A Collage of Ecstatic Servants

Our humble abode...

Mommy desperately wants to see pictures of Jaya Sita and I's Vrindavana bat cave...so here's the behind-the-scenes. The format is messy but the first and third pictures are two scenes from a Vrindavana sunrise. Jaya Sita took these pictures on the roof of our building. The bottom picture shows our view of the temple- the three white spires piercing the purple sky. Once while chanting on the roof in the early morning, a bat the size of a seagull rammed right into her shoulder.



Above- Here's our snazzy modern kitchen. Notice the gas stove. All of you would be heartily impressed that I, the one who has been terrified of fire and gas since time immemorial, knows how to operate this stove. I even make boiled potatoes and ginger tea with it! Krishna is on the wall eating butter. That big water jug is what we use for our water supply every day. Whatever you do, just DON'T DRINK THE LEMONADE!!! ;)

Right: Can you see our rascal pet monkey?
I told Jaya Sita not to feed her capatis, but
she couldn't help herself with this cutie. After
this she stayed there making the loudest and
most annoyingly persistant "mew, mew"
noises, which I interpreted to mean "more,
more"for at least half and hour. I'm still
learning to forgive Jaya Sita. ;) Its hard to
deny she is actually pretty adorable, and so human in her manerisms. She even has perfect baby-sized fingernails.
This is our neon flourescent mosquito-net bat cave! Jaya Sita was hoisting her net up at night using her cello and a hanging computer cable as support. So classy, and effective! Mine is bright pink and hangs over my bed using old ropes and computer cables attached to four different spots all over the room. It drives me crazy all night because I get tangles up in my net, (it cost like 70 cents, so you know what you're getting). Anyhoo it's clearly better than malaria so bring it on!

Rupa Goswami's Mercy

I'm a dummy on the computer so please forgive me if this layout is terrible. All I can do is trial and error on here, so we will see how it turns out.
So this is Srila Rupa Goswami's beloved Ter Kadamba! Rupa Goswami was one of Lord Caitanya's principle disciples, and as Gaudiya Vaishavas (Hare Krishna's =)) we follow the teachings of Rupa Goswami and the other 5 Goswamis of Vrindavana with our life and soul. He appeared on this earth from 1489-1564CE, and resides in the spiritual world as Rupa Manjari, one of Radharani's closest assistants and gopi companions. On this day each year, like all other exalted Vaishnava's, we honor him on his disappearance day.


This is Vishal Prabhu, one of the devotees who works at the VIHE (our school). He was offering puja (worship) to the Deities and to Rupa Goswami.

I'm lighting ghee (clarified butter) candles all around the altar. They are contained in little clay cups, as are all the food offerings, which you can see further down. This scene was right out of the spiritual world. To find a more beautiful place could be my life's task...

Here's a nice painting of Srila Rupa Goswami. Lord Caitanya told Rupa: "The ocean of the transcendental mellows of devotional service is so large that no one can estimate its length and breadth. However, just to help you taste it, I am describing one drop." It is said that this one drop was enough to inundate millions upon millions of universes with ecstatic, pure love of God, called prema. With this drop he composed ingenuis works of intoxicating spiritual poetry and richly philophical texts. We just finished reading his book "The Nectar of Instruction" in class. It is a spectacular text outlining the gradual progression of a genuine spiritual seeker from the beginning stages of self realization to pure love of God, culminating in the service of the servants of Srimati Radharani on the banks of Radha Kunda, the sacred bathing lake of Radharani, considered to be the topmost, intimate place in the entire universal creation.

The trees here were stunning. They grow on extremely compact clay and curl upwards like beautiful black snakes. Their canopies drape the pillars and create a heavenly shade from sun and rain.

We spent hours singing bhajans written by Rupa Goswami. He was so intoxicated with love of God that he composed some of the most beautiful poetry imagineable. In my next post, I will include some of that poetry. My roommate Jaya Sita is there playing the cello. It always adds a beautiful classic touch to the traditional Indian sounds.

Here are three great friends sorting flower petals by color for the pushpa abhiseka we had later in the evening. Pushpa=flowers, abhisheka=bath. We bath the Deities in a variety of wonderful things like yogurt, milk, honey, perfumed water, and sometimes, like today, flowers! Sanna is in the foreground, she is my great friend from Finland. The other two ladies in the back are from Russia, and they are simply incredible Vaishnavis.

Here is a picture of the offering tray with flowers, fan, ghee candle, incense, etc. Next to it is a huge baskets of lotus flower petals and a bucket of sacred tulasi leaves. I am lighting the ghee candles in the background.

This is my wonderful friend Medharani. Her husband is my Bhagavad-gita teacher, Gurusevananda Prabhu. She is from Mayapur and has helped me with so many domestic musts! I've already learned how to do laundry on the bathroom floor and cook a 'brilliant' subji (veggie dish) that's out of this world. Aside from the domestic genuis she possesses, she is an extremely lovely girl to be around, and a true inspiration to me.

Here's a tiny taste of the offerings we made for the Deities in Ter Kadamba. More sweets than you can imagine!

The man in the center at the microphone is Dina Bandhu Prabhu. Here he is leading guru puja for Srila Rupa Goswami, which is a song to honor him as a spiritual teacher. He leads the most fabulous kirtans and parikrama's (pilgrimages) around Vrindavana. I went on my first parikrama with him the other evening, and I'll write about that soon. It was simply nectar. Notice the gorgeous limbs draping above their heads.

Just look at this!!! There is a cake the size of a coffee table here!! This cake was made by some Russian women, and let me tell you, it was simply outrageous. We took all the 108 offerings, with the exception of this larger than life cake, and transferred them into beautiful clay bowls, cups and pots to be offered. This was the ecstatic moment after the offering when we got to see everything on the altar. During the actual offering the altar is hidden by fresh saris which are held up length-wise. This is so we don't go crazy over the food before the Lord gets to enjoy it. =) Maha prasadam ki jaya!!!

Here's me on a hike in the forest behind the bhajan kutir. (Ter Kadamba was one of the main places where Rupa Goswami stayed and performed his bhajan (writing and other spritual activities) in Vrindavan. This is the meaning of "bhajan kutir."

There is so much more to post, but so little time. Hopefully I can do proper justice to this experience in the next couple of days. It was by far one of the most touching gatherings I have ever been to. All glories to Srila Rupa Goswami!

Pictures

Best party of my life, hands down.

Gopal Bhatta Goswami's Disappearance Day Festival: 8/1/2010

After class a group of 7 us went together to the Sri Radha Raman temple to celebrate the life of Gopal Bhatta Goswami. Knowing practically nothing about him, I was enthusiastic to go, but filled with little emotion regarding the importance of the occasion (stay posted for his life and pastimes with Radha Ramanji). We walked along the parikrama path for some time, but soon grabbed a motor-rickshaw. Needless to say the ride was quite an adventure. Our vital organs rattled endessly- twice I was sure I would fly right out to pay full dandavats in the Vrindavan mud. I could only laugh in disbelief, yes, this is transportation in Vrindavan. It looked like Jaya Sita's stomach barely made it. When we arrived I immediately got the feeling I was entering a huge party, a spiritual night club of sorts. There were Christmas lights hanging from the temple, huge crowds gathered, uproarious chanting pouring out from the courtyard. We all entered through the temple gates together- there was a two-man band sitting at the entrance playing some kind of tribal sounding drum and one of those cobra-charming instruments. It sounded like drum circle-meets-middle east, and I was reminded of Indiana Jones. After we walked into the temple room, we pretty unintentionally parted ways, swallowed whole by the Indian mob chanting and pushing super enthusiastically from all directions.
I must say one thing. These Indians know what it means to get down. They are serious about partying, they really, really are. Every age was there, every size, every disposition, every level of devotion. Some chanted as if they wanted their lungs to explode. Some were on the roof with huge cameras filming the scene. Some just stared with serious expressions. Small children were on their dancing fathers' shoulders, old ladies sat on the parameter walls, which were COVERED floor to ceiling with maha sweet offerings. I have never seen so many offerings in one place. There must have been hundreds of thousands of sweets.The curtains swung open, and there was the incredibly sweet Radha Raman- (Krishna, the One who gives pleasure to Radha), and where Radharani would be, is Her crown. I always love kirtan, and I always love darshan, but I felt a whole other level of connection with Radha Raman. He's so small but SO charming. He dances with you. He smiles at you. It's like He's at the center of the dance floor, of the universe, just inviting you to party with Him. I couldn't keep my eyes off His sweet face, until the prasadam started flying off the altar.
The moment the prasadam left the pujaris' hands and sailed through the air, a mosh pit formed. The littlest, oldest ladies and gentlemen began pushing like pro wrestlers. The looks on their faces, diverse with emotion, reminded me just how special these people are. Some were nearly crying, some were laughing, some very seriously praying, some just begging with arms wide open, everyone rushing together toward the pujaris: "GIVE ME THAT PRASADAM!!!" Their eyes said it all, they wanted all the mercy they could carry, and much more.
Jaya Sita and I were separated from the beginning. The rest of the group trickled out and the two of us were the only Westerner's left. She stood right at the edge of the altar, scrunched up at the foot of the Lord. I was directly in front of Radha Raman a few feet back. We caught glimpses of each other in our own experience with the deity and His devotees. We were both completely blown away with joy.
About an hour later, once the kirtan ended and some verse recitation began, we went outside to find Gopal Bhatta Goswami's samadhi. First, we ran into a giant vat of sweet spiced milk prasad. I filled up my water bottle. It was to die for. I was approached by a nice middle-aged Indian couple for some conversation. They asked me where I was from and how I like India. I love it here, it feels like home...
The man has family in California. He says its a nice country and everyone is fortunate to have the wealth that they do. But while comparing the two, he said Indians have spiritual and cultural values that hold them together. They take care of one another. He said,"Most people here are very, very poor." He held his hands tightly together, fingers interlocked. "But we are together. In America, people are alone. They are rich, but they are lonely."
I took this to be quite an interesting observation in the economics of happiness. The country rated happiest in the world is Bangladesh, which happens to be one of the poorest places on earth. No matter our capitalistic advantage, at the end of the day it depends on the values within us, on our mission, our life's goal. When we sacrifice spiritualism in a competitive march towards material success, there is no hope for genuine inner peace. This is the unforatunte situation in most of the world today.
The couple was from Kurukshetra (where Krishna spoke the Bhagavad-gita) and told Jaya Sita and I that their two American daughters were welcome to stay with them anytime. They invited us for dinner, but it was already after 10. We paid our respects and parted ways to find the samadhi. Such generous people.
Gopal Bhatta Goswami's samadhi is a serene enclosed structure. Surrounding his samadhi are many, many smaller one's. Kirtan players sat in front of the main altar, where a dreadlocked, aged babaji sat, serving Gopal Bhatta Goswami's murti and passing out carinamrita. We stayed for some time, circumambulating, chanting and praying for mercy from the Goswami.
I was so inspired by the evening I sought out a book about Gaudiya Vaishnava Samadhi's in Vrindavan. It's loaded with the greatest personalities and pastimes, and is such nectar! Jaya Sita bought the guide to Vrindavan's over 5,000 temples and holy places (competitively nectarean), so we're planning on going to some places from each book on our free Sundays.
Sri Radha Ramanji ki Jaya! All glories to Srila Gopal Bhatta Goswami!