Saturday, May 31, 2014

KRISHNA IS SO FUNNY


Today was the day. I couldn't put it off any longer. The seven avocado trees that sprouted in the compost pile needed to find a home.

The compost pile is not out in the open any more since I purchased two plastic trash barrels, drilled a million holes in them and set them out back. While one is full and composting I can be filling the other. But before I bought the barrels the compost was just a pile outback and now there were seven avocado trees.

These aren't the first ones. I have been taking these avocado trees as they have been appearing and planting them in areas around the city where there are patches of un-manicured landscape. It is very built up here and there is hardly a crack in a sidewalk for a wild plant to grow.

But there is a stretch of road with some woods on either side not too far away. So I dug the trees up. Some of them as tall as my knee, filled a 5 gallon plastic bucket with water to give them a little drink when in their new locations and off we went.

I knew it was the right spot because there was an Suv parked off the side of the road and some teenage boys with long hair were helping a giant turtle to get off the road.

No surprise the wooded area had become a dump for used tires, buckets filled with all sorts of polluting stuff like paint, roof cement, varnish...there were broken toys, beer cans, you name it. When those 5 gallon buckets deteriorate they will release their poisonous contents into the wooded area. I felt so sickened to see it. It was a mess. But I have no room for the trees where I live, I already have 4 avocado trees. So I dug the holes.

Heading back to car to get the trees, carrying the shovel and two empty 5 gallon plastic buckets that I found… who should drive by? but... a policeman. Just what I needed. A nosy policeman.


Sure enough he turned around and pulled up to where I was parked and wanted to know what I was doing. He was pleasant enough. Very nice-looking young man. I told him I found some plastic buckets that I can use in my garden. That I was one of those everything-organic-people. And that the woods was filled with junk. People were dumping everything and anything in there.

He seemed alright with that, but then he wanted know what was with the garden shovel. So I just told him, “I have these lovely little trees and nowhere to plant them. So I was going to plant them in the woods with the other trees.”

Of course he had to say, "You can’t just do that. Someone owns that property and you can’t just transplant something there.”

I said, " Have you seen what’s going on in there? It's a dump. I just want to plant a few little trees.”

He could see the craziness of it. But what could he do? Job security.

He asked me what kind of trees they were. The plastic tub was out of the car now sitting on the ground in front of us.

“Avocado trees.”

His eyes got really big, “Really?”

“Yes, there must be seven different kinds. Some Haas and some Florida.”

He looked like he wanted them.

I said, "Do you want them?”

He said, “ Yes. I'll take them." He was smiling so big. “I have some land. I can plant them. My girl friend loves avocados.”

It was really very funny. He was smiling so much. I was smiling so much. The trees would now have a good home.

I called after him, “Rescued by the police.”

He answered back, “Yes, saving lives.”

I called back, “Yes, all life with my arms raised in the air.”

As we drove away, He tooted. I tooted back.


Krishna is so funny.


THE NINTH OFFENSE

The Ninth offense to chanting of 
the Holy Name of the Lord:

9) To instruct a faithless person about the glories of the Holy Name. (Anyone can take part in chanting the holy name of the Lord, but in the beginning one should not be instructed about the transcendental potency of the Lord. Those who are too sinful cannot appreciate the transcendental glories of the Lord, and therefore it is better not to instruct them in this matter.) NOD 8

Offense: "the act of displeasing or affronting"  Merriam-Webster disctionary

Offending is the exact opposite of pleasing. Devotional service is performed for the pleasure of the Lord. If there is offense then the devotional energy is blocked. 

I wanted to take a closer look at this 9th offense:
to preach the glories of the Holy Name to the faithless.

Here Srila Prabhupada makes a distinction between engaging the faithless in chanting the Holy Name and discussing with the faithless about the glories of the Holy Name. By chanting the Holy name, the faithless become purified enough to be able to discuss and appreciate the potencies of the Holy Name because they are experiencing something wonderful for themselves.

First the chanting then the hearing.

If I try to preach the glories of the Holy Name to a faithless person and commit this offense what will be my experience? 

In order to preach the glories of the Holy Name, I must enter into a heartfelt communication with a faithless person. That means I am opening my heart in order to try to transmit the transcendental message of Love of Godhead. But if their heart is defensive then I will absorb their negativity. I become poisoned. I am open and broadcasting devotional messages and they are faithless and broadcasting material contamination. This is not the setting for “discussing” the glories of the Holy Name. Their heart must be open. 

By chanting the Holy Name, the Holy Name will open their heart. If they can be engaged in hearing and chanting, taking prasadam...gradually as they "experience for themselves" the Mercy of the Holy Name then the desire to hear the glories of the Holy Name discussed arises automatically within their heart. 

So much so that devotees like Srila Rupa goswami who are on the level of pure devotional service pray like this:

I do not know how much nectar the two syllables "Krishna" have produced. When it is chanted, it seems to dance within my mouth. I then desire thousands of mouths. When that name enters my ears, I desire millions of ears. And when the name dances in the courtyard of the heart, it conquers the activities of the mind, and all the senses become paralyzed. Cc. Antya 1.99

Sunday, May 25, 2014

LUST OR NOTHING AT ALL

JAPA
     Please help me, Krishna. I know You are in my heart as Supersoul. You see my predicament. I know You want to help me. Why do I only see two choices…lust or nothingness?

     I am chanting Your Holy Name, offering puja, reading the books left by Your great devotees. What am I doing wrong or what is it I am not doing that I should be doing? Why is there only darkness on one side and the fire of lust on the other? Where are You?

      Why is there only a distant and faint recording playing in the back of my mind somewhere of Your pastimes, Form, Incarnations and great devotees? Why are they somehow 2-dimensional and lifeless? Like old black and white photos. While I am staring into nothingness and pursued by the fire of lust?

     Please help me. How do I cross over? To simply renounce everything puts me into the void…nothingness.

     To become active simply awakens my lust to enjoy everyone and everything for my sense gratification.

     If I get rid of all my possessions and live in a bare, empty space then the lust is minimized. I can be a little peaceful simply because there isn't anything for my senses to focus on. Because there is nothing there? 


     Where are You? I have heard about You and how wonderful you are. Are you somehow in a room that is empty?

     If I become active doing “this and that,” my senses become absorbed in “this and that” and fire of lust is kindled. They want more and more “this and that” and are never satisfied until I am completely exhausted and still am not satisfied.



     Where are You?

     I have heard You are everywhere. But I don’t see You anywhere.

     Then a voice... very clear and very near…yukta vairagya,

     “Actual renunciation means to use everything in devotional service. Engage all material things in relation with the loving service of the Lord, and be situated in yukta-vairāgya, proper renunciation. In this material world, nothing should be accepted for one’s sense gratification: everything should be accepted for the service of the Lord. This is the mentality of the spiritual world.” SB 9.9.47

     There it is. The key that unlocks the door. Use everything for Krishna consciousness. Engage everything and everyone in Krishna consciousness. Everything and everyone in the material world is acting as if  disconnected from their source…as if there were no source. By engaging everyone and everything in service to Krishna...the source... the spiritual nature is revived. The disconnected become connected. That is the magic...the missing link…the miracle of devotional service…the internal energy of the Lord...the ocean of bliss beyond the fire of lust and the abyss of  nothingness. 

Saturday, May 24, 2014

BLINDED BY THE GLARE

       
     Lately I have not been able to sleep more than a few hours. At first this was disturbing, since I was thinking it is unhealthy and I would be tired during the day, etc..

     Waking at 1:00 am with no chance of returning to sleep. All quiet everywhere. Dark.

     What to do? Chant japa.

     It is perfect for chanting japa. Practically no distractions for the senses. One dim night light.

     Remembering Krishna trickling in. Mahavishnu…Prahlada marahaja...The three worlds and Yamaraja... The Three modes of material nature... Krishna in Vrndavana…Remembering what I have heard from the great realized souls.

      "Please help me, Oh Lord, I am suffering so much in this material world. I don’t like it here. I am so helpless. So easily distracted. You are the Supersoul in my own heart, please help me. Please let me be conscious of You. Please bring me to the point of loving You."

     After a few hours, taking rest again for a few more hours.

     Now after the sun is up... chanting japa. So many distractions. The world is active in the modes of nature. It is my eyes that are the worst distractors. If they are open then they are looking at the objects around me and finding "things to do later." If they are closed I fall asleep. Every object in the room has a kind of magnetism drawing my attention to it. Every object has a story or a history behind it. My eyes are captured by this, blinded by a kind of glare and my poor mind scrambles to accommodate.

     The Lord has made Himself available in His Deity forms. Still my eyes want to keep everything as if it were a material form. What to do?

     Nighttime was very good for hearing and chanting. My eyes were open...so no sleep...but it was dark so no distractions. As an experiment, I put some blindfold on so that I could keep my eyes open and yet not be distracted. Voila.. Like magic. It is the eyes. They are very lusty for material forms. They are easily illusioned. 


     This world is a dark place. Without the sun and moon there is no light at all. 

     There is the saying: Seeing is believing. Believing what? Believing that what I am seeing is true. But it is not... if I am not seeing Krishna.

Sunday, May 18, 2014

TWO CHOICES

harer namaiva kevalam
kalau nasty eva nasty eva
nasty eva gatir anyatha
"In this age of quarrel and hypocrisy the only means of deliverance is chanting the holy name of the Lord. There is no other way. There is no other way. There is no other way." 

There are only two choices… servant of Krishna or servant of Maya.

When I engage in devotional service to Krishna there is no Maya.

When I stop serving Krishna there is Maya.
I am marginal energy. My nature is to serve.

The choice is mine.

I see what service to Maya is like. Unlimited hankerings… unlimited desires for sense gratification.
Never satisfied. ..while old age disease and death approach.

Service to Krishna means ever new…ever fresh and yet eternally the same…blissful…no anxiety always satisfied and joyful.

The Hare Krishna Mahamantra awakens the desire to serve Krishna.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Ram Rama Hare Hare

Oh Energy of the Lord, Oh Lord, please engage me in Your devotional service.


I choose to chant the Hare Krishna Mahamantra. 


Saturday, May 17, 2014

FISH OUT OF WATER


     What makes me different from the other animals? I eat, sleep, am subject to sex desire and will defend what I consider mine.

     The mockingbird lands deftly on the low hanging oleander branch...heavy laden with scarlet blooms. He rests briefly, looks in all directions, passes excrement and takes to the air to land on the top of the crest of a nearby house.

     He was born, will live for some time, grow, produce offspring, dwindle and die. How is that different from the human being? It isn't.

     All around me I see all the living beings. The peacocks, the lizards, the snake, the dogs, the flies and mosquitoes, the oleander tree, the grasses... we all go through this. The difference is...I have the ability to make a conscious choice whether to remain in the world of birth, death, old age and disease or to enter the spiritual world.

     This is the only significant difference between all the other life forms on this earth planet and the human form. It is the only significant difference. I have the ability to make a conscious choice.

    That some crawl, walk, slither, swim or fly is not a significant difference. It is just a variation of how we move about. That we move about is something we all have in common. Just how we do it may vary.

     That some eat meat, some eat vegetation and some synthesize food from the raw elements is not a significant difference. It is just a variation of how we eat.

     That some produce offspring by eggs, some by live birth and some from seeds is not a significant difference. We are all producing offspring.

     We all defend ourselves. Teeth, nails, claws, bad smells, sharp quills, smothering aromatics like the pine trees. We all defend.

     The only difference between the human form and all the other forms on the earth is that the human can make a conscious choice to seek out the source. 

     Why would a human consider making such a conscious choice? Because it is all suffering. The defending, the eating, the mating, the sleeping, it is all suffering that ends in death which can come at any moment.

     The human can ask:
“Why am I suffering?
Why am I forced to eat, sleep, mate and defend even if I don’t want to?
Why am I forced to get old, sick and die?
Why was I born?
Why am I different from the other living entities?
Why can I ask these questions?
Why? Why? Why?”

     This human form of life is the opportunity to go Back Home Back to Godhead.

    If the fish is out of water he will not be happy no matter how much facility he has when he is on the land. He is a fish out of water.

     I am a spiritual being. No matter how hard I try to make some nice happy life in the material world I will never be happy. Like the fish out of water. 

Friday, May 16, 2014

I AM NOT A HUMAN BEING

   

     "I am not this body." I have heard this so many times it has become a truism. Yes, yes, I am spirit. Not matter.

     Chanting japa all night…the full moon overhead…the crickets and night sounds…an occasional peacock call and every now and the croaking of a frog or two. It is cool. The insects are not active.

     To say, “I am not this body” is generic. Tonight I realized, “I am not a human being.” Identifying with this body means I think I am a human being, part of the human race, and bound to act accordingly. None of us are humans. Only we have taken this birth which will not last. Then what will we be?

     If I say to someone, "I am spirit. I am not this material body." It may sound unusual to them since people generally don't have much dialog on this. But it does not cause alarm.

     But if I say, "I am a not a human being?" There is some apprehension there. If I am not a human then I must be less than human since human is the highest life form I can perceive through my senses. This is the problem…proud of this human body. What I perceive through my sense I have faith in because I am proud.

     That is why we are so slow to make spiritual progress. It is not just that we identify with this body, but we identify with being human. We are proud of this human body.

     This is a subtle point. The difference between, I am not this body, and I am not a human being. It is the same thing…but elicits a different response.

     What am I? I am in the darkest of ignorance. Therefore I must take the help of self-realized souls.

     The Bhagavad gita as it is as spoken by Krishna to Arjuna shines a light in the darkness. 

Thursday, May 15, 2014

A DYING TREE


A DYING TREE
     Chanting the Mahamantra in the Tulsi garden in the morning after a good rain during the evening is delightful. All the plants, Tulsi devi and the other plants and trees, so refreshed after a good soaking. The night before they were all limp and pale, now they are invigorated and deep green.

     As usual the sound of the Holy name is only background to the chatter of the mind. After four rounds the chatter subsides and a kind of fidgeting begins. Aware of the body, it is uncomfortable to sit this way or that, restlessness. “Four rounds is enough. Let’s go do something else.”

     Continue chanting. Then the agitation comes for sense gratification. Keep chanting. I have been here at this juncture enough times to know this is where the victory lies. But it is real. The senses demanding. The mind scrambling to put out the fires. The intelligence lazy not knowing exactly what to do. Ignoring the situation. ”I’ll put off dealing with it and maybe it will go away.”

     Been here so many times before. There is no question of giving in to the mind and senses. It is out of the question. This is where the realizations come. This is what I pray for…more surrender, more realization, more taste for chanting… Krishna is there in the heart and guru deva is giving instructions. And there it is after two more rounds of restless fidgeting… the breakthrough. The insight. The nectar. I am so thankful.
It is not something I did not know, or have never heard before. I have been hearing this for most of my life. But now it has a new dimension in my consciousness. It has life.

     This body is like a tree. I am like a bird in the tree trying to taste the fruit of the tree in the form of sense gratification. But it is a dying tree. The more I try to taste and enjoy the fruits the more I plant seeds for getting another dying tree when this one finally dies. This fruit tasting is going on perpetually. But the fruits are limited and temporary and my desire is never fulfilled. Tree after tree…material body after material body, lifetime after lifetime. I have been doing this for eons.

     But there is another bird in the tree with me…trying to get my attention. There is another type of fruit to taste. There is another type of body. A spiritual body. There is another life that does not end.

As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, similarly, the soul accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones. BG 2:22

     And there is Tulsi in front of me...the Pure Devotee in a transcendental tree form. And I am wearing a garland of her manjaris from yesterday’s offering. The fruit She offers is Krishna prema. Her tree form is not material. Her body is not temporary. Her appearances and disappearances are not subject to the modes of material nature. She is the same person appearing wherever there is service to Krishna. She is not changing Her body.

I look forward to when I can sit again in japa meditation.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare



Tuesday, May 13, 2014

WAKE UP! WAKE UP!


     Beautiful morning…Light breeze… Peacocks calling to each other somewhere nearby… After a generous shower during the night, the grass and plants refreshed and ready to meet the activities of the day… Tulsi devi glowing a glorious emerald green. Seated on the mat on the ground in front of the Tulsi garden chanting Hare Krishna Mahamantra on beads…

     The first few rounds… 108 mantras each round…are mechanical. Like when there is noise in the background. The sounds are coming out of my mouth but they are distant. I am thinking so many things. The grass, trees, what I ate last night, the conversation with the neighbor yesterday, the bank account... On and on... By the 4th round I don't want to chant anymore. Time to do something else… anything else. Just not chanting! 

     Krishna is trying to get my attention and I am stubbornly distracted. It is like saying "NO" directly to Krishna. I keep chanting . And the struggle begins. I am now becoming aware that my mind is out of control. It is going here there and everywhere. The last straw in the rampage is the stirring of sex desire.

     Now the battle really begins. I've been here before. It is not where I want to go. There is a lizard sitting on the walkway. I see him and try to remind myself that there is birth, death, old, age and disease…the cycle of samsara. Do I want to take a body like the lizard since there is no way to know for sure what birth I could take. But reminding myself of that does not stop the stirring of sex desire.

     The mind says, "So what. Who cares."

     I'm still chanting Hare Krishna Mahamantra.

     But now I am asking for help. I can see the mind. I cannot blame the mind or chastise it even. It just is what it is… "very active"… It is the intelligence that has fallen asleep.

     Wake up. Wake up. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna.

     YES! That is what the chanting of Hare Krishna is meant for… to awaken the spiritual intelligence. My spiritual master is here and giving me shelter. Now there are some tears of gratitude and relief. The covering of Maya is stripped away. The material world can be seen for what it is. A place of suffering where repeated birth and death take place.

     There is another world. Non-material.

     I was born in the darkness of ignorance. My spiritual master has opened my eyes with the torchlight of knowledge. I offer my most humble obeisances unto His lotus Feet.


Monday, May 12, 2014

ARRIVING FOR A VISIT

     


     There is a wonderful, very large gardenia bush here.The more I pick the blooms the more the blooms appear the next day. There are so many, I can hardly keep up with it. 

     At first I was placing them in vases around the altar. After a few days I ran out of vases. Then I started to make garlands for Srila Prabhupada.

     Now today there are hundreds of blooms and I'll make a full, large, super fragrant garland for Srila Prabhupada. 

     The kind we would make when He was arriving for a visit. 

FOLLOW UP TO: ACTIVE MORNING IN THE TULSI GARDEN



Ravi Kiran comment on ACTIVE MORNING IN THE TULSI GARDEN

"There is nothing that is not Krishna in one form or another. If we can see like that we will never be away from Krishna." ....wonderful insights on the essence of Truth shared ,..thank you..
"this material world is no place for a lady or a gentleman." ...did not understand, if you can pls clarify...if one can see Krishna everywhere, there is no other world apart from Krishna ..be it material or spiritual or something else ?? 

Meena Devi Dasi  replies to Ravi Kiran

Thank you for your thoughtful comments. 
Material world means forgetfulness of Krishna. It is where the three modes of material nature, goodness, passion and ignorance which are all full of suffering and where birth, death, old age and disease take place. It is nasty for the pure spirit to have to succumb to these things due to identifying with matter.
So that situation is not fit for a lady or gentleman.
For one who sees Me everywhere and sees everything in Me, I am never lost, nor is he ever lost to Me. BG 6:30 
Devotional service is more than liberation... 

Ravi Kiran replies to Meena Devi Dasi
Yes, very true ...identifying with matter is the cause for all bondage ....Thanks for wonderful insights shared....

Friday, May 2, 2014

PAPAYA TREE UPDATE

PAPAYA TREE UPDATE
     At first I got carried away with papaya trees. They grow so quickly. In just a few months they shoot up like a weed and produce so many fruits it is mind boggling. I had it all planned, I would plant 15 trees and from the hundreds of fruits I could sell some and money problem solved. Just see how Maya tricks us.
     First problem is if it is too hot the trees will not set fruit. 
     Second problem is the pests. The mealy bugs, the giant green caterpillars than eat a whole tree overnight, and not last and certainly not least is the giant fruit fly that lays its eggs in the developing fruit. The worms then eat the insides and what they don't eat they contaminate. 
     What to do?
     Okay it cooled off and the fruits began to set, at least 50 or 60 per tree. I only have the one tree mature enough for now.
     Take the mealy bugs and caterpillars off by hand.
The fruit fly is so bold one landed on my arm while I was tending the tree as if to taunt me. 
     Suggestions on Google were to put paper bags over the fruits, or wax paper... one person enclosed the fruits in old nylon stockings. 
     I made a few little cloth bags to test out. Cloth is not enough. The fruit fly will bore right through cloth. Then I lined the bag with wax paper. Good. It worked. After two rolls of wax paper I ran out and started using old plastic shopping bags as a lining. 
     The tree looks a little odd with all the bags... and I wonder if we get a good rain and some wind if the whole thing might not just fall over. 
     I'm not looking to make a fortune growing papayas anymore. But it would be nice if there were at a least couple of fruits after all of this to offer to Krishna. 

ACTIVE MORNING IN THE TULSI GARDEN



ACTIVE MORNING IN THE TULSI GARDEN
     I have had some fear that the large green lizard I have seen moving about in the trees and bushes may be a threat to Tulsi. Some lizards like the little brown ones eat the bugs and are helpful servants but these large green ones, this one is about a foot long (and looks like the Geico Gekko) is a staunch vegetarian. Today during japa I saw he had chosen to climb a thin branch of a nearby oleander…the only branch that hangs low over Tulsi's garden and is now blooming just above Tulsi.
     He moves very slowly most of the time and blends in perfectly with the leaves. His body looks a little like a big leaf when he just sits. So what is his plan? Sure enough he slid down the very tip of the thin branch. Is he going to eat the flowers? No. But I see the weight of his body is pulling the thin oleander branch to “almost” within touching distance of the top of Tulsi.
     The Tulsi garden is surrounded by a flimsy fence made from bird net which is fine for keeping the peacocks out. None of the creatures want to mess with bird net because it gets stuck on just about anything that it comes into contact with. Can be a real problem for feathers. If this lizard figures out how flimsy this netting is and that he can very easily just crawl under it we will have a big problem for protecting Tulsi.
For now his plan has been foiled, the branch would not come down far enough by his weight alone so he could taste the Tulsi leaves meant for Krishna. He jumped from the thin branch into the nearby cherimoya tree. There is so much vegetation here for him to eat, but that Tulsi garden must look very attractive to him.
When the flowering oleander branch finishes blooming its offering to Tulsi I will prune it off.
     There was a lot of activity this morning. That wasn’t the only creature that came by Tulsi's garden. A medium sized garden snake stopped by to see if there were any lizards for him to eat. The small lizards could be seen scattering here and there as the snake moved along the ground. He saw me sitting chanting japa and watched and listened for a few minutes… motionless, head in the air. When I moved my japa beads and they made a crackling sound he swiftly slithered away.
     The small brown lizards were interesting too. There is at least one family of small brown lizards, the bug-eaters, that live inside the bird net protected area. What happened next I'd never seen before in reptiles and didn’t know reptiles could behave this way. A large brown lizard ran after a small one that tried to run out from the protected area and caught it in her mouth, by what looked like “the back of the neck.” I thought maybe the big one will eat the little one, like fishes do. But not so. She carried the little one back into the protected area and up to the top of one of the fence posts. She held the little one in her mouth like that for quite some time and then let it go. The little one ran back into the protected area and into a space between two of the wall stones.
Mother and child?

     Ever amazing… the universal principles of Krishna. There is nothing that is not Krishna in one form or another. If we can see like that we will never be away from Krishna. 

Update 1: This lizard is not a vegetarian. So Tulsi is safe and the lizard will help protect her.
Update 2: The activity between the large brown lizard and the small one may have been mating.
The larger one the male and smaller one the female. 

In any case Krishna is still everywhere. And although we may see Krishna everywhere, "this material world is no place for a lady or a gentleman."