NO! NO! NOT CRAP!

My neighbor is very friendly and very helpful for everyone. I was new here and she set me up with a good insurance company, a good doctor, helped me get a key for the community gate. She makes it a point to talk with everyone. Small, wiry build, dark hair and very Italian...talks with her hands constantly in motion. You immediately feel drawn to her. Coco is the Queen of the Gated Community.

Meeting with her always leaves me enlivened somehow in Krishna consciousness. Today was no different. She was, as usual, walking her little dog who jumps with joy all over you as soon as he sees you. In the early evening just before dusk when it cools off somewhat I collect flowers and greens from the bushes that grow here for the next morning's altar service.

There are giant hibiscus bushes that produce the most fantastic blooms. Unfortunately, they have no fragrance but the blooms are very showy...some pink and some red. If I cut the buds in the early evening just before dark then the next day they open. They only last for one day but they are truly spectacular. 

I was collecting the hibiscus buds when Coco stopped to ask, "How are you? How is your father?" When she asks, she means it. Not just making conversation. She really wants to know.

"He is not doing very well. His hip is bothering him and now he is in a wheel chair and he is losing his eyesight."

Coco offered, "Just leave it up to God. He's ninety five.. That's what happens."

I said, "I cry. I don't like to see him suffer. I try to make him as comfortable as I can. It's a package deal...birth...death...old age and disease."

She said, "There is more than that. Why do you always say things like that?"

"Because it's true. This planet is a place for birth, death, old age and disease. There are other planets where there is no birth, death, old age and disease."

Coco is Catholic. "I don't know what God you worship."

"There is only one, Coco."

She came closer to look at the pendant around my neck, a small picture in very vibrant colors of Krishna holding the flute.

“That’s Krishna. Isn't he cute?”

I told her, "Like the Buddhists. One of their meditations is to spend countless hours creating the most intricate designs in a sand mosaic. And when it is finally done they immediately smash it…the nature of this world."

I handed her one of the branches with a hibiscus bud. (I quickly offered it in my mind to the Lord.) "I am collecting these for my worship tomorrow morning. They open up so beautifully. Put it in water and watch the miracle."

She took it and looked at me quizzically, "So you give me crap? This is just going to die!"

I didn't know what to say. All I could manage was, "No! No! Not crap!"

She was gesturing with her hands. I said, "Don't wave it around. I know you're Italian and you can't talk without using your hands but the bud will fall off."

She took it, grasping it tightly and continued on her way.

It is always like this with Coco. It's always fun interacting with her. There is always room to interject something about Krishna.

Now, the next morning and I am arranging for the altar the hibiscus from yesterday and I am remembering Coco's comment. "So you give me crap. This will just die."

Without devotion to Krishna it is just crap and it will just die. Everything is just crap. And everything will just die.