"Stellaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

"The doors of wisdom are never shut. Well done is better than well said."-Ben Franklin

This past weekend I celebrated RathaYatra in Philadelphia, and, yes, both Ben Franklin and Rocky were in attendance. I have fond memories of last year's Ratha Yatra, including my confusion and serious questioning of the movement when some random lady forcibly handed me several Back to Prabhupada magazines to distribute. There I was, passing out rikvik literature in a starched old sari, feeling really uncomfortable and thinking to myself what in the world am I doing here. Good thing big

brother Balaram was there to set things straight, but I have to admit, I was pretty traumatized by the event.

Later in the afternoon, at the Questions & Answers tent, all of my anxieties were relieved by Bhuchari Prabhuji, who had everyone laughing and crying at the same time. I thought to myself, this is a self-realized person! I later watched Matati Prabhu ride the space wheel and felt reassured that I was in the right company.

This year's Ratha Yatra was again beautiful and full of realizations. My current service of choice, being book distribution, has me introducing myself to the coolest people. One sister I met was on her way back from mass. She is an exchange student from Italy pursuing a PhD in molecular biology. She was fascinated by the diorama depicting the changing of the body from youth to adult to grandpa and back to youth. She bought a book and we talked for almost an hour about vegetarianism and Christianity.


I shared another hour-long conversation with a beautiful brother from Mexico City who is pursuing the teachings and religion of the ancient Toltec people of Mesoamerica. He performs traditional Toltec dance and had just boughten peacock feathers for his headpiece when I met him. He shared with me the similarities between the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita and the Toltec ethos concerning reincarnation, consciousness, spirit versus matter, and self-realization. When he saw a picture of Lord Jagannath on a postcard I had given him, he immediately wanted to know who He was. I brought him over to the chariot to introduce him to the deities and gifted him a garland to take home to his girlfriend.

Before I knew it, the sun was setting. I took the remaining moments of the festival to wallow in the nectar of sweet kirtan, the satisfaction of a full day spent distributing Srila Prabhupada's books, and the company of visiting devotees from Alachua and New York. My gratitude manifested itself in the form of ecstatic dance.

The next day, I followed Achuta, Janaki, Jvalamukhi, Bali, Vish, Gauravani, Ananda, Kumar, Sundeep, and family (aka As Kindred Spirits) to their gig lined up at George Washington University. The performance followed a yogathon in which the participants performed 108 sun salutations to raise donations for the Global Mala Project and Trees for the Future. The yogis perfected their meditation with a kool-down kirtan and dance party.



As Ben Franklin once put it, "Absence sharpens love, presence strengthens it."