December Trip with Rafael's Father

Rafael arrived home from a business trip on November 28th and a few days later his father, Andrzej and father's friend Waldemar arrived. I greeted them with fresh flower garlands and as we walked to the taxi Waldemar kept telling me how pleasantly surprised he was that I spoke polish. (My Father-in-Law Andzrej is on the left, and Waldemar is on the right).

Rafael's father had done some sort of favor for Waldemar, and Waldemar wanted to pay him back so he offered to take him on a trip anywhere. Andrzej said he wanted to go to India and Waldemar happily agreed. Of course we had never met Waldemar before and the prospect of traveling for 2 weeks with someone that you don't know is a little nerve-wracking because you don't know if the person will be a total jerk etc.

Waldemar, on the other hand, didn't know anything about us. He is a strict Polish catholic, and Rafael's father "forgot to mention" that we are Hare Krishna's who live in a town dedicated to Krishna!

When we arrived to Vrindavan (after a harrowing taxi ride through the first fog of the season) Waldemar gave us each a present. My present was a little gold coin with Madonna and child on it, and Rafael got a beautiful silver coin with Pope John Paul II on it!

After an Indian Thali Lunch at MVT (the best local restaurant), we took Riksaws through the older part of town and then went for a boat ride on the Yamuna by the old beautiful palace at Keshi Ghat. Both Andzrej and Waldemar were very pleased by the half hour cuise, and we finished the day by doing some shopping in the town.

The second day we went with our friend and neighbor, Lalita, on a trip to see Kusum Sarovar near Govardhana. This place is a beautiful sandstone palace on the banks of a little lake surrounded by sandstone steps. We decided to take them there instead of to Taj Mahal as some friends had recently taken their family to the Taj Mahal (which their family from NY was thoroughly disappointed by), and then to Kusum Sarovar the following day. They all agreed that Kusum Sarovar was by far much more beautiful! Andzrej and Waldemar were quite impressed with the palace and couldn't stop talking about it.

The following day we drove to Jaipur, and visited the City Palace and the Amber fort and the jewelrey market over the next few days. Both of them loved riding the elephant up to the Amber Fort.

On our fifth day together we flew to Goa. Rafael and I had booked an "Eco Hut" in a jungle just off of Palolem beach in Southern Goa. It was the first time for them to see such a tropical place, and our house was in the middle of a lush jungle with bathrooms that were open so that you could see palm trees while you took care of your business!









One day we visited a spice plantation in Goa. The place is a huge plantation, but they do tours on a small portion of the property. It is a huge tourist attraction with hundreds of people there, but the tours are small, with only 7 or 8 people. Our tour guide was surprised that Rafael and I not only knew all of her questions (What are the three most expensive spices in the world?....1. Saffron, 2. Vanilla, 3. Cardamon) but that we also knew the names of all of the spices in Hindi (thanks to my cooking/shopping for 8 years or so in India). She kept asking us if we had been to the spice plantation before. Rafael tried his hand at climbing a betal nut tree after watching one of the workers shoot up it...but he wasn't able to really get more than 3 feet off the ground! We also visited an old Portugese home, and were led around by the occupant (because the regular tour guide hadn't arrived yet!) It was really amazing to see the grand house and all of it's fine antiques and old photos.

We had a plan to continue to Hampi to visit the ruins of the Vijay Nagar Empire, but Andzrej and Waldemar were enjoying themselves so much on the beach that we just decided to stay in Goa for the remainder of their trip.

We flew to Delhi a day before their departure for last minute shopping! All in all they had a very good experience and were very happy with us for taking them around!

The End of Niyam Seva

Spending the month in a small village, practically alone, for an entire month makes you notice things that perhaps you would let pass by otherwise.

First of all, the crew of "regulars" who would attend the Kunja banga kirtan in the early hours of the morning. Those old ladies seemed like they are just sweet old grannies...but man...watch out if someone sat in their "place" before they got there. I watched those sweet old ladies turn into barking dogs...I guess if you don't have anything materially to be attached to, you get possessive about other stupid things.

During the kirtan, as the time got closer to Mangal arati at 4 a.m. (the first worship ceremony in the temple) the crowd got thicker and thicker. The first time I ever went for Kunja banga kirtan 3 years or so ago, I didn't realize that when the song "Radhe Govinda" started that everyone would quite suddenly and madly stand and rush to the front of the altar. I got caught underneath hundreds of pushing grannies...and had a really hard time "breaking surface" to stand up. After having my head pushed by tons of hands to encourage me to take my head off my neck so that the people behind me could see better (because at 5'4" I am like a giant compared to Bengali grandmas), I decided that I would not stand it the main crowd with those pushy ladies. To tell you the truth I think that crowd in front of Radha Gopinatha was rougher than the crowd at a Henry Rollins concert I went to while in college.

There was one granny whom I became a fan of while attending the Kunja Banga kirtan....she was a million years old, bent at almost a 90 degree angle, with huge plastic glasses that kept slipping to the end of her nose, a big bag, and a 2 inch wide/8 inch long stick (to make her look menacing?!). She would come in late practically every day and wade her way to the front of the crowd. Everyone let her through because she was so old and bent over. Then she would fish out a brown "pleather" wallet from her big bag and extract a rupee coin to place in the deities donation box. Then she would take out a marigold flower and tear it into three pieces and offer it to Radha, Gopinatha, and Ananga Manjari on the altar. I mean this lady was so poor. She probably spends most of her day begging on the streets in Radha Kunda...but every day she came and gave a rupee to Radha Gopinatha. It was actually incredibly sweet.

Also during the kirtan I had the opportunity to see Pran Krishna Babaji every morning. He is an old renunciate, who is very advanced spiritually. I met him many years ago while on a visit to Radha Kunda with Indradyumna Swami and a very small group of devotees. Every night he sings (and plays his trademark gong) in front of Ragunatha das Goswami's samadhi (which is the tomb of one of the famous Six Goswamis of Vrindavan). I am not sure how much of the night he plays there, but he finishes at 3 a.m. and then goes to his room. He cleans his room, sweeps the hall, brushes his teeth and then goes to take bath in Radha Kunda (and I tell you it's cold at 3:30 a.m.!). He returns to his room, dresses, attends Mangal Arati at the temple, and then goes to the Radha Vinode temple where he personally offers the morning worship to Radha Vinode. He has a group of local brijbasi boys who love him very much and get up early just to see him first thing in the morning at 4 a.m. He is such an advanced devotee that he inspires one in their devotion just by seeing him. Every day I would see him, and offer prostrated obeisance to him, but I didn't think he noticed. Then one day I went out to the market and he told one brijbasi boy "she comes for Kunja Banga kirtan evey day!"

Every Dwadasi (12th day after the full or new moon) which comes twice a month babajis, or men in the renounced order of life, beg for uncooked grains. They usually will go into a family compound while playing kartals (hand cymbals) and singing the Hare Krishna maha mantra: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare. Someone from the house will then place some uncooked rice, pulse, vegetables and fruits into the renunciate's bag. It's also customary to give a little change to them if you have it. I have to admidt....this is my absolute FAVORITE thing about staying in Radha Kund. I love it when those saintly men come to beg (without really asking for anything....they just sing and are satisfied with whatever you give). My very last day in Radha Kund, was the best. First of all, Bhakti Charan babaji, who regularly comes for donations on this day sent some rice and vegetables that he had offered to his deities for me to break my month long fast with. My friend Madhava lives with Bhakti Charan babaji, and he brought the rice for me. I thought that this was a very sweet gesture that Baba remembered me!

I gave everyone that came (6 or 7 people) rice, vegetables, fruits and 10 rupees each (which is only 25 cents...but I can assure you NO ONE gives that much....so it's considered a pretty good donation.) One of the grandpas patted me on my head and caressed my cheek and wished on me "Radharani Kripa" (that Radharani would give her mercy to me). The last baba to come, who is a quite young devotee from Adwaita Parivar (who sings every morning while going around Radha Kund in a very operatic manner) expressed his distress that I was leaving and going back to Vrindaban. (It's really good that I can speak some Bengali....not much but enough to have some nice exchanges with people) This young babaji said to me "You are like my Mother! I am sad to see you go!"

And upon reflection....I was also sad to go.

Niyam Seva in Radha Kund

Every year during the lunar month called "Kartik" I go to stay in the Village of Radha Kund where my Gurudev lives. This is a special month of the year, because the results of any religious activities that you perform during this month are magnified 1,000 times. If you perform those religious activities in Braja Dham, or the place where Radha and Krishna lived and performed their pastimes, then the results are magnified 10,000 times!

Of course for those people who are focused on trying to obtain direct service to the divine couple, Radha and Krishna, we are not actually interested in "benefits" of such religious activities. We simply want to please Radha and Krishna.

My Guru puts a particular stress on performing what is known as "Niyam Seva". This means that during the month of Kartik (actually for traditional Gaudiya Vaisnavas this starts the Ekadasi before Kartik and runs until the last Ekadasi of Kartik month...so It's technically a few days different....) that one takes particular vows and follows them for a whole month. It means that one should follow a schedule, and do exactly the same thing every day.

The holiest place for a Gaudiya Vaisnava is Braj Mandala, where Krishna used to live. Out of the 12 forests/Vanas of Braj, Vrindaban is considered to be the best. Out of the area of Vrindaban, Govardhan is considered to be the best. And in the are of Govardhan, Radha Kund is considered to be the best. Therefore Radha Kund is the topmost sacred place for all of the Gaudiya Vaisnavas, and that is where my Guru says we should perform Niyam Seva.

I don't take so many particularly heavy vows...my main vow is to increase my chanting. During Kartik I chant a minimum of 1 lakh names (100,000 names or 64 rounds). I also attend Kunja Banga Kirtan (which is only sung during the month of Kartik). That is a collection of songs about what Radha and Krishna are doing in the kunj prior to Mangal arati. It is about how everyone is trying to wake them up, offer arati and then send them back to their separate homes before anyone in their families notice that they are gone. This actually starts around 2:55 a.m., so it's a bit of an austerity to take that as a vow to go ever morning no matter what! I also eat only once a day (after sunset) and eat no grains during that moth. Hmmm....what else? Well I don't wear any shoes for that month, bathe once a day in Radha Kund (the small holy lake that the village is named after) and I attend several lectures a day. Basically that's it...I mean my schedule is pretty full from 2:30 a.m. until about 8 p.m., but I have to admit that I did have "feeding chipmunks with roasted peanuts" scheduled in there as well!

I had the great fortune of being able to stay a house that belongs to some friends of mine, Ananda Hari and his wife Braja Kishori, who live in America. They purchased a small house, not far from the Kund (the small lake) about a year ago with the plan to eventually move there permanently (hopefully sooner than later!). It's a small house with a nice small garden with the Samadhi of Srila Narahari Sarkar Thakur in it. It has the wonderful advantage of being very close to the Kund, but at the same time very quiet.

After returning home after Kunja Banga Kirtan (around 4:30 a.m.), I would basically spend the entire day alone in the house/garden (with the exception of going out to buy flowers/vegetables in the market during the morning) until around 4 p.m.. I tried to spend as much time as possible as to make an intense focus on my spiritual practice during this month, so I was also doing some extra internal meditation as well. In the evening I would attend the lecture and speak briefly with a friend or two afterwards (but briefly as I had to go home and cook dinner...remember I wouldn't eat my only meal until approximately 7:30 p.m. each day.) The first week and a half I was there my husband was in China. Then he joined me there for almost 2 weeks, and then returned to china for another 2 weeks. It was a very solitary month for me without much contact or conversation with people (other than myself!).

There are a few things that I really liked about this month, but I think I will write a separate entry about them.

Sandipani Muni School

The Sandipani Muni School in Vrindavan is a project of Food for Life. This is basically a school for poor children in Vrindavan who otherwise wouldn't have a chance to go to school and receive any education. The school provides school uniforms, meals, books as well as the education. They also have a preschool/kindergarten for the younger siblings of the school children. In India, often times very young children are responsible for their much younger siblings while the parents go out to do some work. In order to send the children to school, there must be some way for the younger kids to be cared for, so the School also takes care of them. All of the children are sponsored to go to the school. It costs only $100 a year to sponsor a child to attend the school.

While in America I was checking out the blog of the school's founder Rupa Raghunatha das, a devotee from Italy who has been in charge of the Food for Life foundation in Vrindaban for many years. In his blog Rupa posts some appeals for donations for specific people that the school's funds can't cover. At that time I read a small entry about a 17 year old girl who wanted to go to the local college in Vrindavan but couldn't afford it. The amazing thing about this girl is that her parents actually WANTED her to go to school also. This is quite unusual in the village. Normally the parents want to marry off their daughters as young as they can to get them "out of their hair"....so they won't have to pay for their maintenance any more. I also believe that they younger the girls are...they cheaper the dowry is. At any point...here was a girl who wanted to go to college, and had the support of her family. Rupa estimated that for 3 years of college, including uniforms and books it would cost aproximately $400 (TOTAL!) I mentioned this to my mom and she immediately offered to sponsor half of the girl's school. When I wrote to Rupa to tell hiim about it he was quite happy as someone else from England had offered to also sponsor half of the cost.

When my mother sent the funds to me for the girl's school, she also sent some additional money which sponsored another 2 girls to go to highschool locally. So one morning I made an appointment to go to the school to meet Rupa and drop off the donation. I arrived at the gradeschool around 8:15 am to find all of the kids involved in singing and dancing to Kirtan (singing of God's names). The kids from both schools (gradeschool/ preschool-middleschool) were there singing and dancing happily. I watched from the side for only a few minutes because the kids immediately grabbed my hands and dragged me over to dance with them. It was quite funny...I was going around in a circle with little girls...with two tiny girls standing like Radha and Krishna in the center. The singing and dancing continued for over a half an hour. As soon as it stopped I had had a little boy (who didn't even come up to my knees) begging me with his arms upraised to pick him up. I put him on my hip, had another kid holding my hand and made my way over to speak to Rupa. We walked over to the other school with the preschoolers and he proceeded to show me around the preschool.

The kids there are really young and really tiny. They come from total slums. Most of them live in shacks made out of some sticks with a plastic tarp for a roof. Rupa said that most of them come with some skin diseases because of their dirty living conditions, so first thing every day the tiny kids get bathed with soap and dried and powdered. Rupa said that after a week of being bathed with soap most of their skin problems disappear. In the morning all of the small children get milk with vitamins and some cookies to eat. After that they play, and then at noon they get a nutritious lunch. Then they have a nap and at 2 pm their older siblings pick them up to go home.

When Rupa and I were sitting amongst the children they were quite enthusiastic to sit on our laps. One small girl, Radhika, whom Rupa said is never without a smile, kept giving me kisses!

Later I got a chance to meet the girl whom my mother sponsored to go to college. What a lovely girl!

All in all it was a fantastic day!

www.fflvrindavan.org
http://fflv.blogspot.com

Return home to Vrindaban!

I know that I haven't posted anything in quite a long time, so I will back date a few entries so that we will be up to date!

I suppose that returning to monsoon season in India was not the best timing. When you are experiencing 90 degree weather at 88% humidity (or higher) it's to say the least not the most pleasant experience from a purely physical point of view.

I spent 6 weeks visiting my family, and it was very nice. I had not seen my parents and maternal grandmother (my only surviving grandparent) for over 2 years. Although my family really loves my husband, my mother was quite happy to get me "all to herself"! She and I also took a trip to Arizona for one week so that I could see their "winter" home that they built around 2 years ago in Anthem, just outside of Phoenix. It was a great opportunity to meet some of their new friends, and visit Sedona as well as the Grand Canyon with my brother Ryan.

The last time I was home, over 2 years ago, Rafael and I arrived to home to find out that my mother's cancer had returned, and that she was bald from chemo. I was trying to stress to them that it was a bit unfair on their part to not let us know ahead of time. They think that they are saving me stress by not letting me worry, but I think it is a bit silly to not let the people closest to you pray for you. This time I returned to find out that she had recently had radiation therapy on a part of her neck where the cancer "popped through" to her skin. Although I have been studying eastern philosophy for over 15 years now, and understand the difference between the soul and the body, having your mother explain to you what she wants her funeral to be like is a bit sobering to say the least.

I finished the trip by having a dinner party with my parent's friends at their place in Toledo Ohio. I cooked up a big Indian feast and everyone really enjoyed the prasad.

All in all it was a beautiful visit, but of course I was really happy to return to Vrindaban....and my husband. While I was in Toledo, Radhacharan went to Poland to visit his family for one month, and then spent 2 weeks in China and Bangkok....so it had been 6 weeks since we met. He flew in to Delhi about 1 1/2 hour prior to me and met me at the baggage claim.

We haven't even been going out much here lately because the weather is so intense right now...but we are both happy to be back. Yes, of course we are still visiting the cows in the evening!

I want to write about my visit to the Sandipani Muni school (Food for Life) to give a donation from my parents...but I think that deserves another entry all together.

It's a bit warm here....

It's hot. Really hot. HOT!!!! Not much to do when it's over 120° F/50° C. All you can do is stay inside. You either go out (to shop or visit temples/friends) in the morning or the evening. From 11am-5pm it's near suicide to be outside.

Just outside the windows of our apartment is a garden in the neighbor's yard. We have a great view of a big mango tree there. I will be going to Ohio in 4 days to visit my family, and I am already missing those little details about Vrindaban that make it a fantastic place to live. For example, watching young monkeys play in the garden early morning (before it gets hot around 6 am), or checking out the Male peacock who also comes almost every day to strut around and show off his beautiful feathers just incase any peahens are looking. I also love seeing the faces of the different saintly Vaisnavas as they perform parikrama (circulatory walk around the city of Vrindaban bare foot...it takes around 2 hours at a leisurely pace).

The traditional Indian calendar is based on the moon cycles, so there is a lot of variation of dates of Holidays as opposed to a sun based calendar. Every three years there is an extra month called Purusottama month. This month is an especially great time for performing religious vows and austerities. Everyday there are thousands of people performing the circumabmulation of Vrindaban. Whole families do this, and many of them come from great distances to do Dandavat parikrama (circumambulating by performing a series of full-body prostrations one after another in a line). The town is full of the hustle and bustle of pilgrims and saints performing their extra religious vows ever day of this month. It's a kind of devout hustle however, and I find it quite inspiring to see so many people drawn to Vrindaban, the place of Yugal Kishor (Radha and Krishna). Actually during the different lunar months of the year, different incarnations of the Lord are meant to be worshiped. The presiding deity of the Purusottama month is Radha Krishna. That is why Vrindaban is so popular during this month, because it is the place of Radha and Krishna!

Today I rode my bike up near the ISKCON temple to pick some fresh curry leaves to make some of my famous sweet and spicy eggplant pickle for Radhacharan to take with him to Poland (he's going to visit his family while I am in the States). In the alley near MVT, I met a little abandoned calf with a small wound on her right front knee. After some difficulty in getting anyone to help me, Radhacharan came up on his bike to assist me in getting that calf onto a riksaw with me. I got a lot of funny looks from people, riding with a cow on my lap, but what the heck! We took her to the Care for Cows Gosalla and named her Priti (which means love in Sanskrit).

Radha Ramana's Appearance Day

May 2nd, Today was the appearance day of the Deity of Radha Ramana. Aproximately 500 years ago Srila Gopal Bhatta Goswami, a close associate of Lord Caitanya and one of the famous Six Goswamis of Vrindavan, travelled to the Kali Gandaki River. In those days, making a religious pilgrimage was a trying experience as all travel was done by foot. A poor pilgrim (or a religious renunciate) often travelled with very few (or no) supplies, begging or receiving charity from the villages he passed through on the way. To travel from Vrindavan to Kali Gandaki River these days is still a long trip. From Delhi you can catch a 15 hour train to Gorakhpur in Northern India. From Gorakhpur you take a 3 hour bus ride to the Nepali border. From there it's a 10-14 hour bus ride to Katmandu. From Katmandu you take another 8 hour bus ride to the town of Pokhara, which is located at the foot (or is it feet?) of the Anapurna mountain range of the Himalayas. From Pokhara you have to arrange a "trecking permit" these days, and then you have two main options of how you can proceed: you can start walking; or you can take a 1/2 hour harrowing flight up the mountains to reach the high village of Jomsom. When we went, around 8 years ago, we only had enough money to fly one way...so we flew up, walked up to the famous pilgrimage place of Muktinatha (one day walk), and then turned around and walked almost all the way back down, which took us around 6 days. The Kali Gandaki River is a very famous pilgrimage place. The main reason is that in the River there are very special stones, known as Salagram Silas. A Salagram Sila is a black stone that, according to the religious texts of India, is considered non-different that Lord Vishnu. There is a story how Lord Vishnu was cursed once to take the form of these stones in the Gandaki River. The stones are all kinds of different shapes and sizes and they have natural markings, which indicate which incarnation of Vishnu this stone is. When a deity is carved, there must be a special "Pran Pratista", or installation ceremony that invites the Lord to come and reside within the deity. Salagram Silas however need no special ceremonies. The Lord is already present there, and can be immediately worshiped.

So, back to the story.... Gopal Bhatta Goswami walked to the Kali Gandaki River from Vrindavan. It must have taken him months and months to get there. On top of that he visited a place called Damodara Kunda (a small lake), which is a few days hike beyond that of the Muktinatha temple where we visited. When Gopal Bhatta wanted to perform his afternoon prayers he dipped his water pot into the River to retrieve some water for his ablutions 12 of these sacred Salagram Silas jumped into his pot. Gopal Bhatta, in a fit of extreme humility, returned the Silas to the water (thinking himself unfit to worship them), and made a second attempt to retrieve water. Much to his surprise, the same 12 Silas jumped into his pot again. Figuring this as the divine will of the Lord he accepted these 12 Silas and eventually returned to Vrindavan. Every day he would worship his Silas according to the rules and regulations laid down by the scriptures, and he was quite happy to do so. One day a wealthy merchant donated some clothing and ornaments to each of the Six Goswamis to be used in worshiping their deities of Radha Krishna. Gopal Bhatta Goswami accepted the charity and then was lamenting that he would be unable to utilize it in the service of his Salagram Silas. He then began to cry that although Vishnu had appeared to him in the form of the Salagram Silas, He did not appear to Gopal Bhatta in his most personal form of Krishna. Gopal Bhatta longed to worship the form of Lord Krishna and lamented all night long. The next morning when he went to perform the worship of his Salagram Silas he discovered that his Damodar Sila (Damodar is a name of Krishna) had turned into a full form of Krishna. This is the deity of Radharamana.Once Padmanabh Goswami the head priest of the Radha Ramana temple told me that Radha Ramana just popped like a piece of popcorn. He also mentioned that there are chakras, or natural markings, to prove that he was once a Salagram Sila on Radha Ramana's back.

Every day on the anniversary of this day, the deity is bathed in full view of the public with many auspicious substances. Water from the Yamuna River, milk, yogurt, ghee, honey, and green coconut water are just a few of the substances. It was incredibly crowded in the temple, but I managed to squeeze in the front for a pretty good view. After the Abhiseka, or bathing ceremony, was complete, they began to pass out cups of the sweet milky drink, known as caranamrta...literally means "Nectar from the Lotus feet", to all of the devotees who were watching. It was like nectar! We filled a liter bottle and took it back to our friend Nanda, who is house ridden due to advanced stages of MS. She was elated at the surprise treat! All glories to Sri Radha Ramana!

P.S. For an amazing panoramic photo of the Muktinatha area check out: http://www.pbase.com/svami/image/59318797/original

Chandan Yatra

April 21st was the first day of Chandan Yatra here in Vrindaban. This is a festival when the deities in all the temples are adorned with Chandan, or sandalwood paste. The reason for this festival is that this paste, when applied to the forehead or body, is very cooling (Did I mention that it's around 115º F here?) The temples decorate the deities of the temple with Chandan for 21 days.

The first night of the festival is always the best as the major temples in town cover their deities entirely with sandalwood paste. Radhacharan and I decided to go into town in the evening to visit some of the temples.

Our first stop was Radha Ramana temple. First of all, I think that I should mention that we rode our bikes on the Parikrama path instead of down the main road through town. This is a small road that goes around the entire town of Vrindaban, and is near the Yamuna river. It generally is much less crowded of a road to travel on during busy festival days, and the air is usually fresh, with a gentle breeze from the river. The road into town is generally too small in the city for two cars to pass, so it causes major traffic, congestion and pollution. Even on a bicycle I have been caught for 20 minutes trying to make my way through a massive and messy block of cars, camels, riksaws, motorbikes and cows. Yesterday, however, even the Parikrama road was busy (so I can't imagine how insane the traffic must have been on the main roads through town!!) As we cut into the town from a small alley that would lead us to the Radha Raman temple we saw hoards of people running/riding riksawa, sitting in cars etc. going from one temple to the next to see Krishna decked out in sandalwood paste on this special day.

When we finally made it to Radha Ramana's temple we were directed to enter from the back entrance by some security staff (hired for this special day only). When we entered the temple we were surprised to see a sprinkler suspended from the ceiling spraying the people in the middle of the temple room. I was of course totally paranoid that Radhacharan might fall, as there were several inches of water on the marble floor...but he made it up and down the steps without a hitch. Radha Ramana was wearing an outfit made entirely out of sandalwood paste. He was also out in front, much closer than usual, and it made for an intimate viewing experience.

After enjoying the cool water being sprayed, we and decided to continue on to the Radha Gokulananda temple, which is just down the road. Gokulananda, Radha Vinode, Radha Vijay Govinda, and the Govardhana Sila which Lord Caitanya personally gave to Raghunatha das Goswami over 500 years ago were adorned with Chandan there. The deity of Mahaprabhu, worshiped by Srila Narottam das Thakur stands to the left side.

After this we continued to the Radha Gopinatha temple, and then on to the Radha Syamasundara temple, the temple of Srila Syamananda pandit. They are usually the most beautiful in the the whole city on this day, but unfortunately they don't allow photos to be taken.

Radhacharan was a little overwhelmed physically by dealing with the massive pushing crowds (many many people come from out of town for this event, and most people who live in town are also out at this same time). He started to look a little shaky, so we decided to return home (on the parikrama road of course). We had a pleasant, quiet ride home, and then came back and drank lassis, a cooling yogurt smoothie.

There is always something interesting going on here!

A Visit to Belvan

Some old friends from Poland, Rasikendra and his wife Padma, are visiting here in Vrindavana, and last night we decided to go to Belvan this morning. This village on the other side of the Yamuna River, is the place where Lakshmi (the wife of Vishnu) came to perform austerities so that she could take part in the Rasa Lila dance with Lord Krishna. Unfortunately for her, because she was too attached to her position (of being the Goddess of Fortune, and the high rank of being the wife of Vishnu) she was never actually allowed entry into this confidential pastime of Krishna...the Rasa Dance.

Our reason for going there is that next door to the Lakshmi temple is a Gosalla that some of our cows from "Care for Cows" have been shifted to (do to a lack of space at our other facility.) I called our friend Pawan, who lives at that gosalla and manages it, to arrange a bullock cart to meet us on the other side of the Yamuna. It's a long walk to get to the Village, and with Radhacharan (Rafael) on crutches, it would impossible for him to join us, so Pawan arranged everything for Radhacharan's sake.

After crossing the Yamuna by boat, we boarded the bullock cart, pulled by Tilak, one of our young bulls from Care for Cows. I had previously been on a cart pulled by Tilak, and I tried to explain to my husband and our friends that Tilak is actually still being trained...so sometimes he doesn't do things exactly right. For example, if he is passing by the house of the driver, Omi, he will try to go there (because that's where he gets to eat nice fresh grass) and will pull the cart off the road, much against the driver's desire. Within the first five minutes of the ride, Tilak had to pull the cart up a small incline. In protest Tilak sat down, much to the embarrassment of the driver, and to our great amusement.

When we arrived at the Belvan Gosalla we called over Prem Sagar, who is a famous bull from Care for Cows. Prem is famous for his unbridled affection for humans. He is a quite large bull, but if you approach him he will immediately start to lick your face, without fail. It's quite amusing for the villgers, because they never saw such an affectionate and unaggressive bull before. Because Prem grew up around very affectionate humans who constantly brushed and petted him, Prem is just a big old softee. Our friends were quite amused by him.

After meeting the cows, and feeding them some spinach that I brought for them, we took a short walk to sit under some big trees at the back of the Laksmi temple. It was so hot out, but underneath those trees it was so pleasant and cool. Pawan calls this his "A.C. room". Then we continued on to the Yamuna river (which is another part of it, higher up and very clean...before the sewage of Vrindavan is "deposited" in it). Radhacharan decided that he wanted to take a swim in the river, so he removed his pneumatic boot/cast and went inside. I have to admidt, it was the happiest that I have seen him since the accident. Although he goes out daily to Care for Cows, and sometimes into to town on his bicycle...this was the first serious outing he had been on, and he felt very free in the water.

Afterwards we returned to the Gosalla, and sat in Pawan's sparse little room and ate some grapes and apples together that I brought. A little girl from the village, Puja , came into Pawan's room. Often the village kids come to visit him because he sometimes gives them candies or cookies. This is something that is totally unavailable there...so they have developed a real affection for him! We gave her some grapes to eat, and she was very shy in front of us. First of all, I am 100% sure that it was the first time she ever saw white people up close in her life, and secondly another 100% that it was her first time ever eating grapes.

On the way over to Belvan, Radhacharan had gotten into his head that he would like to eat Brijbasi Rotis. Brijbasis are the village people who were born in the area of Braj Mandal, or the Place where Krishna used to live. Rotis, or Chapatis, are a flat bread cooked on a griddle, and then placed in a fire to puff up. Pawan at this time asked this little girl (in the yellow dress) if she would make us some rotis, and she agreed and took us to her house.

Because it is harvest time for Wheat and Barley, all the men in the village were out in the fields, and only women and children were around. When we arrived at Puja's house, flanked by all the children in the entire neighborhood, the ladies at the house were quite surprised to see 4 white people visiting. They asked if we would like some water (which is a polite thing to ask guests in India...even if a person is poor, they can at offer water to a guest), but Pawan said to the ladies that his friends would like to eat some rotis. (I must add here, that in the village, this is not really rude. In older days of India...which still holds true in the village to this day, it is considered that the arrival of an unexpected guest is like Vishnu himself has come. Therefore it is with great happiness that a household serves a guest, and actually desires to feed them and take care of their needs.) The ladies of the house were so surprised and flustered at the arrival of their "foreigner" guests however that they just kept looking at us, and trying to decide which of the two of us ladies was married to which man, and none of them made a move to the kitchen. After watching the local kids showing off for us for quite some time, we decided to go next door to Omi, the driver's house. When we went there, Omi was quite proud to have us as guests, and started to make some lassi, which is a cooling drink made with yogurt and sugar. After a few minutes Puja came over and said that our rotis were ready, so we returned to her house, with Omi and the pitcher of lassi he made for us.

We were fed some puris (fried breads), potato stuffed puris, and a spicy dhal (bean soup) with potatoes. While we started on this (which was previously cooked) the ladies made fresh hot rotis for us. A brijbasi roti is totally different from the type of roti that is served in restaurants and houses all over India. It is much thicker, and more substantial. I have eaten tons of rotis before, and I have to say without a doubt these were the best I have ever had in my life. There is something quite different in taste and texture of a roti cooked in a regular kitchen on a gas stove, then to a village roti cooked over an open fire (fueled by wood or gobar patty). The natural fuel adds immensely to the taste of the food.

After eating (and drinking the lassi provided by the very pleased Omi), I took some pictures of the children, and the woman making the rotis. Then we left with Pawan and returned home by bullock cart.

All in all it was a really wonderful day. The hospitality of these "poor" villagers is much more cultured and kind then from the richest of city people. In cities, everyone wants something from you. Even here in Vrindavana it's a little crazy how people treat us (white people) as if we are walking wallets. Once I went to a little shop to buy some sugar and the owner of the shop (whom I had never met before) asked me to bring him a wrist watch then next time I went to "my country". I told him to get lost. But in the village, those people didn't want anything from us, they were really happy to serve us. It was without motivation. The next day, Pawan told us that all of the ladies in the village separately approached him and asked that he bring his "friends" to THEIR house next time!

All glories to Village culture!

So, please excuse my super belated entry!

On Feb 11th, while in Shanghai China, Rafael was hit by a car and had his ankle severely broken. He was due to fly to Bangkok the next day and stay for 8 days. The hospital in Shanghai wanted to perform immediate emergency surgery, but as the cost was estimated at $10,000 USD he decided to return to India for the operation. The doctor in Shanghai put a temporary cast on him and he returned to his Hotel around 11pm.

He somehow made it to the airport early the next morning and Thai airways immediately rescheduled his second leg of the flight so that he would fly from Bangkok to Delhi the same day. He arrived in Delhi on the 12th night, and on the 13th we checked into a very good hospital, Max Hospital in Noida, a suburb of Delhi. Actually the Indian Surgeon, Dr. Sanjay Sarup, said that the cast put on by the Chinese doctor was done so poorly that it made Rafael's foot swell up like a blown up rubber glove! It was at this point that we realized that it was a damn good thing that he didn't have the surgery done there! As the foot was too swollen at that point for surgery, we returned to Vrindavan on the 15th to wait for the swelling to go down. We returned on the 19th evening, and on the 20th morning his surgery was performed. The procedure took around 3 hours, and in order to "piece" his ankle back together the surgeon placed 8 screws, a metal plate, and a piece of bone from his hip into the ankle fractures.

When I was called into see him in the recovery room, even though he was totally out of it he showed his true form. He opened his eyes and looked at me and said "Excuse me Ma'am do I know you?" and then he proceeded to tell me that he was hungry and was lamenting that they wanted to keep him on a liquid diet for the rest of the day. When the anesthesia wore off, he was in serious pain even though he had a painkiller drip administered. He told me later that it was the worst day of his life. The day after the surgery the pain was greatly reduced, and I began to see the effects of the semi-narcotic painkiller manifesting in amusing anecdotes. Because the hospital allows an "attendant" (family member) to stay with the patient in the room I was with him the entire time and would sleep on the provided couch at night. After 4 days we returned home to Vrindaban.

The Hospital was very small and modern. We were very pleased with the facilities and service there...and of course the price. There were only 6 rooms on his floor, and three nurses on shift. We took a double room to cut down on costs (the surgery is charged on a sliding scale according to the type of room you get...so to stay in a single room would've made the surgery much more expensive) but the other bed was empty 3 out of the four days we were there!

Now Rafael is doing quite well...his spirits are always up, and he is recovering nicely. He will have the staples from the surgery removed this upcoming week, and then we will get a report from the Doctor on how he is progressing. He is getting quite sick of laying in his bed however, and makes a daily journey to the Gosalla that we do service at "care for cows" which is five minutes down the street from our place. The workers bring him there and back on a flat bed riksaw, and he really looks forward to his time outside everyday, and the chance to be licked by small calves!

Actually this gosalla takes care of injured and abandoned street cows from Vrindavan, so there are many cow patients who are in a similar situation as Rafael, so he feels right at home. We have several cows who have also been hit by cars and sustained broken bones. Our Vetrinarian for the cows also had a look at Rafael when he arrived with the cast!

People ask me all the time...what in the world do you do there?! To be quite honest, sometimes I don't have enough time in the day to do what I want! Radha Charan and I get up around 4:30-5:00 am to chant Japa, which is chanting a mantra that consists of names of God on beads. We do this for aproximately for one hour, and then we get ready to go to the Gosalla (cow shelter) which is a 2 minute bicycle ride down the street. At the Gosalla we feed the two baby deer, Radhika and Janardan, milk by bottle. After this we continue to chant, but with some interruptions from different four legged friends who want to be petted, brushed, fed etc. I return home around 7:30 am, while Radha Charan makes some deliveries (by bicycle) of milk to some of the Gosalla donors who live in the neighborhood. After this I clean the house, and then do puja (worship) of our deities at home. This takes around an hour. Part of the morning worship is making a food offering, so including cooking, this can take up to 2 hours (depending on what I cook of course!) After this we do "mantra smaranam", which consists of silently chanting some mantras given by the Guru at the time of initiation. This takes approximately 40 minutes. On average we manage to eat our breakfast between 10-11am, and finish (after some talking) around noon. After this, Radha Charan works on the computer for a few hours. I clean up after breakfast and puja, read, chant, or do whatever else I need to (other fine wifely chores like laundry etc!) around 4 pm twice a week I have a bengali lady who comes to give me a massage. It is very helpful for my cervical spondylosis that causes pain in my neck. She's such a super skinny lady who is so damn strong it's amazing...and a bit of a nut too. She charges 50 rupees ($1.25) for an hour and a half massage...so I can somehow afford to get twice a week! At 5 pm we return to the Gosalla to feed the deer their evening milk, and sit for more chanting. We leave approximately around 6-6:30, make evening milk deliveries, and eat dinner. On some evenings we go into town to visit some of the old temples. If we have some friends visiting, we will go earlier into town to show them around, and then eat later after we return. Our evening worship of our deities is done between 9-10pm, and then we "put them to rest" for the evening. We manage ourselves to go to sleep around 10:30 pm.... That's our average day.

I suppose for some it's not so terribly exciting, but the majority of our activities are based more on internal meditation...rather than external activity...so I suppose you can't really understand the full intensity of our day without understanding the mental focus that we strive for each moment.

Radha Charan is going to China tomorrow morning, and I will be making a trip to the Nepal border...to get stamped out of India (I will spend the night in Nepal, and then return the next day), so I won't write for a week or so. Wish me luck!

Nityananda-trayodasi

Today is the Birthday of Nityananda Prabhu. Five hundred years ago, Caitanya Mahaprahu, a direct incarnation of Krishna was born in West Bengal. His brother Nityananda (literally means "eternal bliss"), is an incarnation of Krishna's brother Balaram....and today is his birthday. What? God has a brother? Actually Nityananda, or Balaram is an expansion of the Lord (which means that he is also God.) There is much philosophical reasoning as to why the Lord would expand himself into two...but to make it easy I will just say that he does it for fun.

How fun is it to create a really groovy looking place, with all kinds of creatures and interesting places, and have to enjoy it alone? Lord Caitanya had many normal "human" associates, but none understood him in the same way that Nityananda did.

To celebrate Nityananda's birthday today I cooked a big feast for him. Here is a picture of our altar with the feast being offered. I am only sorry that Radha Charan cut off some of the preparations on the photo so you can't see them all!

I made 9 subjis (vegetable preperations): peas,eggplant, milk curd in tomato sauce; Dudh lau (Indian squash cooked in milk); aloo postho (potatoes with a white poppy seed sauce); Palak paneer (spinach with milk curd); Cauliflower, potato, pumpkin, tomatoes and milk curd; barbari postho (beans in white poppy seed sauce); palak bora (spinach with fried mung bean fritters); chana tamatar (chickpea and tomatoes with ginger); methi aloo (fenugreek leaves with potato)
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pea kachoris (indian savory pastry) and dhaniya (fresh coriander) chutney
Rice
Buckwheat
Kheer (sweet rice pudding)
Gur Sandesh (a sweet made from milk curds and date sugar)
Chocolate cake (what's a birthday party without a cake?)

Today we fasted until noon (which wasn't a problem for me since I was busy in the kitchen untill 1pm!). Today we will not eat any grains (in honor of the holiday), and will consume the feast tomorrow.

It took five hours of cooking to produce this feast...wish you were here to try some of it!

Some old friends from Poland are in town, and in the evening we went together to Nityananda Vat, an old temple near the Yamuna river to have darshan (which literally means to "see with respect") the deities of Gaura Nitai (Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda) there. This is the place where Nityananda sat under a banyan tree when he visited Vrindavan around 500 years ago. There was a group of bengali Vaisnavas singing beautiful bengali songs about Lord Nityananda, and we were invited for a big Harinam (singing party) that will go through the old town of Vrindavan tomorrow, and then return to the temple for a feast. I love those big Harinams with Bengalis...it is always so wonderful to see so many Vaisnavas together who, using singing as their medium, dive so deeply into the worship of God with such love and emotion.

What is Vrindaban?

Vrindaban. This is considered to be one of the holiest places in India. Braj Mandala is the place where Lord Krishna performed his pastimes five thousand years ago. Braj Mandala covers an area of 1453 square miles surrounding Vrindaban and Mathura. The circular shaped area of Braja is made up of twelve vanas or forests, one of which is Vrindaban. Vrindaban is particularly important because it is the place where Krishna enjoyed most of his pastimes. Vrindaban is 80 miles south of Delhi, 30 miles north of Agra, has an approximate population of 70,000 people and over 5,000 temples.

Great saints have described that Vrindaban is a totally spiritual realm which is covered by a thin veneer of the material world. For those that are qualified, or on the highest platform of spiritual realization, the transcendental realm of Vrindaban is revealed to them, and they can directly see and serve Radha and Krishna. For most of us however, we can only perceive the material covering of this most sacred place.

Vrindaban and most of Braj Mandala remained a remote forested area until around 400 years ago when six saints: Rupa Goswami; Sanatana Goswami; Raghunatha Dasa Goswami; Raghunatha Bhatta Goswami; Gopal Bhatta Goswami; and Jiva Goswami, better known as the Choi (six) Goswamis of Vrindaban, rediscovered her lost holy places. Deeply realized, in some cases they had dreams or visions of some of the places where Krishna performed specific pastimes. Other times a small beautiful boy dressed as a young cow herder pointed out different sites, The Goswamis realizing later that that boy was indeed Krishna Himself. They recovered many of the deities of Krishna that were carved and installed by Vrajanabha, Krishna’s own great-grandson almost 4,000 years prior. They themselves lived so austerely that they slept under different trees each night, and some consumed only a small cup of buttermilk daily. Due to their great spiritual realization, many rich and powerful people became their disciples, and the Goswamis engaged them accordingly in building rich opulent temples for Krishna, while they themselves slept outside on the bare ground.

It is only due to the efforts of the Six Goswamis that the glories of Vrindaban are known today. It is considered a major place of pilgrimage for Indians, and there is a constant flux of people coming to see those places of Krishna’s pastimes.

After the time of the Six Goswamis the fame of Vrindaban spread. People, eager to witness those sacred places of Krishna’s pastimes, traveled for months on foot to arrive at this most holy spot. Many moved permanently to Vrindaban, and gradually what was known as the forest of Vrinda all but disappeared as houses and villages sprouted up. Today, Vrindaban is a sprawling city full of homes, shops, and over 5,000 temples. It can be seen that practically every alleyway you look down, and that inside every other doorway is a temple dedicated Radha and Krishna; some simple and unobtrusive, others more ostentatious.

It is said that the residents of Vrindaban, more specifically those that were born in this holy city are not ordinary people. They must have performed intense spiritual practice in previous lives to have been born in Vrindaban. Their devotion to Krishna is so natural and spontaneous. He is the center of their lives since their birth. It is also said that even the animals that are born and live in Vrindaban are no ordinary souls. They too were saints in previous lives.

It is with this knowledge that the people of Vrindaban live alongside a myriad of creatures. Cows, monkeys, pigs, dogs, and birds have adapted themselves to a unique way of city life. Cows, revered for their position as a mother figure in Hinduism, walk freely through the streets. In some places there are feeders and water holes built for them only. Some people as a part of their daily practice donate grains, and grass to feed the “street cows”. Although they are revered, they can also be a constant source of nuisance to many. The vegetable venders here must keep big sticks to scare the cows away from their produce. Although slow in movement, many cows have somehow resorted to becoming thieves, and manage to get away with stealing from these merchants. Another face the cow takes on here is that of a beggar. While some have learned to beg chapattis from street restaurants, others take to knocking directly on the doors houses, or going straight into a family’s courtyard to receive their alms. It certainly is a curious thing for a westerner to see a cow begging door to door.

Welcome to Vrindaban!

I was born and raised in Toledo, Ohio. Just after high school I found myself developing a keen interest in pursuing the religious path of the Gaudiya Vaisnavas (known in the west as "Hare Krishna"). After finishing a bachelor of Fine Arts degree (how are you going to make a living with that?) around 1994, I moved to Columbus, Ohio with the band I sang for at the time, Pretty Mighty Mighty. After 6 months I moved into the all-girls ISKCON temple (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) in Columbus, where I served as Temple Commander, Temple treasurer (not for me!), and Kirtan/Harinam leader (leading singing in the temple and outside). I later was invited to join the traveling festival of Indradyumna Swami on the Baltic sea coast of Poland as a lighting technician, and Theater director. I joined the band on the tour, a very cheesy reggae band called "Village of Peace", as the back-up singer. With several different back-up singing partners (one time a Spanish girl, another time a Scottish lad, and a third one...a cheery and rotund Russian) I enjoyed singing in front of thousands of people every night, as well as in front of 200,000 people several times on the main stage of the annual Polish Woodstock festival. While in the band I met my husband, Radhacharan (Rafael) who was the conga player (isn't that a cliche? Back-up singer marries the Conga player?). We began traveling to India together in 1998, and would stay for 6-7 months each year before we eventually settled in Vrindaban, U.P. around three years back. Two and a half years ago I made a decision to leave ISKCON, due to some personal disagreements with my former teacher, and my husband and I took initiation from a more traditional Gaudiya Vaisnava Guru, Srila Ananta Das Babaji. We do some service daily at the "Care for Cows Gosalla" which is a shelter that takes care of abandoned and injured street cows in Vrindaban. Enough said...welcome to the blog!