Battlefield Bhajans Vol. 22

Battlefield Bhajans Vol. 22

written at Bhaktivedanta Ashram, NYC

I am sitting in NYC now, looking out the window and thinking how fortunate we are to have this movement. Below on the street, people are running from here to there with no goal or purpose. No realization of what the purpose of this life is. It is very sad, and breaks the heart of a devotee to see. I just arrived from DC, and the monitor in the cab said, ” If eating meat was a religion, then consider us your church.” It was a ad for a steak house. I was blown away, how crazy if Kali Yuga? How fallen is today more advanced society? The only hope for them is for devotees to awaken their soul and engage them in Krsna’s service.

Iskcon Potomac, Washington DC

I arrived and the devotee had a nice fest waiting. It was very nice to sit with devotees and honor the Lord’s prasadam. I missed this while in Iraq. Sometimes the material world can make us forget how special the devotees were. My five days there were action packed. Thursday, I gave morning class. The theme of my class was improving devotee relationships and not taking them for granted. The evening I was invited to a home program and I gave a short class and we had some kirtan. For me is was very nice to be in the association of the devotees and their realizations of the Holy Name were very deep. On Saturday the weather was horrible, so I went to a one a month class at a devotees home and the topic of the meeting was increasing our faith in japa. Because of the bad weather there was a small turn out. But still we chanted and read about the Holy Name.  I asked everyone to share what is the Holy Name to them? The answers ranged from shelter, to friend to protection. It was very interesting to listen to the responses. I used this to show how the Holy Name is non different from Krsna and how each one of us has a personal relationship with the Holy Name. After some amazing prasadam we left for the temple, we received a phone call that the temple had experienced a flash flood! The cows almost drowned but the devotees saved them. When we arrived, the creek over flowed and I ran over to help. Myself, Anuttama Prabhu and some others were trying to redirect the water while also trying not to get washed away and all this with winds and heavy rain. I looked over while standing in knee deep water to see one devotees son, with a small bucket trying to scope the water back into the overflowing creek. It was actually pretty comical, but then it reminded me of the story in the Srimad Bhagavatam about the bird who tries to drink the ocean. I really appreciated his efforts. Myself, well I though wow this must be what Mayapura is like when the Ganges over flows, and Lord Caitanya’s mercy is overflowing and ready to flood the world.  I came to the realization that we are naturally protective of Krsna. How when the Lord or His property are in danger the devotees are willing to do anything, or forgo their bodily comforts to protect the Lord. Amazing that the Lord doesn’t need our protection, but still He creates these situations to develop our love and attachment. That evening the weather cleared and I had the sankritana fever. Myself, and some others went on harinam and distributing books. I never realized how much I missed being out in devotional cloth, giving away Prabhupada’s mercy. By the Lord’s mercy some books went out. One group of youth were very receptive. I saw them watching the harinam and I approached them. They were explaining that they were captivated by the singing and wanted some info. When I explain and told them that I have some books from Srila Prabhupada, they snatched all the books out of my hand, threw a donation in my other hand and walked off.
Sunday was Radhastami, which was really sweet. By Her divine mercy I was allowed to perform some seva on the altar and massage Her lotus feet! Under the guidance of HG Naveen Krsna Prabhu, I decorated the altar and was able to render some service. We had some amazing bhajans lead by HG Gauravani Prabhu. I was asked to give morning class. I choose to read from the Cc Madhya Lila, Chapter 8 text 166. In the purport Srila Prabhupada describes the qualties of Radha. I turned the class into a discussion. I requested all the devotees to speak a realization about Radharani. Gauravani Prabhu gave a very sweet realization. While leading a bhajan he sang a certain tune. he said he learned it in Radha’s birthplace and sang it for Her, because it is Her appearance day. He explained that he wanted Her to feel like She was at home. Such a sweet realization. I had the realization that once a year we can take darshan of Her lotus feet, so we should really take advantage of this oppurtunity. We should pray to Her to allow us to taste pure devotional service.  HH Romapada Swami gave a wonderful presentation on Srimati Radha. I took rest very late, about 11:00 pm.
I woke up in the morning and perform seva for Their Lordships and was off to the airport. I was going through security and was stopped because of the Salgiram Sila’s I travel with. The man asked what They were and i explained They are God in the form of a rock. He was very interested and called some others over. He asked what religion I was and I replied, well I’m a Hare Krsna. The man was taken back a little, he said I heard of you guys but never met any of ya’s. What are you dudes about? I explained the science of Bhakti Yoga and how it is the topmost form of spiritual practice in todays age. He was excited and asked if I had any books. Like I have written before, I always travel with a few small books, so I pulled them out and explained each one. Each of the people gathered around and started asking for a book and by Srila Prabhupada’s mercy I distributed all the books I had. I gave them the temple’s contact info and went off to the gate to wait for my flight.

Sadhana:

Japa:  Our chanting of our rounds rounds is the base of our spiritual life. We should always pray that we can never get the Holy Name off our tongue. It shouldn’t be the mindset of ok, 16 rounds I am done for the day. We should always strive to develop our chanting and increase our chanting.
Seva: Their Lordships are engaging so many in Their service and I can see that He is very merciful. I like the idea of engaging as many people as possible in Their service. In my opinion it would be wrong for me to keep all the mercy to myself.
Sankritan: So many people are eager to learn about Krishna. We just have to search them out. Here are my book scores

Maha Big: 3
small books: 15

We are requesting the devotees to pray for us, that we remain focused. Iraq was so easy to surrender and depend on the Lord. I feel being here now is harder. Its harder because of the false security we have. We think nothing will happen to us, so why should we depend on Krsna? Why should we really apply ourselves, there is always tomorrow. I therefore fall at all the devotee feet and allow me to have the determination to help others and to stay clinging to the orders and instrcutions of my spiritual master.

Yours in the service of Srila Prabhupada,

Partha-sarathi Dasa