Offering flowers to Sri Sri Radha-Londonisvara...

  

Only eight more full days left in the 2012 Srila Prabhupada book marathon. As I work full-time during the weekdays (and am unfortunately not so fired up yet to go out on books after work), I am only managing to participate during the weekends (although saying that, it hasn't been every Saturday and Sunday). However, when I am able to participate, it is always a wonderful moment when people take Srila Prabhupada's books or even give a small donation towards the movement. We know that by the mercy of Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda, the recipients of Srila Prabhupada's transcendental books or those who have made a donation, however small, towards his movement, have reached an important milestone in their path back to Godhead. This is very wonderful and I find it encouraging to remember this when I go out on sankirtan. 

I have also heard a few times during this year's marathon about making others fortunate when going out on sankirtan. Based on this, one realisation I have had during this marathon is that I need to approach anyone and everyone when going out on books, not remaining in the "comfort zone" and approaching who I think will be favourable (after all, who am I to decide who gets the good fortune of being given the opportunity to receive Srila Prabhupada's books?!). And as Krishna has kindly allowed me to discover in order to encourage me in this regard, sometimes it's the people who you least expect who take the books or make a donation.

Anyway, enough of my rambling! You may be intrigued by the title of this post! I recently read a most-wonderful meditation (below) by HH Sivarama Swami which I'd like to share. Hope I can always meditate on this when going out on sankirtan:

"Sometimes when I dress Radha Syama I think how nice it would be if all the devotees who are serving Them outside the deity room, could all be inside serving there. Today we will do just that by worshiping Radha-Syama with offerings of flowers, which are books distributed and laksmi collected. We will all be together in Vraja doing personal service to Them. Devotees should first call Radha Syama into their heart to accept the special seat that they have prepared today, a seat made of the jewels of their marathon endeavour to date. They should then place many sweets, savouries and drinks before the Divine Couple which are prepared on fire of sankirtana devotees’ austerities, and which will be Their Lordships’ snacks for today’s excursion. Devotees should then take as their paraphernalia for worship a variety of books, and take the pujari’s vow which is to offer all the items of worship, namely the books in their book bag. Please note that one cannot neglect to offer items to the Lord, meaning all books must be distributed, devotees cannot bring any back. After arriving at their sankirtana spot devotees may offer panamas to the parampara and begin their puja. The puja will be to bathe, dress and ornament Radha Syama with flowers. Bathing takes place in the first part of the day, dressing the second and ornamentation in the third. Flowers are both the books distributed, and the donations received, the size of both indicating the increasingly exotic nature of the flowers offered. For example a Gita may be considered a garland of jasmine flowers. When a book is sold devotees may offer their flowers in the way they prefer saying idam puspam srim-klim-radha-syamabhyam-namah. If devotees collect more flowers than they think suitable for the deities they can decorate Radha Syama’s throne and kunja. In this way we will all be together in Vraja, dressing their Lordships, and this evening I will see the final result of our worship. Devotees also see the result of this sankirtana-puja by looking into their heart’s at the end of the day. Radha Syama ki jaya!" 
HH Sivarama Swami

Let's decorate Sri Sri Radha-Londonisvara, Their altar and even the whole Temple Room with beautiful flowers! :-)

Lethargy

It is so easy to be fired up in the beginning and than slump not soon afterwards.

We have to first maintain our Krsna Consciousness in the first instance before jumping forward and going deeper and deeper in this devotional nectar.

My Counsellee Group's Sankirtana Adventures !

This is a short snippet of my counsellee group's sankirtana adventure's on Saturday 8th December.

We went to Putney, Fulham Broadway and South Kensington.

It was great fun and also very satisfying to give out the mercy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in the form of Srila Prabhupada's wonderful books.

Why not give it a try?

After all .... would any of us be here if it were not for Srila Prabhupada's books?

Responsibility

"The price of greatness is responsibility."

Winston Churchill

Spiritual Accountability

If we don't agree to be accountable than we tend to just listen to the mind .... and this is pretty dangerous when our mind is not our friend.

Therefore at ISKCON-London we have a Spiritual Counsellor System where participants agree to voluntarily come under guidance from someone who they can hear from ... this guidance comes in the form of 121 meetings, group meetings and .... sadhana charts.

Why sadhana charts?

These charts are the spiritual equivalent of a medical chart which sits at the end of your bed when you are in hospital.

It tells the doctor how healthy (or not) your spiritual life is and how to either increase your spiritual health so you can reach your full potential or what remedies to take to rectify any slip ups or sideways moves ...

And if the patient fails to produce a spiritual medical chart or takes it away and won't show it to you  ... well ..... that says it all really doesn't it ?!

:o)

Srila Prabhupada Book Marathon 2012

Nearly there ... 2 days to go before the start of the Srila Prabhupada Book Marathon.

1st to 24th December 2012

Our Counsellee Group always makes a mark on the National Score sheets .... and this year will hopefully be the same.

We have a special Counsellee Meeting this Friday specially to discuss how we will be involved in the marathon this year.

So important to take part ... no matter how 'small' the effort may seem.

Srila Prabhupada took so much time and effort to give us his jewel like books and their ability to lift us out of the modes and lead a happier more content life can be felt by any sincere reader.

Thank you Srila Prabhupada for saving us.

We pray we can remain useful instruments of compassion in this glorious movement that is ISKCON.

Prayerful Reading

I heard a class last weekend on prayerful reading by HG Narayani devi dasi, a disciple of Srila Prabhupada who has taught Bhakti Sastri, Bhakti Vaibhava and Bhaktivedanta courses in the VIHE in Vrindavana. Felt like I needed to hear more on the proper way to approach Srila Prabhupada's books. We have had a lot of inspiration and practice in our counsellee meetings recently in terms of going deeper into Srila Prabhupada's books. There is an unlimited ocean of nectar in these books and I need to and want to dive deeper into them for my own spiritual well-being and to be able to carry out my services and other duties more effectively. Wanted to share some simple, but effective, points mentioned in the class I listened to.

Some steps to practice prayerful reading (from HG Narayani devi dasi's class):

• The goal of prayerful reading is not so much an intellectual gathering of information but it is to allow sastra to affect us

• We should deeply associate with Srila Prabhupada. We want to listen to Krishna's message and let the potent transcendental words sink deeply to the core of our consciousness 

• Srila Prabhupada's books are our guru. If we have questions, then we will be able to find the answers in the books

• Srila Prabhupada's books are non-different from him. Srila Prabhupada said that he will live forever in his books

• We should take time to cultivate an appropriate attitude of approach to our reading. When we start reading, we will soon associate with Krishna through the transcendental words of Srila Prabhupada and other great Gaudiya acaryas. Our mood should be that of a soul in need of association, guidance and mercy

• Before starting to read, we may offer prayers to those we will associate with in our reading. For example, Srila Prabhupada, Guru and Gauranga, Radha and Krishna, Krishna and Arjuna in Bhagavad Gita, Rupa Goswami in Nectar of Devotion, Lord Caitanya in Caitanya Caritamrta, whoever is in the lila, etc

• Whilst we are reading, when there is an idea, word or phrase that strikes us or catches our attention, we should stop at that point, and repeat it over and over. Repetition can help stimulate insight and assists deep assimilation. We should think about it until it no longer catches our attention and then move on

• Another method if we don't understand a verse is to stop, chant and then resume reading, and we can get realisations from that verse that way

• We should have prayers of thankfulness for any realizations we have received

I hope I can start to put the above into practice. As Srila Prabhupada says:

“In my books the philosophy of Krishna Consciousness is explained fully so if there is anything which you do not understand, then you simply have to read again and again. By reading daily the knowledge will be revealed to you and by this process your spiritual life will develop… You may please me the most by reading my books and following the instructions therein and by becoming fully Krishna Conscious in this life time”

Srila Prabhupada, Letter to Bahurupa, Bombay, 22 November 1974

Happy reading! :-)

(Devaki dd)

Care and Love - like you like it yourself

 

11.  Treat each person with the bhakti and care as if the success or failure of your own spiritual life depends on this. Do not take into concern how they treat you. The manner in which you treat people is the same way you treat Guru and Krishna.

22.    Anytime that there is a problem in a relationship, you should first see it as your own fault. Even if others are to blame, you will only add to the problem by considering them to be at fault.

33.   You should treat every person with whom you come in contact with the same care as the person you love the most.

44. As we associate with others in our spiritual communities, we should do so in a mood that these are the people that I am living with and they will probably also be the people that I will leave this body with. 
      
     (Words of wisdom from HH Bhakti Tirtha Swami)

 

End goal ?

Today I was fortunate enough to dress Giri Govardhan - not the most fancy dressing I know ... bear with me  - I am a newbie at dressing Him !

Later on I was thinking about this experience and what exactly I was doing.

I was dressing the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His form of a sila - a tangible embodiment of His love for His devotees - who became lighter than a feather so the inhabitants of Vraja could all shelter underneath Him for 7 days and 7 nights.

Therefore what that means is that I have reached the 'end goal' so to speak .... surely?

I have surpassed the yogi sitting cross legged in lotus position meditating on the Supersoul.

I  have surpassed the yogi who seeks to contort his body in a variety of poses in order to realise the higher being.

I have even surpassed the arm chair philosopher who can quote a dozen scriptures and argue his point very well as to the nature of Brahman - the all pervading aspect of God.

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I am touching the body of God - the Absolute Truth.

I am batheing Him and applying scented oils.

I am applying 'a face' on the Lord and adding jewels and new colourful clothing.

How fortunate am I?

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I have been chanting for a few years now the Hare Krsna maha mantra - asking each day to be engaged in the Lord's service.

And surely now I have arrived?

So ......

Why am I not dancing in ecstasy in kirtans?

Why am I not yearning to hear more and more from Srila Prabhupada's books about the Supreme Lord?

Why am I not focussed on the good in devotees instead of their small residue of conditionings ?

Because I might be at the 'End Goal' but have I realised it?

Do I chant with so much attention and love that I taste the names like I taste paneer, pasta, pizza (my 3 favourite P's ! ) with so much relish and desire for more ... and more !

Do I devour Srila Prabhupada's books with as much one pointed concentration as I do on the news in the papers or the TV?

Sorry to say but not really ...

And so here I am ... holding the sweet Lord in my hands and being as intimate as the gopis (so we are told) by way of dressing and anointing Him and my mind is relishing the dressing down of a devotee from last week, sometimes from last month, and sometimes from even last year ... or projecting into the future and imagining my own small glory ... yet to come and be recognised fully of course by the devotees.

But nonetheless I will carry on ... with faith in Srila Prabhupada's words - that devotional service is the purifying agent that will allow me to fully realise who I am and who the Lord is .. and that as long as I am engaged in devotional service I am safe and sheltered.

Giriraj ki jay !

(Bhava Bhakti dd)

Free Will to Act How We Like

"Every moment we have the free will to react to whatever comes upon us; and character is how we respond to every situation by feeding the goodness of our heart, the divinity within us, rather than the anger, envy and selfishness."

Quote by HH Radhanath Swami

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I find this so hard to remember to do - it is so easy to give into the lower nature and to lash out, criticise, judge etc.

It defintely takes a brave soul to simply STOP and pause before reacting to a situation.

But we have a choice - as Maharaj says - to choose our responses - feeding the 'good dog within' so to speak.

Hearing about this choices helps - by listening to classes and reading Srila Prabhupada's books.

And also thinking how I will feel once I give into the lower nature can be a good way to start.

Until then I will have to keep practicing !

(Bhava Bhakti dd)

Welcome to our World !

This blog has been created to share our thoughts, experiences and realisations on the blissful (yet sometimes bumpy) path of Krishna Consciousness.

We aim to inspire and support one another as well as you our dear reader.

Chant 'Hare Krsna and Be Happy' !

(by Bhava Bhakti dd)