Concerned for Tulasi Devi

This morning I was in complete anxiety for Tulasi. I had to be off for three days so as not to contaminate Her. So I did my best to ask around on who would like to take care of Tulasi and clean the pujari room. A new Bhaktin came in so maybe I can ask Her if she would like to help since I have to be gone for about three days.

Tulasi's room was a complete mess. Her watering can was in the shower and a few of Her Aarti items were still left out. And Her floor was a mess.:(  I could tell right away that Tulasi was not happy this morning about it so I begged forgiveness from Her about not being able to take care of her for three days. But after I cleaned up Her room she was very happy because I noticed Her leaves lifted up a little bit. So I felt better afterwards. I am beginning to tell when Tulasi is happy and when she is not. I'm always concerned for Her especially when I see Her leaves don't look as healthy as they should be. Most of the Tulasis in the room are pretty healthy although there are a few that are not doing so well which I am in great concern about. I'm doing my best to try to revive Her.

I told the authorities at the Temple that I have to leave for Cleveland tomorrow morning and I did manage to find coverage for Tulasi. so who ever volunteered to take care of Her must be there. I will be in anxiety for Tulasi while I'm out of town. I know I'll feel separation from Her as well because I'll want to know if She was properly taken care of. I want to talk to Maharaj about Tulasi and maybe he has some advice about what to do in cases like this.

But I'm happy this all worked out in going to Cleveland. At first I didn't think I was going to go due to lack of help at the temple. I have to talk to Bhaktin Natalie and see if she would like to do the Deity plate transfer in the evening and show her  a little about how to clean the pujari room. :)


But for right now my heart is staying with Tulasi out of concern for Her while I'm gone again.

Arrangements to Visit Cleveland Devotees.

Lately I have had this very deep ache in my heart wanting to visit my Cleveland devotee friends. They have helped me get through so much. I find myself missing them a lot. If it wasn't for them I wouldn't have made it this far in Krishna Conciousness. You can see how devoted to Krishna they are even though they do have material desires like everyone else. But they have helped to encourage me to surrender to Krishna even more.

Soon I will be taking in initiation. Probably not until April or May which is okay by me. I can wait. Whatever Krishna wants me to do. I'm trying realize this myself that Krishna is in control. Sometimes it's difficult to accept that but more and more I'm beginning to realize it a bit. :)Attachement is a diifficult thing for all of us here. Training myself to detach from a lot of things is not easy. But I've been good about it so far.

While I'm in Cleveland I'm going to visit my mother and grandmother and also I have to visit my Great-Aunt June who is sick in the hospital. :(

I will also take a lot of pictures at the program at Dayal's house of everyone there and hopefully record Maharaj's lecture. I wish I had more lectures of him on video. Maharaj said that he wanted to talk to me about some things. I've been very anxious to talk to him for the past two months. I guess while I'm on the bus I can think of some questions to ask him. :)

Easy Weekend

Well I guess it'll be an easy weekend for me since I can't do too much. I'll probably just read and chant and associate with Sudevi. I was also associating with Saci Creepa (not sure if I spelled her name right). The association here is getting slightly better a little bit. Sachi Creepa is training a new Bhaktin. Her name is Natalie. She is a quiet girl from Indiana. I haven't started talking to her just yet as I am still a Bhaktin myself and I wanted to let Natalie talk to someone who is more advanced in Krishna Conciousness than I am. I still have so much to work on. Attachement is one problem I have. But my material desires are slowly disappearing little by little but they are still there.

Sudevi and I made oatmeal for breakfast since I can't really eat the prasadam here because it's still a bit too spicey for me. We're planning on making lunch today probably. Not sure what though. Good thing I kept my two cookbooks so that we can make something from them. With the $50.00 a month I get here I can buy a little groceries with. I'm going to try to get the job at the palace lodge this April and then I can start to save up a little bit for things like that and also trips to Toronto to visit my guru Maharaj Bhaktimarga Swami.

The Deities today are wearing blue and silver. One of my favorite colors. I haven't seen Them wear that color in a while. They use the same outfits quite a bit at this temple. And sometimes the same color a lot. I think they use a little bit too much pink. I'm waiting to see some more purple and blue and maybe green too.  :) The other day they wore purple and blue which was very pretty. I sometimes like to wear the same color the Deities are wearing too. Sometimes I even guess it right with the sari I'm wearing lol. Lord Nrsimhadeva looked so beautiful today. His face is all decorated with silver jewelry. And he has a small sword in his lap. I love to see Lord Nrsimahadeva loaded with His weapons on Him because He's letting demons know He's not playing around when it comes to protecting His devotees. :D

That's all I have for today. I may write another blog if I have something else interesting to post. Hare Krishna.

Added A New Service

Today Sudevi and I were talking to this one devotee that takes care of the cows. He said that he could use our help to take care of them by brushing and feeding them. I think he does the milking part. I'm a bit afraid to do the milking part as I don't want one of them to kick me and then get hurt because I don't have the health right insurance if I should have to go to the doctor so I have to be careful. But I like the idea of brushing them though. I always liked doing that with the horses too that I've seen in my life time. At least this giving me a chance to work with live animals since at one time I did want to work with animals in a shelter. Sometimes I still wish I could take care of the cats and dogs but I think taking care of Krishna's cows is more pure lol. Cows are cute too.

I also made Lord Nrsimhadeva's flower garland and Prahlad Maharaj's too. I wanted to make Govardhan's flower garland too but I was unable to this morning because i have to be off for three days. Sometimes it's a bummer being a woman. Ladies I think you can take a hint at what I mean by this. ;)

So I couldn't do much today as a result but I did do my chanting. But I felt exhausted at 3pm today and had to take rest. After I woke up I finished chanting my rounds and now I'm going to read a bit before going to bed. I look foward to taking care of the cow tomorrow.

Still Adjusting to Temple Life

I just feel unusually quiet today. Probably because I've been doing a lot of thinking.

I kept myself pretty busy with Tulasi Devi this morning. I had to move Her around to get the best light in Her room upstairs and I'm hoping that will help her. I gave Her water and swept and mopped the floor. Tomorrow I have to clean out the mini closets She has in Her room because they are a mess. I save a little bit for each day. I also finished chanting my rounds in Tulasi's room too and even during Japa this morning I was in Her room too. Maybe I need to spend more time with Tulasi since I don't really associate much with the other devotees here except Sudevi.

Yesterday I had a problem eating Prasadam as it was way too spicey for me to eat it. I had a very very light lunch as a result. Today is pasta day though and that I can load up on at least. This morning I had pancakes and fruit from the Maha prasadam. Thank you Krishna for that mercy this morning.

I have also been thinking a lot about my spiritual master Bhaktimarga Swami. I've been emailing him a lot these days even more so now that my initiation day is coming VERY close. Maharaj is so kind. I loved everything he's said in the emails he's written to me. I saved those emails in a seperate folder so as to save them in what ever advice he gave me. That way I can look back and refer to it if I got stuck on the same thing again. Dayal has even said that Maharaj does ask about me when he calls him. I was very very touched by that. I know I can always rely on Maharaj and Dayal when ever I am in need of something. I cannot wait to see Maharaj soon. Just by reading his emails has gotten me even more attached to him.

Im still trying to learn a few more prayers in the temple too. Learning a new language is difficult for me. I still haven't mastered Tulasi's prayer or the Worship of Sri Guru yet. I'm so slow at learning new things. And there are a lot of rules and regulations too at the temple that I"m still trying to get used to. Some are easy to remember others aren't.

But I am happy here in the temple. Most days are great and a few aren't It all depends on what I'm feeling. I still get a little homesick being away from the Cleveland devotees. :( Although I cannot go back to where I used to live because it was too hard to survive on my own.

A late start today

It was a late start for me today. I didn't get up until 4am because I came back at 8:30pm and was very exhausted from Ratha Yatra. I went to bed a little after 9pm.

Mondays are easy days for me at the temple although this morning I was pretty busy. I was able to squeeze in three rounds in before Mangal Aarti. Then at 5:45am I went to take care of Tulasi to pick Her leaves and give Her a bath. I was able to put in 8 rounds before the Deity Greeting. I still have 8 more rounds to finish this afternoon. So I can do that while I do my laundry. I also cleaned Tulasi's room upstairs and watered Her as well and then I had to go pick some flowers to make Prahlad Maharaj's and Lord Nrsimhadeva's garland. I was finished with my service around 12:30pm. So I have the afternoon free to finish my rounds and read Srila Prabhupada's books. Dayal had also kept insisting that i read Prabhupada's books so I will continue  to do that this afternoon.

I had a nice lunch this afternoon. I always sit with Sudevi. Malakini was also there.  For lunch we had rice and dahl some kind of subji that i didn't eat because of the spices and there was salad. So I just had rice and dahl and salad. Wednesday is pasta day here in New Vrndavan that's when I load up my plate with prasadam lol!

This evening I have to transfer the Deity plates so that the devotees can have Maha Prasadam at 7pm and then at 7:35 I do Aarti for Tulasi and read Her the Krishna book and put Her to bed. :)

So that's pretty much my schedule for today. Hare Krishna.

Columbus Ohio Ratha Yatra Oct. 10th 2010

Yesterday I went to Columbus Ohio for another annual Ratha Yatra. There were a lot of people there. I handed out books and prasadam. It was something that Srila Prabhupada wanted devotees to do. I ran out of book and prasadam very quickly. But at least the people got benefit out of it.


Two of my Cleveland devotee friends Konstintine and Akilananda das were there. I got my picture taken with them before we left. Before we headed home we made a stop at the Columbus Ohio Hare Krishna Temple. It was very beautiful. It was actually in a large house. Their Deities were very pretty. I took pictures of Them as well. Their Tulasi is also really big. They had two of them on their altar.

I also called Dayal on the phone and talked to him. I told him that I missed his association at Ratha Yatra. I also prayed to Lord Jaggahnath for Dayal too since he was unable to come. But I know I'll get to see him again soon.