Radhastami Run up....

8/31/06

Haribol, I know I have not written in a while, so to update everyone, I’m fine (No I’m not sick, as everyone seems to think…). Anyway, tomorrow is Radhastami here in Vrindavan. Talking to many locals, Janmastami here was considered, well, a flop… but from seeing the preparations ongoing for Radhastami, it will be quite an event. The decorations all arrived Tuesday, and Radhastami is Friday. Yesterday (Wednesday) they started decorating the temple room, and in the afternoon, tons of flowers showed up in the area across from Srila Prabhupada’s Samadhi…..so, it should be quite an event. Yesterday (Wednesday) was also Lalita devi’s appearance day, which means that they offered the deities a beautiful new turquoise colored dress…it was very nice....I am going to leave you with a quote from chapter 1 of the Nectar of Devotion, when Srila Prabhupada is describing Srimati Radharani’s glories:

“Srila Rüpa Gosvämi has stated that devotional service attracts even Krishna. Krishna attracts everyone, but devotional service attracts Krishna. The symbol of devotional service in the highest degree is Rädhäräni. Krishna is called Madana-mohana, which means that He is so attractive that He can defeat the attraction of thousands of Cupids. But Rädhäräni is still more attractive, for She can even attract Krishna. Therefore devotees call Her Madana-mohana-mohiné—the attractor of the attractor of Cupid.
To perform devotional service means to follow in the footsteps of Rädhäräni, and devotees in Vrindävana put themselves under the care of Rädhäräni in order to achieve perfection in their devotional service. In other words, devotional service is not an activity of the material world; it is directly under the control of Rädhäräni. In Bhagavad-gitä it is confirmed that the mahätmäs, or great souls, are under the protection of daivi prakrti, the internal energy—Rädhäräni. So, being directly under the control of the internal potency of Krishna, devotional service attracts even Krishna Himself.”

Chaitanya

Amul: Realizations

August 27th, 2006, 11:54 AM Sunday

 

    It's hard to write something when theres nothing really exciting going on.  I've gotten into a routine, so things that might have seem exciting 2 months ago (man, its been that long!?) are just second nature now.  School is going well, I'm really learning alot.  Our teachers are stressing putting the knowledge into practice.  It's how much you apply that counts, not the degree you get at the end.  I find comfort in that statement since I am not the academic type...haha.

   

    Nectar of Instruction is such an amazing book.  I was always looking for a book that would tell me the do's & dont's, what to practice, what to avoid, in Krishna consciousness.  What made it better was our instructor, H.G. Kurma-Rupa prabhu, a old-school devotee from the historical New York ISKCON crew.  He really teaches from realization and tells us these awesome experiences he's had, that totally relate with the book.  I'm telling you, if you have the right teacher, everything becomes perfect.

 

    Yesterday was a whole ordeal.  My friend Satyanarayan's knee was injured when he accidentally walked into a ditch. I don't know, i think he just stepped on it the wrong way, but he was in so much pain.  The whole morning he was just writhing in pain whenever he moved his leg.  So we decided to get him to a doctor.  But how would we get him down the 4 flights of stairs, he could not even stand up on his own!  And I could not lift him, he's quite a husky fellow.  Chaitanya to the rescue!  Chai volunteered to take Satya on his back and bring him downstairs to the awaiting riksha.  Many people were astonished at the super-human strength of my roomate.  It was as if he had gotten the strength of 10,000 elephants (i wonder if it had anything to do with his Mahabharata reading...he reads it every chance he gets!). 

   

    After that, we went to 2 doctors, had 2 X-rays done, and still no results.  The 2nd X-ray said that Satyanarayan had a large fracture in his knee.  By this time, it was 7pm!  On top of that our riksa walla was so slow, he had only one working leg (here's a tip for everyone out there, make sure your riksa driver has TWO working legs).  And I had an exam the next day (today, it was a take home, and i hadn't finished it yet).  So I was in alittle bit of anxiety.  Update: Satyanarayan went to a doctor at 10pm last night, when Radha Govinda Maharaj, his guru, found out.  He's going to be okay.

   

    But then realizations cleared my anxiety.  Since everything was in Krsna's hands, what could I learn from this incident? (I have recently learned this technique, it really helps against getting fried easily).  I thought for a bit, and I realized a few things:

 

1) The body is a huge source of suffering, there's no question about it.  You may get some pleasure out of it, but it will never last.  Satyanaryan was in so much pain just because of his knee, i couldn't even look at his face sometimes.

2)  This world is a dangerous place.  You can just be walking and two seconds later, your knee is fractured.

3)  Taking shelter of the holyname can really help one's mind feel peaceful.  As soon as I started chanting on the riksa, with-- care and attention (NOI), I felt assurance that everything would be alright, it reminded me of a quote from Bhagavad Gita:

“For one who has accepted the boat of the lotus feet of the Lord, who is the shelter of the cosmic manifestation and is famous as Mukunda, or the giver of mukti, the ocean of the material world is like the water contained in a calf’s footprint. paraà padam, or the place where there are no material miseries, or Vaikuntha, is his goal, not the place where there is danger in every step of life.”  BG 2.51

 

Most of my realizations were based around those 3.  The material world is all suffering, the body is miserable...does that seem pessimistic to anyone?  Ah, but there is hope! The holyname is like a soothing balm (like tiger balm, that junk works so well ,on mosquito bites, thanks to Chai's mom, thanks Aunty!) on the worrying mind.  "Similarly, if you chant this Hare Krsna mantra, then your first vision of your self, your constitutional position, will be visible just like a line of the moon. But if you go on continuing, you will find one day it is [a] full moon and brilliant, very soothing, and nectarine. You’ll taste your life as very sublime, blissful, and hopeful."  -Srila Prabhupada

 

So much more but no time, I will write more later, until then..chant Hare Krsna!

   

dasamula

 

 

   

Janmastami

8/19/06

Haribol, so here’s my version of the Janmastami celebrations here in Vrindavan. The first crazy thing that happened was the greeting of the deities, which took place at about 7:30 in the morning. Then entire front of the temple room was jam packed, and the courtyard and the back were pretty full. If you haven’t been to a deity greeting at Krishna-Balaram Mandir, the way it usually works is they open one altar at a time, starting with Gaura Nitai, then Krishna Balaram, and finally Radhe Shyam. I happened to be standing by Gaura Nitai, and got the darshan immediately, as they opened the curtain. Then, when they started to prepare to open Krishna Balaram, the sea of people started moving, and I just kind of drifted over there. I had no choice really, and I got there darshan as well. Then this happened again for Radhe Shyam, but twice as much. So after deity greeting, I had moved all the way across the temple room, by just kind of floating in the sea of people. The rest of the day went nice as well. I had the good opportunity to sit right next to Aindra Prabhu for a good part of the 10:30 – 1:30 AM kirtan (he would of kept going, but the temple management politely told him that they had to clean up…..we have it on video tape…). The temple room was pretty packed, but in talking to people the next day, I heard normally that there are 2 or 3 times as many people (which is somewhat hard to imagine), but after they heard what happened in Manipur, they severely restricted the amount of people who could come in. After eating, I headed over to Bunkibihari with Daksh, Kushal, Daksh’s parents, and Sarva-Jay Gauranga for mangala aroti there. The streets weren’t as crazy as last time, but the temple room was just mad. I went in front, and we made a chain. Then I ploughed through the crowd, and we got right to the front again. It was really a pretting intense crowd, and it was cool that we got that close.

Prabhupada’s Vyasa puja the next day was pretty cool as well. It was nice to hear so many of Srila Prabhupada’s disciples glorify him, and at 1 PM there was a huge feast in a pandal which they had built in the parking lot just for the occasion.

Chaitanya

Amul: Janmastami & Prabhupada Vyasa Puja

Radhe Syam: in their midnight semi-flower dress!
The temple room was decorated with fresh flower decorations, it was beautiful and festive.
You can see me peeking my head out!
If you look closely, you can see Daksh, Kushal, Chai, and Radhey!

Radhe Radhe, Beloved Vaisnavas and Vaisnavis,

   

    Just got back from the maha feast after fasting till noon for Prabhupada's Vyasa Puja.  Boy, what a feast!  Janmastami last night was very nice too.  Many people, just dancing so crazily and ecstatically in the temple room.  Me, Daksh, Chai, Kushal, and Radhey got seats right next to Aindra prabhu's kirtan mandali.  We were really lucky, for 2 hours we just chanted there with Aindra prabhu and his crew!  Abhishek was going on at the time, then at 12 midnight there was the maha darsan. It was very beutiful, the deities were wearing a new beautiful dress and some flower ornaments, like a semi flower dress.  Gaura Nitai looked most beautiful to me, they reminded me so much of my Istadeva's back home at Towaco, even though they are non different (i am not advanced, i cannot see they are the same) HAHA!

   

    Janmastami during the day was basically a regular day, just more chanting (did 32 rounds, my friend Madhura Madhava did 108!, JAY HO!), and kirtan.  Most of us fasted from everything besides water, because if you dont drink water you wont be able to do anything, it was pretty hot yesterday.  Then at 6:30 pm, Aindra prabhu came down to do his kirtan.  After that, we all went to our room to hang for a while until we went down to the temple room to get seats for the maha kirtan, abhishek, and darsan.  It was really fun to be with Radhey, Daksh, and Kushal, it reminded me of P-sena: Empower! 

   

       After everything was finished, i went to sleep, i was so beat.  But the rest of the gang went to Banke Bihari's for mangala darsan.  Then this morning, at 7 there was gurupuja and class given by Srila Prabhupada.  Then Prabhupada's own disciples read their homages, which went on for 3 hours!  During most of this i was dreaming of eating, i was so dehydrated and hungry. 

   

    Then everyone made their way to the pandala for the maha feast.  As i entered, i saw all my VIHE buddies about to  serve prasad.  I could not sit down to eat while they were serving! But i was practically dying of starvation! The exemplary devotee Amul appeared on my shoulder and said, "Amul, devotional service prabhu!" then the sense gratifier Amul appeared on my other shoulder and said, "Amul your so hungry, who cares, think about yourself!  The exemplary devotee Amul won,

   

    It was weird though, my hunger for some reason, passed while i was serving the devotees.  Then when i was finished serving, one of my classmates mentioned that all of them had already eaten before hand! AHHHH!! My hunger magically appeared again and i quickly got a plate and sat down, and ate until it felt like rice and paneer were about to come out of my ears.  The sense gratifier Amul said, "told you so".  I told him shut it.

   

    Now here i am in the room, wondering how the Janmastami's in the US were!  Someone hollar back! 

Miss you all,

amul butter

 

ps. I am not schizophrenic, please dont go telling my mom i need to be admitted to the crazy house.

Amul: "Uncle Frank"

    Monday, August 14, 2006 12:27 pm

   

    I got a call yesterday from my parents that our dear next door neighbor in NJ, Frank Sapienza, had past away.  I was pretty distraught and then I remembered what I had learned from the second chapter of the Bhagavad Gita.  About the soul, and how it could not be killed.  Anyways, let me just give you alittle history about "Uncle Frank".

 

    "Uncle Frank", as he was affectionately known by my family, was an old Italian man who had lived in Paramus even before we had come there, around 18 years ago.  He was married to Adaleena (it was really Adeline, but my father pronounced it differently), his loving wife, who would always be seen with him. 

   

    Uncle Frank had a love for gardening and landscaping.  His lawn was by far, the best lawn in our neighborhood.  Whenever guests would come over, they would always remark how green his lawn was!  Also, every year his garden would yield bags and bags of tomatoes, green peppers, eggplants, etc.  He was truly a person in the mode of goodness.  You could always see him outside, sometimes with his cowboy hat, working away in his garden or on his lawn.  I used to watch him out of our kitchen window, admiring his hard working spirit.  And whenever my father had a question about something to do with landscaping or home improvement, the first person he would go to was Uncle Frank.  He would never hesitate to help.

 

    Uncle Frank was a very pious person as well.  During the summer, almost every evening, you could find him reading the bible on his front porch with his wife.  You could tell he had a taste for reading about Jesus Christ, whom he probably had a deep relationship with.  Every Sunday, without fail, he and his wife would go to church too. I remember them being dressed up and leaving around 10 am for their Sunday services. 

 

    Uncle Frank also got some chance to do service for Krishna as well.  During Bhakti Charu Swami's taping of Abhay Charan in New Jersey, some shots were taken on Uncle Frank's amazing front yard.  Bhakti Charu Swami was so impressed by the lawn and neat landscaping, he decided it was a great place to shoot.  We were allowed to tape right on Uncle Frank's front lawn! 

    Another service He rendered was to our deities at home.  Uncle Frank would grow tomatoes but he wouldn't like the greenish un-ripe ones.  So he offered that we could take them if we wanted.  I have fond memories of my childhood going to Uncle Frank's garden with my father, and picking all the green tomatoes.  Then my mother would cook subji with them when they ripened, and offer it to the deities.  Indirectly, Uncle Frank was performing the service to Krishna!  Devotional service, nonetheless.

       

    Uncle Frank was a dear Grandfather figure to me.  He was pious, hardworking, and always willing to help.  I remember his sweet Italian accent and how neat his garage was.  When I was younger, he would even put air in my bike tires when I needed it.  I will miss him.

Balaram Jayanti Kirtan video

Haribol...another small clip from Balaram Jayanti...enjoy
COMMENTS NOW WORK!!!!! So comment away.....

Balaram Jayanti in Vrindavan

Haribol Everyone. Here's a funny clip from the kirtan during Balaram Jayanti. This guy is hilarious. We've also been aware of the comment problem, so keep trying to comment, and I'm working on that. Have a great Janmastami.

Chaitanya

Top 10 List of Realizations About India

8/8/06

Being the extremely Bhakti Sastri student which I am, I have decided to write a blog about my top 10 realizations about India, instead of memorizing Bhagavad Gita verses (I will do that when I'm done). As many of you know, India is somewhat different from America, but by living here for about 6 weeks now, I have tested some views over time, and here they are. Now, as you look down at the list, you will notice that there is not 10 items there. Before you start questioning my ability to count to ten, or to count period, I will give you my reason for only giving you four reasons, not yet numbered. Reason number 1, nobody does a top 4 list, so that Idea was out, but the reason I'm sticking to is Reason number 2. Reason number 2 is that this way, I will not give away the whole thing at once, or the order, so there's some suspense ( In reality, I couldn't think of ten things, but I'll post them as I come up with them). Without further adu, imagine David Letterman is reading these, and here is my Top 10 List of Realizations of India.....Part 1:

 

 

 

 

• Time: A few years ago, we started coining the phrase IST, which stands for Indian Standard Time. Whenever we'd be late, or a program would start late, or someone else was late, it would just be Indian Standard time. Well, what I have now realized is that India is the birth place of Indian Standard time, so this is where it is personified in its most powerful form. Coincidentally, the time zone India is in has the initials IST...standing for Indian Standard Time. Anyways, everything is at least 5-10 minutes late here. If someone says they'll be there at 10, don't show up until 10:30 earliest, if you have to pick something up on Sunday, safer to go Thursday or Friday, so it'll be done. IST here in India is double or triple IST is in America.
• Left...Left...Left...or Right???: As you know, people in India drive on the left (a crazy and un-needed British Tradition if you ask me...also, sometimes you're not sure what side they're driving on here). But how about when you walk up to someone. Do you go towards the left or towards the right. In the west, its a common practice that you always go towards the right, so that neither person bumps into eachother. Here however, some people go to the left, and some people go towards the right. After awhile of almost bumping into people, you just decide to do your own thing and make everyone else conform with you (its been working for a little while...).
• Pushing and shoving: Indian people feel it is their absolute birthright to cut you in line. For example, yesterday I was waiting in line to swing the Jhulan in the temple. I clearly remember that I was in line behind this old dada, where a cream colored kurta. After looking around for about 5 seconds, I was now behind four ba's, one of them pushing me back, so she could squeeze her way into line. This is an example of a daily experience here. Now do you push the ba's...I mean come on, they're old people...I end up sucking it up most of the time.
• Power: Everyone knows this already, but I will reiterate it. India has still not figured out power. I guess it is a much harder thing to figure out that I thought. Just as I was writing this blog alone, the power went out 3 times. I'll give India this though...when the power goes out in America, its the end of the world (ref: NYC blackout). Here, everyone is ready for it. If you're in a shop, they'll whip out their kerosene lantern while they were showing you what you were looking at, with some sort of 3rd arm.

 

 

Well, that's it for now....stay tuned for more items soon.....

 

Chaitanya

another picture

a few friends and the 3 from NJ

amul: few days blog

 

July 29^th, 2006

 

            So it’s been a month…every now and then, when im waiting for Prasadam or walking to Vihe on my own, I think of home.  I remember things like blacktop roads, cars with 4 wheels as opposed to three, walking on carpets, and wearing pants.  I also remember people whose friendship I take for granted and I make a mental note to really appreciate them when I get back home.  5 more months! haha…

            Yesterday was Haryali Theej, a festival when the whole KB temple is decorated in greenery.  The deities’ altar was completely covered in green leaves, it was very beautiful.  Also, the temple was very crowded for Sandhya arati.  Another festival that happens on this day is Banke Bihari Jhulan.  Darsan is so crowded in the daytime, that most iskcon devotees go at night, when its not as crowed, but still push-and-shove crowded.  So, me, Chai, Damodar, Bhaja Gauranga, Madhura madhava, Visala, and Dhanurdhar----all my Vihe classmates, saddled up and went to see Banke Bihari ji around 10 pm.  I had gone during my last visit to Vrindavan, 4 years ago, so I was excited to see the Jhulan yatra again.  WOW, it was definitely an amazing darsan once again.  There was a HUGE silver jhulan, and 4 solid silver life sized Sakhi’s.  Banke Bihari was closer to his devotees than usual so you could see the deity so well.

            Vihe update:  we finished Isopanisad!! Yesss! We have an exam tomorrow, so can’t wait to finish it for good.  I like the book but it was kind of complicated for me.  I like Bhagavad Gita a lot better.  My teacher is one of the most amazing devotees I have ever met, I gave a short description in one of my previous blogs so you can refer if you haven’t “met” him yet.

            Man, can you believe that nothing else is going on?  Yea, so I just wanted to write a little blurb to let all my readers that im still alive and to still check the blog once and a while.  Alright keep it real, Haribol…                  

 

July 31st, 2006           

            The exam went okay.  It was pretty hard though.  15 questions, all short essay answer, took about 2 hours, we had 3.  It was fun talking about it afterward because I remember in school when we would talk about tests afterward, and now I was doing it in Vrindavan with devotees!  I think I did decent. 

            I have been doing 16 rounds straight for about 2-3 weeks now.  I was doing it for the first week but then I stopped for 2 or 3 days, I don’t know why, spaced out!  I really like the way my spiritual life is going.  By chanting I am feeling responsible and pure.  By studying sastra, doubts I had are slowly being erased. A little history, if i may ;).......

 After my years of huge glasses and huge neck beads (as VBd puts it), I started questioning my Krishna Conscious upbringing.  I envied all the devotees that got into it because they “joined” or they got a book from a devotee distributing.  I wondered why I could not have the faith that they did from actually going darkness to light.  It is still a slight anartha of mine, that i am in denial.  Hopefully by constant studying/sadhana this can be pacified.  I've talked to many devotees who think i am crazy to think this because of how bad their upbringing was.  As the saying goes, "the grass is greener on the other side"  I gotta be happy with what i have. Kind of relates to The 'Isavasya' principle! <to all my Bhakti Sastri alumni...haha

 

August 2nd, 2006

    Today was our first day of "Nectar of Instruction".  I really like this book.  HG Kurma Rupa prabhu is our instructor.  His teaching style is really chill but you can tell he knows his stuff really well.   The topic was about Text 1, controlling the Six Urges.  He started a discussion that was aimed at seeing who is a qualified guru or who is advanced.  He said in our movement there are so many misconceptions about whos a good guru or who is an advanced devotee.  When he opened it up to discussion, i remembered a phrase VBD uses alot, and i said "in our movement, whoever gets the ghee lamp first is an advanced devotee, thats a misconception".  My classmates thought that was pretty clever! thanks VBD! hahaha.  So the point was that an advanced devotee or qualified guru is someone that can control these Six urges.  They are eligible to make disciples.  This was a great verse for me personally because i always come across people who think just because someone is a Prabhupada disciple, or someone is smart in sastra, is automatically, without looking at this person's life, is an advanced vaisnava.  Don't get me wrong, i know many advanced devotees who are Prabhupada disciples, or who can quote sanskrit like its written on their hand, but that is not the qualifications Rupa Goswami gives in the first text.  Now i can quote "Upadesamrita" to make a point. 

 

In other unrelated, useless news, i got on AIM for the first time!  It was around 7:30pm india time, and i chatted with Namai, Radhey, Gopal, Pragnesh, Pradyumna, and a few others.  It was really awesome to err..read......their voices again. HAHA.  Lots of people are coming here for Janmastami and Kartik, can't wait till you guys come! 

 

Also we are now using our laptops to download our mail, so we can reply/read emails in our room, we dont have to be connected to the internet.  So i encourage long emails, ill write back real long too!

 

OH yea i almost forgot, you probably all know, My dear dear friend Damodar who accompanied me here to India, is leaving.  He's packing his stuff right now as i type this.  I'm really sad to see him go but i am not letting it get me down at a time like this. He will feel my wrath when i get back to America in December.  MUhhuahhahaha... later mata-g's and pravu-g's.

 

August 3rd, 2006

    So Damodar left.  A piece is definitely missing from me.  I came back from class today and bought some mahaprasad.  And I ate it sitting on the floor of our new room, alone.  Thats when it really hit me that he was gone.  I dont know what im gonna do.  When he was here i felt safe.  I think i was too dependent on him, now i will have to suffer for that.  I was treating it like it was not going to affect me, as you can read from the last entry.  boy was i dead wrong. Dont feel like writing more. haribol.