Sri Jamuna Devi

Now she is all the way to the steps of Imli Tala, and the Parikrama Marg has vanished.

Prayers of Queen Kunti

Oh Krishna, as the river Ganges forever flows to the sea, let my mind, my being, be constantly drawn to thee. Oh most gentle, oh original personality, master of the senses, seated in the hearts of all that be, existing both within and without, seeing all but seen by none, unto You I offer all my respects. Oh Krishna, oh Soul of the Universe, beyond the range of our perception, covered by the curtain of misconception, we are bewildered by your movements. Though you work you are inactive, though you take birth you are unborn, and though you descend amongst men, sages, animals, and aquatics, you are the transcendent reality. And although you are unknown, above all that be, you reveal yourself to the surrendered souls who worship you in the core of their hearts. Unto you I offer all my respects.

Oh Krishna, Oh eternal master and friend, once when you were a small child your mother Yashoda took a rope to bind you, your perturbed eyes filled with tears, and although Fear personified is afraid of you, at that moment, You were afraid.

How can I understand these things?

Oh my Lord I offer it all to you. Oh Lord whose glance is a cool as a lotus, who protected us from a great fire, from a poisoned cake, from cannibals, from the vicious assembly of the Kurus, from sufferings in exile, from a fierce battle, and from a devastating weapon. You befriended us and stayed with us and guided us, through all tribulations, and I offer myself, and whatever I have, unto You.

My Lord your loving kindness and mercy often come clothed in strange guises; enveloped in a shroud of tribulation. Yet our journey through life is made easy by these hardships You provide. Oh Lord let us not falsely claim that this world is our home. Let us not ever forget that this place is full of danger, but let the calamities come, again and again, that we may remember You, and meet with You, again and again, for by remembering You, we no longer meet with repeated birth and death.

Oh Krishna, those who always hear your glories, who always repeat your glories, who always see You in all things, and who always take pleasure in your pastimes, certainly find shelter at your lotus feet.

My Lord you can be easily approached, but only by those who are exhausted with sensual pleasure, unimpressed with opulence, unimpressed with fame and wealth, with prestigious birth, with scholarship; only by those who are finished with idle talk, finished with mundane beauty, finished with all forms of religiosity.

My Lord I am not afraid to be abandoned, by luck, and good fortune, by friends or relatives, I am not afraid to be handled roughly. I am not afraid to wander the streets homeless like a beggar, I am not afraid to be cast away, condemned, quarantined or exiled.

Oh most gentle, most holy, most merciful master, help me, prepare me, do whatever is necessary to render fit, this unworthy soul, for entrance into your eternal abode.

Cows, Festivals, and Electricians

So it's been raining a lot, whole days at a time. Jamuna devi is the highest she has been for many many years, parts of Delhi are flooded, and the government is delighted it can blame the country's unpreparedness for the Commonwealth Games due to start next month on the rains. And with the dampness as the season changes from the heat of the summer and monsoon to the pleasant coolness of autumn come coughs, colds and fevers. Everyone is sniffling or coughing, and of course I joined in the fun and have been laid up for three days. Today when I went to the Jamuna again she has risen another couple of meters and the old pagoda where I like to sit and chant in the afternoons and was still a little way from the river last time I was there is now right on the water's edge. Presumably as it was centuries ago when it was built.

There was no electricity for a couple of days in the Krsna das Kaviraj Memorial building where I stay, so an electrician was called. I believe "LOL" is the term I am looking for. I let him out onto the roof where he proceeded to yank a couple of bricks out of next door's already crumbling wall to chuck at the monkeys, and then leapt out onto the pole in the street, toolkit in back pocket ( a pair of pliers). Now most of the wires carrying current down the street are thick and super heavy duty; they have to be as monkeys, some of them not small, use them as runways and trampolines all the time. So I was a little disturbed to see the pathetic wire carrying current (or not) into the building; it looked like some third rate speaker wire from the dollar store. Then the man is yelling at me to tell him if the current is now on, which it is but I don't want to tell him in the hope that he will at least give the wire a few extra twists. Anyway, we have power again!

Also we have had several very High, Holy Days in the last couple of weeks, and of course in India generally and Vrindavan Dham especially that means chanting, meditation, introspection, quiet contemplation, large amplifiers and huge, ginormous speakers. This latter equipment is expensive to rent or buy so all knobs need to be turned to their maximum settings so as to ensure value for money, and never mind the distortion. The holy racket usually commences from all ten directions at around 3am, just as the nightly dog barking competition is winding to a close. (Of which I must say our local, Seva Kunj dogs are award winners, being able to set off other dogs right across town by their persistence and determination to succeed). I think I will save the whole Indian preoccupation with extremely loud noise for another post as there is so much to say.

The other morning I was sitting on the temple steps in the dark after Mangal Arati with Sukhananda Prabhu when two beautiful white bulls came thru the gate. One came to each of us just to nuzzle and be affectionate. Such beautiful animals....where but in India would a bull walk in off the street just to give you a kiss?

Pictures

Temples and cell towers

Monkey Madness

So it's high time I began my little blog that I have been meaning to write since I arrived in India. I will model it after the blog Kishori wrote while she was here, though it won't be as good of course. I know this because she herself told me so.

So I am here in Sri Vrindavan Dham. Along with a gazillion monkeys. Now the monkeys in Sri Nabadwip Dham in West Bengal where I was staying until just a few days ago, can be troublesome no doubt. They can steal food, rip your clothes off the line where they are drying and so on. But these local Brijbasi monkeys take monkey business to a whole new level. They are the terminator punk gangsta special edition monkeys. They will rip the bag from your hand, the glasses from your face, the phone from your hands, and sell it back to you for food. They will jump on you, all muscle and sinew and teeth, and steal whatever you have. They will gang up on you, and they are on the sides of the streets in the gutters, behind you on the road, above you on walls and roofs and trees. They will jump on you. They will piss on you from a great height just for fun. You cannot teach these monkeys anything about monkeying.

Then there are the pigs and piglets running around, dogs dogs and more dogs, cows cows and more cows, with the occasional camel chewing snootily and pulling some oversize load to who knows where. A thousand sadhus, faikirs, mystics, charlatans, Radha Kund wannabes and bewildered westerners also fill the streets always accompanied by the cacophony of temple bells, gongs, horns, rickshaw wallahs, street hawkers, Delhi tourists and the inevitable cries for any situation of Radheeeeeeeeeee..........Shyam!

I am a long way from the aparadha banjanpat of Sri Nabadwip Dham! And yet I am not!!

I will try to write something regularly, and post pictures internet speed permitting.