Taking Care of Srimate Radharani

Had some nice realization today with Radharani. She kept me on my toes today thorught out the day and gave me some extra seva to do. Seeing that Srimate Radharani always looks after us, it is our duty to help take care of Her and look after Her too since She helps us.

This morning after the morming program, Bhakta Tom came and found me in the pujari room. I was just about to start cleaning it when he told me that one of the new matajis that had just moved here needed help in the Deity kitchen cooking vegetables. He told me I'd only have to stay for a half an hour. But apparently Srimate Radharani appreciated me being in the kitchen helping the one mataji who was in the kitchen by herself. Another mataji joined us a few minutes later. Srimate Radharani had sent both of us to the Deity kitchen and wanted both of us to help Her serve Krishna. What a very special honor and blessing. Even though I was about to take care of the pujari room, something inside me said  worry about the pujari room later.

So the three of us had enjoyed making prasadam for Krishna. I chopped up cauliflower, spinach, parsely, and pinapple. I helped to make the pineapple nectar for Krishna. I cannot do the actual cooking since I am only first initiated. Only twice born devotees are allowed to cook for Krishna but I can at least help in cutting the vegetables. Then the mataji who was doing the cooking asked me to find a lid. So I did but it was too small. I had a realization after she tried to cover the pot with a lid. I said "That reminds me of a pasttime when Mother Yasoda tried tying Krishna to the wooden mortar, and her rope was always two inches too short, and He let her bind Him after He saw that out of love for Him, He let her do it."  The mataji thanked me later and I said it was no problem and that we are all Srimate Radharani's servants. It's only once in awhile that Srimate Radharani allows me to help in the Deity kitchen. Srimate Radharani is the one in charge of service throughout the whole temple. Im very happy that She wanted me to help.

My guru Maharaj is right. Srimate Radharani is taking care of me, but She is also taking care of other devotees not just me. Im too much of a fallen soul and do not deserve to have Her care for me. But I do feel fortunate to be in Her association by helping to cut up vegetables for Krishna's offering, and cleaning His pujari room etc.

All glories to Srimate Radharani. May She always continue to help care for Krishna's devotees in helping them return to Krishna in this life.

I offer my respecful obeisance unto Srimate Radharani who is so merciful in letting us perform Bhakti Yoga and devotional service for Krishna. I pray that She will help keep me strong and always to remember Krishna. Jaya Srimate Radharani!

Music Lessons!

At the beginning of this week, there has been a program to where devotees can learn how to play musical instruments for Krishna such as the kartals, harmonium, and the mrdanga drum.  I've always wanted to learn how to play a musical instrument, but my mother never allowed me to. She claimed that I never finish what I've started. But she always took guitar lessons, and had her own guitar. So now living in a temple I have a chance to learn how to play a musical instrument and I can learn how to play it for Krishna.

The first instrument we started to learn is the Kartals which are cymbols. There is a certain beat and angle one must do in order to play them. The beat is a one two three beat and you have to play the kartals at a slight angle to get a nice ring to the kartals. You can just bang on them like a toy. But I've got the hang of playing the kartals. I just have to try and practice singing and playing the kartals at the same time as that can be very tricky. But Im getting there.

Then this past Friday we learned a bit how to play the harmionium. That is even harder to play than kartals. I know one tune or melody now on the harmonium. It was a little tricky first but once you get the feel of it it's easy. You have to hit the key at a certain time otherwise you'll sound completely off key while you play the harmonium. It will take some time to learn.

Im sure the next instrument we'll learn on Monday is the mrdanga drum. Out of all the instruments I think the harmonium is the most difficult to play. But I think once I get practice in i'll be good with it. I know this will make my guru Maharaj very very pleased and then maybe I can really lead mangal aarti or the other Aartis with playing an instrument.

A Vaisnavi (Women's) Retreat To The Wilds

Just a few days ago, Malati, a senior Prabhupada disciple offered to take all the women on a special get away retreat. She hadn't told anyone what we were doing or where we were going until the day we went. We went on Wednesday for our outing and the weather was perfect for it.

It was a long two hour drive up to Ohio where we were going. Many of the women I was with were all acting like really young teenagers very excited about where we were headed. I was quiet for most of the trip. Mandakini also tagged along. She sat next to me in the van. On the way there everyone tried to guess where we were going. Then about and hour later Harinam mataji said "You just missed your first clue to where we are going. Pay attention to the signs on the road." So the matajis in the back kept their eyes out for the signs. It wasn't until we were about there that we guessed it. It was a zoo park called The The Wilds. It is located in Cumberland Ohio. It is very much like an African Safari like zoo.

The park has a lot of land. And it really did look like Africa almost only with hills. Africa doesn't have many hills as the land is mostly flat. But as we went in after we paid for our tickets for an open window bus which cost $30.00, we sat and watched a brief video about the zoo park. They had plenty to do there and things for kids to do and teenagers like camps and things. People could also stay over night if they wanted to. They also have pick up trucks that drive out into the fields and lets you get up close to the animals in the park that are in the distance.

The carnivor animals however are behind fences of course to keep visitors safe. The park had Rhinoceres, Zebras, Donkeys, Giraffes, endagered Deer,Cheetas, and Wild African Dogs etc. What I liked the most of course were the Cheetahs. They have such cute faces. And they too are endangered, as is most wild life on the planet. As I was watching the Cheetahs, the one Cheetah cub who was so cute was looking directly at me. And then as I was walking away three more Cheetahs including the cub who was looking at me, had all kept their eyes on me turning their heads slowly at me as I was walking away. I thought that was interesting. Maybe they sensed I love cats or something. But that little Cheetah cub was absolutely adorable. I love wild cats. Even when I was young I've always loved cats, and when I went to the zoo I always wanted to see the Big Wild Cats and nothing else.

Then after our nice trip around the zoo park, we went to have prasadam. We had lasgna, potato salad, bread sticks, pickles, and cupcakes. But we had a lot of fun. And all thanks to Malati for taking us out on a brief trip. It is said that sometimes even devotees need a brief break away from the temple for a day or two so as not to feel too isolated. But it was a very fun day for all of us.

Thank you again Malati for taking us out on a wild trip.

Hare Krishna.

Srila Prabhupada Chants Maha Mantra CD

When I went to the palace of gold yesterday. I wanted to find some more devtional music to listen to since I really don't have any. I had found something by Srila Prabhupada that had different melodies of him chanting the maha mantra in a bhajan and kirtans which was something that I was looking for. I was also trying to look for Aarti songs too to listen to as well and I did find one Aarti songs CD it was by Lokanath Swami.

But anyways I think i sort of got hooked on to Srila Prabhupada's CD with the different melodies on it. I like track number 5 as it does have a nice tune and beat to it.It gets pretty ecstatic towards the end. And here I am still listening to that same track on the CD.  This is one thing about me, I like to listen to music when Im doing something. If I don't I don't get motivated or inspired to do it. And I can't think of a better way than to listen to Srila Prabhupada's kirtan. It will keep me occupied until I make recordings of my own guru Maharaj's kirtans. I know my guru Maharaj's kirtans can get pretty wild! Just like that Saturday night when he led that kirtan. I was like HOLY SMOKES! I never been to a kirtan THAT ecstatic before in my life. I hope I see him lead another one like that. I go crazy over those kirtans because it makes me feel like Im at a concert or something.  :D Only it's a devotional concert lol.

Yeah I do like this CD I got. I had gotten rid of most of my karmi CDs I kept some of George's of course but the rest I gave up including Beatles ones. I have to get some more devotional ones. Once I get an Ipod I can download some devotional songs when i get to Toronto because they have a better internet connection there for me to do that. I can download some Srila Prabhupada lecturs or kirtans  and bhajans and other stuff too. Im going to try and redownload the 24 hour kirtan too because i really like that. Unfortunately I will not be here in New Vrndavan for the 24 hour kirtan this year as I will more than likely be in Toronto by then hopefully.

Many thanks to Srila Prabhupada for getting us hooked on kirtans. That was one thing that kept me attracted to the movement was the kirtans because Im so picky about music and well might as well be hooked onto Krishna music! :)

What Timing!

Yesterday I had told Nitya Mukta that there were two flowering trees by the palace of gold that had purplish pink flowers on the trees, that I saw on my way back to the temple from Mandakinin's house. I didn't have a bag with me at the time yesterday to pick them. So I had told her I'd pick them today.

Getting these types of flowers were not easy. I had to go into the tiny gulley in the woods just to get to them. There were broken branches on the ground an also thick green plants around them. I don't think they were poison ivy because they only had two leaves on each side not three like poison ivy does. I actually had to try to bend the branches of the tree as far down as I could to reach the ones at the top. Seems like the ones on the top are always the best looking ones. Probably because they are getting the most sunlight which is what plants like...sunlight. I did manage to fill up my bag with the flowers. We'll see how the Deities look tomorrow with those flowers on Them.

And the funny thing of it was just as I got back Nitya Mukta was just about to go out herself to pick these same flowers, but I had saved her to the trouble to go through that. I didn't mind picking those flowers despite the difficulty to get them for the Deities. I just hope Sri Sri Radha Vrndavan Chandra will be pleased with the flowers on Them tomorrow. All I can say is what timing when I got back to the temple because I was able to give them to Nitya Mukta for her to make garlands with right away so she didn't have to wait or go out herself.

Afternoon And Evening Japa Walk

I must say that quote that my guru Maharaj had on his blog post "You need some inspiration, go for a walk" really hit the nail on the head for me. I went on TWO japa walks today.

I walked up with Mandakini to her house and then I walked back which was quite a bit of a distance but I enjoyed it anyway. Then I made that stop at the palace of gold and walked aroudn there and back to the temple again. It was a good day to be outside. Guests were around visiting and also out and about walking around.

Then I took an evening japa walk after I finished serving Tulasi. The evening was very beautiful. The sun setting was pretty. I liked seeing the sunlight through the trees as it was setting. I finished the last of my rounds i only had about two.

As I walked around the pond in the evening there were still many guests around. And then toward the end of my walk I noticed all the animals were coming out. Maybe I should take my walks in the evening because I could see some wildlife around. I saw the peacocks. There were three peacocks who had all their feathers up which was very pretty. The female peacocks were waddling around too. Then I saw some Canadian Geese, and regular ducks, and I saw two deer past the peacock cage by the cabins from a distance. And then on my last time around I stood to watch the swans again. They were primming themselves and then the mother swan led the way into the pond with their four baby swans following in single file behind their mother and the father brought up the rear. It was so cute to see them in a single file line with the parents carefully guarding their childeren.  Nice to see a family spending quality time together. Something I never really had as a child with my own parents since they had divorced. So I do admire these swans as the perfect family.

George Harrison Found His Way Back Into My Life Again

Well this was interesting today. As I had done my walk around the Palace of Gold I stopped in the Palace Gift shop and browsed through the CDs and found one CD of George there. Looks like George found his way back into my life again. I have not heard his music in such a long while. Maybe that was why I was feeling grouchy these last few days...lack of George's music LOL. I had found a couple pics of George I had in my bag and brought those out too to chase the grouchiness away. it helped.

I've been a fan of George's since I was 13 and Im still nuts for him. In the past so called friends have said "oh you'll get tired of him or get burned out." And have I? NO! The reason why I havent heard George's music in awhile is due to being busy with devotional service, but now I can find time to squeeze into listening to his songs again while Im doing service. That will lighten my mood up a bit. After all George brought me to Krishna and he even helped me to find a special guru Maharaj to continue my spirituality with. I believe this was why George kept appearing in my dreams alot. He wanted me to continue on with spirituality. Im sure he saw how curious I was and all and just wanted to help me grow more. And he was successful with it and he still will be for the rest of my life. My guru Maharaj said that George is like a guru to me, and he had instructed me not to put George away or give up on him  because of that reason.

I know George must be happy with the progress I've made during this past year. I felt his presence at my initiation through my heart since they say that a guru is always with you in your heart. So I felt that George was there with a big smile on his face while my guru Maharaj was talking about him through out my whole initiation ceremony. And my guru Maharaj is such a genius naming not only after Krishna but George too LOL!Well that makes me feel closer to both Krishna and George. Thank you Maharaj!  Another good excuse to continue loving George. Everything else with karmi music wise I can give up on. But George is a DEVOTEE, so I can continue loving him and his music for the rest of my life if I want. :)

Thank you George for turning my life around and waking up my spirituality for Krishna. Haribol!