On my arrival in Germany on the 14th of April I visited my mother in Tubingen for three days. It was her 83rd birthday. Neighbors and friends from the village and the nearby city dropped in during the entire day expressing their good wishes and offering little gifts. Together with her sister I assisted her in welcoming the guests and entertained them with some little conversations. Some inquired about my life in Krsna consciousness, which gave me some little opportunities to preach.
Sometimes one's service attitude is the best preaching and leaves powerful impressions on people's hearts....
I cooked a nice birthday lunch for her, with mango chutney made from dried mango - all the way from Bangladesh. I had bought for her some Indian sweets at the Delhi airport which she always likes to eat, and I had requested the devotees from Goloka Dham in Germany to send her a little parcel with maha sweets from Sri Sri Radha Madana Mohan which arrived perfectly in time. And furthermore I had purchased for her some CD's with Christian meditations and prayerful rituals - something which will help her in developing God consciousness according to her practice. She was delighted by all the little surprises I had arranged for her and accepted them with gratitude.
Sometimes one's service attitude is the best preaching and leaves powerful impressions on people's hearts....
I cooked a nice birthday lunch for her, with mango chutney made from dried mango - all the way from Bangladesh. I had bought for her some Indian sweets at the Delhi airport which she always likes to eat, and I had requested the devotees from Goloka Dham in Germany to send her a little parcel with maha sweets from Sri Sri Radha Madana Mohan which arrived perfectly in time. And furthermore I had purchased for her some CD's with Christian meditations and prayerful rituals - something which will help her in developing God consciousness according to her practice. She was delighted by all the little surprises I had arranged for her and accepted them with gratitude.
She had indeed been a wonderful mother, especially in my childhood - the best mother I could have ever imagined! She had taken her role of being my first Guru very seriously and had planted the seed of devotional life in my heart, setting the foundation to my spiritual life today....
After the heat in Bangladesh it was refreshingly cool to come back to Europe. We still had frost during the night, and when going on a little japa walk early in the mornings I could see ice on the windscreens of the cars. Nevertheless, the spring season had brought the forests and fields to life with their colorfully blossoming wildflowers. As every year I managed to find the time to go and pick a beautiful bunch of flowers - one of my favorite activities going back to my childhood. Now within my mind I offered them to Krsna, and gave the maha to my mother.....
After the heat in Bangladesh it was refreshingly cool to come back to Europe. We still had frost during the night, and when going on a little japa walk early in the mornings I could see ice on the windscreens of the cars. Nevertheless, the spring season had brought the forests and fields to life with their colorfully blossoming wildflowers. As every year I managed to find the time to go and pick a beautiful bunch of flowers - one of my favorite activities going back to my childhood. Now within my mind I offered them to Krsna, and gave the maha to my mother.....
On the 18th of April I took a train to Goloka Dham near Saarbruecken. We had scheduled over the Easter weekend the five-day course "Exploring the Roots of Spiritual Culture" as a Vaisnavi Retreat. A nice group of 25 serious ladies had assembled, some coming all the way from the neighboring countries of Swizzerland, France, Lithuania and Finland.
The schedule was rather intense, with three hours seminars in the mornings and two hours in the afternoon. Everybody tuned in well and maintained a good focus. Some of the participating ladies were senior and had been in Krsna consciousness for more than 20 years, and others were very new. No matter how senior or new everyone was - we all gained deep insights into the universal principles of spiritual culture and made new discoveries into the secrets of spiritual practice.
The schedule was rather intense, with three hours seminars in the mornings and two hours in the afternoon. Everybody tuned in well and maintained a good focus. Some of the participating ladies were senior and had been in Krsna consciousness for more than 20 years, and others were very new. No matter how senior or new everyone was - we all gained deep insights into the universal principles of spiritual culture and made new discoveries into the secrets of spiritual practice.
Once again we had groups of participants putting together good role plays, illustrating the topics of the previous day's discussions, always comparing the underlying world views and effects of spiritual and materialistic culture. A humerous way to actively involve everyone and deepen the learning experience....! Some ladies expressed how the discussions helped them to more deeply asses themselves, bringing all kinds of unknown and hidden material attachments to the surface, which can create also some little discomfort and pain when having to face them. It is an important part of purification - being introspective and looking deeper within our hearts while trying to recognise some weeds which we have allowed to grow there along with the bhakti lata, and ultimately desire to pull them out. As Mahaprabhu instructs, we have to become an expert gardener, since the weeds and the bhakti lata look exactly the same....Only in this way we can transform our hearts on deeper levels. Unless we "boil the milk" through introspection while being deeply honest, our spiritual practice remains external and superficial.
One fascinating theme is always the topic of chastity - a word which is almost lost in the today's vocabulary. I distinctly remember some years ago I was preaching to some guests at a Sunday feast in Melbourne/Australia, and I mentioned this word chastity. And one of the ladies looked at me with wide eyes and a big question mark written all over her face, bursting out: "Chastity - what's that.....?"
Prabhupada describes the main tools of cultivating chastity as being tolerance and shyness. A perfect example is Devahuti - tolerating so much tapasya in the service to her husband, never complaining or demanding anything, and never getting agitated at provocative challenges. The foundation to tolerance is faith in Krsna, and humility - letting go of the demands of the false ego. Without those qualities it will be very difficult to cultivate tolerance.
Prabhupada further describes the quality of shyness as a particular extra-natural beauty of a woman - a gift of nature which enhances her beauty and prestige. He explains shyness as being the control valve - controlling the very powerful feminine energy and keeping it within. A shy woman can resist the temptation of enjoying the bewildering effects of her powerful feminine energy. One can compare it to a man who controls his potency to create progeny by remaining strictly celibate - he also resists to enjoy this potency and thus uses this energy on higher levels, for spiritual advancement. For a woman the same process is there, simply on a more subtle level: if she keeps her powerful energy within, she can use it on higher levels and thus becomes spiritually very powerful and also attractive, indeed even fascinating. But when this energy is wasted for sense enjoyment, even in a most subtle way such as showing off, a person becomes spiritually weak and unattractive. Thus when this powerful feminine energy is kept within by the control valve of shyness, a woman becomes the auspicious source of energy to men - a minute representative of Laxmi Devi, the Goddess of Fortune.....
Therefore Prabhupada explains that a woman should receive training in two important aspects: chastity and cooking.
Lost and forgotten secrets of fascinating womanhood.....
On the 24th of April I flew off to Stockholm/Sweden....
Your servant, Devaki dd
One fascinating theme is always the topic of chastity - a word which is almost lost in the today's vocabulary. I distinctly remember some years ago I was preaching to some guests at a Sunday feast in Melbourne/Australia, and I mentioned this word chastity. And one of the ladies looked at me with wide eyes and a big question mark written all over her face, bursting out: "Chastity - what's that.....?"
Prabhupada describes the main tools of cultivating chastity as being tolerance and shyness. A perfect example is Devahuti - tolerating so much tapasya in the service to her husband, never complaining or demanding anything, and never getting agitated at provocative challenges. The foundation to tolerance is faith in Krsna, and humility - letting go of the demands of the false ego. Without those qualities it will be very difficult to cultivate tolerance.
Prabhupada further describes the quality of shyness as a particular extra-natural beauty of a woman - a gift of nature which enhances her beauty and prestige. He explains shyness as being the control valve - controlling the very powerful feminine energy and keeping it within. A shy woman can resist the temptation of enjoying the bewildering effects of her powerful feminine energy. One can compare it to a man who controls his potency to create progeny by remaining strictly celibate - he also resists to enjoy this potency and thus uses this energy on higher levels, for spiritual advancement. For a woman the same process is there, simply on a more subtle level: if she keeps her powerful energy within, she can use it on higher levels and thus becomes spiritually very powerful and also attractive, indeed even fascinating. But when this energy is wasted for sense enjoyment, even in a most subtle way such as showing off, a person becomes spiritually weak and unattractive. Thus when this powerful feminine energy is kept within by the control valve of shyness, a woman becomes the auspicious source of energy to men - a minute representative of Laxmi Devi, the Goddess of Fortune.....
Therefore Prabhupada explains that a woman should receive training in two important aspects: chastity and cooking.
Lost and forgotten secrets of fascinating womanhood.....
On the 24th of April I flew off to Stockholm/Sweden....
Your servant, Devaki dd
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