Today's Darshan Sri Sri Rukmini Dwarkadish 1/8/2012
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Saturday, January 7, 2012
It's Not Me
Today another realization set in. I was pretty busy for most of the day up until 12 noon. I was in the pujari room for an hour helping put flowers in plastic bags to be used for the garlands the next day and then I was allowed to make the small flower garlands for the mini Lord Jaganatha Deities. Their garlands are a bit hard to make because They are much smaller. The flower mums were difficult to work with because they break easily or they fall off the garland without breaking. But I still managed to make them. It pleases Maharaj when I make the flower garlands for the Deities.
Then I spent two and a half hours in the kitchen today from 9:30am til 11:45am. We had to cut 9 buckets of cauliflower for the Sunday Feast tomorrow. I did not do it all myself of course. Mukta Prabhu, and another Prabhu came in to help with cutting up vegetables. That took me an hour an a half to do. I made four buckets of cauliflower. After that I had to cut two buckets of red cabbage. The red cabbage was tough to cut but I managed to do that as well. Krishna gave me the strength to cut the red cabbage.
I had a two hour break then after I finished in the kitchen while I waited for lunch. I just relaxed in my room browsing youtube for some videos about learning how to dance but I really couldn't find any good ones yet. For lunch we had rice, a nice subji with zuchini, tofu, and im not sure what else was in it but otherwise it was very good and not spicey thank heavens. At least I know I can eat the prasadam here with no problem. They have that no chili or cayenne pepper rule here too. :)
Lastly, at 2:30pm in the afternoon, I went to the pujari room and did some cleaning for an hour. I cleaned the Deitie's laundry room. It's quite small but easy to clean. I cleaned the shelves that were there and dusted off this black refridgerator, and also I cleaned behind it. Behind that refridgerater was absolutely filthy! There was dust and trash on the floor so I got that out of there and wiped off the walls to get rid of the dust and I dusted off the back of the refridgerator too. It was very light for me to move with no problem. I also wiped off the washer and drier, and then swept out the floor really good. I noticed a big difference after it was cleaned. It looked much better. I then decided to dust off the pictures on the wall. While I did that, one of the matajis who was a pujari saw me cleaning off the pictures. She said thank you to me for doing that and said the pictures looked so much better without the dirt on them. I humbly said thank you to her and that it is not really me doing this service, it's my guru Maharaj. I give all the credit to my guru Maharaj because he was the one that showed me how to keep things clean for Krishna. I also say this because when I took the Deity Worship Seminar in Toronto I had learned that when pujaris do Aartis on the altar, it's not really them doing it, it's their spiritual master doing the Aartis. We are no where nearly qualifed or elevated to be standing there on the altar doing those Aartis like our gurus are. Even Krishna said that we have to go through His devotees first in order to reach Him. So I had actually felt happy about the service I was doing because I knew it was really my guru Maharaj doing the service. I"m certainly in no position or qualified to be doing service for Krishna because Im materially contaminated and still thinking that Im this body.
As I've said in one of my previous posts, my guru Maharaj sets the perfect example in following Srila Prabhupada his guru Maharaj. So I am only trying to follow that too. My guru Maharaj loves to help others and also do things around the temple as well. I hope one day I can be like him always wanting to constantly do something for Krishna and help other people too. I thank Krishna for sending me a guru who sets that example for me to follow.
Then I spent two and a half hours in the kitchen today from 9:30am til 11:45am. We had to cut 9 buckets of cauliflower for the Sunday Feast tomorrow. I did not do it all myself of course. Mukta Prabhu, and another Prabhu came in to help with cutting up vegetables. That took me an hour an a half to do. I made four buckets of cauliflower. After that I had to cut two buckets of red cabbage. The red cabbage was tough to cut but I managed to do that as well. Krishna gave me the strength to cut the red cabbage.
I had a two hour break then after I finished in the kitchen while I waited for lunch. I just relaxed in my room browsing youtube for some videos about learning how to dance but I really couldn't find any good ones yet. For lunch we had rice, a nice subji with zuchini, tofu, and im not sure what else was in it but otherwise it was very good and not spicey thank heavens. At least I know I can eat the prasadam here with no problem. They have that no chili or cayenne pepper rule here too. :)
Lastly, at 2:30pm in the afternoon, I went to the pujari room and did some cleaning for an hour. I cleaned the Deitie's laundry room. It's quite small but easy to clean. I cleaned the shelves that were there and dusted off this black refridgerator, and also I cleaned behind it. Behind that refridgerater was absolutely filthy! There was dust and trash on the floor so I got that out of there and wiped off the walls to get rid of the dust and I dusted off the back of the refridgerator too. It was very light for me to move with no problem. I also wiped off the washer and drier, and then swept out the floor really good. I noticed a big difference after it was cleaned. It looked much better. I then decided to dust off the pictures on the wall. While I did that, one of the matajis who was a pujari saw me cleaning off the pictures. She said thank you to me for doing that and said the pictures looked so much better without the dirt on them. I humbly said thank you to her and that it is not really me doing this service, it's my guru Maharaj. I give all the credit to my guru Maharaj because he was the one that showed me how to keep things clean for Krishna. I also say this because when I took the Deity Worship Seminar in Toronto I had learned that when pujaris do Aartis on the altar, it's not really them doing it, it's their spiritual master doing the Aartis. We are no where nearly qualifed or elevated to be standing there on the altar doing those Aartis like our gurus are. Even Krishna said that we have to go through His devotees first in order to reach Him. So I had actually felt happy about the service I was doing because I knew it was really my guru Maharaj doing the service. I"m certainly in no position or qualified to be doing service for Krishna because Im materially contaminated and still thinking that Im this body.
As I've said in one of my previous posts, my guru Maharaj sets the perfect example in following Srila Prabhupada his guru Maharaj. So I am only trying to follow that too. My guru Maharaj loves to help others and also do things around the temple as well. I hope one day I can be like him always wanting to constantly do something for Krishna and help other people too. I thank Krishna for sending me a guru who sets that example for me to follow.
Santa Monica Sankirtan Party 1/6/2012
Last night's Sankirtan party was awesome. We had a blast. The kirtans were so ecstatic. I had a great time myself. Some of the people who watched us even joined in the dancing with us. My new friend Bhaktin Sue, took me by the arm and we spun in a circle while we were dancing. Whew that made me a bit dizzy lol. I hadn't done that in such a long time let alone trying to dance. I tried doing a bit of dancing last night but I still messed up. Maybe I should watch some lessons on dancing on youtube or something. Ganesh Prabhu made us all chant and dance enthusiastically. He's a great devotee always so positive. Then this elderly gentleman had joined us playing his violin. He had a great time with us. This elderly gentleman complimented me on my singing even though I still admit that Im lousey at singing but he liked it and I appreciated his comment. And this other lady was dancing with one of our matajis during the kirtan and she had a great time. It's nice to see people who are watching us join in on the dancing. It's one way to get inspired to dance more in my case. I think I am breaking out of that shell a bit now.
About three other devotees distributed books. I will try tonight if there are books for me to hand out. Maybe I might be able to distribute more than just two books. I will pray to Srila Prabhupada before I leave this evening for his mercy so that I may distribute his books without difficulty and do it for his pleasure and Krishna's.
I certainly am looking foward to this evening's sankirtan party. We're going to Hollywood again tonight. There won't be much room however to do a lot of dancing because it's a bit more crowded than Santa Monica.
Here are some pictures from last night's sankirtan in Santa Monica. I have a couple videos but I will upload those later.
About three other devotees distributed books. I will try tonight if there are books for me to hand out. Maybe I might be able to distribute more than just two books. I will pray to Srila Prabhupada before I leave this evening for his mercy so that I may distribute his books without difficulty and do it for his pleasure and Krishna's.
I certainly am looking foward to this evening's sankirtan party. We're going to Hollywood again tonight. There won't be much room however to do a lot of dancing because it's a bit more crowded than Santa Monica.
Here are some pictures from last night's sankirtan in Santa Monica. I have a couple videos but I will upload those later.
Daily Darshan Sri Sri Rukmini Dwarakadish
Today's Darshan Sri Sri Rukmini Dwarakadish 1/7/2012
They have my favorite color on today. Purple!!! JAI.
They have my favorite color on today. Purple!!! JAI.
Friday, January 6, 2012
Thursday, January 5, 2012
By Guru's Example
I just finished reading my guru Maharaj's blog. He sure does set a such a nice example for others to follow. Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita that if we set a good example in spiritual life, common men will follow it. And my guru Maharaj is the perfect example of that.
I was reading that he helped a lady on the stree that was carrying heavy bags. He said that she was Korean. Maharaj said that this lady was getting married and he was helping her carry her wedding dress. That's what I love about my guru Maharaj. He's so unique, and so humble. I think every devotee whether sannyasi or devotee should follow that because Srila Prabhupada was the one who taught my guru Maharaj be helpful to others like that. Maharaj said to me in an email "please remember we are servant of the servant of the servant of the gopis." So I loved Maharaj's example in his blog post about helping others. They don't even have to be devotees to help them. My guru Maharaj likes to help everyone. And I do too.
My guru Maharaj set many examples including cleaning the temple. He loves to help clean the temple and even cook for the Deities. Many people would think why is a spiritual leader like him doing these things? He is doing it because he loves it and also to set a good example for others to do service for Krishna. When I read things like this in my guru Maharaj's blogs it gives me so much inspiration, and makes me want to do more for Krishna myself. Sometimes one needs to actually see or read about one's guru's example in order to try to follow in his footsteps. We are all actually trying to follow in Srila Prabhupada's footsteps but with our living gurus if you have one can help us because we can actually see them present here setting Prabhupada's example.
So by reading the most recent blog post about my guru Maharaj helping others I will keep that in mind when im doing service or being at my family's house or even out on the street if someone is struggling but even before Maharaj's blog post I had helped other people. it makes one feel happy inside helping others.
I was reading that he helped a lady on the stree that was carrying heavy bags. He said that she was Korean. Maharaj said that this lady was getting married and he was helping her carry her wedding dress. That's what I love about my guru Maharaj. He's so unique, and so humble. I think every devotee whether sannyasi or devotee should follow that because Srila Prabhupada was the one who taught my guru Maharaj be helpful to others like that. Maharaj said to me in an email "please remember we are servant of the servant of the servant of the gopis." So I loved Maharaj's example in his blog post about helping others. They don't even have to be devotees to help them. My guru Maharaj likes to help everyone. And I do too.
My guru Maharaj set many examples including cleaning the temple. He loves to help clean the temple and even cook for the Deities. Many people would think why is a spiritual leader like him doing these things? He is doing it because he loves it and also to set a good example for others to do service for Krishna. When I read things like this in my guru Maharaj's blogs it gives me so much inspiration, and makes me want to do more for Krishna myself. Sometimes one needs to actually see or read about one's guru's example in order to try to follow in his footsteps. We are all actually trying to follow in Srila Prabhupada's footsteps but with our living gurus if you have one can help us because we can actually see them present here setting Prabhupada's example.
So by reading the most recent blog post about my guru Maharaj helping others I will keep that in mind when im doing service or being at my family's house or even out on the street if someone is struggling but even before Maharaj's blog post I had helped other people. it makes one feel happy inside helping others.
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