God smiles in flowers.

Yesterday afternoon, after a full day in the garden, I found this budding Echinacea flower. Some call it mutant, but I call it a manifestation.

Srila Prabhupada says that God smiles in flowers. Because I’m so distracted in general, I find Krishna gives me really obvious signs when he is pleased with my service. Reassurance is most reassuring. Krishna’s mercy is abundant although often hard to understand and perceive.

Here at Gita Nagari, every day there is a new happening in the fields, woods, and gardens. Three weeks ago, the Honeysuckle and Peonies were in full bloom. Next came the Milkweed, Yarrow, New England Asters and Oxeye Daisies. In the past week and a half, Queen Anne’s Lace, Tigerlilies, and Black-eyed Susans have found themselves on the altar and Hyacinths made their appearance at Prabhupada’s lotus feet. This is the joy of simple living.

My next-door neighbor in the ashram runs an animal hospital of sorts. When I first came, Mother Locana Padma was caring for some ailing barn kittens. But last week, a new resident arrived on the doorstep and she gladly scooped him up. We named him Garuda.

We never found out what kind of bird he was but we could hear his relatives in the surrounding trees. After a strong week, eating peanut bitter and Ganges water, he left his body listening to Prabhupada chanting the maha mantra. Life and death on the farm. Life and death on the farm. Life and death on the farm. On the farm, the reality of the continuous cycle of birth and death is constantly in your face, and usually you have to pick it up and bury it too.

Yesterday, while moving the oxen water trough, Mother Kaulini and I watched two slimy slugs slither across the body of a salivating snake curled up below. We were both disgusted. She reminded me then that the soul’s destination is determined by our life’s activities and consciousness. Thus, it is paramount to take advantage of this human birth, learn the science of life, and avoid the risk of taking birth again as a slug. Yes ma’am!