| When Maharaja Yudhisthira asked this question to Lord Krishna, the gist of the Lord's reply in the Shrimad Bhagavatam (10.88.8) is that material adversities are often the essential, unavoidable means to make his devotees aware of their spiritual prosperity. The eternal, unchangeable reality is that our relationship with Krishna – and our remembrance of Krishna therein – is the basis and essence of our real happiness and actual prosperity. However, we often get distracted from this source of ultimate prosperity to worldly relationships, engagements and infatuations that we mistakenly imagine will bring us prosperity. That's why Krishna sometimes allows adversities to take away our pseudo-prosperities so that we are left with no alternative except to turn to him for shelter – and thereby realize how his remembrance alone heralds and constitutes our true prosperity. Of course, it is not Krishna, but our own past karma, that causes those adversities. But Krishna orchestrates those adversities so that they also become opportunities for us to realize our actual prosperity. That is why when material adversities strike us, rather than resenting them in godless ignorance, let us pray for god-gifted wisdom to see in them the opportunities to realize our hitherto undiscovered or untapped spiritual riches. 
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, June 2011)
 The desire to enjoy the material world or the need of wanting to get out of this material world, is the same thing…..it's still considered selfish. 'Bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kāmī, sakali 'aśānta.' The sense enjoyer, the karmi or 'mukti' – the one who looks for liberation. ….or the 'siddhi' – the yogi who looks for mystic power – They're all selfish. Still selfish…..still driven by self interest!  So all these kinds of things (that are described in the Srimad Bhagavatam) are meant to make us introspective….are meant to bring us to the point and recognise the selfishness within us! How self centred we are? How much is everything about me? And my personal position? And even in devotional service….my position in devotional service, where I am and from that platform serving Krishna – and this is also tested!
 
A Spacey State
Columbus, Ohio
We were moving in a weaving fashion between tree trunks walking light as on air (or clouds), actually leaves, layers upon layers. Madhu, Ram and I drove a short distance from Ram's house to Allum Creek State Park for a fresh air experience. It was Ram's first time to this place. I like to think that wherever I travel I contribute to helping my host explore his/her neighbourhood territory. I insist, "Let's go for a walk and see what you haven't seen in your own backyard."
To my own surprise, Ohio has lots of great woodsy escapes. And talk about it being a spacey place, well, astronauts John Glenn and Neil Armstrong come from Ohio. And there's also the Wright Brothers who claimed Ohio as their home. Wilbur Bright wrote: "Let in the autumn of 1878, our father came into the house one evening with some object partly concealed in his hands, and before we could see what it was, he tossed it into the air. Instead of falling to the floor, as we expected, it flew across the room 'til it struck the ceiling, where it fluttered awhile, and finally sank to the floor... a toy so delicate lasted only a short time in the hands of small boys, but its memory was abiding."
It appears that fascination for flying really took off for the two boys. In 1903 they built the first aircraft.
The Krishna community in Columbus this evening showed a fascination for my pilgrim pastimes. Students from U of Columbus wanted to hear and so that's what I delivered. In speaking about trekking for the soul you should never assume that it's only a topic about moving on the ground. In any of these talks I let people know that there is a big sky up above where a whole world exists beyond what you could imagine - a world not dependent "on sunlight or moonlight or electricity", a world of lightness where life carries no exertion of weight.
I like to explain that in long distance walking you travel very light and you might keep in mind a hero like Narada, the sage, who does interplanetary travel between both the material and anti-material worlds.
Ah Ha! There ya go. There is this monk who is an actual astronaut who moves continuously into outerspace.
8 KM
Getting to Know
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Tiffany and Kaustubha got married. It happened in the summer. They did it the way they wanted, they were determined. The young couple wanted a Krishna Conscious style marriage. Their pundit, or priest, was Dayal Nitai, AKA, Don Foose, who is a hardcore rocker. Could a priest be both a man who solemnizes marriages and at the same time rocks the punk crowd with over amplified music muddled on high decibel music?
If you meet Don, or Dayal as he's known by his Sanskrit name, you'll understand. He's a sensitive man who has embraced the philosophy of Indian sage, Vyasa. He loves Mantras as much as he does his personal lyriced Rock. He's a fabulous vegetarian cook to boot and he also does construction work for his livelihood, when he's not tattooed torsoed at his concerts. Imagine that, he's all that, all wrapped in one.
Kaustubha, the happily married man, is much like Dayal, whom he assists at concerts. Kaustubha is creative, does hairdressing, builds and renovates, in addition to serving the devotional gathering that takes place at Dayal's every Wednesday night. He's a multitasker. 'Kaustubha', in Sanskrit, is a particular precious stone, and this Ohio kid of the same name, is a gem of a soul.
As far as Tiffany is concerned, the lovely bride of August last, well, I'm just getting to know her more, and that was possible shortly after arriving from Canada via bus to Cleveland. I have been cooped up in the Greyhound all day and needed to unleash the legs, so Tiffany suggested for us to take the trails at Metro Parks. She had the right idea. Together, the couple and I and dear friend, Akhila, trod down the oak and maple trail near Rocky River. It was a creative, active and devotional group that blazed the path of bhakti, getting to know each other more before departing for the gathering, where we all get to know more of Krishna.
6 KM
Srimad Bhagavatam 1.3.42 - One can always remember Krsna by dedicating all activities to Krsna.
In the style of Mertonian homage, a simple meditation on thoughts, ideas, and realizations from our discussion of "Thoughts in Solitude" by Thomas Merton at our recent meeting of the Bhakti Center Book Club
We find a great, if unhealthy, solace in simply remaining in the role of the observer, yet the practical demands of this world, and the practical orders of the great teachers who carry us forward, demand that we transcend the restraints of the observer. They demand we come down from the clouds of our head-space into the ground of our heart-space.
In this ground of our heart, we come to understand the deeper truth of solitude, found in the acceptance, understanding, and communion with everyone else's solitude. We cannot accept how alone we are, how much pain we feel, how much joy we are capable of, and the presence of the Divine in our own heart until we can gradually see all these things in the heart of everyone else. The feeling of liberation we receive upon this revelation transcends all the fear and hesitation that ruins our ability to fully communicate with each other.
Having this revelation, we fully understand the meaning of solitude and silence in our own being, because the reality of who we are becomes incredibly clear, reflected with such illumination from the hearts of everyone else.
The pillars of greed, lust, envy, and all the other fantasies of the selfish heart has made our civilization barren practically to its core. Yet this is all a projection and reflection of the more imposing desert we face within our own heart, which is the source of all the anxiety we face in our individual and collective lives. This imposition from within has created the tangle of contradictions which we rage against, or which we die quietly but so painfully from.
The first instinct upon facing our contradictions is to run away as fast as we can, to dive into the spirits of our comforts. The experience of our actual consciousness is so painful, so nauseating, so disorienting, that most of us (myself especially) are still stuck in the energy of that initial instinct to flee, unable to go any further on the walk through the desert of the heart.
We are stuck once again on the observation deck, attempting to re-strategize for the next assault, but we are missing one great tool, one great weapon, which is found in the silence of our own heart. It is the space of our faith, where we understand that God is always carrying us and always protecting us, especially in the greatest tribulations and purification. In this space, feeling the warm embrace of our Beloved holding us close, we gain the proper perspective.
The great sage of solitude, Thomas Merton, explains this perspective:
"Contradictions have always existed in the soul of man. But it is only when we prefer analysis to silence that they become a constant and insolvable problem. We are not meant to resolve all contradictions, but to live with them and rise above them and see them in the light of exterior and objective values which make them trivial by comparison" Thoughts in Solitude
The closest space in our heart, closer still even than the spaces of our stored bitterness, is this silent space where God lives with us, and where we can communicate with Him in prayer, meditation, study, and also properly and divinely guided action. In this space, the heart becomes big and the mind becomes clear. Love and truth begin to come together, for love is what the heart wants and truth is what the mind wants. We move closer to no longer being a victim to the pendulum swings between our contradictions.
Humility is the essential cloth we must wear to enter into this space of faith. Beginning with the fundamental level of our language, we must learn to speak to each other in a tone which renounces the aggressive and competitive spirit ingrained into our conditioning, turning instead towards a tone which offers a substance and meaning based on our common values of divinity.
This is a task which requires a great deal of attention and sacrifice, for our natural humility in all of its expressions is buried under the layers of our disconnection from each other, from God, and from ourselves. One of the reasons for this is that humility itself brings its own paradoxes into our consciousness. For example, humility is something we know that we need, and we desperately desire its presence, but when we know we have it in our grasp, it is that very recognition which causes us to lose it. Humility is not necessarily we are meant to enjoy, yet there is a certain and sure pleasure which comes in the genuinely humble moment. It is when we turn the simple glory of that moment into an inauthentic construct of pride that we lose control of what has been given to us. To be vigilant in our humility actually means to be vigilant against the pride within us. Another paradox of the humble cloth is that it is best represented in the most obvious action, rather than a passive tolerance or non-violence. By the most obvious action I mean, in the spiritual context, the most selfless and most needed action to be done, considering the time, place, and circumstance. This action remains clothed in humility when it does not reinforce our "hero construct", or the self-obsession of our prideful mind.
This action, even if done with force, with tough love, with power and confidence, can only help and never harm, because it is centered on the true balance between the mind and the heart, between Love and Truth. If we can absorb these concepts through our intelligence into our heart, and if we pray for courage and guidance from our teachers and friends, our spiritual life truly opens into the solitary spaces of our inner life, into our space of faith, with the silence of our embrace with God against the raging of our mind/body and of our society's endless noise brigades. We finally receive what we have always wanted, an embrace that will always stay with us and not be like the empty gestures which has left our heart crusted with grief. We will be alone, but united. Silent, but dancing to the ecstatic rhythms of the Lord's steps, and our struggle will be renewed and strengthened.
By Madhava Smullen for ISKCON News on 4 Nov 2011  | When they encouraged their son Nimai to pursue his own interests while homeschooling, Washington D.C. husband and wife couple Vidarbha Suta Dasi and Lokadhyaksha Dasa saw his personality grow and his individual skills thrive exponentially.
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