A Visit to Laguna Beach Hare Krishna Temple

Today I went to the Laguna Beach Hare Krishna Temple. It was a half an hour drive to Laguna Beach from my Aunt Sherie's house. We found the temple. It looked quite small on the outside but in the inside it was pretty spacious. they have a different Aarti schedule however. So Dad and I decided to take a stroll down Coastal Hwy by the ocean shore. We went into these shops near by. This one shope had very expensives tables and statues of whales and other fish. They had a nice Killer Whale statue but they wanted $30,000 for it. That's ridiculous. Im glad I am living simply and not wanting mundane items like that. Then we walked into this Candle shop and they sold little statues of Budhha. But then i noticed that had these deity pendents. I desperately looked in that box for Krishna. But I did not find Him. I asked the lady who worked there if she had Him but she said she ran out. She only had Ganesh. I felt so disappointed. I really wanted Krishna. Maybe next time I go there they will have Him. I actually want a necklace with Krishna on it. I need to check our gift shop in LA and see if they have one of Him.

Anyway I went back to the temple. I asked the devotees how I get in to the temple to see the 12 noon Aarti since their main door was locked. I had to go in through the side door. When I went in the Deity doors were open. And there I saw beautiful Pancha Tattva Deities. When I saw Lord Chaitanya I could not get over how beautiful He looked. I found myself just staring at Him. I felt stunned and couldn't move almost. I sat down to chant some extra rounds while the Aarti went on. After the Aarti was over when I was about to leave the devotees there had offered me some prasadam which was very kind of them. Their prasadam is very good there too not spicey. They had chili on the side so Im glad they did not put it in the prasadam. After I left I could still see Lord Chaitanya's beautiful lotus face not physically in front of me but in my mind and heart. And yet even now at my grandmother's house Lord Chaitanya is still on my mind.

Here are some photos of the temple.

My Visit At My Aunt Sherie's And Uncle Chris's House

I had a very pleasant visit with my Aunt Sherie and Uncle Chris. My Aunt Sherie is a very talkative woman and funny too. My Aunt Sherie works three jobs. I don't know how she can do that. For me that sounds exhausting just listening to her describe her job. The only job she likes out of the three is her teaching job with students at a local school near by. She had to go there this morning for a couple of hours. She also works at a clothes store called "Chicos". I forgot what her third job is.

My Uncle Chris I forgot what kind of work he does. But he claims he might get laid off soon from his job and will be jobless again soon. However I haven't seen my uncle much while i was here mostly my Aunt Sherie.

I also played a game of chess with my cousin Matt and my dad was watching us. My dad was looking over the chess  board and immediately that reminded me of when Arjuna asked his friend Lord Krishna to go into the battlefield to see who was present in the battlefield. My dad told me that I do not have the killing instict for the game because the game of chess is a war game which involves killing. But as I was playing the game I was constantly thinking of how Krishna and Balaram would often play chess. So I know this game is more than 5,000 years old and it comes from India. My dad was helping me play the game and eventually we won. So I am happy that I was at least able to stay Krishna Concious while being at my family's house by dovetailing everything.

This morning I woke up late due to going to bed at 11pm. I woke up at 4:30am. However i would have taken a shower but I did not want to disturb my family members so I just chanted my rounds. I finished my rounds by 6:10am this morning so that I do not have to worry about them later. Then at 6:30am I went to take shower since everyone seemed to be up except for my cousin Matt who has a tendancy to sleep in very late. After I got dressed I took care of my Deities. I have learned my lesson about my Deities. Whenever I go somewhere for a long period of time I bring my Deities with me so that They do not get stolen like the last time. Then I went to make breakfast. While I did that I listened to a Srila Prabhupada lecture and then I did some service for my Aunt Sherie. I cleaned her kitchen. I was going to mop her floor but I could not find her mop so I just swept it , I wiped off the counter tops, and washed the dishes and put the clean dishes away. I was imagining myself still in the temple cleaning for Krishna and I dovetailed my Aunt's house into it being Krishna's house. My guru Maharaj instructed me to see Krishna's smile in everything that I do so that is why I did this service not only for my Aunt but for Krishna.

So today I will be going over to my Grandmother's house I will have more details later. Hare Krishna.