Kartik Sonnet #2
As the month of Kartik continues, here is another beautiful Kartik sonnet by Ananda Vrindavan Devi Dasi.----Of lamps and lights this month is all too goodIt helps an eager traveler on their wayLean in, it calls, to those who think they couldTake shelter with a song and verse to prayThe daring know to practice what we preachOur lives we need to make a better changeTo turn within all that we love to teachAnd gain a sense of Krishna within rangeThis kartik month opens the curtains wideUpon the scene in Vraja’s village trueIt shares a glimpse of what the Lord can’t hideThe power of love and what such love can do Lean in to hold the chance to listen well And hear the stories Vrindavan has to tell
Kartik Sonnet
As Kartika month begins today, October 9th. Here is a beuatiful Kartik sonnet by Ananda Vrindavan Devi Dasi.
As Kartik comes our hearts are drawn to YouThe autumn moon rises full and deepThis month alone can have us start anewThe lights and songs awaken our deep sleepIt is a month that comes but once a yearIt’s worth a thousand lives for what it givesA chance to banish all unwanted fearA chance to sing no matter where one livesIt is a time when bhakti rasa sweetComes to our hearts in many joyful waysNot least of all the charming butter thiefPulls our thoughts through all His Lila playsAnd so we must to Kartik give our timeLeast we miss this opportunity sublime
Happy Appearance Day of Lord Balaram
A very Happy Balaram Jayanti, or Appearance Day of Lord Balaram to you all! Here is a beautiful poem celebrating the holy Appearance Day of Lord Balaram on the full moon day, just like His effulgent moonlike complexion, this year on August 11.
All the best,Rukmini Walker [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmQI-MQ_Yeg[/embed]
The Big Old Turtle
~by Ananda Vrindavan devi Dasi
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He caught my eye
As I drove by then turned around
To stop and see him
Large and brown and moving slowly
He quickly drew in his elderly head
And eyed me for my next move
Which of course was nothing
But to marvel at his body
And to think some think
This is all a big bang outcome
That counts not the exquisite details
Of each and every life and body
How can we be so blind?
How can we think there is something
More important than stopping to
Stare and marvel at the sheer
Abundance around us
And within us
Sit a Moment
Come mind, let’s sit together
And chant the holy name
I know you’ll find more
Interesting things to do
You’ll wander here and there
But I’ll pull you back with affection
Don’t you know your dreaming
Is nothing compared to this moment
With this mantra?
Just once chanting is ten thousand times better
Than what you can imagine
Or where you think happiness lies
And the fears that you slip away to?
Turn your back on them and
Soak in this mantra of love
Things will soften, fears will lessen
But wait, where are you now?
And how did you get there?
Come mind, sit with me again
And chant the holy name
For this moment is always
The only moment we have
Let’s make it count,
And let's make it work, together
Bittersweet Spring
We live each day in a world of duality. Here in the Washington DC area, the month of March, roars in like a lion with blustery cold winds, rain and hail. Yet, at the same time, the whole city is beautiful— blooming with yellow forsythia, the first pale pink cherry trees, and wild white flowering pear trees like towers of white lace filling every empty space.On the other side of the world, mothers and children have become refugees, or gone missing as they’ve hovered together, sheltering underground to somehow live despite the bombing of Ukraine. Will they ever see their conscripted fathers, husbands or sons again?Is there hope beyond this world? We are meant for a much higher life! Beyond this bittersweet world of new beginnings and excruciating untimely endings. Hear from the holy ones of the world beyond this world where “moth and dust corrupt”!
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Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.
(from Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold)
All the best,Rukmini Walker
Prayers by the Ocean
~by Ananda Vrindavan Devi Dasi----------------------------------------When I wander across the watersOf this material worldMay I always return to the shores Of Krishna consciousness When I marvel at the waves Crashing and moving With wild abandonMay I always remember The source of their powerThe supreme controller When I am saddened byThe troubles and pains of lifeMay I remember the teachingsThat I am spirit soulAnd can soar above it allLike the gulls that ride the wind When I am distracted by distractionsAnd the glitter and gold of othersMay I remember it’s all an illusionPerfectly set up to take me downAnd keep me locked in the dreamOf enjoying forever here When I finally get the point Of the futility of material existenceMay I enter the spiritual oceanAnd dive deep in the wavesTo stay there forever.
Like Snow
Ananda Vrindavan is the Temple President of ISKCON of DC
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Letting Go
by Rukmini Walker
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Autumn leaves show how—
Be electrified by light!
One glides down to earth
Or wind-spirited
Thousands rustling down the street
Lemmings to their glad demise
Whole city ablaze
Swan song of red, yellow and green
Give your best til death
Stark trees seek the sky
Sentinels release the past
Leaf, moment— each gift!
Autumn Sounds
~by Ananada Vrindavan devi dasi
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My favorite sounds of Autumn
As we move from cool to cold
Are the sounds of the geese against the sky
As they make their way south to home
They do not wait or think to stay
‘We’ll manage’ is not their mood
They are up and away on an urgent call
And a direction that does not sway
And so should we with knowledge clear
Be also heading home
Away from the cold of this shadow world
To the warmth of spiritual shores
Be like the geese and say it loud
To keep up with those who lead
To rise and fly away from here
Forever held and forever free
Lost in Material Energy
~by Ananda Vrindavan deviSometimes I get lost in material energyI find pockets to hide inWhen the intensity of life becomes too muchFacing my own shortcomingsMy lack of faith, honesty, and loveFacing uncertaintyFacing othersFacing the road aheadSometimes I get lost in the worldNeeding a quiet place to breathNeeding the sun on my sideThe wind at my backThe mind under my feetSometimes I get lost and ISit by the side of the bhakti roadWondering, questioning, restingAnd always,EverytimeA word comes throughA message I need to seeSomething I hear that fixes me upHelps me stand upWith affection for my small selfAnd my efforts to serveAnd more affection for othersAnd their efforts to serveAnd to make it to the endIn one piece.
As Long as I have Shade
~by Ananda Vrindavan devi dasi
As long as I have shade
With the sound of the holy name
I can bear the hot sun
Of my mind beating down on me
Of fears firing my imagination
Of my uncertain sense of self
As long as I have shade
Next to the rhythm of sacred sound
I can sit with the hot sun
Of misidentification
Denial, blame, justification
And not believe any of it
As long as I have shade
Beneath the clearing mantra
I can accept the hot sun
Of inevitability
Of death and dying
Of Illness and pain
The slow movements of time
And my insignificance
As long as I have shade
Deep within Krishna’s life
I can be happy with less
Cope with more
Welcome all heat
As a chance to grow
To my original true self
And my long lost love for Him
The Birdsong of the Holy Name
~by Ananda Vrindavan devi
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Let me listen to my rounds
The quiet calling of Your name
As I listen to the birds
Called by the dawn
To sing their songs of life
Let me listen with stillness
To the birdsong of Your name
It too signals the presence of
The rising of the sun in my heart
It too calls me to sing and be awake
I pray to listen with quietness
To each and every mantra
A full hearing with body and mind
As I move each bead to let
The sound wrap around me
And leave the world outside
Banana Moon
~by Ananda Vrindavan devi
Banana moon, you are beautiful too
Though you don’t get much attention
A arc of gold in the black sky
Maybe it’s that all things look more beautiful
When we’re up early and thinking of Krishna
Sweet piece of moon, you keep hope alive
With the message that you’ll not be gone long
On your journey, our journey
That we sometimes can’t see each other
But we are always there
Banana moon, smiling down love
Encouraging us to be good and do good
As you nourish life for all.
Dear Supersoul
The Dark Light
~by Ananda Vrindavan devi
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Can it be a good thing, this darkness?
A kind of light that shows me things
I like to hide from in broad daylight
A kind of cover that lets me bring
Such things up that otherwise
Might be all too much to see?
The night has it’s treasures, the dark pain
Cuts through the emptiness of pretence
There will always be dawn but don’t rush there
Deep spiritual knowing can be found in the
Dark, empty, cold and lonely nights of the soul.
Krishna can be found there, in the longing for truth
The need for shelter, the sweet surrender of no more
To give, to fight, to figure it all out alone.
Pain and suffering are good, the sages say
For they can bring us to places we need to go
Beyond the mind and ego
And into the company of those who know.
Digging Out
~by Ananda Vrindavan Devi
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As we slowly dig ourselves out
of the gleaming deep casts of snow
I begin to think of what other parts of our lives
could be snowed under and need to be reclaimed
Perhaps it is an old forgotten hurt that should be
forgiven and let go, set to melt
Maybe it's a dream that's been frozen
in the face of so much struggle to survive
Perhaps it needs to see the sunshine
Or could it be the evenings we need to dig out
or even one evening, to sit with family and talk
Or the early morning hours that we need to reclaim
to begin our day with words of prayers, mantras of hope
auspicious things and moods of giving
before we are snowed under again
with life and phones and time and forgetfulness
Perhaps we need to reclaim a day
to spend at the temple with Krishna
to sit and serve and be with Him
Perhaps we need to take down the walls of snow
we tend to hide behind
and bring our humbler self out under the blue sky
and ready to say - I need help to dig myself out of
this bodily concept of life, this temporary world of names
and be conscious of the urgent need to keep digging and digging
to reclaim our true and pure spirit selves, surely snowed in for many a lifetime.
Messages
by Ananda Vrindavan Devi Dasi-------------------------------------- I don’t know about you But I get messages all the time Like from these two Tulips in a vaseleaning down Searching for krishna On the altarEagerStretching Longing Ignoring the crowd Going the other wayAfter something better
Winter Rain
by Ananda Vrindavan devi------------------------------------
It’s a cold rain on this cold morning
Raining cats and dogs they say
Why not raining birds and bees
Or better yet let it rain love and kindness
Drops of sweet water to change our thinking
To wash away fear and loneliness
Let it rain invitations to reach out
And share our lives with others
Let it pour down buckets of insights
That we can find meaning and shelter in our pain
Let the raindrops wash away our tears
And let the same raindrops cause us to cry
With honest reflection and emotional freedom
Honor the rain on this cold winter day
A gift of water from above
Freely given, with love.
A New Year Is Here - Are We Here?
~by Chaitanya Charan
Happy new year to you all! I'd like to share with you a beautiful poem by Chaitanya Charan called A New Year is Here - Are We Here? May it be an inspiration for you all in this new year.All the best,Rukmini Walkerhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HusJ6MZEnr8&feature=emb_title