Letters to the editor

Hare Krsna!

AGTSP!    Paoho.

6.15PM now.    Program tonight at NGD Ashrama starts at 7.30PM, so we have to leave around 7-7.15PM. What do we do with this one-hour? We have so many projects:

1. Transcribe Prabhupada's comments on Jungian philosophy in Dialectic Spiritualism.
2. Read Gerald Larson's commentary on the Sankhya Karika.
3. Write our Bi-annual Report to Tamohara Das
4. Write our Abstract for the Madras Bhagavatam Symposium...

Always, Sri Krsna Sankirtan is first, then Vidya vadu jivanam, Krsna will give us intelligence what to do. We put the Karika, the Dialectic etc on hold. Now we will work on editing Solaris English translation. We already have looked at translations of two articles and both need a lot of work. Claudio's more than Hector's. It is not easy translating these people. These people are all poetical.

Priorities. We have been pretty good apes today. A little bit too much sweets and milk. We aim to become more expert Goswamis, Goswaminis.

This morning from 6-7.30AM was the Latin American MOE meeting. We hosted it at Start Meeting.com. It was very effective. The dates for the next Latin American Symposium on education and the content are getting practically defined. The efforts to get Latin Educators into a Database has been very successful. One hundred are there and even statistics are now available.

At the end we were able to catch Rama-giri-dhari Das and he was able to join for about 10-minutes. It was worth $1,000,000. Afterwards we talked with him individually and he commented that he often thought how much he would have participated in this Ministry work if we hadn't been on the team and his conclusion was alwasy, "A whole lot less, thank you", but we can all do much more.

So, now lets look at the mail. Write a quick letter to Tamohara Das. Chant three more rounds and celebrate Radha-astami with the Murfreesboro Yatra.

Hare! Hare!

Hare Krsna.

We stayed up until 12.15PM last time and so didn't get up so early. We did that because we were lonely and were reading things about peoples lives and adventures. It is normal. We are learning how to have Krsna as our life and family. We already know to some degree.

One time we were in India, like 1984, our second time, and we had been staying in Vrndavana Temple with Krita-karma Das, our friend, who was General Manger for the Temple. Then we took off to go to Lucknow to visit Nitai-gaura-sundara and his family. He had sent us the address and dates, but then at the last minute, train coming, we discovered that we had lost them. KKD said: Chant Hare Krsna. Krsna will arrange  everything.

So off we went, not knowing where we were going, with evil looking men smoking Bidis and with knives hanging from their belt looking at our luggage. Well we got to Lucknow in the afternoon on a Second Class sleeper train, that Jules Vernes took when he went "Around the World in 80-days".

Then we didn't have the slightest idea where to go. Well, at least we could go to Naimisaranya. It was near by. So we walked out onto the street with our Sannyasis luggage and after some time we learned that the local name for Naimisaranya was Nimsar. Then we understood in, 75% Hindoo, that buses left in the morning and it was like 4.30PM, so one Rickshaw walla who looked 65% honest indicated that he would take us to "First Klass HOtel". Off we went.

It was a kind of simple place at the edge of a market district, like a guest house with trees, patio, rooms here and there, more than any kind of hotel. It was like run by some family. We negotiated a simple, 77% functional, room with the 25-year old, little surley, manager and the Ricksha walla got some cut of the payment. Then he carried our bag to our room and then by interesting Indian hand gestures asked if wanted a female companion to play chess with. We were surprised that he would ask someone in Saffron cloth such a thing, but we said, "No".

Then we were all alone and wondering if we would be killed in the night for our luggage. We took Lord Nrsmha-deva out of our box, and established Him pretty well. Then we sang Gaura arati and did some mental Puja for him and the manager's friends started practicing their rock band across the patio, and we felt loneliness and terror surrounding us, but we looked at Lord Nrsmha-deva and felt His friendship and company.

Well, dark out and nothing to eat, so we went for a walk to the market. It was really busy. Found an open air sweet shop and bought "100 grams of Milk-Cake". People were looking at us with sane attention while drinking milk-tea.

Then we found a Hanuman Temple and rang the bells as we walked in and out like others. One man approached us and said: Hare Krsna!   I am ISKCON Life Member. You are ISKCON? Why are you here?  You are British?

So, we talked for some time and I went back to the room and offered the Milk Cake to Lord Nrsmha Deva. He shared it with us and we had a little island of sanity with now father, mother, wife, kids or neighbors.

At the time of death we are all alone. We get very morose, but we can have friends who have both material and spiritual bodies, whose material body relations will lead us to transcendental relations.

It is just like developing a friendship with the person next to you in the Theater. They are not a part of the movie, but they are in the Cinema House. After you leave the Cinema with them they want you to work for them.

O.K. We answered the one URGENT letter.

Now we will answer a few more.

Today was a good day!

FMP with ART, CMDD, MvDD, YkD, NkbD ...   Emily ...   PKD ...   NOD was about Shanta Rasa. We got some of that. We gotta get association and move ahead!

Then fresh juice for Lord's breakfast. Japa. BG-12 Tpp. Nap. Clearing brush from around the pear tree in the back. Lot of it. Hard work. We have a little poison ivy rash on our skin from cleaning up poisnon ivy site a few days ago, but it is like 5% of what we got last time. We are winning the war. Think the work cloths need to be washed in a washing machine.

Then had the enthusiasm to call Dr. Samaresh. Call went through on Reliance the second try. It was 10PM his time. 11.30AM our time. We had a very, very good discussion about Radhika's Conference in Madras the 7th-10th of January, our book publication, South America, Sankhya book.

Then I called Radhika right after that and communicated from Dr. Samaresh. He was worried that his son, Purusottama wanted to get into dance, but that would mean like 90% association with women, so I suggested that he might try Tai Chi. He said he never thought of that and would look for a world famous Tai Chi Master in Logan, Utah. We worked on the tickets to India in December etc.

Cooked my Lord's Sunday Feast: Sweet Rice, Halavah, fresh Celery.

Honored Prasad, read a page of Jerald Larson's Samkhya, Three rounds, three rounds, three rounds, Tweeting all the time. Another nap (we will become cats in our next life).
Then working on our Sankirtan Post that we are developing by the sidewalk. It has little New-papers that we are writing and photo-copying and hanging in plastic bags for the interesting people that pass by.
Then some transcribing of "Dialectical Spiritualism" of Prabhupada on Jung. NGD called. He is a very good friend. They are having nice program this weekend in Kentucky. I didn't know until Friday they were going.

Vijaya (73-years old) and his wife called yesterday to ask us to dinner, but we had "Saturday Night Live" and they had other guests tonight, "Some other time".

Washed and ironed our clothes. Talked with Upendra about next BhVaibhava Cantos.

While we were bush-wacking a nice old guy in his pick-up (300,000 miles) pulled up and asked if we wanted to sell Rtadhvaja Swami's mothers, 1993 Cutlass. We were just talking very seriously about it with NGD and Tandavika because it is really starting to fall apart, even though it still has some good life in it, look for a pick-up truck.

He had another one just the same as ours that he had resurrected and then someone smashed into it so he was looking for the same year car. Krsna's arrangement??!!

Well that was today. Now it is 8PM.

We write out all these details because we are supposed to be a "Guru" and some people are supposed to be our "Disciples" following Prabhupada in some ways, so that you will know what kind of media we are to connect you to Prabhupada. 

Now we need a little Prasad from Lord and go to market to look for water bottle and see some people, otherwise we have not had much physical association for Brother Ass today.

Answer a few letters!   Hare Krsna!   Hare Krsna.
Read the KRSNA book!

Thank you!

(Our legs itch and burn a little)

Hare Krsna,

AGTSP!   Paoho.   How are you?  It is 31-degrees celcius, about 91-degrees farenheit, here. About 50% humidity. If we sit directly in the fan on the porch, or use our little, mobile, air-conditioner to cool down one little room in our dilapidatred mobile home then we can tolerate it, but is is tough.  Of course, guys in Africa who eat once a week have it tougher.

There are so many more miseries, no?    We, you, could start listing the things that are bothering us: Heat, cold, insects, cuts and bruises, social cruelty...  but if we just chose to smile in every situation, Hare Krsna!  Then amazingly it all looks O.K.

This place is designed as a place of austerity and we are trying to enjoy it (I have a few more options).  When we see it for our purification and a chance to teach others to engage in scientific austerities, then it all makes sense.

We see our religious institution, Mormons, Evangelicals... have theirs, having so many problems, our local branch has so many problems, but something that we have seen while we have been traveling all over the world, for years, and decades, is that if you just get up early and have a full morning program, chant good rounds, four principles, do Sankirtan to the best of your miserable ability, when the day is done, the week's visit is done, there will be definite, tangible improvement every time. We will have definitely take strength from the Witch's hands and helped people make eternal progress back to Goloka, where Krsna really needs our help.

Today was better than yesterday. We could really say that it has been the best day in a series of improving, days over our whole devotional career. We live alone. We have money. We can go to the Super-Market and buy 1,000,000 different items for sense gratification: Ready to bake apple pies, and canned whip-cream, and three kinds of ice cream and ...

... but we don't (well a little (frozen orange juice (condensed milk sometimes))), this means we are advancing.

We fall into orange juice and condensed milk (what's your problem? Gossip and political dealings?  Movies?) not just because we are evil, but also because they satisfy sane desires that we have no sane way of satisfying. We need strong protein. Prabhupada said that Western devotees in India could take Paneer, cheese, daily. Indians, he said once a week. Of course, you are going to die a quicker Western death, but that may be unavoidable. In some cases we have to just give things up, but really it is usually just finding the real desire that is being pervertedly satisfied and looking for a better source of satisfaction. Of course, this is the material world, so there will always be some imperfection, which of course is one of its perfections.

Did our Samkhya reading today, answered mail, heard the Hawaii class, gardening, cooking for Lord Nrsmhadeva, preparation for BG class tomorrow, SB class on Thursday, talked for one hour with Miguel Polo and Abhirama Thakura over internet about the NIOS programs in Peru etc.

Tweeted about it all.

O.K.  Was a really good day.   Can we keep up this pressure?  We can die trying?  Don't expect us, we don't expect you, to live a long time. This one week may be it. Don't try to live a long life, try to live a useful life, no?

O.K. Pack up. NGD will be calling. It is 6.15PM now. Then off for our evening walk. Fill our water bottle.

Hare Krsna!  Hare Rama!

Lot of work to do.

Priorties = Vaidhi bhakti.  Regular schedule is part of priorities, but we must review them again and again.

Thank you so much for your association.
Very intense thoughts about NIMSAR in Peru in the letter to/from Laksmana agraja Das.

Hare Krsna!
AGtSP!!!    paoho.....    I am tired. I have a headache. We want to see Krsna.

Funny (Ha!   Ha!    Hurray!), He wants to see us also. He has the most amazing things to tell us about different things that are developing in Braja, but we gone off in this Blue Cloud, looking a Maya and totally forgetting the least thing about the Spiritual World which is staring us in the face on all sides.

Everyone is looking at us, with amazed consternation and humour, "We told him not to look at that flower, "the external energy". When will he snap out of it so we can get back to work. Such a funny flower.

4.48PM

Our rose bush had buds that have now blossomed.
Does Candra-mukhi Devi Dasi and her sister and mother have a garden? Do you? It takes almost no space. Then you can offer flowers and peas to your Lord Nrsmha-deva, Balarama-Subhadra-Jagannatha. . .

Hare Krsna. Hare Rama >>>========>
R(20)...

Hare Krsna.

We could get really depressed really easy. We face the same challenges as you all. It is 7.00PM. It is almost dark outside. Definitely dark in our cave.    Good thing is our little air-conditioner is working enough to keep it cool enough to write. 95* outside this room.

NGD is the center of our real Vaisnava association here, and we have been immersed in ritual festivals the last two days and this evening he is drowing with rounds to catch up so we are alone in this Big, Impersonal, World.  (Boo Huu Huu!).

Actually a lot of it is that it is dark, our stomach is not pumping energy and we are alone.

After this letter we will go to Wal-Mart and look for a jar. There will be light and many people there and we can look at over 1-million Gismos and chant our last six rounds. With the hope of developing our eternal relations with all of our Sankirtan partners today, tommorrow and during the next year.

Janmastami was the best we ever had. Of course, previous ones have individual events that were also perfect, but this one was the best. We did hard, hard, hard physical labor for 3-hours planting a pear tree and a rose bush. That kept our senses fully active. (We hit a big hard root and had to remove it). Then the evening program was very nice with 20-minutes Kirtan, 20-minutes Reading and 20-minutes Japa for about two hours. After that more devotees and guests came and so we had to accomodate their attention with more culturally oriented programs. Also, we gave the Hawaii Janmastami SB class. There is very elevated peer association there.

On Janmastami we take a little milk at midnight, stash as much Maha-prasadam as we can get, and then take it after Mangala-arati. The sun hasn't risen so the fast for Srila Prabhupada hasn't started then. There was way, way, way too much chili in the offerings for us and we were suffering a lot from that, but made some adjustment with milk and cookies for Srila Prabhupada's feast.

We would have liked for people to chanted differently etc. but we expect that maybe until we get to Goloka we may still find imperfections in the Kirtan's etc as far as we are concerned.

We can smile. We can laugh at the Witch. We are doing practical work for Krsna.

Don't become depressed and try to drown your sorrows in Burfee or Mango-nectar.

I don't think we will answer anymore mail tonight. It is mostly practical and nothing practical can be done after 8PM.    O.K.  Chanting Japa, going out the the Bright City Lights.
Krsna book.

See you tommorrow!

Best of wishes for your Gaura-Sankirtan work!

Hare
Krsna!
AGTSP

paoho...  5.51PM here.  Our pre-mangala arati, CC reading took us to Antya 17.54, and that took us to Krsna, Dharma's Mahabharata at Vedabase.com where we are looking for the story of Pingala the prostitute, or cortesan, as some might say.

Then we got a call from Rama-giridhari Das right after FMP, 5.45AM, so we talked for about 1/2-hour, but we are all so busy with Janmastami celebration that we couldn't deal with all the details. Monday we will talk again. Was there a Latin American Educator's meeting last Friday? Did we miss it?  When is the next one?

Then we got sucked into gardening and trimmed two hedges. One is where the poison ivy is. It looks like 91% of it has gone to Goloka from the Poison we used, but it is still dangerous. We thinki we will buy two fruit trees on Janmastami. They are only $25 now.

Visala Das called six times and we called back. He wants to join the Start Meeting class tommorrow. We worked on the Powerpoint Show for that and the same one for tommorrow night.

Then we got final word from Subal Sakha in Richmond so we worked out the calendar and bought the tickets and posted the accounts!  That takes time.

Then we are here. Ready to go to NGD's home for BG class. It is hot, like 35*.

Tom Daigle called and we discussed changes in Prabhupada's books.

O.K. Let's look at the mail!
(Oh, one girl came selling ATT cable service and we told her we didn't use it but gave her a "book from  India".)