KCSoulMate

  Happy Halloween everybody!  I lurrvv Halloween!

 Back in the day, I did it all! 

My friends and I would go around “trick or treating” with our pumpkin lanterns and weird make-up…getting cross at people who weren’t home (I mean they knew we were coming), and running away from pet dogs!

 We’d go round to each others houses…armed!  We really didn’t mess about!  We had rolls of toilet paper for the gardens, and shaving cream for the windows!  Boy, it was fun (not to mention the faint dizziness from all the sweets)!

I was always that lady from the Adams family (what’s her name again?).  Surrounded by a pack of ghosts and devils, and dry ice sublimating out of makeshift cauldrons.

Even today at medical school…we had a nine foot ghost next to our lecturers.  And the day was appropriately spent in the macabre company of our dissection hall’s cadavers and skeleton population!

But who really wants to be a ghost?

Chant Hare Krishna!

 Have you ever thought about what would have happened if you weren’t named John, but Joe?  or even more drastically…Julie?

We take our identity so much for granted.  Have you ever really thought about who you are?

Say you were born a girl not a boy? 

What if you were born a princess?  Say you’d been born in a ghetto….in a war?  On the street?  In another year?  Another country?  Another culture?  Another race?  Say you were born to different parents in Eastern Somalia, with different siblings, different family, different friends?

Your values , priorities, interests and yes, even ambitions would be different.  The question is, would you still be you?  

It’s an age-old debate – nature versus nurture.  Which is it?  Which one determines your character?  Most people feel character is a combination of the two fields.

Our environment and the people around us determine so much of who we are.  This is technically called “nurture.” 

But there is a deeper aspect – “nature.”   This explains why two siblings who grew up together, in exactly the same environment, can have very different outlooks on life.  Both have fundamentally different “natures.”   Many feel that our “nature” is inexplicably determined by our genes.  Others recognise more subtle aspects, such as the influence of planets at the time of our birth: hotheaded Aries or peacemaking Capricorn?  Cool Aqurian or Vindictive Scorpion?  Hmmm, let’s go with it…say you were born a minute later: your entire life course would have been different.

Every moment of every day, we make decisions.  Yet…

Are you making those decisions?  Or is your nature (which you can’t help because you didn’t choose your chromosomes or time of birth) and your nurturing (which you didn’t choose either) deciding everything?

Self-help books (yes, all of them) teach us “not to be a victim of circumstance” and live the life you want to live.

But that’s just it.  While it’s possible to break free from the shackles of limiting belief systems and abusive childhoods, and live a successful life; how we want to live is still determined by our nature and nurturing.

We are really…robots.  Governed by our predispositions.  Predispositions based on what attracts us, and what repulses us (determined by…yep, you guessed it…our nature and nurturing).  Predispositions to anger, jealousy, greed, workaholism, sex, fame, money.  These really make our decisions for us.

 By now, your every fibre should be screaming, “Nooo!!  I’m an individual, dammit.  Perhaps I would have a different life with different principles if were born in another situation – but somewhere, in the mess of DNA and growing up…there’d be me.”

Here’s a question answered thousands of years ago by the ancient Bhagavad Gita, spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself, Lord Krishna, “Is your true identity something beyond both nature and nurture?”

The infallible Lord says that you are a spirit soul.  You actually come from a reality beyond the material world.  You come from the reality of spirit.  Whereas matter is made up of the atoms of various elements, spirit is made up of the substances of eternality, knowledge and bliss.  That is why to aspire for the defeat of death (“Death thou shalt die” – don’t people love that sonnet?), more knowledge, and happiness is not only the right of every living entity, but his constitutional identity.  Think about it.  Aren’t these three qualities the very essence of all our ambitions and personal reasons for existence?

 ”Nature” is matter.  Chromosomes are matter.  Horoscopes are also matter – planets are matter, time only exists relative to the degradation and change of matter.

“Nurture” is based on the interaction of matter.  Your family and friends love you (or don’t love you) based on the interaction of their “nature” and yours (which has already been shown to be material).

But you are not matter. 

You are spirit. 

So live the life you yearn to live – be happy, know all that you need to be completely fulfilled, live without the prospect of death and impending futility – by connecting with the spiritual reality.

Come on…did you really believe that by juggling a few chromosomes and genes, or coming to terms with your childhood, or becoming a pop star…you’d truly find yourself?

Get real.  It’s time to resolve this identity crisis.  Now.  Who can speak of free will and conscious living…until they know who they are?

For more information into the sublime science of the spirit…read the revolutionary Bhagavad Gita As It Is.  You can also contact the Hare Krishna temple in your city.  Or just ask!

So…

A rose by any other name…is still a sweet flower.

 Welcome to the beautiful land of Ujjain!

This place of pilgrimage has a special sanctity that reverberates off the very earth and its people.

 When the Supreme Personality appeared on this planet 5000 years ago, He performed many pastimes in Ujjain.  Lord Krsna and Lord Balaram studied under Their guru, Sandipani Muni here.

My brother and I just love this sign!  It’s too cute!  Especially in contrast to the ones at Mayapur!  Hehe:)

Here in Ujjain, His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami built a magnificent marble temple, in the space of just one year!  The temple opened in February this year.  It was a huge festival, attended by dignitaries from all over the planet.  What to speak of the saints of the world…even Rani Mukherji and India’s most prestigious attended!  This temple has become the heart and soul of Ujjain.

This is the entrance…

There’s still construction going on.  It is a massive project, spanning 300 acres of land…

This is the temple room.  There are three altars:  Sri Sri Gaura Nitai, Sri Sri Radha Madana Mohan with Lalita and Visakha, and on the far right, Sri Sri Krsna Balaram.  All the gold…is real!  And the chandeliers…crystal!

This is part of a beautiful inlaid design of Radha Krsna and the gopis on the ceiling… 

This is one of two deities on either side of the altars, depicting one of the guards at the gate of Vaikuntha.  This amazingly was carved directly into the marble of the wall.

I feel this scene encapsulates the mood of the place – devotees feeling comfortable at the feet of Krsna-Balaram and Their spiritual master!

Sri Sri Radha-Madana Mohana are the principle deities.  They reign as the adored and unquestioned King and Queen of Their beautiful new marble palace…

Here’s another outfit.  Did you know that Krsna’s eyebrows and tilak are made from real gold?  They glitter and sparkle in a really enchanting way.  Many devotees feel that these deities are the most beautiful in the world!

This is Sri Sri Gaura Nitai…

This is Sri Sri Krsna Balaram…

My family recently went there to celebrate Srila Prabhupada Memorial Day (17 September) in Ujjain.  Srila Prabhupada is the glorious founder acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).  Hare Krishnas everywhere hold him very dear.  On this day, 17 September, Srila Prabhupada arrived in America to start the revolution thousands of Hare Krishnas now experience in their hearts.

 This is Srila Prabhupada in his beautifully decorated altar in Ujjain…

This is just another picture to show you his mindblowing handcarved, gold-adorned altar…

This day is also the Vyasa Puja (Appearance Day) of His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami.  This great saint is a spiritual master, with thousands of disciples all over the world.  He is a direct disciple of Srila Prabhupada himself.  Out of love, his disciples voluntarily organised a massive festival in his honour.

First, a party of devotees went to Maharaj’s room, to invite him down to the festival.  They all offered their obeisances, and one sweetly offered him a rose garland…

Then they seated Maharaj on an opulently decorated seat, while devotees sang the Hare Krishna Mahamantra…

In Vedic culture, it is customary to honour a great spiritual personality by bathing his feet with extreme humility and honest love…

Next, all the disciples and wellwishers came to offer flower petals to him…

I love to watch the interaction between His Holiness and his disciples.  There’s so much affection and sincerity.  So much emphasis on appreciation of their relationship.   Bhakti Chaaru Swami is such a pure soul.  He has no tinge of pride, or desire for his own worship…

Next, they offered Maharaj a very artistically decorated cake…and sang Happy Birthday (awwww) !

A disciple made the picture of Srila Prabhupada that Maharaj is holding up… from icing!  Wow!

There were hundreds of precious moments, all strung together to form a concentrated period of intense, life-changing spiritual experience, that cannot be found anywhere else…

This is Gurumaharaj giving a class on Srimad Bhagavatam…creating life’s perfection for those devotees who had the good fortune to listen to him.

I hope you all will be blessed one day to visit the holy land of Ujjain.

Actually, I pray you visit that wonderful place over and over again!

 For a really long time, I’ve wanted to take my deities on ratha yatra.  Now I can!  The internet is the modern equivalent of the streets of the world.  Please gaze upon Their beautiful forms to your heart’s content – because They came out to see you!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with wonderful festival of Ratha Yatra:

It is a festival in which the Lord comes out of His temple, and parades through the streets on an amazing chariot, so that He can see the people, and bestow His loving glance upon them, His subjects.  He is the real King…He owns everything in the entire creation!   The people follow the chariot, singing jubilantly and dancing because they also are so happy to see the Lord.

Lord Jagannath is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and has a blackish complexion.  His transcendental brother is Lord Baladev, who has a whitish complexion.  Lady Subhadra is Their sister.

The Vedas are ancient 5000 year old scriptures.  These scriptures proclaim God to have a form, rather than being a mere light or energy.  Thus the core of Hare Krishna philosophy is personalism…the revival of our eternal personal relationship with Him.  We do not want to merge and become one with God (that would be suicide).  Rather, we aspire to serve the Lord eternally while retaining our constitutional individuality and recognising the Lord’s individuality.  This means that each of us can have a unique relationship with the Lord, full of many different flavours. 

The form of the Lord has been described in precise detail.  We can see that form when our eyes are tinged with the salve of pure love of God.  It is a scientific fact (i.e. that which can be verified by experimentation).  However, the Lord, out of His causeless mercy, appeared in His deity form to our material vision so that we can relate to Him in our impure state.  The deity is non-different from the Lord Himself.

Jai Jagannath!  Jai Baladev!  Jai Subhadra Maharani! 

This is His Holiness Kadamba Kanana Swami. 

 He is one of the seniormost members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), and is an initiating spiritual master with several disciples all over the world.                                                                          

At the moment, the devotees here in Cape Town, South Africa feel very fortunate and blessed to have his inspiring association and participate in his wonderful kirtans.

 In a few days time, the month of Karttika begins.  This is  a very auspicious time, and devotees all over the world try to increase the quality of their spiritual practices.  Some chant more of the Hare Krsna Mahamantra, or vow to read scripture daily.  Some even give up certain foods or hobbies that they particularly enjoy, as a token of their affection for the Lord.  This month is much like Lent for Christians.  It is general practice to make some sort of vow or vrata.  A deeper explanation of Karttika will follow in a few days.

 His Holiness Kadamba Kanana Maharaj has taken a very special vrata for Karttika.  And he hopes to convince as many people as possible to take the same vow too!

He has vowed to not criticise the devotees of the Lord for the whole month of Karttika.

Dear readers, let’s do the same!  just think what a wonderful community we would have if we all tried to not criticise each other.

Come, let’s try…for the pleasure of Lord Damodar this month.

I’m certainly going to!  But it’ll be a lot more fun if we all do it together, don’t you think?

 It can’t be that difficult!  Devotees of Krsna are such amazing people…All glories to the Vaisnavas!