What Lies Beneath: De-junking the Lake!

Today was Gundicha Marjana, a day when hundreds of years ago in Puri, on the East coast of India, worshippers of Lord Jagannath gathered to cleanse the Gundicha temple from top to bottom. They took a vow to speak only Krishna’s name whilst they worked -  splashing water everywhere and competing to see who could sweep up the most dirt. At the end of  long day of cleaning they lined up with the piles they’d collected. Whoever hadn’t collected enough was required to pay a tax in sweets and other delectable goodies. Afterwards they feasted together and cleansed their hearts by continuing to chant the names of the Lord.

At Bhaktivedanta Manor today, a big clean up was scheduled to commemorate this event. Some of us youth really wanted to get involved, so we chose the most interesting sounding task (anything involving waders, water and litter pickers is a recipe for fun!) – cleaning up the lake.

Armpit high trousers are all the rage this season.

We boated around for four hours, dredging up foul smelling plastic bags; broken deities; tennis balls; crisp packets; bottles and cans; and even a jewellery case! Our top find had to be coconuts – we pulled up about one hundred, in various states of decay.

As we worked, the water began to look more sparkly…Prahlad got the enviable task of paddling the boat of giggling girls around.

Because many visitors view the temple lake as a holy place, they seem to feel that this means it’s acceptable to throw any puja remnants or offerings into the water. As for the rubbish – I have no idea what’s going on there. Sometimes people’s attitude toward the environment is totally unfathomable.

Cleaning the dock. You missed a spot Mohini.

We had great fun though. It was the perfect day to be wading around in the (albeit stinky) water – clear, hot and sunny.By lunchtime we had pulled out six bags of rubbish, and dumped it into a more appropriate resting place – the skip.

As for the deities, we could hardly consider them rubbish. They stayed by the lake – presiding over the muddy waters…

G is for Graduation, Gratitude, and also ‘Goodbye’.

I graduated last month, and whilst initially I was just enjoying the feeling of not having to sit at my computer, racking my brains and consulting a stack of books, for the past week or so I’ve been tying up loose ends and preparing to leave England for yet another summer.

Part of leaving has been saying thank you to all of those people who have helped me, taught me, inspired me or just been friends to me. If that seems a bit final, perhaps it’s only because we often wait until the last moment to show gratitude. I think it’s so important, and I’m really trying to remind myself to make a point of appreciating people as a natural habit.

Since I’ve had more time lately, my gratitude has been coming out creatively, which has been doubly satisfying.

I’ve also had time for other little creative projects, like designing things for the new farm shop at the Manor.

And just having time to draw – for no reason!

So what’s next? I will be travelling to the west of Canada in a few days, to the Hare Krishna farm community in British Columbia – known as Saranagati. I’ll be there for a little time and will then be joining Gaura Vani and As Kindred Spirits for recording and touring in different places in America. It’s exciting, but I’m also just a little nervous. I am taking the first step on the path of ‘life after university’. So far I’ve been overwhelmed with the way that things have beautifully fallen into place. This is surely all by Krishna’s merciful arrangement, and I hope to never, ever forget it.

I’m hoping to keep this blog updated as far as possible while I’m away. For other updates, check www.gauravani.com, where you can see photos and download kirtans from all of the shows we do.

Since it’s possible to do almost everything on the internet, I figure I can also seek your blessings. Please bless me to strive for sincerity, humility and real devotion – and if you see me on my travels, say hello!

P is for Puja

In my house, the morning is a time for offering respects to God, and to those masters that help us understand how we can develop our relationship with him. These daily practices are known in Sanskrit as puja – worship.

Every morning my father worships his deity, blowing a conchshell at the beginning and the end of the ceremony. I love to hear this sound, and the ringing of the bell as he offers flowers other items. Every sense feels purified by seeing, touching, smelling and hearing these things. After some puja where food is offered, taste is purified too, as we accept the prasad (mercy) afterward.

I came across a charming painting this morning, by artist, Kalyani (http://surfkye.com/) that made me miss those mornings in India, where it feels as if the whole country is awake in the early hours, sincerely making offerings of devotion.

Here’s what Kalyani had to say about her painting:

Having lived in South Bangalore for a long time, on several occasions I would encounter little boys going for their morning prayers, in little groups, rehearsing their chanting, some with offerings. I painted what I thought was a magical morning through a little girl’s eyes.

BBT Art Seminar 2009

When I wrote a report of the first ever BBT Art Seminar in 2007 many people asked when further seminars would be taking place. Last November, the second one was successfully held, and I’ve just received the dates for this year’s seminar: October 20th-November 9th, again, in Vrindavan.

It’s a wonderful experience, and I’d really encourage anyone who wants to explore how they can offer their creativity to Krishna, as well as learn a skill that serves in so many ways, to attend. Here’s a video of the 2007 seminar.

Stamping at Stonehenge

Last Friday I travelled with the other members of Srishti Yuva Culture to Stonehenge in Salisbury. We were there to perform our collaboration with Kuljit Bhamra and his band as part of Salisbury Arts Festival. The piece imagined what the stones would say about their experience if they could speak – from their creation within the depths of the earth, to being used to construct a sacred temple by the Druids of Ancient Britain.

It was a really unique experience. We began working on the choreography as a group a month ago, but only had one rehearsal with the live musicians. Stonehenge is a protected site and tourist attraction, open to the public every day – so there was no chance to rehearse on site until an hour before the show! We were all nervous about how this would affect the performance. Whilst we are senior Bharatanatyam students, we aren’t professionals, and sometimes this  difference in level of experience can be crucial in confidently navigating a semi-improvised collaboration like this.

Our biggest challenges were using the stones creatively in the choreography without prior rehearsal, and dancing on grass – a surprisingly resistant surface! Also, we didn’t realise how little dressing time we had when we arrived, and had to do a run-through before we were ready. We ended with ten minutes left to finish dressing and sprinted back to the little office cabin we’d been given to use. The audience were already streaming onto the site, and they pointed at us as we ran past, holding on our jewellery with one hand, our saris flying behind.

Ultimately the evening was magical. The sun lowered as we began, and our worries floated away as we just enjoyed dancing in the open air, surrounded by rolling fields, staring sheep and birds circling overhead. It was wonderful to be dancing to live music, especially from the talented percussionists that accompanied Kuljit. Amongst them, they played tablas, djembes, clay pots, bells, steel drums, shakers, snare drums and mridangams. We were also lucky to have our music teacher, Y Yadavan singing. Afterwards, many people came up to us and said how lucky we were to have touched the stones. Normally visitors are kept behind a barrier three metres from the stones, and guards were present to make sure no one sneaked over the rope after the show. I hadn’t realised how rare it was to get near the stones – many years ago I visited when this was still allowed.

For more photos of the event, see www.flickr.com/photos/bimala

Before our group of six dancers left, we gathered in the shade of the tallest stone, and recited our Bhumi Pranam – the Sanskrit prayer to Mother Earth that we say before and after dancing:

Vishnu shakti samutpanne

Sarva varna maheetale

Aneka ratna sampanne

Bhumi devi namostute

O Mother Earth! You are born of the power of Lord Vishnu, and are made up of many jewel-like good qualities, therefore I bow to you.

All photos by Bimala Naysmith (copyright protected). www.bimala.com

On Standby – Back To Reality!

Since graduating just over two weeks ago, I’ve barely even thought about writing a blog. My relationship with my keyboard has changed perhaps. I spent many hundreds of hours, typing away on all of my essays and projects, and as soon as they were finished, I realised it was high time my computer and I took some time out from our relationship.

Absence doesn’t always make the heart grow fonder – with my newfound apathy towards blogging, I’ve discovered that sometimes it’s refreshing not to have to update the world on your every rambling train of thought. It’s nice to just think things, without having to report them. It’s nice to just have experiences, without taking mental notes for dynamic summarisations. It’s nice to just be. Forget about the internet world, with its pop-ups, and requests, and demands, and politics, and advertising, and ‘pokes’ and people I’ve never had a face-to-face conversation with. Putting a pen to real paper feels like breathing a lungful of fresh air. Knowing that that piece of paper will not be immediately fed through to hundreds of eyes is so grounding.

A friend of mine persuaded me to join Twitter the other week. I reluctantly gave in – others had been bugging me too, so I tried it out. I quickly lost interest, after a few posts. Perhaps something’s changing in my life again. Where I once felt a need to share, I feel a return to my old diary writing days coming on. Sharing thoughts with close friends; writing letters; working the earth of our vegetable plot outside; taking time to read the Bhagavad Gita – it’s back to reality.

I spent last weekend in Birmingham, attending a 24 hour Hare Krishna kirtan. It was wonderful – so simple – 24 hours, and all cares left at the door. I won’t tell you all about it. I won’t even write about what else I’ve been doing, or about my summer plans. I’m sure you don’t need to know, even if you’re curious. It’s not important. I’ll start blogging more regularly again soon, but perhaps with a better eye for what really needs to be preserved online for thousands of years, and what can simply be thought, then thrown away. How refreshing.

Kishori Yatra – Easter 2009: Day Five – Saying Goodbye

By the last day of our trip, I was exhausted! I never realised how much energy it took to lead a trip like this, and I was really grateful that I wasn’t doing it alone!

We spent the morning cleaning up the house we’d been staying in. Between all the girls, we managed to finish on time, and rushed to the temple to have one last kirtan with Pancatattva and the Swansea devotees.

We were due to reach Swindon by lunchtime, where we’d visit the home of Justin and Lisa – two wonderful devotees. Lisa runs a beading business, leading parties and workshops, as well as selling her own creations that often incorporate Tulasi wood.

After a delicious lunch, the girls went wild over the table full of beads. Hands reached, passing trays over heads – creativity was buzzing!

A few hours later, loaded with new earrings, bracelets and necklaces, we left Swindon for the final leg of the journey, back to good old Hertfordshire. Along the way Nadiya and I taught the girls some songs…

Home at last!

Kishori Yatra – Easter 2009: Day Four – Jai Hanuman!

Our fourth day coincided with Hanuman Jayanti, so after a very short morning program at home, we made our way to the temple, where I gave a short presentation on Hanuman. We talked about what lessons we can learn from his exemplary character, then acted out a song about the time he tried to catch the sun. This song comes from a production of the Ramayana, performed by children of the New Mayapur (France) gurukula, about twenty years ago. I performed it too, when I was about nine years old – so it was fun to pass it on…

We talked a lot about Hanuman’s inexhaustible desire to serve Lord Rama, and before long, it was time to get stuck into some service ourselves! Armed with dusters and polishing spray, we started on the temple room ceiling, and made our way down to the floor. Even the picture frames got some much needed attention.

Afterwards we had some time to make thank you cards for the Swansea devotees. Their sincere care for us was really heartwarming, and all of the girls put a lot of effort into creating beautiful tokens of our gratitude.

Later, as the rain began to pour again we walked around the coastal village of Mumbles, just down the road from Swansea. Everyone’s favourite place was the old fashioned sweet shop, where Janaki decided to buy perhaps the most disgusting sweets ever made – sour lemons. We all tried to eat at least one each – some found it easier than others…

Janaki (and her moustache) survey the sweet selection…

Rosie passes the sour lemon test (then everyone had to have a go!)

In the evening, the girls took a (rare) quiet moment to write postcards that we’d bought in Mumbles to themselves, reminding them of important thoughts, realisations or goals that they wanted to remember from the trip – we’ll post them in a few months!

Kishori Yatra – Easter 2009: Day Three – Twelve Miles to the Castle!

Our third day began again with a morning program. After gurupuja, and a kirtan, we read through some verses from the Bhagavad Gita, and discussed what thoughts we had about them.

Over the two days that had already passed, some tension and disagreements had already started arising between the girls, so we talked a lot about why as devotees of Krishna, we offer all respect to every living entity. It was interesting to discuss what our own ideas of respect were, and how we could consider what to do for others, to ensure they feel respected. We learnt the ‘vanca kalpa’ prayers and made sure to say them to eachother every day.

Later in the morning, we moved to the temple for a kirtan workshop. After Nadiya gave a brief talk about what kirtan is, and why we do it, we split into two groups. I had the karatal (small cymbals) group, and Nadiya took the mridanga drum group. We spent some time practicing different beats, and then switched over, before coming together to learn some kirtan dance steps! Sometimes it’s hard to join in with people dancing in kirtan if you’ve never tried the steps before.

In the afternoon we drove to Cardiff, taking advantage of the unexpected glorious sunshine to go for a bike ride. We hired bikes from Pedal Power, and cycled down the beautiful River Taff.

After a few minor accidents near the start, we  we got going, passing through tunnels of trees and admiring the flowers that grew in abundance along the riverbank. Our destination was Castell Coch, a mock Bavarian castle set amidst the trees above the tiny village of Tongwynlais.

After a winding journey that took over an hour, and a killer last five minutes up an intensely steep incline, we made it to the castle drawbridge!

Unfortunately, we hadn’t arrived as soon as we would’ve liked – we only had a short time to make it back to the cycle hire place before it closed. We whizzed around then interior, then jumped on our bikes and pedalled hard, making it back just in time!

After so much exertion, it was wonderful to come back to a grand feast at the temple. As with every day, the temple devotees cooked especially and opened the restaurant after hours just for us.

We ended the day with some much needed TLC!

You can see all the photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jahnavi/sets/72157616759126452/ and the videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/janibee

Daylight Come

Dawn in the Harrison household. The first glow of orange tints the horizon. All is still.

Suddenly, a cacophony of alarms begin to sound. Electric beeping in six discordant tones, crackly self recorded music from mobile phone alarms, ringing sounds – coming from five different parts of the house. They ring for a few minutes, then gradually, abruptly stop. Exactly five minutes later, it all begins again. Someone stirs. Someone calls out for someone else to come and spray water on their face. The minutes pass. The third round of alarms begin.

We are a family with good intentions. We all value getting up early, and we all try, but we don’t always find it easy. Still, it’s much easier now that the seasons are changing. Winter in England is a terrible time to get up, whatever the hour. But now it’s almost May, and the mornings have been fresh, warm, and full of promise. Before the school children and people going to work stir the air, it’s heavy with the scent of spring blossoms, and the fields of yellow rapeseed nearby.

It’s not hard to feel inspired on mornings like this. In fact, I’m grateful for them, as they strengthen my resolve to be up early, no matter the season. In Vedic terms, this early time is called the brahma muhurta, and is considered extremely conducive to learning and elevating thought. I know I can feel it, very tangibly.

Today I came upon a quote I really like about getting up early, from Henry David Thoreau’s ‘Walden’. He said ‘All memorable events … transpire in morning time and in a morning atmosphere. The Vedas say ‘All intelligences awake in the morning.’ Poetry and art, and the fairest and most memorable of the actions of men, date from such an hour.’

I’ve been finishing of the bibliography for one of my university projects today, and I also found this piece of music, commonly sung every morning in the 1800s in Californian Mission churches  – El Cantico del Alba. It praises the Virgin Mary, and I think it’s very uplifting and beautiful melody. I could write more about morning music, but perhaps I’ll save that for another blog.

Our cherry tree looks good in the morning too…