Hare Krishna, Guru Maharaja. Please accept our humble obeisances and all glories to Srila Prabhupada!

Maharaja, I heard today in class that you will be coming to Boise in August. Please let us know what we can do. Buy your plane ticket, arrange programs...

HpS - A thought. Maybe.... Many things needed to accomplish that. Make it useful. At least we can have online anniversary of Deity installation!

The Boise temple is surviving. We are in a transitional phase in terms of leadership as you probably know.

My services are increasing all the time and I’m trying to maintain balance in all aspects. I definitely feel like a monkey or a dog in devotee dress. An imposter trying to get by, hoping no one will notice. Ultimately trying to know my own shoe size.

Maharaja, Anadi “my” wife has been doing 6 Mungal [Mangala] arti pujari services a week among many other services and her back is giving out. She’s been in so much pain that she could no longer do them and we have no one else here at the moment to do the services so I have been covering her services on the alter. I have had very little training and it’s been very intimidating and stressful but also very blissful. Please give us your blessings in regards to this temporary arrangement.

Maharaja, what are your requirements for second initiation? I have not completed my Bhakti Sastri yet.

HpS - Basically that you have come to a Brahminical level by your service. [https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/18/42/]. Find Brahma muhurta useful. Regular Japa. Reading for purification and to acquire knowledge. Bh Sastri is not required but in general good.

We have a lot of small libraries or big mail box kind of things in our neighborhood. They say leave a book take a book. We’ve been putting a lot of small Prabhupada books https://www.janisjoplin.net/life/quotes/in them steadily for the last few months and books are going and not coming back. Is this okay to distribute books like this? It almost seems too easy.

HpS - I remember one funny monolog by Janis Joplin (what do you think of this: https://www.janisjoplin.net/life/quotes/) where she asks her doctor about her drinking habits and her black doctor says, "Honkey you doin, juz fine". What you describe seems just the same: Nitisara Das, you doin juz fine! Keep it up.

I am excited about this Diary of a Traveling Creature: The last trip. I would love to serve the project in some way. I have many song ideas and access to a very nice recording studio here in Boise. But I want to go where I am needed so please let me know how I might be best suited for this if I am at all. A good old close friend is writing screen plays for Hollywood films now. He says it all depends on who you know and what big actors and actresses you can get. He may be able to help the project in someway.

Also, I personally know a man named Jonathan Taplin. He was the manger for The Band, produced the concert for Bangladesh with Goerge Harrison, produced Martin Scorseses first film, I believe he was a professor at Berkeley for some time, he’s also written some successful books on music history and releasing music in the modern world. Anyway, I’ve worked with his son on three full length albums and have a good connection to him. He is God conscious and may be able to help as well.

HpS -Super. Tomorrow we can look at Ambarisa/Vrsabhanu's work and see if our perspective is up on Youtube. What you are saying fits so well into what we want to do.

Welcome to:

Hari Wood

I really appreciated what you said a few months ago when you were talking about Gandhi the film. “Movies happen because God wants them to” I am keeping this in mind as I am trying to release another album and struggling and almost giving up.

Maharaja, please forgive me if I am wasting your time here. I also have faith and trust that you don’t waste your time.

But please let me know if any of this is useful to you.

I know that my main service to you is to chant my rounds enthusiastically, follow the principles strictly and rise by 4am to do morning program. I have so long to go just to improve these services so this is what I’m trying to focus on and prioritize.

Your classes continue to give me hope and inspiration and get me through almost every work day. Thank you Maharaja for having mercy on me and giving me such a clear connection to this most highest philosophy.

We hope and pray that we may see you in August. Please let us know what we can do to facilitate.

your aspiring servant,

-Nitisara das

P.S. Thank you so much for your letter. We relished every word and illustration. We have been discussing your question about Gandhari. Was she a good mother to Duryodhana? Is this a question of following Vedic culture verses following Vaishnava principles? How do we understand?

ASA -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EENh1hxkD6E

30.04 - 33.04

105.39 - (108.05) - 109.08

Some ideas. SP only gives a few comments about her as we know. So many characters, men and women, in the Maha-bharata seem to be like us, devotees with material attachments, going through strong experiences to get free from them.