Realization of the day 3

Phew late night, just got to Chelmsford in Essex. - was going to try and post this in the van on the way here but it was tooo shakey. Which was a shame as I was stuck on the M25 along with a multitude of other people and I realized that most of the cars around us were very nice. Then I wondered how many of these people in these nice cars do this journey every day. Stuck on the motorway for hours everyday in a vain attempt to make the material situation thay are in better. In fact I would think being on the M25 every day would make me want to give up material life. How many hours must be wasted just sitting in a car going nowhere fast???? Isn't this a tragedy all those hours in a life time that could've been used for spiritual realization gone, never to return. I wonder how much of my precious time I waste???
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Realization of the day

Todays is a short one.
Its funny how we think everything around us should run to our plan. How upset do we get when it doesn't?? Funny how karma hits us and we don't have any choice in it at all :)
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Prema's Daily Realization's Part 1

Ok so I've actually made the first one of what's going to be a 2 week, daily post. Some of these posts are simply going to be brief thoughts and some more full comments, I can't pretend that they will all be that lucid as some of them will be posted while I'm at V festival, Reading and Creamfields and some just typed as I think. Normally I would spend a little time on what I write but due to the tight schedule that I have given my self....... I guess we'll see.

On with the daily thought/realization/whatever it is.

Today I was speaking with an old friend who was celebrating his 30th birthday, I've know him since he was 17 and have seen him go through many changes in his life. He's one of these people who have never settled but keep coming back to the same place. In other words he hasn't realized what it is that he wants out of life. Now he's 30 and is starting to worry, he's realizing that he's getting older that he is no longer a young man, times passing and he still "hasn't figured it out".

This I thought is the same for all of us no matter what age we are. If we look around ourselves we can see such a diversity of people all trying to make statements about who we are and what we are about, by the clothes we wear, the music we like, the films we watch, teams we support etc etc. Aren't we all searching for that elusive feeling of lasting peace and happiness, isn't this the real reason that we put labels on ourselves, so that we can finally fit in with someone, be able to relate to some one and have them understand us. Unfortunately no matter how hard we try we are never going to get this from the material world. we can try for lifetimes but we will never feel at home here because as the Bhagavad Gita informs us " we are spirit souls" and the material world is not our home it is not our natural environment. I thought to myself how lucky I am that I have found such a deep path of devotion towards God, then just as quickly I thought I too am getting older am I really taking full advantage of this priceless jewel that is Bhakti (devotional service). I realized that I haven't, I have become far to comfortable in my routine Krishna Consciousness. So I have my friends impending midlife crisis to thank for showing me that life is short and if we really want to make the most of it we have to start right now by making the most of our spiritual nature not our material.

Writers block mmm

This started about 2 weeks ago. I fell out of our van and landed unceremoniously on my backside.

unfortunately I also tore a tendon in my ankle and ripped up some muscle tissue. This left me pretty much doing nothing for about a week. Great I thought, now I have loads of time for so many things including putting some needed attention into this blog. This didn't happen. I read a lot and chanted a lot but when it came down to writing nothing was there. I began to think about what I could write and found everything contrived and lacking in honesty. Days have turned into weeks and I have been thinking more and more about why I have had nothing to say. I have been busy so there should be loads to comment on, but no. Nothing.

This morning I realized why.

I have said before so many times, that spiritual life is based on an internal dialog, not the external activities. This is why I have had nothing to say for nearly a month, because I fell into the very common trap of performing devotion service with a mechanical mentality. Just performing activities externally. It made me realize we always have to be vigilant with our spiritual practices, always be aware of how our consciousness is, how we are praying. Are we really making our relationship with Krishna (God) our priority or has it become just another thing in our life. Do we feel that at the end of each day we have made some progress towards our goal of self realization?

With this in mind I am going to spend the next 2 weeks writing about my daily realizations, you could call it a " how have I become closer to Krishna today" column. I haven't decided yet whether to post it every day or collect daily tweets on the subject and post those weekly. I guess we'll find out tomorrow.

Rain, rain and more rain

It rains a lot here in Swansea. For many years Swansea was the wettest recorded place in Europe, there's something to be proud of.

For a lot of people the rain is something that they have to put up with whilst on the way to work or when out shopping, few people work in it. Those who do probably don't like it.

The Bhagavad Gita ( an ancient spiritual classic from the Vedic scriptures) States "O son of Kuntī, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed." (BG 2.14)

Easier said than done.

Every day, give or take a few, I go out into a town or a city and try and give people books on Krishna Consciousness. Some of you may have received one from me. When it rains I really don't feel like doing it, I hate the rain. Yes hates a strong word but after years and years of standing out in it I really, really wish it would just stop. (maybe if it could just rain at night)

I do have to think of the above verse every time the rain falls, this is after all the material world and no matter where I go there will be some kind of disturbance. No material situation is perfect.

Sometimes though when it rains and I just surrender to the situation and think of all the extreme suffering in the world I realize that a little (or a lot in here in Wales) water falling down on me isn't so bad after all. There is the added bonus of course that when it rains it gives me the chance to remember that I should be always willing to serve Krishna no matter what my material situation. Then come rain or shine I will be happy.

A Monks Life

Pretty much every day some one will ask me "what does a monk do?" I normally just tell them of my daily routine and of my travels. After a recent interview for a playwrite I have decided to change my presentation of a monks life.

What is it that I find so attractive about my lifestyle? It can't be the daily routine that would be rather boring (who likes getting up at 4am every day?) and I do the same thing when I go traveling. No I realized the true existence of a monk, my real life is an internal one. The daily routine is there to serve my deepening internal relationship with God (Krishna).

So to ask a monk what he does, is asking him not about his external activities, but in fact to be asking him a very deep and personal question about his prayers, his devotional sentiments and internal struggles, about his personal realization of his love for Krishna and how that relationship is manifest in his life.

So, what does a monk do????

I find my day is formed by my morning prayer (Japa Meditation). I have recently been reviewing the way in which I offer my prayers, trying to go deeper, with more of a sense of truthfulness behind my plea's to God. A book, The Confidential Secrets of Chanting the Holy Name in Perfection, by Sacinandana Swami has helped greatly. It has been revealing to my stone like heart how to actually call out for Krishna's grace, His love. Now I am a long way off being a perfect chanter, but I am noticing the difference a little attention to the mood and effort put into our prayers can make to the rest of the day. This attentive prayer helps my consciousness be less and less about material needs and desires but more and more about exploring and experiencing a blossoming relationship with God and His devotees.

This is the essence of my daily existence, a day by day activity that sees me trying to get that little bit closer to being free from material bondage and a step nearer knowing who I really am,

as an eternal, spiritual being in loving servitude to Krishna.

oops

First of all let me apologise for not posting anything for a couple of weeks, I've been caught up in going to festivals and other trips all of which fit into this post.

You may have seen a recent news item about a man walking around a town in America, naked, claiming he was a terminator from the future. This got me thinking about the power of association.

This man had immersed himself so much in the world of the terminator films that after seeing the latest take on the genre, he had managed to become convinced that he was in fact a terminator.

Most people at the music festivals I've been going to wholeheartedly take on board the mentality ( and dress ) of the bands that they want to see, even if it is just for the weekend.

I didn't notice how much being at these festivals had effected my own state of consciousness until I went straight from Glastonbury to a European convention of fellow Hare Krishna Monks. It became obvious to me when in the serene company of spiritually advanced persons that the 2 weeks of selling books in the company of festival goers had left me a little course and rough around the edges. How quickly I had changed due to association ( and how quickly I felt myself spiritually enlivened again in the company of these saints (Sadhus)) .

Truly what we associate with effects us, without a doubt.

All this should bring up the question .... what kind of person do I want to be?

So what what kind of person do you want to be? and what are you doing about it?