"Seven Principles of Making Relationships Thrive"
In our July Urban Devi Sanga, Jahnava devi dasi presented on the "Seven Principles of Making Relationships Thrive".Drawing from bhakti wisdom and secular knowledge and research, you will learn the simple and practical application of seven key principles to help you grow, improve and establish healthy loving relationships. Please click here or on the video image below to listen to this special discussion.
All the best,Rukmini Walker [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hyFwfOkMhQ[/embed]
Freedom and Bravery
In this special talk hosted by ISKCON of DC (Potomac) Temple, Rukmini Walker Devi Dasi discusses the nuances of freedom and bravery in the Bhakti path. To listen, please click on this link or on the video image below. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-i1N63KeC8[/embed]
Inclusiveness in Bhakti - Delaware Talk
In this talk, Rukmini Walker devi dasi shares with us the importance of inclusiveness in Bhakti. May it inspire you in your own practices.[embed]https://youtu.be/RHkYWERMi7k[/embed]
Struck with Wonder and Gratitude!
All the best,
Ultimate Life Hacks from the Bhagavad Gita
All the best,The Heart of the Sacred Feminine: Beauty and Truth in Bhakti
All the best,O Prabhupada, Brilliant Moon
Forty-three years ago on November 14th, 1977, our beloved Guru Maharaj, Srila Prabhupada departed this world from Sri Vrndavana Dham, ending his pastimes here in this world, and returning to the Vrndavan of the spiritual world. According to the lunar calendar, we are honoring that day today, Wednesday, November, 18th.Here is a video remembrance of Srila Prabhupada by his spiritual daughter and disciple, Pranada Devi Dasi that evokes his mood of brilliant compassion. Please click here to watchSrila Prabhupada, thank you for showering this world with your divine compassion,Your eternal daughter,Rukmini Devi Dasi
Krsnanandini -- A Fearless Angel Among Us
Last Friday, our extraordinary god-sister, Krsnanandini Devi ended her sojourn in this temporary material world. My husband, Anuttama and I spoke to her over facetime on the phone just a few days before she departed. She was effulgently shining like an angel about to enter the spiritual world. She was joyous, fearless and fixed in ardent enthusiasm and unbreakable faith. In her life, she faced racism and bigotry and lived many years as a single mother with many children. Still she saw no sectarian boundaries and shared her compassion with everyone who was fortunate enough to cross her path. She lives on as a polestar in the sky of pure Bhakti and as a true guru to us all!
In this video, Krsnanandini Devi Dasi reflects on her story of coming to Krishna consciousness and how she came to be initiated by Srila Prabhupada.
To listen to this inspirational talk, please click on this link.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doFJEnKRgFU&feature=emb_title[/embed]
The Poetry of Nature
a conversation with Jahnavi Harrison
During late October's Eco Bhakti Weekend, Grammy-nominated artist and BBC radio presenter Jahnavi Harrison reflected on how Bhakti poetry can help us to more connect to divinity through a deeper appreciation of the natural world. The Eco Bhakti Weekend was organized by Yale University’s Ecology Forum in partnership with the Bhakti Center, NYC and Princeton University Hindu Life Program. To listen to the session please click on this link.
How Our Actions and Choices in Everyday Life Affect Our Chanting
~from an online lecture by Sacinandana Swami on May 3, 2020
Similar to what we are experiencing today with the internet, everything you do in this world is being ‘recorded’ and it stays there for as long as this manifestation of the world exists. It creates an impression, a samskara, which then informs your future actions and reactions. This is how by your choices, by your activities, you develop a certain pattern of action, choices and response – it is based on deep samskaras. Sometimes we call it habit or conditioning. This can affect your relationship with the Holy Name, because all our perceptions and experiences are affected by the ‘spectacles’ through which we look at the world. For this reason, devotees follow a few rules that help them to avoid those impressions which can distract you in a harmful way. On the other hand, we do things like for instance associating with devotees and reading sacred scriptures that affect us in a positive way, which cause positive samskaras that in turn affect our relationship with the Holy Name.
Just One Spoon
~ by Ananda Vrindavan Devi Dasi
Making his way towards the car with boxed lunch in hand
I began to say goodbye but he stopped and said
“Just going to get my metal spoon!”
And I thought, just one spoon
A simple act of consideration for Mother Earth
And what can one spoon do, really?
Why would he bother to walk all the way
In the opposite direction, to get a little spoon
But he did because he cared, and wanted to do his part
His one small part, to honor the earth upon which we walk
And by whom we are all nourished and sustained
I marveled at his consciousness, as I too am careful
But all too often give into laziness, or next time, or others are doing it
Or in the future, or one spoon, or plastic bag, is no big deal
But it is a big deal and “just one spoon” is the mantra for now
The call to urgency for each and everyone of us to be careful
To go out of our way to protect Mother Earth
In this very moment of choice, in this small act of mine
Can I rise to the occasion, can I make the extra effort?
I hope so, or all loving of Mother Earth seems empty
And walking our talk in Bhakti seems barely begun
*Taken from Ananda's Blog on September 4, 2020 from ISCKON of DC
The Holy Appearance Day of Srimati Radharani
Tuesday, August 25th is the holy Appearance Day of Srimati Radharani, the original feminine goddess and internal pleasure potency of Lord Sri Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Together They unite as the original divine feminine and masculine, and we unlimited jiva souls are expanded from Them. We can find joy in excavating our sacred connection with Them in love and service.
Srila Prabhupada explains that if you offer your sincere prayer into the hand of Sri Radha, she will recommend you to Him, saying, “this devotee is better than me, please accept her!”
Here are a few drops from the deep ocean of her qualities:
“Vrndavan’s queen brings limitless pure bliss to He whose face is Vrndavan’s splendid moon risen from the nectar ocean of bliss and love. She fills Vrndavan with nectar and she makes her beautiful friends again and again shed tears, and their bodily hairs stand erect in wonderful ecstatic love like her own.” --Vrndavan Mahimamrita
“I, a distressed soul, belonging to you, beg you with sweet words while rolling on the banks of the Yamuna!
Although I am unfit, an offender with a crooked mind, please bestow on me a fragment of the gift of service to you. This unhappy soul is not fit to be neglected by you, for you have a butter soft heart that melts constantly by the warmth of your compassion.” -- Srila Rupa Goswami, Stava-mala
Happy Radhastami!
All the best,
Rukmini Walker
A Letter To Our Future Selves
This piece is being featured in "The Emergence of Women's Voices in ISKCON" a written documentary of the voices of the first-generation pioneer women of ISKCON. Thirty-three authors speak about their relationships with Srila Prabhupada, what women bring to Krishna consciousness, and the importance of women's voices in ISKCON. My "Letter to our Future Selves" is featured in this book and book launch. Please scroll to bottom of this posting to learn more about this effort. Here is the link to the event on Facebook August 22-23: https://www.facebook.com/
A Letter to our Future Selves
by Rukmini Walker
written on June 20th, 2020
Click here to listen to the audio version of this piece.
[audio m4a="http://www.urbandevi.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/A-Letter-to-Our-Future-Selves.m4a"][/audio]
Dear Vaisnavis of the future,
My deepest respects to you all. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Several years ago I attended a conference in Geneva, sponsored by the Global Peace Initiative of Women. A woman who was a high court judge in India spoke and explained a powerful metaphor.
She said that traditionally in India, most people lived in a joint family home. There was usually a courtyard space in the center facing inward, and a veranda around the perimeter facing out. The men would usually be on the veranda, talking about finance, politics, science, and the problems and affairs of the outside world.
The women would be in the courtyard cooking together, talking together, dealing with domestic problems, and healing the family’s illnesses with herbal remedies.
Some are trying to lead by facing out, looking for solutions from outside; and some are looking to lead, and heal community by facing in…
Of course, today, there are many women in leadership - in government, in finance, in science, and many other fields as well. In ISKCON, in the US today, there are six women temple presidents. In other countries, there are also women leading in different capacities, in different services. It seems that often women and also men who are spiritually advanced, have an ability to lead in a supportive, empathic way, rather than a controlling or domineering way.
It seems to me that this sort of introspective leadership would mean to lead as a sort of path smoother, or servant leader, trying to truly hear others and deeply appreciate each and everyone’s unique and diverse contribution to the whole. This inward-facing community-centered leadership seems to be a formula for developing what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr called, “the beloved community”.
He defined that beloved community, first of all, as one that offers radical hospitality to everyone; an inclusive family rather than an exclusive club; recognizing and honoring the image of God in every human being. Of course, we would extend that to include every living being.
I’m fond of a certain story about Srila Prabhupada. In the early days, a new devotee, who was also very young at the time, had a chance to serve Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada was staying for a few days in a house near New Vrindavan, and this young man was given the task of guarding the house from outside at night. It began to rain outside and the young man came into the attached garage to do his guarding service from there.
In a few moments, he felt a presence behind him in the garage. He turned around, and there was Srila Prabhupada standing behind him. He fell down and offered his obeisances. Then he rose and asked, “Is there any service I can do for you, Srila Prabhupada?”
Srila Prabhupada said, “Yes. You can go where I will not go!” The young man was bewildered. Srila Prabhupada had just come from Chicago; Dallas; Caracas, Venezuela; San Francisco, and before that Tokyo; soon he would be going on to New York, London, Paris, and Germany…
He asked, “But where is it that you will not go, Srila Prabhupada? You are going everywhere!”
Srila Prabhupada replied, “To the future! And by the way you treat the people there, they will know how much Krsna loves them.”
In other words, Krsna cares for us, for all living beings. He patiently travels with us as the Supersoul in our lost wanderings as we try to fulfill our separatist desires in so many species of life. When we feel distress, Krsna feels compassion for our suffering. "Tat te 'nukampam...", "anukampam" means “to tremble with” (SB 10.14.8). And He gives us the understanding by which we can come to Him.
As His aspiring devotees, how can we make our consciousness more like His, in the sense of loving and caring for others? What will enhance our Krsna consciousness and help us go deeper in experience and realization? What parts of ourselves do we want to carry into the future?
What kinds of interactions in our communities and beyond can grow into deep loving exchanges that sustain and build faith and trust?
On the path of Bhakti, we learn that at the center of all existence, there is a love affair, a dance between Radha and Krsna. The divine masculine - Sri Krsna, loving the divine feminine - Sri Radha, who is expanded from Him. She is His own pleasure potency. In effect, this is God loving God. And we are being invited to join that dance, to live and dance in harmony along with Them in eternity. To live in Bhakti, means to live in harmony with this “Rta,” or divine cosmic order.
Once, Srila Prabhupada gave an example: If you’re sitting on the bank of a still lake and you throw a pebble into the center of the lake, then harmonious concentric circles will radiate outward from that center where you threw your pebble. If you throw another pebble, and another one, and yet another one into that same center, they will all create harmonious circles generating out from that center. But if I throw a pebble to this side or that side, and you throw your pebble here or there, then so many interference patterns will form and begin to clash with each other.
In other words, if we act in this world, loving Krsna and serving Him in the core of our hearts, and at the center of our lives, then as many interests, goals or pursuits as we may have, can all be harmonized in peace and sustainability in Krsna. We can have community, family, art, music, intellectual pursuits, environmentalism, or so many other “isms” all offered into the center point of loving Krsna. And if we act out of self-centered ego, then we will clash - within ourselves, between ourselves and others, and in the world.
How does Srila Prabhupada describe the formula for peace? To understand that everything is owned and controlled by Krsna, that everything is meant for His pleasure, and that He is our dearest friend. (BG 5.29)
In his purport to Bhagavad Gita 4.24, Srila Prabhupada explains that,
Everything that exists is situated in the brahmajyoti, but when that jyoti is covered by illusion (maya) or sense gratification, it is called material. The material veil can be removed at once by Krsna consciousness… the Absolute Truth covered by maya is called matter. Matter dovetailed for the cause of the Absolute Truth regains its spiritual quality. Krsna consciousness is the process of converting the illusory consciousness into Brahman, or the Supreme. When the mind is fully absorbed in Krsna consciousness, it is said to be in samadhi, or trance.
How can we bring this mood of harmony into our hearts, into our communities, and into the world? We are eager to preach, but are we eager to appreciate and to truly hear others?
We are members of an institution meant for giving compassion to others, but are we each individually acting with compassion in our personal dealings? Or are we remaining on the neophyte platform judging and criticizing others? Offending others and becoming offended by petty things, making assumptions, taking things personally, and acting out of false ego? Are we trying to grow the seeds of Bhakti but instead getting tangled up in the weeds?
I was recently listening to a lecture given by Srila Prabhupada where he was comparing the practice of beginning or sadhana, vaidhi Bhakti to jumpstarting the engine of a car. We try to give our internal battery a jump by our daily practice. But real Bhakti begins when we develop a spontaneous taste for the practice, or when the car engine kicks in and begins to run on its own power.
If we want to carry these sacred teachings into the future, we must ourselves develop the taste for authentic Krsna consciousness. So many religious communities of different traditions exist on a kanistha, or beginner’s platform… judging or criticizing others over petty differences of understanding, or class or race or practice.
If we remain on this beginner’s platform, how are we any different? Perhaps we have an extraordinary theology, but if we don’t practice it with realization, how are we any better? How will we communicate to them how much Krsna loves them if we are not living and showing that love between ourselves and others?
Recently, we attended a funeral ceremony for a beloved devotee who had taken his own life. It has been a tragedy in this community. In the first days after the suicide, there were naturally many unanswered questions: “Why? How could this happen?” As well as much blame and finger pointing to others in leadership that, sadly, also extended out onto social media.
I feared that this mood of negativity would continue at his memorial ceremony. And yet after those first painful days, there seemed to be a shift. At his ceremony, each person spoke of him with such appreciation, telling stories of how kind, selfless, and lovingly serving he had always been. How he treated everyone of every community, both Indian and Western, young and old, new and seasoned members with such affection.
After the ceremony, there was such a sense of peace, of the community having come together. Afterwards, one older god brother of mine, said to me, “Why did we have to wait until after his death to appreciate him so much? Why didn’t we let him know while he was alive, how much we all loved him? Maybe this tragedy could have been averted, if we had let him know…”
We so often speak about higher levels of rasa, of brava and prema. But this kind of love is impossible to realize without first learning to act with appreciation and gratitude in this world. Our acarya, Srila Prabhupada was always so grateful. Even Lord Krsna is so grateful for any tiny service rendered.
In conclusion, dear Vaisnavis, I suggest that gratitude and appreciation are the two doors to the palace of Bhakti… and there is no back door. Can we be the change that creates the future and show the people there how much Krsna loves them?
Hare Krsna,
Your sister in service,
Rukmini Devi Dasi
The Emergence of Women's Voices in ISKCON is a written documentary of the voices of the first-generation pioneer women of ISKCON. In this anthology they pass the torch of wisdom and lessons learned to future generations. Thirty-three authors speak about their relationships with Srila Prabhupada, what women bring to Krishna consciousness, and the importance of women's voices in ISKCON. They tackle difficult issues with philosophy, reason, common sense, decades of personal experience, and Krishna consciousness.
The essays in this anthology will bring light to ISKCON members around the world. They are as applicable today as they were yesterday and can be used as a road map to move into the future. Many senior devotees have poured out their wise hearts here, having thought deeply about this topic. They knew Srila Prabhupada and lived under his roof."A must-read. Emergence opened a floodgate of emotion and gave me solace and wisdom." --Mathura Mandala devi dasi
How to Fight and Win the Relationship
~a talk with Rukmini and Anuttama Walker
In this special session presented by Vaishnavi Ministry of North America, Rukmini Walker Devi and her husband Anuttama Das speak to us on the topic of how to fight and win the relationship.In any relationship sometimes things are smooth sailing and sometimes there can be friction. Sometimes a benchmark in a relationship is seen by how we are able to pass over those difficult times. Am I able to state my position without descending into shame and blame? Am I able to choose my battles and avoid fighting over petty things?Please click here or on the image below to listen to the talk.[embed]https://youtu.be/XtZ0ecfp_VQ[/embed]
Engaged Bhakti podcast with Rukmini Walker
featuring Rukmini Walker in an interview with Krishna Kishore Dasa
In this Engaged Bhakti podcast episode, Krishna Kishore Dasa (Dr. Christopher Fici) holds an enlivening discussion with Rukmini Walker on the meaning of women's empowerment in spiritual life and how we can understand and express the ideal balance of the sacred feminine and the sacred masculine in our everyday lives.
Please click on this link or on the image below to listen to the talk.
You can follow Rukmini on: https://www.facebook.com/rukmini.walker/; https://www.patreon.com/RukminiWalker, and Instagram under Rukmini Walker
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bdqk2JfN4Q[/embed]
The Engaged Bhakti podcast is hosted by Krishna Kishore Dasa (Dr. Christopher Fici). Krishna Kishore is a lapsed Catholic kid from Detroit turned Vaishnava/ambigious Hindu. Krishna Kishore spent five years studying and living as a monk in the New Vrindavan community in West Virginia and in the Bhaktivedanta Ashram in New York City, where he remains associated with The Bhakti Center community. At the Bhakti Center he helps to facilitate the Sacred Ecology Forum.
Journeying Beyond the Festival
an interview with Rukmini devi dasi
This year, ISKCON Toronto turned its biggest festival of the year in to a virtual one -- Festival of India. Celebrations took place over twelve days. Rukmini Walker gave the last spiritual seminar of the festival on the last day called, Journeying Beyond the Festival. She shared reflections about the mood of Ratha Yatra and the importance of "pulling the Lord back to Vrindavan by the ropes of our love."
To watch this inspiring seminar, please click here or on the image below:
Color
*This poem is taken from the award winning book Prema Mala
Happy 85th Birthday, Dear Kenneth!
It’s So Simple, You Could Miss It
~by Rukmini Walker
-----
To listen to the audio version of the blog, please click here:
[audio m4a="http://www.urbandevi.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/709-Amelia-Island-Ct-5.m4a"][/audio]
It’s morning. I’m listening to a recording of a talk given in London by my guru, Srila Prabhupada. He often likes to cite parallels from ordinary life experiences, but today, I was struck hearing this one in particular.
He compared the path of Bhakti Yoga to homeopathic medicine. In homeopathic medicine, a remedy is given as an almost undetectable infusion into a tiny sugar pellet.
He said that it’s so simple and painless, that we don’t take it seriously. Where is the bitter medicine? Where is the suffering? Without contortions of our bodies and minds, could we actually access the spirit in realization and joy? It seems improbable and impossible.
To offer my heart and the things I possess to God, or Krsna, seems so simple, so inconsequential, so momentary. Can something so insignificant be so transformative?
In fact, everything that exists is spiritual, or existing in the brahmajyoti (or spiritual effulgence of God). When we try to usurp it or enjoy it separately as our own, it takes on amaterial, illusory quality. But when we offer it back to divinity, it regains its original spiritual quality.
The holy name as a means of approach to God is so freely given in so many of the world’s traditions. It costs nothing but our sincerity and attention.
[perfectpullquote align="full" cite="" link="" color="" class="" size=""]“…the holy name can cleanse the mirror of the heart and stop the miseries of the blazing fire of material existence…” (Siksastakam, spoken by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu)[/perfectpullquote]
But the skeptic mind wonders: How could it be so simple and effective as they say?
It’s so simple, you could miss it.
All the best,
Rukmini Walker
Human Rights and UN SDG
In honor of International Woman's Day, here is a video that was written and created by a young woman named Sana Mittar. She lives in Delhi, India, where her loving family so kindly hosted me last February. This past year, Sana was the valedictorian of her high school graduating class at the Springdales School, in New Delhi.
Happy International Woman's Day!
All the best,Rukmini Walker
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndLX3cLKsSA&feature=youtu.be[/embed]