(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 2005)

The dust of Krishna's Lotus Feet can also give devotional service. Somehow or other we must go after the dust on Krishna's Lotus Feet!

'So how is it attained?'

It maybe attained in serving the deity. In the Nectar of Devotion Book, it is said that one of the form of deity worship is that the pujari must touch the Lotus Feet of the Lord, while he is on the alter. So that is a prescribed duty of worship. It is a nice prescribed duty where you have to touch the Lotus Feet of the Lord. It's there in the scripture. So in that way pujari service is quite special – there's no doubt about it!

The dust of the Lotus Feet of the Lord is transcendental. Everything about Krishna is spiritual, and therefore the dust of His Feet is totally spiritual! Now within the concept of approaching the feet of the Lord is also the concept of approaching the most humble part of the Lord – not the face, but the feet. In order to approach the Feet, one must bow down. So therefore it is said in the Bhagavad Gita:

'man-manā bhava mad-bhakto
mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru
mām evaiṣyasi satyaṁ te
pratijāne priyo 'si me'. (BG.18.65)

That devotees must bow down to Krishna, and such a devotee that bows down attracts the mercy of Krishna. In other words, it is through humility that one attracts the mercy of Krishna. So in the concept of the dust of the Lotus Feet of the Lord is a concept of humility. The humility is included there which one can attain the dust from the Lotus Feet of the Lord.

Another concept – it is said that besides taking the dust directly off the Lord, which is difficult for us, because where do we have access to the dust of the Lotus Feet of the Lord? We cannot directly see the Lord, face to face, so where do we get that dust if we take this literally in the physical sense? As I mentioned the deities is the one option, because the deities are mostly the manifestation of the Lord, and is available to those who are even not capable of seeing the Lord.

The other place where the dust of the Lotus Feet of the Lord is available is in Vrindavan, because it is mentioned that in the story of Kaliya – we may recall, that it is described in the beginning of the story of how all the residents in Vrindavan were moving around in Vrindavan, which was covered by the Lotus Footprint of Krishna that even the animals would never step on the Lotus Footprints of Krishna. So, in this way the entire dust of Vrindavan was marked by the Lotus Footprints of Krishna, and therefore very clearly transcendental – and the dust of the Lotus Feet of Krishna. So Vrindavan dust is of that nature, that it is the direct dust of the Lotus Feet of Krishna, and as such – there we can collect as much as we can get. We can take that dust in various ways – either on our head.

I have seen devotees who came to Vrindavan and who fell down in that dust, and were bathing in it! They were lying there and throwing all the dust on themselves, as much as possible – rolling around, put a little more….stand up again…pay obeisance again…and do it again! They did this as a means to attain the mercy of Krishna.

We also know that when Akrūra came into Vrindavan, and that when he saw the Footprints of Krishna, there in Vrindavan – that he fell down on the ground and rolled in the dust of those Footprints immediately, when he dived off his chariot. It is very aristocratic – right… driving a beautiful chariot….nicely decorated….. a royal chariot….beautiful royal clothes and he just dived into the dust! So this spirit is the glorified spirit! So we can get the dust of the Feet of the Lord, from the Lotus Feet of the deity in Vrindavan!

On Saturday morning Kadamba Kanana Maharaja together with Dhanavir Maharaja, instead of the Bhagavatam class, gave initiation to several devotees. Guru-Maharaja initiated two Czech devotees with the new names Janame Jaya Dasa and Jay Kesava Dasa. The ceremony was held in the temple room whereas the Yajna was performed in a tent outside.

Guru-Maharaja mainly spent the remainder of the last two days giving darshan to the devotees and participating and dancing in the many kirtanas, espacially those led and rocked by Trivikrama Maharaja. He also gave one Bhagavatam class on Sunday morning.

On Sunday afternoon Guru-Maharaja left to go back to Modra to get one night of good sleep before the major journey to South Afica on Monday.

If you cannot view this slide-show, please visit flickr.

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, Simhachalam, 2011)

The tree in Tompkins square park that witnessed Prabhupada's chanting…that tree became completely transformed – what did that tree possibly do, for how many lifetimes was this tree a pious soul to become that paticular tree which was sharing in that mercy?

Now that tree is being worshipped by so many devotees – and the nice thing is that it is not organised, there is no schedule that:

'Ok, now this one and then this one has to do worship'

'The devotees from the east will take over and then……'

No, the worship of the tree is just going on, every day there are fresh garlands on the tree – nobody knows who does it.

That is far out, when I think of this tree in Tompkins square park how garlands just appear on that tree.

It is not just organised, it is wonderful, it means that the hearts of so many devotees has just been captured by Srila Prabhupada and this scene of Srila Prabhupada chanting there in Tompkins Square Park.

Just as one can meditate on pictures of Lord Nrshingadeva – Lord Nrshingadeva coming out of the pillar; one can mediate on Prabhupada under that tree in Tompkins Square Park, and that picture can be fixed in our mind.

I appologize for the delay of the pictures, but I had a major issue with the old computer I was working with, in other words I dropped and broke it. That is why now, in this first post done with the new computer, I want to really thank Paramesvara Prabhu and Gopali Mataji for so kindly and spontaneously sponsoring a new laptop. It's now due to their kindness that you can enjoy these pics!

From the kirtana weekend in Slovenia, it was off to Modra in Slovakia. There Guru-Maharaja took two days of rest, just doing one evening program, to get ready for the upcoming summercamp in Czech. The camp started with a warm welcome by the Czech devotees, performing nice kirtanas. Later the kirtana was taken over by Dhanavir Maharaja, who arrived shortly after Kadamba Kanana Swami, on Thursday afternoon. In the evening Guru-Maharaja gave a nice class about obstacles and solutions on our way to pure chanting.
The next day Bhakti Vidya Purna Maharaja and Trivikrama Maharaja also arrived, and both, Bhakti Vidya Purna Swami with his seminars and classes and Trivikrama Maharaja with his old fashioned, rocking kirtanas and amazing Prabupada storys, inspired the whole camp.

Whereas the weekend in Ljubljana was focused on bhajanas, the Czech camp realy was built on fiery and ecstatic kirtanas, which got everyone to dance. Enjoy part one of the pictures!

If you cannot view the slide-show below, please visit flickr.