The Past Month

Some of you may have noticed that there has been a severe lack of activity on here recently.

An easy excuse would be that I have been very busy with the new cafe, and for a few weeks this was true. Not so though for the past 3. In truth there have been a lot of things going on recently some of which I will discus on my next blog. To keep what could be a long blog very short there are going to be some big changes in my life and the past few weeks have been taken over, thinking over these changes and possible other ones to make sure that I can continue my quest for Krishna's love and service in the right way and the way which will be most beneficial to my progression. Dum da dum daadummm.

It all sounds very mellow dramatic I know but I just haven't been able to put my mind into this blog or many other things while I've been mulling over these things.

Anyway more on that soon I promise.

This is just a quick post to let you all know I'm still here and to apologize for not keeping up with a regular post recently and to try and explain a little bit why there hasn't been anything.

Painting

So for the past two weeks I have been getting the new Cafe/meditation centre together. With a lot of help from friends we have managed to strip what was there and re-decorate (including moving a wall). When we first got in the place looked like it would need very little work but as we started to sand and remove things the extent of the work became apparent. What we thought was a simple few days job has turned into two weeks of hard work. it seemed that when we started on each wall thinking "oh that looks ok" we would find so much filling to be done some times things had to be replaced totally. The closer we looked and the more work we did in preparation for painting the worse the place looked, but after some hard work by all involved now it is finished and just waiting for furniture.

It seems that this is just like our spiritual practices, at first we think this is easy then the more we look deep into our hearts the more dirt and damage we see that has to be cleaned and repaired. yet with some hard work, determination and help from spiritually advanced friends our hearts can once again become full and pristine with krishna's love. No one expects it to be easy to reverse a lifetime of being brain washed into gross materialism to be easy and yet in a very short time we can taste the love that Krishna is offering us simply by meditating on His names Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. Please try it and see.

Time I Am : part 2

Yeah I know it's a day or 2 late, sorry:)

Today is my friend Danda-krt's birthday.

Is this to celebrated???

YAY you decided to try and be the lord of your life left Krishna and came to the material world to try and enjoy through the exploitation of your body, others and Mother Earth. We chose the temporal material sphere. Lets celebrate the fact that everything we do is withered by the unforgiving nature of time.

Happy birthday, good choice.

But is everything we do withered by time?

Bhagavad Gita states that the soul cannot be burnt by fire, worn by water or withered by wind. It cannot be destroyed, it is unborn, eternal and can never die. So it would stand to reason that if we act on the spiritual platform not the material then time cannot touch these activities they are also not withered, never worn or reduced. Always fresh

That is the nature of the spiritual it is ever fresh. We have the chance to experience a nature that the ravages of that great destroyer, time, cannot touch.

What are we waiting for?

Time I Am : part 1

Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer in response to the final results of the Manhattan project famously quoted the Bhagavad Gita " Time I am, destroyer of worlds".

Oppenheimer was considering the devastating effects of his creation the atomic bomb but if we look around today we can see that this statement is true of our everyday life also.

When Krishna was speaking this to his friend Arjuna He was pointing out the inevitable futility of trying to enjoy material existence.

The fact that all material activities are ruined by time. That without a spiritual centre to our lives guiding us towards self realization everything is destined to be destroyed.

We can see the material effects of time on peoples lives being played out in the media daily. Whether its on a community scale or on a more personal level (John Terry I'm looking at you) we can see how when left to our own devices given time, we make a mess of it.

continued tomorrow

Broken Door

The door to my bedroom has been hanging down. Of the 3 hinges 1 had come off completely. This has meant that to close it I have had to lift it. Last week after over a year I fixed it. It only took 5 minutes??? The door now closes normally, so why am I still lifting it every time that I go to close it. I have to put effort into not lifting it. How easily we can become habituated to things. There are so many things that we become used to doing so much so that they become 2nd nature, we don't think about them. Hanging my door and seeing my automatic need to lift it has reminded me of a valuable jewel that we receive from meditation. Most days I think of my meditation as setting me up for the day or clearing away my material desires. But it is also habituating me to think of Krishna, so that I almost without thinking during the day think of Krishna, it's a natural automatic thing. More seriously it's making me ready to face death, oohhhhh the big D word. Well it's going to happen one day and if I can think of Krishna then, at that most important time. If it's a natural thing to always be thinking of God. Then no more reincarnation for me buddy I'm off. Away from all the rubbish and suffering of the mortal coil, escaped to be with Krishna.

Looking Back

It's funny how events in the world change the way you look at it. I used to be a big fan of the New Year thing, looking forward 'n' all that.

Then a few years back, Christmas eve, my Mother was rushed into hospital with very advanced cancer. She was dead 2 weeks later.

Now the new year just brings back thoughts of her. Every year at this time I find myself looking back at her.

As far as Krishna Consciousness goes we realize that we are not the body, but spirit souls and my Mother ( for this birth ) has continued on to where ever her karma has led her. The Bhagavad Gita states in the 2nd chapter that the soul is eternal, it cannot die which gives us comfort.

But today I miss her.

And thats OK.

Doing what the boss wants

I have a lot of idea's, I mean a helluva lot of idea's.

This unfortunately leads me to the thing I find hardest about spiritual life, to quote the great Mick Jagger " you can't always get want you want".

Some times the idea's I have don't fit with what the boss wants.

The whole process of Bhakti (the art of love and devotion) is that you have no other desire but to please Krishna and the way in which you please krishna is by humbly serving.

which basically means sometimes I can't do what I want but have to do what others want. My independent nature wails in disgust at this thought, the inner rebel wants to cut loose like the proverbial bull in a china shop. just like learning to do anything we have to be submissive, so it is in spiritual life. If I want to learn how to love Krishna then I must surrender to the guidance of people who do.

Yes you can't always get what you want, "but sometimes, you might find, you get what you need" good old Mick