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Diary of a Traveling Monk<\/p>\n
Volume 15, Chapter 10<\/p>\n
January 31th<\/sup>, 2020<\/p>\n By Indradyumna Swami<\/p>\n \u201cThese Are All Krsna\u2019s Arrangements\u201d<\/p>\n I was on my morning walk on the beach in Durban, South Africa, last week when my cell phone rang.<\/p>\n \u201cHey, Maharaja. This is Craig! Craig from high school!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWow, Craig! I can\u2019t even remember the last time we were in touch! How are you doing?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJust fine,\u201d he replied. \u201cI heard through the grapevine that you\u2019re recovering from a big surgery and I just wanted to call and wish you well.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThanks a lot, Craig. That\u2019s very kind of you,\u201d I said. \u201cHey, I\u2019m curious. How did you get my number?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI met a few of your students here in California,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I follow you on Facebook too. You\u2019ve done well for yourself!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, thanks,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n \u201cRemember way back in 1969? I predicted who your guru would be. And it all came true!\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s true, you did predict it,\u201d I said. We both laughed.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, get better, my friend,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd let\u2019s keep in closer touch.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes,\u201d I said. \u201cLet\u2019s do that.\u201d<\/p>\n Craig had reminded me of a defining moment in my life. Overwhelmed with emotion, I sat down on a bench. I looked out at the ocean and, wondering at the mysterious ways of the Lord, I thought back to that moment.<\/p>\n On leave from the United States Marine Corps for a month in July 1969, I was living with six of my friends in a rented house in my hometown of Kentfield, California. One evening the phone rang.<\/p>\n \u201cHey, Steve,\u201d one of the guys called out, \u201cget the phone, will you?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMan, I\u2019m watching the Beverly Hillbillies,\u201d Steve yelled back. \u201cNo way I\u2019m getting up!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll get it,\u201d said Jonny in a resigned voice. He put his beer down and dragged himself off the sofa and into the kitchen. \u201cThe darn phone rings all day long, and it\u2019s never for me.\u201d<\/p>\n Sure enough: \u201cIt\u2019s for you Brian,\u201d he called to me.<\/p>\n \u201cWho is it?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDunno, I didn\u2019t ask,\u201d Jonny said. \u201cBut the guy sounds official.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThanks, man,\u201d I said, taking the receiver from him. Into the phone I said,<\/p>\n \u201cHello, this is Brian. Can I help you?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIs this Lance Corporal Tibbitts?\u201d said a commanding voice. I immediately realized it was a Marine Corps official.<\/p>\n \u201cSir, yes sir! It\u2019s me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe captain of the local duty station is requesting that you come to see him at zero-eight-hundred tomorrow morning,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s it about?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s classified, soldier.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSure. Ok,\u201d I said. \u201cI\u2019ll be there.\u201d<\/p>\n The next morning, I arrived in full uniform at the Marine Corps center on Madison Ave in San Rafael at 8 am. I knew where it was because I had signed up for the Corps there three years earlier. The captain was a serious-looking man in his 60s; he directed me to a chair in front of his imposing desk.<\/p>\n \u201cLance Corporal Tibbitts, thank you for coming in,\u201d he said. \u201cI have the report of your meeting with the naval doctors last week in Oakland.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, sir,\u201d I said nervously.<\/p>\n \u201cSon,\u201d he said, \u201con the advice of those physicians, we\u2019re discharging you from the Corps, effective immediately. An honorable discharge.\u201d<\/p>\n I felt my stomach drop. \u201cBut why?\u201d I blurted out. \u201cI thought I was on my way to Vietnam!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, according to the report, you joined the Corps with eight of your high school friends. Correct?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, sir,\u201d I replied. \u201cAll guys from my high school football team.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd when your unit shipped out to Vietnam, you were ordered to stay back for advanced weaponry training. Yes?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, sir. Underwater demolition.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd then you served stateside for some time?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, sir.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd while you were stateside, your platoon came under heavy artillery and rocket fire during the Tet Offensive. And all your friends were killed. Correct?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, sir,\u201d I said in a quiet voice.<\/p>\n \u201cThe doctors have determined that that\u2019s had a major effect on you,\u201d the captain said. \u201cWe don\u2019t deem you fit for combat.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut I\u2019m over it,\u201d I said in a bigger voice. \u201cI\u2019m ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNot according to what I have here in front of me,\u201d he said, tapping the pages on his desk. \u201cYour father\u2019s deceased?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, sir. Last year.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt says here he was on the aircraft carrier USS Cabot in WWII in the South Pacific. Says that he was injured and that he received a purple heart.”<\/p>\n \u201cYes, sir,\u201d I said, surprised. \u201cHe saw action there. It was his dying wish that I join the armed forces.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHas your mother remarried?\u201d the captain asked.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, sir.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAre you helping her out financially?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes sir, I am.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSon, we\u2019ve taken all that into consideration. Your discharge papers will be mailed to you within a week.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut sir\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat will be all, soldier.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut I\u2019m not a soldier anymore,\u201d I said, standing up.<\/p>\n \u201cYou gave a few good years to your country,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can be proud of that.\u201d<\/p>\n When I got back to the house, I shared the news with my friends. They all jumped up and down for joy, but I was despondent.<\/p>\n \u201cCome on, man!\u201d Steve said. \u201cBe happy! You know how many guys wish they could get out of going to the war in Vietnam?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou know my story, Steve,\u201d I said. \u201cHarvey, Jerry, Paul, and all the others died in combat while I was stateside. They\u2019re gone and I\u2019m still here. I don\u2019t feel good about that.\u201d<\/p>\n The mood in the room changed suddenly. Craig, the most spiritual of my friends, spoke up.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone has their karma, Brian,\u201d he said. \u201cTry not to feel guilty. Karma is a law of nature. What you do, good or bad, comes back to you. It wasn\u2019t your time to die then, and it isn\u2019t your time now either.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhatever,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n I walked down to the corner church and sat awkwardly in the pews with folded hands.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t remember ever having come into a church,\u201d I said out loud. I wasn\u2019t sure who to talk to, so I directed my words toward the cross on the altar. \u201cMy parents weren\u2019t religious, and I guess neither am I. But what can I say God? I\u2019m struggling with a few issues and, honestly, I don\u2019t know who to turn to. If you\u2019re there, if you\u2019re real, can you give me a sign? Some direction?\u201d<\/p>\n It was quiet in the church. I sat a few minutes and when nothing happened, I stood up and left, grabbing one of the free bibles at the entrance on the way out.<\/p>\n I wandered into a local alternative bookstore. Browsing through the section on eastern philosophy, I picked out a book I thought might help. It was called The Tibetan Book of The Dead<\/em>.<\/p>\n I stopped in a park on the way back to the house and read the first few chapters. I was confronted with an idea totally foreign to me: the theory of reincarnation, the idea that there is life after death.<\/p>\n \u201cIt helps a little if you believe in reincarnation, I guess,\u201d I thought. \u201cIf it\u2019s true, it means the guys are probably doing OK somewhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n When I finally got back to the house, Craig was sitting on a couch waiting for me. He could see I was upset even without me saying a word. Craig was like a big brother to me. Tall, freckled and with a full head of red hair, he stood out in a crowd. He had done well in school until the drug culture hit and he had started missing classes. Intelligent and inquisitive by nature, he had recently started showing an interest in Indian philosophy.<\/p>\n \u201cHey Brian, Billy saw you go into the church,\u201d he said. \u201cHow about we sit and have a talk? How are you?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI just don\u2019t know where to turn from here,\u201d I confessed.<\/p>\n \u201cI think you should look to the East,\u201d he said. \u201cLike India. The Beatles went there. They stayed in an ashram for a few weeks. Look, yesterday I was in San Francisco, in the Haight Ashbury, visiting some friends. Someone gave me an invitation to a big event that\u2019s happening tomorrow in Golden Gate Park.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, what kind of event?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a big parade with a gigantic chariot from India,\u201d he said. \u201cA spiritual gathering. People dress up like in India. They\u2019re gonna sing songs and burn incense. Stuff like that. It\u2019s the talk of Haight Ashbury. All the hippies in San Francisco are going.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s it all about?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not completely sure,\u201d Craig said. \u201cBut there\u2019s going to be a vegetarian feast at the end, so I\u2019m going. You wanna come with me? It\u2019s free!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI guess so,\u201d I said. \u201cI don\u2019t really feel like going to a big celebration, but I guess I\u2019ll go if you\u2019re going\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cHey, but it\u2019s not just a celebration,\u201d Craig said. \u201cMaybe you can find the answers you\u2019re looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, sure. OK,\u201d I said. \u201cWhere shall I meet you?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll meet you at the event,\u201d Craig replied. \u201cJust drive over Golden Gate Bridge and take the second exit into the park. We can meet at noon next to the big chariot.\u201d<\/p>\n The next morning, I got up late and rushed through the traffic towards Golden Gate Bridge, which was an hour from where we lived. There a long line of stationary cars backed up for at least half a mile at the tollgate.<\/p>\n \u201cReports are just coming in of a bad accident on Golden Gate Bridge,\u201d the newsreader announced on the radio. \u201cThe California Highway Patrol says to expect a delay of several hours.\u201d<\/p>\n I gave up after two hours. \u201cMust be my karma,\u201d I thought, remembering Craig\u2019s explanation for unfortunate reversals.<\/p>\n The next day Craig came bursting into the kitchen where I was having breakfast.<\/p>\n \u201cHey Brian,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat happened, man? I looked for you everywhere at the parade yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSorry,\u201d I said \u201cthere was an accident on the bridge. I waited for hours and just gave up.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMan, you really missed out,\u201d Craig said. \u201cIt was far out! There were literally thousands of people. The chariot was huge! We all pulled it through the park on ropes for three miles down to the beach. Then we had a feast of rice pudding, fruit salad, and sugar balls. The food was so delicious! But you know what impressed me the most?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat?\u201d I said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe guru,\u201d he said. \u201cHe\u2019s the spiritual teacher of the people who organized the event. He\u2019s from India. He rode on the chariot with statues of their gods. His speech in the Family Dog Auditorium was super cool. He began by telling us he was going to sing a song by an Indian holy man who lived 450 years ago. Then he explained the song. It was something about an incarnation of God who lived 500 hundred years ago. At the end, he encouraged us to sing, dance and eat the food.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWow. Sorry I missed it,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, but listen to this,\u201d Craig said. \u201cI was thinking of you as he spoke. Everything he said seemed to resonate with who you are. I mean, he was talking about finding the answers to the questions of life. And how we\u2019re struggling in this world but that there\u2019s a spiritual way out. Stuff like that. And when he said his practice includes singing and dancing, I thought, \u2018Yeah, that\u2019s Brian when he\u2019s doing good.\u2019 Because you like to sing and dance. And you know what?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m convinced he\u2019s your guru. I mean seriously, man. One day you\u2019re gonna be his student!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo way, Craig,\u201d I said. \u201cI\u2019m not even looking for a guru.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI get it,\u201d he said. \u201cBut if you ever do<\/em> want a guru, he will be your guru. Believe me. I\u2019m gonna write down his name for you.\u201d<\/p>\n Tearing off a piece of newspaper that was lying on the couch, he wrote down each letter of the guru\u2019s name and handed it to me. \u201cThey call him Srila Prabhupada,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n I took the scrap of paper and crammed it into a pocket in my jeans. That night before going to sleep I emptied out my pockets onto my bed and found the piece of paper. I stuffed it into the cover of my Sgt. Pepper\u2019s Lonely Hearts Club Band<\/em> record album by the Beatles.<\/p>\n For a few weeks, I mused over Craig\u2019s advice that I look to the East for the answer as to why my friends died in the war and I didn\u2019t. My discharge from the Marine Corps, though honorable, also weighed heavily on my mind. I finally decided to leave the house I was living in with my friends, leave California, and leave the United States altogether.<\/p>\n \u201cFor now, I\u2019ll go to Europe and experience different countries and different cultures. I\u2019ll meet all kinds of people. Maybe I\u2019ll find some answers to my questions,\u201d I thought.<\/p>\n In September 1969, I boarded a flight for Europe with a friend. We visited England, Denmark, France, Germany and Greece. We were still unfulfilled, so we went on to Turkey, Egypt and Lebanon. I started thinking of going on further to India when unforeseen circumstances forced me to return to the USA. Upon my return, I got married and, with my wife started to follow Craig\u2019s advice in earnest by attending lectures of various yogis and spiritual teachers who themselves had traveled from India with their teachings.<\/p>\n Then, as fate would have it, in December 1970, my wife and I chanced upon a small group of men who seemed to be monks. They were dressed in flowing saffron robes and were singing and dancing on the main lawn of the campus of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor where I was working as a gardener. A large group of 200 or so students had gathered around them. When the singing stopped, one of the monks stepped forward to speak.<\/p>\n \u201cThank you, boys and girls,\u201d he said in a clear and joyful voice. \u201cThis chanting of the Hare Krsna mantra is a transcendental sound vibration coming down from the spiritual world.\u201d<\/p>\n The students started drifting away. After a few minutes there were only a few remaining. But I stood dumbfounded by the whole experience, captivated by the young monk\u2019s presence and by the atmosphere they had created. The young monk came over to me.<\/p>\n \u201cMy name is Visnujana Swami,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat\u2019s yours?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBrian,\u201d I said. \u201cTell me more about what you\u2019re doing. Tell me about Krsna.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFirst let me tell you about my guru,\u201d he said. \u201cOne can only understand Krsna by the mercy of the spiritual master.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWho is your guru?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n \u201cHis name is Srila Prabhupada,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n The name was familiar, but I couldn\u2019t figure out why. It rang a bell and awakened a deep emotion I couldn\u2019t understand.<\/p>\n We sat and the swami spoke about Srila Prabhupada for well over an hour. When he finished, he asked me, \u201cSo what do you think?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCan he be my spiritual master too? Can I be his disciple like you?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t long before I was. My wife and I moved into the nearby Hare Krsna temple and, within a year, I was an initiated disciple of His Divine Grace Srila AC Bhaktivedanta Swami, affectionately known to his disciples and followers as Srila Prabhupada.<\/p>\n I had long forgotten the short exchange I had had with my friend Craig after he saw Srila Prabhupada at the chariot festival in San Francisco. But ten years after joining the movement, I went to visit my mother in California where I went through some of my old possessions which I had left with her when I went to Europe. When I picked up my Sgt. Pepper\u2019s Lonely Hearts Club Band<\/em> record album a tiny yellow piece of newspaper fell out from the cover. Picking it up, I saw Srila Prabhupada\u2019s name scribbled in Craig\u2019s handwriting on it. Suddenly, everything came back to me and I broke into tears.<\/p>\n I marveled at how the Lord orchestrates for His devotees to come to Krsna consciousness and at how He had arranged for me to meet and take shelter of my eternal spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada. I could only conclude that such arrangements are not of this world.<\/p>\n Srila Prabhupada has said the same:<\/p>\n \u201cToday is the disappearance day of my Guru Maharaja. I was born in a different family, my Guru Maharaja was born in a different family. Who knew that I would come to his protection? Who knew that I would go to America? Who knew that you American boys would come to me? These are all Krsna\u2019s arrangements. We cannot understand how things are taking place.\u201d<\/p>\n[Srila Prabhupada lecture on the disappearance of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Maharaja, Los Angeles, December 9, 1968]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Today is the disappearance day of my Guru Maharaja. I was born in a different family, my Guru Maharaja was born in a different family. Who knew that I would come to his protection? Who knew that I would go to America? Who knew that you American boys would come to me? These are all Krsna\u2019s arrangements. We cannot understand how things are taking place <\/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-82161","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\/82161","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=82161"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82161\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82187,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82161\/revisions\/82187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=82161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=82161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=82161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/Hm7xbrP.jpg)
By Indradyumna Swami<\/strong><\/p>\n