Diary
of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 9, No. 7
By Krishna-kripa das
(April 2013, part one)
By Krishna-kripa das
(April 2013, part one)
North
Florida
(Sent from Dublin, Ireland, on May 17, 2013)
(Sent from Dublin, Ireland, on May 17, 2013)
Where
I Went and What I Did
The
beginning of April was special for me with the visit of my friend
Trevor, with whom I did harinama
last year in England, Scotland, Germany, and Poland, and kirtana
programs
in Czech Republic and Slovakia, as well as traveled to the Ukraine
festival and to Warsaw for Radhastami. He came with me to Tampa,
Tallahassee, and Jacksonville, and really excelled at talking to the
students, inviting them to programs, and interesting them in books
about spiritual life. Eight devotees from Krishna House came to First
Friday and a harinama
at
Springtime Tallahassee, and we had a great time sharing the holy name
and spiritual books with others. New Raman Reti had their first holi
festival
(festival of colors), and it was very successful. I left Krishna
House mid-month to go to New York City and ultimately to Europe, and
I reflect on my experience at Krishna House this time.
In
the matter of insights I share notes from my daily reading of Srila
Prabhupada’s books, a beautiful prayer to Srila Prabhupada by
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, and notes from our classes in Krishna House
on the Tenth Canto of the Bhagavatam,
as
we end the semester.
Thanks to Andrea Perez Del Solar, Tulasirani Devi Dasi, Krsodari Devi Dasi, Trevor Manton, Facebook User "Photo Is My Life," and whoever else I may have missed, for all the photos illustrating this issue
Thanks to Andrea Perez Del Solar, Tulasirani Devi Dasi, Krsodari Devi Dasi, Trevor Manton, Facebook User "Photo Is My Life," and whoever else I may have missed, for all the photos illustrating this issue
Tampa
Trevor
came with me to Tampa this time, and we chanted and had a book table
at the market day at the University of South Florida for five hours.
Trevor, who is just a few years out of college, could easily relate
to the students and speak to them about the limitations of the
Western education he had experienced and encourage them to
investigate Krishna consciousness. In Europe we had just chanted to
together on the streets, but in Tampa I found he was very good at
speaking to students and distributing books—five Bhagavad-gitas
and
about twenty small books for eighty dollars. Two people he spoke to
came to our evening program behind the library, and one brought a
friend. One Hispanic girl was very interested, and he talked to her
for a while after the program. Also someone I talked to two weeks
before came to the program for the first time. Thus in many ways our
visit to Tampa was very successful, and Trevor was inspired by it.
Tallahassee
First Friday and Harinamas
Enough
of the Krishna House students were enthusiastic enough about First
Friday in March that we returned to Tallahassee for the First Friday
in April. In addition, we stayed over night and did a harinama
with
some local devotees and devotees from Alachua at the street fair
after the Springtime Tallahassee parade, a parade that we did not
participate in this year.
At
First Friday Daru Brahma Prabhu and his helpers distributed lots of
Krishna food.
I
gave out invitations and talked to people who were looking at our
kirtana
party.
Hladini,
a seventeen-year-old child of devotee parents, had some nice
realizations. She was not feeling very well at all, but she
distributed books anyway and transcended the pain. At one point, I
noticed she got some people to sit down on the blanket and chant with
us, and I later asked her how. She explained that she gave them a
book but they had no donation and asked if there was anything they
could do for her. She replied that they could sit down on the blanket
and chant Hare Krishna with us, and so they did. Thus she distributed
both a book and the holy name at once to those fortunate souls.
I
missed over half of our Saturday harinama
because
one person forgot his drum, another forgot the invitations, and
another suggested I get water for the party in the course of going
back for the drum and finding the invitations. Thus a got sense of
what you have to go through if you play the role of a leader of a
party, something I rarely do.
The
location was great for chanting. Many, many hundreds of people were
wandering from one stall to another. Although there were dozens of
Florida policeman guarding the event, miraculously none restricted
our party of chanters with its amplified sound, and I was grateful
about that. We visited a section set aside for children’ events,
and several children took pleasure in watching and ultimately dancing
with the devotees, generally to the approval of the parents. In fact,
one mother we passed exclaimed to her two children, “They are such
peaceful people!”
Daru
Brahma Prabhu and the Tallahassee devotees served Ekadasi prasadam
in
a park at the end of the event, and my Krishna House friends returned
to Gainesville, and Trevor and I stayed in Tallahassee to chant at
Lake Ella on Sunday and the campus of Florida State University
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Trevor helped out by making some
really great peanut butter cookies for distribution. He was so
enthusiastic about chanting and talking with students and doing a
book table, that on a couple days, he stayed out for two extra hours,
past the three hours I generally do.
I
had one nice experience myself there on the campus. One student had
taken a small book the previous day and said she liked it. I asked
which part she liked best. She described it, and I found the place in
the book, and it was a part I also liked and I told her so. It is an
excerpt from the Preface to The
Nectar of Devotion, where
Srila Prabhupada speaks about love:
“The
basic principle of the living condition is that we have a general
propensity to love someone. No one can live without loving someone
else. This propensity is present in every living being. Even an
animal like a tiger has this loving propensity at least in a dormant
stage, and it is certainly present in the human beings. The missing
point, however, is where to repose our love so that everyone can
become happy. At the present moment the human society teaches one to
love his country or family or his personal self, but there is no
information where to repose the loving propensity so that everyone
can become happy. That missing point is Krishna and The
Nectar of Devotion
teaches us how to stimulate our original love for Krishna
and
how to be situated in that position where we can enjoy our blissful
life.
“In
the primary stage a child loves his parents, then his brothers and
sisters, and as he daily grows up he begins to love his family,
society, community, country, nation, or even the whole human society.
But the loving propensity is not satisfied even by loving all human
society; that loving propensity remains imperfectly fulfilled until
we know who is the supreme beloved. Our love can be fully satisfied
only when it is reposed in Krishna.”
Later
another student was looking at the books, and I showed her that book
and pointed to the same section of the book that the other girl had
liked, and asked her to read it. She was attracted by Prabhupada’s
description and took the book. I asked her for a donation, which I do
not really like doing, but which Trevor was accustomed to doing, so I
did it anyway, and she gave twenty dollars for a small book that
people usually give a dollar for.
Trevor
spent thirteen hours over the three days on the FSU campus, and he
would invite people to our Tuesday Bhagavad-gita
class
and a special three-hour kirtana
on
Wednesday. As at Tampa, many students said they would come, but
unlike Tampa, none of them did. I wondered why, and upon reflection,
decided that because the Tampa program was on the campus itself, just
behind the library, it was at a nearby and familiar place. Although
our center in Tallahassee is just two and a half blocks from the
campus, it was unknown and just a little inconvenient, and so none
was willing to take the risk to come there. At Krishna House, I think
we can learn a lesson from this. To reach more students we have to do
some programs on the campus itself. Even though Krishna House is just
three blocks from the University of Florida campus, we probably lose
a few people by the little bit of distance and unfamiliarity.
We
went to Garuda Prabhu’s yoga studio. Turns out that night he was
just painting instead of doing his yoga program, but he engaged us in
telling the story of Nrisimhadeva to his students while they painted,
and Trevor had interesting conversations with students, encouraging
one to get a Bhagavad-gita,
as
well as distributing more peanut butter cookies. I found a couple
people interested in Daru’s cooking classes.
Thursday
we went to Jacksonville where we chanted at the University of North
Florida. We did not have the variety of books or a book table, so it
was not as conducive for Trevor’s style of preaching. Still some
students chanted with us briefly, and I got to introduce Amrita Keli
Devi Dasi, who is organizing our outreach there, to a math professor
friend who loves Krishna food from her graduate days at University of
California at San Diego, where Bhakta Kevin would regularly
distribute prasadam.
There
was a lot of dancing at our UNF Krishna Club program this time, and
some of students were really enchanted by it. Tulasirani and Alex,
who came from Krishna House for the program, took Trevor and I back
to Gainesville, thus ending our harinama
excursion
to Tallahassee and Jacksonville.
Holi,
or the Festival of Colors, is becoming more popular within ISKCON and
within human society. This year I heard of holi
festivals
at University of Florida in Gainesville and University of North Florida in
Jacksonville, in addition to the first ever holi
festival
in Alachua.
In
ISKCON, Caru Prabhu who has a temple in Utah, has a holi
festival
which attracts thousands of people to his temple there, many of the
them local Mormons. In fact, one Mormon music major became so
enchanted by Hare Krishna kirtana
from
that festival, she went on do her Ph.D. dissertation on Kirtana
at
Hare Krishna Festivals, and is planning to write a book on kirtana
using
the extra material she collected.
The
Krishna House devotees catered a spaghetti lunch for the Indian
students’ holi
festival
at University of Florida. And we chanted there as well.
Later
we moved up to the stage and thirty or forty people danced with us
for a while. I missed that part because I was talking to a student
who became attracted to our initial chanting and wanted to know more.
At
ISKCON Alachua, the holi
festival
was celebrated for the first time. Three devotee bands played on a
stage near where the colors were thrown, Srikalogy, The Mayapuris,
and TK and the Namrock Band. Many, many people participated, and the
prasadam
for
lunch was wonderful. Devotees who work at Krishna Lunch noticed that
many university students came and enjoyed the fun, and got more
Krishna music, food, and association than usual, a cause for
happiness. Both initiated devotees and students came from Tampa,
Tallahassee, and Jacksonville for the event.
I
wore a dhoti
and
kurta
with
holes that I was planning to throw out in case the dye did not come
out.
Trevor,
having recently traveled from India, had no old clothes and was
worried about what to wear. He found a purple sari
in
the free clothes bin and ripped it in half to make a top and bottom
piece. People who did not know him or the story behind his outfit
wondered about his appearance, perhaps thinking he always dressed in
such an eccentric fashion, but I just thought it was a little
humorous.
With
all the harinamas,
the
chanting in the temple, the outreach programs, and the classes, I
felt I got to know and love the devotees at Krishna House more than
usual during the three or four months I spent there. It was awesome
for me to see a lot of young people with wonderful devotional
qualities like such as appreciation of kirtana,
appreciation
of spiritually advanced personalities, enthusiasm to serve others,
delight in cooking for Krishna and his devotees, and enthusiasm to
share Krishna with others. I hope they are able to maintain and
expand these assets throughout their glorious lives of service to
Krishna and humanity. The leaders of the project were also exemplary
in steadiness and concern for others, and truly inspirational. I felt
happy to be involved with the project, and I look forward to
returning in October for another three months. We are indebted to
Kalakantha Prabhu for heading up the project, and devotees, like
Hanan and Ballaba and Caitanya, who are very dedicated, spending
years with it. Tulasirani devi dasi did a good job arranging classes
and special events this year. Especially memorable was Gasparilla
harinama,
the 12-hour kirtana,
and
the First Fridays harinama
in
Tallahassee, and also the Ocala Rainbow Gathering harinama,
which
Caitanya organized.
When
I leave each year, I know some of the people I will never see again,
and thus I feel a little sad. It calls to mind a quote I read in
Krishna
book,
Chapter 82, just last night where Krishna consoles his gopi
friends,
“Our
separation was ordained by Providence, who after all is the supreme
controller and does as He desires. He causes the intermingling of
different persons, and again disperses them as He desires. Sometimes
we see that due to the presence of clouds and strong wind, atomic
particles of dust and broken pieces of cotton are intermingled
together, and after the strong wind subsides, all the particles of
dust and cotton are again separated, scattered in different places.
Similarly, the Supreme Lord is the creator of everything. The objects
which we see are different manifestations of His energy. By His
supreme will we are sometimes united and sometimes separated. We can
therefore conclude that ultimately we are absolutely dependent on His
will.”.
I
want to thank Srikar Prabhu of Gainesville, who in addition to
inviting me to a delicious lunch of doshas
and
coconut chutney, kindly bought me a camera so I can provide more
illustrations in future editions of this journal.
Insights
Srila
Prabhupada:
from
Sri
Caitanya-caritamrita,
Adi 16.8, purport:
“Although
Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His devotees in disciplic succession
can defeat all kinds of learned scholars, scientists and philosophers
in arguments, thus establishing the supremacy of the Personality of
Godhead, their main business as preachers is to introduce sankirtana
everywhere. Simply to defeat scholars and philosophers is not the
occupation of a preacher. Preachers must simultaneously introduce the
sankirtana
movement,
for that is the mission of the Caitanya cult.”
from
Sri
Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi
Chapter 17 summary:
“The
attitude of Srimati Radharani is considered the superexcellent
devotional mentality.”
from
Sri
Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi
17.1:
“Let
me offer my respectful obeisances to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, by
whose mercy even unclean yavanas
become perfectly well bred gentlemen by chanting the holy name of the
Lord. Such is the power of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.”
from Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi 17.1, purport:
“Even
in the United States, when our devotees chant on the street, American
ladies and gentlemen inquire from them whether they are actually
Americans because no one could expect Americans to become such nice
devotees all of a sudden. Even Christian priests are greatly
surprised that all these boys from Jewish and Christian families have
joined this Krishna consciousness movement; before joining, they
never regarded any principles of religion seriously, but now they
have become sincere devotees of the Lord. Everywhere people express
this astonishment, and we take great pride in the transcendental
behavior of our students. Such wonders are possible, however, only by
the mercy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. They are not ordinary or
mundane.”
from
The
Nectar of Devotion, Chapter
42:
“That
is the way of rendering transcendental
loving service to the Lord; when devotees are put into great
difficulties—even like the Pandavas, as described above—they feel
all their miserable conditions to be great facilities for serving the
Lord.”
from Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi 17.28, purport:
“This
practice of forbearance (taror
iva sahisnuna)
is very difficult, but when
one actually engages in chanting the Hare Krishna mantra,
the
quality of forbearance automatically develops. A person advanced in
spiritual consciousness through the chanting of the Hare Krishna
mantra
need
not practice to develop it separately, for a devotee develops all
good qualities simply by chanting the Hare Krishna mantra
regularly.”
from Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi 17.29:
“Thus
a Vaishnava should not ask anything from anyone else. If someone
gives him something without being asked, he should accept it, but if
nothing comes, a Vaishnava should be satisfied to eat whatever
vegetables and fruits are easily available.”
from
Srimad-Bhagavatam
4.26.21,
purport:
“If
one accepts punishment as a reward dealt by the master, he becomes
intelligent enough not to commit the same mistake again.”
from
The
Nectar of Devotion, Chapter
46:
“The
activities of a person, even if they are not very
extraordinary, create an impression of wonder in the heart and mind
of the person’s friends. But even very wonderful activities
performed by a person who is not one’s friend will not create any
impression. It is because of love that one’s wonderful activities
create an impression in the mind.”
Satsvarupa
Dasa Goswami:
from
Calling
Out to Srila Prabhupada:
“O
Prabhupada, who dressed always in saffron, who wrote affectionate
letters to his disciples signed ‘Your ever well-wisher,’ who
wrote to his leaders, ‘Never be a moment without thinking how to
improve ISKCON,’ who encouraged each department of workers without
discouraging another, who gave all of his life’s energy for
spreading Krishna consciousness, who was empowered with success never
achieved by previous acaryas,
and who opened the door for the entire world to appreciate Gaudiya
Vaisnavism as the eternal teachings of topmost love of God, we pray
to always retain utmost respect for you and your teachings.”
Kalakantha
Prabhu:
Although
it appears odd that the devotee Akrura was employed by the demoniac
King Kamsa, Akrura’s devotion to Kamsa ended when he left the
palace.
Q
(by Vaishnava das): Krishna is more famous as son of Yasoda than the
son of Devaki, but he spent ten times more time outside of
Vrindavana. Why?
A:
Yasoda has a higher rasa
of spontaneous love. Also it is considered that the feeling love
separation is actually higher.
Mucukunda
did not want the demigods to bother him to fight once again on their
behalf thus he asked for the boon of burning to ashes whoever
awakened him.
Neophyte
devotees go up and down in their spiritual lives. When they associate
with their devotional friends they become inspired spiritually, and
when they associate with their materialistic friends they neglect
their spiritual life.
comment
by Bhakta Mike:
Although
Krishna took pleasure in fighting Canura, because Canura was not
trying to please Him but to kill Him, it is not counted as devotional
service.
comment
by Arjuna Prabhu:
The
pastime of Vidura enlightening Dhrtarastra shows we should not become
so attached to our dependents that we forget what is right and what
is wrong.
comment
by Rupacandra Prabhu:
It
is interesting that although Dhrstarastra had the association of
Narada, Vidura, and so many pure devotees, still he was not able to
assimilate their instructions. That reminds me of the verse by
Prahlada Maharaja, matir
na krishne paratah svato va, mitho ’bhipadyeta griha-vratanam,
adanta-gobhir visatam tamisram, punah punas carvita-carvananam.
“Because
of their uncontrolled senses, persons too addicted to materialistic
life make progress toward hellish conditions and repeatedly chew that
which has already been chewed. Their inclinations toward Krishna are never aroused, either by the instructions of others, by their own
efforts, or by a combination of both.”
(Srimad-Bhagavatam
7.5.30)
comment
by Bhakta Paul:
Although
some people were mystified, Krishna released Jarasandha after
Balarama fought and bound him because He had a deeper plan.
comment
by Dorian:
It
seems to me Krishna had a sportive childlike mood, “Let’s make a
fort and protect our friends. Then we can conquer the enemy.”
It
is wonderful to see how the demigods are interacting with Krishna,
showering flowers on Him when he is victorious in battle.
comments
by students:
Visvanatha
Cakravati Thakura describes that the demons get to see Krishna, but
they do not see His sweetness. He also mentions that Akrura’s
prayers reveal the consciousness a visitor of Vrndavana should have.
It
is described that the day Akrura arrived at Vrndavana was Ekadasi and
he was fasting, but when Balarama offered him a feast he eagerly
accepted it.
The
washer man who refused to give Kamsa’s clothes to Krishna and
criticized Him instead is the same soul who criticized Rama for
accepting Sita after she had lived in Ravana’s kingdom.
comments
by Hladini:
When
Balarama went to Vrndavana alone, Krishna stayed in Dvaraka because
of compassion for its residents. He was worried that if he went to
Vrndavana because of His great love for each residents there and
they’re love for Him, He would not be able to return to Dvaraka.
Krishna
did not abandon the game he was playing when heard of the blazing
demon attacking Dvaraka, but merely sent his disc weapon to do the
needful.
Dvivida
was previously an associate of Lord Rama who made an offense and as a
result was condemned to have the bad association of Narakasura and
thus became demonic.
comment
by Tulasirani dd: It is said Balarama has a complexion the color
freshly churned yogurt.
Laksmimani
Devi:
If
you go to the campus and tell people we follow these four regulative
principles and what they are [no illicit sex, no intoxication, no
meat eating, and no gambling], the students will not say, “How
wonderful! You guys are so free!” Yet Srila Prabhupada called them
the regulative principles of freedom.
We
do not feel “I cannot eat meat” or “I cannot engage in
intoxication.” Thus we can see we have made some advancement.
Sometimes
we move forward in our spiritual life, sometimes we move backward,
sometimes we stay the same. In time, we advance and become fixed.
We
cannot always
understand a person’s advancement by their external situation.
We
know we are not our body, until they serve something for breakfast
that we don’t like and then we moan and groan.
When
we are building a bridge we have to make sure it goes all the way
across the water. We can use the Holi festival to bring people to
Krishna, but we have to make sure we do not use it to increase our
sense gratification.
Srila
Prabhupada had so much faith in the holy name and prasadam.
He
felt it would purify us, and it did.
Sesa
Prabhu:
The
best thing in this life is to prepare for our next life.
We
do not always understand the great fortune we have in this human form
of life.
Khatvanga
Maharaja thought although he had but a moment, it would be best used
in achieving spiritual perfection.
“Happily
ever after” exists in the spiritual world but does not exist in
this world.
Rohini
Kumara Prabhu:
They
say the Hope diamond was from King Yudhisthira’s scepter.
Krishna-kripa
das:
I
saw a girl on the campus wearing a T-shirt with the slogan, “One
life. Many loves.” I was thinking that for us it is “Many lives.
One love.” Lord Caitanya prays to Krishna in that way in His
Siksastaka,
Verse 4, “All I want is your devotional service birth after birth.”
Tulasirani
devi dasi:
One
jasmine tree at Srivasa Thakura’s house supplied all the flowers
the devotees of Lord Caitanya needed for their Deity worship.
After
Lord Caitanya came back from Gaya experiencing symptoms of the
highest love of Godhead, He glorified Gadadhara Pandita’s lifelong
devotion to Krishna while considering He Himself only recently saw
Krishna once, but then He disappeared.
In
His ecstasy when asked about verbal roots, Lord Caitanya explained
elaborately that Krishna is the root of everything.
Lord
Caitanya in His ecstasy could not think of anything without its
relationship with Krishna. We, however, tend to see maya
everywhere
[instead of seeing Krishna everywhere].
Dina
Bandhu Prabhu:
Because
we are all part of Krishna we should be able find some common
experience with everyone we meet.
People
will be attracted just by prasadam,
the
maha-mantra
and
relationships with devotees.
comment
by Tulasirani dd: When serving the devotees of the Deity I sometimes
experience some satisfaction just acting in the position of serving
them, and it is like that the Lord as paramatma
is
encouraging me to act in my original spiritual situation.
comment
by Laura: Just being away from the devotees for two or three days, I
find it harder to chant.
Hanan:
There
is a story that a young man had a guru who told him to meditate an
hour a day. He enthusiastically did that for some time but later life
became more complicated, so he told his guru of the difficulty in
doing his hour of meditation. The guru listened sympathetically and
then advised him to meditate two hours a day.
Yamunacarya
was originally born as Yamuna in brahmana
family
and studied in the gurukula.
Once
the king’s representative came to fine his guru because he was
defeated previously by the king’s digvijaya
pandita, Koladhar.
Yamuna
did not like to hear that his guru had to pay a fine. So he
challenged that Koladhar was not actually learned, because his king
who he represented was so proud, he must be proud, and pride is a
symptom of ignorance. The king was upset about this. Thus it was
arranged that Yamuna would debate Koladhar and prove that he was
actually ignorant. Yamuna insisted he be personally transported to
the capital for the debate, which upset the king even more. The king
asked Koladhar to prove false three statements:
- My mother is not barren.
- The king is most pious and compassionate.
- The queen is most chaste.
Koladhar
was stumped, and Yamuna solved the riddle.
1.
Manu-samhita
says a women with just one child is barren.
2.
The king takes on the one-sixth of the sinful reactions of his
subjects so how can he be pious?
3.
The king is described in the scripture to be identical to seven
important personalities and thus the queen was in relationships with
seven people at once, and could thus be called unchaste.
Thus
Koladhar was defeated, and Yamuna won half the kingdom.
Trevor:
from
comments after a class:
I
tried chanting “Coca-Cola” for about ten minutes the other day.
In the beginning it was alright but after five minutes it got worse,
and by ten minutes it was unbearable. Yet in Vrndavana I was chanting
Hare Krishna nine hours a day.
-----
anasaktasya
visayan
yatharham
upayunjatah
nirbandhah krishna-sambandhe
nirbandhah krishna-sambandhe
yuktam
vairagyam ucyate
“When
one is not attached to anything, but at the same time accepts
everything in relation to Krishna, one is rightly situated above
possessiveness.” (Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu
2.255)