Today is the appearance day of Haridas Thakur, who is called the “namacharya” or the teacher of the holy name. He appeared at the time of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (the special mercy incarnation for the times we live). On these special appearance or disappearance days of great saints, it is a good practice to read about them, and appreciate their contribution to the path of Bhakti (devotion). In addition we can pray to them to help us make spiritual progress.
Today is the appearance day of Haridas Thakur, who is called the “namacharya” or the teacher of the holy name. He appeared at the time of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (the special mercy incarnation for the times we live). On these special appearance or disappearance days of great saints, it is a good practice to read about them, and appreciate their contribution to the path of Bhakti (devotion). In addition we can pray to them to help us make spiritual progress.
I don’t have time this morning to say more about him since I am going shopping in the big city, and I also have a different inspiration to share with you.
At present I wake the Temple Deities 5 days a week. This means I have to rise by 3:30 AM so I can leave the house by 4:15. At home I wake our home Deities and I get my Shilas (sacred stones) reading to go to the Temple (I put them on the Temple altar).
After driving to the Temple, I unlock the doors, turn on the outside lights, make up the offering and arotik tray, and wake the Deities (I still want to do a blog about the importance of Deities, and in general talk about the personal vs the impersonal aspects of God). I give the Deities their offering of milk sweets, and then that I either offer the “arotik” ceremony (which includes special items to honor the Lord like incense, lamp, water, cloth, flower, fan etc), or participate in singing and playing the drum for that ceremony. It is a similar morning “program” that is held at most Temples, with the tulasi arotik, and then we chant Hare Krishna (japa) softly on our beads. I then come home to finish chanting and worship my shilas.
Now that I have this special opportunity of writing here, I think about what I might say to you. This is a wonderful mediation for me.
I have already expressed in my blog about blogging, some of what it means for me to write here. I have a little more to say about this, and I am very excited to do so. At the same time, I am taking a bit of a risk in sharing this, but it is essentially about who I am.
We can’t please everybody with who we are. Some will like us, others not, yet I have come to understand that in order to be balanced devotees we need to embrace who we are in this body as we use it to serve God, and others. That is where our power is!!!
People are frustrated in life if they are not following their—-what I call—-karmic path, or what they have come in to this life to do. Some devotees give up the path of bhakti to pursue their karmic path, but that is misguided. We can all use our natural propensities and nature in Krishna’s service. In the olden days of the Hare Krishna movement, we thought that if we just externally surrendered to Krishna, then what we wanted or felt was not important. This misunderstanding caused many of us a lot of grief, but we have grown from learning those hard lessons.
I have very high ideals for my writing. Writing is one of the few things that I really have a passion for. One of my affirmations is that, ” I am a communicator of essential truth”……I endeavor to do that here as far as I can. Yet I want this to be more than just words.
As I am able I write from my heart. My ideal, and I do pray for this empowerment, is that I can write from my pure heart to your pure heart, and that my words will have spiritual power to help you on your spiritual path. In a sense my writing—as I see it–is part of my healing ministry.
You have to understand that I have been trained in many systems of energy healing, so I do speak in those terms. Our philosophy does teach that everything is energy, and healer deals with particular type of energy. So I envision myself sending healing energy through the keyboard, and love as I feel it, and can understand it (the topic of what love is, is a huge topic for another time).
I am feeling on a bit of a roll here, but I don’t want to get carried away. I try to keep my writing length to about 500 words (which I might have gone over today). Let me finish with this:
Whoever you are, I want you to know that I believe in you, and what you can become. The obstacles can be overcome!, but you have to try, pray, and look for Krishna’s direction! You are an eternal soul imbued with great power (compared to Krishna we are a tiny spark, yet compared to the limitations of this body we are (as I heard Prabhupada say) more powerful than the sun which is temporary). The problem with most of us is that we don’t believe in ourselves, because we identify as our self as our material body and our sad story. We suffer from a very low opinion of our self, which prevents us from really developing our full potential in life. It is true that without Krishna’s help we can’t do anything, but with Krishna’s help we can do anything!! We can only be instruments, and to him all credit should be given.
Only Krishna can be everyone’s dear most friend and well wisher. I can barely keep up with a few emails, and some friends in my community. However, it is my prayer and hope, that through the written word, I can in some way help you be a more balanced human being, and make spiritual progress, and connect you with other people and resources.
Is this possible?? Why not?? With the help of Guru and Krishna truly all things are possible. Even someone like us can become a pure devotee. We should not disqualify our self from receiving mercy, or underestimate the power of the holy name, the blessings of pure devotees, and the amount of love God has for us.
So let us say yes, I can be Krishna conscious in this life, and be the Lord’s instrument to do his will in my life and in the world. Keep that vision. Pray for it, and for me that I can realize my dream for writing service, and I will pray for your dream of service as well.
The age of Kali (age of quarrel and hypocrisy) that we are living in is meant for group work, so we need each others prayers and well wishing, and to come together to worship and chant the holy name.