Bhakti vaibhava, Croatia Sankirtan Report
Dear Guru Maharaja, please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
You wrote: HpS - AGTSP! Oh, dinosauro of Middle East, so nice to hear from you. Maybe is Window's 10, conflict then. We can live with it. Just takes more work. Guess it will be resolved. This Blog is so nice.
What are you doing!!!? Sankirtan. No news. You can see what we are doing (dying (Sankirtan)).
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Yes, Blog is nice. Very useful for sharing ideas and informations, staying in email-touch. Thank you Guru Maharaja and Prahlad Nrsimha prabhu.
In the meantime of waiting what is going to happen with BhVai program, I read Bhagavad Gita, Jaiva Dharma, Teachings of Lord Caitanya, and then continued with Srimad Bhagavatam. Finished 7th Canto and starting 8th, maybe not with specific study as we were doing in BhVai, but strong regular reading. I almost forgot about Narada Muni's previos life (one before being maidservant's son) which he personally described.
HpS - Well, we publish in the Kapi Dhvaja, that we are having, always the regular Saturday morning classes. We go back to what we personally really want to accomplish. Pada-padma, Cantos One and Two, well developed, is one of those things. So now we are trying to develop community each Saturday morning for those things.
Then Srivasa, San Jose, Upendra, Srinivasa, everyone wants to go ahead with Cantos 7-12, even without Bh. BVai diplomas, so I have been suggesting maybe we can make an arrangement with Mayapura Institute, to join them as Study Partners and become registered as on line Bhakti Vedanta students as a group. Then we can work out times for physical meetings and use their administration and curriculum and help them to develop it.
What you think. Others think it might be good idea.
The higher education in ISKCON is very much pioneering. It is only go on with personal committment by everyone, especially you. You have a lot of qualifications to help!
As some other Blog followers, I too followed Hrdayananda das Goswami on tour of Israel and Europe by watching the recordings on Youtube. I am inspired by his preaching and ideas. Maharaja surely gives food for thought. You mentioned something about him in a letter to Raghava Pandita.
HpS - Yes, he is very nice devotee. We agree with about 81% of his perspective. Of course, other devotees like other leaders. It is natural, no?
From when I came back to Pula (16 years ago), between our small local devotee community there were (are) a dozen children. Somehow, we never got a program for them. Last Nrsimha Caturdasi, as the initial bhajans finished and a lecture started, I heard the children (3 of them) playing, jumping and screaming in the another room. I got inspired to go and be with them. I asked one mother if it is OK that I go and do something with the children. She agreed. So, I went to the room and asked if they want to hear about Nrsimadeva and Prahlada. They said "YES!". I told them the story, intertwining philosophical points of Krsna consiousness. Later parents told me that the children were very happy with the time I spent with them and with what they heard. Parents were also very grateful. And I was also enlivened by how all the situation came about and how children asked intelligent questions which made me aware of necessity to dive deeper into KC. ie more surrender). Now, we have program with the children during a Sunday program lecture. It is once a month, taking in consideration that before neither parents not children were coming regulary for Sunday program. During Gaura arati kirtan children chant, dance and jump happily.
HpS - The average Mormon boy decides by 12-years old that he is going to do two years of missionary work after college!
Krsna-ksetra Maharaja and Smita Krsna Maharaja blessed us with their visit to our local temple. That was nice and sweet, too.
We went to Ratha Yatra in Rijeka (Croatia) and there tried to pull Krsna to Vrindavan and specifically to turn our hearts back to Him, after insolently leaving Him with the idea of becoming self-centered King of the world.
Big challenge in life is how to balance (not sure if this is the right word) sadhana with other duties as husband, son, citien of Croatia, ISKCON member... How to chant minimum 16 nice japa rounds, attentively study SP's books, do puja, be/stay clean outside and inside, and work for livelihood which entails mingle with persons, offices, bosses who (for the time being) are satisfied with their material way of life.
HpS - Later it becomes achintya-bheda-abheda-tattva. We see how all these things intimately relate to our service and we can mix them very well, but until we come to that point, Bh V Thakura says that we have to "balance" them. One nice balance I heard is that morning is for Spiritual Life, daytime is for making money (with both arms and both feet!), and evening time is for enjoying - goodness, passion, ignorance. If morning program is strong then the other two parts of the day are FOR Krsna also, no?
Another challenge is to percieve Krsna in all living entities, devotees too :-)
Naturally, it all depends on fine program of japa and abiding to devotional regulative principles.
Please, excuse me, I am not writing on the Blog more often. You say many times that eyes, legs and heart pain you. And you are occupied with many other letters so I feel like I do not want to burden you.
Somebody kindly shot and I am attaching few photos of a wandering jiva who is trying to consciously stand on his spiritual legs.
Thank you Guru Maharaja.
Your servant Namacarya das
HpS - Super nice letter! Please write more as necessary. Maybe join us on Saturday morning! Next week Candra mukhi Devi Das will tell us about the new Diary of Draupadi that was found in the ruins of M. Yuddhisthira's palace in Dehli!
