Temple Life

On August 4th,2010 I had moved to the Hare Krishna Temple called New Vrndavan in Moundsville West Virginia. It is a very beautiful place far into the country. You don't hear sirens going off or cars speeding by in the day or night. City life is completely cut off where I live. I don't know how it happened I guess I just fell in love with the area and the temple itself.


Living in the temple is definately a higher standard of living than what I was used to. Meaning you have to follow certain rules in the temple. For starters one has to get up for Mangal Aarti in the morning which starts at 5am so I normally get up at 3:15am to get ready and chant at least 9 rounds before it starts. Then after Mangal Aarti is Lord Nrsimhadeva Prayers and then Tulasi Devi Prayers. Then at 5:45am we chant the Hare Krishna Mantra (japa) on our beads until 7:30am which is the Deity Greeting. I normally finish most of my rounds by then. I also take care of Tulasi Devi at 5:45am to pick Her leaves to be offered to Krishna, and then give Her a bath.Tulasi is a sacred plant that I take care of.

Then at 7:30am we have the Deity Greeting and the worship of Sri Guru for Srila Prabhupada who is the founder of the Hare Krishna Movement in the western world. We have a nice Kirtan for Krishna (God) after that and then we have the Srimad Bhagavatam class. 9am is breakfast and then we all perform our devotional service for Krishna through out the day.

My service is taking care of Tulasi by cleaning Her room upstairs and then peforming Aarti for Her at night when I put Her to bed and read her a story from the Krishna Book. I also chant to Tulasi also as She likes that very much. Thursday through Sunday I clean the Pujari Room or the Lord's room. I also organize the Lord's jewelry in the dressing room so it looks nice. Fridays I clean the women's ashram by cleaning the hallway and bathroom including my own room.

I've learned a lot about Vaisnaiva Equeitte. Most of it is common sense but there is a lot to learn about being a Vaisnaiva. But it teaches us how we can be pure and respectful to others to keep the peace.

Sudevi is a close friend and Prabhupada disciple. She's been teaching me a lot. I try to follow her examples the best I can.

So far I love temple life although I am still trying to adjust a little bit after living here for two months. I miss my Cleveland devotees friends very much. Dayal Nitai has been so helpful and encouraging to me for my spiritual life. He still continues to watch over me. Knowing he's doing that I feel protected. he's an older brother to me I never had since I'm an only child.  I hope to visit him again very soon.