Bringing It Home

A few days ago a friend who follows my blog and whose adventurous love for the great outdoors wrote ma a nice note about goings on in his life. He mentioned that he enjoys reading my blog but get little knowledge about my actual life from them. So after careful consideration I decided to write today on why I chose a monastic life. Of course there are many paths and individuals following those paths, but for this blog I'll stick to the Krishna Consciousness Movement and my, as well as some others' involvement in it.

The hope of a parent is to see that their child is educated, and happy in life, and some, if they could, would try as hard as possible to shield their children's innocence form time. My innocence was broken at an early age, 6 years old, as Politicians in my country staged coups and imposed curfews on the citizens during their fight to the top of the mountain and occupy some post. Again, on my eleventh birthday, the civil war that lasted for more than 10 years in Liberia began. I quickly put away my toys and became mother's helper, making sure everything went smoothly in running our household, now also joined by other family and friends whose areas had been severely affected by war. As time went by I was practically and adult before 15 and my dreams of becoming a Franciscan monk was fading away as the mode of life, keeping your head above water, crept in. Then something else threatened- recruitment of child soldiers, which urged my Father to bring me to the US to live with him.

My father had a zillion plans for my life and worked hard to give me a comfortable means for studying and then realizing his dreams for me. But mother had taught me to make decisions I will live with for the rest of my life and blame no one later for "making me" live a life I didn't want to. In America thanks to the Media, the lives of everyone was an already opened book or a book waiting to be opened by some luck of the draw act- win the lottery and you're on TV; Save a dog from drowning, blow up buildings, molest someone- anyone could be famous in an instant. I also watched my dad struggle daily as he drove from New Jersey to New York to work and then on the weekends spend most of his time on the sofa in front of Headline News pouring in with more and more negative things happening in the world. From my own experience, children are impressionable and so I began to really question the dream my dad had for me vs the monastic life I wanted to lead since I was 5. What kind of culture was this where people worked so hard 11 and a half months out of the year for two weeks of vacation where they spend their hard earnings on Jack Daneils, Jim Beam, Johnny Walker, Jose Quervo and a T-shirt that says they did?

In Africa I lived in a community with Jews, Hindus, Christians, and Muslims shared everything. Once I asked my mom why we had so many mixed bowls and plates and she mentioned that if I wanted a complete set of china, I had to go and retrieve them from the neighbors. But I also couldn't take their bowls and plates back empty. Here, I saw a deep resentment of individuals based on externals- religion, skin color, this, that, etc.

So when I came across Four Krishna monks and two nuns on a busy day in Seattle, I had to dig deeper. I visited them almost daily for three weeks straight trying to understand why 25 people lived so happily sharing rooms in a house meant for maybe 6 people. Why were they so peaceful? Why was I not satisfied although I was earning and living as I desired- or more as I had fallen into the pattern of living. Talking with some of them was even more incredible! These were young men and women from well-to-do families who just didn't find satisfaction in their daily life course and so dared to do the extraordinary. Of course their families freaked out beyond reason; got cut out of wills, others "deprogrammed" back into the "normalcy" of society, and others who had everything, like on monk who lived with his mother in Beverly Hills in a mansion, just decided to move into such a situation.

So why did i do it? For me, sharing things with people was natural in my upbringing, I shared a bedroom with bunk beds occupied by my brothers and the best part, the music, was something I did everyday with my Mother and Step-Father. When my mom would come home after work, in the evenings she would sit on the porch with my Step father and sing songs they learned from their parents, for Church, or from growing up amongst friends. So when the monastery came alive at 4:30 am with Songs of the Spiritual Master, I was more than happy to Join in. Also the topic of God was not doctrine but very practical- we have a relationship with God, Krsna as he's called in Vedic thought, and to show our love for him, we did something for him. Just as I saw my mom cooking and sharing with the Neighbors, or many guests coming over on the weekends to spend the day in our yard on the beach, or other personal dealings, Service to God then means that He is a person and doing things in the association of devotees shows love for Him. We, in the monastery also came from various religious or nonreligious backgrounds. We developed great friendships with each other based on service to a common goal, we protected each other and cultivated each other. This was nothing like I had seen as a result of the Civil wars or my introduction to America. More interestingly, people in the war were before very close friends, and due to intoxication of power, were now hunting each other down.

Come see a world that's filled with pain

broken homes and scavenges

where hatred and strife

seems not to cease

where children laugh and play

as kids together

then grow as men and fight

to kill their pals.

Where friends betray each other and then sing "Soul rest in Peace" -

I had to change my world, even if it meant sleeping in a sleeping bag next to five or five hundred people with that same goal. I prefer living simply with a small bowl of Good healthy food, than a fridge supply of junk, filling the empty gap of satisfaction in the body with food prepared by a machine or someone who takes the place of the machine, does his job, care nothing about you, but cares about his paycheck at the close of the week. When mother made food, it was infused with her conscious love for her children and this same, or even better conscious was in the minds of the cooks in the monastery. No pay, just love for those you live with and a desire to see them satisfied eating food offered in Love to Krsna.

In this realm I live in now, no one who deeply understands this Krishna Conscious philosophy lives to exploit anyone else. We're learning daily that Love means self sacrifice, and knowledge of the Supreme Person is very vast. Not limited to cast or creed. When a person lives without fear- without feeling threatened by the next person, then human life becomes a grand vehicle to drive us to our ultimate goal- to build a world where God is real and we are real and our relationship between God, man, and nature is harmonious :)

Good Morning. Hare Krishna.

AT SECOND GLANCE (free writing)

Although I hate the cold like anything, sometimes mother nature puts on such awesome shows that I can't help but stand outside and marvel.
On my way to the temple one morning I was fortunate to look up and see about three shooting stars; another time on a full moon night tons of deer were playing around in the yard, which was super cool because from where I stood I could see little deer silhouettes running and jumping around the yard. My favorite was two mornings ago when I walked out to go to the temple. I seriously though i was walking upside down!
There was frost everywhere and the place was a bit dark, but the ground was tinkling, reflecting the light from the sky. It was like stars on the floor and stars up above and for a moment I thought someone slipped me happy drugs while I slept.
But all this is Krsna's doing. When I think of the phrase "God is great", I remember these simple things or the amazing people i meet on this spiritual journey. Beauty is everywhere and at anytime, and one just needs to pause awhile:
pause awhile pause awhile
in the humdrum of the city
and behind the cloistered wall
in the early morning
when the shadows start to fall
to see creation bending to the maker o fit all
and all you have to do is pause awhile
(learned that when i was growing up, can't remember where, but still remember it)

If you can get hold of a copy of the Bhagavad- gita and read through he tenth chapter, you'll be amazed how easy it is to remember Krsna- in everything.
Like any artist with his or her specific style and character, Krsna, with but a spark of his splendor pervades this cosmic art show.
Foolish ones may think that all this just popped out of nowhere,
but as a monk, most of my time si spend in deep thought, even while acting.
So here's a thought: apparently it took millions and billions of years for evolution to get us where we are now. OK I respect that. But why then doest it take seconds now, to see a few shooting stars, or moon cycles and seasons? when did everything become so organized? And if its all randomly acting, why should i trust the weatherman?


Hmmmmm...
But the world i see today is one where people aren't allowed to think about whats not set before them as the status quo. Take a few moments and people watch- its like a robot show. Some being hauled off to here or there, others relaxing from the haul, etc. A friend once reminded me that "everyone else except you monks, have to work for their living, you know."
So there's this almost unspoken consensus that monks don't work. OK then, I might say, when was the last time you stood up from being pushed around?
"I'm not pushed around" might be the respond.
Do you get hungry, thirsty, horny, angry?
"these are human, natural human happenings" might come another response.
So then, why do people strive SO hard for happiness? Its also Natural, like other urges. So far in life I've come across no one who looks forward to being unhappy. No one wants to die, no one wants to get old. Are they all now "Natural"
I've come to understand that these are "Natural" for the body;but the embodied, is of a different nature. That nature one can come to understand when one rises above and conquers these other "natural" habits forced upon is due to our present illusory state of being. So whats a monks job?
Learning to rise above these urges, rising above these urges, and then teaching others how to do the same :)
Quite contrary form the world where selfish ism is the norm. Whats mine is mine, and I won't you be as good as I am.
So visit us monks more often and learn ways of old. learn to rise and see the free light and the spirit. learn to be rare.
IMHO

ABANDON SHIP

The merry go round is picking up speed as the fuel of survival is poured into the fire of life.
Wake up, shower if you have time, if none, arm and hammer your underarm, gel your hair, smell for the freshest clothes in the pile and off you go. Your mind was at school before you got there, you already heard the teacher say what he just said, about what you'll never use when you get out of here, but who cares, when all this is done you'll be taking a break for a few minutes. The break was gone before you got there because you mind took it to your next class you'll have in an hour so you sit for a second to watch the world go by. She's cute, maybe I should talk to her, but the clothes you have on warn you that she might not wanna talk so you wait for tomorrow when you'll be all dressed up! before tomorrow comes your mind already fell in love and had the best time with the girl you saw on the break your mind took ahead of you- now you're preparing to dump her... whats her name again? So class is over and you head on home completely exhausted to do anything else because your mind just did ten million things you didn't get to experience. So you sit in front of the TV, no facebook, maybe you have an email or a post from that friend you haven't texted in-oh, 45 seconds? So you flip the channel, check facebook myspace and feel hungry. But the kitchen is 10 feet away and thats too far! AHHHHHHH


so you sit in slow motion as the world goes by fast trying to catch up with your mind who's now back in bed calling you but you still have to do that homework. So you start the homework which take a few hours in human time and a few ages in mind land and then its time to sleep. But you're hungry so you make something finally but then while eating you get a text from so and so to come to so and so party. I really should sleep you think but what will that friend think about you if yo sleep? So you smell more clothes, but it doesn't matter cuz you're going to be in an atmosphere where the smoke and everything else hides the smell. But did I mention how awesome and good you look today?
so its midnight and you really
should leave now cuz
you're feeling a
little sleepy
but
that cute girl from
earlier just showed up
so maybe you should talk to her now.....
Her boyfriends at the party! Dammmmm
ABANDON SHIP ! ! !

Slow down you crazy child
You're so ambitious for a juvenile
But then if you're so smart tell me why
Are you still so afraid?
Where's the fire, what's the hurry about?
You better cool it off before you burn it out
You got so much to do and only
So many hours in a day

But you know that when the truth is told
That you can get what you want
Or you can just get old
You're gonna kick off before you even get halfway through
When will you realize...Vienna waits for you

Slow down you're doing fine
You can't be everything you want to be
Before your time
Although it's so romantic on the borderline tonight (tonight)
Too bad but it's the life you lead
You're so ahead of yourself
That you forgot what you need
Though you can see when you're wrong
You know you can't always see when you're right(you're right)

You got your passion you got your pride
But don't you know that only fools are satisfied?
Dream on but don't imagine they'll all come true
When will you realize
Vienna waits for you

Slow down you crazy child
Take the phone off the hook and disappear for a while
It's alright you can afford to lose a day or two
When will you realize...
Vienna waits for you.

WITH THE AIM OF

nana-sastra-vicaranaika-nupunau sad-dharma-samsthapakau
lokanam hita-karinau tri-bhuvane manyau saranyakarau
radha-krsna-padaravinda-bhajanandena mattalikau
vande rupa-sanatanau raghu-yugau sri-jiva-gopalakau

I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Six Goswamis, namely Sri Rupa Goswami, Sri Sanatana Goswami, Sri Raghunath Bhatta Goswami, Sri Raghunath dasa Goswami, Sri Jiva Goswami and Sri Gopal Bhatta Goswami, who are very expert in scrutinizingly studying all the revealed scriptures with the aim of establishing eternal religious principles for the benefit of all human beings. Thus they are honored all over the three worlds, and they are worth taking shelter of because they are absorbed in the mood of the gopis and are engaged in transcendental loving service of Radha and Krsna.


As 2008 said goodbye I sat with a friend and talked about culture- by gone cultures like the Maya, Aztec and Vedic. We talked about how little is known about the Aztec and Maya, and how the Vedic knowledge, although still available, is normally presented from a historical, and often myth oriented point of view. History does show, as far as Maya and Aztec are concerned, through the art and architecture they left behind, that they were quite cultured and advanced people. The Vedic science of living, although still available today usually reaches the west in a very watered down form. Yoga, Ayurveda and Vastu have all entered mainstream as people today look for pieces from the past to better shape the future of mankind.
One of the topics we agreed on is the fact that the vedic knowledge isn't a "do-it-yourself" kind of knowledge. Everything in that system was presented by qualified teachers to qualified students. Society was set up in such a way that the welfare of every being was met. The intellectuals guided the administrators ,who gave protection to the merchants, and in turn the merchants provided for their employees, their protectors and the teachers who guided them all. A person was not qualified by birth, as mistaken today, but by ones natural actions. For example the son of a warrior wasn't born a warrior, but trained up to be. And if during training it was found that this boy had a natural tendency towards intellectual pursuits, mercantile , or other talents, he was then trained in that particular field. So naturally everyone had something to do in vedic culture; no one was homeless or jobless.
The culture was not only occupationally minded, but also spiritually oriented with gradual developmental knowledge for the individual. A young person was thought the principles of respect, responsibility, truthfulness etc, but most of all self control. Control of the senses and mind was very important in going deeper into spiritual realms. Later in life, usually around 25, a young person entered family life and used the principles previously learned. At 50, knowing that death was approaching soon, husband and wife would then focus on the deeper and highest goal in life, freedom from the bondage of matter and reinstatement into ones eternal constitutional position.
During this part of the conversation we laughed a lot about how puffed up modern man has become with the audacity to claim that such cultures as the Maya or Vedic were primitive and how advanced we are now because of our advancement in "science". One example given was how those cultures existed for many thousands of years and left historical monuments and art that still baffle scholars today. Not only did they build or write or live a wholesome life, they also left the earth practically more beautiful than they met it. In our few hundred years here, our monuments often depict wars and struggles, and our exploitation of mother earth hasn't left her lush and green, rather bored with spots of land fill, plastic waste in the oceans- you name it.


I told an historical account from the Vedas of how gold and silver were offered as gifts to the priests who performed great sacrifices for the benefit of society, yet the priests, satisfied in themselves would leave the paraphernalia where they were. Imagine leaving heaps of gold ornaments and other things in an arena or by the road today... . Everyone was provided for so well, that no one was in need of anything. At functions, or even simple house parties, guests were served with gold or silver plates, and the women were ornamented with diamonds, gold and silver, plus other earthen perfumes. Compared to today's advancement, we kill for gold, eat in glassware, and that's if you can afford it, or plastic, paper and other things that harm the human body and our women now wear plastic ornaments as decorations.
As mentioned before, yoga, amongst other art forms are becoming a prominent part of society today. But the fact is that yoga now, doesn't elevate people to higher consciousness, rather it keeps them on a more bodily platform, with capitalistic minds even providing interesting clothes for yoga lifestyle people. Did sages of bygone ages were tight spandex outfits in a heated room in downtown Delhi? Was yoga for reducing bodily fat? Hmmmmm...
Ayurveda was not meant for curing illnesses, but more for preventing them through a strict dietary and physical lifestyle. In our advanced culture today, we've created cures for cancer and other deadly diseases; but to be honest we've also created the diseases. We live in a lazy culture: work now involves sitting for hours in front of a computer in a building without good lighting, food consists of things I will not write about, and to top it all, the stress of it all drives us to the next whiskey bar to drown our troubles. When that doesn't work, SEX :)
To avoid the responsibility of sex life, which nature designed for procreating beings who can continue the task of honoring and preserving mother earth, we, by out expertise invented the condom. Yes, spill your life out in a plastic. And when you do want a child, the same pills taken to prevent the responsibility of pregnancy then, now hampers you from having children. In short, we are advancing to a quick demise rather than something the future can look back on and learn form.
So, going back to the first prayer in of this blog, we humbly thank those monks who, 500 years ago foresaw the issues of today and scrutinizingly give the essence of Vedic knowledge that we may qualify ourselves and honor human life as it is meant to be honored. Furthermore, we thank Our Grand Spiritual Teacher His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who brought the teachings of the six Goswamis from Vrindavan to the shores of America, China, Europe and everywhere else we have temples today. I urge the readers of this article to take advantage of these temples and learn how to live peacefully and happily, and look forward to another year of properly learning rather than blindly following what is the status quo.
Happy New Year