Part one: creative writing exercise

9 months, 3 weeks ago by Kamagayatri in Other

Hare Krsna Guru Maharaj,


Please accept our most humble obeisances.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.


vancha-kalpatarubhyash cha

kripa-sindhubhya eva cha

patitanam pavanebhyo

vaishnavebhyo namo namaha



Today was the Rathayatra, 4th of July parade [in Boise, Idaho]!!

Amidst devotee family, your presence at many festivals was remembered.


HpS/ASA - We built the first Boise Rathayatra cart along with Lokannatha Das et al.!


We were not sure how we would be able to travel an hour from the new ashram in Idaho City with deities and pull the smaller Ratha.

Krsna made arrangements and the cart was waiting.

Three sets of personal small Jaganatha family deities were in the Ratha and kids did the arati with full heart.

Jahnavi pulled the cart with her ksatriya spirit.

The congregation and community were able to be engaged and happy. The spiritual world did open up for a moment where we felt connected to everyone’s sincere efforts and paratmatmas.


The other night we watched the peacock special: Krishnas, Gurus, Karma etc. that featured Malati Prabhu, Bhagavan Prabhu, and other early Srila Prabhupada disciples discussing New Vrindavan and former Kirtananda Maharaj.

I think it’s hard to be a devotee like Malati Prabhu and you, Gurudev because you have stayed in ISKCON despite everything and seen so much.


I want to express more but I’m fearful. I think in my situation I am following the NOI principal of keeping my general distance (because I know I am at least an aspiring kanishta) so I do not not affect others.

I am finding that having a few sincere relationships with devotees and congregation mothers really is enough association.

I am working on how I associate and how I can contribute more with my association.


In small communities it’s hard to not feel very alone.

I remember when you advised your disciple that it is hard to be brahmanical and be in management.

I was candid with management last fall about disrespect I noticed that was going on towards the Vaishnavas.

Now I am pushed out and ignored and told not to approach them without a mediator (not by all management but a few individuals).

The tension is hard.

I do feel very emotional to the point of feeling physically sick when I go to the temple.

Would you suggest asking a mediator to work through these kind of issues Gurudev? I can tell my ego just wants to ignore and forget.


HpS - Thank you for this nice letter. Babies fall on their... backsides... so many times when they are beginning to walk, but they get up again and try to do it. It is so much greater to walk than crawl.

  1. Gradually you learn how to walk and only fall down once every few months, rather than every few paces.
  2. Maybe we are jerks and do deserve the chastisement we get from institutional managers and we need to thank Krsna for this opportunity to improve.
  3. Maybe they are just projecting their fears and anger on us and we need to avoid their attacts and try to help them.
  4. Maybe they were try to praise us and we just misunderstood their criticism.

When in doubt the Holy Names will sort it out!

Chant and talk with devotees close to the situation?


Thank you so much for tolerating the general way I am expressing the issue and my feelings.


Janardhan Swami said recently that our kids are our deities. Its hard to financially get by and do a lot of service right now. I am still chanting my rounds, and listening or reading/discussing scriptures with the kids. We’ve been focusing on listening to SB 9th canto Rama Lila pastimes and Lord Caitanya’s childhood pastimes the last 6 months. We will start the 10th canto and a unit on Krsna this summer. We seek your blessings with this endeavor because our body doesn’t seem to have a lot of energy to give these days. But preaching helps inspire us to do our Sadhana.

We have completed 2 project/art/drama based units on these pastimes with a general attendance of 6-10 kids in person and online. I try to stay absorbed in repeating these pastimes until I can appreciate how valuable and jewel like these Lilas are. Sometimes listening and re-listening seems to help us reflect on how we can qualify ourself to truly appreciate what is being given to us.


HpS - 👍

Such powerful medicine!


Murari Prabhu is busy tilling the land because it is a lot of river rock, and sand but he has managed to create garden areas despite desert terrain. Prabhu is chanting/doing puja and taking care of the kids while I work. I am full time taking care of the new teen in the house as well.

I’ve noticed that keeping a connection through whatever means possible with him had become an important service.

They need a lot of emotional shelter in such a confusing developmental stage.


When your well wishing gift and instruction was received 3 months ago we fully took shelter of your blessing and really tried to meditate on it.

Thank you so much Gurudev and please forgive us for not writing sooner. Moving with 6 people and acclimating to this little mountain town/forest and trying to build up our Sadhana and strength again was a lot.


Your gift made us feel like you believed in us and our ability to stay connected to Krsna.


We’ve tried our best to follow your instruction of writing about Krsna. If it’s ok, we would like to send you some disjointed prose short stories in a part two sequel to this letter.


HpS/ASA - 🐵 👍 👍


Always running behind you Gurudev eager to qualify ourself to serve you and Srila Prabhupada.


Tava pache pache!!


Your lowly servant,

Kamagayatri dd

Requesting your blessings and guidance

9 months, 3 weeks ago by madhumanjari in Personal Sadhana Reports

Hare Krishna Gurumaharaj.

Please accept my respectful obeisance and gratitude.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.


Pray this finds you well, and healthy in every aspect (as much it can be).


It was very inspiring, enlightening, and touching reading Balabhadra Prabhu's letter. I couldn't help, but some tears came out, it was out of appreciation for Balabhadra Prabhu's greatness and humility, being vulnerable, revealing his mind (oh Krishna, it is a precious gift, a Vaisnava treasure that he kindly is sharing with all of us).

My humble prayers to Krishna, may Sri Krishna reveal more and more of the sweetness of His heart to Balabhadra Prabhu and then, he can keep sharing with us, so we can chew that nectar too. Jai Srila Prabhupada!!


On the other hand, I wanted to let you know that finally, I got a ticket to Spain ( Sep 8th -Nov.25th) and then India (Nov 26th - Dec 30th), with your blessings may this plan take place..


HpS - We, agtSP, always remember a citation from the KRSNA book where Srila Prabhupada says that great devotees, like Narada Muni, go from different Holy Places to others and in route they meet and deliver many innocent people. So, while traveling   expect Krsna to send innocent people. Have literature. Peanut prasadam.

  1. We have to be pure: 16/4/FMS.
  2. Krsna will send innocent, curious, people.
  3. They have to be tolerant of mistakes in our preaching to understand what is the real situation of this material world.

There is another issue that I humbly request your guidance and blessings. My younger sister (Madhan Priya) who has been away from Krishna Consciousness, has shown some interest in reconnecting with devotees despite the challenges of her current circumstances; to encourage her and help her to reconnect with devotees, I am thinking of inviting her to visit Spain and spend some time with devotees while I will be there, and if you consider this appropriate, I could try to help her to do so and ask authorization to [from] H. H. Yadhunandana Swami for her to stay on the farm too. Maybe this can be an opportunity for her to regain faith and trust in devotees and Krishna Consciousness. Is this okay Gurumaharaj?


HpS/ASA - We don't know the details of the situation, but in general I think the New Vraja Mandala Yatra is great!!!

The only thing is that they have limited space to accommodate people so you have to be careful about that!

For yourself and her self, no?

I think Yugala kishora Dasi and Yasoda from Peru are coordinating that.


My parents passed away long ago and I haven't seen my siblings for almost 20 years, it seems that I won't be able to visit Peru soon, so if I can help to spark a bit of my siblings' spirituality and connection with Krishna, it would be a good fortune. I want to ask for your authorization to invite Madhan Priya to Spain and perhaps India if you consider it appropriate.


HpS - Again we don't know the details of the travel, her character etc. but in general it seems like a fine idea.

Ladies need to be a little tough and adventuresome to travel and stay in different places but some girls are like that, love it.

My Mother was that kind of person.


Thank you Gurumaharaj.

Ys,

Madhumanjari dd


HpS - Thank you!!! We pray that you can get free from all of your 'vasanas' from this life and previous lives. You seem to have been involved in Vedic culture for several life times.

Reporte de Medio Año

9 months, 3 weeks ago by Gadai in Personal Sadhana Reports

Todas las Glorias a Srila Prabhupada!!!


Hare Krishna Guru Maharaja, por favor reciba mis respetuosas reverencias, espero se encuentre bien.


Sigo en Huancayo, por lo pronto.

Salgo a Sankirtan solo 3 o 4 veces al mes.

Trabajo con un devoto por lo pronto y colecto algunas veces con la Astrología.

4 principios, 16 rondas y Mangal Artik 5 am.

Lectura del Krishna Book.


Me despido Guru Maharaja. Hare Krishna.


Gadai Gauranga Dasa.

=-=-=-=


All Glories to Srila Prabhupada!!!

Hare Krishna, Guru Maharaja, please accept my respectful obeisances, I hope you are well.


HpS/ASA - 👦 🐒🐒🐒 .. . 🐽 We are 97% dead. 🙂 Maybe just like you. It 🌞 is at 7.31PM. Body has some acid indigestion we are 55% deaf etc. Yet, we are being permitted to do some simple work in Srila Prabhupada's Sankirtan movement! Thank you for you letter.


I'm still in Huancayo, for now.

I go out for Sankirtan only 3 or 4 times a month.

I work with a devotee for now and collect sometimes with Astrology.

4 principles, 16 rounds and Mangal Artik 5 am.

Reading the Krishna Book.

I say goodbye, Guru Maharaja. Hare Krishna.


HpS - AgtSP. Thank you!!! Please turn all your activities into Sankirtan, no? If you do astrology, connect it to Sankirtan?

Hare Krsna!!!!!!!!!

Let us go to the next letter!

COme with us. Make comments as you see necessary.

Gadai Gauranga Dasa.

Personal Reflections

9 months, 4 weeks ago by balabhadra dasa in Personal Sadhana Reports

Hare Krishna Maharaja, please kindly accept my most humble obeisances; all glories to Srila Prabhupada; all glories to your good self, his devoted servant and disciple.

So many things have been going thru my mind since my last letter.


HpS/ASA - We, agtSP, have so, so, so...

................................................so, so,..... so, ... so.. many thoughts that go through our mind, no? In one nights sleep, so many dreams, morphing into different things!


I think about the temple every single day still. I think about the devotees there: wondering how they are doing, if they ever think of me. I think about the offenses that I must have committed in my past life (lives); offenses that have led to this current separation from devotees: such agonizing sadness.


HpS - Visit once a month on Sunday with your pitbull tied up outside with a water bol. [Hari Bol!]


I sit outside in my backyard in the evening hours. It's peaceful and quiet. I find myself reflecting on what kind of life I was living before I came to Krishna consciousness: lost, dazed and confused.

As a child I was often lonely and alone, walking along the deserted beaches of NY, wondering why I was born.

As a young adult I got lost in the hippy world of drugs, sex and rock n roll: always asking myself what I was supposed to do with my life.

As my youthful years continued to pass on, I became more and more scared of a bleak future. It was then that I came to Krishna consciousness.


ASA 💥

Now, I'm an old man...

ASA - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Remus

...with most of my adult years having been lived as a devotee.




These days I find myself feeling sad because I still don't know what is Krishna consciousness;


HpS - Ha! Ha! Ha! Most people never ask!

Of those who ask, most people stop asking or caring, no?



I still don't know what is happiness, or what is love.


HpS - You must know or you would not be thinking that you don't have it, no?

Do you miss not having PeaMeakey?


I can only understand that I am getting older, and death is coming closer with each passing moment.


HpS - Then you will get a new body! You will be a Major League baseball pitcher with thousands of fans. Girls smiling to get you autograph.

You will be rich and famous

and ???? never go to Church on Sunday!!!

All the root beer you can drink.

Nothing for worth lamenting??


Or maybe we will all be with Nimai in Nadiya???


Yes, I understand the Bhagavad gita because I read it daily, even as much as I read Srimad Bhagavatam, chant Hare Krishna every day and worship my Deities every single day.

But my realizations are extremely shallow at best, and offer little comfort as a result.

Coming to terms and accepting these facts makes me very sad and unhappy.


My greatest moment of comfort is in the early morning hours, doing my japa in the peace and quiet of my living room temple, with some soft flute ambiance.

How I wish that those mangala hours could hold back the rising sun which results in dogs barking and people rustling and hustling about, disturbing my thoughts and meditation.

There is some solace when I am reflective on my life during those warm evenings in my back yard.

The evening air is cooling and inviting, pacifying my mind. Too bad the darkness follows soon afterwards.


HpS - What about your Uber clients? Any talk with them about the Taste in Water, the Light of the Sun.. the..??


Whatever happened to those evenings when devotees used to come to our home and celebrate Krishna katha, kirtan and prasadam? Where are they all now, in my hour of need for their friendship and association? So sad that they are so close, and yet so far. Where and when did I go wrong? In the Bhagavad gita Krishna says "suhrdam sarva bhutanam." He is the ultimate friend; He hasn't left me: and yet this loneliness and sadness prevails in my heart. How is it that I didn't see this period of separation and sadness coming?


I could go on and on in this manner in this letter, but I will not because I do not wish to simply lament for the sake of lamentation in some mood of self-pity. I simply needed to share these thoughts with you because I literally have no one else to share them with. Please kindly bless us, my wife and I; and kindly forgive me for annoying you with my foolish sentiments and thoughts.


Your lowly servant,

Bbd



HpS - AgtSP. Paoho. Please talk with Niti-sara Das about what service you can perform at Banki bihari's Temple. What mistakes you should avoid and tell us the result!!

Remenbered Gurumaharaja

9 months, 4 weeks ago by Radha Japa in Personal Sadhana Reports

Remembered Gurumaharaja please accept my respectful obeisances at your lotus feet. all glories to Srila Prabhupada! All glories to my dear Gurumaharaja!       


   I hope You are in good health and always happy in Your wonderful awareness of our beloved Govinda.    


Please forgive me for taking so long to write to you. We were very sick with Dengue. Franco and Gopal got sick while I was still well so I was able to take care of them. but then he gave it to me. They were very intense pains... that made me think... it's not so bad to leave the body 😅 I thought it was a relief from so much pain that I felt. I didn't leave the house for a month. and happily I have already recovered.


HpS/ASA - AgtSP!! Paoho..... Death is the sum total of all possible bad experiences. Being a carrot is like having Dengue your whole life, no?



I was trying to make a nice letter for you but I always saw so many flaws in it that I never finished it. I hope to send it to you soon. This letter is only to inform you that I am still alive in this body and that I offer you my tolerance to pain and despite that by the mercy of him Gurudev I maintained my strict morning and evening sadhana and my beloved rounds and readings,etc.


HpS - When we do Mangala arati we forget we have disease.


   Also tell you that whenever I read a verse, whether in the morning or at night, something happens to me during the day that has to do with that verse that I read. I feel Prabhupada so alive... he is speaking to me... He is so wonderful and I feel so lucky to be able to read him and be eternally grateful for His sacrifice... that he made for us... ... I speak to Him in his photo thanking him a lot, asking you to allow me to follow you eternally and help you in your mission... I am still looking for my way on how to do it.  I think I am good at always preaching to new people and apparently that is my service. I still remember when you asked me: is his newsletter for devotees or for new people? . I think from the experiences I've had, I can say that he talks to new people.    I'm looking at how to lead the dance well with the wonderful verses from Prabhupada's books and the main idea of ​​what we do.  I also see myself as I have been slowly understanding Krsna consciousness.    


   I ask for Your blessings please Dear Gurudev to be able to help Srila Prabhupada in his mission... so many people are suffering a lot... it has been 12 years that I have been talking daily to people in Córdoba... and sometimes I just go on the bus and I have intuition to tell the person next to me. Do you like to read?  and they tell me yes or more or less... and I give them the vedabase. Then they tell me how you knew it was so bad and they start crying because they have a relative with cancer... I get a lot of stories like that... and I always thank Prabhupada for this knowledge that he gave us.                   


HpS - Amazing. Most everyone is suffering, but they don't show it publicly.


  Thank you Gurumaharaja for your sweet association in Peru... now I dreamed about you 4 times... and I can write to you... and I think... there will come a time when I write to you and you no longer respond to me... I still don't want to talk about you. He will leave us this year... but I must understand that I will be able to listen to him and serve him in my dreams, while I am in this body and eternally.                      


  Please forgive any offense in this letter.  Gopal my son turned 12 on MAY 15. Please ask for your wonderful blessings for Him. He wrote a message to you. Can I send it here in my next letter?


HpS - Sure!!


Please accept obeisances from Gopal, Franco and mine.          Without realizing it I deleted all the new WhatsApp chats... I hope I didn't delete his message. I was worried about that. I still haven't received Asa's number from him to give it to Franco.


HpS - We just WhatsApped our number to you!!


      In an old letter you ask me if I remember my previous birth... I don't think I remember anything. Sometimes I think I would like to know. maybe it helps me improve my service now. Should I investigate it?


HpS - Not necessary of regular Sankirtan and Meditations. Can make us more serious about our Yoga in this life!!


     trying to please his beautiful heart: Radha Japa Prati Jalpa Devi Dasi


P.D.Were you able to see the video offering to You that I made for Your vyasa Puja?


HpS/ASA - Yes. Dance on fire until the end, music (Hari Kirtan) is your only friend.


It's the song I did for Prabhupada. I sent it to you in writing on the last day of the celebration for Srila Prabhupada's disappearance. The audio of my voice still needs to be improved, but I wanted to offer it to you in His vyasa Puja.


HpS - Thank you! Send Art-Gopal! Lots... !

Maybe look at "peterdraws" on YouTube to get some communication skills. He has 1-million followers.

Be nice if they followed him to Nabadvip where Nimai is playing.

Sunday Morning ~ SB workshop on weekly reading on CC (June 30, 2024)

9 months, 4 weeks ago by upendra1 in Special Category A

Sunday Morning Srimad Bhagavatam workshop class, reading Sri Caitanya Caritamrta. On coming Sunday (July 07, 2024), we will continue reading CHAPTER Eight: Talks Between Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Rāmānanda Rāya, verses 8.272 onwards. We will be reading about another 20 verses


Thank you to H. G. Mitravinda Mataji for doing translation for class on June 30, 2024.


It is the mercy of Maharaja, to engage everyone in reading books of Srila Prabhupada.


HpS - Hare Krsna!!!


YS

Upendra dasa