After having spent three and half weeks at my mother's home in a village outside of Tuebingen I could hardly wait to return to the association of devotees. In Simhachalam everyone had recovered from the Corona virus, and it was safe for me to return. I decided to make a little detour and visit the devotees in the small community of Leipzig for the main Kartik festivals of Govardhana Puja and Srila Prabhupada's disappearance. It had been four years ago that I visited the devotees here last, and meanwhile the preaching center had moved to a bigger place.
Now, the Corona restrictions had become strict once again, and we all had to wear masks, and only 25 people were allowed to participate in the program. But we were not allowing ourselves to get discouraged and decided to celebrate Govardhana Puja two times - on Saturday the 14th of November with families and children, and on Sunday with other devotees. So I had the good fortune to absorb my mind into the Govardhana lila on two days....! For the Saturday program, the children got together and made a cute little Govardhana Hill, with lots of colorful flowers. And on Sunday it was a little bigger.
The celebration for Srila Prabhupada's disappearance was sweet and meditative. I was invited to offer the main class, and several other devotees also spoke and glorified Srila Prabhupada. Even though the program was once again limited to 25 participants, it was nevertheless simply wonderful to be able to get together and be amongst devotees! The Corona crisis teaches us to value each other's association more deeply - things we took for granted before have now become most precious.
During those weeks when I stayed with my mother, I practically experienced what devotional life is like when living far away from the nearest temple. It was a new experience for me - I had never lived away from the devotees during my 35 years in Krishna consciousness! I always knew how important it is to regularly have the association of devotees and - as far as possible - live in walking distance to the temple. And this experience now clearly confirmed my understanding. It became crystal clear to me, how difficult it is to factually make spiritual advancement when living far away from devotees. And yet, so many devotees around the world live like this!
When we live far away from a temple, most likely we may only visit a Vaishnava program once a week at the most, and maybe not even that. And on other days we do our sadhana at home and listen to classes over the internet. Indeed, there is no comparison to such a lifestyle with living in a community of devotees like Simhachalam for example! Here, we have the opportunity to start the day with a joyful Mangal Artik, hear and discuss the SB class in the association of devotees and take prasadam together. What a joyful life! Furthermore, living closely together with other Vaishnavas offers intense purification - EVERY DAY! We have to adjust to other's needs, ideas and desires, and practically apply our philosophy of serving the devotees in humility. Our false ego gets provoked almost every day....! And we receive instant reactions when we don't follow the Vaishnava etiquette, commit offences to the devotees and engage in prajalpa or criticism. It becomes magnified and falls back onto us. The devotees around us act like a mirror to ourselves and powerfully reflect our own behavior. And above all, Lord Nrsimhadeva's presence further intensifies this cleansing process.
We all know what a purifying challenge it is to be situated in family life. Living in a rural community can indeed be compared to a large family: it offers a lot of support and joy, with plenty of opportunities for loving exchanges. But it may also give opportunity for tension, disagreements, gossip and Vaishnava aparadha. Unless one cultivates humility and tolerance, one will not be able to remain in such close Vaishnava association. And this is exactly why it is so purifying - we cannot run away from the fact that we need to become humble and tolerant...!
In the spiritual world, we will join a huge community of unlimited numbers of personalities - all blissfully absorbed in making the most pleasing arrangement for the Lord. There is structure, organisation and hierarchy - not anarchy and chaos, where everyone is doing their own thing. No, to make the most pleasing arrangement for Krishna's satisfaction, there has to be perfect harmony and cooperation. In the spiritual world, everyone desires to humbly assist the assistants of the assistants of the assistants of the Divine couple, and in this way, by serving in full bliss and harmony we can make the most pleasing offering to the Lord.
If we want to return to the spiritual world one day, we have to imbibe this mood - already here and now. Being an active part of a nice Vaishnava community offers the perfect opportunity to cultivate this spirit and thus qualify ourselves to return home, back to Godhead....
On the 19th of November I was happy to return to Simhachalam....
Your servant, Devaki dd
When we live far away from a temple, most likely we may only visit a Vaishnava program once a week at the most, and maybe not even that. And on other days we do our sadhana at home and listen to classes over the internet. Indeed, there is no comparison to such a lifestyle with living in a community of devotees like Simhachalam for example! Here, we have the opportunity to start the day with a joyful Mangal Artik, hear and discuss the SB class in the association of devotees and take prasadam together. What a joyful life! Furthermore, living closely together with other Vaishnavas offers intense purification - EVERY DAY! We have to adjust to other's needs, ideas and desires, and practically apply our philosophy of serving the devotees in humility. Our false ego gets provoked almost every day....! And we receive instant reactions when we don't follow the Vaishnava etiquette, commit offences to the devotees and engage in prajalpa or criticism. It becomes magnified and falls back onto us. The devotees around us act like a mirror to ourselves and powerfully reflect our own behavior. And above all, Lord Nrsimhadeva's presence further intensifies this cleansing process.
We all know what a purifying challenge it is to be situated in family life. Living in a rural community can indeed be compared to a large family: it offers a lot of support and joy, with plenty of opportunities for loving exchanges. But it may also give opportunity for tension, disagreements, gossip and Vaishnava aparadha. Unless one cultivates humility and tolerance, one will not be able to remain in such close Vaishnava association. And this is exactly why it is so purifying - we cannot run away from the fact that we need to become humble and tolerant...!
In the spiritual world, we will join a huge community of unlimited numbers of personalities - all blissfully absorbed in making the most pleasing arrangement for the Lord. There is structure, organisation and hierarchy - not anarchy and chaos, where everyone is doing their own thing. No, to make the most pleasing arrangement for Krishna's satisfaction, there has to be perfect harmony and cooperation. In the spiritual world, everyone desires to humbly assist the assistants of the assistants of the assistants of the Divine couple, and in this way, by serving in full bliss and harmony we can make the most pleasing offering to the Lord.
If we want to return to the spiritual world one day, we have to imbibe this mood - already here and now. Being an active part of a nice Vaishnava community offers the perfect opportunity to cultivate this spirit and thus qualify ourselves to return home, back to Godhead....
On the 19th of November I was happy to return to Simhachalam....
Your servant, Devaki dd
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