Indra, the great god of rain, was very present at the commencement of our havan, the sacred fire that represents the divine tongue of Vishnu. We were ready for a downpour and secured whichever tent was available. Everyone knows what it means when rain is determined. It finds its way. I’ve done plenty of camping when in the middle of the night wetness would be felt and make your time quite unpleasant.
Here we were, all huddled tightly together, very sheltered, for an initiation ceremon
Monsoon season is upon us, or so it seems. Rain has been coming down with not much of a break. It certainly makes for cooler weather, easier to work with, especially relevant to the current practice I'm having with our drama crew. Nevertheless, for some of the roles played out, a good sweat is the outcome. It is a good workout.
Before we start rehearsal, we do some warmup exercises, but to take it easy this morning, I asked my sound man, Chaitanya, to play Holtz’s composition “Neptune: The Mysti
It works quite well for me when Gabriel takes the lead on his guitar. There were seven of us sitting on top of the mound in the park, poised to begin kirtan, when I asked him to strum away. Out of that spontaneously came a fresh new melody and then the receive-and-respond chanting process began. Oh, we had fun, and reverence at the same time. The name is non-different from the Lord.
An hour and a half lapsed and it was time to retire for the day. Rain was also about to descend. I stayed on at t
I get so much joy from being with the group of Ukrainian/Russian bhakti yogis. Today was about a year ago when Igor opened up his backyard to a host of us for the regular “devotee thing” — chanting, philosophizing, dancing, eating blessed food, etc. This group shows a lot of love and they were most enthusiastic to listen to the topic of “The Ills of Gossip.” It’s subject that resonates with most people. The consensus of people in general is that rumor mongering is one of the worst practices.
Wh
