One of my favorite stories from HG Harivilas Pr. is how he converted a bum in Berkeley CA into a advanced devotee who now lives and preaches vigorously in Vrindavan. He used to distribute Prasadam to bums and neo-hippies who inhabited a rather unsavory public park in Berkeley called People’s Park in the nineties. One of the filthiest denizens of this park was a character that never talked much and seemed quite averse to personal hygiene. It was a rather repulsive task for Harivilas Pr. to provide prasadam to this particular bum. Little by little, he noticed a series of changes. The bum started looking less like one, started talking to him, and finally started attending programs at the local Iskcon temple. Finally he requested to live in the temple. Anyway to cut a long story short, this devotee is currently a well known preacher and book distributor in Vrindavan. This amazing story has always stuck in my mind because Harivilas Pr. ends it with a footnote: Srila Prabhupada always said that Prasadam is our secret weapon.
The Project team, guided by Harivilas Pr. had obviously realized this fact. The plan for the new kitchen was drawn up with no expense spared to make it a full-scale commercial kitchen capable of producing large quantities of the secret weapon. I was talking to NSP in his house once and he told me he was in LA temple and noticed a culinary apparatus called the “halwa machine”. He was suitably impressed with it. The person at the LA temple mentioned to him that this machine could cook halwa for five hundred people in twenty minutes. This brought a little childlike enthusiasm in NSP. He was determined to have the “halwa machine” installed in the Sammamish temple. This piece of equipment, more soberly called a commercial grade griddle was put into the plan. This was not all – usually we do our groceries from the Chinese market in downtown Seattle because as Walmart has figured out, the Chinese people are innovative business-folks: they manage to sell everything at the lowest cost, including vegetables. These bulk-purchased vegetables in the existing temple were being squished into an ancient refrigerator which looked like it was a gift from the Salvation Army, or devotees were asked to stash a box of veggies into their home refrigerators. To avoid this ridiculous state of affairs, it was decided to put a ten by twelve feet walk-in cooler. Also many other gadgets used for producing Prasadam staples were also put into plan like dough-maker, potato peeler and advanced exhaust systems.
We were having dinner at a local vegetarian restaurant one time, and NSP asked the son of the proprietor of the restaurant who was a young man who his equipment supplier was. This showed me how much he cared about saving the temple money; this kind of commitment and dedication in the service of Lord Krishna is very commendable. The Lord shows us the way, but we must be dedicated. Anyways he told me a couple of days later that he had called this supplier who happened to be a Vietnamese gentleman, Ken. During the conversation with Ken, NSP came to find out he was a Buddhist. NSP said we were building a temple and somehow he conveyed that our temple also will be used to worship Lord Buddha as he was one of the avatar forms of our Lord or some smoke and mirrors to that effect –and I don’t know how he pulled that bit – but all is well if it is in the service of the Lord. Ken was sufficiently moved spiritually to give us a huge discount on the kitchen equipment – such a discount was almost unheard of.
This is an account of some of the transactions between NSP and Kevin (I didn't really clean it up - the raw version sounded pretty funny)
NSP kept pestering Kevin (vietnamese) guy for all the kitchen equipment.
Finally agreed to give us everything at low price.
Kevin: Are u starting Indian restaurant?
NSP: No we are bulding Krishna Temple
Kevin: Krishna means Kristian? (his pronunication was quite difficult to follow)
NSP: No, not Kristian, Krishna!
Kevin : What is Krishna?
NSP : Showed plates of BG book - Plate of Dashavatar: Showed Krishna - Kevin noticed Buddha's plate
After that he says in Broken English: "From you no profit from me"
After 1-2 days he came back with a quote of $49K (NSP had got quote for $125K cheapest - from companies with slick salesmen)
Kevin's people also did a walk-in cooler - very expensive usually - kevin's men did for $5500 installed. This included all the temperature control and lights.
Kevin also helped us save money - he advised NSP to use a $1K sink made in his fab plant instead of John Bush.
NSP also went to Kevin's retail outlet - Krishna inspired him to give several boxes of stainless steel spoons, ceramic dinner plates and cups all for free. The plates said in chinese - Hope, Peace and Prosperity. These are the oriental designed china plates that we use in VCC. There were some other items like strainers and other kitchen accoutrements that he asked his daughter to give NSP 50% off.
NSP also got some of the steel shelves from the fab plant of Kevin. It saved a lot of money over the HVAC company who charge a lot.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
In His Own Words
Dear Prabhus, Please accept
Submitted by Harivilas das on 22 April, 2010 - 04:54. (this was submitted to www.iskcon.com - by HG Harivilas Pr.)
Dear Prabhus,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
The following is an article I wrote documenting quotes from Srila Prabhupada about the difference between a cultural and religious approach to presenting Krishna Consciousness.
Religion and Culture are different
There are different approaches to presenting the philosophy of Krishna Consciousness to the public. I have come to understand from reading Srila Prabhupada’s books and from direct experience over 38 years that there are two main approaches for the presentation of Krishna Consciousness. One is religious and the other cultural. I will discuss these too methods by first presenting quotes from Srila Prabhupada and then elaborating from my own experiences and realizations.
Srila Prabhupada wrote a letter (July 9th, 1970 – 70/7/15) in which he explained the difference between culture and religion, “Culture is never religion. Religion is a faith, and culture is educational or advancement of knowledge.”
“Religion is faith,” echoes the dictionary meaning of religion; system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith. One accepts on faith certain things to be true. Faith can be the basis for believing anything to be true. It is often not possible to discuss questions of faith. Most of the time one either believes or doesn’t believe something to be true. There may not be any rational basis for one to believe something is true.
An example that may shed further light on this question of religion as faith is that of an interfaith conference. Usually the procedure in an interfaith conference is that each participant is given an allotted time to explain his religion or faith. I attended one such meeting and the following transpired. A lady representing the Wiccan religion came to the podium.
“Hi, I’m Jennifer Jones and I am a Wiccan. Wiccans believe that you can have any conception of God you want or not want and still be a Wiccan.” She spoke for ten minutes and said over and over again I believe or the Wiccans believe. After she concluded her address everyone politely clapped and she sat down. The next person to the podium was a Muslim. He proceeded in the same way to explain what he believed to be religious truth according to the Muslim faith. In fact, each speaker presented his or her beliefs in the same way. When I was asked to speak, I said, “Today, I am not going to tell you what I believe as a Hare Krishna devotee. I am only going to tell you about verifiable facts that all of us have experience of by virtue of the human existence. Such facts are the basis of verifiable spirituality.” What followed was an educative talk that did not submit the listeners to politely listening to what I believe. Rather, they heard irrefutable facts about the commonality of human experience and a method of logical thought by which any person can understand the existence of God. It was educational as opposed to religious. (I will develop this method of preaching in a separate paper.)
Now I want to explore the statement “Culture is never religion….Culture is educational or advancement of knowledge.” When a Krishna Conscious devoteeattempts to explain what is the Bhagavad gita, he becomes a teacher. The process of teaching is not only to explain the truth. As Srila Prabhupada has repeatedly said one must give a practical example of what he is teaching. He often quotes the proverb, “Example is better than precept; or, apani acari bhakti sikaimu sabare, one must first become perfect and then preach.” Preaching is much more than explaining the truth. It also requires a practical example which Srila Prabhupada demonstrated by his sterling example.
Previously, I have developed the thought that when a new person comes into the association of devotees, the first things that they notice apart from the philosophy is organization, behavior and degree of cooperation. The authenticity of the philosophy is demonstrated by these three things that any person regardless of their background can see and gauge. In general, most people are not convinced by philosophy. However, they are convinced by the behavior of people. The expression of love and affection through the sharing of prasadam, gifts and endearing thoughts about Krishna are defining moments for people whether materialists or devotees. How to share such moments on a sustained basis is the art of Krishna Consciousness.
Further, most people that approach the temple have families and children. Their primary concern is the welfare of the children, both spiritual and material. If their children are reluctant to attend the temple, they will most probably not be eager to come. Children like adults need to make friends with other children and also have a fun, educational experience every time they come to the temple. In other words, to imbibe the Vedic spiritual culture, children need to experience it in a entertaining and educational way so that their attention does not wane. This is a challenge. However, when the parents see their children becoming enthused and enlivened by the association and cultural, educational experience in the temple, they also become enthusiastic to attend regularly the temple programs.
Therefore, the cultural, educational approach to presenting Krishna Consciousness can be most rewarding for building up a strong congregation of families who regularly attend the temple programs. Culture is expressed through art, drama, song, dance, music and all forms of communication arts. The advantage of the Vedic culture is that the spirituality is infused throughout it in an integral way. The dance styles, such as Bharat Natyam, the traditional folk songs (Bhajans), the art (temple art), the epic literature (Ramayan, etc) are all integrated with the daily culture of the Vedic lifestyle.
As devotees, we can incorporate all these cultural presentations to enhance the attention and interest of the families attending the temple. This is an educational experience that advances the understanding of Vedic knowledge in an artistic and non-confrontational manner.
One can be convinced by the Vedic culture which is gentle, full of love, transcendental knowledge, good behavior (sadacara), and myriad acts of transcendental goodness shared for the benefit of all.
One example of this non-confrontational cultural presentation was the Kumbhamela festival recently organized in Seattle. We decided to present our own displays of Vedic culture in the form of the Vrindaban Village. We made displays such as Mother Yasoda churning butter and Krishna stealing the butter. When the people attending the festival looked at the displays, they were charmed by the natural beauty and rustic setting. Mother Yasoda was very beautifully attired in a golden sari and she was toiling with the churning of the butter in a large clay pot. The whole scene was one of innocence, beauty, simplicity and happiness. Many people asked our devotee guides, “What is this all about.” The answer given was the following. “This is Mother Yasoda, Lord Krishna mother. She is churning butter. Nanda Maharaja, Krishna’s father, is a cow herder. He has wonderful surabhi cows that give unlimitedly abundant milk with rich cream. The cows are treated with respect and never in any way harmed. Therefore, they give abundant rich milk which is a miracle food necessary for the churning into butter and ghee. Ghee is used for the performance of all Vedic rituals which confers all desirable things. Naughty Krishna loves butter so much that he sometimes steals it from the storage plots and distributes it to his friends and monkeys. The Vedic economy is based on cow protection and land stewardship. The people lived simple and happy lives based on love and gentle companionship. They had a God-centered life living in harmony with nature.” Everyone who heard this explanation said, “That sounds very nice. I would like to know more about such a peaceful and happy culture.”
The difference between a cultural presentation such as the one explained above and a religious presentation follows. In a religious presentation one presents his belief system. “We believe that in Kali yuga, the age of hypocrisy and quarrel, the only way to reach God consciousness is by chanting the Hare Krishna Mahamantra. Lord Caitanya, the incarnation of God in Kali yuga, established the yuga dharma of chanting Hare Krishna. There is no other way, no other way, no other way.” A new person hearing this for the first time will have a challenge immediately to his belief system if he has one. He can very easily just say, “Well, I’m happy you believe that. But I have my own beliefs. But I respect your beliefs and I hope you will respect mine.” The discussion will either continue on the basis of challenging his belief system and he challenging our belief system, or he will politely just leave having made a determination that Krishna Consciousness is another religion with a different belief system than his own.
The cultural presentation opens the door to presenting the philosophy of Krishna consciousness without undue confrontation at the beginning. As the relationship continues if the cultural presentation also continues, a person is convinced not so much by our arguments but by the overwhelming cultural environment of good behavior, cooperation, organization and enlivening educational experience that is based more on verifiable facts rather than beliefs that predicate faith. All the facts of Krishna Conscious philosophy are verifiable when a person begins to purify their senses and mind through following the regulative principle and chanting Hare Krishna. The challenge for the Krishna Conscious preacher is how to convince a person to accept this educational process of self purification for attaining knowledge. It can be done more effectively by the cultural process in a wider group of people than just the devotee community. In other words, to enlarge the scope and breathe of the Krishna Conscious community, it is necessary to implement the cultural presentation of Krishna Consciousness.
Srila Prabhupada has written the following things in a letter dates July 16th, 1970 (70-7-31):
“The Society is registered in each and every country as a religious and cultural institution under specific statutes.”…….The India Government has a department for Cultural Affairs; if they would have taken this cultural movement as the background of Vedic civilization, then the whole world would be happy, and India’s glories would have been magnified many thousands of times than by simply imitating the Western technology which is on the verge of failure.”……(The Americans) understand that Krishna Consciousness Movement is neither Indian nor Hindu, but it is a cultural movement for the whole human society….”
I hope this line of thinking and preaching can be discussed and understood in the context of how to spread Krishna Consciousness to a wider audience. Please feel free to discuss and question these points with me. I will be happy to dialogue on this subject.
Your servant,
Harivilas Das
Submitted by Harivilas das on 22 April, 2010 - 04:54. (this was submitted to www.iskcon.com - by HG Harivilas Pr.)
Dear Prabhus,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
The following is an article I wrote documenting quotes from Srila Prabhupada about the difference between a cultural and religious approach to presenting Krishna Consciousness.
Religion and Culture are different
There are different approaches to presenting the philosophy of Krishna Consciousness to the public. I have come to understand from reading Srila Prabhupada’s books and from direct experience over 38 years that there are two main approaches for the presentation of Krishna Consciousness. One is religious and the other cultural. I will discuss these too methods by first presenting quotes from Srila Prabhupada and then elaborating from my own experiences and realizations.
Srila Prabhupada wrote a letter (July 9th, 1970 – 70/7/15) in which he explained the difference between culture and religion, “Culture is never religion. Religion is a faith, and culture is educational or advancement of knowledge.”
“Religion is faith,” echoes the dictionary meaning of religion; system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith. One accepts on faith certain things to be true. Faith can be the basis for believing anything to be true. It is often not possible to discuss questions of faith. Most of the time one either believes or doesn’t believe something to be true. There may not be any rational basis for one to believe something is true.
An example that may shed further light on this question of religion as faith is that of an interfaith conference. Usually the procedure in an interfaith conference is that each participant is given an allotted time to explain his religion or faith. I attended one such meeting and the following transpired. A lady representing the Wiccan religion came to the podium.
“Hi, I’m Jennifer Jones and I am a Wiccan. Wiccans believe that you can have any conception of God you want or not want and still be a Wiccan.” She spoke for ten minutes and said over and over again I believe or the Wiccans believe. After she concluded her address everyone politely clapped and she sat down. The next person to the podium was a Muslim. He proceeded in the same way to explain what he believed to be religious truth according to the Muslim faith. In fact, each speaker presented his or her beliefs in the same way. When I was asked to speak, I said, “Today, I am not going to tell you what I believe as a Hare Krishna devotee. I am only going to tell you about verifiable facts that all of us have experience of by virtue of the human existence. Such facts are the basis of verifiable spirituality.” What followed was an educative talk that did not submit the listeners to politely listening to what I believe. Rather, they heard irrefutable facts about the commonality of human experience and a method of logical thought by which any person can understand the existence of God. It was educational as opposed to religious. (I will develop this method of preaching in a separate paper.)
Now I want to explore the statement “Culture is never religion….Culture is educational or advancement of knowledge.” When a Krishna Conscious devoteeattempts to explain what is the Bhagavad gita, he becomes a teacher. The process of teaching is not only to explain the truth. As Srila Prabhupada has repeatedly said one must give a practical example of what he is teaching. He often quotes the proverb, “Example is better than precept; or, apani acari bhakti sikaimu sabare, one must first become perfect and then preach.” Preaching is much more than explaining the truth. It also requires a practical example which Srila Prabhupada demonstrated by his sterling example.
Previously, I have developed the thought that when a new person comes into the association of devotees, the first things that they notice apart from the philosophy is organization, behavior and degree of cooperation. The authenticity of the philosophy is demonstrated by these three things that any person regardless of their background can see and gauge. In general, most people are not convinced by philosophy. However, they are convinced by the behavior of people. The expression of love and affection through the sharing of prasadam, gifts and endearing thoughts about Krishna are defining moments for people whether materialists or devotees. How to share such moments on a sustained basis is the art of Krishna Consciousness.
Further, most people that approach the temple have families and children. Their primary concern is the welfare of the children, both spiritual and material. If their children are reluctant to attend the temple, they will most probably not be eager to come. Children like adults need to make friends with other children and also have a fun, educational experience every time they come to the temple. In other words, to imbibe the Vedic spiritual culture, children need to experience it in a entertaining and educational way so that their attention does not wane. This is a challenge. However, when the parents see their children becoming enthused and enlivened by the association and cultural, educational experience in the temple, they also become enthusiastic to attend regularly the temple programs.
Therefore, the cultural, educational approach to presenting Krishna Consciousness can be most rewarding for building up a strong congregation of families who regularly attend the temple programs. Culture is expressed through art, drama, song, dance, music and all forms of communication arts. The advantage of the Vedic culture is that the spirituality is infused throughout it in an integral way. The dance styles, such as Bharat Natyam, the traditional folk songs (Bhajans), the art (temple art), the epic literature (Ramayan, etc) are all integrated with the daily culture of the Vedic lifestyle.
As devotees, we can incorporate all these cultural presentations to enhance the attention and interest of the families attending the temple. This is an educational experience that advances the understanding of Vedic knowledge in an artistic and non-confrontational manner.
One can be convinced by the Vedic culture which is gentle, full of love, transcendental knowledge, good behavior (sadacara), and myriad acts of transcendental goodness shared for the benefit of all.
One example of this non-confrontational cultural presentation was the Kumbhamela festival recently organized in Seattle. We decided to present our own displays of Vedic culture in the form of the Vrindaban Village. We made displays such as Mother Yasoda churning butter and Krishna stealing the butter. When the people attending the festival looked at the displays, they were charmed by the natural beauty and rustic setting. Mother Yasoda was very beautifully attired in a golden sari and she was toiling with the churning of the butter in a large clay pot. The whole scene was one of innocence, beauty, simplicity and happiness. Many people asked our devotee guides, “What is this all about.” The answer given was the following. “This is Mother Yasoda, Lord Krishna mother. She is churning butter. Nanda Maharaja, Krishna’s father, is a cow herder. He has wonderful surabhi cows that give unlimitedly abundant milk with rich cream. The cows are treated with respect and never in any way harmed. Therefore, they give abundant rich milk which is a miracle food necessary for the churning into butter and ghee. Ghee is used for the performance of all Vedic rituals which confers all desirable things. Naughty Krishna loves butter so much that he sometimes steals it from the storage plots and distributes it to his friends and monkeys. The Vedic economy is based on cow protection and land stewardship. The people lived simple and happy lives based on love and gentle companionship. They had a God-centered life living in harmony with nature.” Everyone who heard this explanation said, “That sounds very nice. I would like to know more about such a peaceful and happy culture.”
The difference between a cultural presentation such as the one explained above and a religious presentation follows. In a religious presentation one presents his belief system. “We believe that in Kali yuga, the age of hypocrisy and quarrel, the only way to reach God consciousness is by chanting the Hare Krishna Mahamantra. Lord Caitanya, the incarnation of God in Kali yuga, established the yuga dharma of chanting Hare Krishna. There is no other way, no other way, no other way.” A new person hearing this for the first time will have a challenge immediately to his belief system if he has one. He can very easily just say, “Well, I’m happy you believe that. But I have my own beliefs. But I respect your beliefs and I hope you will respect mine.” The discussion will either continue on the basis of challenging his belief system and he challenging our belief system, or he will politely just leave having made a determination that Krishna Consciousness is another religion with a different belief system than his own.
The cultural presentation opens the door to presenting the philosophy of Krishna consciousness without undue confrontation at the beginning. As the relationship continues if the cultural presentation also continues, a person is convinced not so much by our arguments but by the overwhelming cultural environment of good behavior, cooperation, organization and enlivening educational experience that is based more on verifiable facts rather than beliefs that predicate faith. All the facts of Krishna Conscious philosophy are verifiable when a person begins to purify their senses and mind through following the regulative principle and chanting Hare Krishna. The challenge for the Krishna Conscious preacher is how to convince a person to accept this educational process of self purification for attaining knowledge. It can be done more effectively by the cultural process in a wider group of people than just the devotee community. In other words, to enlarge the scope and breathe of the Krishna Conscious community, it is necessary to implement the cultural presentation of Krishna Consciousness.
Srila Prabhupada has written the following things in a letter dates July 16th, 1970 (70-7-31):
“The Society is registered in each and every country as a religious and cultural institution under specific statutes.”…….The India Government has a department for Cultural Affairs; if they would have taken this cultural movement as the background of Vedic civilization, then the whole world would be happy, and India’s glories would have been magnified many thousands of times than by simply imitating the Western technology which is on the verge of failure.”……(The Americans) understand that Krishna Consciousness Movement is neither Indian nor Hindu, but it is a cultural movement for the whole human society….”
I hope this line of thinking and preaching can be discussed and understood in the context of how to spread Krishna Consciousness to a wider audience. Please feel free to discuss and question these points with me. I will be happy to dialogue on this subject.
Your servant,
Harivilas Das
VCC Sammamish Profile and Fact Sheet
VCC Profile
Name: Vedic Cultural Center and Sri Sri Radha Nila Madhava TempleAddress: 1420 228 Ave SE Sammamish, WA 98075
Phone: Hari Vilas Dasa at (425) 246 8436;
Nanda Suta Das at (206) 992 7598
Website: http://www.vedicculturalcenter.org
Presiding Deities: Radha-Nila Madhava, Gaura-Nitai, and Sita-Rama.
President: Hari Vilas Dasa
Current temple opening date: July 6, 2008
Temple Style: Two-storey custom-built Indian-style temple, with temple room upstairs and prasadam hall downstairs.
Location: Upper middle class suburb, many residents working in the IT industry, large Indian community, low-crime area.
Distinctive food offerings: South Indian dishes including payasam—a sweet rice dish, dosa, idli, sambar, and coconut chutney.
Number of residents: The temple’s minimal residential facilities house only the deities' three priests. However, 25 families, mostly initiated, live nearby.Number of visitors: Approx. 2,500 per week.
Best time of year to visit: Summer. Nicer weather, and four major festivals plus two Ratha Yatras.
When temple president Hari Vilasa Dasa took up the challenge of reviving ISKCON Seattle in 1991, the community—which ISKCON had established as only its fourth project in the United States back in 1968—was on the verge of collapse. The once thriving temple had been moved to an obscure suburb called Issaquah, and the few devotees that remained were struggling to deal with a dramatic variety of problems including termite infestation, a septic tank failure, and accrued mortgage payments.Hari Vilasa’s first move was to shift the outreach focus from proselytizing to developing good behavior, listening skills, and empathy, thus convincing by example. When Seattle devotees also made their approach more accessible, by removing confusing ISKCON buzz words from their vocabulary and increasing cultural presentations, a whole new crop of visitors began to show interest.Within the next few years—as if by Krishna’s hand—a rapidly developing new town called Sammamish grew around the temple, suddenly turning the area into one of the most desirable places to live in Seattle, and quickly becoming the hub of the Hindu community.Today, the brand new Vedic Cultural Center and Sri Sri Radha Nila Madhava temple sits just across from Sammamish City Hall. With its Indian architecture and pink sandstone color, the impressive two-storey building draws intrigued looks from the 20,000 people that drive by it every day.And there are plenty of reasons for them to visit, with the Vedic Cultural Center reaching out to its community in an almost endless list of ways. The question to ask about this temple is not what it does, but what it doesn’t do. There’s Children of Faith, a program that invites children of all faiths—Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Baha’ai, Sikh, and more—to express their religious beliefs through song, dance, art, poetry and other culturally expressive mediums. There’s Priyam Vacha, a spiritualized Toastmasters-style public speaking forum. There are classes on singing, dancing, tabla, yoga, languages, and cooking. And there are both introductory and in-depth Vedic University Classes that offer formal training in Srila Prabhupada’s books of spiritual wisdom. Most of these are held weekly.“We also have Saturday Movie Night, where we serve pizza and popcorn and show Disney-quality animated movies about Krishna, and other Krishna-related films,” says Hari Vilasa. “That’s of course very popular with both children and parents alike.” In addition to its traditional temple festivals, the Vedic Cultural Center also holds events for its community, such as summer’s three-day Ananda Mela, supported by and held in the City of Redmond, an upscale suburb of Seattle. With the byline “A Cultural Journey to India,” it will include an audio-visual temple tour of India’s architectural wonders; educational exhibits based on the philosophy of the Vedas; a prasadam food booth; children’s rides and activities, and entertainment on two performance stages. The festival draws 10 to 20,000 people.Other annual festivals include “Kumbha Mela,” held at the temple back-to-back with Krishna’s appearance day, and two seaside Ratha Yatras, while devotees will also have a presence at the local Freemont Fair, reaching a quarter of a million people.The Vedic Cultural Center also engages in activities that are purely social welfare: Its completely free vegetarian restaurant, My Sweet Lord, has served Seattle for eight years. Meanwhile, its Mercy Meals program delivers hot food straight to peoples’ houses, and a newly launched program offers free tutoring in math, science and English to underprivileged children.All these programs make the temple eligible for grants from major corporations such as Microsoft, Amazon and Google, as well as attracting help from many idealistic volunteers of both American and Indian backgrounds.“As is our practice, we do not preach to them,” says Hari Vilasa. “But as they associate with us, those who are interested naturally ask questions and find out more about Krishna consciousness.”While some have criticized ISKCON Seattle’s style of outreach-by-example instead of direct “preaching,” the community is obviously doing something right.Its current temple building will soon be expanding a further 1,200 square feet, while new hand-carved altars and new larger Deities of Sita, Rama, Lakshman and Hanuman are on their way.There are also plans to begin building work on a second major temple in the Seattle area within the next year, this time in Bellevue, home of Microsoft. The projected complex will include a temple, a performing arts center with an auditorium, a convention hall, a catering service, and a restaurant.The future is bright for the once fading ISKCON Seattle—now one of the biggest success stories in ISKCON North America.
Name: Vedic Cultural Center and Sri Sri Radha Nila Madhava TempleAddress: 1420 228 Ave SE Sammamish, WA 98075
Phone: Hari Vilas Dasa at (425) 246 8436;
Nanda Suta Das at (206) 992 7598
Website: http://www.vedicculturalcenter.org
Presiding Deities: Radha-Nila Madhava, Gaura-Nitai, and Sita-Rama.
President: Hari Vilas Dasa
Current temple opening date: July 6, 2008
Temple Style: Two-storey custom-built Indian-style temple, with temple room upstairs and prasadam hall downstairs.
Location: Upper middle class suburb, many residents working in the IT industry, large Indian community, low-crime area.
Distinctive food offerings: South Indian dishes including payasam—a sweet rice dish, dosa, idli, sambar, and coconut chutney.
Number of residents: The temple’s minimal residential facilities house only the deities' three priests. However, 25 families, mostly initiated, live nearby.Number of visitors: Approx. 2,500 per week.
Best time of year to visit: Summer. Nicer weather, and four major festivals plus two Ratha Yatras.
When temple president Hari Vilasa Dasa took up the challenge of reviving ISKCON Seattle in 1991, the community—which ISKCON had established as only its fourth project in the United States back in 1968—was on the verge of collapse. The once thriving temple had been moved to an obscure suburb called Issaquah, and the few devotees that remained were struggling to deal with a dramatic variety of problems including termite infestation, a septic tank failure, and accrued mortgage payments.Hari Vilasa’s first move was to shift the outreach focus from proselytizing to developing good behavior, listening skills, and empathy, thus convincing by example. When Seattle devotees also made their approach more accessible, by removing confusing ISKCON buzz words from their vocabulary and increasing cultural presentations, a whole new crop of visitors began to show interest.Within the next few years—as if by Krishna’s hand—a rapidly developing new town called Sammamish grew around the temple, suddenly turning the area into one of the most desirable places to live in Seattle, and quickly becoming the hub of the Hindu community.Today, the brand new Vedic Cultural Center and Sri Sri Radha Nila Madhava temple sits just across from Sammamish City Hall. With its Indian architecture and pink sandstone color, the impressive two-storey building draws intrigued looks from the 20,000 people that drive by it every day.And there are plenty of reasons for them to visit, with the Vedic Cultural Center reaching out to its community in an almost endless list of ways. The question to ask about this temple is not what it does, but what it doesn’t do. There’s Children of Faith, a program that invites children of all faiths—Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Baha’ai, Sikh, and more—to express their religious beliefs through song, dance, art, poetry and other culturally expressive mediums. There’s Priyam Vacha, a spiritualized Toastmasters-style public speaking forum. There are classes on singing, dancing, tabla, yoga, languages, and cooking. And there are both introductory and in-depth Vedic University Classes that offer formal training in Srila Prabhupada’s books of spiritual wisdom. Most of these are held weekly.“We also have Saturday Movie Night, where we serve pizza and popcorn and show Disney-quality animated movies about Krishna, and other Krishna-related films,” says Hari Vilasa. “That’s of course very popular with both children and parents alike.” In addition to its traditional temple festivals, the Vedic Cultural Center also holds events for its community, such as summer’s three-day Ananda Mela, supported by and held in the City of Redmond, an upscale suburb of Seattle. With the byline “A Cultural Journey to India,” it will include an audio-visual temple tour of India’s architectural wonders; educational exhibits based on the philosophy of the Vedas; a prasadam food booth; children’s rides and activities, and entertainment on two performance stages. The festival draws 10 to 20,000 people.Other annual festivals include “Kumbha Mela,” held at the temple back-to-back with Krishna’s appearance day, and two seaside Ratha Yatras, while devotees will also have a presence at the local Freemont Fair, reaching a quarter of a million people.The Vedic Cultural Center also engages in activities that are purely social welfare: Its completely free vegetarian restaurant, My Sweet Lord, has served Seattle for eight years. Meanwhile, its Mercy Meals program delivers hot food straight to peoples’ houses, and a newly launched program offers free tutoring in math, science and English to underprivileged children.All these programs make the temple eligible for grants from major corporations such as Microsoft, Amazon and Google, as well as attracting help from many idealistic volunteers of both American and Indian backgrounds.“As is our practice, we do not preach to them,” says Hari Vilasa. “But as they associate with us, those who are interested naturally ask questions and find out more about Krishna consciousness.”While some have criticized ISKCON Seattle’s style of outreach-by-example instead of direct “preaching,” the community is obviously doing something right.Its current temple building will soon be expanding a further 1,200 square feet, while new hand-carved altars and new larger Deities of Sita, Rama, Lakshman and Hanuman are on their way.There are also plans to begin building work on a second major temple in the Seattle area within the next year, this time in Bellevue, home of Microsoft. The projected complex will include a temple, a performing arts center with an auditorium, a convention hall, a catering service, and a restaurant.The future is bright for the once fading ISKCON Seattle—now one of the biggest success stories in ISKCON North America.
The Wetland Incident
The year 2006 was a great year for the temple construction process. We had already obtained the zone change, so it was the year to obtain the permit for a new Commercial class building. It was a year where a lot of things fell into place for the new temple construction process. Sometimes Lord Krishna wants us to trust him and so he puts what seems to be apparent obstacles, and then those obstacles disappear when we bring ourselves to remember Him and repose our faith in him, as Maharaj Dhruv did when he was attacked by the Yakshas [ SB Canto 4].
The first problem that we ran into at the beginning of the year was the classification of a portion of the lot where our old building was as a Wetland, especially at the back of the property. A wetland is an area of land consisting of soil that is saturated with moisture, such as a swamp, marsh, or bog. As defined in terms of physical geography, a wetland is an environment "at the interface between truly terrestrial ecosystems and aquatic systems making them inherently different from each other yet highly dependent on both". Wetlands often host considerable biodiversity and endemism. In many locations such as the United Kingdom and United States they are the subject of conservation efforts and Biodiversity Action Plans.
Washington is a state that is very eco-conscious and so the classification of the lot as Wetland put a real dampener on the building permit process as building over a wetland is prohibited. As our building plans had designs that spanned the area marked as Wetland, the permit process ground to a halt!
NSP after consulting with HG Harivilas Pr. called a full-day Harinam sankirtan at the temple building on April 15. I remember attending the sankirtan party and as the day wore along, a significant number of devotees showed up. The chanting of the Holy Name is very powerful as it is non-different in spiritual quality from the Lord Himself. Srila Prabhupada has made this point on several occasions. Anyway, after the Harinam Sankirtan, NSP presented our case to at least half a dozen different organizations like Dept. of Ecology, Army corps of engineers, Washington fish and water management and a couple of others.
A little glimmer of hope showed up at the end of the dark rocky tunnel of permit-land. The various organizations agreed to allow us to build all the way up to the Wetland. This was however not very satisfying for NSP and Aja Pr. as they had really worked with the architects to come up with a ideal building plan and building up to the Wetland meant a part of the plan would have to be truncated. NSP was quite crestfallen about losing fifteen parking spots and also not being able to do anything with the land.
NSP was quite persistent. He met with the city planner multiple times and requested for a site inspection. On May 26, 2006 the city planner finally was inspired somehow to visit the site with some measuring equipment and also brought along their biologist to assess the part that was classified a Wetland. After some inspection and deliberation, they declared the WETLAND WAS NON-EXISTENT! It was an amazing turn of events, and no doubt that the day-long Harinam Sankirtan had pleased the Lord and he exercised his divine will to remove the obstacle of the Wetland.
The first problem that we ran into at the beginning of the year was the classification of a portion of the lot where our old building was as a Wetland, especially at the back of the property. A wetland is an area of land consisting of soil that is saturated with moisture, such as a swamp, marsh, or bog. As defined in terms of physical geography, a wetland is an environment "at the interface between truly terrestrial ecosystems and aquatic systems making them inherently different from each other yet highly dependent on both". Wetlands often host considerable biodiversity and endemism. In many locations such as the United Kingdom and United States they are the subject of conservation efforts and Biodiversity Action Plans.
Washington is a state that is very eco-conscious and so the classification of the lot as Wetland put a real dampener on the building permit process as building over a wetland is prohibited. As our building plans had designs that spanned the area marked as Wetland, the permit process ground to a halt!
NSP after consulting with HG Harivilas Pr. called a full-day Harinam sankirtan at the temple building on April 15. I remember attending the sankirtan party and as the day wore along, a significant number of devotees showed up. The chanting of the Holy Name is very powerful as it is non-different in spiritual quality from the Lord Himself. Srila Prabhupada has made this point on several occasions. Anyway, after the Harinam Sankirtan, NSP presented our case to at least half a dozen different organizations like Dept. of Ecology, Army corps of engineers, Washington fish and water management and a couple of others.
A little glimmer of hope showed up at the end of the dark rocky tunnel of permit-land. The various organizations agreed to allow us to build all the way up to the Wetland. This was however not very satisfying for NSP and Aja Pr. as they had really worked with the architects to come up with a ideal building plan and building up to the Wetland meant a part of the plan would have to be truncated. NSP was quite crestfallen about losing fifteen parking spots and also not being able to do anything with the land.
NSP was quite persistent. He met with the city planner multiple times and requested for a site inspection. On May 26, 2006 the city planner finally was inspired somehow to visit the site with some measuring equipment and also brought along their biologist to assess the part that was classified a Wetland. After some inspection and deliberation, they declared the WETLAND WAS NON-EXISTENT! It was an amazing turn of events, and no doubt that the day-long Harinam Sankirtan had pleased the Lord and he exercised his divine will to remove the obstacle of the Wetland.
When the Baby Boomers were young
The story of the Iskcon movement in Seattle mirrors the movement’s chronology and changing demographics in North America. The movement started in the late 1960s – early 1970s. The current location of the Iskcon, Seattle temple was preceded by 3 other locations. In the 1970s the temple was in Capitol Hill. The Capitol Hill location was on 18th and Harrison. The Capitol Hill area especially in the 1970s was a hotbed for the experimental lifestyles in the 1960s and 1970s. In those days the Iskcon movement did attract a good deal of hippies – the prototypical hippie was a young, suburban white male or female exploring that lifestyle. Circa 1973, the congregation consisted about 15-20 white devotees who were very Krishna conscious and quite friendly. Some of them lived in the temple building itself and some of the others lived in apartments surrounding the temple. Sukhadev Pr. Was the President and the vice-president was Haribasara. During the Sunday feast, there were very few people of Indian origin who attended the programs. The presiding deities were Jagannath, Subhadra and Baladev.
The mode of operation in most Iskcon temples during the 1970s was pretty similar. The primary source of revenue was through book distribution, donations from the Sunday feast attendees and Sankirtan parties and the substantial contributions of the young men and women who joined the movement and were inspired to donated most of their financial assets, in return for being part of the movement and typically initiated within a matter of months . Sankirtan parties and Harinam parties were also very popular. Sura Prabhu recalls that the Sankirtan parties in those days would go down in the morning to the Pike’s place market and do morning Sankirtan. At lunch-time they would eat bread-balls and Khichri at Govinda’s boutique a downstore store owned by a devotee Ojasvi Mataji.
The Seattle temple in those days had a lot of success in the “small temple” category. Srila Prabhupada recognized the value of spiritual competition in sustaining the nascent movement and the books were the main source of revenue – so it was a very honorable thing for a small temple to win the award as the best temple in their category in terms of units of book distribution. The Seattle temple in those days (early 70s) won the award two years.
One of the big events during those times was the Spokane World’s Fair that happened in 1974. In 1974 Haribasara Pr. and Gopeswara Pr. opened a small preaching canter in Spokane for the Spokane World's Fair. Haribasara Pr. led a small group of Harinam devotees and Gopeswara Pr. passed out hundreds and hundreds of plates of prasadam, every day. I think it was khichri and bread balls. Sura Pr. headed up the Sankirtan team with big books and coordinated the travelling men which included, Tripurari, Svavas, Naikatma, Vaisesika, Kavicandra, Ganapati, and others, totalling about 12 devotees. They each did 25-40 hardback books every day, collecting no less than $5. each. They stayed for the whole month. In April, Sura Prabhu and Haribasara Pr. wrote letters to Srila Prabhupada, imploring him to come to the World's fair, but he had to be in Bombay at that time. He replied that “if you just distribute my books and prasadam and present the chanting, it will be as good as my personally being there. Just fulfill my mission that every man and woman in the United States, gets a book." That is something they did try to do in Seattle. There was a time when the book distribution party was doing 15-20 hardbacks a day and sending the temple about $1500 per week.
The mode of operation in most Iskcon temples during the 1970s was pretty similar. The primary source of revenue was through book distribution, donations from the Sunday feast attendees and Sankirtan parties and the substantial contributions of the young men and women who joined the movement and were inspired to donated most of their financial assets, in return for being part of the movement and typically initiated within a matter of months . Sankirtan parties and Harinam parties were also very popular. Sura Prabhu recalls that the Sankirtan parties in those days would go down in the morning to the Pike’s place market and do morning Sankirtan. At lunch-time they would eat bread-balls and Khichri at Govinda’s boutique a downstore store owned by a devotee Ojasvi Mataji.
The Seattle temple in those days had a lot of success in the “small temple” category. Srila Prabhupada recognized the value of spiritual competition in sustaining the nascent movement and the books were the main source of revenue – so it was a very honorable thing for a small temple to win the award as the best temple in their category in terms of units of book distribution. The Seattle temple in those days (early 70s) won the award two years.
One of the big events during those times was the Spokane World’s Fair that happened in 1974. In 1974 Haribasara Pr. and Gopeswara Pr. opened a small preaching canter in Spokane for the Spokane World's Fair. Haribasara Pr. led a small group of Harinam devotees and Gopeswara Pr. passed out hundreds and hundreds of plates of prasadam, every day. I think it was khichri and bread balls. Sura Pr. headed up the Sankirtan team with big books and coordinated the travelling men which included, Tripurari, Svavas, Naikatma, Vaisesika, Kavicandra, Ganapati, and others, totalling about 12 devotees. They each did 25-40 hardback books every day, collecting no less than $5. each. They stayed for the whole month. In April, Sura Prabhu and Haribasara Pr. wrote letters to Srila Prabhupada, imploring him to come to the World's fair, but he had to be in Bombay at that time. He replied that “if you just distribute my books and prasadam and present the chanting, it will be as good as my personally being there. Just fulfill my mission that every man and woman in the United States, gets a book." That is something they did try to do in Seattle. There was a time when the book distribution party was doing 15-20 hardbacks a day and sending the temple about $1500 per week.
Year 2000 - the New Beginning
In Year 2000, an IT Professional from Starbucks Naresh Bhatt walked into the King County GIS office with his year and half year old daughter Aditi to retrieve some maps of the neighborhood around the small, temple on 1420, 228th Ave SE in the suburb of Sammamish WA. He was a bit apprehensive as there was a long line and he wasn't sure how long he would be there on a weekday. Fortunately for him, the employees liked Aditi and started playing with her; they took a special sympathy and send Naresh on his way with the information he wanted within a couple of hours. Naresh did not know at the moment the significance of those papers. Naresh was living the classic immigrant success story. Seven years ago he had left a very good job in the huge metropolis of Mumbai in India, left behind his family, friends and relatives and had landed up in this Seattle suburb to work for Paccar with his wife Banshri who also secured an IT job with a consulting company. They were here on a journey of exploration like countless other well educated software and IT professionals from India who used their talent and skills to come to USA in pursuit of their professional dreams with little idea of how their life story would unfold. Little by little, like countless other well-educated immigrants from Asia in the Northwest, he gradually started walking the slippery slope of the American dream. With the help of their well paying jobs, Naresh and Banshri climbed the material ladder of success; better jobs with Starbucks and Precor, bigger houses, fancier cars and so on. Somewhere along this rather mundane path, one that was hardly unique, Naresh's life took a critical detour. He got picked from the millions of aimless souls to a journey of spiritual purification by the grace and mercy of Srila Prabhupada. He met with the charismatic HG Harivilas Prabhu who was the VCC temple president (and a very successful local businessman). He also met with HG Aja Prabhu with whom he formed an instant bond of brotherhood. His life suddenly took a turn that took him down a path that he has been traveling ever since. The intersection that brought these three wonderful people together was rather anti-climactic in year 2000. It was a common bond of spiritual attachment to the Lord in a drab, one story rancher more than 40 years old – an incongruous sight in the upper-class affluent suburb of Sammamish. If you did not know what the building was, you would not give it a second glance. People used to pay their obeisances to the deities of the Supreme Lord of the Universe (Shri Shri Radha Neelamadhava) in this old decrepit rancher, and then nonchalantly used to drive home in their expensive vehicles to their expensive, well constructed huge houses with lavish furniture without too much of a second thought as to whose mercy allowed them to lead such comfortable lives – except for these three men who had a different idea. They realized that their Lordships were begging for a new home and they were so merciful that they were blessing all the folks around them to live in fancy big houses while they were struggling in discomfort.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Part A:
Visited Saranagati Village Friday, Saturday July 10-11 - Nestled in the mountain ranges of western Canada this was the site of our japa meditation retreat. Got there on Thursday night, july 9th. at about 11:50 pm. I happened to stay 2 nights at a drab nondescript place which went by the country-western sounding name of "Tumbleweed" motel about 30 mins. east of Saranagati called Cache Creek - one would not for a moment confuse this with an upscale property like a Hilton for example - but the threadbare rooms were clean and after driving for 6 plus hours all I cared for was a cot to sleep. A Mr. Kimchi (not his real name) greeted us in the reception area of the Tumbleweed. A old lazy dog half-heartedly barked to give Mr. Kimchi an advance notice of our arrival. He was this old man with a leathery weatherbeaten face that greeted us - a Korean gentleman who had probably used this motel to get his children through college. The Lord is very kind, he gives the means to all of us to fulfil our desires. We let our friend Srinivas.D. who had his whole family with him go first and get himself sorted out and then we walked up to the counter. In fact we had decided to drive in a convoy fashion - my car and S.D's cars sort of weaving a thread along the narrow winding Hwy 1, through the Canadian rockies (or I hope it is the rockies).
Mr. Kimchi was really curious to find out if there was more than the two of us in the room. He was intent on interrogating about a person in our party V.A. that was originally listed in our block booking list but whom he didn't see with us. At 11:50 pm at night I was fast losing my patience. I remembered a recent lecture of Gurudev in St. Louis where he had asked us to let the Lord disclose himself to us. I took pause - We assured him that Mr. V.A was not yet there and certainly wasn't hiding in our trunk or something, and if he arrived we would send him to Mr. Kimchi for the additional revenue that Mr. Kimchi was probably eager to collect. Even a person at an advanced age finds it hard to let go of the crippling lure of wealth.
Saranagati itself was very picturesque. My friend S.D had gone the year before and had described it to me in very glowing terms. I wouldn't call it the best scenery I have seen, there are a few other places I would rank higher; the area around Lake Tahoe as an example, so I wasn't quite wowed. But we had come for a meditation retreat, so that was OK. Saranagati village was mostly comprised of members who had chosen the simple life. They were extremely gracious hosts.
On the first day, Gurudev started us off with Mangal Aarti ceremony in the main Saranagati temple room. He set the tone for the retreat by asking us to rate our japa, and what we would like to shoot for as a goal, and what priority did japa had in our lives. Any successful seminar or retreat should be conducted this way, where participants know exactly what they are trying to get out of it and what their current blocks are. The whole day was fantastic. The breakfast, lunch and dinner prasadam was simple yet delectable. It was good to see diversity in the gathering. Sometimes our local congregation needs more diversity; that has bothered me somewhat. As someone who likes to cut across boundaries, this was good - I tried to reach out and talk to some of the people although I wasn't one of the lucky members that actually got to stay in someone's house. I wasn't sure how to get on that list - next time I have to ask A.D. how he comes up with the breakdown, so I actually get to stay with somebody - would like to chat a bit more with the Saranagati natives - I found them quite pleasant to talk to - relationships, that is the key. After going to school in the US, and generally having friends across various ethnicities, I always find myself seeking to reach out and enjoy talking to people that come from different cultures but connected by the common bond of devotion to the Lord.
The session after breakfast was really good. We were given some very good nuggets of japa wisdom by Gurudev - how to be present while saying the mantras, how to say it with feeling and in the mood of surrender and humility and how to get our heart involved in the process. It was all quite uplifting - I had heard the lectures from the previous retreat in 2008 but experiencing it first hand was definitely worth it. We got a little chance to put those nuggets into practice in preparation for our japa marathon the next day. He also invited a couple of other senior female members of the Saranagati congregation to speak on their experiences with japa, and specifically with a sequence of prayers they said before starting their rounds - they did so with great feeling from the heart and affectionately reminisced about their personal encounters with Srila Prabhupada around the theme of japa. It was evident that they were very sincere and loving in their thoughts about the Lord, and it was all very uplifting. Loving in its pure form when directed towards the Lord has great power to make us happy, and they were definitely an epitome of that - living in an austere way in this rustic community with a positive attitude, revolving their lives around devotional service and in the association of each other - the serene contentment that this community experienced was quite evident in their expressions and their generous behavior towards us.
The second day was the marathon Japa day - you had a choice of doing 32 or 64 rounds of japa. I opted for 32 but I managed to get to 44 rounds which was a personal best for me; and better than the number, I found the quality of those rounds were very good for me personally - there were moments I really felt a relationship with the Lord and a sense of getting quite close to him via the japa. It was like a divine transporter that got me albeit temporarily in a place that was definitely in the spiritual realm. The key takeaway was how by constant practice one could keep that feeling for increasing longer periods of time. Again the breakfast and lunch were terrific - on day 2, the dishes that were served to us was a mix of traditional south asian dishes, fresh salad and baked tarts for dessert.
The second day was really great. It gave us a lot of confidence that we could hold that standard when we went back. At around 2:30pm, I paid my obeisances to Gurudev and had a small chat with him partly to inform him of my early departure. I had to get home back to Seattle for some personal work I needed to finish on Sunday before the work week started.
The ride home with S.P., my company on the journey up there and I had some very animated discussion. Before leaving he had asked him some questions about our yearning for reciprocation from the Lord and how it can come from the heart. He also gave me some examples of devotees in India who had given up well paying professional careers for a higher cause sometimes under direct instructions from Gurudev. I was actually surprised at how much he knew about Gurudev's activities in India and especially in the state of Andhra Pradesh. He also told me that in India it is difficult for someone to penetrate the cordon of senior devotees who guard Gurudev's quarters and get to speak to him so he was extremely thrilled at having got the chance. It gave me a chance to reflect on my good fortune as well.
Visited Saranagati Village Friday, Saturday July 10-11 - Nestled in the mountain ranges of western Canada this was the site of our japa meditation retreat. Got there on Thursday night, july 9th. at about 11:50 pm. I happened to stay 2 nights at a drab nondescript place which went by the country-western sounding name of "Tumbleweed" motel about 30 mins. east of Saranagati called Cache Creek - one would not for a moment confuse this with an upscale property like a Hilton for example - but the threadbare rooms were clean and after driving for 6 plus hours all I cared for was a cot to sleep. A Mr. Kimchi (not his real name) greeted us in the reception area of the Tumbleweed. A old lazy dog half-heartedly barked to give Mr. Kimchi an advance notice of our arrival. He was this old man with a leathery weatherbeaten face that greeted us - a Korean gentleman who had probably used this motel to get his children through college. The Lord is very kind, he gives the means to all of us to fulfil our desires. We let our friend Srinivas.D. who had his whole family with him go first and get himself sorted out and then we walked up to the counter. In fact we had decided to drive in a convoy fashion - my car and S.D's cars sort of weaving a thread along the narrow winding Hwy 1, through the Canadian rockies (or I hope it is the rockies).
Mr. Kimchi was really curious to find out if there was more than the two of us in the room. He was intent on interrogating about a person in our party V.A. that was originally listed in our block booking list but whom he didn't see with us. At 11:50 pm at night I was fast losing my patience. I remembered a recent lecture of Gurudev in St. Louis where he had asked us to let the Lord disclose himself to us. I took pause - We assured him that Mr. V.A was not yet there and certainly wasn't hiding in our trunk or something, and if he arrived we would send him to Mr. Kimchi for the additional revenue that Mr. Kimchi was probably eager to collect. Even a person at an advanced age finds it hard to let go of the crippling lure of wealth.
Saranagati itself was very picturesque. My friend S.D had gone the year before and had described it to me in very glowing terms. I wouldn't call it the best scenery I have seen, there are a few other places I would rank higher; the area around Lake Tahoe as an example, so I wasn't quite wowed. But we had come for a meditation retreat, so that was OK. Saranagati village was mostly comprised of members who had chosen the simple life. They were extremely gracious hosts.
On the first day, Gurudev started us off with Mangal Aarti ceremony in the main Saranagati temple room. He set the tone for the retreat by asking us to rate our japa, and what we would like to shoot for as a goal, and what priority did japa had in our lives. Any successful seminar or retreat should be conducted this way, where participants know exactly what they are trying to get out of it and what their current blocks are. The whole day was fantastic. The breakfast, lunch and dinner prasadam was simple yet delectable. It was good to see diversity in the gathering. Sometimes our local congregation needs more diversity; that has bothered me somewhat. As someone who likes to cut across boundaries, this was good - I tried to reach out and talk to some of the people although I wasn't one of the lucky members that actually got to stay in someone's house. I wasn't sure how to get on that list - next time I have to ask A.D. how he comes up with the breakdown, so I actually get to stay with somebody - would like to chat a bit more with the Saranagati natives - I found them quite pleasant to talk to - relationships, that is the key. After going to school in the US, and generally having friends across various ethnicities, I always find myself seeking to reach out and enjoy talking to people that come from different cultures but connected by the common bond of devotion to the Lord.
The session after breakfast was really good. We were given some very good nuggets of japa wisdom by Gurudev - how to be present while saying the mantras, how to say it with feeling and in the mood of surrender and humility and how to get our heart involved in the process. It was all quite uplifting - I had heard the lectures from the previous retreat in 2008 but experiencing it first hand was definitely worth it. We got a little chance to put those nuggets into practice in preparation for our japa marathon the next day. He also invited a couple of other senior female members of the Saranagati congregation to speak on their experiences with japa, and specifically with a sequence of prayers they said before starting their rounds - they did so with great feeling from the heart and affectionately reminisced about their personal encounters with Srila Prabhupada around the theme of japa. It was evident that they were very sincere and loving in their thoughts about the Lord, and it was all very uplifting. Loving in its pure form when directed towards the Lord has great power to make us happy, and they were definitely an epitome of that - living in an austere way in this rustic community with a positive attitude, revolving their lives around devotional service and in the association of each other - the serene contentment that this community experienced was quite evident in their expressions and their generous behavior towards us.
The second day was the marathon Japa day - you had a choice of doing 32 or 64 rounds of japa. I opted for 32 but I managed to get to 44 rounds which was a personal best for me; and better than the number, I found the quality of those rounds were very good for me personally - there were moments I really felt a relationship with the Lord and a sense of getting quite close to him via the japa. It was like a divine transporter that got me albeit temporarily in a place that was definitely in the spiritual realm. The key takeaway was how by constant practice one could keep that feeling for increasing longer periods of time. Again the breakfast and lunch were terrific - on day 2, the dishes that were served to us was a mix of traditional south asian dishes, fresh salad and baked tarts for dessert.
The second day was really great. It gave us a lot of confidence that we could hold that standard when we went back. At around 2:30pm, I paid my obeisances to Gurudev and had a small chat with him partly to inform him of my early departure. I had to get home back to Seattle for some personal work I needed to finish on Sunday before the work week started.
The ride home with S.P., my company on the journey up there and I had some very animated discussion. Before leaving he had asked him some questions about our yearning for reciprocation from the Lord and how it can come from the heart. He also gave me some examples of devotees in India who had given up well paying professional careers for a higher cause sometimes under direct instructions from Gurudev. I was actually surprised at how much he knew about Gurudev's activities in India and especially in the state of Andhra Pradesh. He also told me that in India it is difficult for someone to penetrate the cordon of senior devotees who guard Gurudev's quarters and get to speak to him so he was extremely thrilled at having got the chance. It gave me a chance to reflect on my good fortune as well.
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