Battlefield Bhajans Vol. 24

ISKCON Book Distribution

Hare Krsna Prabhus,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

I haven't written any journal in sometime due to a serious illness requiring me to be admitted to Stanford hospital. I am slowly recovering and think I jumped to fast into traveling. So i have slowed down a little and am recovering now. Things with the Army are moving along. Everyone is really pushing for my release, and as it looks we are 90% finished with the military. Now I don't have a job and my supervisor told me to stay at home and chant Hare Krsna and distribute books. My letter to Army has been passed around to many officers and senior sergeants in the Army, and has created some serious questions about spiritual life and how they can better practice it. I had a conversation with my commander and he was telling me how he was in a camping ground in southern California, and saw the devotees. His wife asked him who those people with bed sheets on were, he told her those are the Hare Krsna's like my soldier who I am writing a letter for. She asked what it was about, he told her buckle up and I'll explain to you what he told me. After a long talk with his wife, she became favorable and asked if he could get her a book. It is so amazing how Krsna can in a second wake up the super soul in the heart of the jiva, and reawaken their spiritual life.

"These Books will save your life"

In LA, I was very fortunate and was invited by HG Vijaya Prabhu to go out on book distribution. As we were walking up and down Melrose Avenue, he saw two giants of men. He said "talk to them, their military." I approached them and stopped them. I asked if they were in the military and they confirmed it. They had just gotten back from Iraq. I explained that I was in the Army, did 4 tours in Iraq and showed them my military id card. They asked what I wanted. I went to explain that I was out on the street introducing people to these wonderful books that will transform their lives. One of the guys asked me if it was really worth reading, could it really help him. I said " Well, I know you saw some action in Iraq, and saw alot of death. How are you handling it?" He replied, " Well… I am drunk right now, what does that tell you?" I told him that what he went through was hard on the mind, and relayed some stories of missions I had. He asked how I deal with the fact soldiers, and friends died in my arms on more than one occasion, and I explained that these books on spiritual life have saved my life. I promised him that if he read them, he would get the strength, the knowledge and the ability to deal with all these feelings. Right away the man sobered up and you can see in his eyes, that he was lost. He took a small book and gave a donation. I thanked him for serving his country and in return he thanked me for talking with him and wished me bets of luck in my future.

New Dwarka, Los Angels

I arrived in LA from NYC and was met at the airport by HG Ratna Busana and Radha Krpa Prabhus. When I arrived at the temple, immediately the took me on a tour, to the temple room. To Srila Prabhupada's quarters (which was an amazing experience, you can feel Prabhupada's presence there). I was only there a few days so a lot was going on. LA definitely lives up to its name as New Dwarka, everything is really opulent. I met so many devotees, saw the BBT headquarters. On Friday I went with the devotees on harinama, and it was wonderful. The team was lead by HG Govinda Dhatta Prabhu. Expertly he sung and got the devotees fired up. I also lead for a little bit, my kidneys started to hurt so I decided to distribute books and flyers. I met some really nice people. One boy asked what the party was about. I explained that we were chanting the names of God and trying to educate the public on spiritual life. For ten minutes he asked many questions and when all was said and done he decided to take a Bhagavad-Gita. Many people there were favorable and took books. On harinama and sankritan you always met some characters. I met god that night, I gave this man a flyer and explained we have a free vegetarian feast every Sunday, the man started to scream at me, "YOU CAN"T GIVE AWAY FREE FOOD!" At first I was fried but that night I thought about what happened, and I came to the realization, that prasadam is not just ordinary free food, it mercy directly from the Lord, therefore when we inform people we met about the Sunday Feast, we should explain to them how special, and how glorious prasadam is. We should explain that by accepting prasadam ones whole life changes. We should beg souls to honor this mercy of the Lord.

On Saturday I gave morning class on the disappearance of Haridasa Thakura. I made the class interactive and choose this one pastime of Haridasa Thakura, where he Govinda comes in with a plate of maha prasadam and Haridasa Thakura offers prayers to the maha prasadam. I requested devotees to give some stories, realizations about the glories of prasadam and many interesting stories were heard. I went on book distribution that day with Vijaya Prabhu. Vijaya Prabhu showed me many helpful hints in regards to book distribution and I was very grateful. I pray he allows me again to tag along. In the evening I met my newest, oldest best friend HG Omkara Prabhu and spent the night talking with him and getting to know one another. Also so many people came in to take darshan of Their Lordships. It was far out and everyone had smiles on their faces, especially when the maha came out. On Sunday, after I performed seva for Their Lordships, my kidneys really hurt, I was dizzy, so I laid down. I had no strength to get out of bed, and hadn't eaten all day. Omkara Prabhu brought in some juice and fruit which I attempted to eat, but I could barely sit up. I had to give Sunday Feast lecture, so somehow I managed to get up and ready and during kirtana I was extremely dizzy. Ratna busana Prabhu gave a nice introduction. He has so much love in his heart. I sat on the vyasana and chanted Jaya Radha Madhava and spoke on the Bhagavad-Gita. I asked that a microphone be passed around because devotees had alot of question about my service in Iraq. After answering some very nice question, I ended class with a bhajan. I sang what I call the "Iraq tune". The devotees really got into it and at one point I had a second mic passed around so everyone could lead the melody. When the bhajan ended I sang Narsimha Pranams and the program ended. I was finished, one devotee had to help me up, any energy I had left was used up during the singing and now I was shivering, dizzy and feeling very fatigued. I must have looked crazy in Los Angeles, in a jacket, cadar and hat in September. That night Jaya gauranga Prabhu lead a soft bhajan in my room for Their Lordships and I feel asleep. It was very sweet. Next day off to San Jose.

In San Jose, my health got very bad and I was hospitalized and just recovered. I focused on chanting and reading and taking it easy. After eight days, I felt alright to travel so I left for the San Diego Brahmacari Seminar. It was so nice, after hanging out all day with the temple president Mahatattva Prabhu, I took a little rest and went to the Krishna Lounge. For those that aren't familiar, this is an excellent way to to preach. They have a program on Thursday which focuses on chanting, with a small simple talk and then more chanting and prasadam. The result is amazing, I counted at one point over thirty westerners there. People were listening form the windows, really far out. I lead bhajans and the HH Candramauli Swami gave an amazing talk. The way he established the subject was amazing and got everyone involved. He talked about happiness and the guests had many questions, which he expertly answered and told some humorous stories to emphasis his point. I distributed some books to a few guests and exchanged email info. The whole purpose of the weekend was to encourage brahmacaris to remain brahmacaris. Many senior devotees were present, HH Bhakti Vikasa Maharaja, HH Danavir Maharaja, HH Chandramauli Swami, HH Amila Vilasa Swami, HG Dravida Prabhu and HG Vijaya Prabhu. The classes were amazing. Every morning mangala arati was amazing. For me it was a great chance to have the association of a few pure souls. Some of the highlights of the weekend, was spending time with Dravida Prabhu, this inspired me so much to get better in my sloka memorization. For sometime me and him have been emailing back forth verses we have memorized and it is very inspirational. His cd's played in the trauma care wards in Iraq and touched many soldiers hearts. I was fortunate to have the association of HH Candramauli Swami. He was very encouraging and I felt inspired after our we talked. I spoke for sometime with HH Danavir Swami about North American preaching and the future of ISKCON. I have been in correspondence with Maharaja for sometime and he gave some suggestions on how I could help with the preaching in the US while I am still there. HG Vijaya Prabhu was gracious to allow me to annoy him again. He gave one of my favorite seminars of the weekend about book distribution. We spent sometime talking about increasing book distribution in the US. On Friday night we had a maha harinama, which can only be described as out of this world. Over forty devotees participated and many people joined in with dancing. HH Danavir Maharaja would get souls passing by to chant along with us. HH Candramauli Swami and HG Dravida Prabhu lead most of the harinama and had the devotees beaming with joy. After a few hours the nectar ended. My stay in San Diego gave me a chance to establish new relationships and gather inspiration from so many souls. I saw old friends like Advaita Acaraya Prabhu, and made many new friends. I pray that this inspiration will never leave me and remain fresh in my heart.

I am now in Olympia, WA with HG Jagannatha Puri Dham Prabhu. We have a simple cottage on little Vaikunta. The Lord arranged this, because it is very peaceful. The property has a nice garden, pear, apple and plum trees. Everyone on the property is vegetarian and vegan and the women in charge is very spiritual. We are using this as a nice place to base out of until my release from the military.

Sadhana:

Japa: chant those rounds, give your heart to each syllable, give your heart to Krsna with each mantra. Develop a relationship with Him and call out for Him during japa. Seva: The Lords are creating all opportunities for us. Our seva can always be improved, we are trying to always come to a better standard. Now we have been blessed with the return of Sri Sri Gaura Nitai. They are our traveling sankritan Deities and a gift form Madhusudana Prabhu. Jagannatha Puri Dham Prabhu has been taking care of Them for the last 15 months. It feels so good to see Their faces and in my fallen opinion, They are the most beautiful Gaura Nitai Deities in all of ISKCON. I look forward to serving Them for the rest of my time in this body. Reading: Cc, wow every page is giving me so much inspiration. The nectar contained in the Cc cannot even be described. Also I am reading Prabhupada Siksmrta. I have read before but this time, I am making notes in a book with quotes from letters that are inspiring to me. Also I am attempting to memorize some verses glorifying Lord Narsimha.

Sankritana: BOOKS, BOOKS, BOOKS, BOOKS

Maha Big: 4

Small 24

Our time in the Army is drawing to a close. I request and beg everyone to pray that we can move on to a different situation. But, if in the Army, or out of the Army, we need the determination to keep going, and to keep attempting to spread this mission every where we go. Please pray for us, I need everyone's mercy to become strong in my KC, and to develop the compassion and determination to be a successful preaching in Lord Caitanya's Army. Yours in the service of Srila Prabhupada,

Partha Sarathi Dasa

Author: admin

Share This Post On