First impressions.

Mother Kaulini asked me to travel with her to “upstate” NY where her services were requested to lead two grain ceremonies. Grain ceremonies, according to my neophyte understanding, are one of the samscaras (basically means a ritual intended to create a favorable impression) that most children brought up in the Vaisnava tradition undergo at 6 months when they receive their first taste of grain. Turns out the ceremonies were for the triplets I saw in NY and another little boy named Yogi.
After the kid takes his first bite, tradition holds that three plates are put in front of the baby, one full of books, another with coins and jewelry, and the third with soil. The idea is that whichever plate the child reaches for, becomes an indication of their future inclinations. Nice pick Yogi!
Our last night was spent in Styvescent Falls, NY with the nice Kayle & Saci family. Their kids impressed the heck out of me. All three attend a Waldorf school in the area. We spent the following morning looking through pictures of their school's annualperformance of The Mahabarata, an ancient Vedic text that describes in detail the full history of The Bhagavad Gita. Little Laxman here officialy qualifies as a super rare allstar.
My favorite moment of the entire trip was late afternoon after the first grain ceremony which was only the beginning of a larger Panihati festival to be celebrated for the rest of the day. Upon departure, I noticed our tires were low but neither I nor Mother Kaulini could remember the proper tire pressure for an SUV nor did we have a tire pressure gauge. A seasof Hindus stood before us. Outcome unlikely. A moment later, however, Mother Taruni spots His Holiness Varsana Maharaja. She ran over, he nodded his head, and, sure enough, came back with an answer and a tire gauge. He said we could keep it. And that's how one lucky tire gauge found itself on my altar.

strawberries, i'm home.

I’m finally at home. Gita Nagari is magical. Nestled in between thriving Mennonite and Amish communities, she holds her own as a religious place of pilgrimage and refuge. The Radha-Damodhara temple here is the most beautiful temple I have had the opportunity to worship in. Simple yet elegant, her giant windows spill in the morning sunlight and illuminate the otherwise invisible waves of incense hovering above. Today I washed these giant windows and was practically out of breath when I finished.

Gita Nagari has a down-home, comfortable, family atmosphere. The Sunday feasts feature the finest in vegetarian, home-baked soul food, infused with loving devotion. One is surly blessed to experience the honor of tasting Mother Kaulini’s curd and zucchini sabji. The two cows we milk every day provide the temple with an abundance of fresh yogurt, paneer, smoothies, and Vrindaban ice cream! So much for my urban, vegan aspirations.

Day and night, Mother Kaulini milks two beautiful brown swiss mothers, named Kisore and Saloni. I usually tag along and watch in amazement at Mother Kaulini’s gentle yet steady and strong milking grip. The cows are literally dripping milk and stand patiently, legs untied, while we sit on either side of one cow, harvesting their priceless donations one at a time. Evening milking is the best. Sometimes we linger and watch the eastern storm clouds roll in or observe the reddish hues of sunset illuminating the western sky. Full bucket in tow, we head back to the ashram, day well spent and ready to take rest.

I quickly plugged in here as a groundswoman. There are infinite hidden perennial beds and future gardens waiting to be discovered. I arrived just as the strawberry patch ripened up and spent the first two weeks picking strawberries early mornin' style so as Krishna could enjoy freshies for breakfast. In one week there will be a big celebration here marking the simultaneous two-year anniversary of the death of H.H. Bhakti Tirtha Swami and the completion of his samadhi memorial, being dressed in white marble as we speak. At the request of Mother Kaulini, one week gives me just enough time to finish decorating the holy dhama with as many sunflower, watermelon, sweet pepper, and tomato plants as possible.

This here is Gopa. He’s my pal. Yesterday while sitting underneath the back porch awning of the old farm house, we chanted japa together and watched the greatly anticipated rain quench the garden’s thirst. I guess I’m partial to three-legged beings. The kittens with extra toes pass as well. Srila Prabhupada compares our relationship with Krishna as that between the caretaker and the dog. The sane caretaker (Krishna) gives the dog (living beings) freewill to roam and explore, play and do what she wants, but the ultimate purpose of the dog is to obey the master’s orders. The way I figure, there is nothing more annoying than an untrained dog, so I’m getting myself potty trained.

Absolute fashion.

After the GBC meetings, the van was again packed up Ratha Yatra bound. NYC, here we come! Again.

We arrived in Brooklyn around 9 pm. With just enough time to catch a quick shower and powernap, we headed down to Washington Square Park for late night set-up starting at midnight. Good times with the local entertainment and four hours of tent and pole placement later, we jumped on the subway around 4am, got back to the temple just before mangala arati, but slept through the morning program anyways. We were up and showered, however, by 8am and in the van soon after for a quick stop at 26th & 2nd Avenue, the historic site marking the first Hare Krishna pad and bhajan kutir in North America.


The Ratha Yatra began in Central Park at noon. The crowd was in the thousands, all scrambling to help pull Lord Jagannatha’s chariots some 50 blocks down 5th Avenue. I think the pictures say it all. Check out this rockstar Vaisnava mama keepin’ it reals with triplets.

H.H. Praladananda Maharaja (who weeks ago in Srimad Bhagavatam class explained how we all worship a deity, meticulously dress, bathe, and feed them nicely and very opulently, but in most cases the deity is our own bodies), and H.H. Bhakti Caitanya Maharaja led great sessions in the question & answer tent at the festival landing site, where I proceeded to help serve out free vegetarian prasadam to what seemed like thousands of folks. I kept on asking myself, as the line grew longer and longer, “How to go about feeding NYC?”

In all the excitement and madness, I left my backpack in the Brooklyn temple and was forced to leave it when my ride to Gita Nagari informed me that it would be too far out of the way to retrieve it. What to do? Me, my sari, and my humble fanny pack arrived in Harrisburg three hours later and spent the night at Motha’ Lila Katha and Tamal Krishna Prabhu’s lovely new home. Lila geneoursly hooked me up with some necessities so that I arrived at Gita Nagari in Port Royal, PA, the following afternoon, with a fresh sari and toothbrush in hand.

Shooting hoops with His Holiness.

I returned to New Vrindaban after Cleveland Ratha Yatra to the International GBC meetings. Basically, all the top administrators of the ISKCON universe blessed the community with their stay for practically one whole week. At least three days in a row, morning program was attended by over 25 sunnyasis along with some of the most well-respected devotees in the movement.

The highlights of my weekend include playing basketball with H.H. Hrdayanada Goswami. Instead of P-I-G, we played A-S-U-R-A (literally means “demon” in Sanskrit). After several evenings of darshan and two morning japa walks, Acharya Deva’s humor and intelligence has given me an even greater appreciation of Krishna consciousness and has reinforced my decision to pursue bhakti yoga as a lifetime aspiration. His blissful enthusiasm and love of Krishna is totally infectious.

Other highlights include serving fresh cow urine to H.H. Jaya Pattaca Swami every morning in the barn. What a fabulous lila. I admire his ability to reach out to so many people with his full attention, heartfelt kindness and compassion.

The mercy was flowing like anything that week and I ran after it enthusiastically. As I was packing up my room for my big move, I felt most grateful to leave New Vrindaban on such a high note. All glories to the New Vrindaban devotees who are teaching me what it really means to throw a good party.

Phone home.

I just wanted to reflect on this past month and bring the folks up to speed with my whereabouts. Why have I been so busy that I couldn’t manage to fit in a few phone calls to relay things like hello, I’m still alive, etc. for the peace of mind of my dear parents? What is the difficulty? Communication has always been my weak point.

To start off, a few weeks ago the ladies and I traveled to Cleveland, Ohio for my first kick-off Ratha Yatra of 2007. Ratha Yatra is sometimes referred to as the Festival of Chariots or the Festival of India. These festivals are held annually all around the world at various times throughout the year. The ultimate significance is that we are welcoming Krishna back into our hearts and reawakening our original, primeval consciousness of pure love of God.

Ratha Yatra is something I hold dear in my heart. Two years ago, I was traveling through Mexico and happened to find a devotee to hitchhike with into the city of Guadalajara. On the way there he told me the Ratha Yatra festival was that very same weekend. I had no clue what he meant but eventually we caught a ride downtown and made our way to the temple.

There they were. Three massive chariots carrying three wooden sculptures with crazy, intoxicating eyes and big smiles. By the mercy of the devotees, I was later formally introduced to the presiding deities, Lord Jagannatha, Lady Subadra, and Lord Baladeva. Two days of festival later, stomach full of prasadam (foodstuffs offered to the Lord), ears ringing with kirtan, and bewildering images of devotees in devotional dress playing bass guitar and Hare Krishna reggae on a massive stage with devotees going nuts in the audience, I was fascinated. What are they so excited about, I wondered. I was curious. I wanted more. That weekend I was gifted my first Krishna book. After traveling for some time with a few devotees who put me up in their casa that weekend, I moved back to New Mexico, started going to a Sunday program and by the following summer I moved into the temple. Thus, I feel strongly about the powerful role Ratha Yatra played in awakening my Krishna consciousness and feel strongly about supporting and continuing this tradition.

By the mercy of Mother Devavati, I was invited up onto the cart to help decorate. Years of birthday parties with crepe paper décor paid off as I successfully went through four rolls to decorate the railings. With Lake Erie as our backdrop, the parade went through the waterfront parkway on a hot and blissful afternoon. H.H. Bhakti Marga Swami led funky kirtan for hours afterwards to the point of almost reaching a salsa groove. I was in ecstasy. Many thanks to the organizers of the festival and to all the Cleveland devotees who helped make it happen.

Time to Ketchup.

I moved into the temple thinking the best thing for my spiritual life would be to renounce the world and withdrawal for awhile. But some how or another, I've been to NYC on three different occassions since May on strictly devotional business. I guess I picked the right temple. Funny how things work out. Our Vaisnava tradition instructs us to enthusiastically pursue devotional life. Sure we renounce a bit in the beginning, but like H.H. Varsana Swami said last weekend, "We may be fasting, but, spiritually, we are feasting."