HpS - Wrote to his brother and sister:
Esteemed Older Brother, Sister et al,
Hare Krsna! Thank you for the four pictures and spiritual words. Thinking back on my own spiritual development, I think it started in this life with our esteemed Mother, Nadine Robinson, occupying me each night in say the Lord's Prayer before I went to sleep. Then later our Godmother, Aunt Sally, would give us Christian children's books, going to church each Sunday etc.
One significant point was when Mr. Taylor (our neighbor on Lemon Avenue)'s dog Susy died. I was only like four or five as I remember and I suddenly realized that I was also going to die. It made me sick and I couldn't really eat, nor could I discuss it with Mom and Dad because I knew that they also had to solution to the problem.
Yet, then, because of the daily, rote recitation of the Lord's Prayer, I prayed to God sincerely and analyzed the situation in terms of my simple inteligence and came to the conclusion that, "Yes, there was a Jesus, Jehovah, and they They were all powerful and could save us from death".
Oooof! Quite a relief. Our stupid life went on.
Different things. We were very committed as you may remember to going to church each Sunday. Usually it was booring, but sometimes, when they would recite the pastime of our Lord Jesus Christ during the Liturgy we would feel ecstatic. One time I remember a person came and talked to us children and he was more intense and informed.
Different experiences. When we graduated with our B.A. degree all of our money for school was finished. We had like $200. We had specifically chosen to go to Chicago and not L.A. for the PhD program because we wanted to get out of the State and try something knew. Mom and Dad were overseas in Italy or Arabia. We felt alone but then again, we thought about Christ, God, and especially the statements:
Look at thelillys of the field. Neither do they reap, nor do they sow. Yet Solomon in all his splendor was not so arrayed.
When even a little sparrow falls you heavenly Father knows of it. Do you not think that He knows of your well being, who woth so much more than these little ones?
So we went on. We becamed convinced, and our Mentor for the PhD, Donald Campbell, who was President of the American Psychological Society confirmed, that the PhD, Professor, route was for making money. If we wanted to do something worthwhile and creative then we would have to get out of the box and investigate other ways of knowing things, maybe, especially India and Asian.
Since we were little we were attracted to Chinese art, poetry, culture (but not food).
So, we left the PhD program. Went back to U.C.Davis and were hanging our there while Deborah Jane finished her BA. It was then that one Hare Krsna monk sold us the book, "KRSNA - The Supreme Personality of Godhead", a summary study of the 10th Canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam.
We were vegetarian on the principle of non-violence.
We started to read the book very carefully and two things happened. 1) Every philosophy that we had encountered was dealth with by the author very clearly and the conclusion was Mono-theism. There is one God who is the source of everything. 2) The book itself, as far as we could tell, was the Absolute Truth. It was so intense, so real, so humble, so beautiful, mystical.
Then we started to visit the ISKCON, Hare Krsna Center in San Francisco. It was really a strange thing contacting a different culture for our selves and out family. We sure didn't know how to deal with all the things we contacted.
However, we were working for Theron Stevens, a home remodler, at that time and he was an active Jehovah's Witness and he pretty much spooked us that we were being tricked by the devil and we were going to go to hell. Of course, his arguments didn't stand to well against what we knew about this India tradition, but it was certainly an important consideration.
So we were really doing our daily prayers, Hare Krsna rosary, very intensley asking for Jesus to give us advice. Then, one morning pretty early we had this very profound experience. We felt that Our Lord Christ Jesus was present behind us. The whole experience last just a moment, and the communication was directly on the level of understanding, not even on the level of thoughts or the mind.
We wanted to turn around to face him, yet we were awed and a little frightened by his majesty and purity. Then he communicated that we had been asking him whether this Hare Krsna movement was really spiritual or not, but we were going to have be a lot, lot, more spiritual before we could talk to him directly. That was really obvious. In his presence all of our most intense devotion was obviously just another kind of effort for fame.
Then he continued, "So, therefore, you just find and group that will help you purify your heart and join them". End transmission.
It was a perfect answer to my doubts, Theron's criticisms, "A house divided against itself cannot stand". The Hare Krsna didn't drink, smoke, fornicate, eat a glutton diet and they required healthy hours of prayers, hymns and practical devotion daily.
So, we continued in the Church of Hare Krsna but also, certainly tried to adjust within our stupid means to Deborah others needs.
That was kind of how we got onto this present track. It has many details just like traditional Christianity with St. Francis, Bernard of Clair Veaux, Teresa of Avilla, but it maybe be because I was maybe a Mexican Chinese Monk in my last lifetime who was born on Guam that I especially like the tast of this tradition.
The only other point is that there were still doubts about the relation between Hare Krsna and Christianity, but then, when he visited Berkeley, I heard A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, who is the Monk who did the missionary work for this tradition in the West, give one of many lecturers. There were many, many people there and he was talking about how a real devotee was merciful, sacrificing so much for others. Then he gave the example of Our Lord Christ Jesus and said, "He was SO merciful". Knowing how many austerities A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami had taken to bring this very profound religious and philosophical tradition from India and his intense level of personal devotion I could here in his words, real, realized respect for Our Lord Christ Jesus.
Later I heard from one Godbrother that while he was in India, one Indian gentleman was talking a little disparaginly about Christ and Christian moral standard compared to the high moral standard that most Indians keep, and A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, Srila Prabhupada, commented, "Please do not talk that way about Lord Christ. He is my Godbrother and I love him as much as I love Krsna". The Indian fellow was stunned to tears and silence.
So that's about how we got here in terms of Christianty. There are so many other storys. Our family experiences. Personally Pilgrim's Progress.
Please you tell us a story now. Ha. Ha. Ha. Rays of moonlight will come from you words I'm sure.