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Diary of a Traveling Monk, Volume 15, Chapter 3<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Mood of the Day\u201d<\/p>\n
By Indradyumna Swami <\/strong><\/p>\n Aeroflot flight SU 1492 took off from Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow at 18:02 on May 6th. It reported a malfunction 28 minutes into the flight. The captain requested and was given permission by airport control to return to the airport and make an emergency landing. Unfortunately, the plane burst into flames upon landing and 41 passengers lost their lives. A person on the ground who observed the crash said it was a miracle that 33 of the passengers and 4 of the crew members survived. The news spread quickly via social media and was accompanied by horrifying videos of the ill-fated landing.<\/p>\n We are all both terrified of and fascinated by death, particularly when it happens in unusual ways. But the likelihood of dying in a plane crash is so slim it’s almost pointless to quantify. According to authorities, the probability of a plane going down is around one in 5.4 million. Other reports place the odds closer to one in 11 million.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s one dangerous part of the airplane trip and that\u2019s the drive to the airport,\u201d said John Cox, a retired US airline captain and aviation accident investigator.<\/p>\n Of course, these statistics do nothing to diminish the sorrow of the families who lost their loved ones in the Sheremetyevo airport crash. The day it happened I overheard one devotee callously refer to the event as karma. While that may be true, that does not diminish the Vaisnavas\u2019 sympathy for those afflicted. In a purport in Bhagavad Gita, Srila Prabhupada glorifies Arjuna\u2019s soft-hearted nature when lamenting the impending demise of soldiers on the battlefield:<\/p>\n \u201cAs far as his soldiers were concerned, he was sympathetic from the beginning, but he felt compassion even for the soldiers of the opposite party foreseeing their imminent death. This overwhelmed a kind devotee like Arjuna. Such symptoms in Arjuna were not due to weakness but his softheartedness, a characteristic of a pure devotee of the Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n[Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 1, verse 28, purport]\n If anything, such tragedies serve to remind us about the temporary nature of this world and the need to be more serious about our spiritual lives.<\/p>\n ahany ahani bhutani \u201cEvery day, hundreds and millions of living entities go to the kingdom of death. Still, those who are remaining aspire for a permanent situation. What could be more wonderful than this?\u201d<\/p>\n[Mahabharata, Vana-parva 313.116]\n These thoughts were on my mind and certainly on the minds of the 12 devotees in my party too as we drove to the Sochi Airport to catch our 3-hour flight to Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow. When we arrived at the airport it was obvious to me that we were not the only ones with the plane crash on our minds. The atmosphere was quieter and more somber than normal. There wasn\u2019t the usual boisterous noise and excitement emitted by people travelling on vacation or business. There appeared to be an atmosphere composed in equal parts of sobriety and anxiety.<\/p>\n In such situations, I often find people are inclined to be more spiritual. They think more about God and care more for each other. As we walked towards the check-in area, I noticed people were staring at me in my sannyasi cloth as usual, but their stares seemed more compassionate and understanding. At one point a burley well-dressed man approached me with his arms outstretched; he smiled and embraced me. Then he took out his phone and politely asked if he could take a selfie with me. Afterwards, he shook my hand in firm appreciation. Several people walking by nodded and smiled, as if agreeing with his attitude.<\/p>\n \u201cThat never happens,\u201d Mahavan das said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the mood of the day,\u201d I said. \u201cPeople are affected by the tragedy in Moscow and are expressing their emotions.\u201d<\/p>\n While many people seemed sympathetic, though, I saw the lady at the check-in counter roll her eyes when she saw our party of devotees. We were all dressed in vaisnava clothes and our luggage carts were overflowing with bags. The check-in lady motioned to another woman to come and help her. Neither of them looked very happy with the prospect of dealing with all our luggage and the variety of foreign passports we piled on the counter.<\/p>\n Vrajamrita dasi, the organizer of our 3-week Russia tour, came forward. There was a tense exchange of words between her and the check-in ladies.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is not going to be easy,\u201d I said to Mahavan.<\/p>\n Sure enough, as soon as we started placing bags on the carousel one of the women refused to accept them.<\/p>\n \u201cMost are three or four kilos overweight,\u201d she said decisively.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s not a lot,\u201d said Vrajamrita. \u201cAnd some of our bags are far under the weight limit. Put them on the scales and see. Considering that, you can let all our luggage through.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAbsolutely not!\u201d said the lady firmly.<\/p>\n \u201cIt means we\u2019ll have to take things from some bags and put them into others,\u201d Vrajamrita said. \u201cBut the end result will the same.\u201d<\/p>\n The lady shrugged, indicating our luggage wasn\u2019t her problem.<\/p>\n When the devotees started unpacking, the intensity of the situation increased as the long line of passengers behind us became restless.<\/p>\n A woman in uniform came to the front of the line where devotees were mired in repacking. It was obvious from her demeanor that she was the superintendent authority of the airline.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is going on here?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n Vrajamrita politely and calmly explained the situation. The superintendent glanced at the devotees. \u201cYou don\u2019t deserve this treatment,\u201d she said. \u201cYou need not worry. It\u2019s only a few extra kilos. Put all the bags on the carousel. We\u2019ll just check them through.\u201d<\/p>\n Vrajamrita looked surprised. \u201cThis never happens with this airline,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the mood of the day,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n People appeared unusually nervous as we boarded our flight. I was upgraded to Business Class and as the flight took off, I chanted softly on my japa beads. The roar of the engine got louder and I started chanting a little louder too. After 20 minutes the man in the seat in front of me turned around and said rudely, \u201cStop the mumbling! You\u2019re disturbing all of us!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHey! Leave him alone,\u201d the man in the aisle next to me said. \u201cCan\u2019t you see he\u2019s praying?\u201d<\/p>\n Then the man in the seat behind piped up, \u201cYes, he\u2019s praying. That\u2019s a good thing. Perhaps that\u2019s what all of us should be doing now!\u201d<\/p>\n As the roar of the plane\u2019s engines died down I was inclined to chant softer, but since people seemed pleased by my japa and perceived it as prayer, I just kept going. A few times during the flight passengers looked over at me and smiled.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s unusual,\u201d I thought to myself. \u201cBut it\u2019s the mood of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n After our flight landed in Moscow, I stood up to take my bags out of the luggage compartment. One of the gentlemen who had defended me stepped forward and said, \u201cLet me help you, sir.\u201d<\/p>\n When we parted ways at the plane exit, he said, \u201cYou keep well.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou too,\u201d I replied.<\/p>\n No doubt our well-wishes were a product of the heightened awareness of human fragility brought on by the horrific crash of flight SU 1492. As terrible as such tragedies are, they serve to bring out sympathy and empathy for each other and an urgency to take shelter of the Lord.<\/p>\n Exiting the airport, I reflected on the tragedy and the reactions of the people I had encountered in my travels. Determined to transcend the miseries of this world and desiring the same for all of them, I prayed:<\/p>\n vivrta vividha badhe bhranti vegad agadhe \u201cI am drowning in the painful, fathomless whirlpool of repeated birth and death. O Lord, O friend of the shelterless, O effulgent moon of mercy, please, just this one time, quickly extend Your hand to save me!\u201d<\/p>\n[Srila Rupa Goswami, Padyavali, text 61]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Aeroflot flight SU 1492 took off from Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow at 18:02 on May 6th. It reported a malfunction 28 minutes into the flight. The captain requested and was given permission by airport control to return to the airport and make an emergency landing. Unfortunately, the plane burst into flames upon landing and 41 passengers lost their lives. A person on the ground who observed the crash said it was a miracle that 33 of the passengers and 4 of the crew members survived. The news spread quickly via social media and was accompanied by horrifying videos of the ill-fated landing. <\/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-74826","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\/74826","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=74826"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74826\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74828,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74826\/revisions\/74828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=74826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=74826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=74826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\ngacchantiha yamalayam
\nsesah sthavaram icchanti
\nkim ascaryam atah param<\/p>\n
\nbalavati bhava pure majjato me vidure
\nasarana gana bandho ha krpa kaumudindo
\nsakrd akrta vilambam dehi hastavalambam<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/ns14iTn.jpg)
By Indradyumna Swami <\/strong><\/p>\n