Dear Guru Maharaj, please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Personal Sadhana:
4 Regulations: Following nicely.
16 rounds: Was not good but continued to chant irregular rounds.
Reading: Started reading more regulated manner.
HpS - Regularity is the most important eg. little Lilamrta during breakfast every day. Little CC before Mangala arati. You become addicted!
My most important activity which is chanting was not done well for several reasons like health, major distractions, got sucked into investment into Bitcoin related which took out all my energies throught-out the year and caused derailment of senses.
HpS - Did you learn a deep lesson? Sometimes I saw that I was getting deviated, got deviated, and had to separate from the situation for sometime to get back on track, but then usually we could avoid that particular trick of Maya in the future.
I am balancing again with specific goals using proper tools to track every day.
I have added reading Bhagavad Gita shlokas 10 to 15 every day last few months. Started memorizing 1 shloka with translation too, per week (started recently). And chanting 1 round at the dot of the hour by phone notification. I am hopeful to pull myself up to be a good chanter. Health was a major concern at work bcoz was unable to participate in group meetings due to hyper acidity thru out the day.
HpS - Amazing. You must have kicked a dog or something in a last life to get this incurable acid thing.
Attending temple but only for kirtans due to the same health reason and unable to attend live classes. Plan to regularly hear Srila Prabhupada lectures (Google Home has play feature request, "play Hare Krishna Lectures", which plays 24 hours Prabhupada lectures).
HpS - Vaikuntha. Hearing from Prabhupada! Then the heart becomes pure then you can hear from within!!!
Priyanarma Padmavathi DD wanted me to post on her behalf.
She has been chanting 16 rounds successfully with minor letups. Busy with kids managing them alone in Hyderabad, India. She has not been doing much reading as such I think. Solely keeping up the chanting and not much of other KC services including association. We have Gaur Nitai deities and offering them some service. I could not set them up for devotee association when in India bcoz i could not attend home programs due to my weird health issues. So they are like we will go only if you go and in India the only access to KC is home programs. Temples are far call due to distance and time and traffic.
HpS - First priority, Kirtaniya sada harih, four principles, healthy morning program... get up (to bed) early and get your rounds done.
your servant
Kolavecha Sridhar Das.
HpS - It is so nice to hear from you. We realize that you have BIG challenge in staying in Sattva guna with the body problems you have, but you can make a little island of goodness in your heart, then even if you are superficially in Tama guna externally it will be related to Krsna. Eg. Jayananada Das was a mechanical engineer, working with gross matter, grease, steel, but he worked on the Rathyatra cart, not Air Force One. It is Balarama. Cutting, painting is touching the body of Lord Balarama!
More!