Goloka Dham/Germany

I left the Ukrainian Bhakti Sangam Festival on the 5th of September and flew to Riga/Latvia to pick up my new passport at the German Embassy. I was scheduled to stay only for one night, but unfortunately my luggage did not arrive. So I decided to cancel my onward flight to Germany and stay one extra night to wait for my suitcase to arrive. I didn't want to take the risk of being without luggage for the next two weeks or so, always moving ahead of the delivery service and having it sent to the next place.

Even though I carry so little, nevertheless we do get attached to those few things we use every day - even in the renounced phase of life.....
One day without our luggage creates such inconvenience and disturbance. And the happiness when we get our luggage back is nothing else but the relief of distress....

While I was in Riga we did a little house program and discussed the topic of the false ego - our constant companion and troublemaker. I also briefly went to the temple and met with some devotees who are interested to arrange a Spiritual Culture Retreat next year.
Memories of the "old days" in Riga came to mind - how we had established this temple between 1989 and 1999. It had been true pioneer work - starting with absolutely nothing: no building, no saris, no Deities, no spices.....
And a few years later we had 75 brahmacaris and 35 brahmacarinis....
Now this phase in life seemed so distant - almost like in a previous life time....

On the 7th of September I arrived in Goloka Dham/Germany - two days before Radhastami. I gave a couple of morning classes and connected with all the nice devotees who are serving Sri Sri Radha Madana Mohan in such dedication. Here the Janmastami festival is definately the main event of the entire year, and by the time Radhastami approaches the devotees are a little exhausted from all the past festivities. So the Radhastami festival is a much smaller yet very sweet event. And every year some eager devotees accept the austerities of traveling all day across Germany to attend the four-hour program and get Radharani's mercy. As Rupa Goswami instructs us, intense greed for Krsna is the main qualification to develop pure devotional service. And it manifests directly in how many inconveniences we are willing to accept in order to get the association of devotees and take darshan of the Lord on auspicious days such as Radhastami. Those travels can be understood as parikrama and are highly purifying. One might think that we can have it so much easier now by watching the broadcasting through internet, but in actuality we are missing out - remaining in our comfort-zone and not being able to cultivate this intense longing for Krsna. If there is intense longing, then nothing can stop us from getting there....

The altar looked simply wonderful for the morning darshan of Radhastami. Goloka Dham is one of my sources of inspiration when it comes to flower decorations. Here the ladies know the art of arranging the flowers in a very natural way, so it almost looks like naturally grown - a window into the spiritual world! In the afternoon we began with melodious kirtan while the abhishek was conducted. Even though I was invited to come to the altar and bathe the Deities, I decided this time to rather watch and endeavor to connect on deeper levels. In my neophyte stage of spiritual practice I can feel that it is easier to connect with the Lord when not being in the limelight and performing the abishek. We find a similar principle in kirtan: it is easier to connect deeply when not leading the kirtan oneself, but simply sitting humbly in the audience and chanting. When we are put in a leading position, very easily the false ego also eagerly participates and wants to be noticed and recognized, and we remain in a more external consciousness, being concerned what everybody thinks of us, etc. As long as we remain so concerned who leads the kirtans and who performs the abishek, and as long as our main satisfaction comes from being there up-front, we are simply running after ego satisfaction. It is subtle, yet very powerful. Manasapuja (performing the worship within the mind) yields the same spiritual benefit and purification.

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I was invited to give the main lecture, sharing little drops of nectar about Srimati Radharani. And a final kirtan and feast concluded the celebrations.

Since Radhastami fell this year on a Friday, I offered the first three lessons of the course "Children in Spiritual Culture" over the entire Saturday and half of the Sunday. A nice little group of serious devotees was keen to explore this much neglected topic, and we had insightful discussions and exchanges. I had recently put together this course and will give it in full length in January in Mayapur. Thus it was good practice for me to offer parts of it here.

​One may of course wonder, how Devaki Mataji can say anything about raising children, since she does not have the practical experience in this life time. However, we all have had a childhood! And I have had the great fortune of having had a super-fantastic mother, and a very amazing father. They have indeed applied many spiritual principles in our upbringing - more than most devotees do today. I grew up without TV, without tea or coffee, without Micky Mouse, without Coca Cola or Fanta, without nonsensical toys, etc. We grew up with books, and every night my mother read a story to us before going to sleep. My mother used to engage us in wonderful devotional activities preparing for Xmas - she certainly was my first Guru and planted the seed of bhakti within my heart. My parents gave us fresh challenges and spent quality time with us, training us to be regulated, disciplined, responsible and resourceful. When I was ten years old my parents traveled with us three children for one whole year around the Southern part of Africa - I simply missed one year of school, and never even noticed it.....! I distinctly remember the motto of my parents, which I got to hear regularly when asking for something which other children had: "We don't need this - we are different....!"
I wish our devotees would also impart this attitude to their children.....

Nevertheless, for many years children were not very prominent in my devotional life, until some twelve years ago I invited one mother from Ukraine with her ten year-old son to visit Bangladesh. The boy was known to be uninterested in Krsna consciousness. He had no inspiration to go to the temple, was sleeping until 8 or 9am, and simply passing his time with computer games. When devotees heard that I would take him for a tour around Bangladesh they responded: "Why taking him?! He is not even a devotee....!"

​Amazingly enough, this very same boy started coming to life when visiting Bangladesh! The brahmacaris took so nicely care of him and involved him in so many activities. He probably received more attention and affectionate care within these three weeks than he had ever gotten throughout his whole life! As a result of this, he became so lively and blissful, getting up for Mangal Artik every morning, washing the brahmacaris' cloth and following their instruction of reading Bhagavad Gita every day. His mother was in complete shock, not being able to recognize her son! She exclaimed in disbelief: "What has happened to my boy?! He is like a different person...!"

This episode was a true eye-opener to me, and it dawned upon me that maybe we are doing something wrong with our children.....

On the 13th of September I flew off to Madrid/Spain.....

Your servant, Devaki dd