I’m a little preoccupied with DASI right now:)

But come on over and visit our blog… www.dasi.wordpress.com

There’s lots of interesting stuff up!  You can happily while away the time there!

The site was initially meant mainly for dasis (members of D.A.S.I, a devotional group of girls and women), but I’m sure they won’t mind if you have a peek! lol!

To all my viewers…thank you so much for visiting this site!  I haven’t been able to write for a long while now, so I wasn’t expecting my viewership to be all that great.  But checking my stats has shown me that this site has a considerable number of fans!  Hope you’ll stick around…for KCSoulmate is back!

Simplicity.

Do you find that word attractive or boring?  Hmmm.  It definitely conjures up some contradictory images…

You can think of a rustic life in the forest as simplicity; the nature of a young innocent bride.  But if you’re seeing the glass as half-empty (like me), you’ll be asking what’s missing from these pictures.

For spiritual practitioners, simplicity is encouraged.  But personally, I think simplicity has its place – in a much more complex picture.  It’s part of a not-so-simple plan.

Simplicity can only be fulfilling if you’ve been through a process of deep introspection and exposure to bona fide teachings of Absolute Truth and come up with the most essential items you need to live a happy, satisfying life.  If simplicity is something that arises in one by default or cheap imitation of the saintly, it indicates a serious condition known amongst the bourgeoisie as dim-wittedness.

Therefore, the powers of higher intellect and above-average understanding of the world are required to distinguish the simplistic from the simple.  This distinction is most subtle, yet unbelievably profound – for it bequeaths upon the grave observer a true choice of character… to live by the opinion of masses, or to live by his own carefully formed principles.

 Of course, there are others who don’t believe in simplicity at all, and opt for complexity.  Everything they say requires circumstantial thought and explanation.  But Einstein wouldn’t fall for that: “Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex… It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.” 

All glories to Srila Prabhupada, who gave us the distilled essence of the Vedas!  Hear about Krsna, chant His glories, take prasada, dance, and be happy!

These deities are very special. Please come to visit this temple in Durban, South Africa one day. Not only are the deities exquisite, but the temple is voted as the most beautiful in the whole Southern hemisphere…

Sri Sri Radha Radhannatha ki Jai!!

These photos are courtesy of my good friend, Tesham:)

Here are the small deities. I love the way Krsna’s hair has been arranged here.

This is our very merciful Govardhana Sila who really is non-different from Giriraj Himself. It is often told by visitors of Vrndavana that their smallest desires are fulfilled immediately (within seconds) by Giriraj. Our sila has not been present in this temple for very long – less than a year. Soon after He arrived, I saw my friend enthusiastically sweeping the temple. When I saw her, I also desired to have the same service, but didn’t want to take it away from her. The next moment she called out to me to “grab a broom!” Later I desired vey much to have a kirtan, because I was to leave that day for a few months. But I had come late to the Sunday programme and normally the kirtan comes before the lecture, so the chances were very slim indeed. But lo and behold, after the lecture we had a fantastic roaring kirtan! It proved to me that Giriraj was present there Himself. He was very merciful to me. But please don’t be a fool like me. Giriraj should be served by us, He shouldn’t be requested to fulfill our demands. Giriraj Maharaj ki Jai!!

These are our beautiful big deities. They are so wonderful… just see! Our Srimati Radhika has very expressive, deep blue eyes. This is the actual colour of Her eyes. Do you know why Her eyes are blue? It’s because Krsna resides in them. Her love for Him doesn’t let Her see anything else.

This is a very unique picture of our Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. At the angle this photo was taken, it appears as though His right shoulder is raised, with His head lying almost against it in an attitude of sweet raptness.

Krsna means “All-Attractive Person.” Once I told this to a friend, and she thoughtfully said, “Well, your idea of beautiful is not necessarily my idea of beautiful.”

Hmm…I had to think about that one.  Then I realised that Krsna is the source of everything, even all forms of beauty.  So whatever you consider beautiful…that you will find in Krsna.  Krsna is all-attractive to everyone.  It’s not a subjective statement.  He’s God, He owns everything…even all beauty!

Ever had guests over and needed to feed them something good, quick?  Or you’re late preparing a meal, and haven’t even started on desert?  Or you have Jagannath, Baladev and Subhadra deities to feed, and you don’t want them running off to the Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir to get sufficient bhoga?!

Here’s a real quick desert, invented by Ranchor Das….

Just dump all the below ingredients into a blender, and blend for 30 seconds:

2 cups plain yoghurt

1 cup cream

1 tin canned peaches + juice (can use fresh mango instead)

1 to 1.5 cups condensed milk

1/8 cup lemon juice

Voila!

Offer to Krsna, and distribute Krsna prasada (or keep some in the fridge for when you can’t get to sleep!)

Oops – forgot to take a picture of the final outcome.  But serve in desert bowls with a blob of granilla pulp as decoration on the top

PS. Ok, ok, its not rocket science – I didn’t need to put in a million pics of how to put stuff in a blender!  But a friend and I had so much fun pretending to be professional chefs  – I just had to put ‘em up!

This is the most beautiful picture of Srimati Radharani I have ever seen! I thought you might like to see it too. You can also see the daily darshan here.

Srimati Radharani is our queen. We only serve Krsna because She wants us to (!)

Srimati Radharani ki jai!!

Dear Sakhi, please give us your merciful glance.

This Tuesday was the very special celebration of Ram Navami.  It marked the appearance of the Lord on earth in Treta Yuga (some millions of years ago) as Lord Rama.

It was the first time that I could go to the temple in a few weeks, so I was very happy.  I have been going through a phase of really longing to be with the devotees.

I made some vanilla cupcakes to be offered to the Lord, dressed as carefully as I could in my best sari, and went with my uncle to the temple.

There I found my friends all frantically trying to learn their lines for a drama on the epic of Lord Ramachandra about to be staged that night.  Oh dear… Mantara couldn’t breathe through her mask, Sumitra couldn’t find her other child (due to be born in the next minute!), and Shatrughan’s wife disappeared without a trace…

But regardless, the play was a success (I, fortunately was available to marry Shatrughan), and I had such a great time!

Afterwards came the kirtan (singing and dancing to the holy name of the Lord) for which Cape Town yatra is famous!  And next, the amazing prasada (blessed food that is offered to the Lord)!

I got to dance, chant Hare Krsna, talk with my friends while honouring prasada   I felt really wealthy by the end of the evening.

At the Hare Krishna temple in Rondebosch, I’m just one of the crowd, an average happy girl, amongst other equally happy girls :)  But at varsity, my friends don’t really understand why I’m so happy most of the time.  They think its just my personality.  Hmmm, alas!

Here are a few pictures of His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami, taken at his Vyasa Puja celebration last year, in Ujjain…

All glories to this wonderful Vaisnava who is dedicated to giving us information about Krsna, and teaching us how to love Him!

Click on the pictures to see a larger version.

Bhakti Charu Swami ki Jai!!

Here’s a beautiful picture of Sri Sri gaura Nitai in Ujjain! Take their darshan, chant the holy names and be happy!

Wow! I finally figured out how to upload pictures properly! You can expect a lot more from now!

Time has come for living

                            …only for You

Time has come for living

                         Glorying through each day

Living as though you meant it

                        Living as though you care

Time has come for dancing

                    Time has come for singing

Time has come for dreaming

                    Time has come            … for You

Time has come

                     to stand still

   ….and watch me love You