Home Alone Part 1

I am one of those people that likes his own space ........... most of time. While we have been decorating the Soul Centre at Cafe Atma there has been no morning prayer program going on. Usually my day would start chanting for 3 hours with the other devotee's in the meditation room. However due to renovations we have not had the use of the room for a month or 2 now. At first I didn't mind, quite liked the space and relished chanting in my own space.......

Pause for a moment and come back with me to the bad old days of 1996 when I first started trying to get into Krishna Consciousness. Picture the scene if you will, a young man with a shared flat enjoying the summer and all it has to offer. Drinking, partying hard, out every night, lots of friends...... although I couldn't name them or remember most of them when sober. Fully sold out to the dream of becoming the next Marquis De Sade or at least the next Alfie Elkins.

Then out of the blue I started becoming attracted more and more to the habits of a higher more pleasurable life, a Krishna Conscious life. Soon I was chanting regularly, reading books on ancient vedic philosophy and hanging out with the Hari's.

After about 2 months of adopting a more spiritual, holistic way of life, still living on my own, I found myself in a night club with friends. I had given up drinking and all other vices for around a month then as the clock turned past 1am I found myself at the bar ordering a pint of stella................ £40 and an hour 'n' a half later I was on the dance floor giving it my all, friends cheering, I was back and making a speedy recovery to full hedonistic health.

Another 2 months pass, a moment of sobriety.

What happened?

How did I get back here????????

In Praise of Others

You really are a wonderful person. I have never met some one so kindhearted good natured and likable as you. whenever I need to be cheered up there you are making me laugh and whenever I need support I know you are there, my trusted and loyal friend. In fact sometimes all I need is a smile from you and that's enough to get me through the day.

Sounds nice, wouldn't we be happy to hear these things , or something similar, said about us.

Out selling books today I heard so much negativity towards people it disturbed me. No one seemed happy unless they were moaning about someone else. ( I know I do this a lot.) But at the same time seeking to be praised themselves.

In this modern day world where insecurity is rife and the almost constant validation is needed to keep us going we all like to to hear ourselves praised.

Yet according to modern research into depression and anxiety disorders this constant searching for glorification is exactly what is leading to insecurity and the breakdown of all types of relationships.

In his book "The feeling good handbook" Dr David D Burns suggests a radical answer to our problems. He suggests that if we spend more time thinking about and praising our friends and families good qualities then as a natural consequence we will become liked more and feel more peaceful in the mind and have better quality ,deeper relationships.

The Veda's have been saying this for over 5000 years. Part of the krishna conscious teachings is that we should never look for praise but always be ready to praise others even if all the praise we can muster is " at least he wears clean clothes".

This actually works. if we make an effort not to see the faults in others ( we all have em) but to let people know when and how we appreciate them, then actually we do feel happier. If we feel happier then we will see less and less others bad and more and more peoples good qualities and naturally become content and peaceful in our selves and our social dealings.

It ain't rocket science :)

gettin back into it

Ok I have been a way for a while. Lots of excuses non of them good.

But I am back.

One of the reasons I started this blog was to give some insight into life as a Hare Krishna monk a peek into what a life of devotion is the progression towards a spiritual reality. The problems we face, the highs we experience, challenges we have both internal and external. I wanted to show an honest view of my devotional life and share my realizations with you.

Well a big challenge recently has been wether to remain a monk or to get married...... whoooaaa hold on there I hear you cry........ about 3 months ago I made a choice that I could move forward spiritually and it would be better for me if I got married. It was a desire that had been in the back of my mind for a couple of years and finally I kinda realised that it wasn't going away and was stopping me getting closer to krishna. I'm going to write a bit more about this change in a couple of weeks.

I am still as devoted to krishna as ever and my devotional life isn't going, in essence, to change. Self realization is still my goal.

This blog will continue weekly (see the subtle name change) I promise, and if anything will be a bit more colourful as I go through a new part in the adventure of my spiritual life along the path of devotion.

and no I'm not married already :)