Today is Sunday and I am looking forward to our first temple visit. Sunday Feasts are a regular fare in Indian Temples including. Known as Love Feast during the flower power times, this tradition was introduced by our Guru AC Bhaktivendanta Swami Prabhupada, when he brought the Hare Krishna movement to the West in 70s. A lot of hippies high on LSD and drugs gave up their addiction to intoxicants (including coffee and tea), illicit sex, gambling and meat eating since being introduced to this great self realized soul. Prasadam as food first offered to Krishna is known, has the power to transcend taste for these ephemeral things to a higher taste. The taste of spiritual connection with the supreme. In the Chant and Be Happy book George Harrison recalls his attraction to the movement after being served prasadam day after day by the Hare Krishna’s to his Apple studios. He ended up donating the beautiful Bhaktivendanta Manor in England to Iskccon (International Society for Krishna Consciousness). After reading his rendition of the Bhagavad Gita As it Is, I am very much attracted to this movement and am working to re-kindle my connection with Krishna. The event starts at 4pm so we have the morning. We decided to start the day with dip in the Forsyth KOA Campground pool.
After the swim we decided to go to down town Atlanta, to get some cash maybe, if we can find a bank that is open. Also we wanted to get some “air plants” for our RV to make it feel a little homey. We went to Edgewood Retail District as it appeared to have all the stores we wanted to visit including a Starbucks where I wanted to buy a no drip bottle for herbal teas. The banks were all closed but Starbucks gave us a good deal on a compact easy to clean stainless steel coffee mug and when I asked her for a free cake pop, the young girl at the counter said “why not!” and handed me a hello kitty cake pop!
We bought the air plants and headed to the temple which was less than 10minutes away.
This temple was in a lovely and exclusive area of Atlanta with large homes with well manicured lawns and beautiful flowering trees. We were early so we walked the area. A hidden little home was converted into a beautiful temple.
This is A.C Bhaktivendanta Srila Praphupada – you will see this at every Iskcon temple around the world – behind him is a picture of his guru Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada. The movement is a result of the teachings passed down through such disciplic succession.
This is a special time of year for Iskcon. All over the world the Festival of Chariots is taking place. Iskcon Atlanta’s festival is next Sunday. At this time, the set of deities on the extreme left had side are Lord Jagannath (incarnation of Lord Krishna), Balaram (Lord Krishna’s brother), and Subadra (Lord Krishna’s sister). The set is covered for Snana Yathra, the time representing the 14 days they were sick just before the Rathi Yatra. This time is used effectively to clean and repaint the deities before the big 2 day procession and festival scheduled for June 8th 2022.
Today’s guest speaker gave an account of the way Lord Caitanya (the most recent incarnation of Krishna) cleaned the temple of Gundika just before the Rathi Yatra. He sang the verses in Bengali from Caintanya Caritmrta so beautifully. Hussein enjoyed it as he was born in Bengal and remembers the poetic language with great fondness. He spoke eloquently and mesmerized us with the detailed account of how passionately Lord Caintanya appeared as a devotee of Lord Krishna. It is incredible to understand the depth of this incarnation. Lord Krishna wanted to experience the ecstasy that Radha Rani (Lord Sri Krishna‘s eternal consort) felt in serving Him. The only was would be to embody her energy and appear as a perfect devotee of Krishna. This incarnation is predicted and mentioned in great detail in the Srimad Bhagavatam.
After the lecture there was kirtan and prayers. After a few housekeeping messages for the upcoming festival, preparations were made for the Sunday Love Feast, outside in the garden. The food was delicious as always.
We returned at 7pm to KOA Forsyth park and watched a few episodes of a new series we are watching called “The Beauty Queen of Jeruselem”
Tomorrow is Monday, I am waiting for a few commitments and need to submit documents for a purchase closing June 8th. It is also travel day as we head to The Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. My work will be done on the road. My cell phone plan allows for tethering to the phone hotspot! If you have a last minute deal that is not looking like it is happening, call me. I get work done no matter where I am.
See you tomorrow!