Higher Things / Unspeakable Joy

When I was in between Monastic life and monastic life, I lived somewhat of a hippie/yuppie life and this song was so cool. Today while thinking about it I started to relate it to This Krishna conscious philosophy. It fit pretty well. Here's the lyrics.


UNSPEAKABLE JOY
When I wake up in the morning gets me outta bed
Keeps me runnin' skippin' jumpin' like a little kid
You know sometimes I can hardly keep it inside
It overtakes me, overwhelms me, and I'm mortified
I Did not get it from any woman or man
And it's okay if they don't always understand
It's very easy to get caught in circumstance
It's even easier to break out in a dance

People ask my why this supernatural high
Seeing only sun when there's a cloudy sky
I know the trouble tries to surround me
But I've been given something greater deep inside of me
When I'm facing opposition of that attitudes
We come see notions, dispositions are completely rude
When darkness thinks that it's outdone me,
I must remember the greater love's inside meI
did not get it from any woman or man
And it's okay if they don't always understand
It's very easy to get caught in circumstance
It's even easier to break out in a dance
JOY!
Unspeakable Joy!' Cause they did not give it, and they can not take it away! JOY!
Unspeakable Joy! In my heart and I can't let them steal my JOY

FFFIREFLIES !

The evening on the farm didn't seem like one until about 8:30 pm. Days are getting longer and nights sweeter and just when I thought no other creature would pop up- Freekin' Fireflies I tell you. Lighting up as they buzzed pass me. Wow, too cool. why do I wanna go to the city? Oh yeah, I have to teach, or at least practice teaching. Then it got dark and the sky looked like hollywood on Oscar night; so many stars were out, except these stars don't have hollywood star issues.
Well, Just a short one this morning. I'll check in my mind for any other babblings appropriate for posting.

I MADE BUTTER ! !

Fresh butter is better so you better eat more butter. (say it ten times really fast.)
The devotees on the farm here get their milk from a group of menonite farmers and its the best milk experience I've had in the US. It's not processed at all and is cooled to about 30 degrees right after the cow is milked. And the cows... WOW! So clean and friendly and lovable. How can they produce anything but amazing milk. Human society is missing out on the simple gifts of nature. Will we ever realize it? Thats a totally different topic. For now I'll hop one step back to the butter I made yesterday.
After the milk arrived there was so much cream on teh top and so I decided to make some butter and meditate on how Mother Yasoda makes butter for Krishna in the spiritual world. Little did I know, its exciting! You have to get all high when you see these little transformations. So there I was in the kitchen churning butter in the plastic churner they have here. I was listening to a kirtan cd and chanted all along. First came cream-whipped cream! I thought for a moment to stop there and make ice cream. . . nah, fugettaboudit! i'm making butter. So on we goes makin' butter and churns we turns and sings we along and happier we starts to get!
About fifteen minutes into it I begin to see the cream turn into this yellow substance we call butter! I was higher than a kite and could not help but pray one day to make butter everyday. When I open a monastery of my own, there MUST be fresh butter everyday for Krishna. He likes it. Krishna's most lovable pastimes involve butter stealing. Yes, God is not boring, nor is he bored. He's the embodiment of all kinds of amazing mellows. Where do we get all these qualities we find in ourselves? Did calvin and hobbes just evolve into a naughty calvin and hobbes? And dennis that menace? Nope, an artist took them from his mind. So as we're made in Krishna's image, we come with minute sparks of his qualities. He's teh supreme love stealing' double dealin' two timing' not low down but high up son of a mother who makes awesome butter and yogurt and yup, thats ze God i've decided to dedicate my time to teaching the world about. The one we know of now reflects the mind of a concocted person who's just out to get ya. he's on a guilt trip cuz no one likes his creation, they kille dhis only son, and he has an enemy named the devil. Come ON! Who is God envious of? In layman terms: which other black woman out there is Oprah envious of? LOL
Ok now for the eating part. Wish you guys were here to share it, but soon we'll all be stealing butter with Krishna so hold your horses.
P.S
(lately while typing I've been typing "teh" instead of "the" and I have no idea why taht's (LOL) happening.)

AH!

That was my expression as I walked off the porch into the thunderstorm a few minutes ago. The day had started nice and warm on the farm and after I made lunch for the devotees I decided to sit and chant in the doorway for a few minutes. Rain clouds began to gather and I began speculating if the color of the cloud passing was the same as Krishna's complexion. A few minutes later it began to pour and I watched for a moment reminiscing about Africa in the rainy season. Days like these wouldn't find me on the porch, I thought. I'd be in the rain and picking up fallen mangoes. " would be nice to do it again", I thought. Wait a minute, when did I, of all people grow up? When? At that moment it was goodbye porch and in the rainstorm with my bead bag strolling along the road and chanting softly. It was like back then! I remembered a past time of Srila Prabhupada in LA and how he wanted to run up the stairs. He mentioned that those desires were still there but the body wasn't allowing it to happen anymore. In such a simple instance he showed the difference between the body and the soul. " Well I'd better enjoy this while I can, " I thought. Which led up to me writing about this now and which will lead me to the Kitchen afterwards to make some warm halava to offer to Krishna and then parttake in his remnants. On days like these my mom would make soup and my brother, cousins and I would eat and watch television. So what's a monk to do now? Halava, soup or somethng warm, definitely. And perhaps one of Srila Prabhupada's books instead of a movie will do.

P.S

No pictures lately because of dail- up connection. But I'll post some soon.

Nectar in the End

Living a simple life in a complicated world is not such a simple thing at all :) We've learned so much in this world that is supposedly the way to live and be happy, yet year after year no one has achieved the happiness they expect or look for. Yet there exists a perfect world- not the utopian perfection, but the perfect that comes out of the simplest of gestures, when in a space in time you know you've endeavored for something worth it.

I would like to spend the rest of my life learning and teaching about Krishna consciousness. Mostly i would like to teach about his simplicity. People think God lives in this big castle in the sky with streets of Gold whatever rich people might imagine about the spiritual realm. But from the Vedic scriptures we learn that God is just a boy; a boy who lives in a little village with his family and loving friends. He protects his devotees thru any danger, even to the point o flifting a hill like he did five thousand years ago. His mother, along with the rest of the village think about him all day when he's gone to the fields with his brother to tend the cows. He wanders along the river with his friends making funny noises, playing in caves, you name it, God does it. the story goes on about this simple place and this is where I long to be at the end of my life.

But to get there is not so easy. Tolorance, hunility, and so many other things have to be learned in order to transcend this world and go back. But then there's a secret- invite as many people as you can to come back to the spiritual world and Krishna will endow you with all the good qualities that you long to achieve. Yup, Krishna promises that. he does. So one day I'll see you all around the bend. my huckleberry friends!

THE PRAYER

I pray youll be our eyes, and watch us where we go.
And help us to be wise in times when we dont know
Let this be our prayer, when we lose our way
Lead us to the place, guide us with your grace
To a place where well be safe

I pray we’ll find Your light
And hold it in our hearts
When stars go out each night
Remind us where You are
Let this be our prayer
When shadows fill our day

A world where pain and sorrow will be ended
And every heart that’s broken will be mended
And we’ll remember we are all God’s children
Reaching out to touch you, reaching to the sky

We ask that life be kind
And watch us from above
We hope each soul will find
Another soul to love

Let this be our prayer
Just like every child
Needs to find a place
Guide us with Your grace
Give us faith so we’ll be safe

And that faith you've lit
deep within our hearts
i think faith can save us