one stroke. Similarly, if we connect people with God, He will take care of all their needs far better than we can. Furthermore, Krishna says those who teach His message to others are most dear to Him.

 

 

nadhi-vyadhi-jara-glani-

  duhkha-soka-bhaya-klamah

mrtyus canicchatam nasid

  rame rajany adhoksaje

 

"When Lord Ramacandra, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, was the King of this world, all bodily and mental suffering, disease, old age, bereavement, lamentation, distress, fear and fatigue were completely absent. There was even no death for those who did not want it." (SB 9.10.53)

 

All these facilities existed because of Lord Ramacandra's presence as the King of the entire world. A similar situation could be introduced immediately, even in this age called Kali, the worst of all ages. It is said, kali-kale nama-rupe krishna-avatara: Krishna descends in this Kali-yuga in the form of His holy name—Hare Krishna, Hare Rama. If we chant offenselessly, Rama and Krishna are still present in this age. The kingdom of Rama was immensely popular and beneficial, and the spreading of this Hare Krishna movement can immediately introduce a similar situation, even in this Kali-yuga.