appreciation makes perfect.

One morning silence overcame me as I was taking my breakfast. This beautiful painting of Lord Buddha captured my eyes. I was blessed with the vision of Lord Buddha as being a Person who was most contemplative and compassionate. My gaze could not be removed from His face. I saw the face of Lord Krishna, Lord Chaitanya, Srila Prabhupada and my own personal spiritual guide. I began to cry as I remembered a lecture about the Lords Avatars. In that lecture Lord Krishna's most compassionate self was glorified as being a Personality who would give up the opulences of the spiritual world and accept the clothes of a mendicant just to deliver the fallen souls.

Lately I have been meditating upon Krsna Consciousness being the path of appreciation. We don't love Krsna. We didn't do anything to deserve Him. Often we didn't even ask Him to be in our lives. Some how or another He is there. The goal of every activity possible in this existence is Lord Krishna. Is there anything left for us to do? The perfection of any activity lives with us now. What is there left to do? All that we can do is simply perform all of our activities with the mood of appreciation not with the aim of attaining something. Krsna only lacks the love of our human hearts. Hearts which He knows are filled with so many unwanted things. Yet the Lord eagerly desires for you to notice Him. He knows you don't love Him. He knows how attracted you are to this wonderful world and how busy you are trying to live. Compassionately, His love for you is not dependent up on your reciprocation. Accepting His love and trying to show your appreciate for His love is our life. It is a Krsna Conscious life and as repeated to me again and again this summer, "Enthusiasm in one's service is the display of one's intent to Love Krsna."

somethings in life are useful.

In one dirgha breath I say.......
Today, in two different confirmations, I realized that anything that happened to me in life will be referenced in service. Specifically as a "teacher" any attempts for purification or any struggles I travel through will be referenced to assist others who go through he same difficulties. I am now more eager to conquer those most formidable enemies, push my edges, break through barriers, and to compassionately self observe myself so I can have the realizations to share with others on the same path. You know, like that Gandhi story about the sugar, the boy, and the weeks worth of time before Mahatma said, "boy, stop eating sugar."

Today, Naren Prabhu, Chase Prabhu and I went to Sri Venkateshvara temple in Pittsburgh and had special darshan of the Lord's flower outfit. I spent alot of time with Sri Andal devi. She was easily approachable. This is a photo which I illegally took to show all of you. This is the month where she is culturally honored.


http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/alvars/andal/

Pretend I just called you....

Pretend I just called you and you ask how I'm doing and I blurt out with an uncontrolled tongue....

Ive been in New Vrindaban for a week. Seven days in New Vrindaban makes one weak. I have not eaten one fresh vegetable or fruit since Ive been here. No salads nothing alive(if you are what you eat does that make me dead or fried). Ive eaten more wonderfully fried and sugary delectables than I ever could imagine. Not because I am a glutton but because those are my options. Fasting seems like a wonderful alternative. Water is the freshest thing I get here. Its bottled and shipped in from another state. I did get the inside scoop though, Jaya Prabhupada our resident cowboy has an amazing spring on his land. He is going to start refilling my bottles. I don't mean to sound negative but its true. I feel sleep deprived and physically tired. Waking up at 4, dressing the deities, morning program, yoga, cooking rajbhoga, and eating lunch. By 1 pm I'm a dead guy. Then I have to try to chant my rounds, work on various projects which need to get done asap, reading and preparing lectures, and talking to every friend devotee which I haven't seen in a month or longer and each asks, "how are you doing? you look tired." Then somehow or another if there is any energy left in this little body I put my ipod in my ears and start to sweep and mop the hallways. Then between 10:30pm and midnight I lay my head on my yoga mat and try to sleep. Today I woke up for mangal aarti but didn't go down stairs. I just hid in my room and chanted not feeling up to playing mridanga and singing any songs. I didn't leave the ashram until 12:30 when I went to see the cows and wash my clothes. I took pictures of potential spots for the desired Yoga studio and analyzed the possibilities of converting the Santee House into a sustainable eco house and cafe. Then I ate really spicy pasta, hung my clothes on the line, spoke with Gauranga Kishore Prabhu who had great news for me from Mumbai, taught Kamalavati how to edit movies(she did a great job!), ate some mahaprasad brownies and cashews with Soma Prabhu, mopped and swept the hallways(hope no one slips and dies), now I'm speaking to you. The conch shell is about to blow and I should go since I havent attended any temple functions today. Im not the best example wearing my dickies and hoodie, but it is a sure way to get out of having to give class to our guests when you are not in the mood of being a sadhu(or pretending to be).

by the way, Sri Sri Radha Vridaban Chandra are so beautiful they are waiting for you to come and see them.

An Expert Presentation about Your Life!

http://www.storyofstuff.com/index.html

Gita Jayanti!

I hope all of you have a great Gita Jayanti. Im taking the "Chinese Bus" tomorrow after early morning Bikrams from Philly to NYC. I'll visit Eddie Sterns Ashtanga Yoga Studio to assist with their Gita Jayanti celebration.

http://www.ayny.org/puja.php

The studio cares for two altars. Sri Ganesha is cared for by Eddie Stern and Sri Sri Radha Damodar is cared for by HG Kaustubha Prabhu. Since both the Transcriber and the Speaker of Bhagavad Gita reside in the studio they are holding a nice celebration in honor of Srimad Bhagavad Gita. There is word that both HG Vaishesika Prabhu and HG Dravida Prabhu will be there. If anyone is in the NYC area please stop in!

Recently I have been in great appreciation for the New Translation of Bhagavad Gita by Garuda Prabhu(ACBSP). I highly recommend it for personal reading and gift giving. The essays in the back are very enlightening. Purchase it on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Bhagavad-Gita-Beloved-Lords-Secret/dp/0060754257/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198074245&sr=1-1

If you are looking for music to inspire you or someone else to read Bhagavad Gita purchase the song "Sojourn of Arjuna" from Bela Fleck via the Itunes Store.

http://www.apple.com/search/ipoditunes/?q=bela+fleck+sojourn+of+arjuna

a slideshow

I guess every three months I will post something.

This is a picture of a picture of HH Radhanath Swami. Soon I hope to post pictures and stories of my recent travels and study of Yoga(asana) on the East coast over the past month. The picture has its origin in my life on the very day that I left New Vrindaban for my December travels. A close friend sent me a gift package with a yoga bag, a bead bag, some organic candy and this picture of Maharaja which was nicely framed. As I left the mail man came and he had the package! It was a nice blessing while I hit the road alone and nervous as to what laid in store. Maharaja so lovingly(tolerating my quick turns and singing out loud) accompanied me for the last thousand miles of travel. Im in Philly now sweating to Bikrams Yoga and chilling with my brother. Ill head back to New V on Saturday after a short trip to see the family in DC area. I now have a laptop computer so I have little to no excuse for not writingwithin from now on. Keep a look out!

three months over.

Dear Friends,
Obeisances to all of you. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
The three months of service to our Guru Maharaja are coming to a close tomorrow. We are most grateful for the opportunity to serve. Thank you all for the encouragement and friendship over the summer. We ask for each of your prayers that We can have this most blessed opportunity again and again.

We return to New Vrindaban for the Janmastami celebrations and on the 11th of September we commence our fall quarter of college outreach. We will be sharing much of our outreach activities which We hope you might find enjoyable.

If anyone would like to know anything about our summer travels please contact us. We will not post anything directly related to those experiences. We pray that all of our services thus forward are imbued with whatever we have received.

Today we said good bye to our dear partner, GKD. He has been blessed with the opportunity to serve at Goverdhan. We ask only for his prayers as he has ours.

Thank you for everything.

austerity.

Sometimes, various personalities think my life is not austere enough. Would it be better to stick my head in the sand? Austerities are relative to an environment and a person.

One time I was riding on a bus in South India and I was very uncomfortable. I was trying to put my finger on why I was having such a hard time to be content with my environment. The leg room was two inches too short, the metal bars over the windows allowed my head to again and again bang against them, the television's volume was beyond deafening, opening windows only allowed hot air mixed with dust to enter, and the travel food was fried puris with hot pickle. The bus was always a few hours late leaving/arriving and if you had to "pass water", you had to get off the bus and squat down on the side of the road to do so. Why was I suffering and the other Indian boys not? I came to the conclusion that I was suffering because I have tasted comfort. I know what its like to travel in a bus which you can extend your legs, I know how proper air conditioning keeps one cool, I know what 7-11 can provide to a hungry traveler and i know what its like to get places as scheduled and paid for. I even appreciated American rest areas where you can relax in the grass, have a picnic, and now a days use free wireless internet. Those other Indian boys have never experienced anything else but similar bus rides. My mind was always frustrated thinking, "why is it not like it should be as in America?"

Another time in India I had Nutritional yeast and Braggs liquid aminos with me in Chowpatty temple. At that time I was just eating rice or chappati. I couldn't digest much. I would layer everything with braggs or yeast to give it a little flavor. One other brahmacari asked if he could try it. I looked at him with my eyebrow up saying,"you probably wont like it but go for it if you want." Then Govinda prabhu stopped the boy and said, "What will you do if you like it?" It was a wonderful point about comfort. What would he do if he liked it? What kind of trouble would he have to go through to satisfy his new found taste? Once we experience something we like we continue to desire to have it or expect to have it when we want. If we don't have the facility to obtain it then we will simply suffer in its absence.

Seeing this picture of this yogi I took in Rishikesh, left me thinking about the austerities we perform on a daily weekly basis to do our services. For me as an "American boy", following the regulative principles, chanting my 16 rounds, reading each day, speaking pleasantly, keeping good relationships, and sharing Kc with others is hard enough. I don't know what else I can do? All the American comforts keep calling me, emailing me, text messaging me, and standing before me with folded hands begging "how can we serve".

*** this week of preaching has left me up past twelve each night and right now even though I am back at the temple I can't get to sleep. Who will break first, my bad habits or me?

Back to Rishikesh

Now that the weather is nice again I rekindled my yoga practice. It was long over due. The day just called for a good time out on the lake. Yoga by the lake in New Vrindaban is a true opulence. The birds were chirping, the sun was glistening off the lakes water and the swans were gracefully observing my actions. Over all a great opportunity to appreciate all the hard labor the devotees went through to create such an atmosphere. Its hard to believe so few of us are here to enjoy the fruits of that devotion.



The morning reminded me that I had to get back to finishing the postings from our India trip.

While walking about Rishikesh you get to see many wonderful things. One morning I met with some yogis on the street. They were not your normal new age Europeans but clan of yoga kids out to take your money!

As for the common man...

Tonight at our Thursday gathering in New Vrindaban, Viko Prabhu revealed to me a nice verse which enhanced our last Bhagavatam quote about outreach.

BG 13.26

TRANSLATION
Again there are those who, although not conversant in spiritual knowledge, begin to worship the Supreme Person upon hearing about Him from others. Because of their tendency to hear from authorities, they also transcend the path of birth and death.

PURPORT
This verse is particularly applicable to modern society because in modern society there is practically no education in spiritual matters. Some of the people may appear to be atheistic or agnostic or philosophical, but actually there is no knowledge of philosophy. As for the common man, if he is a good soul, then there is a chance for advancement by hearing. This hearing process is very important. Lord Caitanya, who preached Krsna consciousness in the modern world, gave great stress to hearing because if the common man simply hears from authoritative sources, he can progress, especially, according to Lord Caitanya, if he hears the transcendental vibration Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. It is stated, therefore, that all men should take advantage of hearing from realized souls and gradually become able to understand everything. The worship of the Supreme Lord will then undoubtedly take place. Lord Caitanya has said that in this age no one needs to change his position, but one should give up the endeavor to understand the Absolute Truth by speculative reasoning. One should learn to become the servant of those who are in knowledge of the Supreme Lord. If one is fortunate enough to take shelter of a pure devotee, hear from him about self-realization and follow in his footsteps, he will be gradually elevated to the position of a pure devotee. In this verse particularly, the process of hearing is strongly recommended, and this is very appropriate. Although the common man is often not as capable as so-called philosophers, faithful hearing from an authoritative person will help one transcend this material existence and go back to Godhead, back to home.

My Inspiration...

Please read this verse. I find Srila Prabhupada's words in the last paragraph particularly call out to all those in this movement trying to share what they have been blessed with.


Srimad Bhagavatam 1.5.16

vicakshano 'syarhati veditum vibhor

ananta-parasya nivrittitah sukham

pravartamanasya gunair anatmanas

tato bhavan darsaya ceshtitam vibhoh


TRANSLATION

The Supreme Lord is unlimited. Only a very expert personality, retired from the activities of material happiness, deserves to understand this knowledge of spiritual values. Therefore those who are not so well situated, due to material attachment, should be shown the ways of transcendental realization, by Your Goodness, through descriptions of the transcendental activities of the Supreme Lord.

PURPORT

Theological science is a difficult subject, especially when it deals with the transcendental nature of God. It is not a subject matter to be understood by persons who are too much attached to material activities. Only the very expert, who have almost retired from materialistic activities by culture of spiritual knowledge, can be admitted to the study of this great science. In the Bhagavad-gita it is clearly stated that out of many hundreds and thousands of men only one person deserves to enter into transcendental realization. And out of many thousands of such transcendentally realized persons, only a few can understand the theological science specifically dealing with God as a person. Sri Vyasadeva is therefore advised by Narada to describe the science of God directly by relating His transcendental activities. Vyasadeva is himself a personality expert in this science, and he is unattached to material enjoyment. Therefore he is the right person to describe it, and Sukadeva Gosvami, the son of Vyasadeva, is the right person to receive it.

Srimad-Bhagavatam is the topmost theological science, and therefore it can react on the laymen as medicinal doses. Because it contains the transcendental activities of the Lord, there is no difference between the Lord and the literature. The literature is the factual literary incarnation of the Lord. So the laymen can hear the narration of the activities of the Lord. Thereby they are able to associate with the Lord and thus gradually become purified from material diseases. The expert devotees also can discover novel ways and means to convert the nondevotees in terms of particular time and circumstance. Devotional service is dynamic activity, and the expert devotees can find out competent means to inject it into the dull brains of the materialistic population. Such transcendental activities of the devotees for the service of the Lord can bring a new order of life to the foolish society of materialistic men. Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His subsequent followers exhibited expert dexterity in this connection. By following the same method, one can bring the materialistic men of this age of quarrel into order for peaceful life and transcendental realization.

New Vrindaban Bicycle and Adventure Club

Announcing for the first time ever:
New Vrindaban Community Bicycle and Adventure Club

Join the Club!
For Only $25 Dollars you get:

Club T-shirt
Free bicycle maintenance/training
Opportunities for Organized Bicycle Touring, Hiking, and Camping
and more!

Man, Woman, Young, or Old! The whole family should join!
Membership is not limited to New Vrindaban Residents.

Contact
Balaramacandra das
347-414-2139
ridewithin@gmail.com

vaisnava seva...

The strategic mission to take down and personally "serve" each of the evenings participants was successful.

joy.

this is what a loving relationship looks like.

how's your bhajan?

This family of young talented Vaisnavas is beyond belief. Anyone with doubts about the direction of our movement must hold your tongues and watch the future of our movement reveal its own glories.



Spiritual Community Architect.


Good things come in pairs.


Named appropriately.


The Sacred sound family(half...)

sacred association

Last weekend was intense. A Vaisnava departed for Goloka from Pittsburgh and the following day some how or another we made it to DC. It was a small peek into the purpose of Spiritual communities. Actually, it wasn't a small peek, it was a huge eye opener revealing the significance of Iskcon; while living and dying Vaisnavas are our only hope. I thank Srila Prabhupada again and again for welcoming myself into this most amazing family.


The perfection of parenting is your children becoming Krsna conscious. As Prabhu was leaving this world his son led the devotees in chanting the holy names. This is not just a picture of a boy with a harmonium. It is a picture of Srila Prabhupada's movement being absolutely successful.

jhula

Warning: monkeys will steal everything.


Rama Jhula is the south side.


Laxsman Jhula is the north side.

But the monkeys are on the wrong side. They wait on the bridge and snatch whatever you have especially fruit.

My graffiti past liked their name.

new vrindaban east

I had never been to Rishikesh before so I was surprised that our hosted had arranged for us to stay at an ashram which was just across the street from a place called "New Vrindaban East". Every devotee in related to New V mentioned to me, "when you go to Rishikesh go see Bhakti Yoga Swami." I was filled with appreciation for our home in West Virginia because it is so glorious that someone would so kindly name their Indian temple after our American temple. This shows Srila Prabhupada's potency in establishing holy dhamas! HH Bhaktiyoga Swami nicely cared for us while we stayed near by. He fed us nicely and provided a nice place for us to chant and dance each morning. Madhuban ashrama and our ashram, Kailash ashram were our places of morning sadhana before we would depart on our treks around the city and beyond. The sun would come out around 11am so we would chant read wash clothes and have breakfast then hit the streets.

athato brahma jijnasa...

This is what Rishikesh looks like.

This is what a taxi ride to Rishikesh looks like

train station

Here are a few things you might see at an Indian train station.

This man only charges a dollar to carry your luggage on top of his head.

In NYC subways there are signs which say "Spring is chain snatching season".

This guy tried to run me over.

This was the office for foreigners to ask questions.

This is the hotel.

high tech low tech

The taxis in Dheli run off of natural gas. Thats a good thing. When you have to fill up they make you get out of the car and wait in the rain. Thats a bad thing. I guess they have a high case of explosions and its safer when you stand next to the car instead of inside it. When there is a fire you run and grab these sand buckets and put it out that way. Everyone gets to be a fire fighter.