Diary
of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 9, No. 19
By Krishna-kripa das
(October 2013, part one)
By Krishna-kripa das
(October 2013, part one)
New
York City
(Sent from New York City on October 22, 2013)
(Sent from New York City on October 22, 2013)
Where
I Went and What I Did
Niranjana
Swami encouraged me to support Rama Raya Prabhu’s program of
chanting for hours each day in New York’s Union Square, and so I
decided to do it for two months this year, October and November.
Devotees chant on the southwest corner of Union Square, right in
front of the subway entrance, from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. every day, except
Saturday when they try to begin at 10 a.m. and continue to 10 p.m.!
On weekend evenings sometimes we would also have a walking chanting
party in Times Square beginning at 8:30 p.m. Once we visited Tompkins
Square Park. Also during the beginning of October, Karen, my sister,
visited New York City for four days for a seminar, and I arranged she
have three Krishna prasadam
lunches.
The
insights section includes quotes from my reading of Srila
Prabhupada’s books and hearing his lectures, from reading
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami’s blog, and from hearing a recorded lecture
by Niranjana Swami.
Harinama
in Union Square
When
I joined Rama Raya Prabhu’s harinama
party
in Union Square for a few days last April, the devotees would chant 4
hours a day and 6 hours on Saturday. Now they chant 6 hours a day and
12 hours on Saturday! That is an increase from 30 to 48 hours per
week!
When
we start at 2:00 p.m. we may have only 4 or 5 people chanting,
playing the instruments, or dancing, but by 6:00 p.m. or so, we often
have 20.
On three occasions over the last two weeks I counted over 27
people altogether.
Perhaps 6 or 7 people in our group do not do any other Hare Krishna
practice. They are local people who have just become attached to
regularly taking part in the sankirtana
in
Union Square by playing instruments, clapping, dancing, and/or
sometimes chanting.
Sometimes we attracted quite a crowd.
Sally, the eldest of
the regularly attending locals, is 78 years old and still works as a
clinical psychologist.
She comes out almost
every day and sits in a chair the party has provided for her.
She chants for an
hour or so, puts a donation in our box, and goes on her way. I met
her in November 2012 when I spent several days on the party. One of
those days she spontaneously exclaimed, “This is the best thing
that has happened in Union Square since I moved here over 40 years
ago!” During my visit this time she surprised me by coming out
twice in the same day. I asked her about it, and she said she likes
to come because the chanting has a good effect on her mind. She
explained that it has the unusual ability to make you feel both
relaxed and energized at the same time. She said when she comes to
Union Square to chant with us, if she had problems on her mind, when
she leaves, she cannot remember what the problems were. She was
thankful about that.
Our
chanting party sets up in Union Square directly across East 14th
Street from a shop with a sign “FOREVER 21.”
The shop reminded me
of a selection from Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita
As It Is, verse
4.6, purport, where he describes the transcendental nature of Lord
Krishna’s body:
“And
although His body does not deteriorate like a material body, it still
appears that Lord Krishna grows from childhood to boyhood and from
boyhood to youth. But astonishingly enough He never ages beyond
youth. At the time of the Battle of Kurukṣetra, He had many
grandchildren at home; or, in other words, He had sufficiently aged
by material calculations. Still He looked just like a young man
twenty or twenty-five years old. We never see a picture of Krishna in
old age because He never grows old like us, although He is the oldest
person in the whole creation — past, present, and future.”
In the spiritual world, which anyone can attain by pure chanting of the holy name of the Lord, all the residents have transcendental bodies like Krishna’s which are not subjected to aging, and it was wonderful to be reminded of that truth by seeing the shop sign.
In the spiritual world, which anyone can attain by pure chanting of the holy name of the Lord, all the residents have transcendental bodies like Krishna’s which are not subjected to aging, and it was wonderful to be reminded of that truth by seeing the shop sign.
I
was discussing about “Forever 21” with our party leader Rama Raya
Prabhu, in the presence of my sister, Karen, who was visiting. Having
come on one harinama
with
me briefly in London in May during a stopover on her flight to South
Africa, Karen pointed out that the Hare Krishnas also chant outside
young adult clothing shops in the UK, a humorous similarity that I
would have never noticed!
Our
chanting set up includes an altar facing the singers for inspiration.
We
have no dress code. Some devotees dress in dhotis
and
saris. Some were casual clothes. Some coming from or going to work,
wear more formal Western clothes.
We
bring lots of extra instruments for both the devotees and the
onlookers to play.
Children
especially like to play instruments.
Sometimes
the parents get into it too.
Also the children would sometimes dance.
And adults would clap.
Guys often like to play the djembe, the one-headed African drum.
And adults would clap.
Guys often like to play the djembe, the one-headed African drum.
One
guy plays that drum, while his daughter plays the shakers.
Some
people bring their own instruments.
One man likes to drum with drum sticks on an inverted bucket.
One man likes to drum with drum sticks on an inverted bucket.
Some
people both play the instruments and dance.
One
guy enjoyed dancing with us.
And
then sat down to chant with us.
Srila Prabhupada’s
books can attract even kids.
Often
Lila Padma dd would make great cookies which Candra Mohini dd would
distribute.
Sometimes
locals would sweep before the party.
One
danced and swept at the same time!
A
local artist occasionally comes by
and makes a drawing of our party.
and makes a drawing of our party.
One
evening on the Union Square harinama
I had a wonderful experience. One couple stood watching us for over
an hour, smiling, singing, clapping, dancing, and ultimately playing
the shakers. The lady came up to me and asked if I was in Rishikesh
in March of 2012. I had been there assisting Navina Nirada Prabhu
with “The Bhakti Experience,” a two-week program of gathering
each noon with lots of chanting, a little talk about bhakti
(the
yoga of devotion), and spiritualized vegetarian food. She
said that time in Rishikesh was the second time she met the Hare
Krishnas, but the nearly two hours of chanting made it especially
profound. She showed me the chanting beads she bought from us then
and said she chants on them every day. She has been to our temple in
her home country of Kazakhstan and has met B. B. Govinda Swami, our
leader there. She told me she has a 15-year-old son and wanted to
know of an ashram in the west where he could spend the summer doing
harinama
every day. I told her about Rama Raya Prabhu and the program in New York City,
and I will tell her about the programs with regular harinamas
in Soho, Bhaktivedanta
Manor, and Ann Arbor, as well.
The next day she came back to Union
Square to talk with Rama Raya and stayed to chant for a few minutes
before her flight home, playing the personal set of karatalas
she
was traveling with. We
always wonder about the effect of our outreach programs, especially
when we and those attending them are from different countries and may
never meet again, and so it was very inspiring for me to hear her
story.
Another
day at Union Square, an older man who was photographing the harinama
party told me that he used to sing with the Hare Krishnas and the
Swami in Tompkins Square Park. He said later he did a photo article
on Prabhupada’s Palace for Life
magazine.
Sara
was wandering around New York City in a depressed state of mind,
until she encountered the Harinama
NYC
chanting
party in Union Square, and then her fortune changed. She was amazed
to see so many happy people. She listened for several minutes, got a
pamphlet “On Chanting Hare Krishna,” talked for quite a while
with Rama
Raya Prabhu
and a another devotee, who liberally gave her a Gita
although she did not have the money. She was very grateful.
She told
me her birthday was coming up on Wednesday, and she did not have any
friends in New York City to celebrate it with. I invited her to
celebrate it with us as we would be singing here at Union Square from
2 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, and I said I would try to bring her a
special sweet. She liked the idea and said she would come. Satya dd,
wife of Ramabhadra Prabhu, temple president in Brooklyn, kindly
donated a Hare Krishna T-shirt and a couple cupcakes as a gift, and I
obtained some Radha-Govinda maha-sweets,
but unfortunately Sara did not remember her plan to return to see the
devotees at Union Square on her birthday. We keep the T-shirt with
us, for her next appearance.
Michael
Collins from Gainesville is one of my favorite singers.
He played in
a band and is really talented, and he just puts a lot of energy into
the kirtana.
He
chooses lively tunes that are easy to sing, and the passersby are
often attracted as you can see in these video clips
(http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGerEnGdI0xLr23RqjCzrPXxcGe18SbR8):
A
couple groups of friends all decided to dance with us, and Candra
Mohini dd was their leader with Phalguni Radhika dd helping out
later. You can see how happy they were.
Here is some video of it (http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGerEnGdI0xKmoh9hN8UzWNXBHmFnkT97):
Here is some video of it (http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGerEnGdI0xKmoh9hN8UzWNXBHmFnkT97):
Did
you ever see a man with angel wings
dancing on harinama?
How about a guy in purple underwear?
What
about a girl playing kalatalas
and eating an ice cream cone?
How
about seeing all this in the same day?
That is Union Square!
When
Rama Raya Prabhu was leading the chanting, the man with angel wings
danced with the guy in purple underwear as you can see in this video (http://youtu.be/6vcoVRR2ltM):
One
day when I was singing, Candra Mohini dd invited two girls to sit on
the blanket next to her. She taught them to chant which they did for
twenty minutes, and then they began to dance. After I finished I
thanked them for dancing, and asked them about their experience with
Hare Krishna. They said they had seen the chanting in Union Square
many times but had never stopped before. That was the first time.
They mentioned they were now thinking of going to the Sunday program
at the Bhakti Center. They asked if there was early morning chanting
in the park. I told them the Bhakti Center does chanting indoors at
6:30 a.m. The only outdoor morning chanting I know of is in
Jacksonville Beach, Florida, near the pier at 7:00 a.m. on Sundays.
They seemed very happy that they stopped and chanted and danced with
the Hare Krishnas and got pamphlets and invitations, and I hope they
come by again.
Two
girls who are in a masters program in media studies had to record
sound for a course project. One of the girls was born in Kolkata and
attended our largest temple in Delhi, while getting her undergraduate
degree there. As she regularly passed by the Union Square harinama,
her school being nearby, there was no doubt about what sound she was
going to record for her course! In addition to recording ten minutes
of chanting with professional equipment, she and her American-looking
friend got prasadam
cookies,
and her friend got the pamphlet “On Chanting Hare Krishna.”
Dustin,
a new devotee from Canada, who comes twice a year to New York City to
work with the Metropolitan Opera, joined us one day on the Union
Square harinama.
Although
Dustin prefers to listen, considering kirtana
to
be another style of singing than his own, Rama Raya appreciating his
booming, resonant voice, engaged him in leading a Hare Krishna tune,
which turned out to be my favorite and I had a great time dancing to
it. Many people were attracted to listen to his nice singing.
One
girl in purple tights who came by, showing a little interest,
explained that her dog was named Krishna.
One
morning in our Brooklyn temple, I was surprised to encounter
Citraratha dd, a Prabhupada disciple from Geneva, who I had once
chanted Hare Krishna with on the Paris metro a few years ago. She is
vacationing in New York City, desiring more association with Hare
Krishna devotees than she gets in Geneva, where we do not have a
temple. I told her about the Union Square harinama
party,
and she came out that very day. She sang the response and talked to
people who appreciated the chanting. One lady she spoke with came
from a Muslin background and then married a Christian man. As as
result, neither had a spiritual practice for many years, and now they
are on a spiritual search. Citraratha, after talking with the lady
for several minutes, invited her to a Hare Krishna program in the
local area and is hopeful that they will come.
Amazing
enough, in the first half of October, we had only one rainy day. Then
we chanted in a crowded, but very loud area of the Union Square
subway station, just above the downtown 4, 5, and 6 trains.
I
share below some more video clips showing the chanting and dancing at
Union Square
(http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGerEnGdI0xJ4mQKXgH5CZY9jA1DK69JU):
To
see the rest of the pictures I took, but which I did not use to
illustrate this journal, most of which are of harinama
at
Union Square, go to this link:
https://picasaweb.google.com/103872792410945983719/TravelJournal919?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCIfkyMW7ot7y-gE&feat=directlink
Chanting
in Times Square
Times
Square is so crowded in the evenings it is a great place to share the
chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra with people. Sunanda Prabhu, and
his party from our Krishna Balarama temple in Queens, would join
devotees from the Union Square harinama
party,
and chant from 8:30 p.m. onward.
Sometimes
we would chant on the subway to Times Square.
Once
Yadubara Prabhu, who produced the Following
Prabhupada DVD
series, as well as many other video and photographic Hare Krishna
projects, came and sang with us at Times Square.
Some
young people very much enjoyed clapping, dancing, and playing instruments with
us.
Here
is a short video clip of it (http://youtu.be/8g1MpbeS7k8):
Once
in Times Square, one man exclaimed as the harinama
party passed, “I thought they were extinct!”
Tompkins
Square Park
Deva
Madhava Prabhu, who comes from Michigan one week a month to chant in
Union Square, describes an amazing experience he had at Tompkins
Square Park, also in New York City, where Srila Prabhupada began
outdoor chanting with his disciples back in 1966:
“These
children are standing around ‘the Hare Krishna Tree’ in Tompkins
Square Park in New York City, famous as the place Swami Prabhupada
began singing Hare Krishna. Their teacher Deborah asked me, ‘Is
their a spirit in this tree?’ While I assured her all tree’s have
souls, I did let her known about the saint who had began his
teachings their over 40 years before. Deborah has for the last 11
years been bringing her classes to the tree to sing ‘The Tree
Song.’ They sing to the tree, hug the tree, draw the tree and even
kiss the tree. October 9 is the anniversary of Swami Prabhupada’s
first time chanting under the great elm. I could feel him there last
Friday when I asked the teacher if the children would like to learn
the song the saint sang under the same tree years ago, and as they
chanted Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama
Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare I remembered a miracle is not seeing
that God has done one thing, but realizing that He does everything.”
On
October 9, after finishing our chanting at Union Square, the harinama
team
came to celebrate the 47th
anniversary of Srila Prabhupada and his followers first chanting in
that park back on that day in 1966. Some of the devotees chanted in a
procession there from Union Square.
We chanted as we circumambulated the park’s famous Hare Krishna tree, and then sat down and talked about spreading the chanting of the holy name and Srila Prabhupada’s mission.
We chanted as we circumambulated the park’s famous Hare Krishna tree, and then sat down and talked about spreading the chanting of the holy name and Srila Prabhupada’s mission.
My
Sister Karen’s Prasadam Lunches
Karen,
my sister, is a licensed mental health counselor living in Albany,
and occasionally comes to New York City, as she did the second
weekend in October, for a four-day seminar on counseling techniques
for people working with refugees. The person giving the seminar was
from India and incorporated ideas from different traditions in his
course, including Ayur Veda and the conception of the subtle body.
Friday I met Karen and brought her salad,
bread, koftas,
and
eggplant parmesan from Govinda’s Vegetarian Lunch, the restaurant
run by Satya dd in the Radha Govinda temple in Brooklyn.
Saturday I
saved some subji,
rice,
and dal
from
the temple breakfast for her lunch and she met me at the kirtana
party
at Union Square.
Sunday we went to the Doughnut Plant, a doughnut
shop in Manhattan owned by Mark, a Hare Krishna devotee. Karen bought
me a peanut butter and banana cream-filled doughnut as a belated
birthday present and had a chocolate cake doughnut for herself. I
also gave her some cheese cake that Satya dd gave me and a piece of
pera
and
a tulasi
leaf
from Radha Govinda. All and all Karen did well taking lots of Krishna
prasadam
during
her trip to New York!
Over
meals, when discussing conflicts between those of different faiths, I
happened to mention about the three levels of devotees mentioned in
our Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition and their different qualities. The
neophytes are those who recognize God and the saints only within
their tradition but not beyond. The second level can identify God,
the saints, the innocent, and the those averse to God by their
qualities in whatever tradition or in whatever place they appear.
People on this level serve the Lord with love, make friends with
those devoted to Him, enlighten those open to spirituality, and avoid
those antagonistic to spiritual life. Those on highest level see God
in everything and in everyone, and so are very kind to every living
being. My sister commented that it seemed practical that those on
second level could make the distinctions needed to run the society so
those on the highest level could be free to show kindness to
everyone. That observation impressed me.
Living in New York City
I live in our Brooklyn temple where I have the incredibly good fortune of seeing Radha Govinda for mangala-arati every day, as well as honoring their maha-prasadam, and doing service for Their restaurant.
They were the first Radha Krishna deities I ever saw, and when I was a new devotee in Their temple on 55th Street, I would transfer Their mangala-arati sweets.
Although not a tourist, I saw the famed Statue of Liberty in the distance, both from the air while arriving in New York and from the subway daily enroute to Union Square from Brooklyn.
Insights
Srila
Prabhupada:
from
Caitanya-caritamrita,
Madhya
8.310, purport:
“All
Vedic literatures declare that transcendental subjects cannot be
understood simply by argument or logic. Spiritual matters are far
above experimental knowledge. Only by Krishna’s mercy can one who
is interested in His transcendental loving affairs understand them.
If one tries to understand these transcendental topics simply by
using one’s material brain substance, the attempt will be futile.
Whether one is a prakrita-sahajiya
or a mundane opportunist or scholar, one’s labor to understand
these topics by mundane means will ultimately be frustrated. One
therefore has to give up all mundane attempts and try to become a
pure devotee of Lord Vishnu. When a devotee follows the regulative
principles, the truth of these talks will be revealed to him.”
from
Sri
Caitanya-caritamrita,
Madhya 9.8, purport:
“The
holy names of Krishna and Hari, or the chanting of the Hare Krishna
maha-mantra,
are so spiritually powerful that even today, as our preachers go to
remote parts of the world, people immediately begin chanting Hare
Krishna. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was the Supreme Personality of
Godhead Himself. There cannot be anyone who can compare to Him or His
potencies. However, because we are following in His footsteps and are
also chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra,
the effect is almost as potent as during the time of Lord Caitanya
Mahaprabhu. Our preachers mainly belong to European and American
countries, yet by the grace of Lord Caitanya they have tremendous
success wherever they go to open branches. Indeed, everywhere people
are very seriously chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna
Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.”
from
a lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam
1.2.14
on August
17, 1972, in Los Angeles:
“Krishna
consciousness is so nice even those who are incorrigible can be
delivered. This is mentioned in Srimad-Bhagavatam
[2.4.18]:
Kirata hunandhra pulinda pulasa.”
“If
you say why are you interested to save the human society—that is
Krishna’s business. Krishna wants, God wants that all these living
entities they should back home back to Godhead. Why are they
suffering? Therefore Krishna comes personally. . . . He wants, “Come
back home. Dance with Me. Eat with Me.” . . . Because we are
Krishna conscious, we are servants of God, therefore, it is our duty
to save this civilization.”
from
Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.17.29,
purport:
“Those
who are not narayana-para,
pure devotees, must be disturbed by this duality of the material
world, whereas devotees who are simply attached to the service of the
Lord are not at all disturbed by it. For example, Haridasa Thakura
was beaten with cane in twenty-two bazaars, but he was never
disturbed; instead, he smilingly tolerated the beating. Despite the
disturbing dualities of the material world, devotees are not
disturbed at all. Because they fix their minds on the lotus feet of
the Lord and concentrate on the holy name of the Lord, they do not
feel the so-called pains and pleasures caused by the dualities of
this material world.”
from
Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.17.31,
purport:
“One
who engages in unalloyed devotional service to Vasudeva, Krishna,
automatically becomes aware of this material world, and therefore he
is naturally detached. This detachment is possible because of his
high standard of knowledge. The speculative philosopher tries to
understand that this material world is false by cultivating
knowledge, but this understanding is automatically manifested in the
person of a devotee, without separate endeavor.”
Satsvarupa
Dasa Goswami:
Sri
Radha-rasa-suddha-nidhi (The Book of Radha) by Srila
Prabodhananda Sarasvati Gosvami Maharaja translated by Dasaratha Suta
Prabhu
“(257)
A Prayer to Sri Govinda for
Bestowing Maidservice to Sri Radha
O
Sri Govinda!
That crown jewel among all Vraja gopis
Her lotus feet’s sheer splendor and majesty
is supremely dear to You
even greater than millions upon millions of hearts
That crown jewel among all Vraja gopis
Her lotus feet’s sheer splendor and majesty
is supremely dear to You
even greater than millions upon millions of hearts
—Please
accept me in Her maidservice
full of the most unique fresh new rasa—
full of the most unique fresh new rasa—
Again
and again—every moment, O Lord of lords!
I beg this of You with all my heart and soul!”
I beg this of You with all my heart and soul!”
“(259)
Krishna-bhajana as a Feature
of Radha-dasya
Constantly
meditating
on He who wears the peacock-feather crown
incessantly singing
His nama-sankirtana [congregational chanting of His name]
worshipfully serving
His lotus feet
chanting quietly
His best of mantras . . .
holding in my heart only the supremely cherished
eternal service to the lotus feet of Sri Radha.
on He who wears the peacock-feather crown
incessantly singing
His nama-sankirtana [congregational chanting of His name]
worshipfully serving
His lotus feet
chanting quietly
His best of mantras . . .
holding in my heart only the supremely cherished
eternal service to the lotus feet of Sri Radha.
When,
O when, by His grace
will I become a participant
in Their extremely astonishing festival of divine love?”
will I become a participant
in Their extremely astonishing festival of divine love?”
from
“Poem
for October 3 [2013]”in
Viraha
Bhavan:
“Today’s
drawing shows four bhaktas
dancing
and chanting
with upraised arms.
Where are they located?
Are they with Rama-raya’s harinama party in Union Square?
Are they at the campus of
the University of Florida in Gainesville?
Are they in some remote
countryside with no one in sight?
Use your imagination
and place them where you will.
It’s bound to be auspicious
wherever Hare Krishna is sung.”
Where are they located?
Are they with Rama-raya’s harinama party in Union Square?
Are they at the campus of
the University of Florida in Gainesville?
Are they in some remote
countryside with no one in sight?
Use your imagination
and place them where you will.
It’s bound to be auspicious
wherever Hare Krishna is sung.”
[This
poem was striking to me because I chanted at the campus of the
University of Florida in Gainesville in September, and I chanted with
Rama-raya’s harinama
party
in Union Square in October, and my diksa-guru,
Satsvarupa
Dasa Goswami, mentioned both places in this poem!]
Niranjana
Swami:
Visvanatha
Cakravati Thakura says that Krishna does not consider maintaining a
devotee who is fully dependent on Him to be a burden just as a family
man does not consider taking care of his family a burden or a man
does not consider carrying his lover a burden.
In
his copy of Bhagavad-gita,
Arjunacarya
changed
the word
vahami
to
the word karomi
in
verse 9.22, because he did not think that Krishna personally provides
for His devotee.
-----
krsir
bhu-vacakah sabdo
naś
ca nirvriti-vacakaḥ
tayor
aikyaḿ paraḿ brahma
krishna
ity abhidhiyate
“The word ‘krish’
is
the attractive feature of the Lord’s existence, and ‘na’
means spiritual pleasure. When the verb ‘krish’
is added to the affix ‘na,’
it becomes ‘Krishna,’ which indicates the Absolute Truth.”
(Mahabharata,
Udyoga-parva 71.4, quoted in Śri
Caitanya-caritamrita,
Madhya 9.30)