Krishna Consciousness
I wonder who cherished Krishna more. Draupadi or Meera? While standing in the court of Dhritarashtra, her five warrior husbands and the likes of Bhisma and Dronacharya watching in horror, Draupadi’s clothes was pulled off her body by her younger brother-in-law Duhssasana following the rules of the king and slave. The courageous Pandavas had lost everything to Duryodhana in a game of dice. Everything including their wife Draupadi. As she pleaded with the court to spare her the abuse and encountered heads hung in shameless silence, she thought of her childhood confidante Krishna. Closing her eyes she joined her hands, “Hey Madhava, only you can save me from this ignominy”.
Madhava sent a million yards of fabric to cover Draupadi’s humiliation and at the end Duhssasana staggered back tired as he could not find the end of the fabric.
RaNaji, main to Girdhar ke ghar jaaoon…Young Meera pleaded with her husband to not suspect her of infidelity; that Krishna’s name was indelibly written in her heart ever since she set her eyes on Him. RaNa and his family disgraced Meera in many ways but the bed of thorns sent to her turned into roses and a pot of poison into nectar. With Madhava’s name on her lips, as her feet left the ground to jump into the river under the insistence of her husband, Krishna’s strong hands engulfed her from behind and pulled her to safety.
Madhava appeared every time He was summoned. He was just as mindful of Draupadi and Meera as they were of him. Consciousness is a two way street.
Like last Saturday. As Giri Govardhana appeared on the projector screen and was reflected on the mound of sweets that lay on the small table in the center of the temple room, the devotees were urged to take rounds around the sweet mountain to wash away the sins of past seven births. White, brown and yellow bodies stood up to wash their sins away. Three young calves, dressed in the cutest of shawls and brightest of flowers on their petite horns waited for the devotees to offer them their obeisances. It was “Go” Puja. Cows are precious, sacred and revered. Caru Das ji, the Iskon temple president explained the mathematics of how a cow spared of a life could provide us with so many liters of milk and curd all her living time while a dead cow could only give 700 pounds of meat, just once.
The consciousness of Krishna was catching up with me too. Chandana Charchita NeeLa KaLevara, Peeta Basana Banamaali…another ardent lover of Krishna, poet Jaydev’s Geeta Govinda spilled out from my lips. I was sure He was around somewhere.
I wonder who cherished Krishna more. Draupadi or Meera? While standing in the court of Dhritarashtra, her five warrior husbands and the likes of Bhisma and Dronacharya watching in horror, Draupadi’s clothes was pulled off her body by her younger brother-in-law Duhssasana following the rules of the king and slave. The courageous Pandavas had lost everything to Duryodhana in a game of dice. Everything including their wife Draupadi. As she pleaded with the court to spare her the abuse and encountered heads hung in shameless silence, she thought of her childhood confidante Krishna. Closing her eyes she joined her hands, “Hey Madhava, only you can save me from this ignominy”.
Madhava sent a million yards of fabric to cover Draupadi’s humiliation and at the end Duhssasana staggered back tired as he could not find the end of the fabric.
RaNaji, main to Girdhar ke ghar jaaoon…Young Meera pleaded with her husband to not suspect her of infidelity; that Krishna’s name was indelibly written in her heart ever since she set her eyes on Him. RaNa and his family disgraced Meera in many ways but the bed of thorns sent to her turned into roses and a pot of poison into nectar. With Madhava’s name on her lips, as her feet left the ground to jump into the river under the insistence of her husband, Krishna’s strong hands engulfed her from behind and pulled her to safety.
Madhava appeared every time He was summoned. He was just as mindful of Draupadi and Meera as they were of him. Consciousness is a two way street.
Like last Saturday. As Giri Govardhana appeared on the projector screen and was reflected on the mound of sweets that lay on the small table in the center of the temple room, the devotees were urged to take rounds around the sweet mountain to wash away the sins of past seven births. White, brown and yellow bodies stood up to wash their sins away. Three young calves, dressed in the cutest of shawls and brightest of flowers on their petite horns waited for the devotees to offer them their obeisances. It was “Go” Puja. Cows are precious, sacred and revered. Caru Das ji, the Iskon temple president explained the mathematics of how a cow spared of a life could provide us with so many liters of milk and curd all her living time while a dead cow could only give 700 pounds of meat, just once.
The consciousness of Krishna was catching up with me too. Chandana Charchita NeeLa KaLevara, Peeta Basana Banamaali…another ardent lover of Krishna, poet Jaydev’s Geeta Govinda spilled out from my lips. I was sure He was around somewhere.
The lake downstairs lit up with many lights as everyone floated Diwali diyas, the sounds of Orissi mridang beats resounded over the Rockies as Ankita danced away into the night. Dracula received his copy of the Bhagvat Geeta and promised to visit the temple every Sunday evening at 5 for Krishna bhajans while hundreds of devotees, the likes of Draupadi, Meera and Jaydev kept beat to Garba as the winds got colder at the Iskon Temple in Spanish Fork, Utah.
Krishna was conscious in all of us that night.
Singing Jaydev's bhajans at the temple. 
Ankita performing Orissi
Anu and Ankita
News report link from Utah Daily Herald: http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/285866/136/
Utah Iskon Temple Diwali 2008 link:
1 comment:
Date: 12/30/2008, 6:19 pm, GMT
Name: apat5 <201.116.16.98>
Email: apat5@hotmail.com
(from web page)
Dear Julie Nani, got some free time & for the first time spent some time in your blog. Wow, its glimplse of grace. Your emotions with word power/language are really amazing. Felt very good reading some of your poems ; wish you keep them coming always. I always knew you are very talented ; but today my respect for you went up further. I know Abhijit is equally talented and the kids must be growing up the same way. What I also liked very much is seeing a picture of Ankita performing Orissi.
Amit Pattanayak
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