C.A.T.

i heard coyotes close to Gurudeva's house last night...
and in the morning these paw prints were all around my cabin!
i know these are wild dog prints:

 










and these are bear...

and these are deer, raccoon and maybe a fox!

                                     






                                                   but what are these tracks?

 a large bird?

                                                                                   snakes?

...must be,

oh! here's its claws!

 It's a C.A.T.!!!

NITYANANDA! and his pet cat!

he and his crew are moving  mountains...

                                                         and preparing the samadhi site!

...right behind Gurudeva's garden!

                 it's really going to happen!

 

BE THERE! JUNE 8TH! 
                                             12 MORE DAYS!

AKSAYA TRITIYA AT NEW BRAJ

SO HERE IN NEW BRAJ WE ARE CELEBRATING AKSAYA TRITIYA. THIS IS THE DAY THAT ALL PROJECTS BEGUN BECOME,

IMPERISHIBLE

UNENDING

AND

 EVERGROWING

SO HERE IN THE DHAMA WE HAVE BEEN VERY BUSY TODAY:

EXTRACTING TEETH,

SHOVELING HORSE- POOP!

...FOR THE GARDEN,

MAJOR PAINTING!

                                                              SEE THE DIFFERENCE?

HOUSE MOVING, OR NESTING,

JAPA RETREAT!

Paths, Trails, Walks of New Braj

 

He showed us the path....

 made it easy to follow...

                                                                                                        ...keeps us close,


and holds our hand tightly.

Jaya Srila Gurudeva!

SPRINTER!

haribol! here we are at Govardhana, New Braj. and you can tell we've had some snow. spring+winter=SPRINTER!  it's a painful birthing. mother nature labors to bring forth SPRING.

you know SPRING is very close when a certain gardener returns from his island paradise:

that's right! Kamala's back!

and Nityananda too. can you see in this picture that it's snowing?  it was snowing with the sun out! now that doesn't happen very often! sun-flurries! the demigods are playing!

this morning i was doing parikrama of Govardhana (hope that's ok, nanda gopala), and even surrounded by a fairyland of snow, my mind was absorbed in remembering Srila Gurudeva and all the devotees chanting and dancing on Anakuta day.  and suddenly i felt very blessed.  to reside in such a place, above the anxiety and stress of the world, away from news reports and reminders of war. the great kirtan that Srila Gurudeva orchestrated and performed here for 15 years continues and it will not be halted...here above the clouds: New Braj!

ys, gopanandini dasi

more spring and ghost stories

Here in New Braj we are Above the Clouds you know, metaphorically, but sometimes like today it seems we are Inside the Clouds ( but that would be another blog).  if you look closely at that old thermometer it is registering 34 degrees. cold.

Somehow Spring show's her determination:

and the Manzanita are in bloom just above Srila Gurudeva's garden. 

the pines are enormously fragrant:

but generally its a cold, dark, winter's day...which reminds me of the cool ghost story Prana Kisore prabhu told in last night's class.

Prana K. was giving a comprehensive class on anugatya, the concept of always being under the shelter of Guru and vaisnavas. he told how Mahaprabhu showed by example how to always be under guidance and them gave examples of those who did not remain in anugatya. then in the course of telling harikatha he said that once Srila Sridhara Maharaja said that if we do bhajana and follow the instructions of our spiritual master so many gaurdians will come to help us, seen and unseen. gaurdians such as tulasi and ekadasi. and then he told this story:

"This is the story of Vikanas Maharaja the disciple of Srila Bhaktisiddanta Sarasvati Thakura.  He was such an exalted devotee that even as a child the village gurus decided that no one was qualified to initiate him. So as a young man he was determined to find his guru so he went to the cremation grounds to meditate.  after some time some apsaras came to disturb him (why do they always do that?) and then a giant Brahman rakshaka ghost appeared and said, "I WANT TO EAT YOU!" 

Vikanas Maharaja replied, "Why? why would you want to eat me? you were a brahman how can this be?"

and the ghost replied, "GIVE ME THE RESULTS OF ONE OF YOUR EKADASIS!" 

So VM did give him the results of one of his ekadasis and ** POOF** the ghost became liberated.  As he was floating away to his destination he called out to VM, " Your guru is in Mayapura Dhama and his name is Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura (shoot, forgot the caps, the ghost speaks in caps, anyhow).  That's how he found his guru. this was told in Srila Gurudeva's presence by Krsna Kripa Brahmacari also a disciple of SBSS.

the moral of the story is that is we are sincere then we will be guided by gaurdians seen and unseen, and if your going to do your meditations in cremation grounds make sure you have some ekadasis in your pocket!

posting from Above the Clouds at New Braj Dhama. ys, gopanandini dasi

Her Grace: DASI and Some Stuff About the Swimming Pool

This is her holiness Dasi devi dasi. if you see the indignation in her eyes, she's saying, "Hey! i thought we were going for a walk. don't point that phone at me!"

Dasi is the door keeper here in New Braja.  she keeps all wild animals out:  bear, mountain lions, bob-cats, wild dogs, coyotes, rattle snakes, wild pig, birds, squirrels, butterflies, strangers, you name it.

she has the night shift so she sleeps in a bit in the morning but is never too tired for a walk. Nirguna prabhu says she has a loud and ferocious bark but she wouldn't hurt a flea. i don't know about that i've never seen a flea on her!

But this precious big girl has never missed a NB festival in her life and has received many heartly blessings from Srila Gurudeva.

She's a very strict vegetarian except for the random UPS man. her hobbies include hiking, wrestling, chasing cars and doggy paddling in Dry Creek on a cold winter's day. Devakinanadana P. says she's part polar bear. anyway we love her. she has a wonderful service attitude!

...so there's this unusual thing about the swimming pool in the winter. as the rains and snows come the water level rises and rises. and there's this point where you have to drain the pool by attaching a pipe to the fountain and turning the pump on and aiming the pipe away from the pool and it will drain to the right level in about 1/2 hours. if the water gets high enough to seep between the pool and the cement border its very bad for the pool... so i was thinking the pool reminds me of our resident quiet sadhu, (PKprabhu). he's been hearing from Srila Gurudeva for about 34 years and of course rendering so much service. the rains of mercy have saturated his heart to such an extent that hari katha can't help but  flow out of him. and at the rate of 300 gallons a minute every evening after aroti!  Watch out!   flood warnings in New Braj!

posting from above the clouds at New Braj Dhama. ys, gopanandini dasi

ps here's a grumpy peacock with frozen tail feathers:

ys, gopa

spring!

dandavat pranams. March 20, Sunday, was the first day of spring and of course it snowed here in New Braj!  by the mercy of Sri Guru and Gauranga i am here at our mountain ashram, sitting in Srila Gurudeva's room and praying that he will keep me close.

we've just come off a 3 day power outage because of the big snow storm on sunday. the power outage, outrageously showed how dependent we are on electricity. no water, no lights, no washing machine, no bread machine, no heat in the garage...on the positive side we are using wood heat! yea! so we were warm and the kitchen stove is propane so it was cooking! we cooked with melted snow and washed with swimming pool water. so really it wasn't so bad except for the embarrassment of too much dependence on PG&E!

The plan is for New Braj to be self-sufficient in the near future. and if the enthusiasm continues here i'm sure that vision will be realized.

In the meantime Spring is making her appearance in NB! Spring here on the mountain is a major tug of war between Cruel Winter and Blazing Summer. We watch the fight every year and i always wonder who will win. It reminds me painfully of our situation as conditioned souls. with a major tug-of-war between the mind and senses and higher intelligence. i wonder who will win? ...but not for long because i know that our Gurudeva has planted pure bhakti in my heart and it will fructify if i follow because he said so!

posting from above the clouds at our New Braj, gopanandini dasi