As we all know, for the past months there has been political turmoil and instability in Ukraine which has been gradually escalating to more and more violence, with a lot of blood being shed. Naturally I had been very unsure whether or not to visit Ukraine this year. Furthermore the media in the Western world tends to misrepresent the actual situation, and things are easily blown out of proportion. So it was not easy for me to assess the actual situation - whether it was safe enough to visit the Ukrainian devotees.
We had scheduled a Holy Name Retreat in Odessa, which is in the very South of Ukraine. Also here had been violence with people being killed, and initially we had canceled the retreat. Nevertheless, I felt it was no harm to simply visit the Odessa yatra and give some inspiration and support to the devotees. In such turbulent times devotees especially need spiritual upliftment and encouragement in order not to get too absorbed in the difficulties of material existence, which are after all simply part of the 'nonsensical stage performance' of life in the material world.
Then, one week before my visit to Odessa we had spontaneously decided to conduct the Holy Name Retreat after all, with Niranjana Swami and the Regional Secretary Acyuta Priya Prabhu giving their full blessings.
On my arrival in Odessa on the 29th of May we immediately met with the Temple President Rohininandana Prabhu to discuss all the details of the retreat. It was the very first time that we conducted a Holy Name Retreat in this yatra, and the devotees had rented a Holiday Camp on the Black Sea outside of Odessa - a place where we had conducted one of the very first Bhakti Sangam Festivals some twelve years ago.
Nostalgic memories of those early festivals came up within my mind, and I remembered how I had conducted a grhastha seminar on one particular veranda. It almost seemed like it took place in a previous life time - so many things had happened meanwhile....
Then, one week before my visit to Odessa we had spontaneously decided to conduct the Holy Name Retreat after all, with Niranjana Swami and the Regional Secretary Acyuta Priya Prabhu giving their full blessings.
On my arrival in Odessa on the 29th of May we immediately met with the Temple President Rohininandana Prabhu to discuss all the details of the retreat. It was the very first time that we conducted a Holy Name Retreat in this yatra, and the devotees had rented a Holiday Camp on the Black Sea outside of Odessa - a place where we had conducted one of the very first Bhakti Sangam Festivals some twelve years ago.
Nostalgic memories of those early festivals came up within my mind, and I remembered how I had conducted a grhastha seminar on one particular veranda. It almost seemed like it took place in a previous life time - so many things had happened meanwhile....
Once again I collected wildflowers and arranged the compositions for the vases decorating the altar and Srila Prabhupada's Vyasasana. A team of devotees decorated the somewhat ugly hall and turned it into a wonderful and cosey bhajan kutir where we spent the next four days deepening our relationship with the holy name.
Around one hundred and twenty devotees from various parts of Ukraine eagerly assembled to join the event. Some senior devotees and nice kirtaniyas had also come, who were giving the morning class in connection with chanting the holy name, and conducted the evening kirtans. The atmosphere was surcharged with eagerness, excitement and affection, and everybody felt very blissful and uplifted.
Around one hundred and twenty devotees from various parts of Ukraine eagerly assembled to join the event. Some senior devotees and nice kirtaniyas had also come, who were giving the morning class in connection with chanting the holy name, and conducted the evening kirtans. The atmosphere was surcharged with eagerness, excitement and affection, and everybody felt very blissful and uplifted.
I requested everybody to hand in their mobile phones, which a lot of devotees happily accepted. In this way they cut at least for four days the ties to the main distracting entity within their daily life - the mobile phone. So I ended up with a whole box of phones in my room, and at all different times of the early morning the alarms started going off.....
Some devotees shared what a relief it was to be without a mobile phone, and they were not even so eager to take it back at the end of the retreat.
During the seminars I would sometimes include japa exercises and other personal exercises, and at times I would ask the audience to turn to their neighbors and share realizations. This always deepens the learning experience and involves the audience nicely. And of course the role plays summarizing the topics discussed on the previous day were once again the big hit....!
Some devotees shared what a relief it was to be without a mobile phone, and they were not even so eager to take it back at the end of the retreat.
During the seminars I would sometimes include japa exercises and other personal exercises, and at times I would ask the audience to turn to their neighbors and share realizations. This always deepens the learning experience and involves the audience nicely. And of course the role plays summarizing the topics discussed on the previous day were once again the big hit....!
The day of mauna vrata was also well received, and devotees shared how much it helped them to be more introspective and focused. One day without unnecessary talk - a day of contemplation in complete silence and introspection! Unnecessary talking poisons the subtle body, in the same way as overeating poisons the gross body.....
Little do we realize how much of our talking is unnecessary and falls into the category of prajalpa....
Little do we realize how much of our talking is unnecessary and falls into the category of prajalpa....
The holy name is surcharged with Srimati Radharani's potency - the first word "Hare" stands for Radharani energy, the Hladhini Shakti. She is most expert in giving pleasure to Krsna, and to reach Krsna we have to get Her blessings and recommendation - She is the one who introduces us to Him. Infact, She is the embodiment of self-sacrifice in service. In CC, Antya 20.52 Mahaprabhu speaks in the mood of Srimati Radharani: "I do not mind my personal distress. I only wish for the happiness of Krsna, for His happiness is the goal of my life. However, if He feels great happiness in giving me distress, that distress is the best of my happiness."
What a wonderful meditation! This is the perfection of self-sacrifice.
By chanting the Maha Mantra with the intense longing to serve we can connect with Srimati Radharani and tap into her energy and potency. This is the foremost way to connect with Her - not by simply chanting Radhe Radhe Radhe. Srimati Radharani is not so cheaply accessible. It is a deep matter from within the heart - the quality of feeling in which we chant.
What a wonderful meditation! This is the perfection of self-sacrifice.
By chanting the Maha Mantra with the intense longing to serve we can connect with Srimati Radharani and tap into her energy and potency. This is the foremost way to connect with Her - not by simply chanting Radhe Radhe Radhe. Srimati Radharani is not so cheaply accessible. It is a deep matter from within the heart - the quality of feeling in which we chant.
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We might be wondering how we are actually coming to understand our eternal relationship with the Lord. As we know - dasya is the foundation to all other rasa's such as sakhya, vatsalya and madhurya. In other words, sakhya or friendship includes servitorship, plus the flavor of friendship. Parental love includes servitorship and friendship and adds that special flavor of parental affection. And conjugal love includes the mood of servitorship, friendship, parental affection and adds the special flavor of conjugal affection. In this way dasya is the basis to all of them. So we first have to be firmly established in the mood of servitorship, and all other desires and designations of being the enjoyer and controller have to be cleansed away. Only then Krsna will reveal more. So we all have a lot of work ahead of us, simply chanting while longing to serve. Only this kind of chanting will establish us firmly in dasya. No need to worry about anything else, trying to artificially jump to higher levels.....
When a devotee who is not yet firmly established in dasya tries to see Radha and Krsna or remember Their pastimes while chanting the holy name, the danger is there that some tinges of the enjoying spirit enters his/her consciousness, thinking: "Radha and Krsna had such a nice time together - I also want to be there...." Such kind of chanting feeds the enjoying mentality and will not establish us in dasya, and thus should be carefully avoided.
However, if a devotee who is firmly established in dasya will spontaneously remember Radha and Krsna while chanting, his/her only thought will be: Radharani is the most expert servant - she knows more than anybody else how to please Krsna. I wish I could learn from her how to serve.....!" And all he/she will think of is how to serve more and more...
On the 5th of June I took a flight from Odessa to Frankfurt. When changing planes in Kiev all passengers were already seated in the plane to Frankfurt, when the pilot announced that there were some technical difficulties which wouldn't allow us to take off. I saw the pilot running back and forwards in anxiety, in and out the cockpit, talking passionately to the co-pilot and the crew, trying to decide whether or not to fly. Finally he decided that we all had to get off the plane and wait for three hours to board another machine.
I was grateful that he noticed the technical problem while still being on the ground. Krsna must have inspired him from within his heart.....
After 14 hours of travel I finally reached Goloka Dham/Germany in the evening....
Your servant, Devaki dd
When a devotee who is not yet firmly established in dasya tries to see Radha and Krsna or remember Their pastimes while chanting the holy name, the danger is there that some tinges of the enjoying spirit enters his/her consciousness, thinking: "Radha and Krsna had such a nice time together - I also want to be there...." Such kind of chanting feeds the enjoying mentality and will not establish us in dasya, and thus should be carefully avoided.
However, if a devotee who is firmly established in dasya will spontaneously remember Radha and Krsna while chanting, his/her only thought will be: Radharani is the most expert servant - she knows more than anybody else how to please Krsna. I wish I could learn from her how to serve.....!" And all he/she will think of is how to serve more and more...
On the 5th of June I took a flight from Odessa to Frankfurt. When changing planes in Kiev all passengers were already seated in the plane to Frankfurt, when the pilot announced that there were some technical difficulties which wouldn't allow us to take off. I saw the pilot running back and forwards in anxiety, in and out the cockpit, talking passionately to the co-pilot and the crew, trying to decide whether or not to fly. Finally he decided that we all had to get off the plane and wait for three hours to board another machine.
I was grateful that he noticed the technical problem while still being on the ground. Krsna must have inspired him from within his heart.....
After 14 hours of travel I finally reached Goloka Dham/Germany in the evening....
Your servant, Devaki dd
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