PARTY LIKE A KRISHNA STAR

Yesterday there was a cool dust storm while I was at Radhakunda. Sitting at the banks I watched as these dark clouds approached and then stirred the dust so much that the visibility was about 30 percent. Now thats a lotta dust in the air. So much so that as i got up the wind carried 175 pounds of me! It reminded me of a story when Krishna was kidnapped by this mystic demon who took the form of a tornado and raised the roof... i mean the dust. After that i ran into a friend of mine, Damodar, from Canada. He's studying sanskrit at our sanskrit school in Govardhana. We also got to steal sugar cane from a passing truck with thousands on it. YUP. monks steal sugar cane :) you have to. its so tempting to be mischiveous in vrindavan. the right kind of mischeif tho. One ppl can laugh at later, not one you'd be hated for forever.

This morning we had our boat festival. The courtyard of the temple was filled with water and decorated with flower designs and the temple dieties were places on a peacock boat and rowed around. We should try that in gainesville.. fill the temple with.. oh wait we shoudn't.

The temple here has a sunken in courtyard:) There were This boat festival takes place in the spiritual world along with many other awesome pastimes. I shouldn't forget all the singing and dancing that went on as well. Vidos wiil be shown when I return. One day after we're all purified, we can see these things in the devine forest as described here:

In a temple of jewels in Vrndavana, underneath a desire tree, Sri Sri
Radha‑Govinda, served by Their most confidential associates, sit upon an
effulgent throne. I offer my humble obeisances unto Them.

Sri Srila Gopinatha, who originated the transcendental mellow of the rasa
dance, stands on the shore in Vamsivata and attracts the attention of the
cowherd damsels with the sound of His celebrated flute. May they all confer
upon us their benediction.
So yup, the spiritual world is a very cool place to be. With a straw between my teeth I bow before you all and humbly beg you to please give up your material hankerings and come be part of the eternal amorous pastimes of our most dear friend Krishna.

IT IS . . .

Hot like somewhere I don't wanna mention.
probably about a hundred degrees rightt now.
I did that 14 minle walk again today:)
i have a few more days left and I think I'm gonna just eat fruit in such a weather.
oh by the way.. you are allowed to leave a coment or two you know.
no seriously, you should, you can, YOU MUST !
ah, now that we've settled that.
pictures coming soon

नो लेट'स सी इफ एनी ऑफ़ यू गुय्स कैन रीड वहत इ'म व्र्तिंग।

कात्च अ शूटिंग स्तर एंड पुट आईटी इन यौर पोक्केट सेव आईटी और अ रैनी डे

इ लव थिस । ओनली जाया कैन उन्देर्स्तंद वहत इ जुस्त व्रोते। नेक्स्ट टाइम इ गेट बेक वे विल मके सोम निस कृष्ण प्रसदम

लव, केसव एंड जगन्नाथ कीर्तन

నౌ లెట్స్ సి ఈఫ్ యు గుయ్స్ కాన్ ఉన్దేర్స్తాండ్ థిస్ ఒనె :)

ఐ లవ్ ఇట్ ఐ లవ్ ఇట్ ఐ జస్ట్ లవ్ తో టాసే పీపుల్

a PHEW! More Pictures

monks are all great cooks!
finland monk Sadhu Marg Das
I realize it was only funn to me
who wouldn't wanna meditate in this room?

Raise your hands if ya feel the love, rock the streets til they also feel it.

shiny happy canadian monks too!

WHATS IT ALL ABOUT MONKIE ?

What makes a monk Tick? What kind of mellows do they find in it? Why do it?





I had the fortune of posing a unique question to one of our teachers, Niranjana Swami, as he prepared to leave for Russia, back to his base of teaching Krishna Consciousness. He had been talking a few days back about the gift of the human body. Why just use it for eating sleeping mating and defending? aren't such pleasures available to other animals as well? We as humans have access to our inner senses as well. Why not try to experience life from that perspective?

He happens to be one of my favorite chanters of Bengali and Sanskrit verses glorifying Krishna and his devotees and so he led the chanting for about an hour.

The english translations reveal the deep sentiments in each song we sang and i realized that only a person experiencing life from within can write like this. It wasn't along the lines of the regular "i love you forever, unbreak my heart, hit me baby one more time, wanna be starting something" kind of songs. No sir! How bout this one:

1) The divine couple, Sri Sri Radha and Krsna, is my life and soul. In life or death I have no other refuge but Them.
2) In a forest of small kadamba trees on the bank of the Yamuna, I will seat the divine couple on a throne made of brilliant jewels.
3) I will anoint Their dark and fair forms with sandalwood paste scented with cuya, and I will fan Them with a camara whisk. Oh, when will I behold Their moonlike faces?
4) After stringing together garlands of malati flowers I will place them around Their necks, and I will offer tambula scented with camphor to Their lotus mouths.
5) With the permission of all the sakhis, headed by Lalita and Visakha, I will serve the lotus feet of Radha and Krsna.
6) Narottama dasa, the servant of the servant of Sri Krsna Caitanya Prabhu, longs for this service to the divine couple.

So I asked him why or what was so attractive about this process that made him give up his future of dreams and travel to Russia to teach? What was so awarding or rewarding?

He smiled and said something in five words alone that made the rest of my journey as a monk as clear as crystal clear water. I was so overjoyed and amazed at such a simple answer that i thought i'd enjoy this for a little while longer before you guys get to hear it:)

So I'll talk about it when I get back to America.

Way to keep ya'll in suspense eh? LOVE IT ! ! !

OK fine. How bout some pictures

GOURA PURNIMA

The Morning Of

I slept on the roof of the Chowpatty temple under a beautiful 90 percent full moon and so waking up this morning was very hard. I just wanted to lie there staring at the moon. It's Lord Caitanya's birthday, just stare at the moon! But no, Monks have to get up for meditation so I consoled my mind and woke up. My mind is like my own built in wife LOL. It's explained that when Krishna was on the planet, he performed his share of duties like any other human being- except that he's Krishna. He also had to get up for morning meditation and sometimes his queens would be so angry at the dawn for coming so quick. Now Krishna had to get outta bed and not lie next to them all morning. I'm no Krishna, but my mind can relate to them queens sometimes. The meditation was led by His Holiness Radhantath Swami, the spiritual guide for the devotees here in Chowpatty. It was very focused and sweet and many times i wanted to grab my camera but just couldn't leave. also the temple was so packed that if i left my spot i wouldn't get it back.

I found a place in one of the rooftop windows and took pictures for the second half of the morning program, greeting the Dieties. But then I couldn't get a picture of Lord Caitanya, si I'll post one later. By the way the internet in bombay rocks.

Kirtan was led by a visiting spiritual leader His Holiness NIranjana Swami, who visited Krishna lunch a few months back. you can check for pictures of him on the Krishna lunch website also.

the Videos and pictures will speak from here on. I'll be back later with more fun news.

IN PREPARATION

Tomorrow we're celebrating a great festival called Goura Purnima. This morning's class instructed us to understand why Goura Purnima is available to us, especially in the west. Krishna plays different past times all over the universe, and those who give up their personal time to broadcast these past times are the most munificient. Srila Prabhupada, our movements founder is one such person, and we owe him a lot. If you love the food at Krishna Lunch, raise yo hands up! ! ! ha ha. Honestly, its by the endeavor to Please Krishna and develop genuine relationships with a deep spiritual meaning that Krishna lunch goes on. If you guys didn't come and eat, who would we cook for? this is called exchange of love. giver and taker. but it all started from the desiree of Srila Prabhupada to see a better world of people exchanging simple things like food as expressions of love. If you can make it, visit the temple in Alachua and share the fun of Goura Purnima.

kesh

SOME PHOTOS FOR YO MOTOS ! !

We fed hundreds of holy men and women and then went to Varshana to play holi.

There was color everywhere! my feet are still red on the bottom from so much dye:) then the next day we visited my friend's cottage and swam in the holy river nearby.

Been having awesome meditation nights here and I have tons of FOTOS for Ya'll

P H E W ! ! !

HOLA !

It's been a fun three days. I took a one day trip to Jaipur with my friend Advaita to see a kid he's sponsoring in one of the villages there. That was a very sweet experience seeing my friends extending themselves to others in their own way. Jaipur literally translates as the city of victory and is beautifully protected with forts all over the area. We took tons of pictures at the Amber fort and then in other places as well. More Pictures when I get back.

Back in Vrindavan we all went to our routine evening chanting and meditation with BB Govinda swami who leads beautiful chanting sessions for hours on end. He invited us to Varshana, a nearby holy town, for the festival of Holi. Holi is an ancient past time played by Krishna and his friends where natural color dye is thrown everywhere and on everyone and everything! It's a huge event and the roads were packed with people from all the surrounding villages. Over five thousand people gathered in Varshana and sang, danced, as well as playfully colored each other. Something also interesting one had to watch out for was the beating. YUP, the beating. On this day in Varshana, women carry sticks and beat anyone who throws dye on em. It's a pretty fun sight. All the guys carry around these armor looking things to protect themselves.

Yesterday We had lunch at the home of one of my God brothers Giridahari and then went for a swim in the Yamuna river. The Yamuna is a branch of the Ganges river that flows through Vrindavan and is considered even holier than the Ganges because Krishna played in there with his friends all the time. We had a nice swim in kind of a private area away from the normal pilgrim sites along the banks.

It was about 95 degrees here so walking in the sun exhausted me a bit and I slept in til 6 this morning. Today I plan to relax and do some serious meditation then leave for Bombay in the evening.

Caio!

if you can't see fotos on here, go to flickr and type in Keshinindia and it'll direct you to some fun pictures:)

A few fun things happening! . . .

INDIA AS I KNOW IT

The beat really starts to go on now. Internet down for two days, electricity in and out. But spiritually we're moving on up. There's so much to tell in so little space so i'll just let you guys see pictures! I've been hanging out with different monks everyday and learning so much! The morning meditations have been led by really sweet monks and it sets the tone for the rest of my day. My friend Advaita from Australia is here and we've become monk groupies ha ha. I mean these people have lived this lifestyle for 30, 40 years! Some people follow Brad and Angie, I follow these People. When you see someone who have learned to master their senses, teach others, and remain happier than thirteen year olds, you realize spirituality is worth every cent!

I'd write more details but in India right now I'm lucky to be writing at all. It's hard to get constant internet flow for those of you who are computer dependent---beware!

Also I decided to post the pictures on to flickr since its easier from this part of the world. Downloading can be no fun at times

ok, here you go!

these are my two friends and monk groupies Advaita and Bhakti Nilai from Australia and South Africa respectively.

You can also find more pictures on flickr.com. just type in keshinindia and some more should pop up.

I'm preparing a slide show for when i return!

More Monks!

With the Goura Purnima festival approaching many devotees are pouring into Vrindavan. Of course amongs these are senior monks who have been practising for thirty years or more. being in their prescense is very inspiring for me. I long for the day when i can look back and say wow I've done this for thirty years!
This morning's meditation session was led by one such monk Param gati Swami, and the morning lecture was given by Bhaktivijnana Swami. (I'll pay you if you can pronounce that. Test on friday)
He spoke about developing relationships to a point where we live peacefully. He said that there has to be a foundation of awe and reverence for the person and then when that foundation is strong and the person lets you into their world you can have a more intimate relationship with them. Someone asked then that why do we see in some pictures of Krishna, or some stories, that his friends play roughly with him, or jump on his bed to wake him up, or tease him. (yup, you can play jokes on God, but the joke may end up on you:) )
His answer was that because these people are on the top level of understanding God and reverently serving him faithfully, now Krishna trusts that they won't breed contempt from his association.
After the lecture I spent the first of my day shopping for the temple. I wanted to get it all out of my head and then just focus and meditate and serve. So far so Good.

Realization:

Naturally we all want to be loved, but that joy only comes when our love becomes one with no desire for self pleasure; only pleasure for the beloved. When we can give whole-heartedly without expectations our lives are so sublime!

Again no pictures but I'll uploag them and you all can have a field day. I have pictures of cows and pigs and monkeys and monks and dieties and villages and traffic and real crowded busses and etc and etcccc

Celebrating A Legacy

Yesterday I had the good fortune of listening to three monks glorify one of our deceased monks who helped push the Hare Krishna movement forward. His name was Tamal Krishna Goswami.
From his initial meeting with our movement's founder, Srila Prabhupada, he completely showed symptoms of a first class disciple. A first class disciple is one who knows what the teacher wants before his/her teacher even asks for it. He was known to always think outside the box and do innovative things to help the movement in its early years. He was known to many as someone very diligent, punctual, strict in his monastic vows, and loyal to the service of his guru.
We all sat at the ISKCON center in Govardhana, a grazing pasture for cows since thousands of years. Govardhana is a very holy place of pilgrimage for Krishna devotees and while walking along the side street you may find many great yogis performing dandavat parikrama, prostrating themselves flat all around the hill which is about 12 miles or more.
After the talk we all had a nice chanting session and then were sumptously fed four different vegetable preparations including Kofta balls, cabbage subji, dahl, three tpes of sweets like gulab jumins, sweet rice, jalebis and a nice lemonade that made me miss you Krishna lunchers :)
I then had a nice conversation about monk life with one of the monks, His Holiness B B Govinda Swami and afterwards left for vrindavan.

Realization:
Holy Places aren't made of sticks and stones but of the people you associate with when you're in such a place. By serving these holy people you get their mercy to advance in spiritual consciousness and fully understand the goal of life.

A DAY IN DELHI

Its always good to travel in India with a group so that the price becomes cheaper for travelling. Friday Sri Ram (the guy who plays the drum at Krishna Lunch) and Rupa wanted to find musical instruments in Delhi so I decided to tag along and get a Harmonium (that piano looking thing plaed at Krishna Lunch) for Mike (that guy... ) and JayaLila (that guy's wife). After morning meditations we left for what turned out to be a fascinating advnture. YUP! our driver was dozing off at teh wheel and so I kept clapping very loudly and annoyingly to keep him up. Indian traffic can look something like this in the bigger cities. The journey is so much fun and luckily Devotees are thought to constantly remember Krishna. So we all pay for his protection in every situation. especially traffic ones like these:)

ISKCON DELHI

We buy this amazing Harmonium (that music piano thingie) For just within the Price range. Normally scale changing Harmoniums cost up to Six hundred bucks in India but I had to use my bargaining skill :) and I did! We finall made our way to the temple and walked around the beautiful grounds complete with fountains, garden, exhibits, a restaurant and exquisite architecture. My camera ran outta batteries so I'll post pictures later on in a few days.