ABC of Spiritual Life

The onset of Bhagavad Gita reveals a conflict. Vice pitted against the virtuous. Arjuna a formidable warrior shows sign of feminine weakness at having to kill his guru, grandfather and brothers. What follows is immaculate wisdom issued by the supreme personality of godhead Krishna.

In his discourse to redeem Arjuna's courage to fight Sri Krishna spells out a celebrated monument of philosophy, ethics and self-realization- The Gita. I attempt to put here the very first arguments that Sri Krishna puts forward to Arjuna to prepare ground for his spiritual sojourn.

We are not these bodies, we are the souls: The instruction that we are not the bodies but the spirit soul comes almost like a teaser to Arjuna from Sri Krishna who was lamenting for what was not 'worthy of grief'. Sri Krishna explains that  those who are in knowledge lament neither for the living nor for the dead but engage in activities that are in accordance with religion and instructions of God. Arjuna slaying the opponent kings will not end their existence for they will live again, in some other body somewhere else. For having being killed in the presence of Krishna they will certainly achieve a higher destination. On the other hand if he would not kill them the irreligious leaders would exploit the subjects.
'Just as one passes from childhood to youth to old age; one passes from one body to another. One must not be bewildered by such a change.'[BG 2.13] Just as we have cast away the body of a child and taken on a youthful body, we will cast away the body of the youth and take up an old man's body, then we will cast away this body and and take up a new body, that's death, we should not be bewildered by such a change.

Knowing that we are not these bodies but spirit souls can empower us with the knowledge that can free us from the hook that binds us to the mixed pleasure and pain of a materialistic way of life and provide a cue for cultivating our true self and harness the unadulterated happiness available therein. This knowledge also serves as a constant companion of the spiritual seeker bringing him back on track whenever he sways off.

Happy exploring reality!!

God's Love is so wonderful

God’s love is so wonderful

Recently while speaking to my eight year old cousin, I asked her what prayers do they recite in their morning assembly. She told many prayers, one I found very amusing. It said:

God’s love is so wonderful,

So high, you can’t get over it.

So deep you can’t get under it.

So wide you can’t get around it.

O! wonderful love.

                I tried to contemplate how love of God is high, deep and wide.

So high, you can’t get above it: Our existence is a mystery that philosophers and scientists have been trying to resolve for centuries. The more we have delved into this subject the more the true understanding has receded from us. Our physical reality with its complex components like the brain, our psychological reality and our metaphysical reality have all intrigued us. How did we fit in a universe and are existing. So many parameters have to synchronize for life to be possible. Amazingly they are all synchronized. It is certainly mercy of Krsna who has expertly designed our habitat.

                Krsna is like the loving parent who provides for the facilities of a wayward son. For factually all the living entities in the material world are wayward sons of God. Although we rebelled against Him, Krsna has made a complete arrangement for our existence in this material world. Srila Prabhupada narrates in the Ksna book, ‘Prayers by the Personified Vedas’: “Cosmic manifestation has been made possible by the entrance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead as Maha-Vishnu within the material world. The total material energy is agitated by the glance of Maha-Vishnu, and only then does the interaction of three material qualities begin.Therefore it should be concluded that whatever material facilities that we are trying to enjoy are available only due to the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So many mechanisms are in place to ensure that we are conveniently in place. The CO₂  symbiosis between the plants and animals, the rain that are showered in regions away from the coast, the sunlight, the ozone layers and other critical and amazing mechanisms. We certainly cannot make such arrangements on our own. We are blessed by the Lord, in all respects. So, literally we can’t get above the love of God, as we have to take help of the Lord at every step. We are fortunate that God indeed loves us.

So deep you can’t get under it: It is not that God is just like a father who takes pleasure in maintaining its off springs, or a king who likes to maintain his subjects. But God’s love goes much deeper than that. God takes pleasure in becoming subordinate to His devotees. This is illustrated in many incidences given in the vedic literatures. During the war of Mahabharat, Krsna accepted the menial position of the chariot driver of Arjuna because of Arjuna’s immense devotion towards Him. He agreed to be bound up by the ropes of mother Yasoda, as revealed in the damodarastaka that Krsna is bhaktair jittatvam, he is conquered by the devotees alone. Krsna gets defeated in fights with his cowherd boyfriends. Krsna often makes His devotees feel awkward when Krsna expresses His love towards them. When Sudama brahmana visited Krsna on pretext for asking help from Him: “Even from a considerable distance He (Krsna) could see the brahmana coming to His home, and He could recognize him as His friend. Lord Krsna immediately left His seat and came forward to receive His brahmana friend and, upon reaching him, embraced the brahmana with His two arms. Lord Krsna is the reservoir of all transcendental pleasure, yet He Himself felt great pleasure upon embracing the poor brahmana because He was meeting His very dear friend. Lord Krsna had him seated on His own bedstead and personally brought all kinds of fruits and drinks to offer him, as is proper in receiving a worshipable guest. Lord Śrī Krsna is the supreme pure, but because He was playing the role of an ordinary human being, He immediately washed the brahmana’s feet and, for His own purification, sprinkled the water onto His head. After this the Lord smeared the body of the brahmana with different kinds of scented pulp, such as sandalwood, aguru and saffron. He immediately burned several kinds of scented incense and, as is usual, offered him ārati with burning lamps. After thus offering him an adequate welcome and after the brahmana had taken food and drink, Lord Krsna said, “My dear friend, it is a great fortune that you have come here.”

                All the humility and service attitude that the devotees have are a part and parcel of Krsna’s humility and service attitude.

So wide you can’t get around it: Krsna’s love and His concern that we should go back to Him for exchanging loving pastimes is unfathomable. For this purpose he expands himself as the Supersoul in the heart of every living entity, eagerly waiting for the living entities to take steps towards Him. He manifests himself in multifarious and easily accessible forms: the deities, devotees, bhagavatam and the holy name. Krsna has expertly designed the material nature such that our experience in the material world goads us to take shelter of the Lord. Krsna also mercifully sends his empowered representatives who radiate the deep compassion of Krsna in untiringly redeeming the lost souls. One graphic example of such an empowered servant of God is Narada muni. His disciples occur across a wide spectrum. From hunters to kings, from demigods to sages, he has guided innumerable souls in their journey Back to Godhead. Following in the footsteps His Divine Grace A. C. Bhakti Vedanta Swami Prabhupada spread the message of God in the most atheistic and hedonistic parts of the world. SrilaPrabhupada introduced RathaYatra festivals wherein the Lord comes out to distribute His mercy to all and sundry. Krsna tells very easy methods how to remember Him. Krsna tells that He is the taste of water. None of us can do without drinking. We should remember that the satisfying taste of water is Krsna. So multifariously has Lord exhibited His mercy that it is factually impossible to ignore, go around it!

4 puzzles for Yudisthir

Just after the battle of Kurukshetra, Yudisthir Maharaj was the king of the whole world. He had given full independence to the citizens to come and see him at any time. Once Yudisthir Maharaj was taking rest and Bhima was acting as his asisstant. Suddenly a person came running to Bhima and said that he wanted to see Maharaj Yudisthir as he had a very complex question to ask. Bhima said that Since Yudisthir Maharaj was taking rest, he could tell his problem to him. The person then said that he had made a garden with various flowers and fruit trees and had made a fence to protect the plants. But strangely he saw that the fence starting moving inside and started destroying the plants. The man asked Bhima why was this happening and what does it indicate? Bhima was puzzled. UNable to answer him he let the person go in and see Yudisthir Maharaj to find an answer. After some time another man came running to Bhima and said that he wanted to see Yuydisthir MAharaj, Bhima asked what the matter was. The person said that he saw something strange. He saw that there was an elephant who was crossing a door. He saw that the whole body of the elephant got through the door but his tail got stuck in the door. The man asked what did that indicate. Unable to answer Bhima sent the man to see Yudisthir. After some time yet another man came to Bhima in great anxiety. The man said that a strange thing was happening to him. He said that he had some water in a bucket and he transferred the water into number of cups. But when he put the water back into the bucket he saw that the water in the bucket remained less than half. He took all care to not spill even a drop of water but he found that every time water would remain less than half when he would pour back into the bucket. The man demanded an explanation from Bhima. Unable to answer anything Bhima Sent him to see Yudisthir Maharaj. a 4th man came running and said that he saw something which was good and bad. Bhima asked what was that. The man said that he was travelling to an unknown destination. While travelling it became dark. Suddenly a mountain started moving towards him, there was a storm and heavy rain. In the mayhem he saw a small creeper on the ground. He was impelled to take the creeper out of the ground. When he pulled the creeper out the storm dispelled, sun arose and the weather became pleasant. Unable to understand the implication of the situation he sent the man to see Yudisthir Maharaj. After some time passed, Bhima went in to see Yudisthir. He asked if Yudisthir Maharaj saw the 4 people he had sent inside. Yudithir Mahahraj said that this four people represented the symptoms of age of Kali. He said that Lord Krsna was soon to depart back to the spiritual world and there are going to be various degradation due to the age of Kali. He said the first incidents indicates that in Kaliyuga the government which is supposed to protect the citizens will exploit the citizen for its own interest. The second incident represents that in Kaliyuga no matter how much great criminal one may be if one has sufficient money one can get a favorable judgement by bribing the judges. However, if one does not have money one will be stuck in the legal procedures and will be punished. The third incident represents that in the age of Kali, the children will not have any gratitude for the parents. The parents will give a lot to their children but the children will give back very little to the parents. The fourth incident represents that in Kaliyuga there will be many problems and great confusions. But there is one good quality in Kaliyuga which is called mahan guna. That is by chanting the holy names Krsna all misfortune will be mitigated. Bhima was amazed and satisfied by hearing these explanations of Yudisthir Maharaj.

Chant Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

and be happy.

Surrender and Doubt

It is healthy to doubt surrender, but we should not surrender to doubt

Vedic antiquity

Vedas form a body of astounding knowledge. So, sophisticated is the wisdom and technology in the Vedas that their origin and aniquity is much debated. If we refer to the Vedas themselves, they declare to be existing since the time of creation. Vedic knowledge is also called shruti because it is traditionally handed down in generation by the process of hearing and repeating. Scholars however will not agree to the Vedic claim and would like to use their conventional tools to put a date to the writing of the Vedas.

Linguistic analysis: The sanskrit language is most systematic among all the languages of the world. For a long time due to scant archaeological records Sanskrit was the only way to understanding the antiquity if Vedic India. Early German scholars were astonished at beauty of the sanskrit language. In 1786 Sir William Jones, a brilliant Oxford linguist commented:
       " The sankrit language, whatever its antiquity is more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin and more exquisitely refined than either; yet bringing to both of them a stronger affinity than could have been produced by accident; so strong that no philosopher could examine all three without believing them to have sprung from some common source, which perhaps no longer exists."                                                                    They concluded that languages like latin, greek, gothic, celtic and sanskrit have a common origin. Despite rigrous research on the common language conjecture, the common language has not been traced. Could sanskrit be the common origin of all the major languages of the world. Skeptics would not like to accept the supremacy of a foreign language.

Archaeological records: The civilizations of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro is found to be the oldest civilisation in the world. These civilizations were discovered on the banks of river Indus in 1924. The life-style, culture and artifacts of the Indus civilisation conformed to the descriptions of the Vedas, and resembles the practices in India even today. A 5000 year old dam was discovered in Dholavira amid a desert. Another finding on thebank of the Indus river-- an agricultural community dated between 7000 and 6500 B.C.

Vedic India as seen from the Space: In 1986 the National Center for Space Study in France designed a techonology to take specialized pictures of earth from the space. India collaborated with France. The SPOT satellite ascertained that the Sraswati River as described in the Vedas is a fact, not mythology. Excavations on the saraswati river bed have been found to be 5000 years old. Thus, the river must have dried much before that. The Vedas distinctly mention the Sraswati river. Thus they must have been written before its appearance. 

Why it becomes difficult to put faith on spirituality

It was easier in the Vedic times

In the Vedic times the miraculous effects of religion were directly observable. The fire sacrifices performed by qualified brahmanas would yield immediate results for everyone to see. Demigods would appear in front of everyone’s eyes and would give the deserved benediction, animals sacrificed would obtain a human body, powerful weapons and machineries were invoked, rain obtained and many more. How nice it would have been if such miracles were ubiquitous today for everyone to testify the truth in the scriptural injunctions.

The techno-yagynas

In the modern times however the oblations of time, energy, money, intellect and resources is poured in the altar of hi-tech laboratories and research centres. They provide the masses with their material necessities, comforts and luxuries. More than having a solution for all our problems, they give fulfilments for the wants we never had. Thus technology is the obvious fall-back for our material necessities, scriptural injunctions are out of question.

What remains of religion?

Effect of religion has, however, not vanished. Effect of religion on the physical and mental health of people has been popularly documented in the Oxford Handbook of Religion and Health, and God the Evidence by Patrick Glynn. The evidences however are not as loud as we have described in the first section of the article and thus needed close observation by researchers. The cream of the Vedic scriptures has fortunately survived in its full potency. This is the process of God-realization by 9 processes of devotional service like hearing about God, chanting His glories, remembering the Lord, offering prayers to God and so on. Chanting of the holy names Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare/ Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare, and the supporting injunctions to make the chanting more effective, has made a marked difference in the lives of millions of people around the world. Many individuals have been elevated to the level of God realization of the Vedic sages. Thus the effect of Vedic injunctions on consciousness is still observable. The experiential aspects of religion have survived but the experimental aspects are conspicuous by their absence. It takes a spiritual advancement to detect the effect of spirituality on consciousness.

Harmonizing the two worlds

In Vedic world the immediate necessities, comforts, power, luxuries and tenets of spirituality for God realization are excavated from the same territory of Vedic injunctions. It is much easier for an individual to quickly advance from taking ephemeral benefits to taking eternal benefits from the scriptures. He can be sure it will work; only consideration is whether or not he wants it. At present however we face the problem of harmonizing the two worlds viz.: the world of technological conveniences—derived from a invariably atheistic scientists and technicians—and tenets of spirituality which are laid down in the authentic scriptures. Thus the modern man facilitated and enamoured by the technological advancement is sceptical about the efficacy of spiritual activities. Moreover it becomes all the more indigestible because the premise of verification of the efficacy is experiential and may take time for an individual to realize. Thus we see the present craze among the spiritualists to establish even ‘Science points to Spirituality’, Spirituality encompasses everything including material science. Thus people who are qualified by being sceptical about spirituality can be taken to the premise of spirituality by means of science. Thus for Krsna Consciousness to be easily embraced by people at large, its presentation should be professional and pure. By professional it is meant that we should be able to effectively bridge the scientific realm with the devotional realm. Being attracted by this people would like to experiment with Krsna Consciousness. Purity in the presentation will give people hands on experience of the happiness in Krsna Consciousness and coax them to take to it whole heartedly.

My Maiden Pilgrimage to Vrindavan

We zoomed through the heavy traffic of the Mathura town in an auto-rikshaw. Managing to reach the station just ten minutes prior the train departure, we darted inside the railway station. After enquiring about the platform we looked back to find Amit P missing. Scanning the platform we found him resolving some issues with the ticket at the ticket counter. ‘Haribol, Pr let it be, we will miss the train’, I shrieked. With only three minutes remaining before the departure we hurried through the foot over bridge to the other platform. We all boarded the train hoping Amit Pr will follow. About a minute passed and the train departed. I peeped outside the window to check if Amit Pr is coming. I was pleasantly shocked however as he announced ‘Bad luck the matter wasn’t settled, we have to travel without reserved seats from Allahbad to Kharagpur’, from inside the train. We exchanged a few loving curses. As we jiggled past the birth place of Sri Krsna—Mathura, remembrance of my maiden pilgrimage to Vrndavan veiled my thoughts.

Day 1: Perceiving Purity:  The first place we visited in our Vrndavan Parikrama was Kaliya Ghat. The place where Krsna took the leap into Yamuna to subdue Kaliya. HG SAP explained how envy is the root of material existence. If envy is removed then all the anarthas will cease to exist. Monkeys of Vrndavan taught us an important lesson which prji revealed. The monkeys took away some of our foot wears. Most of us were in anxiety looking after our foot-wears. Prji explained at present we have very less assets still they keep us in anxiety. What will be condition of one married and having family and many assets. From Kaliya Ghat we made our way to Radha Madana Mohan Temple. A magnificent sight to behold  even though ravaged by the Mughals. Prji described the beautiful pastime of how these deities as Madan Gopal were manifested to and worshiped by Advaita Acarya. Advaita Acarya had given these deities to a devotee named Purushottam Dubey, from whom Srila Sanatan Goswami obtained Madan Mohanji. He also described how once one merchant, Kapoor, was helped by Srila Sanatan Goswami when his ship was stuck in Yamuna. As a token of gratitude he had offered to build the Madan Mohan temple. Visiting Srila Sanatan Goswamis bhajan kutir was heart touching. Purity was emanating from that place. We concluded the day with realisation session while honouring Prasad.

Day 2: A ceremonious circumambulation: We set out early on the second day for the parikrama. We went to the Madan Mohan temple, took darshan. Then we proceeded towards Chir Ghat, where the pastime of Krsna stealing the clothes of the gopis took place. Going further was a very special place—Imli Taal. A pastime specially significant for the Gaudiya Vaisnavas took place there. Once during rasa-lila Srimati Radharani disappeared suddenly. Krsna was crestfallen in separation of Radharani. He sat under a tamarind tree and started meditating on Srimati Radhaarani. Due to His meditation on the golden form of Srimati Radharani, Krsna assumed a golden complexion. Then He predicted that in future He shall appear in this form. This was the prediction about Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s appearance. We had a difficult time chanting at the temple there, most of us were dozing off. Going further we reached the beautiful Keshi Ghat, on the banks of Yamuna. In his talk HG SAP mercifully rebuked us for dozing off in chanting. He explained: Imagine that we are feeling very drowsy and a beautiful girl comes near us, then immediately we will become alert and active, but for the sweet holy names of Krsna we have no attraction. He narrated the pastime how once Balaramji had dressed like Krsna. That was the time when Kesi demon attacked. Balaramji was kicked by the demon and He flew in the air. Later Balaramji gave away the attire of Krsna, illustrating that we should not try to imitate the great souls. We took three drops bath in the Yamuna. HG SAP commented that the pitiable plight of Yamuna was a systematic plan of the government to destroy the holy places.

Next we funnelled through the streets of Vrndavan to visit the Radha Damodar temple. We were fortunate to get the darshan of 4 deities, the prana dhana of great acaryas in Gaudiya Vaisnava  sampradaya. 1. Radha Damodar—Worshipped by Srila Jiva Goswami. 2. Radha Vrndavan Chandra—Worshipped by Srila Krsna Dasa Kaviraj Goswami. 3. Chaila Chikan—Worshipped by Srila Bhugarbha Goswami. 4. Radha Madhava. One devotee in the temple requested HG Sankirtan Ananda P speak in the temple room for everyone. Therein he described how this Radha Damodar temple is specially significant for the followers of Srila Prabhupada. He also informed that Radha Damodar temple is the center of whole universe. We prayed at the samdhis of Srila Rupa Goswami and Srila Jiva Goswami. Gaudiya Vaisnavas are also called Rupanugas, followers of Rupa Goswami. It was a great fortune to be there at his Samadhi and beg for his mercy. We then saw the room where Srila Prabhupada stayed deeply absorbed in prayers to Srila Rupa Goswami, and scrutinizing study of the Goswami literatures. His kitchen window gave a purifying view of the samadhis. We then made our way to the Radha Raman temple. The deity was worshipped by Srila Gopala Bhatt Gosvami. We also visited the samadhi of Srila Gopala Bhatt Gosvami. Back to the temple we contemplated on the plan to visit Sri Giriraj Govardhan. A visit that would become my most cherished memory of VOICE life.

While waiting for a taxi outside the temple, Krsna made arrangement for our bodies and language to be smeared in Vraj-raj, dust of Vrndavan, with a mild sand storm. Rain followed and rendered our scenic trip to Sri Giriraj Govardhan, a soothing experience. Chanting all the way an occasional appearance of the peacocks enlivened my heart. Darshan of Sri Giriraj Govardhan was elevating, we paid obeisance to the great devotee of Krsna, looking forward to the parikrama, eager to learn more.

At 7pm we set out for Govardhan parikrama, with Mrdanga Kartal and Vaisnava Song book. Ankit P and Raman Raja P stayed back to arrange for our dinner which we would take on the parikrama. Albeit walking slowly we soon reached a very special place: Govind Kund. A small playful boy led us through a dark path way to the kund. The kund was dark as well, moon was hiding behind tree tops. An atmosphere which would otherwise send tingle up my spine, amazingly, felt relaxing. All of us settled down on steps of kund, barely able to see each other. Monkeys screeching at a distance, and fishes swimming nearby made the background sound for our discussion. I wanted to suggest we just take darshan and revert to our parikrama. The confidence of devotees to hear about the significance of the place sitting there insipired me. Govind Kund is the place where Indra came with Surabhi cow to beg forgiveness for sending devastating rainstorms to Vrndavan. He coroneted Krsna as Govinda(the enlivener of the senses and the cows). At Govinda kunda the great Vaisnava Acarya Srila Madhavendrapuri would chant incessantly. [He would not even go for begging food. If someone offers food he would accept. In this way, once, he remained hungry for many days. A beautiful cowherd boy approached and offered him milk in a earthen pot. Madhvendra Puri enquired, why he had brought the milk. The boy said that He had learned from the ladies who come to fill water there that Maddhvendra Puri had not eaten anything since many days. “Every one gets enough food in my village, if he begs. For those who don’t beg, I personally feed them. Please take this milk”. Madhavendra Puri accepted the milk, the boy went away. When he drank the milk it was nectarine. Same night boy came in his dream, revealing himself as Krsna. He instructed Madhavendra  Puri to excavate Him from below the bushes. He was lying below the ground for many years and was now feeling very hot. He asked him to establish Him at the top of Govardhan. ] Gopalaji appeared to him here and instructed him to install Him at the top of Govsrdhan. Srila Madhavendra Puri did so and celebrated anna-kuta festival everyday for one full year. Prabhu told that in Krsna’s time anna-kuta was for only one day but the devotees are more eager to celebrate the Lord’s pastime, therefore there was anna-kuta for one full year. We learnt how gopis called Govardhan a better devotee than them. Prabhu related the pastime of appearance of Govardhan on earth and its travel to Vrndavan. Our discussion was interrupted by call by Raman Raja Pr enquiring our whereabouts. Carrying a heavy sac of food items they had already crossed the Govind Kund area. We darted out to the parikrama road, purchasing a couple of battery torches on the way.

We soon met Raman Raja P and Ankit P who raised their hand a shouted ‘Haribol’. Raman Raja P eagerly enquired from me, which place we visited and what did HG SAP speak there. Moving ahead we found a temple with an open compound, and made up to have our dinner there. A lone young caretaker generously accommodated us. It was 10 o’clock. Aditya K P offered the bhoga. Raman Raja  P and Aditya K P served all devotees in their usual motherly way. There was samosha with dry fruits inside( the most delicious I had ever tasted), puffed rice(mudi) topped with finely cut tomatoes, lemon juice and bhujia. The delicious petha and rabdi will be the most unforgettable sweets of my life. By 11:15pm we had made a nice mess in the compound as to enrage any owner. But ours looked tolerant. We cleaned everything up thanked him, gave him little charity and resumed on our parikrama.

Moving ahead we reached ‘Puchari ka Lota Baba’. Lota Baba is a cowherd boyfriend of Krsna, who did not consent Him going to Mathura. Krsna assured Lota Baba that he would return in a few days. Lota Baba decided to wait for Krsna at the place where they had separated. He also decided to fast till Krsna returned. Krsna never returned. Lota Baba has been fasting for all these thousands of years waiting for Krsna. It is explained how although fasting for many years he is getting fatter—because of being nourished by the remembrance of Krsna. HG SAP taught that we should be similarly patient for the mercy of Krsna to dawn in our lives. Enthusiasm without patience is mode of passion, patience without enthusiasm is mode of ignorance. Enthusiasm with patience is ideal. As if still not sure whether we will complete the 21km parikrama in the night itself HG SAP asked our opinion about carrying on right away, or resting there and starting early morning the next day. Many pilgrims who were marching confidently on the parikrama path gave us confidence, and we danced ahead with the beat of the Mrdanga and chime of the cymbals chanting Hare Krnsa alongside Govardhan.

Path was lonely with vast field on both the sides, moon was the exclusive source of illumination. Our LED torches helped little.  An otherwise grisly setting seemed extremely safe with the chanting of the Holy Names, association of devotees and Govardhan by the side. Peacocks warbling at a distance mingled musically with the kirtan. We kept dancing ahead for a long time—till 2 am. We reached Uddhava kund, where we halted to discuss about the great devotee. Udhhava is a very dear devotee of Krsna. We discussed how Uddhava was amazed to see the devotion of the gopis of Vrndavan for Krsna and desired to become a grass in Vrndavan.

As we danced ahead, limbs ached. But relentless we progressed singing Jaya Radhe Jaya Krishna… Hare Krsna and other songs in turn. Attached to a regulation in sleeping; night out parikrama  was an outlandish idea. I would better savour the opportunity to purify myself I thought, however. Soon we reached the climax of the parikrama—Radha Kund and Shyama Kunda. Glorified as the holiest spot in the creation, the placid waters of the kund offered a congenial opportunity for Mangal Arati, the earliest I ever attended—at 3.30am in the morning. However I again felt sorry as drowsiness dominated me. This is very much true in daily course of my devotional service also—so much mercy is available but I evade by not being attentive and conscious about it. Next we visited the Bhajan Kutir and Samadhi Mandir of Srila Raghunath Das Goswami, our prayojana acarya. I was enthused to see old devotees performing keertans before the break of the dawn. On coming out we walked through the alleys. A few Vrajvasis walked around, preparing for the morning program. I was moved with the attitude of the devotees in the area. As they saw us performing keertans they would bow down every time they would encounter us. We came across a milk shop and drank some before we moved ahead.

As the dawn broke, we beheld an astonishing scene. Children, young and adult devotees would prostrate on the footpath of the parikrama path, moved ahead to the point there hand could reach and again prostrate to reach ahead. His Grace Sankirtan Ananda Pr explained they were performing dandavat parikrama. Vrndavan had more in store although. We saw a person paying repeated dandavats at the same place. Each time shifting a pebble from the pile near his foot to the pile near his head as he would prostrate. Amazed we learned that he was doing 108 dandavat parikrama!

The beautiful sight of Kusum sarovar delighted us beyond expectations. Beautiful darshan of Sri Sri Radha Banbihari was very soothing. Light of the sun also unveiled beautiful peacocks atop the trees. Soon we reached Mukharavinda—the mouth of Govardhan and our final destination. Inside in the temple devotees offered milk in the mouth of the Govardhan. We also took darshan of the Manasi Ganga. Coming out of the temple a board declared—‘You have successfully completed Govardhan parikrama’. We chanted our way to the accommodation. We took rest for few hours and then departed back to Vrndavan.

Day 3: Carrying home ‘Vrndavan’:

Back in Vrndavan I anticipated some more exciting visits. Our next destination was Radha Gopijanvallabha temple. The glories of Ghanshyam Baba who was serving Radha Gopijanavallabha is extolled by HH Radhanath Maharaj which made the visit all the more interesting. In there we discussed about the mood of service of Vrndavan and developing Vaisnava relationship. I feel this is the mood I need to cultivate in my heart so that I can experience Vrndavan where-ever I go.

Mental speculation can't find God for us

Human vocabulary is made up of words formed from letters from ‘a’ to ‘z’. Thus this vocabularly is limited, by the permutaions and combinations of limited alphabets. All our knowledge and experience is within this range of permutations. God, however, is unlimited and thus not within the reach of mental speculation. Lord is thus called adhokshaja, meaning that he is beyond the perceptions of mind and senses. Lord however can be realized by engaging the senses in the service of the Lord. Engagement of the senses begins with the engagement of the tongue, which happen by chanting Hare Krsna Mahamantra.

Slap of Nature

The power of nature often stuns and scares us. Any sensible person looks for the logic behind these calamities being tended to specific people. To discard them as random events denigrates us to an illogical premise; while blaming the almighty is questioning His mighty love for us and justifying our often obscure irresponsibility.
Vedic world-view says that the tragic natural calamities are a result of ruthless violence committed by man to the animals. Killing of cow is specially deemed sinful inviting vengeance from nature. Man has no ability to give any life so he has no right to take any either. Thus the calamities which we face are like slap of nautre to correct a wayward child who harms his brother. Since we have severly harmed our brothers the slaps we have recieved from nature has been very ghastly. Hope we will recitfy and stop killing our brothers.