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Friday, April 27, 2018

Horror Story, Or What I Learned from House Dust

Listening to someone say how much they love to watch horror stories (and about the exciting discovery how a new friend of theirs shared that same love), I woke up the next morning thinking about why I don't need to go to Netflix and so on to see a horror show. That's because I'm already watching a horror story every day in real life.

Imagine watching a movie where a group of young people end up together in some strange place where, one by one, each one is killed in different ways. One may be pushed off a cliff. Another fall into some kind of booby trap. Another may end up in a meat freezer (there are movies like that) . How similar that is to real life. We all come into this world young and ignorant of our surroundings, and we all are, one by one, going to die someday and no one can say how it'll happen.

But even more suspenseful... is not knowing who is next.

In Bhagavad gita 11.26-30, Lord Krishna did give a grisly outcome in advance. Arjuna described what he saw:

"O Lord of lords, O refuge of the worlds, please be gracious to me. I cannot keep my balance seeing thus Your blazing deathlike faces and awful teeth. In all directions I am bewildered.

"All the sons of Dhrtarastra along with their allied kings, and Bhisma, Drona and Karna, and all our soldiers are rushing into Your mouths, their heads smashed by Your fearful teeth. I see that some are being crushed between Your teeth as well.

"As the rivers flow into the sea, so all these great warriors enter Your blazing mouths and perish.

"I see all people rushing with full speed into Your mouths as moths dash into a blazing fire. 

"O Visnu, I see You devouring all people in Your flaming mouths and covering the universe with Your immeasurable rays. Scorching the worlds, You are manifest."


But still, how each soldier ultimately died was not yet revealed.


And thanks to the daily news and  remembering TV serials like 911 or 1000 Ways to Die, or even that unforgettable film they made us watch during Driver's Ed, we start to realize that  horrible things are going on all around us every day and every moment. Accidents and murders and people disappearing. Animal slaughter. Wars. Sicknesses and losses. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur called the material world "an ocean of sorrow".


But what really prompted me to write this was not the obvious stuff. No, there is something going on that we are hardly aware of, or we take it for granted. But I get a reminder every day that I do housework..  I'm talking about house dust.


House dust consists of tiny particles that have broken down from basically everything around us over time. Some things faster than others, like when you sit on an old couch next to a window with a stream of sunlight shining though it, and you see all these little specks fly up into the air from its cushions. And no matter how much I clean, there is always more to come and haunt me with the thought that everything around us is very slowly, very subtly disintegrating.


But there's a way to become fearless. Like when people watch a horror show they know it is not really happening to them or others. Especially if they were to watch it with the sound turned off and in broad daylight rather than during the night, they'd realize that even more. Similarly, the light of transcendental knowledge that we are not these aging material bodies via engaging in the devotional service of Lord Krishna and hearing the holy name rather than mundane sound, gives one the power to be less sucked into the distress and happiness happening around us in daily life. But most importantly, we can have a happy ending.

Thursday, April 26, 2018

Radha Krishna Prana Mora

Last Thursday in Los Angeles temple there was jhulan for Chota Rukmini Dwarkadisha. This beautiful song by Acarya Narottama Dasa Thakur came to mind, from a previous  Jhulan yatra festival in Mumbai.

(1)
rādhā-kṛṣṇa prāṇa mora jugala-kiśora
jīvane maraṇe gati āro nāhi mora


(2)
kālindīra kūle keli-kadambera vana
ratana-bedīra upara bosābo du'jana

(3)
śyāma-gaurī-ańge dibo (cūwā) candanera gandha
cāmara ḍhulābo kabe heri mukha-candra

(4)
gāthiyā mālatīr mālā dibo dohāra gale
adhare tuliyā dibo karpūra-tāmbūle

(5)
lalitā viśākhā-ādi jata sakhī-bṛnda
ājñāya koribo sebā caraṇāravinda

(6)
śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya-prabhur dāser anudāsa
sevā abhilāṣa kore narottama-dāsa


TRANSLATION

1) The divine couple, Sri Sri Radha and Krsna, is my life and soul. In life or death I have no other refuge but Them.

2) In a forest of small kadamba trees on the bank of the Yamuna, I will seat the divine couple on a throne made of brilliant jewels.

3) I will anoint Their dark and fair forms with sandalwood paste scented with cuya, and I will fan Them with a camara whisk. Oh, when will I behold Their moonlike faces?

4) After stringing together garlands of malati flowers I will place them around Their necks, and I will offer tambula scented with camphor to Their lotus mouths.

5) With the permission of all the sakhis, headed by Lalita and Visakha, I will serve the lotus feet of Radha and Krsna.

6) Narottama dasa, the servant of the servant of Sri Krsna Caitanya Prabhu, longs for this service to the divine couple

Housewife Meditations According to Sastra

Some major posts are relisted here according to Srimad Bhagavatam verses: SB 6.18.33-34;SB 6.19.17 ;  7.11.25; SB 7.11.26-27, etc




THE HUSBAND IS THE SUPREME DEMIGOD FOR A WOMAN (Pati Devanam)
Husband Worship or Deity Worship?
Seeing Supersoul
The Position Test
The Games People Play
Male Ego 101

SHE RENDERS SERVICE TO HER HUSBAND WITH LOVE
A Servant's Heart
Expressions of Love: From Padma Purana, More from Padma Purana; From Srimad Bhagavatam; Ideals Taught by Queen Draupadi; From the Naladiyar, From Sri Vaisnava Dipika; More Loving Ways


SHE IS READY TO EXECUTE THE DESIRES OF HER HUSBAND
Don't be a Banyan Tree

SHE IS ALWAYS FAVORABLY DISPOSED TOWARD HER HUSBAND:
SHE FOLLOWS THE VOWS OF HER HUSBAND
The Marriage Vow
Plans for Personal Purity
Guarding the Fort
Guarding the Fort Part II

SHE IS ALWAYS CLEAN WITH NICE DRESS AND ORNAMENTS:

SHE CONTROLS HER SENSES and SPEAKS SWEETLY

SHE IS SATISFIED IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES

SHE IS FULLY CONVERSANT WITH RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLES

SHE TAKES CARE OF THE CHILDREN

"A husband is the supreme demigod for a woman. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Vāsudeva, the husband of the goddess of fortune, is situated in everyone's heart and is worshiped through the various names and forms of the demigods by fruitive workers. Similarly, a husband represents the Lord as the object of worship for a woman." _SB 6.18.33-34

"Accepting her husband as the representative of the Supreme Person, a wife should worship him with unalloyed devotion by offering him prasada"- SB 6.17.19

"O Vidura, Devahuti served her husband with intimacy and great respect, with control of the senses, with love and with sweet words." SB 3.23.2

"To render service to the husband, to be always favourably disposed toward the husband, to be equally well disposed toward the husband's relatives and friends, and to follow the vows of the husband, these are the four principles to be followed by women described as chaste." (Srimad Bhagavatam 7.11.25)

"A chaste woman should not be greedy, but satisfied in all circumstances. She must be very expert in handling household affairs and should be fully conversant with religious principles. She should speak pleasingly and truthfully and should be very careful and always clean and pure. Thus a chaste woman should engage with affection in the service of a husband who is not fallen." (SB 7.11.28)

"As soon as there is no quarrel between the husband and wife, the home will be happy. And as soon as there is misunderstanding between husband, wife, it will be hell. So the principle is the husband honestly tries to earn livelihood, and at home the wife should be so intelligent that whatever money the husband has earned, she’ll manage. She’ll not demand, "Bring money, bring money, bring money. Otherwise it cannot be..." Then the home will be happy." Rm. Conversation, Detroit, 6/14/76

"Especially instruction are given to men. All literatures, all Vedic literatures, they are especially meant for instruction to the men. Woman is to follow the husband. That's all. The husband will give instruction to the wife. There is no such thing as the girl should go to school to take brahmacārī-āśrama or go to spiritual master to take instruction. That is not Vedic system. Vedic system is a man is fully instructed, and woman, girl, must be married to a man. Even the man may have many wives, polygamy, still, every woman should be married. And she would get instruction from the husband. This is Vedic system. Woman is not allowed to go to school, college, or to the spiritual master. But husband and wife, they can be initiated. That is Vedic system." SB 1.3.13 lecture, LA 9/18/72

"A woman's real business is to look after household affairs, keep everything neat and clean, and if there is sufficient milk supply available, she should always be engaged in churning butter, making yogurt, curd, so many nice varieties, simply from milk. The woman should be cleaning, sewing, like that. So if you simply practice these things yourselves and show examples, they will learn automatically..." (Letter, Calcutta 2/16/72)

"Woman should be expert in cooking. That is their natural tendency. They should be educated how to cook nicely, how to please the husband, how to take care of the children. This is Vedic civilization. In the beginning a woman, childhood, she’s trained up by the mother. Then as soon as she is married, formerly, child-marriage, so she’s transferred to the care of mother-in-law. There she is trained up. Then she becomes very good housewife, takes care of household affairs, husband, children, and home becomes happy." -Rm Conversation, Baltimore, 7/7/76

"A chaste woman must dress nicely and decorate herself with golden ornaments for the pleasure of her husband. Always wearing clean and attractive garments, she should sweep and clean the household with water and other liquids so that the entire house is always pure and clean. She should collect the household paraphernalia and keep the house always aromatic with incense and flowers and must be ready to execute the desires of her husband. Being modest and truthful, controlling her senses, and speaking in sweet words, a chaste woman should engage in the service of her husband with love, according to time and circumstances." -SB 7.11.26-27

"Your feelings of love and affection for Me are very appropriate because I am the Supreme Personality of Godhead. All living creatures are My parts and parcels, and naturally they are affectionate to Me. So this affection for Me is very much welcome, and I congratulate you for this. Now you can go back to your homes. Another thing I must explain to you is that for a chaste woman, service to the husband without duplicity is the best religious principle. A woman should be not only faithful and chaste to the husband, but affectionate to the friends of her husband, obedient to the father and mother of the husband, and affectionate to the younger brothers of the husband. And most importantly, the woman must take care of the children." (Krishna book)

The Eternal Nature of Devotional Service

The nature of spirit is that it is never ending; it is ever expanding. For example, in Srimad Bhagavatam Suta Goswami heard Sukadeva Goswami speak Krishna katha to Maharaja Pariksit and then Suta Goswami spoke what he heard to the sages of Naimasaranya and now, in morning temple classes everywhere, we in turn hear what was spoken about, as well as so many other conversations and monologues from great souls and pastimes, and when we leave class we tell others what we heard and they may do the same, and or we remember and also apply what was heard. In this way the message continues.

Another example is how a simple service of preparing fruits as an offering to the Lord can expand. First, we perform the service as designated, but soon we may get inspiration how to choose the best fruits. Another day we may begin an every day check to make sure the shelf where Lord's dishes are stored is clean and tidy. Or the floor in that room needs a check, too. We may be inspired to warm up the water used to wash the Lord's lotus feet on cold days when preparing His offering and also may take the fruits out of the fridge ahead of time so that won't be too cold. Or we make some new plate covers for covering the offering. It can go on and on and on like this, absorbed in the details for executing a service nicely.

Even our service within the household can take on an ever increasing awareness of how to do everything better for the form of the Lord residing on our home altar. There are many things to do. They can start out so simple as mentioned before, such as cooking a few things for the Lord as a breakfast offering. Over time we realize we can make the kitchen more clean by wiping the counters, rinsing the utensils and dishes before using them, rather than only afterwards. We can sew a nice cushions for Krishna and associates to be seated when making the offering. We can add a curtain for privacy while the Lord and His associates are eating. We can sing a nice bhajan while the Lord eats or we can read to Him a passage from Krishna book. All this can go on and on and on. Eternally.

TO BE CONTINUED ;)

Akrodha Paramananda Nityananda Raya

by Lochan Dasa Thakura

(1) akrodha paramānanda nityānanda rāya
     abhimāna śūnya nitāi nagare beḍāya

(2) adhama patita jīvera dvāre dvāre giyā
      harināma mahā-mantra dicchena bilāiyā

 (3) jā’re dekhe tā’re kahe dante tṛṇa dhari’
      ‘āmāre kiniyā laha bala gaurahari’

 (4) eta bali’ nityānanda bhūme gaḍi’ jāya
      sonāra parvata jena dhūlāte loṭāya

 (5) hena avatāre jā’ra rati nā janmila
       locana bale sei pāpī ela āra gela


TRANSLATION
 1) The noble Lord Nityananda is never angry, for He is the personification of supreme transcendental bliss. Devoid of any concept of false ego, Nitai wanders about the town.

 2) Going from door to door in the residences of the most fallen and wretched souls, He freely distributes the gift of the Hari-nama mahamantra.

 3) He exclaims to whomever he sees while holding straw between his teeth, “Please purchase me by worshipping Gaurahari!”

 4) Saying thus, Nityananda Prabhu rolls about on the ground, appearing like a golden mountain tumbling in the dust.

 5) Locana Dasa Thakura says, “Whoever has not experienced the awakening of affection for such an avatara as this, that sinful person simply comes and goes uselessly in the cycle of repeated birth and death.”


More Ekadasi Prep Ideas

STIR FRIED MASHED POTATOES
This was made last Ekadasi day. I often don't have butter- almost all that I churn every couple of months ends us as ghee- so the last time I made mashed potatoes, I had used ghee rather than butter. But the end result lacked fullness. So to give more bulk and more texture, I stir fried the potatoes first in the ghee and  then mashed them along with some salt and pepper and yogurt before offering to my deities.

I remember now that in the past I also used this mashed potato method in another Ekadasi dish, but without yogurt added. Click here to see how it's used as an Ekadasi "pizza crust".

FOR A NIGHTSHADE FREE VARIATION, I use taro root. Cover the taro in salted water and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer until you can push a knife easily through them. Cool a bit and then peel off the fuzzy skins. Chop and add some thick yogurt sauce and a chaunce. Heat on low until taro is fully cooked.

QUINOA UPMA I replace with quinoa the farina used normally in upma. Served here with taro.
(serves 4-5)
INGREDIENTS: 
  • 3/4 c quinoa
  • 2-3 c assorted vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, carrot...)
  • about 3-4 T ghee
  • 1 t fresh ginger root, minced
  • 3/4 t cumin seeds
  • 3/4 t coriander powder
  • 1/4 t black pepper
  • 3/4 t roasted ground fenugreek seeds
  • a sprig of fresh curry leaves
  • 1/2 t turmeric 
  • 3 1/2 cups water
  • about 1 1/2 t salt
  • a handful of raisins
PREPARATION:
  1. Chaunce in a couple tablespoons of ghee the ginger and cumin and curry leaves. Add the coriander powder, fenugreek, black pepper and turmeric followed by the vegetables
  2. Stir a couple minutes to coat the vegetables in the ghee.
  3. Add the water and salt and bring to a boil.
  4. Meanwhile, lightly toast the quinoa in a little ghe in a separate pan until popping hot
  5. Stir the quinoa into the boiling water with the vegetables
  6. Lower the heat to a simmer, cover and let cook about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally while quinoa expands and absorbs the water and is fluffy.
  7. Offer to Krishna with avocado wedges or banana chutney

ALMOND LASSI - Blend a little at a time: roasted almonds with fresh buttermilk or thin yogurt. Add cardamom and sugar (heat the sugar in a littlne bit of water first to dissolve. Cool off and add)


EKADASI SQUASH 
Cook the squash a little ahead of time so it cools a bit and makes removal from the shell easier. Place the squash shell side down while holding it in a towel to protect hand from any heat. Then scoop.

Serves 3=4 people
INGREDIENTS:
  • A spaghetti squash, with seeds removed, sliced in half and baked 350 degrees for 45 min to an hour or until a knife pokes through the shell easily.
  • 2-3 large plum tomatoes
  • paneer chunks from a quart of milk, or more if desired
  • 3-4 T ghee
  • 1 t ginger root, minced 
  • 1 t fresh turmeric, minced (If unavailable, use powdered)
  • 1 t cumin  
  • 1 t freshly ground coriander powder
  • 1/2 t freshly ground black pepper
  • basil
  • oregano
  • water
  • salt

PREPARATION:
  1. Prepare the squash by halves face down in a covered skillet coated with about a tablespoon of ghee. Do ahead of time so it can cool a bit and the scoop from shell. Set aside
  2. Fry the paneer on a hot cast iron skillet with a little ghee until browned. Set aside
  3. Heat 2-3 tablespoons of ghee in a pan and add the spices followed by tomatoes. 
  4. Stir a bit then cover and add about 1/2 cup water, the paneer, spaghetti squash, salt and sprinklings of basil and oregano flakes
  5. Cover and cook on high heat until tomatoes are cooked and water is almost evaporated. About 20 min


I served this with sweet potato wedges, avocado halves (not pictured), candied pecans and a bowl of yogurt. 

VARIATION
Just plain baked squash left in the shell with butter and salt and pepper is nice to offer, too. Eaten out of the shell.

SWEET POTATOES
two methods
Covered and baked I prefer for tender potatoes, but I need to get a cover that isn't glass. This one is heat proof but very old, so it worries me it may just bust one day! Not fun.


PANEER SUBJI


NUT SMOOTHIES - Toast a big panful of almonds in an oven about ten minutes. Toss into a blender with some milk and sugar. Blend and add milk as needed to blend well. Turn off the blender and keep adding milk until desired consistency.  This is good to offer in the evening as a meal itself. 

TO BE CONTINUED

Perfectly Imperfect


I've recovered a comforter with a torn cover before. This time I got inspired by watching a video about kantha quilt making: Traditional Indian Quilt Making. The charm of these quilts is how simply they are made. So I felt relief, like I did when I studied modern art (famouse stuff but even a kid could make it) or the popular shabby chic décor or the use of vintage pieces in home décor. Or when I began to relax with my mortar and pestle about grinding spices the way a machine would. Good enough is now good enough. Because imperfection can be very healthy for a perfectionist. So I was able to get this comforter in good shape in no time and not in anxiety about having perfect top stitching. It worked quite well. In other words, it may be imperfect in some ways but how useful it has now become makes it perfect.

Some before and after pics:






This perfectly imperfect concept is something I think about when I think about the jiva soul. The jiva has the tendency to become illusioned due to imperfect senses, make mistakes and so on. Like when you go for a walk and realize you left something on the stove and it gets burnt to a crisp. Every good story has challenges to overcome. There are problems. There is conflict of interests and so on. This is helpful to remember, when others disappoint us or we feel disappointed in ourselves. We are designed this way. And in Krishna lila also, these tendencies are there but in a transcendental way. One example is Yudhistira Maharaja gambling away his kingdom, brothers and wife. Huge mistake many say, but although seemingly imperfect externally, everything -the entire Mahabharata- was meanwhile being masterminded by the all pervading all knowing, all merciful Supreme Personality of Godhead. In that way Yudhistira was actually just acting as the Lord's agent. In that way Yudhistira became useful to the Lord's plan. And in that way, the whole lila and the part he played was perfect.

Cinnamon Rolls

I tried this recipe Cinnamon Rolls with good results. I used butter instead of shortening and whole wheat instead of all purpose  flour. I didn't use any eggs either. A couple tablespoons of yogurt could go instead but that's optional. Just add warm water while missing until you have a nice dough to knead well. And after kneading, be sure to spread a little ghee on the dough and the bottom of the bowl you let the dough rise in. Also I tried the string cutting method but it didn't work for me. So I just cut with a knife as carefully as possible to keep a nice shape for the rolls.