Battlefield Bhajans Vol. 12
Dedicated to Srila Prabhupada and the wonderful devotees of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu
I have less that forty days left in Iraq. I look back at my time spent preaching in this area and am amazed. Not amazed at what I accomplished, because actually I did nothing. I just assisted Srila Prabhupada. But amazed at situations and realizations the Supreme Lord allowed me to experience. The Lord allowed me to be able to do a little service here, and I am grateful for this chance. Iraq for me is not about war against insurgents. It is about war with my mind, about war with all the excuses I have ever made about not applying myself in Krsna Consciousness. It was about letting my walls down and giving my heart to each person I talked with about Krsna. For fifteen months, the Lord has shown me the material world. He has been so merciful to allow me to see how special this gift of Krsna Consciousness is. He has allowed me to realize how sad it is to see someone die and say to myself " this person never heard of Krsna". From Improvised explosive devices (IED), to sniper shots, to dying children, to a smile that the Holy Name brings to someone's face, the Lord has shown me this. For others in Iraq, video game, movies and other things were their shelter, for me its was hearing, chanting, and worshiping the Lord. The only reason I survived this long here is because I wanted to use this chance to become a better devotee, to engage myself more in the Lord's service. As days pass, and my time quickly ends here, I pray to the Lord that I will be able to apply these lessons to my life out of this war zone. That I keep these memories and these realizations in my heart and use them to super charge my sadhana and my preaching. I beg of the Lord to allow me to give my heart to the instructions of my Spiritual Master and of his Spiritual Master and of Srila Prabhupada. I pray that the Lord allows me to truly become the servant of the servant, and to be able to taste the nectar of the Holy Name.
You can run but cannot hide:
I received an email from a fellow this week. It seems he received a book while from a smart box in a base I spent time on. He was explaining to me how he saw the book and thought "Oh what is this hippy stuff. We're soldiers, why do I need to know about spiritual life?" His only thoughts were that his mission in life was to kill. For many months he would walk past this one smart box and look at the cover of the Bhagavad-Gita and become to embarrassed to take one, for fear of being teased from his buddies. Then one night, he could not stop thinking of the cover of the Bhagavad-Gita, how Arjuna was being driven by Krsna. He jumped out of bed and dressed. He ran to the recreation center, where the book stand is and behold, there was one copy left. He quickly grabbed the book and sat and started reading, completely abandoning his apprehensions about being seen reading this book. All this took place four months ago. This new bhakta was so ecstatic, he saying that the more he reads about Krsna, the more this material life seems useless without surrendering to the Lord. As I read this letter, I thought back to when I first joined, and the excitement of my first realization, the joy that came form experiencing that "bhakta bliss".
books distributed:
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Please pray for all of us. I still have to understand the meaning of surrender and this is only possible with the blessings of the vaishnava's.
Yours in Service of Srila Prabhupada's mission,
Partha Sarathi Dasa
ISKCON, Iraq
