Realizations from last week...

- This world is a temporary place and everything around you is false except the Holy Name.
- Only by Chanting the Holy Name offenselessly can we realize everything about Krsna and only by His Mercy - Form, Qualities, Pastimes and achieve the purpose of life.
- Tolerate all naggings in material life and consider it a blessing from Krsna for you to come closer to Him.
- Nobody, NOBODY is your friend in this material world - except Krsna and his associates who want to help you come back to Him, because Krsna is really missing me. Missing me more that I miss Him
- Always take the humble position and consider yourself the servant of everyone. You are here to serve Krsna's kids whom he loves dearly.
- Make your lifetime successful by chanting and reading Srila Prabhupada's books. Also, when you read or hear make the information change to transformation. Transformation of your heart.
- Book distribution, Slokas and Philosophy is very dear to Gurudeva.
- By doing something regularly, it becomes second nature eg - Brahmasamhita learning and Evening aarti
- To grow in Bhakti, we need to hide our Bhakti
- Simple living, High thinking
- Prasadam is mercy, don't look to honor opulent prasadam, just have simple prasadam and always consider it mercy.
- Cooking for Krsna is mercy of Srimati Radharani and do it with love.
- Service you get, take it with care and love, it can be taken away from you anytime!

How to cook for Krsna:

I love to cook for Krishna and when you love ,you want to please and do your best for your beloved 🙏❤

Cooking for Krishna
Three essentials are consciousness, cleanliness and timeliness:

CONSCIOUSNESS OF KRISHNA
A LOVING EXCHANGE
Cooking is a loving exchange with Krishna. We get to make something with our own hands to feed to the Lord, beg Him to eat it, and then accept whatever He gives to us in return as prasadam. Actually, our love is the most essential item

LITTLE THINGS COUNT
Cooking should be done, therefore, with as much care and attention as possible. For example, if a pot has a little spot on it from not having been cleaned properly, cleaning it before using it only takes a minute. For this reason and in case of other contamination in the meantime, it is also a good practice to rinse everything before using it. Also sifting through the bhoga like dahl and spices will ensure no foreign matter is mixed in. All the bhoga chosen for the offering should be as fresh and pure as possible.

HEARING, CHANTING, REMEMBERING PASTIMES
It is said that a cook's "mood goes into the food". Praying and chanting mentally helps. Or keep a recording in the kitchen, playing devotional music and lectures

CLEANLINESS
PERSONAL CLEANLINESS
It's best to take a bath, change into clean clothes and tie and cover one's hair before cooking

Another thing is while cooking, one must be careful not to engage in conversation. This is to ensure no saliva accidentally falls from one's mouth into a preparation. And it is much easier this way to focus on quality and meditate on making the offering pleasing for the Lord.

CLEANING WHILE COOKING
The kitchen should be clean before one cooks, while cooking and immediately after. A helpful rule is to "Clean while you cook". This may include rinsing after use everything that needs only rinsing, while leaving in the sink for washing afterwards (or as soon as possible) only the things that need to soak or are greasy.

TIMELINESS
Timeliness is yet another sign of love. Preparing offerings on time, as regularly as possible, means caring about the Lord and others who may be hungry.

Yes, we still have a material body that sometimes feels very tired, or the weather may be very hot, but it is helpful to remember that while others may simply drive to a fast food joint for lunch, Krishna is especially pleased by all the effort and sacrifice made instead, to prepare something nice for Him. Feeding His devotees afterwards can serve as a pretty good indicator about how much this is true. And sure, this may all sound troublesome to some, but it is always voluntary; it is the way of love.

New Car; Accident; Realizations

I recently met with an accident and the whole experience was very profound. We had bought a brand new car and I was feeling very protective of it. Making sure I wipe off fingerprints, using all the new features etc. I was so protective that I started feeling that it's "My Car". Krishna sure enough again helped me to get out of this mood.

One fine day, I was just driving down the road when I got hit from the side. The hit was so hard that air bags deployed. Immediately, after the impact I remember, sitting in the car, feeling sorry that "My new car" was hit and badly damaged. The car's head console announced that I've been hit and been in an accident and automatically called the emergency numbers.

I remember reciting the Narasimha prayers and praying to Narasimha Dev, while waiting for the emergency respondents to arrive at the scene. At that time I was still so connected to "My car", I was feeling so sad that "my" brand new car had been hit and now I have to deal with it.

After all the fun stuff of talking to the Police, the firemen, the EMT, the insurance, doctors, I had time to reflect on what just happend. I thought, I'm sure Krishna has a plan and He just wants me to have faith. I also remembered Krishna protected me somehow, it could have been much worse and this was Krishna's plan and I should just go with it.

Fast forward - after multiple insurance calls, body shop calls, rental company calls, lawyer calls, I found out that "my car" was completely totalled which meant the amount it would take to fix the car was more than the actual value of the car. I now had to buy a new car but insurance paid me the value of the car.

I was finally able to buy a new car and going through physical therapy. As I look back on the entire episode, I had the following realizations:

1. Nothing belongs to me. I was attached to the car, but it's all Krishna's. In one min the car I was attached to was - GONE!
2. Krishna did it for a reason, even though I don't understand the reason, I need to have the faith in Krishna's plan.
3. Always be devoted to Krishna no matter what the situation and that will please Krishna.
4. Nobody will help you except having firm faith in Krishna and then Krishna reciprocates.
5. In the end, it was for the better and Krishna protected me.

Gurudeva says = Don't love the car, because....the car won't love you back!

Your servant,
Naimisaranya Dasa

Penning down "Realizations"

As Sri Krsnadas Kaviraj Gosvami states in CC http://vedabase.net/cc/adi/9/5/en, that he is attempting to write the pastimes and qualities of Mahaprabhu by the mercy of the Vaisnavas and Gurus. Whether he knows it or not, it is for his self purification that he is writing this book.

So that is the essence - don't write for any credit but only for your self-purification. Also, SP states in Adi 8.73 qualifications to write - "One must first become a pure devotee by following the strict regulative principles and chanting sixteen rounds daily, and when one thinks that he is actually on the Vaiṣṇava platform, he must then take permission from the spiritual master, and that permission must also be confirmed by Kṛṣṇa from within his heart. Then, if one is very sincere and pure, he can write transcendental literature, either prose or poetry." Also, Krsnadas Kaviraj Gosvami says that he is only the instrument but actually Sri Sri Madan Mohan was dictating and he was writing like a parrot. So in essence, I'm not writing, it's Krsna who is in my heart is giving me the knowledge to write these realizations.

I asked for permission from my Gurudev and he so mercifully instructed - "Please write your realizations regularly, everyday if possible, and practice giving good support to your statements with sastra."

Thank you so much Gurudev, I'm going to work on your instruction. Haribol!

Yesterday, we had HG Manu Dasa Prabhu from Vancouver, Canada visiting. He gave a wonderful class and some points which stuck with me were:

1. If you have knowledge but don't follow it - it's as good as not knowing. Ex- If you drive on the wrong side of the road even if you know that's wrong - what's the use it's as good as not knowing. And for your mistake you get a ticket or are in a collision.

2. Preaching is the essence. As SP has said - "Preaching is the essence, books are the basis, utility is the principle and purity is the force." HG Manu Dasa prabhu gave the example of a well. If the well's water isn't used it stagnates and if it's continuously used it depletes if it doesn't get new water coming in. Similarly, our knowledge in the subject matter is like water in the well - If we don't preach it stagnates and if we don't read then it depletes. Hence both are important - reading SP books, associate with devotees to keep getting knowledge and preaching to give to others.

3. We are greedy in this material world. Like a mirage maya keeps dangling the carrot in front of us. You buy a car, then you want another big car, then you want an SUV, then you want a .... keeps going on. We need to get out of this maya jaal and how can we come out?

4. Example of coming out of maya jaal was the fisherman's net. There was one fish who always escaped being caught in the maya jaal and the way he did it was to be at the feet of the fisherman and hence the jaal (net) never touched him. Similarly, we should always take the shelter of Krsna's lotus feet and if we do that then maya will never touch us.

5. We get what we deserve by Karma. So stop blaming anybody but yourself in the position you are.