I received this letter from Andrew, it shows the compassion one starts to exhibit once they take to the path of KC.

Hare Krsna!!

Times have been extremely difficult lately, due to the loss of a good friend,
who was cut down by sniper fire on the 30th of September.  SPC Chris
Bartkiewicz was a friend of mine from 1st Platoon, A. Co. 1/6 Infantry.  He
always had a smile on his face and a welcome heart to anyone that he passed.  I
never had the opportunity to open him up to Krsna Consciouness and I feel
tremendously guilty that I never opened his enormous heart and soul to Krishna. Read the rest of this entry »

Battlefield Bhajans Vol. 24

Written in the car, stuck in traffic on the way to Portland

I haven’t written any journal in sometime due to a serious illness requiring me to be admitted to Stanford hospital. I am slowly recovering and think I jumped to fast into traveling. So i have slowed down a little and am recovering now. Things with the Army are moving along. Everyone is really pushing for my release, and as it looks we are 90% finished with the military. Now I don’t have a job and my supervisor told me to stay at home and chant Hare Krsna and distribute books. My letter to Army has been passed around to many officers and senior sergeants in the Army, and has created some serious questions about spiritual life and how they can better practice it. I had a conversation with my commander and he was telling me how he was in a camping ground in southern California, and saw the devotees. His wife asked him who those people with bed sheets on were, he told her those are the Hare Krsna’s like my soldier who I am writing a letter for. She asked what it was about, he told her buckle up and I’ll explain to you what he told me. After a long talk with his wife, she became favorable and asked if he could get her a book.  It is so amazing how Krsna can in a second wake up the super soul in the heart of the jiva, and reawaken their spiritual life. Read the rest of this entry »

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Haribol!
Hey dude, I have a new story for the blog if you are interested…

The past week has been full of nectar and opportunities to give lessons from
BG and chant.  I have been rotating from tower guard and gate guard inbetween
patrols.  I have met a few new people who were open to the concepts and ideals
of Krishna Conciousness.  I have been trying to order books for distribution,
but I am often busy and neglect using the internet and when I do, I am usually
so tired that I simply check my email and leave.  However, I have been giving
random BG classes at the Entry Control Point (ECP) and in the towers.  I have
attached a Tactical Tailor pouch to my aid bag and I keep my BG wrapped in a
saphron-ish “shemagh”, then in a ziploc bag and I have attached a Tactical
Tailor pouch to my aid bag, in which I carry my BG in.  This has been so
beneficial while on long missions, where we rotate on security, so I can read
BG while in a hide site.

In other news I have got another friend of mine to begin chanting.  He only
chants on the tower with me, but after we chanted for the first time he
proclaimed, “Dude, that is the most soothing and relaxing thing I have done in
so long.”

I have been fasting, living off of tomato soup, juice and water and finally
today, we have fresh fruit and vegetables today.  This and the weather have
been taking a toll on my health.  I have had an upper respiratory infection for
nearly 3 months now.  Hopefully this will pass soon as it has made giving BG
classes very difficult, as well as chanting.  Anyhow, austerity only makes
devotion stronger.

16 rounds a day to perfection is my new standard!

Listening to Bhajans while I am in my room the entire time I am in there.

Reading 1 chapter of BG a day, minimum.

10 Commandments for Kirtana
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR KIRTANA IN THE ISKCON RELIGION. by Jayadvaita Swami

1. Thou shalt chant as many tunes as thou canst think of.

2. Thou shalt not chant any one tune for more than three minutes.

3. Thou shalt not chant the morning tune in the morning. Or if thou start
with it thou shalt quickly switch to something else.

4. Thou shalt start fast, speed up, speed up more, then stop and start all
over again. The more times the better.

5. If thou art the mrdanga player, thou shalt always set the pace, following
whatever mechanical pattern thou art used to, and let the singer follow thee
or go to hell.

6. Thou shalt always chant “Jaya Prabhupada,” “Jaya Gurudeva,” “Jaya
Gaura-Nitai,” “Jaya the names of all the Deities in thy temple (and then
some),” and as many other “Jayas” as thou canst think of. Thou shalt never
end a kirtana without those “Jayas.”

7. Thou shalt always add “Jaya Radhe” to the kirtana. (And if thou canst
vary it with “Jaya Sri Radhe,” so much the better.)

8. Thou shalt not allow the Hare Krsna mantra to take up more than ten
percent of the kirtana. And heaven forbid thou shouldest chant it all the
way through.

9. If thou art Indian, thou shalt try to sound like a professional bhajan
singer. If thou art not Indian, thou shalt try to sound like an Indian
devotee imitating one.

10. Thou shalt forget about the way Srila Prabhupada led kirtana.

Battlefield Bhajans Vol. 23

written at New Dwarka, LA

Scared from the War

I boarded the flight from JFK to LAX, and hoped to catch up on some rest. As I looked for my seat I noticed the man sitting next to me was an amputee. I sat down and made some small talk with him. It turned out he lost his legs to a roadside blast in Iraq. I explained to him that I was a soldier also and showed my id card. He asked if I saw anything crazy there. My friend too much… is what i responded. He looked down and with a sad expression explained how now he drinks all the time and is very depressed.  As he opened up I could see this boy was suffering so much and was looking for something to guide him through this rough time. I said I was here to help him if he so desired it. He grabbed my hands and pleaded for help. He asked how I am dealing with the effects of combat. I started telling him how I try to take shelter of God and how I try to develop a relationship within my heart. This body is temporary my friend, when we die,  it’s the body dying, not the soul. He looked at me with an intense look. I asked him if i should stop and he said no please keep going. So for the next five hours I spoke to this man about the Bhagavad-Gita. When we landed I got my bag out of the overhead luggage and pulled out three books, a Bhagavad-Gita, a Perfection of Yoga and a Science of Self Realization. I went to give him these books and he was moved to tears. He said ” I have gone to so many groups and talked to so many people, but no one wanted to help me. So, why are you opening your heart to help me? ” Well, because I have a great treasure that was given to me, I would be a miser to keep it to myself. So here I am, trying to give myself to you, trying to help you come to a better position in life. If I didn’t try and do this I would not be an asset to the mission of Srila Prabhupada.” With some tears in both our eyes, we exchanged hugs and he grasped the books to his chest. Read the rest of this entry »

Wow…
..Iraq makes being a devotee easy at times, I must agree.  Fewer distractions,
any time while you are sitting around is a good time to chant, ample time to
read Srila Prabhupada’s books…
..But at the same time, I miss Devotee association, honoring Prasadm, going to
the Temple, etc., etc., etc.  I understand your point of view entirely.
As far as the billboard, Kali Yuga is truly terrible.  While in a hide site Read the rest of this entry »