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Diary of a Traveling Monk – Volume 13, Chapter 1 – August 1, 2012<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n By Indradyumna Swami<\/strong><\/p>\n After almost a year of traveling to temples throughout the world, I came back to Poland in late June for our annual Festival of India tour along the Baltic Seacoast. The 300 tour devotees had already arrived at our base and had been preparing for the two-month adventure.<\/p>\n I was jet-lagged and exhausted after my flight from Los Angeles. Warsaw\u2019s airport terminal was crowded with people returning from vacation, and as I queued at immigration I thought about the quarter-century I had been preaching in Poland.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s Kali-yuga,\u201d I thought, seeing the spirit of enjoyment that prevailed amongst the holiday-makers as they waited for their luggage at the carousel. \u201cThe results of preaching are not always obvious. One has to be patient.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re late,\u201d said a businessman next to me picking up a bag from the carrousel.<\/p>\n \u201cNo,\u201d I said, \u201cmy flight was on time.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI mean you\u2019re late for the festival,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Festival of India. Don\u2019t you guys usually start in the third week of June? It\u2019s almost July.\u201d<\/p>\n I broke into a smile.\u201cYes, you\u2019re right,\u201d I said.\u201cThis year we\u2019ve had to start a little later because the school year was extended by a couple of weeks. Our first program is tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh, I see,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ll see you in July in Rewal. My wife and I always plan our vacation around your festival. We visit the festival website quite often. Keep up the good work!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, that five minutes of patience sure paid off,\u201d I thought, watching him head for the exit.<\/p>\n The next morning I took a flight up north to our base. Amrtananda dasa picked me up at the airport.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going straight to the first festival from here,\u201d he said. \u201cWill you be up to giving the lecture?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI will,\u201d I said. \u201cI look forward to it all year.\u201d<\/p>\n We drove for two hours and as we pulled up at the festival site, I heard the clear, sweet notes of kirtan ring out. The spires of our twenty-five colorful tents depicting various aspects of Vedic culture were clearly visible even from a distance and I walked towards the site in anticipation of seeing the tents filled with happy, curious people. I could feel the excitement in the air. Our show was a grand event with a huge stage, flashing lights and a powerful sound system. Standing at the festival entrance I saw hundreds of beautifully dressed devotees serving prasadam, painting gopi dots on children\u2019s faces and helping festival-goers put on saris for the evening. A woman walked past me and gasped, \u201cOh my God!\u201d as she got her first glimpse of the spectacle before her.<\/p>\n \u201cQuick, Srila Gurudeva,\u201d the stage manager said, running up to me. \u201cYou\u2019re on in less than a minute.\u201d I put my reverie to one side and followed him across the festival site and up the stairs to the stage.<\/p>\n There was a devotee waiting in the wings with a Bhagavad-gita. \u201cIt\u2019s the same one you used last summer during your lectures,\u201d he said smiling.<\/p>\n I clasped the book tightly. \u201cLike meeting an old friend,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n I walked onto the stage and looked out at the benches which were filled with hundreds of guests all looking expectantly at me.<\/p>\n \u201cLadies and gentlemen,\u2019 I began. \u201cFor the next twenty minutes I\u2019d like to share with you another very beautiful aspect of India\u2019s ancient culture: her spiritual wisdom.\u201d<\/p>\n Before ending, I invited the people to purchase a Bhagavad-gita at the book tent. \u201cI\u2019ll be walking around the festival site for the next few hours,\u201d I added, \u201cand I\u2019ll be happy to sign any copies you buy.\u201d<\/p>\n The audience applauded. When I descended the stairs I was met at the bottom by a man who had already bought a copy of the Bhagavad-gita. His frown contrasted with the sea of smiles I had seen in front of me a minute before.<\/p>\n \u201cPlease,\u201d he said, \u201ccould you sign this right now, right away?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSure,\u201d I said, taking the book from his hand. \u201cSo, you appreciated the philosophy?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNot at all,\u201d he said. \u201cI have no interest whatsoever.\u201d<\/p>\n I stopped writing. \u201cThen why are you buying the book?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMy wife is fascinated with your festival and particularly with your talk,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I\u2019m bored stiff. I want to go home. We made a deal that if I buy her the book then we can leave immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n I couldn\u2019t help but smile as I signed my name.<\/p>\n Then another man came up to me. \u201cYou said you\u2019d sign the books, right?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI did,\u201d I replied.<\/p>\n \u201cThen please sign here,\u201d he said, pointing to a blank space inside the book\u2019s front cover.<\/p>\n \u201cAre you buying this book to go deeper into spiritual life?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n \u201cOh no,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m an atheist. In fact, I regularly debate against the concept of God.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThen why in the world are you buying this book?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t defeat the arguments you presented in your talk for the existence of God,\u201d he said, \u201cso I want to study this book and understand them better.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGreat,\u201d I said and handed him my card. \u201cHere\u2019s my email address. Maybe we can debate online.\u201d<\/p>\n He smiled. \u201cThat\u2019s a great idea,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The next morning I congratulated the devotees on the success of the first festival. \u201cBut let\u2019s not rest on our laurels,\u201d I said, quoting the ancient Greek saying. \u201cWe have forty-seven more to go!\u201d<\/p>\n A large group of us left after a hearty breakfast to perform harinama on the beach near the town where we would hold the second festival. The invitations went out quickly.<\/p>\n \u201cCan you give me six?\u201d asked a woman.<\/p>\n \u201cNo need for six,\u201d I said. \u201cThey\u2019re not tickets. They\u2019re invitations. The program is free.\u201d<\/p>\n A woman sitting on the sand nearby spoke up. \u201cBut don\u2019t think it\u2019s something cheap because it\u2019s free,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve attended seven of their festivals. Everything is very nice and professional. I have only one complaint.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cUh oh,\u201d I thought. \u201cHere it comes. She\u2019s going to talk the other woman out of going.\u201d<\/p>\n I forced myself to smile. \u201cReally?\u201d I said. \u201cWhat is it?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy does the festival have to start in the evening?\u201d she said. \u201cWhy not early morning? What better things do we have to do? Tell me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a good idea. We\u2019ll consider that,\u201d I said. The harinama party was disappearing into the distance. \u201cI have to catch up with my friends now, but please do come tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDefinitely,\u201d said the woman. \u201cI\u2019m always an hour early.\u201d<\/p>\n True to her word, the next afternoon the woman was sitting alone in the front row of the benches an hour before the show began. Soon, though, the grounds began filling up, and fifteen minutes before show time there wasn\u2019t an empty seat. The stage program began, and I noticed a disheveled man holding a bouquet of flowers looking for a seat. Eventually he sat down on the ground in front of the stage. The people sitting near him moved away. I thought about asking our security team to escort him out; he looked harmless, though, so I decided to let him stay. But during my lecture, he started yelling something. When I didn\u2019t take any notice, he yelled again, and then again until the security team pulled him to one side.<\/p>\n After my talk I left the stage and started down the stairs where a woman and her pre-teen daughter were waiting for me. \u201cDo you remember me?\u201d the girl said.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sorry, I don\u2019t,\u201d I replied. \u201cI meet so many people every day.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, I remember you,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve been coming to the festival each summer since I was four years old. I\u2019m ten now. Last year you gave me a sari and some bangles. After the festival you sat with me and my friends and explained that God is a young boy who plays a flute and herds cows. Every night before going to bed I pray to Him to let me join Him and His friends herding the cows.<\/p>\n \u201cYou do?\u201d I said.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, she does,\u201d said her mother.<\/p>\n \u201cMy mother bought the Bhagavad-gita for me today,\u201d she continued. Her eyes shone with excitement. \u201cCan you please sign it?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOf course,\u201d I said, \u201cbut will you be able to understand it?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNot now,\u201d she said, \u201cbut Mom will put it away for me until I am older.\u201d<\/p>\n Later that evening when I was walking around the festival site the unkempt man came out of the prasadam tent and handed me the bouquet. \u201cThese are for you,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n It was obvious he had not bathed in weeks and the smell of liquor wafted around him. I saw that his hands were encrusted with dirt and covered with sores.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s very kind of you, but I must move on.\u201d I said as I continued on my way.<\/p>\n \u201cWait!\u201d he called out.<\/p>\n I turned back.<\/p>\n \u201cPlease,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was my best friend\u2019s dying wish that I give the flowers to you. That\u2019s what I was trying to say during your talk. We lived over there.\u201d He pointed to a small bridge over a nearby river. \u201cWe lived underneath the bridge. My friend looked forward to your festival each year. You may not remember us, but you gave us free food each time we came. You\u2019d take us behind the tent over there and bring us big plates of food. But what my friend liked most was your lecture. Two years ago he asked you for a book and you gave him the big one for free.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWas it the Bhagavad-gita?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n \u201cYes,\u201d he said. \u201cBut he never let me read it. He said I wouldn\u2019t understand it. A couple of months ago his liver gave out; too much liquor. But he was peaceful when he died. A few minutes before he passed away he gave me the few zlotys he had and told me to buy flowers for you when the festival came to town this summer.\u201d<\/p>\n I took the flowers and held them close to my chest. \u201cThank you,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n \u201cI listened to your talk tonight,\u201d he said. \u201cI was surprised that I actually understood quite a lot of it. I have my friend\u2019s book and I\u2019m going to start reading it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI wish you all the best,\u201d I called out as I watched him walk back to his home under the bridge.<\/p>\n The Ramayana theater, one the most popular items of our show, was just beginning when I noticed a dark rain cloud in the distance in an otherwise clear blue sky. The cloud reached us within minutes and showered rain on the festival site. At first the audience seemed unsure what to do, but as the rain got stronger everyone jumped up and began running for the shelter of the tents.<\/p>\n \u201cIt will only last a minute,\u201d Rajesvari-seva dasi, our Master of Ceremonies, called out over the loudspeakers. \u201cIn Vedic culture it\u2019s considered very auspicious when it rains and shines at the same time! It\u2019s called a divya-snana, a divine shower.\u201d<\/p>\n To my amazement most of the audience members returned to their seats and sat in the rain, obviously convinced that it was something special. The shower passed and the play continued.<\/p>\n On my way backstage to check on the next performance, an elderly man approached me and asked if I was still signing books.<\/p>\n \u201cDo it quickly,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t want my wife to see. She doesn\u2019t want me to read this book because she\u2019s afraid I\u2019ll leave home and join you in your travels around the world. She doesn\u2019t like it when I listen to your classes on the internet.\u201d<\/p>\n I chuckled. \u201cI see,\u201d I said quickly signing the book and handing it back to him. He put it in his bag, looked around to make sure his wife wasn\u2019t nearby, and sauntered away nonchalantly.<\/p>\n As I passed by the rows of benches in front of the stage I overheard a woman calming her frightened child. \u201cDon\u2019t be upset, darling,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s just Krsna killing the Putana witch. You know, we\u2019ve read that story in the Krsna book we bought at the festival last year.\u201d<\/p>\n I shook my head. \u201cCouldn\u2019t ask for a more obvious sign that we\u2019ve been at it for over twenty years,\u201d I thought.<\/p>\n Moments later a woman approached me with a Bhagavad-gita in her hand. \u201cI saw you signing books,\u201d she said, \u201cbut I didn\u2019t want to bother you with mine.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo,\u201d I said. \u201cIt\u2019s not a bother. I\u2019d be happy to sign it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn your lecture,\u201d she said, \u201cyou spoke about the duality of material existence, how there is a combination of happiness and distress in everyone\u2019s life. But I would have to disagree.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd what is your disagreement?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no duality in my life,\u201d she said. \u201cI only know suffering. And I\u2019ve become desperate to the point where I\u2019m thinking about taking my life. But your talk today gave me hope that there is a positive alternative, as you called it. I will spend the next few weeks seriously studying this book.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMy spiritual teacher would be very happy to hear that,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n Then I went with a few devotees to distribute some leftover invitations on a nearby street. Near the entrance to the festival grounds there was a gypsy girl of about ten years old playing an accordion. There was a hat at her feet that had five or ten zlotys in it. She was looking longingly at our festival.<\/p>\n When she reached the end of the song, I asked her whether she would like to go to the festival.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, so much,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I have to …\u201d Her voice trailed off.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat time do you finish working?\u201d I said. \u201cDo you work through the evening?\u201d<\/p>\n She nodded.<\/p>\n \u201cAre your parents nearby?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n \u201cMy father is there,\u201d she said pointing towards a side street where a man played another accordion with a hat at his feet.<\/p>\n I crossed the street and started talking to him. \u201cHow much does your daughter earn per evening with her street performance?\u201d I asked after a while.<\/p>\n I saw him hesitate. \u201cAbout fifty zlotys a day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I give you the fifty zlotys will you allow her to come to our festival for the rest of the evening? You can see how much fun the children are having. I\u2019ll introduce you to one of the ladies who will look after her. We\u2019ll bring her back here when the festival is over.\u201d<\/p>\n He looked surprised. \u201cBut she has a sister, and if she goes her sister will want to go as well.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo problem,\u201d I said with a smile. \u201cThey can both come. I\u2019ll give you 100 zlotys.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOK,\u201d he said. \u201cI thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n I introduced the girls and their father to one of the devotees. She took the girls by the hand and walked with them towards the festival site.<\/p>\n As we continued to walk, a devotee turned to me. \u201cIs it right to give those people money?\u201d he said. \u201cYou don\u2019t know what they\u2019ll do with it. They may use it for sinful activities.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPossibly,\u201d I said. \u201cBut the benefit those young girls will get by chanting, dancing and taking prasadam is incalculable.\u201d<\/p>\n The devotee was insistent. \u201cBut you\u2019ll get the bad karma if they use the money the wrong way.\u201d<\/p>\n I stopped and turned to face him. \u201cThat\u2019s not a problem. I\u2019ll take the karma and you take the blessing that comes from engaging them in Lord Caitanya\u2019s service. Do we have a deal?\u201d<\/p>\n He was silent.<\/p>\n I was approached by yet another woman with a Bhagavad-gita as soon as we entered the festival grounds.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t catch much of what you said in your talk,\u201d she said, \u201cbut it was enough to realize your philosophy and way of life are special. I\u2019m curious, so I bought the book. I\u2019m just doubtful that I will be able to understand it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy not?\u201d I said.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause I\u2019m a waitress in a bar,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m engaged in many bad things.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter. I\u2019m confident you will still be able to understand this philosophy,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you say so,\u201d she said, taking the book from my hand. \u201cI\u2019m off to work now. I\u2019ll begin reading it tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMaharaja, do you really think a woman like that can understand the Gita?\u201d one of the devotees asked me. \u201cI mean she lives a pretty low life.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s possible,\u201d I replied. \u201cNot long ago both of us lived sinful lives like her, but now we understand the Gita. Isn\u2019t that right?\u201d<\/p>\n He nodded.<\/p>\n It was time for the final kirtan, the highlight of every festival. Devotees chant and dance together in great happiness and engage festival-goers in the yuga-dharma of chanting the holy names. The cultural entertainment that comes before the kirtan\u2014the theater, the puppet shows, the bharata-natyam dancing, the martial arts display\u2014is just to give people faith to chant Hare Krsna with us. And many do. That night was no exception: the kirtan went on for forty-five minutes and more than seventy-five children and some of their parents danced with us. Just before the kirtan ended I happened to glance towards the shadows in the back. The homeless man was there, dancing in jubilation.<\/p>\n When the kirtan finished and the applause died down I left the stage to say goodbye to the people as they left the grounds. I was met at the bottom of the stairs by one final man holding out a Bhagavad-gita for me to sign.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t believe I\u2019m standing here,\u201d he said, handing the Bhagavad-gita to me.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy is that?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve seen you people at Woodstock for many years,\u201d he said, \u201cbut unlike my friends, I never once visited your village there, not even to eat. I had zero interest in anything you were doing. I thought you were all crazy. \u201cThen two days ago I got a ticket for speeding near here. I felt the officer was wrong so I decided to contest the ticket. I was given an appointment for this afternoon at the police station, directly across the street from your festival.<\/p>\n \u201cLo and behold, when I\u2019m driving up I see you people here. \u2018No way am I going to that event,\u2019 I said to myself.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I entered the police station, there was a long line of people and an officer told me to sit down and wait. I was right next to the window and could hear your event loud and clear. Just as I settled in my seat, you started your lecture from the stage. It seemed as if you were only ten feet away. I had no choice but to listen as you gradually developed your talk, touching on many aspects of your philosophy.<\/p>\n \u201cThe line of people in front of me hardly budged and I had to sit there and listen to your whole speech. And you know what? The more you spoke, the more interested I became. In fact, I was very impressed. By the end you had me completely convinced.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the police officer finally called me, I filed my complaint and then walked straight over here to your book tent. I immediately bought a hardcover Bhagavad-gita. I plan to start reading it on the beach tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNow that\u2019s a great story,\u201d I said. I handed him the book and my card. \u201cLet\u2019s keep in touch.\u201d<\/p>\n In front of the stage I saw small groups of devotees and guests speaking together. It seemed no one wanted to leave, including the father of the gypsy girls who walked up to me with his daughters in tow.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t they look beautiful?\u201d he said. The girls grinned, radiant in their saris, bangles and gopi dots. \u201cThey had such a good time. I\u2019m so grateful to you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s my duty,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s more than that. It is kindness,\u201d he said. \u201cI wish I could give you something in return, but we are so poor.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe gratitude we receive from people like you makes everything we do worthwhile,\u201d I said. \u201cWe\u2019ve received so much appreciation lately that I\u2019m convinced one day the whole world will dance alongside us in ecstasy. And why not? It\u2019s foretold in scripture.\u201d<\/p>\n ******************<\/p>\n \u201cVictory! Victory! Victory! I behold something wonderful: all the inauspiciousness of the living entities is destroyed, no one is going to hell, Yamaraja has no more work to do and the effects of Kali-yuga have ceased to exist. This is because all over the world an increasing number of Lord Visnu\u2019s devotees are singing His names while dancing and playing musical instruments.\u201d<\/p>\n[ Nammalvar, ( 3102 BC ) Divya-prabandha, Tiruvaymoli 5.2.1 ]\n Indradyumna.swami@gmail.com Victory! Victory! Victory! I behold something wonderful: all the inauspiciousness of the living entities is destroyed, no one is going to hell, Yamaraja has no more work to do and the effects of Kali-yuga have ceased to exist. This is because all over the world an increasing number of Lord Visnu\u2019s devotees are singing His names while dancing and playing musical instruments<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-indradyumna-swami"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10907\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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By Indradyumna Swami<\/strong><\/p>\n