There was this other cartoon I saw of a monk (of a different faith) mowing the lawn outside his monastery, writing this on the grass with his lawnmower…

“God, I’m Bored.”

Sometimes we get so caught up in all the rituals, the ceremonies, the mile long list of do’s and don’ts… 

But is that it?  Is that all there is to religion?  I tend to agree with the monk, it gets a bit tedious.

I heard someone comment to a really religious person that while he (the religious dude) was worried about being eternal, other people were carefree, enjoying life.  There’s definitely a point where philosophy and depth cannot sustain a person, if there ain’t no fun.

God-fearing people make all their decisions out of fear of hell or retribution from God, or rejection from family, friends and society.  Their lives are full of restrictions and things they “don’t do.”  If they slip up in a small way, an uneasy guilt creeps in.  Religion ends up being just about the rituals, and the endless duties. 

The God-loving folk make all their choices because they spontaneously want to do something special for God to express how much they appreciate Him.  Instead of constantly doing what they “ought to”, their every day is new and fresh with potential.  As such, their lives are natural and full of joy; every step is a dance and every word is a song!  

One of the names of God is Krishna, which means “the all-attractive person.”  So its just a matter of finding out about God from scriptures like Bhagavad Gita As It Is and Srimad Bhagavatam, or those of other religions.  Because when we know more about Him, we’ll be attracted to Him (He’s “all-attractive”). When you’re really attracted and interested in someone, you begin to have a desire to have a loving relationship with that person.  And when we begin to love God, He will reciprocate in an amazing way.  There’s no question of boredom.  We’re made to love and be loved. 

God-loving people never treat God like an order-supplier or some kind of Santa Claus, by praying to Him to constantly give them money, a new house, a girlfriend/ boyfriend, a first kiss, popularity, a first-class pass, to make their mothers let them go out with friends, etc etc…  That’s not love.  Love is about giving and receiving, not constantly taking and demanding more.

This concept of loving God is there in all religions, however I personally am wholeheartedly indebted to Srila Prabhupada, who is the founder acarya of ISKCON.  He brought Vedic culture from the East to Western countries, and taught us how to learn to love God.  He taught us to offer a flower to God from the heart, to cook for Him, to chant His holy names which describe His qualities, to dance for Him, to hear about Him, and to live a life full of joy and gladness.  Just for the sake of it.  Not for getting any material benefit in return.

I’m still learning how to love God, but even at my (very) immature stage in spiritual development, the Krishna conscious life that Srila Prabhupada gave is about an irrevocable gladness, that remains in the heart, hidden from the world like a treasure.

Fear of exploitation prevents us from taking the subservient position.  It makes us snap at our friends, backchat our parents, rebel against teachers, keep the dust off our collars in the workplace. 

Such a philosophy makes sense in this world.  You can’t be a doormat.  You’ll just get mowed over.  Its about asserting yourself; showing the world who’s boss.  Forget equality.  Today’s society strives for supereriority – whether its between husband and wife, blacks and whites, rich and poor, the ugly and the uglier.

If relationships in which two people truly regard the other as a worthy equal are hard to come by, the relationship between servant and master is virtually extinct.  Who wants to be a servant?  Who wants to be at the unreliable mercy of another mortal?

However…

Spiritual life has the compulsory component of accepting a bona fide spiritual master.  There’s no getting around it. You have to learn from someone who already knows the Absolute Truth.  Just as he learnt it from someone who already knew.  Speculation is a fool’s method of learning.  Spiritual knowledge doesn’t originate from puny mortals and randomly end up at God.  Spiritual knowledge descends into this world from God initially, and then via disciplic succession.  Its much like the Priory of Scion, in which very special individuals carry down the precious knowledge of the spiritual realm, through the generations, without altering it in any way*.

The process is then to serve such a qualified spiritual master, and invoke his/her mercy so that you can receive the full Truth.  The full Truth not widely available.  You have to want it.

But rather than being a form of degradation, the servant-master relationship that a disciple shares with his spiritual master is full of indescribable sweetness.  The disciple serves because he wants to serve; drinking up the words of his spiritual master with a heart full of gratitude and almost disbelief at his privileged position.  And the spiritual master protects him with honest affection, by giving him access to the spiritual reality.

Spiritual life is the opposite of material life.  Progress in this world means to always struggle to be at the top or hide yourself if you’re not.

To progress towards full spiritual understanding, one needs to become a servant of his spiritual master.  And its wonderful.

 *******

 *There are currently four intact disciplic successions.  The International Society of Krishna Consciousness has made one of those, the  Brahma-madhva-Gaudiya sampradaya, very widely available all over the world

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami is in Cape Town! 

His Holiness in one of the most senior members of the International Society for Krsna Consciousness, and to hear him speak is the privilege of a lifetime!

All invited to attend the Sunday Love Feast tomorrow!  Starts at 3.30pm.  Will finish at around 7pm.  Don’t miss out!  There’s free food, an inspiring talk on ancient Vedic culture in the modern context, and a wonderful dancing session called Kirtan! 

Temple is situated behind Riverside Mall in Rondebosch!

 Be there!

Today, I missed my little blog, and so went into the garden for some inspiration to write an article.

Once Krsna consoled His devotees by saying that they should not feel separate from Him because everything is His energy. Everything rests in Him.

I like to remember that as I look around me. It just uplifts my heart.

I’m sitting under a sweet tree, and as I write, soft dewy petals fall occasionally on the page. The puddles from last night’s rain are drying. In front of me is a bed of Tulasi that Krsna loves so much. All around are sweet-smelling flowering trees, planted because my father wanted to offer fragrant flowers to Krsna. There’s Frangipani and Queen of the Night, and roses and these other yellow ones that smell best of all.

Everything is both because of Krsna and for Krsna!

How abundant is the life of learning to love Krsna! How can I forget Him so easily? When I think about it more soberly, it seems such an absurd thought to forget Krsna. He’s everywhere.

“The essence of sadhana bhakti is to carefully consider and follow the path displayed by the previous and the present mahajanas (great personalities).  One should not neglect the practice of remembering the pastimes of the Lord, for devotional service should be performed with the mind as well as the body.”

                                                  Sri Prema Bhakti-candrika, Ekanta Bhakti, Text 2

I feel ashamed that in the name of street wisdom, I disrespect the devotees of the Lord. They are the most elevated souls on the planet. They are Krsna’s dearest. What is the meaning of life if I cannot reverently hold their feet in my heart? Wherever they are, that place becomes pure and auspicious. Lord Hari resides in their hearts. And I feel I can instruct them?

Dear Vaisnavas, please forgive me. I am small.

If any Vaisnava is reading this…

vancha kalpa taru bhyas ca
krpa sindhy bhya eva ca
patita nam pavane bhyo
vaisnave bhyo namo namah

How futile life can be.

We put up the proverbial brick wall around ourselves, draw the curtains, eat comfort food. There’s definitely something in savouring self-pity, believing somewhere in the sub-psyche that we’re princesses locked up in a tower, waiting for the knight in shining armour to come, slay the dragon and carry us away on his white horse…at a gallop.

(I can only speak for girls…)

But he never does. And the truth isn’t so romantic after all: we deliberately put ourselves in towers we build ourselves. It’s really just an excuse not to accomplish something worthwhile. There is no dragon or tower. Only the mind.

How skillfully we build towers of depression and jealousy, and self-esteem problems and peer pressure…

***

The revolutionary Bhagavad Gita spoken 5000 years ago advises (Bg. 2.14):

“O son of Kunti, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of the winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O Scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed.”

Think about that. Being mere perception, how illusory are the ups and downs of life…

***

  One day, Lord Krsna graduated: He was allowed to take the adult cows to pasture instead of the calves.  The whole of Vrndavana had a festival on that day!  Everyone – from Mother Yashoda to Radharani dressed up as a cowherd boy!  This event was celebrated at The Temple of Understanding in Chatsworth, Durban by dressing up Srimati Radharani…can you tell Her from Krsna?!!! Hmmm…the second day in the year, when everyone can take darshan of Srimati Radhika’s lotus feet!  Jai!!

These are the lotus feet of Sri Caitany mahaprabhu… Giriraj Govardhanji ki jai!

  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!