Touring Bangladesh

After our ecstatic Hare Krishna Convention at Rup Sanatan Tirtha had come to an end I traveled to Khulna with a group of devotees to conduct an evening program. I had not visited here for around 10 years - in those early days the devotees had rented an old little building to meet for programs, and meanwhile they had obtained some land and had constructed several buildings for a temple and a brahmacari ashram. I could witness the preaching flourishing!
For the evening program I spoke on Srila Prabhupada being the Founder Acarya, and it was well attended by a good crowd of eager devotees. As usual I concluded by distributing lots of Srila Prabhupada's books and signing them with good wishes.

On the following morning (13th of March) we traveled on to Perojpur, where the devotees had arranged a public evening program in an auditorium, on the topic of death. Many educated people from the city attended and were visibly affected. Death is always a most powerful topic to shake us up from our illusory dream-world, imagining ourselves to be here forever - simply in order to enjoy life..... Once we understand more deeply what exactly happens in this very moment of death, we can experience a stronger urgency to develop our Krishna consciousness as a preparation to meet this final challenge. Again I concluded the program by placing lots of Srila Prabhupada's books into people's hands, which marks a serious start to our journey back home.

On the next day we left in the early morning to Barisal - we had a long journey of around 5 hour's drive ahead of us.
I had not visited this yatra for around 12 to 15 years - a nice brahmacari ashram had developed meanwhile, with the student preaching flourishing. I gave three longer evening programs: two being on the topic of death, and the last one on the art of chanting - the perfect way to prepare for this final exam.
I was accomodated in a new, clean and spacious flat in walking distance to the temple, with the owners being on a holiday. I had the entire place for myself which gave me a nice and peaceful atmosphere during the day, so I could work on some writing tasks. Such opportunities are very rare in Bangladesh, and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

One morning I offered a SB class and after breakfast conducted a class for the temple devotees on the topic of balancing one's external life with one's internal development. This topic is relevant for all devotees of all ashrams and accompanies us throughout our whole spiritual life. Especially in these modern days of Kali Yuga we place more emphasis on external endeavors and success, because they give more satisfaction to our false ego. Internal endeavors and achievements don't give much recognition and are thus often neglected. But Krishna consciousness is certainly an internal process, and unless we are clearly aware of this, we can entirely miss its target by only focussing on external achievements. We all have external duties and responsibilities, which are connected to this temporary reality in this material world. And those external activities have to be well balanced with the eternal reality - our internal development of becoming a pure and selfless servant of the Lord and His devotees.
The main and foremost aspect of our internal development is our daily sadhana - our personal practice of hearing, reading and chanting, and reflecting in honest introspection. Even as a brahmacari or preacher we can easily neglect our sadhana, thinking ourselves to have so many more important things to do: big preaching programs and events, money collection and temple construction, or running from one preaching event to another. Srila Prabhupada instructed us that "our main business" is chanting the holy name. Since we are restless and cannot sit down like Haridas Thakur and constantly chant, we therefore need some engagement in the service to Krishna and His devotees. However, we should not get carried away by external endeavors and achievements, thinking them to be the most important thing in Krishna consciousness. In order to get this balance right, we require a mentor: a confidential, well-wishing friend, who has no other interest except helping us in our spiritual growth and development.

Furthermore, we need to become an expert time manager, not wasting even a single minute in useless activities. Time is very valuable, and whatever time is gone can never be regained - not even a single moment. We have the saying "time is money". However, time is even more precious because it cannot be regained, whereas money can. Therefore not a single moment should be lost. We have a certain amount of time left in this body in order to prepare for the final exam of death, and as we become more purified our desire to use every minute in a meaningful way in Krishna's service increases. Internet with its social networks is a true time thief - maya has gone high tech! Our time easily slips through our fingers by engaging in small talk and gossip over internet, or browsing the net for meaningless informations, filling our mind with mundane thoughts. Instead of cultivating deep, meaningful and personal exchanges with devotees around us, our relationships become shallow and superficial internet friendships.
And thus Kali Yuga is progressing.....
The devotees asked nice questions, and a lively discussion ensued.....

It was a nice visit to Barisal with devotees feeling encouraged and inspired. And once again after each evening program I placed lots of Srila Prabhupada's books into people's hands....

On the 17th of March I took a domestic flight back to Dhaka, relaxed for one day and flew out to Delhi and on to Cologne.....

Your servant, Devaki dd