The Wisdom Park

"Sometimes the longest journey we make is the sixteen inches from our heads to our hearts." -  Elena Avila Coming December 2019 marks 20 years of my consistent and daily chanting of 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna Maha-mantra, one of the prerequisite for a committed practitioner of Krishna consciousness. I started, chanting 16 rounds in December of 1999 and now, 20 years have passed by so quickly. One thing that helps me, be focused in spiritual life is watching the passing of the imperceptible time. How weeks turn into months, how months turn into years and how years turn into decades is a great wonder of life. This article is in no way to glorify my two decades of chanting Hare Krishna but it is just meant to share my little thoughts and my little experiences in my spiritual life at this junction in life. I feel so grateful to Krishna and His wonderful devotees who have been extremely kind to me by showering their grace on me and thus helping me sustai

"Life's Tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late." - Benjamin Franklin As I carefully see the mirror and observe my face, I notice a few strands of white hair in my chin area. Time has passing is a known fact but never expected it to pass so soon. It appears that I recently passed out of college and entered my youth but I now realize that I am almost 36 years old and a grown up adult, at least physiologically. I also realize that there is a long way to go till I become a psychological adult and grow up from my childhood immaturity and foolishness. But year by year, I am slowly growing a little wiser, more mature and more humbler. Life is doing it's part well and I am trying to be a submissive student learning all the tough lessons life throws at me. SIGNALS FROM GOD This recent Karthik Yatra to Vrindavan was another revelation in the passing of time. I got to see some of my old devotee friends from different parts of India after many years. I could see

"God is unlimited, so are the number of His devotees." Every morning after the morning program in ISKCON temples and every time devotees offer their respects to the devotees of Lord Krishna, it is a custom to chant the phrase - "ananta koti vaishnava vrinda ki jai". It means - "all glories to the unlimited, countless devotees of the Lord". I got to witness a glimpse of this phrase in the recent annual Vrindavan Yatra. The Yatra itself had 7000 registered pilgrim devotees along side lakhs of other devotees who flock to Vrindavan to be in the holiest of holy months, the Karthik month. It was a crazy crowd filled with devotees crazy for Krishna, not minding inconvenience of any sort. In fact, one starts to realise that being surrounded by devotees on all sides is a bliss of a different sort. Vrindavan was filled to the brim. This is only the number of countless devotees in Vrindavan. Add to it the unlimited devotees in other holy places, Tirupati, Sri Ranga

"Devotion means attention to details." - Radhanath Swami As I was having my breakfast at our ISKCON-run restaurant at Vrindavan, I saw one lady chef cut a piece of cake, neatly place it on the center of the plate and wipe the excess cake markings very meticulously with a tissue paper. It was then served to the customer with a knife and fork. I very much appreciated the devotion this lady put in her job. No wonder, why people spend so much extra money in going to high-quality restaurants which not only focuses on the quality of the preparation but also on the quality of the presentation of the preparation. When "the giver" puts their heart in something, it is felt in the heart of "the receiver". Eating is not just an activity of filling one's belly and satisfying one's palate, it is also about satisfying one's heart. I took a lesson from this incident. In life, we are all "givers" in some instances and "receivers" i