The kindness of devotees.

I feel such extreme happiness right now. I have such wonderful association of senior devotees near me all the time. Any questions that arise (and there are many) in my new devotee path, I can get answered from experts. The kindness that has been poured upon me is otherworldly. I can't get over how much my life has changed since I surrendered to Krishna.
In less then two months I will be in Alachua, Florida for the Bhakti Bhavan Retreat.
http://bhaktibhavanashram.org/about.htm I will be immersed in learning about Krishna and how to serve Krishna. They have a program retreat where they take 7 new female devotees and give us an introduction to ashram living. It's three weeks of learning prayers, songs, etiquette, music lessons, and I hope deity worship. My guru is very pleased that I am going to this program. He claimed, "you must be the best devotee, and serve the senior women that are organizing the program." I can't wait to be cut off from computers, phones and mundane life. I get to spend three weeks just in the service of learning about Krishna. It is a dream come true.
I just finished reading the book Miracle on 2nd Avenue by Mukunda, and I couldn't put it down.

 I can't believe how quickly his divine grace Srila Prabhupada created ISCKON and how the movement exploded. Who would ever of thought their would be a temple in Russia and Africa. The first few devotees really spent their lives building the movement in service to Krishna. Because of these special devotees I get to visit temples all over the world. In the early days devotees where told to go to random foreign countries and just start temples. All with no money and some of them got arrested, harassed and violence set upon them. The perciveered, all for their guru and Krishna. Would I be able to do that kind of extreme service if my guru asked me to? Would I be able to drop everything and just move somewhere with no money and start a kirtan in the center of some foreign city. A place that I don't know the language or know a single soul? One of the 10 offenses of a devotee is, "To disobey the orders of the spiritual master." (Hare Krishna, 2000). I should pray to Radharani just be a selfless devotee so I can please my Guru and Krishna.

References:
Sanatana Dharma Foundation10 Offenses to be avoided.  Nectar of Devotion. Retreieved from http://www.harekrishnatemple.com/offenses.html

Mother Yamuna has gone back to Godhead!

The world has lost a great devotee this week, because God wanted her back. Mother Yamuna was a Prabhupada deciple and has done so much for the Krishna Conscious Movement that I hope a book comes out about her life. I have been watching the Following Srila Prabhupada DVD series and she is in so much of them. I feel like I knew her. The past few nights there has been kirtan here in Stuy. Falls and after we discuss remembrances of her. Jhanavi is visiting and between her and Ram Roy they have been leading such expert and wonderful kirtan. Jhanavi has spent a lot of time with Mother Yamuna and she told us great stories of her and stories that Yamuna told her about Prabhupada. We only have so much time on this earth and we need to take advantage of gaining knowledge and Srila Prabhupada nectar from the remaining senior disciples of his divine grace.
I feel incredibly sad this week for so many reasons, but I have to just take shelter of Krishna and chant. I find I mainly pray when I'm upset, or there is a crisis of some sort. I have to start praying when I'm happy as well. I need to turn to God no matter what mood I am in. I have to keep in mind that everything I do, I do for him.
I pray to Radharani to be a better devotee and to better serve. I pray that I can be as humble, compassionate, devoted, masterful, and forbearing as Mother Yamuna was.

Hare Krishna!

I found my Krishna!

I am a new devotee of the Krishna Conscious movement. I have been striving to balance full time school, full time work, and full time service to God. It has been a struggle to remember constantly that I am doing all of this for God. That I am not this body. I am very important in a sense because although I am not this body, my Guru reminds me that we are all parts and parcels of the divine one, Krishna. I am not familiar with all of the prayers, all of the songs and sacred Sanskrit texts. I have a hard time pronouncing all of the names of devotees, but I do not have a hard time with service. I get the service part. To love anyone, one wants to please them. So I try to please Krishna and my Guru Maharajah by serving devotees. I am a servant of a servant of a servant. I know my place and enjoy my place. 

I have found God. My Krishna. I surrender onto his beautiful lotus feet and chant. I just chant Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare!