Monday, August 18, 2014

VYASA PUJA OFFERING AUGUST 18, 2014

Dear Srila Prabhupada, 
Please accept my most humble obeisances.

nama om vishnu-padaya krishna-preshthaya bhu-tale
srimate bhaktivedanta-svamin iti namine

"I offer my respectful obeisances unto His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who is very dear to Lord Krishna, having taken shelter at His lotus feet."

namas te sarasvate deve gaura-vani-pracarine
nirvisesha-sunyavadi-pascatya-desa-tarine

"Our respectful obeisances are unto you, O spiritual master who is kindly preaching the message of Lord Caitanyadeva and delivering the Western countries, which are filled with impersonalism and voidism." 

From my position deep within the womb of material nature I surrender to You. 

Pariksit Maharaja saw Krishna briefly when he was within the womb of his mother as Krishna appeared before Parksit Maharaja to protect him from the brahmastra weapon thrown by Asvatama.


When Maharaja Pariksit took birth he searched his entire life for Krishna, that wonderful person he saw while yet unborn.

Briefly I saw You Srila Prabhupada, Krishna's Pure Devotee. By Your grace I was able to use my material body and senses in Krishna's service and experience true freedom from the material modes of nature while yet still within the womb of material nature, unborn.


After Your departure I searched and search for You. I could not find You anywhere and felt I would simply rot within the womb. But a seed had been planted. It is taking some time for it to germinate. Though I still remain within the womb of material nature I am deriving nourishment from Your books and am growing day by day.


It is interesting to note that Pariksit Maharaja achieved perfection by hearing Srimad Bhagavatam. He searched his entire life for Krishna and finally found Krishna in the Srimad Bhagavatam by the mercy of his spiritual master, Sukadeva goswami. 


What is even more interesting is that Sukadeva goswami Himself remained within the womb of his mother for sixteen years with no desire at all to come out. It wasn't until he heard, even while still within the womb, Srimad Bhagavatamfrom his father, Srila Vyasadeva that he took birth.


Srila Prabhupada, I am deep within the womb of material nature. Your books are like the umbilical cord that connects me to Sri Sri Radha Krishna, my source of life.


You have compared the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra to a child calling for its mother. Specifically the mother's breast for nourishment and safety. I am not even at that point, I am still within the womb. As such I am not of much use to your mission. My chanting is more like the sucking of an embryo through the umbilical cord. 


You are feeding me. Hearing and chanting is the substance of my life. I am hungry to grow. Oh Srila Prabhupada, someday when I am actually born, when I leave the womb of material nature in my new spiritual body I will be so happy. At some point I may even be of some practical use to You in your mission to spiritually feed the other materially conditioned spirit souls who are just like me, deep within the womb of material nature. 


Until that time I remain your very, very insignificant disciple.


Meena Devi Dasi

DOCTOR ELEPHANT HANDS


Looks like Krishna let the doctor save my right eye.

The retina detached a week ago. A retina detachment is very often just part of the aging process. The doctor performed surgery the next day. If they can catch a retina detachment early enough there might not be any loss of sight. It was out patient so I thought, "Oh how severe can it be? Outpatient!" I was going to drive home afterwards. ha ha ha... forget that. They wouldn't let me go into the operating room unless I gave them the telephone number of someone to pick me up afterwards. Now I know why. It was intense.

Full anesthesia, out like a light. That's when they do the big cutting stuff I'm pretty sure. They needed to put a belt around the outside of the eyeball to squeeze it a little so the retina would not pull away when they put it back into place. That belt or "scleral buckle" as they call it, is sown into the outside of the eyeball and stays there for the duration of my stay in this body. So that must be what they did first when I was totally unconsciousness. I'm sure there was a lot of tugging and grunting and groaning to get it just right. Glad I was asleep for that. 

But I came to while they were in the middle of putting the retina back into place and could see through the eye that was being operated on the tiny instruments he was using. Maybe a tiny laser inside the eyeball. Which means they had to do some cutting to get in there. I was awake but frozen. I could feel things but no pain. 

The doctor was working really hard. He's done thousands of these. It's all he ever does and has been doing them for thirty years. But that didn't seem to make him light handed. He seemed a little bit of an elephant to me. But I was in no position to SAY ANYTHING. Just pray to remember Krishna whatever the outcome.

Evidently he was trying very hard to get something right that just wan't going the way he wanted it to so that he muttered "shit" a couple of times as he was poking around inside my eyeball. More praying to Krishna not to forget Him.

Then came the stitching. Sewing the eyeball closed on the side where they had gone in with the laser. Couple of small stitches. Snip.

Then the needle injection of the gas bubble into the eyeball to hold everything in place until it could all heal.
OMG... 

Ya sure. Just drive home. Only an outpatient procedure. Forget it!

The frozen head thawed out about 6 hours later and then the dull throbbing pain began. Then the scratchy feeling inside the lids, like the worst case of pinkeye you could ever dream of. Sleeping was impossible because I was instructed to only sleep with head elevated and on the left side. I never sleep on my left side, I think I have some curvature of the spine that prevents me from ever being comfortable on the left side. More Praying to Krishna not to forget Him. 

Playing recordings of kirtans, bhajans, eBooks of Srila Prabhupada's books.

Back the next day, took a taxi, for Dr. Elephant Hands to look at his handy work. His beside manner isn't much either. I mean "shit" in the middle of the operation with me awake? He yanked the eye open. And assured me he couldn't see anything. I told him I had the same problem. Then he crossed his fingers in front of my remaining eye. Like, "I did the best I could, now good luck." 80% success rate on the "first" operation. 90% success rate after a "second" operation. A second operation?

He told me, "I guarantee you a cataract. Your lens doesn't like the gas bubble. It's already clouded over."
OMG
More praying to Krishna not to forget Him.

The next four days were spent semiconscious. Sleeping as best I could to recuperate. The dull aching pain and scratchy pink eye feeling constant. Since both eyes like to move together it was very difficult to see anything at all since whenever I moved the good eye the recovering eye wanted to move too. Not a good idea.

I still managed to finish recording Chapter 21 of The Nectar of Devotion eBook and digitally cleaned up some kirtan recordings. Hung out on Facebook and some other forums I frequent. 

Now four days later I am finally seeing some improvement. The pain is greatly decreased and the bubble is going away little bit little bit. I'm sure it is being absorbed by the sinuses because it feels like an irritation in the sinuses on that side. 

It looks like Krishna let Dr. Elephant Hands save the eyesight. 

I'll know the official confirmation of success or not in three days when I go back for a follow up. 

The peacocks have left their tail feathers everywhere now that mating season is over. I'll bring him a peacock feather.

As we pass through youth most of us, at least those of us who are not challenged by poor health early, cannot even conceive of the difficulties of aging. As we pass through youth we are like supermen and superwomen. But that passes quickly. If we use that super energy to serve Krishna then as we pass through old age and disease we will not lament that we wasted our youthful energy when we had it. 

Sunday, August 17, 2014

SENSE OF TOUCH


In considering the senses, we know that there are five gross senses. Hearing, smelling, tasting, seeing and touching.(1) We know from bhakti yoga that tasting is purified by taking prasadam, smelling also.. by smelling incense offered to Lord Krishna, etc., seeing... by seeing the beautiful Form of Lord Krishna, and hearing by hearing from the pure devotees about Lord Krishna's pastimes. 

How is touch purified? Touch is related to the skin(2) and the sense that is most related to sex. Srila Prabhupada compares sex desire to itching.(3) Certainly it is not purified or controlled by scratching. 

The purification of the sense of touch was achieved by Maharaja Ambarisha by only associating with devotees and in the normal course of activity his body would touch the bodies of the devotees.(4)

By being engaged in devotional service the sense of touch is automatically satisfied. Just as by offering prasadam to Lord Krishna(for Lord Krishna's pleasure) and then taking the remnants the sense of taste is satisfied. 

Perhaps that is why I am so attached to serving Tulsi devi. In the normal course of collecting Her leaves and flowers I touch Her body and my sense of touch is automatically purified.

1. The devotee thus surpasses the subtle objects of different senses like aroma by smelling, the palate by tasting, vision by seeing forms, touch by contacting, the vibrations of the ear by ethereal identification, and the sense organs by material activities.  http://prabhupadabooks.com/sb/2/2/29
2.When there was a separate manifestation of skin, the controlling deities of sensations and their different parts entered into it, and thus the living entities feel itching and happiness due to touch. http://prabhupadabooks.com/sb/3/6/18
3. That itching sensation can be tolerated if one practices Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then one will not be very attracted by sex life. http://prabhupadabooks.com/jsd/7/psychoanalysis_and_the_soul?d=1
4. He used his eyes to see the Deity, he used his legs to go to the temple, he used his hands for cleansing the temple, he used his nose for smelling the flower and tulasī offered to Kṛṣṇa, he used his tongue for tasting Kṛṣṇa-prasādam. In this way, he engaged all his senses in the service of the Lord. http://prabhupadabooks.com/classes/nod/the_nectar_of_devotion/vrndavana/november/05/1972?d=1

Thursday, August 7, 2014

RESPONSE TO BLOG POST: NO! NO! NOT CRAP! #2

Narendra Tirumale
15 hrs ago
Gold: 6521
Dear Meena Ji
Hare Krishna

Also the materialization of the pure & wise spirit comes under the framework of ""kand""
No wonder many at the transcendence do not appreciate the very concept of materialization and have it as their main mission to dissolve them.

This materialization is the problem that needs to be found a solution for.
And the core being expansion of the Internal potency to marginal & external potencies.

Radhe Radhe
Meena Devi Dasi
A min ago
The material creation will always become manifest and unmanifest, over and over again. It is one of His energies. That doesn't mean we have to become involved with it. It is His illusory energy. The forms, relationships and activities that take place based on the illusory energy are also impermanent. We have a choice. Always. We are like the Lord, we are part and parcel of Him. In quality almost exactly the same. Spirit. Eternal ever existing, cognizant, always persons. Also like the Lord we have a sense of individuality and the desire for independence. The Lord is fully independent. We also like "independence." being part and parcel of Him. Sometimes we desire to exercise this "independence" How can that happen? We are always dependent because we are the minute part and parcel. He is the completely independent complete whole. So there is the illusory energy. A playground if you will. Go there and excercise your independence. it will be illusory independence but you have that desire so here is an arrangement where you can act out. I will accompany you and give you opportunity to get out of illusion and be happy in a dependent state. Through loving devotional service we will be equals. And even sometimes I will be dependent on you. Krishna would consult with Uddhava for advice. He acts as the child Of Mother Yasoda. He is the henpecked husband of the Queens of Dwarka....Get me that Parijata tree from Indra's court, no matter if it causes a huge war with the Indra.... Does this help, Narendaji?

Friday, August 1, 2014

RESPONSE TO BLOG POST: NO! NO! NOT CRAP!

In response to a blog post NO! NO! NOT CRAP!

Jul 31, 2014 at 11:05 am
Gold: 6280
I am still not clear with "why surrender"?
Are we criminals?
Are we not supposed to Love Him and serve Him unconditionally?

Hare Krishna
Meena Devi Dasi
A min ago
"I am still not clear with "why surrender"?
Are we criminals?" Yes. Nothing belongs to us. Yet we claim this is my body, my family, my house, my car my, my, my.. Everything belongs to Krishna and is meant for to be engaged in His devotional service. So we are thieves. And if we renounce it is still criminal. Like if I go into a store and leave with a television without paying for it and they stop me at the door and I say, "I renounce this television." What is that renunciation? It is not mine, I am a thief and I get caught. Prahlada maharaja in the Bhagavatam describes 9 processes of devotional service. Hearing, chanting, remembering Vishnu, offering prayers, serving the Lotus Feet, worshiping, carrying out order, making friends with and offering everything to the Lord. It by performing these 9 processes of devotional service that the Lord is known. Even just one of the 9 is sufficient. Not by cultivation of knowledge, performing austerities, sacrifices, giving in charity, etc.. The Bhagavatam is filled with account after account of devotees who act in these devotional ways and achieve the darshan of the Lord. This the knowledge we are looking for that opens the door to the transcendence.