Diary
of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 9, No. 10
By Krishna-kripa das
(May 2013, part two)
By Krishna-kripa das
(May 2013, part two)
Ireland,
The North of England, London
(Sent from Newcastle upon Tyne on June 25, 2013)
(Sent from Newcastle upon Tyne on June 25, 2013)
Where
I Went and What I Did
Ananta
Nitai Prabhu and I did our usual program in Dublin of a twelve-hour
harinama
on
Saturday and a twelve-hour kirtana
in
the temple on Monday. I also participated in the kirtana
following
the Sunday feast, new since my last year’s visit there, which
lasted an hour and forty minutes, and the two-hour Tuesday kirtana
program.
Then I returned to Newcastle for their Wednesday kirtana
program,
Nrsimha Caturdasi harinama,
and
the Sunday feast. Every day in Newcastle I went on harinama,
almost
always for three-hours. On the final day, I went to Sunderland with
Satya Medha Gouranga and his kid, Bhana, and we chanted there for
almost two hours, and I share his account of that. Then I went to
Sheffield for a well-attended nama-hatta
program
that is getting new attendees and a two-hour birthday kirtana
program
in Preston.
Then
I went to London to take my sister to Govinda’s Restaurant during
her brief stopover from New York to South Africa.
I share many quotes from writings of Srila Prabhupada and some excerpts from the unpublished second volume of The Story of My Life, the autobiography of Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami.
I share many quotes from writings of Srila Prabhupada and some excerpts from the unpublished second volume of The Story of My Life, the autobiography of Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami.
Our
Third Twelve-Hour Harinama
in Dublin
On
Saturday, May 18, we chanted Hare Krishna on the streets of Dublin
from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. In the beginning it was just the
organizers, Ananta Nitai Prabhu and myself, and we did a walking
harinama
around
the city for the first two or three hours. Then others joined us, and
we chanted on the sidewalk by the intersection of Middle Abbey Street
and O’Connell Street, less than half a block from the temple. The
weather was good for Ireland, not too cold, windy, or rainy.
The
brightest side of this twelve-hour harinama
was
the participation of Premarnava Prabhu, which dramatically increased
since last year from five to nine hours. At one point, he chanted for
four and a half hours straight! He is playing harmonium in the
picture below accompanied by Ananta Nitai Prabhu on the drum.
Some
onlookers enjoyed interacting with the devotees in different ways.
There
are always unusual things that happen on harinama.
One
lady, who regularly comes to the temple, helped by playing the
karatalas,
while carrying her pet dog in a knapsack on her back the whole time.
Two
guys with horse heads who passed by us four times, dancing every
time. Somehow I never got my camera out in time to photograph them.
An
orange tiger danced with us, clapping his hands as well, and one
brahmacari
suggested
we have a tiger with us as a regular feature to attract attention to
the chanting!
Speaking
of tigers, Tyger Lillie, who is from Gainesville but studying in
Dublin for Summer A, recognized me from Krishna Lunch and Krishna
House. I told her about our Sunday feast program and three Govinda's
restaurants in Dublin and gave her a maha-prasadam
cookie from Radha-Madhava in Belfast, and she was very happy about
that. I hope she can take advantage of our opportunities for
connecting with Krishna in Dublin.
Because
of the cold and wind, because I had taken small meals for breakfast
and lunch, and because I was tired from standing up for so many
hours, during the last hour of the twelve-hour harinama
I
found myself looking at the clock every five minutes. I realized I
had do to something about this ridiculous situation. I decided to
control my mind with my intelligence, and just focus on two things,
chanting Hare Krishna and hearing Hare Krishna. Then the time sped
by.
Except
for the twelve-hour kirtan
day,
we did harinama
every
day in Dublin. Again,
as had happened during our twelve-hour harinama,
others, sometimes wearing costumes, would briefly join the harinama
party in a jolly mood!
Photo
(c) 2013 David Gray, another friendly soul in Ireland, who kindly
emailed his wonderful photograph to me at my request.
Twelve-Hour
Kirtan in the Dublin Temple
Monday,
two days after our twelve-hour harinama,
we
had a twelve-hour kirtan
at
the temple, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. The most striking thing for me
was the interest of people who were newly introduced to Krishna
consciousness. One Iranian man, who had been coming to the temple
programs for at most a week, having received a book by Golukendra
Prabhu on the streets, amazed me by participating for over ten hours
in our kirtana
event.
A
girl from Brazil, who had only been coming for two weeks, spent five
hours in the kirtana,
blissfully
listening to the transcendental sound vibration. A couple young
ladies from the yoga scene, spend several hours in the kirtana.
Premarnava
told me they had come to a twelve-hour kirtan
the
Dublin devotees did on Christmas,
and
just a week before this once in May, they had asked him if there was
going to be another one, and so they learned of it and came.
One
devotee youth danced with child of an Indian lady during the
transcendental music. Both of them, and the child’s mother as well,
were present for several hours of the kirtana.
One
girl from Slovakia, who spent a lot of time in the twelve-hour
kirtana,
came
out on harinama
for
the first time the next day and distributed invitations. On the
harinama
she
talked to someone who appeared to really like the chanting, and the
girl told how she had danced with us on Saturday, during our
twelve-hour harinama.
We
took turns leading the chanting during the day.
Nanda Kumar Prabhu and his wife sing sweet kirtan.
Manu
Prabhu played the accordion at the end, getting lots of people
dancing.
I was pleased to see the great interest in the twelve-hour kirtana
event,
and the Dublin devotees, also inspired by the participation, spoke of
planning another one for the next Ekadasi.
Nrsimha
Caturdasi Harinama in Newcastle
Despite
temperatures in the forties (below 10 C), with 29 mph (47 kph) winds
from the northeast and intermittent rain, a party of seven devotees
chanted in downtown Newcastle upon Tyne, for three hours to celebrate
Nrsimha Caturdasi. Although daily public congregational chanting was
demonstrated in the life of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, often we do not
make it part of our celebration of our festivals, although I
personally think it adds a lot. Once thing it does is engage the
public in the celebration of the holy day, even unknowingly, to their
great spiritual credit. Also the chanting seems to have a more
powerful effect on the holy days. Thus I was very happy that leading
devotees like Bhakta Rasa and his wife, Kirtida, were supportive of
the idea of celebrating Lord Nrsimha’s appearance with three hours
of harinama.
Kirtida
dd, in the pink sari, led a fired up kirtana,
dancing as she played the harmonium. The two young women with her
must have danced with us for half an hour, continuing even after it
started to rain. They appeared to be so happy dancing with the Hare
Krishnas, like it was the most fun they had in a long time.
Originally those two girls and two more friends were sitting on a
bench and watching us. Then two of them gave donations, and I gave
them books and invitations, which they looked at. Then after some
time, they came to join the dancing.
Despite
the cruel climate, Bhanu, the child of Satya Medha Gauranga Prabhu,
who took the photos, was peaceful in his stroller (buggy) the whole
time except later when he moved his legs with the music so much one
shoe fell off.
On
the next Sunday feast, we talked about and also had a puppet show
about Lord Nrsimha. After the whole feast program, Diya and her
friends, were so fired up they had an extra kirtan in the gift
shop:
Sunderland
Harinama
Satya
Medha Gouranga Prabhu writes of our Sunderland harinama,
and in his account I include in square brackets additional details of
my own, “There
was a very sweet harinama
in Sunderland (or ‘Shyama-sunderland’ as His Holiness Janananda
Gosvami Maharaja calls this place!)
“There were lots of people on the street. An elderly gentleman came to give a donation [as we were walking to our harinama site], and then Krishna-kripa Prabhu approached him to give a book. He said with a smile: ‘For many, many years I have seen the Hare Krishna people on the street. It’s really nice to see you all again.’
“Later on a lady stopped by and mentioned about George Harrison. It’s really great to see how so many people appreciate the harinama.
“After a while a group of [four] teenagers [who had walked past previously] came and stood nearby. They were listening to harinama. Then they started swinging gently with the beautiful tune of maha-mantra and gradually started dancing. They kept on dancing and smiling. It looked so natural for them. Krishna-kripa Prabhu took out few leaflets of maha-mantra from his bag and gave them to the teenagers [pointing out to them the words to the song].
“There were lots of people on the street. An elderly gentleman came to give a donation [as we were walking to our harinama site], and then Krishna-kripa Prabhu approached him to give a book. He said with a smile: ‘For many, many years I have seen the Hare Krishna people on the street. It’s really nice to see you all again.’
“Later on a lady stopped by and mentioned about George Harrison. It’s really great to see how so many people appreciate the harinama.
“After a while a group of [four] teenagers [who had walked past previously] came and stood nearby. They were listening to harinama. Then they started swinging gently with the beautiful tune of maha-mantra and gradually started dancing. They kept on dancing and smiling. It looked so natural for them. Krishna-kripa Prabhu took out few leaflets of maha-mantra from his bag and gave them to the teenagers [pointing out to them the words to the song].
“Now each of them was holding the maha-mantra in her hand, and they started reading word for word and singing to it. Practically each of them was singing as they were reading out the maha-mantra.
“It was a wonderful scene—suddenly so many voices singing maha-mantra, the people on the street were amazed to see this.
“After the harinama Krishna-kripa Prabhu was preaching to the group of young people
and invited them to come to temple programs.
“As they were leaving they looked so bright, happy and blissful.”
One
of the group had taken a video of her friends singing and dancing
with us, and asked her to send me a link to the video, but as is
mostly the case, she did not. The young people joined in the kirtana
for
fifteen minutes, and because they had come just as we were going to
finish, we ended up staying out an extra fifteen minutes just because
of them!
Traveling
with the Scottish Brahmacaris
Raghunatha
Bhatta and Caitanya Vallabha Prabhu, in addition to distributing
Srila Prabhupada’s books in Scotland and The North of England, also
help organize and maintain the nama-hatta
programs
in the Manchester area. The end of this month, I joined them as a
lecturer and kirtana
leader
for their programs in Sheffield and Preston. It was nice to spend a
couple of days with a brahmacari
party
so focused on their spiritual program and their outreach. Three weeks
before, I had done the Sheffield program and it was austere to do the
public chanting alone. Thus I was so happy to be with three other
enthusiastic brahmacaris.
The
harinama
makes
more visible impact the more devotees you have. As you can see in
this video of our Sheffield harinama,
when you have a lively group, people are more inclined to join in:
Later
at the program in Sheffield, I was happy to see lots of guests, new
and old, and the prasadam
consisted
of a whole dinner, not just a snack.
In
Preston we participated in a special birthday program. Caitanya
Vallabha explained:
“Vidyagati
Devi Dasi invited all her friends and relatives to come for a
two-hour kirtana
at
her home
followed
by prasadam
for
her birthday. We find it is difficult to get people to come to our
nama-hatta
programs
but easy to get them to come to birthdays, anniversaries, etc. Last
year one devotee rented a hall for a celebration in honor of his
child’s first birthday, and we did kirtana,
a
drama, and prasadam.
It
was very successful. And so more and more we are taking advantage of
these kinds of events to spread awareness of Krishna consciousness to
those who would otherwise might never come to a Hare Krishna
program.”
Karen,
my sister, who works as a counselor and teaches mindfulness in
Albany, New York, had a ten-hour layover in London, flying from New
York to South Africa. So I went to London to take her to Govinda’s
Restaurant on Soho Street. She has been vegetarian for over forty
years, seven years longer than me. I also gave her some maha-prasadam
from
Radha-Londonisvara for her to share with her daughter Fern and Fern’s
boyfriend, Oliver, in South Africa. She got the large thali
at
Govinda’s and ate practically everything. Coincidentally at
Govinda’s, we met London temple president, Jai Nitai Prabhu, also
from America, and had a very nice visit with him. As my sister wanted
to visit a park to rejuvenate between flights, we went to Regents
Park, where Srila Prabhupada liked to take his morning walk and which
some London devotees told us he said was like Vaikuntha, the
spiritual world.
Seeing the beauty of the gardens, the waterfall, and the birds, you could get a clue why he might have said that.
Seeing the beauty of the gardens, the waterfall, and the birds, you could get a clue why he might have said that.
Later
on one web site, I read that Prabhupada disciple, Svati devi dasi
recalled:
“One
morning some of Srila Prabhupada’s students were walking with him
in London’s Regents Park. All kinds of flowers grew there, and I
was remembering that each day we offered lovely flowers like these to
the Krishna Deity back at the temple.
“Before
long I asked Srila Prabhupada, ‘When we offer flowers to Krishna,
do their spirit souls go back to the spiritual world?’
“Srila
Prabhupada remained silent awhile and then answered, ‘Yes. But
factually they are already
in
the kingdom of God.’ He stopped, waved his cane over the cranes,
ducks, people, and flowers in the park, and said, ‘They are all in
the kingdom of God.’
“Starting
to see from his point of view, I said, ‘Yes, Srila Prabhupada, but
they are not aware that they are in the kingdom of God.’
“He
replied, ‘That is the duty of a spiritual master to make them
aware.’” [Copied from web site:
http://backtogodhead.in/some-personal-recollections-by-his-disciples/]
One
of Karen’s favorite desserts is cheese cake and one of mine is
srikhand,
both
of which were mango flavored at Govinda’s that day, so after our
walking in the park, we got one of each and shared it.
And
off Karen went back to the airport, and I did harinama
with
a friend to King Cross, to do the evening lecture at Matchless Gifts
there. Then after the program, a group of four of us did harinama
back
to the temple, so although spending a few hours with my sister in the
afternoon, I was still able to participate in four harinamas,
though
one quite briefly, on that last day of May.
Insights
Srila
Prabhupada:
from
a lecture on Bhagavad-gita
2.21–22,
given in London, on August 26, 1973:
“Spiritual
service means every moment new. If you find it hackneyed, then you
must know that you are not serving spiritually. It is not formality
or stereotype. But if you feel newer and newer energy, then you know
that you are serving spiritually. The test is within our hand. If
during mangala-arati
we feel laziness, that means I’m not yet spiritually advanced; and
if one feels enthused, ‘Now it is time for mangala-arati,
let
me stand up!’ Then it is spiritual. Anyone can test.”
from
The
Nectar of Devotion, Chapter
2:
“The
recommendation of Rupa Gosvami for reviving our original Krishna
consciousness is that somehow or other we should apply our minds to
Krishna very seriously and thus also become fearless of death. After
death we do not know our destination, because we are completely under
the control of the laws of nature. Only Krishna, the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, is controller over the laws of nature.
Therefore, if we take shelter of Krishna seriously, there will be no
fear of being thrown back into the cycle of so many species of life.
A sincere devotee will surely be transferred to the abode of Krishna,
as affirmed in Bhagavad-gita.”
“Padma
Purana recommends
that one always fix his
mind on the form of Vishnu by meditation and not forget Him at any
moment. And this state of consciousness is called samadhi,
or
trance. We should always try to mold the activities of our lives in
such a way that we will constantly remember Vishnu, or Krishna. That
is Krishna
consciousness.”
“It
doesn’t matter whether
one is a beginner—a brahmacari—or
is very advanced—a sannyasi.
The
principle of remembering the Supreme Personality of Godhead
constantly and not forgetting Him at any moment is meant to be
followed by everyone without fail.”
“According
to Vedic injunctions,
when a brahmana
eats
it is to be understood that the Personality of Godhead is eating
through him. It is not, however, that the brahmana
should
simply eat on behalf of the Lord and not preach the message of
Bhagavad-gita
to
the world.
Actually,
one who preaches the message of the Gita
is very dear to Krishna, as is confirmed in the Gita
itself. Such a preacher is factually a brahmana,
and thus by feeding him one feeds the Supreme Lord directly.”
from
The
Nectar of Devotion, Chapter
3:
“Lord
Krishna
says in Srimad-Bhagavatam,
Eleventh
Canto, Twentieth Chapter, verse 8, ‘My dear Uddhava, only by
exceptional fortune does someone become attracted to Me. And even if
one is not completely detached from fruitive activities, or is not
completely attached to devotional service, such service is quickly
effective.’”
“Devotional
service and the happiness due to its execution are not possible as
long as one is materially affected. . . . anyone who has any desire
or aspiration for satisfying his senses by becoming more and more
important, either in the material sense or in the
spiritual
sense, cannot actually relish the really sweet taste of devotional
service. Srila Rupa Gosvami has therefore compared possessing these
bhukti
(material)
and mukti
(liberation)
desires with being influenced by the black art of a witch: in both
cases one is in trouble. Bhukti
means
material enjoyment, and mukti
means
to become freed
from
material anxiety and to become one with the Lord. These desires are
compared to being haunted by ghosts and witches, because while these
aspirations for material enjoyment or spiritual oneness with the
Supreme remain, no one can relish the actual transcendental taste of
devotional service.”
“The
attention of a pure devotee is so much attracted to glorification of
the Lord’s pastimes, name, qualities, forms, etc., that the devotee
does not care for mukti.
Sri
Bilvamangala Thakura has said, ‘If I am engaged in devotional
service unto You, my dear Lord, then very easily can I perceive Your
presence everywhere. And as far as liberation is concerned, I think
liberation stands at my door with folded hands, waiting to serve
me.’”
from
Srimad-Bhagavatam
4.28.42:
“King
Malayadhvaja could thus observe that the Supersoul was sitting by his
side, and that he, as the individual soul, was sitting by the side of
the Supersoul. Since both were together, there was no need for
separate interests; thus he ceased from such activities.”
from
Sri
Caitanya-caritamrita, Madhya 1.63,
purport:
“There
is no need to be unhappy over not being able to enter a certain
temple. Such dogmatic prohibitions were not approved by Lord Caitanya
Mahaprabhu.
Those who were thought unfit to enter the Jagannatha
temple
[Srila Haridasa Thakura, Srila Rupa Goswami, and Srila Sanatana
Goswami, who had previous intimate connections with Muslims] were
daily visited by
Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and this indicates
that Caitanya
Mahaprabhu
did not approve of the prohibitions.”
from the The
Story of My Life, Volume
2, to be published in December 2013:
I
wrote to Prabhupada that sometimes I like to wash the dishes. He
wrote back approving and said we should always be engaged in Krishna
consciousness, and Krishna will give us the intelligence what to do
at a particular time such as when to do the dishes.
Practicing
writing regularly calms the mind, not because you write about nice
things, but because your fears, anxieties, your troubled thoughts,
know they will have a place and time to express themselves.
Actually,
a premature understanding can hinder our progress and even delay us.
It has been said that if we think ourselves female servants in our
eternal form without becoming free from mundane bodily
identification, we could be forced to take a female body next time
around—in
the material world.
If
a headache comes, I’d like to see it not as a defeat but as a
purification, similar to extra chanting.
Got
desk lamp, scrounged memories, heard dogs bark, free wrote in sacred
land protected by amenities, prayed,
“Krishna
make me truthful—but
not too painfully.”
“Krishna-Balarama,
Radha-Syama, and Gaura-Nitai stand in transcendence. They are not
marble statues, although I am a statue before them, cold in heart and
cold in body.”
“Reading
Prabhupada’s books is like a medicine we constantly need to ingest,
but it goes beyond that. It’s a nourishing and tasty food. Why ever
stop? It’s a shame if we abandon such nourishing and become
disgusted with it and start to crave novelty for its own sake.
Prabhupada does say that
“Variety
is the mother of enjoyment,” but we can find it in his books.”
When
I first took LSD it was a little frightening, but it became glorious.
Now I can analyze and know it was a hallucination. But at the time I
felt my consciousness expanding, and I broke through the doors of my
perception. I could see the world in vivid detail and it seemed
beautiful. When I was first introduced to Krishna consciousness and
the experience of chanting, I was willing to try it partly because of
my broad mindedness resulting from LSD. I had to stop LSD to actually
practice Krishna consciousness, but it was an initial help. I took
LSD about fifty times, and some of my trips were negative and one
almost killed me. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.
I’m
thankful for the life of Krishna consciousness that Prabhupada has
given me. There was never a dull moment. It was filled with so many
adventures and challenges and duties. Rewarding moments spent in
association with the pure devotee and his disciples, the family of
Krishna conscious Vaisnavas. Vast affection for His Divine Grace. He
has given us japa,
kirtana,
his books, prasadam,
association of devotees. He had given us the heavy order to preach,
and we are thankful for that although we don’t measure up to it
fully. He has given us the great opportunity to snap the cycle of
birth and death. If we act on it we can make it relatively soon.
Thankful for him giving us the transcendental life. Talk about
yourself going through life with real purpose.
There
are different kinds of people, and they may or may not be receptive
to Krishna consciousness. Hippies who weren’t social activists and
who were just enjoying themselves and renouncing material success
would be more open to Krishna consciousness, but those who were
committed social activists would see us as not responding properly to
the ills of the world. For the hardcore activists that is their
religion, and it replaces Krishna consciousness.
Devotees
pray for permission before they do anything. I would like to enact
that on a personal level. Just be simple. Don’t try for big
endeavors. In whatever you do, try to do it for Krishna, and speak to
Him in your own words all the time. Say, “My dear Lord, I’m about
to eat now. Let it be in Your service.” If we do this, then we will
not let ourselves do something that obviously has no service
connection with Krishna. How can we ask Him personal permission if
it’s not something He likes?
The
psychiatrists are always advising us to relax and enjoy and achieve,
etc. Or they are telling us to do nothing. Space out. But they never
conceive that each and every act should be done to please Krishna and
that you can consult Him and ask His permission.
Notes
for today’s meeting with disciples: First I’ll mention that some
devotees said they would not attend these meetings because they hated
crowds and big social scenes. I can empathize with this feeling. I
also want to say that meeting like these are valid happenings. Sure
it’s a performance, but that in itself is not a bad thing.
Musicians also perform before audiences, but they actually make their
peak expressions at that time, even better than when they play alone.
I
also like to think of myself as avant-garde, writer, semi-retired,
detached sannyasi.
But I want to think of myself as making a contribution to ISKCON.
This is my offering and don’t push it off the altar.
from
a lecture:
Although
Arjuna was a married man and a military man, Krishna was inclined to
Him because he was a devotee and a friend of Krishna. That is the
actual qualification.
Tulasi
Priya Prabhu of Dublin:
We
do not want to imitate the great spiritual teachers, but we do want
to attain their realizations.
Ananta
Nitai Prabhu:
When
I first got Bhagavad-gita
I
could not understand it, but five years later, after I stopped eating
meat and drinking alcohol for economic reasons, I read it straight
through.
Due
to the materialistic contamination in this age of Kali, the brahmanas
[intellectual
class] look down on the ksatriyas
[administrative
class],
the ksatriyas
look
down on the vaishyas
[the
productive class], and the vaishyas
look
down on the sudras
[labor
class].
Although
it is not wise to offend saintly persons, saints are so kind often
those who offend them are ultimately benefited in ways they never
would have been otherwise.
The
more we do the congregational chanting, the more it will seem natural
to do it, and the more it will spread out to others.
from
a conversation:
Ireland
is just a rock in the middle of the Atlantic. What is all the
fighting about?
-----
ceto-darpana-marjanam
bhava-maha-davagni-nirvapanam
sreyah-kairava-candrika-vitaranam
vidya-vadhu-jivanam
anandambudhi-vardhanam
prati-padam purnamritasvadanam
sarvatma-snapanam
param vijayate sri-krishna-sankirtanam
“Let
there be all victory for the chanting of the holy name of Lord
Krishna, which can cleanse the mirror of the heart and stop the
miseries of the blazing fire of material existence. That chanting is
the waxing moon that spreads the white lotus of good fortune for all
living entities. It is the life and soul of all education. The
chanting of the holy name of Krishna expands the blissful ocean of
transcendental life. It gives a cooling effect to everyone and
enables one to taste full nectar at every step.” (Siksastaka
1,
quoted in Sri
Caitanya-caritamrita, Antya 20.12)