KCSoulMate

Make a statement!

Gals…Slick on some kohl, dab on your lip gloss, slip into those scintillating boots…and saunter off to varsity/ work (don’t forget to flick back your hair occasionally, and nod graciously to passers-by!)….

Guys…You’ve gotta walk the walk.  And talk the talk.  Trust me, I know:) Ditch integrity!  It’s about style, schnookums!

But there’s one place where all that gets chucked (yes, voluntarily!) straight out the window….

Kirtan!!

This is the awesome event which happens when Hare Krishnas get together.  They fly about the temple room, jump up and down, arms upraised. Singing…

“Nitai Gauranga!  Nitai Gauranga!”

(Pssh…geeks!)

Yet its so wonderful that kirtan makes you forget your stoopid, clinging belief that you are your body (i.e. that unconditioned hair is a cardinal sin)…and somehow gets you to care for nothing else but chanting the Holy Names of Krishna, and dancing ‘cos you ’simply can’t help it’.

It’s an open invitation!  Find the Hare Krishna temple in your city!  Rock up on a Sunday afternoon (that’s the day the action happens)…and find your true self in the kirtan.

It’s true:  “Kirtan is the safest place in world.” 

['cos you can just let go, and feel for the first time, that you truly belong]

The devotees at the Hare Krishna temple here at Cape Town are kirtaniyas (= kirtan dons) of note!  And the ones all over the world are no less…

Join the kirtan- you know you want to!

The sunlight streams through my sliding doors, and filters sweetly through the flowers in my lounge, softly bestowing benediction.

I’m sitting on the floor, with my harmonium, singing to myself…

“madana mohana rupa tribhanga sundara, pitambara sikhi puccha cuda manohara”

“The three-fold bending form of Krishna, the attractor of Cupid, dressed in a yellow silk dhoti and wearing a crown decorated with peacock feathers, is simply captivating to the mind.”

It’s one of those precious, restful times when the raga is flowing and the notes seem to form by themselves beneath my fingers.  One of those times when I feel I’m not the player, but the instrument.

Such a tender reminder…I am just the instrument, Krishna’s instrument.

So, I sit down at my desk.

My medical books are splayed everywhere: anatomy, physiology, chemical pathology…

It’s as if I’m in another reality – one where The Three Stages of Dehydration randomly jump up from books and start dancing about the room, and pictures of diseased people float about purposefully.

Our dissection group just removed the contents of our cadaver’s abdomen the other day (our cadaver’s name is Fiona)…

“Why couldn’t Fiona cross the road?” someone asked innocently.

“Erm…because she was dead?” some bright spark quipped.

“Nope.  She didn’t have the guts.”

 Hehe!  I thought that was pretty funny!  ok, so us medics are losing it slowly…:)

***

But where’s the time to remember Krishna?  I’m not thinking of Krishna 24/7.  I’m thinking Medicine, dreaming Medicine, studying Medicine.

My spiritual master gave some guidance…

  “Arjuna wasn’t thinking of Krishna on the Battlefield of Kurukshetra.  He was thinking about firing arrows accurately, and of how to break Duryodhana’s military phalanx.”

“Then why is he such a great devotee of the Lord?”

“Because he was doing it for Krishna.  Krishna was the reason he was fighting.”

***

So do whatever you’re doing, but do it for Krishna.  There’s no need to give up anything.

Actually, Lord Krishna warned Arjuna that if he left the battlefield for the forest, only infamy awaited him.  He would be labelled a coward.

So fight!  Do your duty, whatever it may be.  Do it with all your heart…because it’s for Krishna.

Neat word.  Love.

Several images come to mind: sweethearts strolling hand in hand, a mother’s lap, heart-shaped balloons…

But some years ago, I met some people who redefined the term.  I lost my heart to them, and wanted to follow them to the ends of the earth.

Their drums beat melodiously and their cymbals clashed joyously.  They jumped high in the air, whirled each other around, raised their arms in exultation…all the while loudly singing the Holy Names of God.

The way these Hare Krsnas danced, was declared by my trusty Past Experience of the World to be, er, somewhat unusual!  Yet my heart warmed to it…to the sincerity and simultaneous humility of it.

“Why do you do all this?” I asked inquisitively, impressed by the deep happiness in their faces.

 ”We do it for Krishna.  He is the Supreme Lord.  Perhaps you know of Him as Allah or the Holy Father, or even simply as God?”

“But why?”  I persisted.

“We have a sweet relationship with Him.  We are His and He is ours.”

I was staggered.

This was love.  Profound love. 

What do you think, friends?