On my arrival in Kharkov/Ukraine on the 11th of June the devotees gave me a sweet welcome: a little kirtan and a shower of flower petals, a garland, and happy and affectionate smiles and glances.....
It was exciting to once again visit my beloved Vaisnava family of the Kharkov yatra, and I was looking forward to be amongst them for more than one month.....
As usual I stayed in my little bhajan kutir at the old temple, which has now become the home of several grhastha families.
I happily settled into my regular program of going every morning to the new temple - a peaceful ten minute walk through a quiet suburban part of Kharkov. Big fruit and nut trees are flanking the road, and wildflowers are decorating the way - I am always reminded of Vrindavan, especially when hearing the dogs barking in the early morning.....
It was exciting to once again visit my beloved Vaisnava family of the Kharkov yatra, and I was looking forward to be amongst them for more than one month.....
As usual I stayed in my little bhajan kutir at the old temple, which has now become the home of several grhastha families.
I happily settled into my regular program of going every morning to the new temple - a peaceful ten minute walk through a quiet suburban part of Kharkov. Big fruit and nut trees are flanking the road, and wildflowers are decorating the way - I am always reminded of Vrindavan, especially when hearing the dogs barking in the early morning.....
Every Saturday I was giving the Bhagavatam class - the main morning program of the week, when all the more seriously practicing devotees assemble for hearing and chanting, and taking prasadam together.
As the saying goes: the family that eats together and prays together stays together....
All other days I simply attended the morning program to associate with the devotees by trying to enliven the Bhagavatam discussions with comments and questions.
And every Sunday I was giving the Sunday feast lecture.
I spent a lot of time with devotees privately - hearing and understanding them, giving support, encouragement, inspiration and guidance.
In a larger community this can almost be a full-time service.....!
Something not many people have time and energy for......
As the saying goes: the family that eats together and prays together stays together....
All other days I simply attended the morning program to associate with the devotees by trying to enliven the Bhagavatam discussions with comments and questions.
And every Sunday I was giving the Sunday feast lecture.
I spent a lot of time with devotees privately - hearing and understanding them, giving support, encouragement, inspiration and guidance.
In a larger community this can almost be a full-time service.....!
Something not many people have time and energy for......
I also inspired a "Varistha Vaisnavi Sanga" - a program for matajis over 50 years of age, who meet every Sunday before the Sunday feast program in order to study the Srimad Bhagavatam together. They read one chapter per week at home, and when coming together one person gives a little summary presentation followed by discussions on various points of the chapter, endeavoring to deeply understand Prabhupada's purports.
I initiated the program by giving a seminar over four Sundays on various aspects of cultivating renunciation and detachment, and ultimately preparing for death.
So far the Vanaprastha ashram has not been firmly established in ISKCON. Devotees sometimes even confuse things and think that getting divorced means entering Vanaprastha! However, Vanaprastha is simply the retired stage of family life - the children are grown up, the worldy duties are reducing, there is no more interest in sex life, and both husband and wife dedicate all their time and energy to deepen their spiritual life to ultimately prepare for death. It should be done as a team, with mutual support, and husband and wife may spend time together or separate from each other. But they work combinedly as a team - there is no question of divorce.....!
Let us not fall into the trap and try to make divorce an authorized part of Vaisnava life by calling it Vanaprastha.....!
Naturally this last phase of life is meant to consciously prepare for death. And old age within Krsna consciousness is a very joyful phase of life since the time comes closer when we can leave this world to finally return to Krsna. We can take example of Vrtrasura, who was joyfully meeting death....
Krsna has been waiting for us for so many life times......
I initiated the program by giving a seminar over four Sundays on various aspects of cultivating renunciation and detachment, and ultimately preparing for death.
So far the Vanaprastha ashram has not been firmly established in ISKCON. Devotees sometimes even confuse things and think that getting divorced means entering Vanaprastha! However, Vanaprastha is simply the retired stage of family life - the children are grown up, the worldy duties are reducing, there is no more interest in sex life, and both husband and wife dedicate all their time and energy to deepen their spiritual life to ultimately prepare for death. It should be done as a team, with mutual support, and husband and wife may spend time together or separate from each other. But they work combinedly as a team - there is no question of divorce.....!
Let us not fall into the trap and try to make divorce an authorized part of Vaisnava life by calling it Vanaprastha.....!
Naturally this last phase of life is meant to consciously prepare for death. And old age within Krsna consciousness is a very joyful phase of life since the time comes closer when we can leave this world to finally return to Krsna. We can take example of Vrtrasura, who was joyfully meeting death....
Krsna has been waiting for us for so many life times......
I also inspired the ladies who are in charge of the kid's programs to
help the children cultivate the mood of respect, gratitude and service towards the elders within our community. This is such an important part of spiritual culture which should be instilled within a person's heart at a very young age. The children have to learn from early childhood to offer respect and service, and to inquire from the elders, and they in return share their life experience and wisdom by giving affectionate guidance. This is a vital loving exchange between those generations - spiritually uplifting and nourishing for both.
In spiritual culture the elders and children are given greatest care and attention, wheras in materialistic culture they are seen as a burden to society and thus are being pushed aside - in Old Age Homes or Retirement Centers, and in Day Care Centers and Kindergardens......
In materialistic culture old people and children are always disturbing the pursuits for sense enjoyment of the grown-ups.....
On one Sunday we had such program, where the children were reciting a poem and offering gifts to the elders, and they in return were sharing their experiences from the early days.....
In my early childhood I had a great-grandmother - she was 91 years old, when I was five. I had such awe and reverance for her - she was like a saint for me, with her white hair and her mild and affectionate smiles.....
There is a special fascinating sweetness in this relationship between children and old people.....
Later, when I was a young teenager I sometimes visited old people in a nursing home, together with a girl-friend. We spontaneously felt inspired to offer some service to them - giving them association and attention, taking them for a walk, offering flowers. And listening to fascinating stories from the war times.....
Spiritual culture promotes a culture of respect and service - it promotes a culture of care, where as materialistic culture promotes neglect, selfishness and impersonalism. It is a culture of abandoning each other for the sake of sense enjoyment....
help the children cultivate the mood of respect, gratitude and service towards the elders within our community. This is such an important part of spiritual culture which should be instilled within a person's heart at a very young age. The children have to learn from early childhood to offer respect and service, and to inquire from the elders, and they in return share their life experience and wisdom by giving affectionate guidance. This is a vital loving exchange between those generations - spiritually uplifting and nourishing for both.
In spiritual culture the elders and children are given greatest care and attention, wheras in materialistic culture they are seen as a burden to society and thus are being pushed aside - in Old Age Homes or Retirement Centers, and in Day Care Centers and Kindergardens......
In materialistic culture old people and children are always disturbing the pursuits for sense enjoyment of the grown-ups.....
On one Sunday we had such program, where the children were reciting a poem and offering gifts to the elders, and they in return were sharing their experiences from the early days.....
In my early childhood I had a great-grandmother - she was 91 years old, when I was five. I had such awe and reverance for her - she was like a saint for me, with her white hair and her mild and affectionate smiles.....
There is a special fascinating sweetness in this relationship between children and old people.....
Later, when I was a young teenager I sometimes visited old people in a nursing home, together with a girl-friend. We spontaneously felt inspired to offer some service to them - giving them association and attention, taking them for a walk, offering flowers. And listening to fascinating stories from the war times.....
Spiritual culture promotes a culture of respect and service - it promotes a culture of care, where as materialistic culture promotes neglect, selfishness and impersonalism. It is a culture of abandoning each other for the sake of sense enjoyment....
The highlight of my visit to Kharkov was our four-day Holy Name Retreat which began with the Panihati Chipped Rice Festival on the 21st of June.
Please see the slide show which captures the atmosphere in a wonderful
way - it says more than so many words can describe.....
Once again we had rented the same Holiday Camp as last year - 45 km's outside the city, surrounded by forests and meadows with beautiful wildflowers, and situated on the shores of a lake.
More than one hundred devotees participated in this wonderful event. This year we had many families coming with their small children, and we arranged for a nice kids' program parallel to the seminar sessions.
The atmosphere was surcharged with affection and a selfless mood of care and service.
The participating devotees kept a good focus on the topic of the holy name, and every evening we chanted together in prayerful and deep kirtans.
This time I introduced one new feature to the retreat: one day of actual mauna vrata.....!
As we have the tendency to over-eat and thus burden our gross body, in the same way we have the tendency to speak too many unnecessary things and thus burden our subtle body. Therefore fasting is good and gives the gross body a little break and helps us to control the tounge, and spending one day without speaking gives the subtle body a little break and also helps us to control the urge to speak.
The only allowed language for communication was the maha mantra - as it is described in the pastime of Gundica Marjanam: the devotees cleaning the Gundica temple with Mahaprabhu were communicating with each other simply by calling out the maha mantra in various moods and feelings of expressions.
The mauna vrata was well received by the devotees, and many were continuing it over the following days. It created a wonderful atmosphere of peaceful silence, harmony, introspection and undivided attention on the holy name.
Only now I realized more deeply how all this unnecessary talking creates such distraction and factually contaminates the atmosphere, spreading mundane energy.....
Even the children participated in the mauna vrata to various extends, according to their age - a welcoming relief for the parents.....
More than one hundred devotees participated in this wonderful event. This year we had many families coming with their small children, and we arranged for a nice kids' program parallel to the seminar sessions.
The atmosphere was surcharged with affection and a selfless mood of care and service.
The participating devotees kept a good focus on the topic of the holy name, and every evening we chanted together in prayerful and deep kirtans.
This time I introduced one new feature to the retreat: one day of actual mauna vrata.....!
As we have the tendency to over-eat and thus burden our gross body, in the same way we have the tendency to speak too many unnecessary things and thus burden our subtle body. Therefore fasting is good and gives the gross body a little break and helps us to control the tounge, and spending one day without speaking gives the subtle body a little break and also helps us to control the urge to speak.
The only allowed language for communication was the maha mantra - as it is described in the pastime of Gundica Marjanam: the devotees cleaning the Gundica temple with Mahaprabhu were communicating with each other simply by calling out the maha mantra in various moods and feelings of expressions.
The mauna vrata was well received by the devotees, and many were continuing it over the following days. It created a wonderful atmosphere of peaceful silence, harmony, introspection and undivided attention on the holy name.
Only now I realized more deeply how all this unnecessary talking creates such distraction and factually contaminates the atmosphere, spreading mundane energy.....
Even the children participated in the mauna vrata to various extends, according to their age - a welcoming relief for the parents.....
Thus the retreat was a wonderful and uniting community event - uniting us on the basis of endeavoring to get to deeper levels of chanting the holy name....
Satyam satyam puna satyam - Harer namaiva kevalam.......
The only thing that is reality, reality, again I say reality - the holy
name of Sri Hari alone is everything.
Your servant, Devaki dd
Satyam satyam puna satyam - Harer namaiva kevalam.......
The only thing that is reality, reality, again I say reality - the holy
name of Sri Hari alone is everything.
Your servant, Devaki dd
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