I visited the preaching center in Eldoret for one week and joyfully associated with the local devotees - we assembled every evening to churn deep and relevant topics. Then I flew on to Nairobi to visit the main and biggest temple in Kenya for one week.
The preaching in Nairobi was established 50 years ago, with Srila Prabhupada visiting 5 times and installing beautiful Sri Sri Radha Bankebihari here. 25 years later, the big temple was opened and the worship of Sri Sri Sita Rama Laxman Hanuman was established.
ISKCON has several blocks of flats next to the temple which are rented to grihasthas - an ideal arrangement for families to live close to the temple, and the temple receiving some regular income. There is also a big building serving as a student hostel for boys and girls - mainly from African background - and many of them attend the temple programs. I offered morning- and evening programs in the temple, and on Sunday I spent blissful 6 hours on my book table, reaching out to devotees, connecting with them and placing my books into eager hands. These are always the most blissful moments for me. Every day, some grihasthas were eagerly inviting me over for lunch, and we had meaningful discussions and loving exchanges.
The devotees have a farm around 80 km's from the temple, and every morning they bring a lot of milk and vegetables which are sold to the devotees. Another wonderful arrangement....!
ISKCON has several blocks of flats next to the temple which are rented to grihasthas - an ideal arrangement for families to live close to the temple, and the temple receiving some regular income. There is also a big building serving as a student hostel for boys and girls - mainly from African background - and many of them attend the temple programs. I offered morning- and evening programs in the temple, and on Sunday I spent blissful 6 hours on my book table, reaching out to devotees, connecting with them and placing my books into eager hands. These are always the most blissful moments for me. Every day, some grihasthas were eagerly inviting me over for lunch, and we had meaningful discussions and loving exchanges.
The devotees have a farm around 80 km's from the temple, and every morning they bring a lot of milk and vegetables which are sold to the devotees. Another wonderful arrangement....!
As always, one of the most popular and intriguing topics was the false ego - our constant companion and troublemaker which is so tricky and subtle, and often remains undetected. Srila Prabhupada explains the phenomenon of extended selfishness that we can understand to be another effect of the false ego. This mainly manifests towards our family members viewing them in terms of ‘I, me and mine’: MY husband, wife, children, home etc., but of course also on a higher level of MY hometown, country of birth, etc. If we are not alert and cautious, then even our sublime relationship with our guru and our Deity may also become affected in this way.
The false ego likes to demand the gratification of being special, unique and extraordinary; and it has the power to even use those most sacred and spiritual aspects of our devotional life for such purposes.
Sometimes we may come across devotees who have the tendency to canvass for a particular guru. It is very natural to consider our spiritual master to be special, because he has saved us from material existence. However, our love and dedication to our guru is a very private and confidential part of our personal life and should not be broadcast for canvassing purposes. We have to respect a devotee’s personal choice of a guru, and by no means do we have the right to influence this choice in any way. It is between them and Krishna. Behind such a tendency to canvas for one’s guru, we can once again detect the false ego at work: ‘Since MY guru is most special, therefore I am most special – because he is MY guru.’
In this way, our false ego will contaminate this very sacred relationship with our spiritual master. We use this relationship to glorify ourselves,
rather than our guru: ‘I am such a confidential servant of my guru – I am so close to him!’ And we may eagerly show pictures of him which always show ourselves right next to him. In this way we may pose as being a very senior and advanced devotee and hope to increase our influence and control over other devotees by such propaganda. One has to be very cautious and introspective to avoid such tendencies, even in their most subtle forms.
A similar mood can enter the relationship with our Deity: ‘My Deity is so special, and because it is MY Deity, therefore I am so special.’ And we may eagerly distribute maha-prasadam from OUR Deity, or invite others to take darshan of OUR Deity.
Again, we try to bring attention and glory to ourselves, rather than our Deity. We may even find ourselves caught up in a subtle competition with other devotees – who worships the most exotic Deity...! This shows how powerful the false ego is! It can get into the door of any situation and poison everything, almost turning our worshipful Lord into a status symbol.
The false ego likes to demand the gratification of being special, unique and extraordinary; and it has the power to even use those most sacred and spiritual aspects of our devotional life for such purposes.
Sometimes we may come across devotees who have the tendency to canvass for a particular guru. It is very natural to consider our spiritual master to be special, because he has saved us from material existence. However, our love and dedication to our guru is a very private and confidential part of our personal life and should not be broadcast for canvassing purposes. We have to respect a devotee’s personal choice of a guru, and by no means do we have the right to influence this choice in any way. It is between them and Krishna. Behind such a tendency to canvas for one’s guru, we can once again detect the false ego at work: ‘Since MY guru is most special, therefore I am most special – because he is MY guru.’
In this way, our false ego will contaminate this very sacred relationship with our spiritual master. We use this relationship to glorify ourselves,
rather than our guru: ‘I am such a confidential servant of my guru – I am so close to him!’ And we may eagerly show pictures of him which always show ourselves right next to him. In this way we may pose as being a very senior and advanced devotee and hope to increase our influence and control over other devotees by such propaganda. One has to be very cautious and introspective to avoid such tendencies, even in their most subtle forms.
A similar mood can enter the relationship with our Deity: ‘My Deity is so special, and because it is MY Deity, therefore I am so special.’ And we may eagerly distribute maha-prasadam from OUR Deity, or invite others to take darshan of OUR Deity.
Again, we try to bring attention and glory to ourselves, rather than our Deity. We may even find ourselves caught up in a subtle competition with other devotees – who worships the most exotic Deity...! This shows how powerful the false ego is! It can get into the door of any situation and poison everything, almost turning our worshipful Lord into a status symbol.
My tour around Kenya came to an end. In every place I visited I managed to reach a few people's hearts and make some impact on their lives by giving them something deeper, which is always most satisfying to me.
On the 25th of June I flew out to Frankfurt/Germany to visit the devotees in Cologne....
Your servant, Devaki dd
Please visit www.theholynameretreat.net
www.therootsofspiritualculture.net
https://www.facebook.com/instituteforspiritualculture/
On the 25th of June I flew out to Frankfurt/Germany to visit the devotees in Cologne....
Your servant, Devaki dd
Please visit www.theholynameretreat.net
www.therootsofspiritualculture.net
https://www.facebook.com/instituteforspiritualculture/
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