Sit Properly

First, I think it’s great that since I’ve posted the Bhaktivinode Thakura quote about “cultivating slowly,” I’ve seen it reposted on other blogs several times and even more devotees and well-wishers have commented to me about it. It really is a great quote.

And to say that I’ve been cultivating slowly would be one hell of an understatement. I’ve been a devotee since 1993. What the hell is my problem, anyway? Ok, cultivate slowly… but not THAT slowly! It’s a process, but it’s a process that should be taken seriously.

The first sentence, “Give up the shackles of matter slowly.” is the one that everyone seems to like, myself very much included. It almost gives a sense of “well, I can do this or that and it’s still ok, it’s a process and I’m taking it slowly.” But I’ve been thinking a lot about this and I don’t think that is exactly what it’s saying. Though, for myself anyway, I wish it were. Hehe.

Giving up the shackles of matter means giving up material attachments. That includes the four regs and all this silliness that doesn’t help our spirituality. Personally, the four regs are probably the most important. I mean, if you were going to take them generally. Now, obviously amassing ridiculous amounts of money to spend on mansions can most certainly be more detrimental to your spiritual life than smoking a cigarette every once in a while. You know, generally.

I guess the point is, while Bhaktivinode Thakura says to slowly give it up, giving it up is the key here. It’s a process, but I have to actually DO the process for it to work. I can’t be materialistic and break a ton of regs thinking that, “well, it’s a process.” What am I actually doing to help this process? Aren’t these entanglements stumbling stones to spiritual life? And if I keep tripping over the same stones over and over, what progress am I actually making? None. I wouldn’t be slowly cultivating spiritual life, I’d be quickly destroying spiritual life.

I make mistakes just like anyone else. But while most of you are generally able to learn from your mistakes, I seem to have a fairly difficult time. Like I said, I’ve taken this “cultivate slowly” idea to illogical conclusions.

And I just thought you all might like to know.

Ok, I was hoping to post this yesterday, but life exploded. The reason that it couldn’t be posted on Ekadasi is clear to most devotees. On Ekadasi, we fast from grains and beans. This past Ekadasi was Nirjala Ekadasi. During Nijala, we do a full fast from all food and water if we have missed or screwed up any Ekadasis over the past year.

So in light of that, I didn’t feel right posting a song about food on a day when nobody was eating. See? I’m a nice guy.

This song, if you haven’t already guessed, is called Prasada-sevaya. This version was on the first Shelter Bhajanas tape. It’s Krishna Caitanya dasa on vocals. He was their bass player.

I first heard this song (though not this version of the song) when I was around the Columbus temple in 1994-95. Before that, at the Philly temple, I would see devotees praying before they ate, but I never knew what they were saying. But when I got to Columbus, all the girls (it was an all-girl temple at that time) would sing this song (though a bit differently, in a sort of call and response fashion).

During my stay in Columbus, I met Ekendra (drummer of Shelter, now doing his own country music project). He was running the Athens temple. We were hanging out one day and he asked me if I had ever heard the first Shelter bhajana tape. I thought that there was only one, so I said that I had. He then asked if I remembered “Prasada-sevaya.” It wasn’t on the one that I had heard, so I was sort of confused.

Well, after all that was cleared up, he played this song for me. And holy crap. What a really interesting version of it. Great voice too.

The lyrics are…

sharira avidya-jal
jodendriya tahe kal,
jive phele vishaya-sagore
tara madhye jihwa ati, lobamoy sudurmati
ta’ke jeta kathina samsare

krishna baro doyamoy, koribare jihwa jay,
swa-prasad-anna dilo bhai
sei annamrita pao,radha-krishna-guna gao,
preme dako chaitanya-nitai

The translation is…

O Lord, this material body is a place of ignorance, and the senses are a network of paths to death. Somehow, we have fallen into this ocean of material sense enjoyment, and of all the senses the tongue is the most voracious and uncontrollable; it is very difficult to control the tongue in this world. But You, dear Krsna, are very kind to us and have given us such nice prasada, just to control the tongue. Now we take this prasada to our full satisfaction and glorify you Lord- Radha and Krsna- and in love call for the help of Lord Caitanya and Nityananda.

So here it is, directly off the Shelter Bhajana tape…

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