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How did you come to Krishna Consciousness?

Srila Prabhupada’s ISKCON was the light that I ventured into in my search for answers and unconditional love. I found ISKCON when I was 7 years old. For me it was a home where I played, danced, sang, and celebrated my childhood in the shelter of Srila Prabhupada and his disciples. I lost my mother at an early age and so my extended family tried to take the best possible care of me. However, I often felt that I was missing out on unconditional love, freedom, and protection that a child would receive from their parents. So, for me, ISKCON became a place of shelter; a place of friendship where I found genuine people; and a place that nurtured me just the way it has for so many people. My happiness soon started to circle around my services for Sri Sri Radha Govinda Hari (the deities in Nepal) and anything that needed to be done in the temple became my most important priority! I remember as a young child, I used to pluck flowers from my grandmother’s garden to make a flower bouquet and a gajra (a flower garland worn as an ornament in the hair) for Srimati Radharani.

When I was older, I really enjoyed getting children ready for the ‘Kid’s Harinaam’ every Saturday and also encouraged street children to join in the Harinaam by bribing them with Maha-prasadam! Maha-prasadam is food that has been offered to the Deities and I myself started coming to the temple just to have halwa and puri Maha-prasadam. My friends and I would leave everything and run to get Maha-prasad, when the bell would ring at 6.30pm. The potency of the Maha-prasad is probably the reason that I am still here. All these activities made my childhood days very special and happy. My grandmother, who used to scold me for plucking flowers from her garden, and my grandfather are now both committed devotees, and two of the best that I know on this planet. My whole extended family is now vegetarian, and a few family members have also taken up chanting of the Hare Krishna Maha-mantra.

Long before the ISKCON Nepal temple was built in my hometown, a beautiful deity of Lord Visnu helped the bhakti creeper grow in my heart. This self-manifested deity of Lord Visnu is called ‘Budhanilkantha’, and His temple is located opposite my primary school in Kathmandu, Nepal. I used to visit the 5 metre long deity of Lord Visnu everyday before going to school. The deity is situated in a reclining position on a snake bed in the middle of a pond of water (which represents the cosmic ocean), and the reflection of the deity on the water is simply out of this world. Even now, I hanker for the darshan of the deity.  

The self manifested Deity called “Budhanilkantha” in Kathmandu, Nepal

When I am asked where I am from, the first thing that comes to my mind with a big smile is – “I am from ISKCON Nepal”, a place that is my home, the origin of my identity and the place that will always preserve my beautiful childhood memories with Srila Prabhupada who adopted me and gave me a sense of security and safety.

What have you learnt in Krishna Consciousness that has helped you overcome life’s challenges?

A Krishna conscious life is all about rebuilding your relationship with God, the Supreme Being, Lord Krishna. I have learnt from Srila Prabhupada and my Guru Maharaj, His Holiness Jayapataka Swami, that we have to completely depend on Krishna for everything without any doubts, just how a child would depend on their parents. This dependency has made my life easier and more peaceful. Life does not have an ‘Undo’ option or ‘Ctrl + Z’ key that will help us reverse what has already been done.

 With my spiritual master, His Holiness Jayapataka Swami

I have learnt in my journey that life in this material world is a preparation to become eligible to go back to our original and eternal home, from which we have come. Srila Prabhupada has opened up a window into the eternal home of Krishna, a spiritual world, where every word is a song and every step is a dance, where everything is so beautifully curated. The hope of going back to the world filled with unconditional servitude for Krishna keeps me inspired.

Srila Prabhupada’s illustration of the world we are in as being a dream and the need to wake up from this dream allows me to console myself that difficult experiences are preparing me to go back to the spiritual world, which is the ultimate reality. Krishna consciousness has taught me to live a life by keeping Krishna in the centre. This is the real meaning of living in harmony. As I made an effort to bring Krishna into the centre of my life, I embraced His love and care through his reciprocation:

When I had a problem or I had a blame,
When I had a fame or I had no name,
When I was someone or I was no one,
He always had my back for He is my love.

When He gave me a life or He gave me a strife,
When He gave me a friend or He gave me an end,
When He gave me something or He took away everything,
He always had my back for He is my love.

Oh Krishna, I can never pay back for all Your care,
Cannot fathom how You constantly whisper this into my ear,
O my dear Padmasri Radha
Either you are stuck in a Tsunami or you own a crown
Just hold onto Me, I will never let you drown

Throughout my Krishna Consciousness journey, by the help of the teachings of Srila Prabhupada and many realizations of my own, I have learnt that the core ingredient to be happy in this life is to have unflinching faith, just like how a child would have in their parents. Having firm faith without any doubts concedes us to hand over our life thread in the hands of the Supreme just like a puppet. Srila Prabhupada prays to Krishna “O Lord, I am just like a puppet in Your hands. So, if You have brought me here to dance, then make me dance, O Lord, make me dance as You like”.

What do you do outside of your devotional life? E.g. work, study, hobbies.

 An Odissi stage performance, with my daughter Rupa Manjari

I work part-time as a teacher for the NAATI Nepali Interpreter course, after resigning from my full-time role as an accountant in order to spend more time with my daughter, Rupa Manjari. I do not know if I can say that my work is outside my devotional life because most of my students end up buying a copy of the Bhagavad Gita by the end of the course! I love engaging in various art and craft work such as painting, singing kirtan and dancing to Odissi (an Indian classical dance form).

My favourite hobby is to engage children in activities that helps to bring them closer to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna. My daughter, Rupa Manjari, has a way of keeping me occupied always. Every morning she wakes up with a mission for the day: sometimes things like making jewellery for the Deities, baking cupcakes, learning bhajans (devotional songs). These are understandable, but on some days she wakes up saying, “Mummy can you please teach me how to open and close this pressure cooker because if I don’t learn it, I cannot cook daal for Krishna”. So now, this is my new hobby – to find out every morning what Rupa wakes up to accomplish and to be her guide and mentor.

I also find being at holy places such as Mayapur to be extremely recharging and uplifting. I pray to be able to go there very soon with my daughter.

What projects for the children in our congregation are close to your heart which you wish to execute?

I am hoping that all the children will get all the opportunities that I got as a child growing up in ISKCON because life is very beautiful when we can establish Srila Prabhupada and Krishna in our hearts. Some of the projects that I am working on at the moment are:

• Organizing weekly/fortnightly activities for children that are educational, interesting, and fun such as learning different prayers/bhajans, learning how to apply tilak, and learning about past-times of the Lord through stories and quizzes. One day I want to see them leading services from singing Guru Puja to giving Bhagavatam classes!
• Up until last year, children have been helping me to distribute ghee lamps during the Damodar month. This year and onwards, I want to teach them how to make ghee wicks so that they can make the lamps themselves to offer for the Damodar celebration at the temple. It is a big task, but I am very hopeful!

I hope these activities will keep growing and I hope I can be of some help as I feel a strong sense of responsibility to share with children what I have learnt myself.

With my daughter Rupa Manjari

What tips do you have for parents on how to motivate and encourage children to practise Krishna consciousness?

I get inspiration from Srila Prabhupada and how he has taught all his disciples to perform various tasks, just the way a parent would train their children. Srila Prabhupada chanted with his disciples, he cooked with them, he danced in Harinaam Sankirtan (congregational chanting) with them. We can get a lot of motivation and guidance from reading about Prabhupada’s pastimes with his disciples in his Lilamrita. I have understood from this that this is what children need too – our time. If you ask children to do something and if they do not do it, chances are that they may do it if we do it with them. My daughter, Rupa Manjari, and I engage in various services together, for example, participating in Harinaam Sankirtan, chanting the Hare Krishna Maha-mantra on our japa beads, and reading Prabhupada’s books together. When I cook at home, my daughter offers the bhoga to the Lordships; we often make plans to learn a different tune of the Maha-mantra every week; learn a new bhajan and write prayers together to offer them to the Lord. In this way, I have seen my daughter cultivating devotion in herself.

Children also perform tasks the way parents carry them out. An example is when my daughter, Rupa Manjari, at the age of 3 (after watching me) sat besides Prabhupada with a glass of water and a spoon in her hand. She offered water from the spoon to Prabhupada first and then drank the water herself. Therefore, it is important to be an excellent role model for them. My daughter has slowly started learning all the services I am engaged in: garland making, singing kirtan, dancing to Odissi, cooking prasadam and so on. I am not a morning person and she too struggles to wake up early. I know in my heart that if I desire for her to start her day earlier, I will have to do it first.

Doing kirtan at ISKCON Sydney with Rupa Manjari

Cultivating a personal taste in devotional practice is very important and as a parent, we should find out what our child’s personal taste lies in. For example, does my child enjoy reading books, playing the harmonium, engaging in art/craft activities? We should encourage our children to enhance their taste and perform it to their best ability. I consider raising Rupa as a devotee of Krishna my service and offering to Srila Prabhupada. Love your children, listen to them, and always treat them with respect. Trust me, this will do magic!

One last thing is, no matter what, always teach your children to depend on Krishna more than depending on you. This is because we cannot guarantee that we will be there forever for them. Their faith needs to grow strong with or without you so that they can eventually go back to their eternal parents (Radha and Krishna) to Whom they actually belong.

Source: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=92968