BLACK LOTUS – the spiritual journey of an urban mystic by Steven J Rosen

Our blue lotuses met after a long while and we were all overjoyed have each other’s wonderful association. We read Black Lotus, an amazing book on the life story of HH Bhakti Tirta Swami. We started off by singing a most appropriate bhajan entitled Vaisnave Vijnapti (Prayer to the Vaisnava) by Srila Narottama dasa. We admired the fact that HH Bhakti Tirta Swami was not attached to this body and how he gave the most ecstatic kirtans when he was at Lenasia temple and the powerful class. We were fortunate to have seen HH BT Swami’s signature on his book the Beggar, some of the others were fortunate enough to receive this gift as well. Vishaka matajee shared the story of when HH BT Swami had gone to her home and we were all relishing this nectar. Krishnapada swami was another name given to Maharaj. We learnt how forgiving in nature Maharaj was and how broad minded he was, clearly he was ahead of the world by 10 years even more, a super genius with brilliant and innovative thinking always moving ahead. We all admired the personal attention that he gave his disciples and GitaGovinda matajee narrated a story by one of Maharaj’s disciples when Maharaj had left his body, this illustrated to us the love shared between master and disciple. We all enjoyed Maharaj’s “scary ride in the amusement park” his visit to the Lord Jagannatha temple in Jaganath puri, his determination to see the Lord and the Lord’s kind reciprocation for his devotees love and efforts. Devahuti matajee read one of the poems Maharaj had written, “Tomorrow I must meet Srila Prabhupada”what an inspiring and well written poem; it touched the hearts of all of us. We discussed when Srila Prabhupada embraced HH BT Swami with tears in his lotus eyes, rubbing Maharaj’s head and sincerely thanking him for his service saying that his life is successful. We also spoke about how Srila Prabhupada chastised HH BT Swami by saying that “KRISHNA IS THE DOER” we all felt this was a point we should always remember as well in our lives especially when we render any devotional service to the Lord. Chastisement from the spiritual master is an act of devoted love for the disciple to give him knowledge so that he can progress on spiritual life, so it is real mercy, in fact wonderful mercy and we all agreed that we must cultivate an attitude of joyful acceptance of chastisement. We saw that HH BT Swami had imbibed the same mood as Srila Prabhupada and Srila Prabhupada had imbibed the mood of his spiritual master so we concluded we should do the same if we want our lives to be successful and if we to please Srila Prabhupada. We saw Srila Prabhupada’s immense mercy when HH BT Swami was massaging Srila Prabhupada will oil, he spilt it but Srila Prabhupada didn’t say anything he just said to continue with the massage, such a loving mood like a father shows to his son. We all laughed when HH BT Swami went with an afro wig to distribute books and in the black light it glowed green and the professor said that he had never seen anything like this and HH BT Swami said, it’s his new shampoo, we admired Maharaj’s determination to distribute Srila Prabhupada’s books. We also admired how he distributed books in the iron curtain at the time of the cold war in the Soviet Union and how he escaped with his life by the Lord’s mercy. All in all it was a wonderful story about a beautiful and rare black lotus that lived his life with total surrender and utmost dedication to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna. We greatly appreciate Srila Prabhupada and the Lord for letting such a pure soul walk this planet and have great gratitude that some of us even had his association. We want to sincerely thank HH Bhakti Tirta swami for all of his books and wonderful lessons for advancement in our spiritual lives. Krishna consciousness is truly the path of perfection given to us freely by the selfless father Srila Prabhupada and by his mercy we can see how many souls have perfected their lives and gone back home back to Godhead. We are eternally grateful to our dear Srila Prabhupada. All glories to AC Bhaktivedanta Srila Prabhupada!!!! All glories to HH Bhakti Tirta Swami.
We would like to thank Gitagovinda for hosting book club at her home, the mood and her kind hospitality set the perfect mood leaving us all blissfulJ. We would like to also thank all the wonderful cooks for preparing lovely prasadam. We would also like to give a special welcome to our new member Kerisha matajee and thank her for joining us.
Our next book is path of perfection by HDG AC Bhaktivendanta Swami Srila Prabupada and we’ll meet on the 14 June 2010. Take care and happy reading blue lotuses.
Your servant
Hemavati Radhika dd for and on behalf of the blue lotus book club.

Now you are home...

The Journey Home

Radhanath Swami

On Monday Blue Lotus’s got together for the long awaited and much anticipated Book Club gathering.

We missed each other’s association but more so we were bursting to with realisations from Radhanath Swami’s autobiography- The Journey Home.

And what a journey it was...

This is a highly recommended book that had us laughing and crying.

You are left with a feeling of disbelief at the events that unfolded on his journey to India,

Just when you think it cannot get any worse.. it really does.. yet Radhanath Swami’s dedication and devotion to pursue his path to spiritual realisation was both humbling and truly inspiring. And out of the most trying experiences, his Faith allows him to find Gods lesson in everything.

One really feels like he was chosen specifically by Krsna

As He was so fortunate to hear Krsna’s direction to Him to go to India as well as having the Maha Mantra delivered to him through the Ganges River.. what a special soul He is to receive such amazing mercy.

His experiences or realisations on his journey even resulted in Him following the 4 regulative principals before he came to ISKCON... so when he met Prabhupada he was home.

He said to Prabhupada, I want to offer you my Life..

After hearing those words, Prbahupada responded saying .. Now you are home

I end my review with some words out of this amazing book where Cidananda Swami preaches to Radhanath Swami about chanting:

You should practice chanting Lords name

Until you reach a state in which the japa goes on uninterruptedly in the mind even while

sitiing or standing

Eating of drinking

Walking or working

Waking or sleeping

Hari Haribol

Your servant

Sunaina on behalf of the Blue Lotus Book Club

Hope to see you at the next gathering where we will discuss the book:

Laws of Nature

The colour saffron :o)

Last Saturday we celebrated the last youth group for the year. The theme was “The colour saffron”

Everyone was to come wearing at least one item that was the colour saffron. This was to show our appreciation in a very, very small way to Srila Prabhupada, our dear spiritual masters and practically anyone who are our teachers.

We had our year-end ‘party’ out in beautiful Rose Park, starting of with 3 miniature kirtans then a sharing of each persons special moment with Srila Prabhupada or any spiritual master, which was very nice as we come to appreciate these wonderful people even more by hearing others appreciation for them!

We then played a game in which each team of pairs had to find 5 things in common with each other in 30 seconds…things got more difficult as we joined teams and swapped people around. Really funny as some of the things in common were 10 fingers and 10 toes!

We had prasadam which Sunaina coordinated and to which everyone contributed – thank u all!

And then we spent half an hour deciding whether to play touch rugby or volley ball ;o) and finally decided on volley ball.

Then it was time for desert – ice cream or more like milkshake cos it was left in the sun and then another 2 kirtans plus Nrsingadev pranams before a final game of rugby.

All in all a relaxed day of sharing, caring and just having fun! Thank you everyone for the past year ….Until the New Year you all!!

The life and passing of a pure, humble and dedicated devotee...

Hare Krishna

Blue Lotus Book Club: Vraja LiLa

What a beautiful, touching and inspirational true story that captures the life and passing of a pure, humble and dedicated devotee.

All Blue Lotus Book Club members felt they could relate to Vraja Lila and her personal struggles and accomplishments.

She was a 19 year old devotee, who was diagnosed with Leukaemia a few years before her passing.

She, together with her godsister make their way to Vrandavana, where we hear all about Vraja’s journey, personal struggles with life, death and spirituality.

Despite the challenges Maya presents,

Vraja accomplished so much in her spiritual life that even her own Guru Maharaja as well as other devotees felt blessed to have met here and inspired by her courage and spiritual devotion.

Some of the comments out of Book Club:

Vraja Lila teaches us how to Love and serve our Guru Maharaja. Makes us look at the Spiritual Father / Disciple relationship in a new light
Even though the book takes us through the passing of Vraja... one can’t help feeling that she was so lucky because at the moment of leaving her body, she had the support and chanting of devotees and the guidance of her Maharaja
We were touched by the love shared between Vraja and her god sister Gandharvika Giridhari who gave up her life and moved to Vrandavana with Vraja to assist and support her.

There were so many awe-inspiring lessons to learn and we highly recommend you get your hands on a copy and hope to see you at the next book club

Your Servants,

Blue Lotus Book Club!!! :)

Teachings of Lord Kapila

Haribol wonderful devotees, Please Accept My Humble Obeisances. All Glories To Srila Prabhupada!

We started our meeting firstly by doing Damodara aarti and we each offered a lamp to Lord Damodara and Mother Yashoda in this auspicious month of Kartik. The lamp shone light into our hearts and filled it with love. We were all happy and cozy discussing our book of the month The Teachings of Lord Kapiladev son of Devahuti by Srila Prabhupada. This was one of the most interesting books we have read. Srila Prabhupada was ever merciful because he advised us of yet another incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord Kapiladev. He specifically distinguished between the original Lord Kapiladev and the imitation Kapila who later appeared in India. Sitala shared 3 interesting points with us and Kandarpa Manjari Matajee said that Chapter 14 was her favourite and also shared the story of how the old lady called for God’s help to carry the heavy load of wood likewise we are always asking for the Lord’s help for material matters ignorant to the fact that this will increase our attachment and trap us even more! Vishaka Matajee liked how Srila Prabhupada clearly compared the philosophy of the west and Vedic philosophy. GitaGovinda matajee shared with us how if one dresses the Lord up beautifully we also become beautiful and mentioned how this point was raised in one of our previous meeting in another of Srila Prabhupada’s books so this was a lovely reminder.

Aarti Matajee had a good question regarding why Lord Kapiladev’s incarnation is not as well known as His others and GitaGovinda Matajee answered that because it is based on Sankhya Philosophy. Nayan Matajee and I liked the last three chapters as we found them to be most interesting and informative. We also distributed bookmarks to our precious blue lotuses. The entire book was captivating and all of us were highly impressed by the expert manner in which Srila Prabhupada had written his purports. We all felt very fortunate to have read this book. We all were deeply grateful to Srila Prabhupada building this ISKCON home for us where we get answers to all our questions and they are always concrete answers based on scripture where the exact text can extracted and by reading his books we can directly associate with him. All glories to Srila Prabhupada our hero. The next book we will be reading is Vraj Lila.

For and on behalf of the Blue Lotus Book Club
Your servant
Hema

We encountered two great souls...

Haribol wonderful devotees, Please Accept My Humble Obeisances.
All Glories To Srila Prabhupada! , All glories to HH Partha Sarathi Goswami!

We had an enlightening book club meeting yet again, it was ekadasi so the mood was already devotional and we sang Gurudev led by Sitala matajee and Gopi playing her mini mrdanga which enlightened the Vaikuntha mood even more. This month we read Encounters with a great soul by HH Partha Sarathi Goswami. Each and everyone completed the book because we found it very interesting. This book was brilliant because the pictures, letters, newspaper articles, Maharaj’s poems and offerings to Srila Prabhupada gave us a personal tour by his grace down memory lane to see encounters with a great soul through his fond memories we sincerely thank HH Partha Sarathi Goswami for his book and appreciated it very much; it increased our surrender to Srila Prabhupada. We are very fortunate indeed to be blessed with such loving and dedicated spiritual leaders in ISKCON who are oceans of mercy so we must take every opportunity to drown ourselves in this nectar.

We discussed how Maharaj made a garland for Srila Prabhupada and although it wilted and he did not get to offer it, his love and devotional was noted by Lord Krishna so the lesson we extracted was that our devotional service must be rendered with love and no aspiration for any recognition, Krishna knowsJ. Maharaj explained how potent Srila Prabhupada’s walking stick was just like any of Krishna’s paraphernalia and how he ensured it never touched the ground which made us realise that our gurus’ paraphernalia are just as potent and we must take care when serving them.

We shed tears when we read how Maharaj felt when he heard that Srila Prabhupada left his body. We learnt the importance of eating guru’s remnants because HH Partha Sarathi Goswami had eaten Srila Prabhupada’s chewed oranges and we can see how dedicated his grace is even after so many years all due to his guru’s mercy so we must also relish guru’s remnants so that we may also never stray from the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada. When we read Srila Prabhupada’s books we will take into consideration the 4 points that Maharaj has raised in his offering to Srila Prabhupada.

We all realised how much HH Partha Sarathi Goswami loves Srila Prabhupada and we can only aspire to eventually attain a similar love for Srila Prabhupada. By reading this book we encountered 2 great souls our hero Srila Prabhupada and his loving son HH Partha Sarathi Goswami.

Daksha matajee gave us each a little book so that we can make notes for book club, and we all appreciated this lovely gift. These loving exchanges between us creates a special relationship which helps us grow in our KC. We are each a single blue petal and as we contribute our favourite parts of the book we begin to weave a flower and together we form a unique blue lotus.

Thank you to Hemisha Matajee and her mother for hosting book club this month and also serving wonderful prasadam.

For & on behalf Blue Lotus Book Club
your servant
Hema

Feeding the hungry

Once again our youth group was ecstatic to join in with the Lenasia Temple FFL team. This time some of the members didn’t only come for the distribution but also came for the preparation and cooking. Yes, it is definitely an exceptional feeling being involved in Srila Prabhupada's Food for Life program and we hope we can come again and again and again!

Thank you Minesh Prabhu and team for inviting us to come each time… your teams association together with this special service is truly satisfying.

Kaliyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

The Mayfair Vraja Mandala Namahatta hosted a Pre-Janmastami Festival at the Mayfair Recreation centre and very kindly asked our youth group to participate by performing a play…as usual the youth group were trilled to have the opportunity for another drama so we decided on enacting the pastime from Krishna Book called “Subduing the Kaliya serpent”

check it out :o)

Thank you to all actors and to Mohini and Meenal for props and Mehul for sound. You guys rock :o)

A SECOND CHANCE

Hare Krishna Dear Devotees

What a warm feeling it is to feel like you have been given a Second Chance at something... We all should have that warm feeling as this life we have been given is exactly that..

A SECOND CHANCE

This weeks book club was awe inspiring… and who else to thank other than

His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada

for blessing us with His knowledge and the story of Ajamila in his book ..

A Second Chance

It was wonderful to come together to share our realisations and even more wonderful to see our book club is growing every time we meet…

So what were some of the comments/realisations??

** “Krsna is such a ‘nice’ God..He was so merciful to someone who was His devotee previously but who had then fell”

** This book was so practical, reminded us of the basics.. and sometimes we need to be reminded of the BaSiCs.

** WE ARE ALL AJAMILA’S… AND PRABHUPADA HAS GIVEN US A SECOND CHANCE IN THIS LIFE.

** We suffer many disappointments in life.. Everyone will disappoint us eventually.. either by something they do.. or by eventually dying..This is Krsna’s way of teaching us not to become too dependent on others BUT rather to become dependent on Him.

** When you struggle with chanting.. JUST chant..chanting in association is so Powerful.

** Service alone wont get us anywhere.. it’s our service ATTiTuDe that Krsna Appreciates.. Be sincere, Ask yourself.. Am I pleasing Krsna?? And this will eliminate Sense gratification.

** Sometimes the best way to preach is… not to preach.. When others see how devotees’ live, behave, serve the Lord..this is in itself is preaching.

WOW, what a powerful BooK CluB it was Indeed..

See YOU at the next book club:

Book?? Encounters with a Great Soul

When?? 24 August

Hari Haribol!

Your Servant

Sunaina

Friends and Krishna Conciousness

Hare Krishna to all the devotees out there. On the 4th of July, Saturday the Sri Mayapur Dham Youth Group had a discussion at the ISKCON temple in Lenasia. It was headed by Manoj a young devotee. The topic was all about Friends and Krishna Consciousness. We first had a short kirtan, then a discussion.

We had an intense discussion with questions like what qualities do you think a friend should have? Which friends would you prefer, materialistic friends or spiritual friends and why? Is there a difference between materialistic and spiritual friends? At the end of the discussion we realised that we should respect and treat our friends with honesty, love and care and that our only Best Friend is Krishna.

Sri Mayapur Dham Youth Group Ki Jai!
Srila Prabhupada Ki Jai!
Sri Sri Nitai Gaura Hari Ki Jai!
Nitai Gaura Premanande Hari Hari Bol!

Written by Meera

To celebrate the June/July holidays the youth group decided to go ice-skating! it was a lots of fun and there was lots of laughter as we ventured out on the slippery ice...i think most of us wet our clothes come is in much too close contact with ice ring they we'd have liked! :o)

check out the..pros...



the pros in the making..


all in all a great time with everyone :o)

Haribol!!

Appreciate the spiritual masters

Hare Krsna Devotees

On Monday the 22nd of July, the members of the Blue Lotus Book Club met for there monthly review at Aarti matajis house. This month’s book was titled “Traveling in the service of Srila Prabhupada” by His Holiness Bhakti Caitanya Swami.

Even though not personally having completed reading the book, it was certainly worthwhile attending. What better way to increase your Krishna consciousness then being in the association of devotees and their preaching, for it was a wonderful inspiring discussion. This book certainly made us as devotees understand and appreciate the guru’s we are so blessed with. As devotees living in this material world we are so quick to complain …give up or loose hope.
By reading of our gurus traveling, only then did I realize just how petty we are, as they go through so much more then we do for our benefit and never ever show or tell of there struggle.
We take for granted how fortunate we are to have the association of these maharaja’s and fail to realize just how much they have been through allowing us to have Their association. They are well traveled and certainly most knowledgeable and as Sitala mataji said the least we can do as devotees is make an effort to attend their classes, appreciate them and try to put into practice their preaching.
A specific point I particularly found interesting and useful in hearing was when Gita Govinda Mataji had Mentioned a verse from the Srimad Bhagavatam that Bhakti Caitanya Swami explained. The lesson read ‘The lord already knows what we want, and we don’t need to harass Him by constantly praying for material things”, something most of us are guilty of.
All in all the book was gripping and many felt it difficult to stop reading once they had begun. The beautiful pictures complimented the book and was dearly appreciated by us all.

Thank you to Bhakti Caitanya Swami for His mercy, having provided us with this wonderful book. Thank you to our host Aarti, and for all the wonderful prasadam the devotees brought along. Thank you to Hemisha for our wonderful gifts, we certainly are encouraged to read more.

Another wonderful night of tasty prasadam… good company and great conversation.

The Next book club is scheduled for the 13th of July and titled “A Second Chance”

Hope to see you all there.

Your Servant
Reena

Our Eternal Purpose!

2 weeks back we had youth group at Manoj’s place and he lead us in a discussion...or rather several debates leading up to the answer of what is our eternal purpose! Between Caitanya Prabhu and Isvara Puri Prabhu several doubts were removed. The meaning of attachment and the value of yukta vairagya was discussed. How one becomes fortunate enough to meet a devotee is amazing. Are u going to take the staircase or are you going to take the elevator to the top?? The elevator of course! And what is the elevator to get to the top, to fulfil our eternal purpose? Manoj sang it to us as follows:

sarva-dharman parityajya

mam ekam saranam vraja

aham tvam sarva-papebho

mokshayisyami ma sucah

Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear.

Etavan sankhya yogabhyam
Sva-darma-paristhaya
Janma-labhah parah pumsam
Ante narayana smrtih

The highest perfection of human life, achieved either by complete knowledge of matter and spirit, by practice of mystic powers or by perfect discharge of occupational duty is to REMEMBER THE SUPREME PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD AT THE END OF LIFE!

Something to remember!
Krishna is completely independent and self-satisfied, He accepts service from His devotees, and thus remains at the centre of their lives.

Last weeks youth group was held at Meenal’s place where we delved in to our favorite topic of PRASADAM! We’ve found new value is being a Krishnatarian instead of an ordinary vegetarian and the great value of ekadasi and why and for who do we follow it.

Thank you guys for leading these nice topics, it’s certainly been enlightening.

Blooming in the pond of love...

Haribol wonderful devotees
Please Accept My Humble Obeisances. All Glories To Srila Prabhupada!

We enjoyed yet another book club meeting last night. The beautiful bhajan Manah-siksha, Teachings to the Mind (from Präthanä) was sweetly sung by Sitala Matajee and cartels melodiously played by Kandarpa Matajee and Hemisha Matajee.

We read the Teachings of Queen Kunti, although many of us had not completed our books, we had read them before and whatever we read now we greatly appreciated and absorbed the lessons.

Gita Govinda Matajee discussed the point where Srila Prabhupada says that Krishna is the worshipable God and the spiritual master is the worshiper God, a very nice point.

Kandarpa Matajee spoke about the vision of the lotuses and how beautiful Krishna is and whose glance is cool as the lotus. She also mentioned that if we dress the Lord beautifully we feel spiritually satisfied which is far better than beautifying ourselves.

Nayan Matajee mentioned how she admired Queen Kunti who had beared so much as a single parent but always had the mercy of Krishna, Prabha Matajee and Indira Matajee agreed.

Aarti Matajee mentioned how Queen Kunti would pray to Krishna for calamities so that Krishna would always be near and Hemisha Matajee also agreed.

Sitala Matajee mentioned that Krishna is so attractive and described how Srila Prabhupada says that when we do devotional service we also become attractive. She also mentioned how Krishna and Radharani are not envious so it’s really wonderful to love Them.

I mentioned how insignificant our problems are compared to what Queen Kunti and her family had to face. Krishna protected them from poisoned cake, a great fire and cannibals!

We would like to thank Hemisha Matajee and Indira Matajee for hosting our book club meeting and for the scrumptious prasadam. Thank you to the other Matajees who also provided prasadam. Maha prasadam ki jai!

Sitala Matajee had a surprise for us; she was so kind and took the time and effort to make a bracelet and a note for each of us out of Maha beads. We all deeply appreciated her loving gesture.

Our blue lotuses are blooming in the pond of love at our meetings and are blossoming in the loving exchanges and association of each precious blue lotus flower.

TEACHINGS OF QUEEN KUNTI KI JAI!
SRILA PRABHUPADA KI JAI!
BLUE LOTUS BOOK CLUB KI JAI!
ALL GLORIES TO SRI SRI NITAI GAURAHARI!

Your loving servant
Hema

Why we do the things we do

Last youth group, 9 May 09, Sunaina and sisters came up with this topic and led the discussion in describing what it was like for them coming to the temple and seeing all sorts of things being done but not knowing why it was being done and generally just following what everyone else was doing.

There were some important ones and some funny ones:

We spoke about why we need a guru. Isn’t the scriptures enough?
Why 16 rounds? should we push for 16 or go slow until we are ready?
Why be vegetarian? Isn’t killing plants also a violent act? Is it better to be a potato in Bengal or a human being in South Africa?
What does it mean when someone puts their hand on you and then puts their hand to his head? Is that person calling you or what?

The discussion was good especially since Caitanya Prabhu was able to join us after a very, very, very long time. Between him, Isvara Puri, Sunaina and Mehul there was lots of laughter and fun.

We ended the day playing transcendental treasure hunt.

namaste narasimhaya!

Last youth group, 2 May 09, was at Mehul and Meera’s place, the topic, with Nrsingadev’s appearance day just few days away, was naturally “Nrsingadev!” Mehul and Meera researched unusual aspects and sweet pastimes of this attractive Lord and His dear devotee, Prahlad Maharaja. We all read these out and shared realizations, pastimes and important points that we can take back into our own lives. Jai Nrsimha!




Under the caring guidance of Reshma Matajee the Bhaktivedenta College kids together with our youth group guys arranged a play for Nrsingadev’s festival. As we discussed sound, props and actors there was much excitement to have everything ready in time.

The result on the auspicious day was truly enchanting! With a smooth blend of humor and seriousness the actors captivate their audience and had them clapping and jiving to Prahlad Maharaja’s kirtan, shouting out in surprise at Nrsinga dev bursting out of the pillar and laughing at the funny antics of the demon teachers.

All in all a super festival and a super, super play! Thank you, dear youth group members for your great enthusiasm and just for being great people.

“Glory to Lord Nrisimha,Lord Nrisimha with mother Laksmi. All glories,all glories all glories to Sri Sri Laksmi-Nrisimha. I offer my humble obeisances to Lord Mahavisnu in the form of Lord Nrisimhadeva. He is the furious hero, Who's mouth is blazing in all directions. Lord Nrisimha is tremendously auspicious and He is death for the death personified All glories to Nrisimhadeva! All glories to Nrisimhadeva,who is the Lord of Prahlad Maharaj and, like the honeybee,is always engaged in beholding the lotus-like face of the goddess of fortune."