Why do you DO what you DO?

I just entered a few photos into a Burning Man photo contest called "Why do you DO what you DO?" which is a really excellent question to ask ourselves at every minute of the day. That's actually why I started chanting HARE KRSNA in the first place. You can check out my entries and explanation here.

And then there was many.

OK! Everyone, say sOYcHeESe!
This is my beautiful family. I am fortunate in that my service for Srila Acaryadeva has allowed me just enough time to fly back to Buffalo, NY and hold my three new nieces and nephews for the first time.

My sweet, sweet Ella. Just a few months back, she was in the hospital with tubes poking out of her every which way and trapped inside a lonely, plastic bubble. At that time, I was only allowed to hold her little fingers by reaching through a tiny arm flap on the side of that bubble. We prayed and prayed and now she is Krishna's miracle, sweet as they come and satisfied by watching the world around her. And here is my amazing sister, Nicole, who somehow made it through the trauma of having her precious little girl in the intensive care unit for the first month of her new life. Nicole is a natural at this mom stuff.
Todd is my brother-in-law. He is an expert at giving Ella her evening bath. I don't know how the three of them survived that first month, but they pulled through elegantly. Becoming a parent is one way to become truly self-less in a selfish, selfish world.

My Dad and Heather (AKA Pops & Mops) are proud as can be. Heather is an old pro, having had two babies of her own. She's got the magic touch only moms can have. Here's my little man, Mr. Zach. Good thing he's so freakin' cute cause he likes to cry, and he like to cry A LOT! April describes his personality as rugged yet sensitive. Zach's partner in crime and twin sister, Ms. Maya here, looking like an angel. It was so special to spend time with these guys. They live in Santa Cruz, California so darshan is few and far between. My favorite time with the babes was chanting HARE KRSNA together. It's fun having a little buddy to pray with until....until he wakes up screaming with a disaster diaper and a killer stomach ache. It's gotta be rough having no sense control or control of your bodily functions. This is truly the definition of MENTAL. It rubs off on the caretakers too.
But don't worry, April, there is a special place in heaven for mothers of twins.
It was a special treat to see my Gram and Grumpa, meeting their great grandchildren for the first time. We know they're not ours but family means special connection, a closeness and an unconditional love that, in our finer moments, we might strive to give others outside our limited identification of family. Temporary as it is, I sure love my beautiful, beautiful familia.

Beverly Hills 90211

Welcome to ISKCON Beverly Hills, 153 N. Arnaz Dr. Certainly, if everywhere else, why wouldn't the Hare Krishnas be in Beverly Hills? I came out two weeks ago after leaving Athens and celebrating Ratha Yatra in Atlanta, GA. To my surprise the neighborhood is lovely and quite charming, even for a minimalist like myself. Here at the Arnaz Ashram, the devotees can be themselves and we have lots of fun. Pictured above are two of my godsisters, Krishna Priya and Dhanya. Both have been staying here at the house and doing lots of service.I've quickly resumed kitchen duties, cooking and preparing the finest in gourmet, vegan cuisine. Lately, I've been making Tempeh Reuben Sandwiches to the delight of the devotees. Since I am lacking in many other categories, I feel cooking is one of the best ways I can express my love and gratitude. Since my teacher, Acaryadev, has arrived, he has been busy writing and giving classes. Lately, he has been giving lectures to audiences around the world, including Columbia, Brazil, Mexico, and Ukraine, via Skype. It is wonderful to see how excited the devotees are to have virtual darshan with Acaryadev.My friend Manjari from Moscow came to visit for the weekend. She has been sharing Krishna Consciousness through musical venues for the past decade. Here she is singing a bittersweet bhajan, lamenting the loss of great spiritual personalities when they die. Not all fun and games here. Lots of time to think, read, contemplate, chant, wonder, and pray.The schedule here at the ashram is 4:30am wake up, 5 o'clock morning kirtan, 5:30am japa walk. Since Acaryadev grew up in LA, he knows all the best places to go walking. He has taken us all over Beverly Hills, into Beverly Woods where he grew up, Cheviot Park and Santa Monica where Srila Prabhupada used to walk, UCLA, Rodeo Drive, and my favorite, Franklin Canyon Park.The amazing thing about LA is that, despite the material insanity, traffic, and sprawl, there are beautiful neighborhoods with nice old houses and lovely gardens. Carob trees, Oleander, Southern Magnolias, Drake Elms, Southern Sycamores, Canary Island Date Palms, and Mexican Fan Palms are but a few of the diverse numbers of trees that line the streets here in Beverly Hills. Acaryadev is constantly being visited by his disciples, well-wishers, and neighbors. He really is the life of the party. Hey, who invited the guru, smiling like anything? I hear he only buys his dhotis on Rodeo Drive.But, alas, every party must come to an end and then we must say goodbye. Every party? Anyways, after Acaryadev left, we started organizing for a big move out of the house and into a smaller and more efficient studio space down the road.Moving is one of the more hellish experiences I've been privileged to endure in this lifetime, but when you have good help and conversation, work goes by fast. On Srila Bhaktivinoda's Disappearance Day, Taruni prepared a feast. Taruni and her husband, Jagatpati, are visiting from Australia after a month stay in a cancer treatment clinic in Tijuana. Jagatpati is being treated for a brain tumor that was removed two years ago and has since grown back. They are amazing folks and their life revolves around distributing pure food, as they own a restaurant back in Cairns, Australia. Their immense struggle continues and, yet, they only inspire those who have the honor to be in their company.
The meal has been offered, the table is set, and the garland has been strung. But when will the guest of honor be arriving?
Jaya Srila Acaryadeva! When the teacher is pleased, the students are ecstatic. There are so many wonderful people to meet in this world. Who will show up next at our door?

Intelligent Design

Check out the trailer for Ben Stein's new film, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, a documentary on the resistance of the academic and scientific community to allow open debate and public discussion on the possibility of intelligent causation. Ben Stein interviews some of the world's leading scientists, mathematicians, and theologists to uncover an unprecedented state of modern science where such theories of Darwin and Richard Hawkins are dogmatically left uncontested despite mounting evidence of new probabilities.

"Freedom of inquiry is basic to human advancement. There would be no modern medicine, no antibiotics, no brain surgery, no Internet, no air conditioning, no modern travel, no highways, no knowledge of the human body without freedom of inquiry.
This includes the ability to inquire whether a higher power, a being greater than man, is involved with how the universe operates. This has always been basic to science. ALWAYS.
Some of the greatest scientists of all time, including Galileo, Newton, Einstein, operated under the hypothesis that their work was to understand the principles and phenomena as designed by a creator.
Operating under that hypothesis, they discovered the most important laws of motion, gravity, thermodynamics, relativity, and even economics.
Now, I am sorry to say, freedom of inquiry in science is being suppressed."

-Ben Stein

"Not quite as relevant as a good Jane Austen movie, but I think anyone who is preaching to intelligent people should see this. It is an extremely well done movie."

-Srila Acaryadeva

A Tribute to Athens

These past two months of assisting Srila Acaryadev (Dr. Resnick) during his writing retreat in Athens, Ohio have been quite literally off the hook, off the wall, and out of this world, fantastic. I never expected to be able to spend so much time with Acaryadev in the company of, whom I consider, the coolest and most sincere devotees I know. No false pretension, no pressure, no heroic organizational feats, just simple folks trying to love and serve Krishna in the best way they know how. Athens is a small college town. Naturally, wherever there are students, there is great hunger and poverty. Every Friday afternoon on the college green, the local devotees organize what they call a "Starving Artists Lunch," featuring the finest in vegan prasadam cuisine.
So many wonderful personalities came to visit Acaryadeva. Pictured above is my godbrother Arka das from Australia and my godsister Yaitza from Puerto Rico.

"Yo mataji! Can you spare some subji for a poor little beggar like Ali Krsna devi? But don't forget the dasi, that's what makes this name complete, as I offer flowers to my guru's lotus feet. OH, SHAKE YOUR ASAFOETIDA! Just shake your asafoetida. I ain't no meat eater, and I don't eat garlic neither! OH!"

I introduce to you the infamous Tessafoetida. When we're not rapping, we're skipping and dancing at 5 in the morning. After these two months, I can honestly say that she is one of my favorite people on this planet. Tess generously invited me to stay with her during my time in Athens and her hospitality was first-class. She is sweetness personified and her devotion is inspiring. Gurjeet and Marian came to visit from Columbus, Ohio and we went hiking to a big cave just off the bike trail. These girls rock and are organizing the bhakti yoga college preaching programs at the giant state university in Columbus. Marian is special, shy but witty, sharp and hilarious, hitting up the prasadam after a Sunday feast program in Columbus at which Acaryadeva spoke. Here Acaryadev sits at his desk. He is finishing up a novel that he has been working on for years. I had the great honor of spending many hours sitting in this room while Acaryadev read aloud. I helped with some minor editing. The plot is amazing and the characters are richly developed. The book is a fictional, transcendental mystery/love story based around the story of Dhruva Maharaja in the Srimad Bhagavatam. It's definitely a page turner. Miss Bindhu. Calm and serene. Introspective and totally goofy. Bindhu is my godsister who lives out in Seattle, WA. Her specialty is baking bread. One bite of her bread is like biting into tangible love. She is humble, thoughtful, and extremely perceptive. I am a big fan of hers. Pictured above is the asafoetida sampridaya. Her Grace Malati Manjari came to visit Acaryadev all the way from Germany. She asked me to help her write a contemporary book about the importance of vegetarianism. She is my kind of cowgryl.
As Weird Al puts it so nicely, "Lunch, lunch, lunch, they want to have lunch, lunch, lunch, they want to have lunch! They just a wanna, they just a wannaaaaaa. They just a wanna, they just a wannaaaaaaa. When the working day is done...." Indeed the high lite of these past two months have been Acaryadeva's lectures. To listen or download some of Acaryadeva's lectures given in Athens click here.
Several years back I remember meditating on how sorely limited I was in my consequence and influence on society. I realized that the best thing I could do for humanity was to find a righteous somebody who already has influence and assist them accordingly. Krishna answered my prayers as always. I can not think of anyone else I would rather serve than Acaryadeva nor a mission as noble. As Acaryadev puts it, "basement-bottom dharma, prices are slashed." This is our yuga dharma- chanting, dancing, and feasting. It's that simple. I have to stop sometimes and realize my beautiful, beautiful life.
Hey Lord Caitanya, maybe I can help you too with the sankirtana movement? I sure am impressed by your die-hard fans. In fact, I think they are some of the greatest people in this world. This sankirtan party is rockin' and I've never been one to leave early from a good party. You mind if I stick around for awhile?

Nobody loves me but my mother, and she could be jivin' me too.

On the occasion of Mother's Day this Sunday past, and, today, both Mother Sita and Mother Jahnava's most auspicious appearance days, I sing the praises of all mothers in this world and beyond. I ran across a nice memory of Srila Prabhupada that pretty much sums up everything. Once, while speaking with Gurudas, Srila Prabhupada said,"If I don't forgive you, Krishna will, and if Krishna doesn't forgive you, Radharani will."

Oh Radha! You are our Eternal Mother! Please bestow your mercy on our fallen souls. Like B.B. King put it, "Nobody loves me but my mother, and she could be jivin' me too." Except with Sri Radha, there's not even a tinge of jive, and, no doubt, Mother Radha is our only hope, the Supreme Goddess, and humanity's topmost well-wisher.

I went to mass with my mother this past Sunday and the homily was about being a "good finder." Apparently some study was done assessing what, if any, similarities could be found amongst the top 100 successful people in the world. It wasn't socio-economic status during childhood, not gender-related, race or even religion-related. What the study came up with, somehow, was that all these people were "good finders." Then the priest tied it in with Mother's Day. Mothers are naturally "good finders."

In ISKCON a similar analogy is given with the bee and the fly. A fly is automatically attracted to anything that stinks, whereas the bee only goes for the nectar. Most mothers, for better or worse, see only the good in their children. When applied to our interaction with the rest of society, this bee-like quality is actually a symptom of the highest degree of spiritual advancement. And moms dish out this stuff like it's nothing.

Compassion, we all need it. I wish I had more of it because then I could actually do some good in this world. Srila Prabhupada says, "Material compassion, lamentation and tears are all signs of ignorance of the real self. Compassion for the eternal soul is self-realization...No one knows where compassion should be applied. Compassion for the dress of a drowning man is senseless" (BG 2.1). This may be confusing for most of us but with a little bit of transcendental knowledge, it makes the most sense in the world. Like in the hospital the other day my mom said, "Why worry if you pray, why pray if you worry?"

My mother showed me a card today that she is sending to my brother and sister-in-law out in California who just had twins. The card reads:

HAVING A BABY IS GOD'S WAY OF SAYING, "YOU'VE SLEPT LONG ENOUGH!"

Jiv Jago. Wake up sleeping soul. What a blessing. The saints say there is no love in this material world. Yet, the love a mother shares with her child is the closest example we have on our planet of selfless love, which is just a spark of the profound love we share with our Eternal Mother. Unfortunately, we've forgotten all about this relationship and again and again we take birth until we finally wake up, which can only happen when we encounter a pure devotee of the Lord. By the mercy and compassion of a pure devotee, we are reminded who we actually are and what is our eternal occupation. No unemployment in the spiritual world. We're all just eternally blissful lovers of Mother Radha. So now it's a good time to start crying, in separation.But if tears are a sign of ignorance, how come Sita Sang the Blues? Check this out. Anyways, so much love to give, but how to distribute it in a way that the soul benefits? And like my sister asked the other day over lunch, "What is the soul?" Back 2 basics.

Jaya Sri Radhe! Jaya Sri Sitadevi! Sri Jahnavadevi ki jaya!

Welcome to the material world, spirit soul, how may I serve you?

On April 22, 2008 (Earth Day) my sister gave birth to a very special little lady. Introducing Bhaktin Ella Michele Rassman ki jaya!Ella is what you might call a "high-maintenance" woman. Since the day she was born, she has commanded every minute of her family's attention, thoughts, and prayers. Our little Ella suffers from a blood disorder that is affecting her liver. Yet, since the diagnosis and with subsequent treatments, her blood counts have been steadily improving and her vitals are stronger than ever. We hope that by Mother's Day she will be ready to come home in her momma's loving arms. In the meantime, as Aunt Ali on duty, I have been visiting her daily and chanting cribside. We sing together and she has already responded favorably with a big grin to the promise of vegan tofu burgers when she gets a little older. When momma requested some homemade treats for the nurses in gratitude of their hard work, I quickly jumped at the service. Transcendental vegan granola bars, cookies, and banana bread have been distributed thus far. Please send your prayers and blessings that I may serve little Ella properly.