Krishna Sun Rising in the Heart

"Just like fog is immediately, I mean to say, moved, simply by sunrise. Sunrise. Just like this is night, darkness. In the morning, as soon as there will be sunrise, there will be no more darkness. Immediately all thousands and millions of miles of darkness immediately moved. So try to make Krishna surya - the sun, Krishna - rise in your heart, and everything will be solved." A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Good morning Sir Tree! I drove all night through Texas and took a few pics right when the Sun rose. We are entering New Mexico, the next state over towards west, in 30 minutes. Change of plans: not going to Electric Forest in Michigan this week, instead going to California. The desert is beautiful. When the sun came up and I saw the prairiedesert dryness, vastness and distant mountains, I just kept grinning and almost started crying. Love nature.

"Man's heart away from nature becomes hard." Standing Bear

LSD vs. Kirtan

I came across this interesting and kind of amusingly delightful talk from 1969 about LSD and kirtan, by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and the poet Allen Ginsberg. (I assume you've heard of LSD before, kirtan is Sanskrit for devotional music/chanting of mantras.) Towards the end they go a bit deeper into the topic of spiritual sound and what is it that makes meditation transcendental.
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Allen: Do you remember a man named Richard Alpert?
Prabhupada: No.
Allen: He used to work with Timothy Leary in Harvard many years ago. Then he worked in India and found a teacher and is now a disciple of Hanumanji, a devotee of Hanuman. We were talking about maya [illusion] and the present condition of America and he said that his teacher in India told him that LSD was a Christ of the Kali-Yuga [the current age, 'Age of Quarrel'] for Westerners in that as the Kali-Yuga got thicker and thicker that also salvation would have to be easier and easier and --
Prabhupada: That is a very nice testament, that in the Kali-Yuga salvation is very easier. That is the version of Srimad-Bhagavatam [a Vedic text] also. But that process is this kirtan, not LSD.
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Allen: Well, the reasoning there was that for those who would only accept salvation in purely material form, in chemical form finally, completely material form, Krishna had the humor to emerge as a pill.
Prabhupada: The thing is that when it is material form, then where is the salvation? It is illusion.
Allen: The subjective affect is to cut out attachment. During the --
Prabhupada: If you have attachment for something material, then where is this cutting attachment? LSD is a material chemical. So if you have to take shelter of LSD, then you take help from matter. So how are you free from matter?
Allen: The subjective experience is that while in the state of intoxication of LSD, you realize that LSD is a material pill, and that it does not really matter.
Prabhupada: That is risky. That is risky.
Allen: So, if LSD is a material attachment, which it is, I think, then is not the sound, the sabda [sound vibration], also a material attachment?
Prabhupada: No. Sabda is spiritual. Originally, just like in Bible it is said, "Let there be creation." This is sound. This is spiritual sound. Creation was not there. The sound produced the creation. Therefore sound is originally spiritual. And from sound, sky developed, from sky air developed, from air fire developed, from fire water developed, from water land developed.
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Allen: Sound is the first element?
Prabhupada: Yes.
Allen: What was the first sound, traditionally?
Prabhupada: The Vedas say OM. So, at least we can understand from your Bible that God said, "Let there be creation," so this is sound, and there is creation. God and His sound are nondifferent ... Absolute. I say, "Mr. Ginsberg." This sound and you are a little different. But God is not different from His energy. Sakti saktimatorabheda. Shakti [energy] and shaktimat [the energetic] are nondifferent. Just like fire and heat. They are nondifferent, but heat is not fire. You cannot differentiate heat from fire or fire from heat. But fire is not heat.
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Chanting in a group, definition of kirtan! Soulful peeps from NYC, photo by William Covintree.

Allen: Well, the sound Krishna --
Prabhupada: Yes, is not different from Krishna.
Allen: Under all circumstances?
Prabhupada: All circumstances, yes. But it is a question of my appreciation, of my realization. That depends on my purity. Otherwise this Krishna sound and Krishna are nondifferent. Therefore, if we vibrate the sound Krishna, then immediately we are in contact with Krishna, and Krishna is pure spirit and immediately I become spiritualized, just like if you touch electricity, immediately you are electrified. And the more you become electrified, the more you become Krishnized. So when you are fully Krishnized, then you are on the Krishna platform. Tvaktadeham punarjanma naiti mameti kaunteya. Then when you are fully Krishnized, you no more come back to this material existence. You remain with Krishna. The impersonalists say "merging." That is less intelligent. Merging does not mean losing individuality. Just like a green bird enters a green tree. It appears to be merging, but the bird has not lost his individuality. There is still individuality.

Shiva the Auspicious One ::: om namah shivaya

Today is Shiva-ratri, a special day to remember Shiva. In the Vaishnava tradition, which is what I follow, Shiva is appreciated as one of the foremost devotees of Vishnu or Krishna.

Shiva has many names but one of them (and my favorite) is Nataraja, the cosmic dancer. Literally nataraja means 'the king of dance'. Under the supervision and maintenance of Vishnu, Brahma cyclically creates the material universe and Shiva destroys it. That is Shiva's service, kind of a thankless task I guess.

"Wearing matted locks of disheveled hair, and eager to conceal his actual nature, he staggers about like a madman. On his head he happily carries the Ganges, which has washed the lotus feet of Lord Krishna. When he dances he destroys the universe." Brihad-Bhagavatamrita 

Yes, the Ganges actually flows from the galaxy first down on Shiva's head, who is situated in the Himalayas, and only then down on earth. Because of this Shiva is the greatest yogi, in constant meditation on Krishna.

Another name of Shiva is Asutosha, 'easily pacified'. This means that Shiva also gets angry easily. That's why worshiping Shiva can be tricky business. Better be careful if that's what you want to do! :) 

He is also known as Bhutanatha, 'the lord of ghosts'. This shows Shiva's super compassionate nature. In case you didn't know, ghosts are real. There are people whose activities were so ignorant and degraded that after death they do not karmically qualify for another human body, so they stick around. Not in their physical bodies obviously, but disembodied, or in their "astral" body. Shiva sees the sad situation of the ghostly individuals and allows them to worship him so they can be gradually guided toward a path of self-realization. He's kind to the ghosts and eventually places them in human wombs. (As a side note, before you make babies, make a prayer or two to have a nice soul be placed into you/your lady's womb.)

 

Shiva apparently lives in the mode of ignorance like his companions (covers his body with ashes, wears animal skins) but inside he's on the highest platform of goodness. That's why he's bewildering to the mundane and inspiring to the transcendentalist. 

Shiva is also known for ganja smoking (ganja is Sanskrit for cannabis). My spiritual master A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada once said that it's not our place to imitate Shiva though and smoke pot like him unless we can do other things Shiva does, such as drink an entire ocean of poison. (Hear the story of Shiva and poison)

 

Here's my (whiny) letter to Shiva today.

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Shiva lives on the Kailash mountain. There is a beautiful description of it in the 4th canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, beginning here. 

"There are many waterfalls, and in the mountains there are many beautiful caves in which the very beautiful wives of the mystics are found. On Kailash Hill there is always the rhytmical sound of the peacocks' sweet vibrations and the bees' humming. Cuckoos are always singing, and other birds whisper amongst themselves." Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.6.11-12

One more name of Shiva is Rudra. Rudra is a fierce and powerful aspect of Shiva. You can feel Rudra's spirit when you get angry or when it's very windy out. It's the Rudra principle acting. Stormy sea water or blazing fire are also representations of Rudra. (read more about Rudra here)

Shiva and Parvati actually got married on this day. Below Shiva instructs her. I just love that picture. Shiva's feminine energy is also known as Shakti, Durga, Kali and Devi. Shiva's followers (Shaivites) have a clay marking of three horizontal lines on their foreheads like Shiva has here.

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Alrighty I think I've told you just about everything I know about Shiva :) If you want, some time today you can chant this mantra for him: om namah shivaya, which means that you're offering him your respects.

Srila Prabhupada Interviewed on TV in 1975

What can I say, I love Prabhupada :) He's the spiritual master who brought Krishna Consciousness and the chanting of Hare Krishna to the West in the 60's. Here he is interviewed by this funky San Fransisco interviewer.

This Is Love

"This is love. And if God accepts your offerings, then what more do you want? He becomes your most intimate friend. If you make God your intimate friend, then there is nothing wanted. You'll be fulfilled. You'll find that I have got everything.

And if we become convinced that Krishna is my protector, then how much happy and peaceful we will be. Offer something. Just be in love with Him. Then just see how much peaceful you feel. 

How much tranquility you feel and how you are protected by Krishna, how you avoid insufficiency, how you become pure, and how you make progress in spiritual life." 

words from Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

I was just at a laundromat and talked with a guy about places worth visiting here in Oregon. He told me he took once part in a meditation circle of 10 000 people, all chanting om, and the experience "nearly knocked him down". I can imagine! 

As we were talking, another guy came up to me with a CD called Bhakti which means devotion in Sanskrit (and is also my name ahem). He said he plays guitar and made a recording of songs about Krishna, heard me talk about Krishna, and so wanted to give me a copy of his album. Sweet! 

He had brought his guitar to the laundromat so he played and we both sang Hare Krishna and other mantras until 1am. Other nightly laundry-washers seemed pleasantly surprised by our unexpected concert. :)