All relationships are opportunities to serve.

Spiritual vision transforms ordinary experiences into extraordinary and the mundane encounters into opportunities to serve and act out of Love.

Something extraordinary occurred last night, as I was walking with a friend down a London street.

We were approached by a homeless guy who was asking for some spare change.
I said: ‘Sorry, mate! We don’t have any!’
Then he replied, while walking away: ‘Oh, that’s alright! Thanks anyway, usually people curse me before I finish asking!’
I replied: ‘Well, Hare Krishna to you!’
At that moment he turned back and said to us: ‘Hare Krishna!’ Well, that took me by surprise! I thought he was going to walk away but he stopped and came back and said: ‘You know, I am Christian but I know that Krishna is the name of God! Also, I always chant Hare Krishna, before I pray to God. It sort of keeps my mind clear and helps me focus! The Hare Krishna is not a religion, it’s a lifestyle.’
He carried on: ‘I was wondering what does ‘Hare’ mean, I understand Krishna is God, but what is this ‘Hare’?’
While he was speaking, I was thinking-‘Krishna Caitanya, Your Mercy has no limits indeed! No matter what position and situation one finds him/herself, Your Holy Names somehow always find a way to touch their heart!’
I said: ‘Well, ‘Hare’ is the Divine Feminine Energy…
I wanted to add something else but something immediately cliqued in his heart, evidenced by his facial expression. He had a moment of realisation right there!
He said: ‘Oh, that makes sense… so ‘Hare’ is the energy of God! ‘Oh, thanks, I understand now!’- as he lifted his fist waiting for me to fistbump him, which I did!
He walked away being grateful…

We also headed our own way home but this brief exchange was something extraordinary indeed! It made me realise that every encounter with any soul is an opportunity to serve, to act out of Love and transcend any material limitations such as social status, body, birth, gender etc. It also reminded me that Krishna is always present in the hearts of others, waiting for us to turn to Him. It also humbled me and made me aware of my limited vision, focused on the externals (the fact that this person was homeless), something to work on. Finally, I was amused to realise that Krishna is the greatest of playwriters- always putting us in the right place, at the right time, in the right circumstances, to serve/act in His Divine Plan (lila).

Radhe, Radhe!

Hari Om Tat Sat

Misgivings of the Loving Heart

Oh, dear friend,

tell me – how can I stand the absence of Love?

How can I reside within this lump of blood and bones?

How can I conform to social norms?

Oh, dear friend,

tell me – how can I stand this burning fire in the chest?

How can I control myself?

How can I live a normal life –

without His loving eyes,

without His playful smile,

without His delightful embrace,

how can I exist?

Oh, dear friend,

tell me!

What’s my purpose –

without Her soothing glance,

without Her beautiful and gentle hands,

without Her  warming presence?

Oh, dear friend,

tell me!

Oh, dear friend,

I wake up at night,

to have an internal fight,

after which,

the mind always wins,

and makes me cry!

‘Oh, damn you Mind!

You are always ruthless

in telling me

what should I do and not do.’

‘You better be quiet, if

it wasn’t for me,

you won’t be alive!’

Oh, dear friend!

Every moment

passes in unbearable agony,

without the Beloved.

Oh, dear friend,

‘I wish he was closer,

I wish she was here,

I wish they were loving me more!’

I wish, I wish, I wish…

Oh, dear friend,

only a jar full of wishes,

that’s what I have become.

There is nothing else,

but wish and hope,

for that is the nature

of one’s misgiving and loving heart!

Oh, dear friend!

Silence

The drums have stopped,

The bells have chocked,

The harmonium has died,

The voices have gone,

and the Kirtan is no more.

Silence has arrived!

‘-Come back, come back!’-

the heart cries out.

‘-Don’t stop singing, Don’t stop dancing!’-

the heart shouts out.

Alas, there is no response…

Silence has arrived!

Without a transcendental sound,

there is no life,

there is no goal,

there is no Love.

How can the heart live in Silence?

how can it dream;

how can it sleep;

how can it walk;

how can it talk;

How can it do anything at all???

Silence has arrived!

Without a transcendental sound

there is only darkness,

there is only sadness,

there is only madness.

Without a transcendental sound

the Moon doesn’t shine,

the Sun doesn’t rise,

the flowers don’t smell,

and the Spring never comes.

Silence has arrived!

Faces

Faces walking up and down,

not knowing where and how.

Mindless,

Soulless,

Brainless,

Heartless

Oh, these faces,

they are walking up and down.

Faces coming from afar,

not knowing where they’ve been,

where they are,

nor where they’re going.

All these faces, they are lost.

lacking inner guide,

Hateful,

Angry,

Vicious,

Oh, these faces,

they are walking up and down.

Faces native to the land,

but still not knowing who they are,

walking up and down,

day after day, night after night

step after step, breath after breath,

wasting precious time,

oh, these faces,

they are walking up and down.

Here and there one face,

emerges from the crowd,

Shouting,

Screaming,

Pointing,

Bustling,

Jumping.

‘Wake up! Wake up! Oh, sleepful crowd, please

Wake up!’

Alas, all these faces,

they are still walking up and down.

 

Graceful Death

 

She just finished cleaning the bar area, when her colleague came out of the bathroom. He was also carrying her jacket. She thanked him and put it on. Then both of them left the building. They departed. Each one of them went the opposite direction towards their respective homes.

The night has started its reign and the night queen, the Moon, was shining from the Heavens. It was long way after midnight. It has been a long day for our heroine. She was physically exhausted, but at the same time, in a very peaceful state of mind. She was slowly making her usual after work walk up the hill, where her house was. The air was fresh, as there was a gentle summer breeze, which has blown away all the car pollution. Our heroine was breathing deeply, as she was passing through a public park. The place was soulless. No one was there at this time of the night. Peace and quiet. The pond in the middle of the park was casting almost a perfect reflection of the night sky. This made our heroine realize, how beautiful her surrounding were.

She made her way out of the public park and entered a path that was going through a field.  Our heroine saw that there was a herd of cows in the distance. They were lying on the ground, sleeping quietly and peacefully. Our heroine heard the calling of the Owl coming from the public park behind her. She remembered that she had read that in some Native American folklore the Owl represented death. This memory made our heroine thoughtful, but at the same time made her shiver. She continued walking up the road trying to distract herself from the call of the Owl.

The end of the path led our heroine to the fences and the door of the enclosed field. She opened it and came out on a high street.  She continued walking up the street and headed towards a junction, through which she normally passed, in order to get to the street where her house was. As she approached the traffic lights, our heroine noticed something lying on floor. Something that the passing cars were carefully avoiding. She was suddenly struck by a realization, as she started crossing the street and approaching the thing that the cars were avoiding. A rather grim realization, though. The symbolic call of the Owl has manifested itself into the material world. There was a dead animal of some sort and the cars were trying not to run over it.

At first, our heroine couldn’t discern what the animal was. It looked like a cat from the distance. However, as our heroine was making her way on the other side of the street, she recognized the animal, as a small baby fox. This realization has completely messed up the internal world of our heroine. She stopped at the other side of the street and started staring at the dead animal. She noticed that in reality the baby fox was in the process of dying, as its belly was pumping up and down. However, the baby fox must have been hit by a car that has broken its neck, our heroine thought. At this moment of insight, a wave of emotions has almost drowned our heroine. Disgust, fear, appreciation, awe, humbleness, sadness. She couldn’t move. Tears started trickling down here face. She was paralyzed. All she could do was just wait. Wait for the last dying breath of this baby fox. Wait for the final moment of when the spirit would have left the material body of this poor creature. The end of all suffering.

A Graceful Death our heroine was thinking, as she was looking at the poor baby fox. Graceful because our heroine unintentionally has turned into the Goddess of Time. The time of death for our baby fox. The time of release of this material body. The time of transfiguration of the soul into another life form. She was feeling hopeless and helpless. Tears were still coming down her face. The poundings of the baby fox’s chest were slowing down. The moment was coming. This made our heroine think about her own existence. Her own soul. Her place in this life. Her place in this Universe. Her relations with the surrounding world.  The poundings had stopped abruptly. Death has arrived. It stole away the life force of this creature.

Our heroine couldn’t believe what she was witnessing and experiencing at the same time. Her hands were shaking, but she felt she had an obligation to do something. So she went on the street and moved the soulless body to the side and put it on the pavement. She couldn’t just leave it on the middle of the road. She felt obligated to move it away from the tires of the cars. An obligation she had never experienced before. A Law surpassing any worldly matters. A Spiritual Law. As she left the body on the pavement, our heroine realized that this experience had changed something in her inner world. Something very subtle but yet profound. She felt connected. She felt Grace. Grace manifested itself through the death of this poor creature.

Our heroine started walking away towards her house. Tears still coming down her face. She felt mesmerized and humbled at the same time.

‘Graceful Death, what a Graceful Death!?’- she said out loud  to herself, as she kept walking.

All there is, the rest is just made up!

He woke up from his usual afternoon nap. Looked around, trying to find his slippers. He spotted them on the side of the bed. He put them on. Then, he put his t-shirt on and left the room. When he walked outside, he suddenly realized that he was being late. The sunset was approaching and he didn’t want to miss it at any cost. So he started rushing up the hill.

The distance to the top was few kilometers, but he didn’t know how many exactly. The moment he started walking up the road he realized he had made a giant mistake putting on the slippers. The road was full of little stones, which felt like needles piercing his feet with every step he was making. However, he didn’t have time to go back to put on his shoes, if he wanted to be on time for the sunset. So he kept walking and decided to distract himself with the surrounding environment.

The road was going up, as if it was a way to the Heavens. On his left side there was the ocean and on his right side there was a forest. He realized that he was sort of walking on the line between two worlds. The water world and the earth world. This made him smile, but suddenly a passing car that was going up the hill, made him realize that he needed to hurry. So he did.

He made it just on time for the sunset. The mountain peak was a small peninsula. All three directions were facing the vast Ocean. He made his way to a rock, which was facing the horizon. He sat there and started staring at the sun. When the Moon started rising from behind, the Sun was slowly making its way down. As the Sun was shooting its last strikes of light, our hero felt again that he was on the borderline between two worlds. The day and the night worlds. The Light and the Darkness. He was fascinated by this realization, which made him wonder. The Sun has finally set.

The Moon has started her reign. With the Moon, millions and millions of stars have appeared on the evening sky. It was a summer night, with the clearest of skies. Our hero lied down on his back and started staring at the beautiful and limitless sky. Something very interesting happened. He noticed a shooting star and made a wish as the tradition goes. He thought it was one off thing, but then there was another one. And then again, and again. Sometimes two or three at a time. It was a meteor shower. It was the most beautiful scenery that our hero had had ever witnessed.

‘All there is, the rest is just made up!’- suddenly a voice came in. Our hero was startled, and looked around to see who was speaking up, but there was no one.

‘I am telling you, what you see, is all there is! And the rest is just made up!’- the mysterious voice repeated, as if it was a bit annoyed with our hero and his lack of engagement.

‘What do you mean with all there is?!’-  our hero responded, thinking that he was crazy for speaking with the wind.

 ‘I mean, what you see! The stars, the universe! You are one with them! You are stardust! That’s your Essence! That’s everything and everyone’s Essence, if you think about it. The rest is all made up!’- replied the mysterious voice.

‘But that is not true? What about me and all my friends, family, my life in a sense? Don’t you think they are real?’- asked our hero.

‘Of course, they are! However, the Essence, the stardust is what gives them life! Therefore, what you see in the night sky, is all there is! – replied the mysterious voice.

‘I see…but what about my body, my eyes, my legs, my arms, my bones? Or what about my organs, or my brain? – asked rather enthusiastically our hero.

‘All stardust! You were born a star, you are a star now, and you will be a star forever!’- replied the mysterious voice, rather calmly.

‘Well, what about my ideas, aspirations, and beliefs? What about my dreams? Are they real? – asked worryingly our hero.

‘They are useful for now…, but ultimately, they are all made up! In essence, what you see in the sky right now, is all there is! – calmly replied the mysterious voice.

‘So are you telling me that all there is, is stardust…the Essence as you call it? – asked our hero.

‘Yes! Nothing else! – the mysterious voice replied.

‘And also everything else is made up!?- asked our hero.

‘Yes!’- replied the mysterious voice.

‘But where does this leave me then? How should I live my life, if everything is made up? Is life even possible if that is the case!?- shouted our hero at the empty space.

‘You live in accordance with your Essence, you listen to It, you trust It! You call upon for answers and you wait for responses! You let go of all the made up things and you connect with your Essence! You forgive yourself and you humble yourself! In this way, you can live your Essence!’- replied calmly the mysterious voice.

‘In a sense, always remembering that this is ALL THERE IS, AND THE REST IS JUST MADE UP!’- added the mysterious voice.

At that moment, our hero woke up from his deep slumber. He must have dozed off, while lying on the rocks. He realized that his conversation was just a dream. A provocative dream. Time has progressed so our hero decided to head back to the place he was staying for the night. He put his slippers on and started walking down the hill. Down the road. He was alone. Everybody has returned back to the village. The Moon was our hero’s only guide in the middle of this beautiful summer night. He remembered what the mysterious voice had told him. Therefore, our hero let go of control and followed wherever the Moon was leading him tonight.