Hare Krsna Maharaja,
Please accept my humble obeisances at your apple blossom feet,
ASA - agtsp. our obeisances to you.
AGTSP.
I hope your health is doing well maharaja, I'm still here trying to sort out my own 16/4, as well as pre-med at BSU. Luckily I have been able to rise everyday to serve our deity's in the morning to cook; and take the remnants. There is some questions though I wanted to ask you as I'm unsure of what to do.
1. My oldest sister is still keeping meat in the kitchen (soup packets, chicken broth, canned meat, etc..) She has her own utensils for cooking on the stove but they've eventually interlaced with our cooking utensils over time (in the name of carelessness..). I'm not sure if anything I cook is sanctified... .. My father won't due much out of affection for her though!
2. In the Dhama; my little brother (Ryan/Narayan) was doing much seva at the Prabhupada & RM mandir, the vaishnava Pujari's gifted him several more deitys to the point where I was asking him what deity he was given each day (hahah..). [2 JBS deitys, 2 Gaura-Nitai Deitys, Pancha-Tattva set, 3 RK deitys, several Shila Giraja's, 2 Ladoo-gopals and a Nrsimhadeva deity] I was quite pulling my hair out (and still am) because they require a great standard by pure brahmana vaisnava's only. We had to leave many of them behind in the dhama to rest at our apartment when coming back to the states.
Here, right now, we still have my original JBS deity's, Gaura-Nitai, ladoo-gopal, A Shila or two (?), and a RK deity [On closet shelves, next to the bathroom..] Now I've heard from what Srila Prabhupada said that Gaura-Nitai will accept all offenses even in a household of meat-eaters, but I'm definitely worried for the RK, Ladoo-Gopal and Shila's about the meat & sanctity of used utensils (JBS have always been merciful through the worst though). I was planning of packing them away "to rest" essentially (inside our deity box..) until better conditions arrive. However my little sister is very attached to them; if I try to convince her it's probably for the better (cause were just not that high-standard) she refuses. I don't want to neglect the situation and still feed the guilt, What do you think maharaja??
ASA - AGTSP. paoho.... you should only worship gaura nitai if there is meat in the house as you describe. Keep the other Forms clean and safe and worship them at festivals in the temple.
3. What can we do about cow slaughter? It hurts to see them tortured worldwide in the most hellish of circumstances I can imagine. Is it really each cows Karma??
ASA - Yes...
I've just eaten them all my life, and still just sit here comfortably sleeping & eating. Even dog, pig, chicken,(and now HORSE) slaughter.. etc.
ASA - The more you do Sankirtan, the more you help them in the most practical way. Hear more, preach more!!!
So I also hope your health is doing well, I was very happy to see you last time you blessed us with your presence here in Boise on Ratha-Yatra. I apoligize if I was acting particularly stupid when talking. Maybe if I actually tried rising at mangal-arati everyday I could get all my rounds done. Oh, I wanted to say on Animal Experiences in the Dhama, that my little brother NaRayan had a Nutella Crepe wrapped up in some paper from one of the prasadam stalls one morning, while him and my parents were walking back home they were cutting behind the Govinda's restaurant and watching some BIG monkeys (Hanuman monkeys I think?? They were pretty scary though!) when suddenly one of the big leaders dropped from a tree and sprinted towards my brother and put one hand on his prasadam-breakfast and another on his arm while hissing. They got in a slight tug of war (all the while my father yelling "GIVE HIM IT, DROP IT!!") until the monkey took the crepe and proceeded to throw it on the ground and devour it with all the other monkeys. My brother was shaken pale-white, but he was O.K., although he lost his prasadam that morning. hahaaha, Jaya.
ASA-Bhavananda Das told me that Prabhupada told him, that sometimes, some of the 'Hanuman' monkeys go into villages and rape small girls! Let's get out of here soon!!!
I'm missing Mayapur dhama and it's cows & dogs now, maybe one day In this body I can come back and serve there for you instead of come to just enjoy..
your fallen servant,
Bhakta Reilly (Reilly M. Grindle)
ASA - Write down when you are getting up. Make a simple graph and look at it. Improve it.