surprise appearance.

thats vbd in a headlock









Generally when we show up at places, it is fun to just appear with little to no pre notice. This trip we were surprised to see a few people. Manish and Nisha had to work in NYc this week so they happened to be at the 2nd ave program. We found out that we will be in Amedbhad at the same time and Vrindaban at the same time too! Wow, great timing. Patra and dhokla here we come! Eight thousand percent PRof showed up on the scence cleaner than ever and brought us great joy. everyone remembers the 28 days on the bus this summer! Enough KC, Newmans and dirt to get anyone hooked! Yajna Purusa Prabhu is always eager to have us around, even though the ashram is now holding 15 brahmacaris and the Universally famous Pradyumna Prabhu(ACBSP) also got to meet my two kirtan brothers AKincina Krsna Prabhu and Pragnesh Prabhu. fun times fun times.

Today is Wednesday, the Appearance of Sri Advaita Acharya. Some how or another they grabbed me and made me give class. I think that it was a first. They are very senior and usually i just hide. I am a fool in comparison to them. In all ways each of the brahmacari's in NYc are superior to me and and I seek only their shelter and mercy.

Jason and i hit the NJ Transit back to Hamilton in the morning, ate a lunch of idli, washed our clothes and now waiting fo rthe evening to fall to do some pre travel shopping and end the eveing with a conference call Bg class. I really like doing these conference calls. I recommend all preachers start doing them. Its an easy ways to associate with many devotees at once no matter where you are or where they are. All you need is a phone. The other devotees in New Vrindaban who do congregation development have been doing them for years now. check them out at www.bhagavadgitaclass.com

Tomorrow off to India. Hare Krishna. Pray for us.

NYc beauty.

There are many things in NYc which are beautiful, but Govindaji is "Reality, the Beautiful".

Mind your step.

padam padam yad vipadam na tesam

mi familia

a little maya

like a rat that barks

chanting under mushrooms


NYc means Maya. There is danger at every step. Especially for me. Im attracted to it all. Luckily on this trip Jason, who is a perfect gentleman, accompanied me and gave all protection from my desires. Also it was really cold which curbed my desires to a small amount of inside activity.

We met up with my big brother Isaac (www.skullbrain.org)and his girl Kerri(http://www.urbancowgirlproductions.com) after getting the visa. They are very sweet to me and will do anything if needed at anytime. True family. We met up at the arch in Washington square park. I like it better with the Nyc rath festival of india overwhelming it. We headed to Red Bamboo soul food and filled up with veggie wings and soul chicken sandwhiches. Then we went to BH photo. That place is amazing. A NYC must see! better than ground zero. Its like going to Gan Eden, Jewish people everywhere. I had a good time. Reminded me of college life. Picked up some deep saturation color film for my new baby on the india trip, a titanium embodied contax g1! weve got the details worked out for the upcoming book, design, layout, graphic artist, and publisher. I just have to bring in the photos! Who is the demigod of photography? Is it Suryadev? I have to start worshipping quick. I havent touched a film camera for a few years. Lets see what happens.

We met up with the rest of the family- Cesar and the new baby, and the hairless Chijahua. Good times. The family experience is always needed sometimes. My brother is always appreciating KC so its nice to be with him. Some people dont get that.

Nyc-Visa Attainment

January 22nd
Arrival was easy. Tara Dropped us off at the Ashram on First Ave. True Sanctuary from NYC life. We were greeted with a huge surprise of Advaita Acarya Prabhu(BTS) being there. After a long embrace we chatted into the midnight with Yajna Purusa Prabhu, Gadadhar Pandit Prabhu and Radha Vallabha Prabhu. Its nice to see our friendships being maintained and developed over the years. There are only a few of us out there and this team in NYc is definetly a stronghold. Any saffron clad boy in the Usa should take shelter in such a place. All glories to their Lotus like Ashram.

The Next day we headed off to the Indian embassy in the ice cold NYc street life. A few trains later we made it to the long line out front of the embassy pre 9 oclock opening. After soemtime we headed inside to obtain number one million something. I left to purchase some NYC bagels and chai. NYc sucks the money right out of your pockets. But thats just the way it is. Jason got called up and in a moment he was told to return in two hours and pick up the Visa. The next two hours we roamed about Central park freezing our japa fingers off. We took the blessings of Alice from Wonderland and returned to the mbassy to pick up the Visa. No problem all cleared and stamped! India here we go! Jason is establishing his determination to enter the Holy Dhama.

Narasimha's mercy.

Narasimha's blessing

Prabhupada's Mercy

Balaramcandra is not in control.

Lacie

walking break.

So we left on Sunday to catch our train in Pittsburgh. Right when we left a blizzard hit and covered all the roads with snow. since it was sunday morning everyone being most pious people were at church so they didnt get out and plow the roads. If any of you have been to Nv you know West virginia is not a place for a Ford Focus to drive arround in the snow. Better you stay home. I came down stairs with my bags and Json asked are we actually going? With a confident yes we said a few good byes and headed to the car.

A few of our friends from Athens drove three hours to pick us up and drop us off another 1.5 hours to Pittsburgh. Great friends. While they were in New V. I showed them the temple and took them to the Palace. We had a great time playing in the snow, until we realized that we would have to drive to Pittsburgh in the same beautiful blanket. Amanda, JC, and Mark, interviewed us and grabbed footage to make a short documentary for Current Tv which is a popular tv station nowadays for youth.

On the trip out we had a few slide outs, a few out of control chanting sessions, and one getting stuck on a hill. Four of us jumped out and pushed the little car up the hill while we peeled out and slide somehow or another all the way to the top! It was video taped so maybe we'll see it on google video some day.

One interesting point was practically the whole ride we happened to be speaking all about Narasimhadev. Our friends were very interested our particular worship of thiis interstign personality. I think that His katha protected us from all danger.

We were late to our train. Lacie called us at 1:30 and said," Where are you I just watched your train leave without you? " She had secretly showed up with pizza Prasadam for our lunch while travelling. Nice. We got dropped of at her Bead shop oakland and made jewelry and chatted with the customers. I forgot how fun it was to work in resale. All day talking nonsense. Thats my style, and get paid for it.

Shyamasundar Prabhu had a program that evening so he mercifully arranged for us to get picked up by Gopal Prabhu. He even allowed me to speak, despite my hoody and pants outfit. We stayed the night at Pradumnya Prabhu's home adn his father Prasad dropped us off just intime in the morning to catch the train to New Jersey.

Train ride was normal. chanting, eating, reading, sleeping, chatting etc. Nothing as dynamic as a Greyhound ride and not as quick as a flight.

Right now were off to NYc for a day of Brahmacari sanga, Visa obtaining, lunch with the brother Isaac, and Tuesday evening program with the Manhattan vaisnavas!

Wish us luck, our last rip to NYc was very interesting and a little longer than scheduled.

Off to India!

On Thursday January 25th
Jason and Balaramacandra head to Mother India. A big trip full of travel and purification. The itinerary looks like this...

Ahmedabad, Dwarka, Palitani, New Dheli, Vrindaban, Bhubenesvar, Jagganath Puri, Mayapur, Kolkata, Rishikesh, Haridwar, Then back to Mayapur for festival, and then off to Mumbai for Gaura Purnima, then to Udipi, Goa, and the Eco village in Karnataka, then back to mumbai and off to the USA. -Hare Krishna.

Jason spent a good part of December month working at a mall in California to raise money for the trip. Its a great austerity being trapped in a mall for three weeks. Jason is a mountain man built for the rural environments with little to no interest in Jingle bells and the mall spirit. Desiring to make his first trip to India he went all out and worked hard to raise more than enough money. Now he can spend three months of prayer in the wonderful embrace of Mother India.

Balaramacandra is now taking up the often recited mantra of Sankirtan devotees, "every year one must go to India to get recharged." With a yearly schedule of full time college outreach, festival organizing, Guru seva, and being 26 and having all his material desires hit him in the face full force, some how or another Krsna is bringing him back to His holy lands for parikram, bathing in holy rivers and taking shelter of the holy name free of any other responsibility. This will be best for all who he has to deal with on a regular basis in the Usa. His temple authority, his guiding teachers, his students and those Vaisnavas in his association have given full sanction, permission and blessings to travel once again.

We seek all your blessing and prayers for good health and the best of consciousness while travelling abroad. Please pray that offenses stay far away.

we'll post photos and stories as we obtain the chance.

Side route: New Vrindaban College Outreach

Side route:
New Vrindaban College Outreach
This last Tuesday I had to say good bye to many students. Im leaving to India for the rest of the quarter and many of them will graduate while I am gone. They will leave Athens for good, get jobs and continue to grow into the wonderful people they are meant to become. I love them dearly, as i have known them for so long. I've see them each week and observed their personal evolution from their freshman year to now graduation. I've seen their ups and downs and they have seen my ups and downs. It was an emotional evening. My friends are leaving. I'm going to miss them, they have taught me so much!

In reciprocation, Krsna consciousness has effected so many of their lives in various ways. Some of our students have accepted Gaudiya Vaisnavism as their religion, some have taken up sadhana, some are living according to principles of purity, some just love to chant, some read Gita each day, some ask us for guidance in their life choices, and some hate us but can't figure out why they have to keep coming back each week.

Its been four years since we started college outreach from New Vrindaban. It started in 2003 under the guidance of Kuladri Prabhu. It was a lone brahmacari in New Vrindaban. Anada Vidya Prabhu our, beyond comparison book distributer, took me out to the colleges for book distribution the previous months and rekindled my desire to share Krsna Consciousness with the youth. He had left to India for his yearly trip so I was left all alone in New Vrindaban winter months to milk the cows, wash dishes, and mop the floors with my mind just thinking about those local colleges and sharing Krsna Consciousness. I meditated on old stories of my Gurmaharaja hitchhiking, driving beat up vans, chanting in the grass, giving lectures, distributing prasadam and opening centers. I heard how he used to travel to colleges each day of the week in a large circle through Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. I learned about all the details of his travels, how he preached, how he started programs, how he slept, how he studied, how he chanted, and how he cooked and served each and every student with love. This is what I wanted to do and meditated on throughout the day.

Kuladri Prabhu would meet me each day and talk about Krsna. I remember we would just sit back with our arms resting over our heads and talk about what we've been reading and he would always tell stories about my Gurumaharaja. He always made sure I wasn't feeling lonely and that I was satisfied in my service. One day i asked him if I could start to travel and preach in colleges. With all the love of a kind father he was hesitant and discussed all the glories and difficulties of such a service. Especially being alone. He was all for it but was desirous that I find a partner to go out with, as that was best for a young brahmacari. Unfortunately there was no one. We even posted ads looking for others but no one showed up. Within the last year all our brahmacaris with the exception of Anada vidya had graduated ashrams and moved on to school, work or married life. Soon He gave a consession, that I could go but I had to be based out of Columbus and be here in New Vrindaban on the weekends. Nice arrangements were made that i stay with Krishna Balarama Prabhu, and Krishna Das Prabhu as they were single men and had a house near the temple. Kuladri allowed me to use the second sankirtan van which roared like a tank, got 10 miles to the gallon and which I loved and called Bhumi devi.

I had no Idea what to do but was confident that the Lord and Kuladri Prabhu would guide me. I sat down one day with Karnamrita devi and we looked at a map of colleges and we circled all the sweetest ones which my Gurumaharaja used to visit. I filled the van with books, instruments, bhoga, a table and flyers. I got all my warmest clothes, signed up for a cell phone and hit the road.

I traveled almost 100 miles each day visiting colleges, distributing books, setting up book tables, meeting students and professors. In no time I was invited to give lectures in classes, visit students in their homes and was distributing hundreds of books. Going out each day was not easy. At this time I barely knew anyone. So i camped out in the van by myself, ate by myself, drove myself, chanted by myself, distributed books by myself, ran book table by myself, and dreamed of the future by myself. All in the blizzards of the mid west. It was too much. I missed the dieties and the devotees. I lasted a month. Even though it was the number two thing which I wanted to do in this life, I knew I wasn't strong enough to do it by myself. I felt lonely and was getting disturbed. I didn't want to quit but I had no other choice, It was too difficult or I just saw it as too dangerous for me. Everyone warned against it but Kuladri Prabhu just said to try it out and see what happens, you can always come back. I wasn't a paramahamsa but just a young boy trying to stay engaged and please Srila Prabhupada. I called up Kuladri Prabhu very distraught and almost crying. He immediately just said to come home as soon as possible.

When I returned to New Vrindaban, my old friend, Atmanada Prabhu had just came back from India. I told him what I was doing and he was filled with excitement. He immediately wanted to join the fun and serve in this way. We spoke with Kuladri Prabhu and he explained that it must be Krsna's arrangement and that the college outreach must be meant to go on.

So in a few days we hit the road again and started actual programs in various colleges. We had no idea what kind of programs to start doing so we just tried a different type of outreach style at each college. We went to six different colleges in a week and Saturdays we stayed in New Vrindaban. We really wore ourselves out. But we were experimenting with how to communicate Krsna Consciousness with College Students and Professors. We held Bhagavad Gita classes, we utilized Radheshyam Prabhu's books for teaching, we held Kirtan nights, we held meditation groups, we held cooking classes, we tried so many things and everything we tried worked. Each type of class attracted certain individuals and each event was a success. Any problems came about due to our own limitations.

In due course of time, Atmananda Prabhu had to stop travelling, and I was left alone again. Fortunately by the end of Summer Narasinghachaitayna Prabhu, Gauranga Kishore Prabhu and Jagadish Chaitanya Prabhu also moved to New Vrindaban. Soon Bhakta William came, Chaitanya Prabhu, Jason Prabhu, and now Bhakta Chris have now come. Yugala Kishore Prabhu is also here. Some have left, some have come back and some will be back. Many more will come to help us. Gradually, with much pain to my heart, but with all neccessity others started to take over the various programs and some programs we have had to stop. With a gradually growing ashram of sincere and educated brahmacaris we have had to adjust our activities to spend more time with each other and serve in New Vrindaban.

After four years, other than the occasional programs about America, I mainly visit Athens Ohio. Each week, another devotee and I will travel the two and a half hours to Ohio University. We hold a cooking class each Tuesday night. We arrive at 6:30pm and leave at about 11:00pm. We usually sleep at around 1am after a full day of mangal arati, japa, diety seva, class, cooking for a hundred students, driving two and a half hours, teaching a cooking class, speaking with a hundred or so students, cleaning up, kirtan and driving to our house in Athens and calming down a bit with a few intimate friends. Its a full days sacrifice. One which I love and do not ever want to give up. I love the students and community which has developed around our cooking class. The students have called it Vegan Cooking Workshop, acronym VCW. I call it Vaisnava Culture Workshop-VCW. A place where one can learn to serve, learn to love and dedicate your every action to the Lord. Association with devotees is powerful. The process of Bhakti is inconceivable, and Mahaprabhu has his plans to purify everyone associated with this process. We hold a morning program of Japa, Gita, kirtan and breakfast each Wednesday. We spend the mid day with students for lunch at their homes, resting, studying, preparing lectures, and cooking dinner. Each Wednesday night we hold a discussion group which about 15 students attend. We gradually guide the students beyond their misconceptions of spiritual life, provide them proper Sastric based philosophy about themselves, this world, and God while teaching them how to apply knowledge to their lives. Students take up lives of purity and apply Sadhana to their daily routine. There are many things to say about each of our programs, but mainly it can be summed up by saying that I accept each of these students as my master and thank them again and again for providing the opportunity to serve Srila Prabhupada's movement. I am indebted to each of them. I am crying as I pray that I will see them again and that Krsna remains within their lives in some way or another.

Regulative Jingles of Freedom

We drove off to Atma prabhus house in golden valley. Here A few Disciples of HH maha Visnua maharajs reside. His Holiness is the main teacher who visits as well as Ganapati maharaja and HH Romapad Maharaja. All of their visits are rare and the devotees are always eager to have visitors. We stopped for the evening chanted for some time, had an arati for their Radhe Shyam dieties, and then had nice qinuoa kitchiri. After Prasadam we were entertained by the most melodic chanting of Ananta Vijay Krsna Prabhu (our MAHA MUFFIN creater). He is good at everything he does. He graduated with a degree in Music. Now on his spare time he records jingles about not smoking, not dringing, not eating meat and sells them to big nonprofit Corps for their advertising. He is really gifted. I look forward to seeing what he'll do in the future. As we arrived the house there was no snow, as we left there was a half a foot of snow which covered everything. Sai was wearing sandals and suffered greatly. Chaitanya scared the boys a little bit with his Michaigan teenage antics such as sliding around in the snow and turning corners out of control. Lots of fun considering we didn't die or fall into one of Minneapolis' ten thousands lakes.

Atma picked us up very early the next morning and dropped us off at the airport in more than enough time to catch our plane. Minneapolis finished.

Many of our students have graduated and have obtained jobs in little towns or in big cities that don't have temples or much association. Its a whole new area in our outreach considering that our students are now working people and are supporting us monetarily now. They are also preaching on their own and inviting us everywhere for programs. We all look forward to seeing what is going to evolve with these Krsna Conscious relationships which we have established in our youth.

The Divine Couple say Hello!

The next day we nicely slept in and had a sweet morning of japa, kirtan, Srimad Bhagavatam class and a big breakfast of MAHA MUFFINS. One disciple of Maha Visnu Maharaja has a small business of making prasadam baked goods and sells them at coffee shops all over the city. He stays up all night baking and delivers them himself. This morning Atma Prabhu came over and dropped them off with Big Bhima. We feasted then fell asleep for three hours. In the evening we headed off to an evening program. Chaitanya led nice kirtan and I spoke for a few hours from second Chapter of BG. One older gentleman named Rama stopped the class towards the end and asked," so who is God Visnu or Krsna?" With the permission of the group we went into explaining the Tattva of Each. At the end he exclaimed," I'm convinced now, Krsna is Supreme." Others said each week he asks the same question but this week he finally surrendered. I was happy to be used in some service to eradicate his doubts. One little boy came up to me and I asked his name. He said his name and then exclaimed "I have two thumbs!" He had two thumbs on one hands and he gave me a high five. At the end of the program the kids came down and did a short spontaneous play of Krsna and Balarama entering Mathura city and meeting various personalities. It was nice meeting a new group of Vaisnavas and seeing how Krsna Consciousness and its Vaisnava culture is spread all over. Great job Atma!

The next day we slept in and had a similar morning program. At five oclock we headed to an evening where we met Gaura Shakti Prabhu(ASBSP) and many others. It was nice to meet Nitai Prabhu and his wife who are now new parents. I had not seen them in many years since they last visited New V. New Vrindaban is a special place to live because everyone comes there. So by living there and serving you automatically befriend thousands of Vaisnavas. This makes travel very easy. Hopefully travelling back to the Spiritual world too. We met Rama again and he was a funny character. We told us all about his proffession and we met his wife. Many unique stories and new friends.

Sunday was ekadasi. We made arrangements to meet Jimmy and Terri Divine. The are very dear friends to New Vrindaban. They have been visiting New Vrindaban for over thirty years now. When we told New vrindaban devotees we were going to Minneapolis the first thing they said was "You have to meet Jimmy and Terri!" I had met them three years previously at New vrindaban when I was younger and taking care of the cows. So this ekadasi was dedicated to meeting them. The whole house was so amazingly Krsna Conscious. Not only that but specifically New Vrindaban Conscious. They told us that they considered their home to be a New V sattelite center. Indeed it felt as if we were home. Their dieties were very beautiful and most notably they had a very small golden Nimai diety who was sleeping in a small bed. We chanted for some time while Terri made fresh Buckwheat waffles, seasoned potatoes, fruit salad and mango lassi. We were not feeling the pangs of Ekadasi today. We then looked at old picture books and heard unlimited stories. Then for the next three hours we watched Srila Prabhupada's chronological videos made by Iskcon Cinema. We were laughing, sleeping and drinking hot tea. It was nice to relax with our parents for some time. We finally left after taking the blessing of the Narasimha brain scan of Kirtananada Swami. They sent some jam with me to give Mother Gopa and Damodar Prabhu but it got taken away in security at the aiport. sorry. I did my best.

side trip: Minneapolis

Talpasai Prabhu

Balaramcandra and Talpasai Prabhu

Cowherdboy Lila

1st house program of trip
Minneapolis side trip
January 11th-15th
I never thought I would have a reason to go to Minneapolis. When I was a child in the deserts of Arizona, I always wanted to experience the largest mall in the World which was located there. I think someone has stated that there is a larger one now in Canada somewhere. Either way we didn't go.

Chaitanya Prabhu and myself got dropped off at the airport by our old friend Brittany. She is a great girl who we've known for a few years now from our college outreach in Athens Ohio. She has always been more than supportive of our lifestyle and accepted us within her group of friends. She is known to go out of her way to help her Monkey friends. We dropped our car off at her house. At first we attempted to ask various devotees for assistance but for some reason no one could help us. We even offered to have a program but everyone declined. We felt a little awkward dealing with the devotees and unfortunately all my previous negative feelings about Columbus came back and I had to check myself with various uplifting prayers and meditations. So we called one of our students and she was more than willing to help us. She spaced out a bit on the drive and missed our exit but we made it on time since the plane's water pipes froze and they couldn't fix them. So we flew on a plane to Chicago with no water, no coffee, and no toilets. We just caught our connecting flight in Chicago and arrived to Minneapolis just on time.

The reason why we headed to Minneapolis was due to our very good friend Talpasai Prabhu being there. We've known him for about three years now. We met just after Atmanada Prabhu and I started college programs at the University of West Virginia. Shantanu Prabhu was also attending that program and had mentioned to Talpasai that a few brahmacaris from the temple were coming each week and explaining Bhagavad Gita , doing kirtan, and bringing the best Halava in the world.

Talpasai Prabhu was already reading a certain version of Bhagavad Gita, and chanting Visnu Sahasranam early each morning. He was already vegetarian and took no intoxication. After a few programs he started to chant and read Srila Prabhupada's Gita. His purports blew him away and he took up KC with great conviction. Immediately he bagan to teach others the glorious explanations of bhakti which Srila Prabhupada has given. Within due course of time he accepted the glorious Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as his worshipable Lord. He started an internet sanga group and started to share all his realizations with others. He practically held the whole program together himself and was dear to everyone. He did this for almost three years while he did his masters. Recently he obtained a job in Minneapolis and had to leave the close association of all his friends in West Virginia and New Vrindaban.

We promised him that we would visit once he got settled so this was our chance to fulfill our promise. He's working a most boring job and misses all His friends back home. He really has no interest to work anymore for money and is only doing so because the Senior Vaisanvas recommend he do so for some time.

Krsna nicely arranged he have very wonderful association with great Vaisnavas in Minneapolis. There is no offical Iskcon Temple yet there are many devotees scattered about who meet weekly for programs. Krsna even blessed him with a roommate named Laxsmipati who was nicely trained in Chowpatty's IIT Bace. He simply chants and reads Bhagavatam. Nothing else, no other interests, except his PHD work which comes second in his life.

So Sai picked us up at he airport via the Light rail system. Its a great way to beat the cold and the traffic. Minneapolis was zero degrees F. We arrived at his house and because he was at work all day he had not cooked dinner so I cooked for us all in a half hour or so. It was a great delight. I used to cook for him each week for over two years and now i had the chance to do it again. A college preacher really does develop a parental mood which is very satisfying. Chaitanya did joke that this is the kali yuga symptom where guests come to others homes and cook themselves. Later we had to drive ourselves too. We just didnt trust our south indian friend's blizzard driving skills.

Late in the evening Chaitanya's sister arrived at the amtrak station to be with us for the weekend and also Anandchaitanya Prabhu flew in for the weekend.

Arcata-Humbolt County

Arcata-Humbolt County
August 13th

Is marijuana kind of like garlic or onions? Can we be a little lenient when on the road? Somehow we held strong despite all our previous samskaras and didn't touch a gram.

Today we finally traded in our "Penot Not War" wine bottle for some bicycle maintenance. It did come in handy. Within a few minutes of arriving we met up with all our german friends and performed kirtan. We even got our Pastor friend to chant. He liked it very much. AS we chanted many poeple came up and appreciated the kirtan and invited us to stay for a few days and do kirtan at their homes. Unfortunately we were on a tight schedule trying to make it somewhere for Janmastami. We made friends with the boys at the bike shop and they invited us to stay in the back yard on the half pipe. We took up their offer and upon entering we met three drunken english men also riding down the coast. They invited us to go out to the bars and enjoy Arcatas night life. We declined and also looked for a better place to stay. We went out to eat at a restaurant called Tranquility. Its all vegan and organic. We were so happy. Here we had dinner with our new friend Josh. He was telling us all about his easy going life. Basically he surfs every day and drives his car for free because its a biodeisal. Every few months he helps harvest marijuana from the local plantations and makes hash to sell. In this a his life is easy and he can enjoy without much disturbance. After dinner we walked around town for some time and checked out the "plazoids"-thats a name for the homeless kids and all the musicians who hang out on the downtown plaza begging for change to get drunk. At one time as I was leaving the bike shop with my bead bag in my hand and excited about all the positive reciprocation in regards to being Hare Krishnas in Arcata i saw someone very peculiar... He was dressed in a purple tshirt and a purple lungee. In one hand he had a purple bead bag and in the other he held Prabhupada's Gita. He was standing in the middle of the street literally cussing in an angry mood at all the people driving by. I quite confused and grabbed the other boys to see. we didn't know what to do? Should we beat him up? should we grab him and take the Gita and beads from him? what should we do? He was obviously setting a horrible example for devotees and he was clearly crazy? We ended up letting him go but for the rest of our stay in Arcata people were asking, " is that one guy with you?" Blake went to the local health food store and a young lady asked if he had a bicycle patch kit. He did and fixed her tire. She invited us to stay at her home. we washed our clothes, I stole some music from her computer and fell asleep after half an hour of kirtan. The next day sheet boy made it to town and bought us the supplies for pancakes and our new friend made breakfast. As we left I got my one and only flat of the trip. I completely forgot her name...but she did remind me of my godbrother Radharamanji? Oh RadhaRamanji where are you?We miss you!!!

Orick

Crecent city to Orick.

We made it to California!!! Today we rode through amazing redwood forests and we landed in Chaitanya's most hated place on the whole trip. Orick! This was only after riding over some of the biggest hills todate. We were dying and Chaitanya's spokes kept breaking. We arrived and the only place to eat was some horrible diner or the grocery store. Some how we mustered up enough vegetarian items to make sandwiches. We hung out in front of the grocery store trying to figure out where to stay this evening. Speaking to a few drug addicts we decided to find our own spot. We met one boy who was riding a beach cruiser up the coast and carried a djimbe drum on the front of it. He somehow knew we were Hare Krsna's and started to tell us about his being in a "moon cycle" and was forced to travel by providence. Maybe we were also in our "moon cycle". We debated whether to sleep under the bridge or next to the river? Maybe behind the garbage can or rent a hotel? Then we found the most "perfect" spot... the roof of the volunteer fire department! We climbed up and wrapped ourselves in the sleeping bags thinking it would be a simple nights rest. Within an hour or so of falling asleep we woke up completely drenched with water. We had no idea that such heavy fog would roll in. It was if it was a Mumbai monsoon. We woke up the next morning and I met wo biker that were just vacating their hotel room. I became friends with them and asked them if we could use their bathroom to take a hot shower. They agreed and our morning started out well. There is nothing wonderful about Orick. Actually there is, that sign in the picture gets changed everyday but no one ever see's who does it!

Stuck in giant bodies.

Ever wonder how big a Redwood is?

One time a cobbler told Narada Muni," Of course I believe My Lord Narayana was threading an elephant through an eye of a needle. If he can place a huge banyan tree within a little seed why could he not do that?"

Seeing such large living entities reconfirms the greatness of God. These trees are dated to be at least three thousand years old.