Shukasari

 Just last month, I had to help my elderly mom and brother to move house. Believe me, it was a difficult task. We could not get movers as it was the holiday season over here. Moreover, we had to move from one block of the apartment to another block. I started packing two months earlier, but ended up not doing much as the kitchen stuff had to packed as we cooked our meals at home everyday. The new house was not ready as the owner had to fix the fans and there was plumbing works to be done. Finally when we got the keys, which was about a week earlier from the designated moving date, I decided to put as many stuff onto a trolley and move as much things as I can to the new block on the eighth floor. I realised I kept going up and down and the amount of stuff seem never ending. I pleaded with my mom and brother to ditch some stuff. It was really, really tiring.  My mom was getting irritated, what with her advanced age and all. I then reminded her how many times have we moved from o...

 Just the other day, I went to the supermarket with my mom. After the usual buying and paying at the counter, we were on our way to the escalator which will take us to the ground floor. Just then, my mom caught sight of a family of five with their shopping trolley packed to the brim. My very elderly mom said, "Wow, that's a lot of stuff!" I told my mom, it may not be a lot for them and it could be "just nice" for a family of five. It then hit me. The father, the man/master of the household was walking behind his little daughter, his wife, another daughter and a son.  It dawned upon me how we think we are masters of our homes, boss of a corporate firm or even the complete owner of a business etc. But the truth is, we are servants. We are always serving someone or something and of course our senses. Our spiritual masters have countless times reminded us that we are not the masters nor the doers. Only Lord Krsna is the Master and the Doer.  Like what my spiritual m...

 What is success? Many times we view success, even in devotional life, as having multiple temples, many devotees, loads of amazing festivities and the list goes on. Well, nothing is wrong in that. But the success in spiritual life must be in accordance to what Sri Guru wants and not what we want.  If a temple is small and has a very small congregation, does that mean they are not successful? We tender to measure everything with mundane vision and with extremely limited foresight even in our spiritual path.  Whether big or small, as long as Sri Guru and Krsna is pleased, that is all it takes to move forward in the path of devotion. At the end of the day, each and every soul has their own unique journey and realizations to finally go back home, back to Godhead. One can be like Sabari, residing all by herself in the forest but very firmly holding on to her guru-seva in plucking berries which eventually led her to have darshan of Lord Rama or even having many association in a...

  Today on this date 25th January, 25 years ago, I met my Srila Gurudeva and it was on my birthday. Although, I may think I met Srila Gurudeva, actually it was Srila Gurudeva who took me under his wings. I really didn't realise it then, and I hope to realise something eventually... I still remember that day. We didn't have a car, so my husband asked a friend of his to come along to Sungai Long, a new house in a relatively new housing estate. The place was quite a distance from our house. A would be godbrother's brother welcomed Srila Gurudeva to this new house of his. We waited and waited and finally a phone call came. My heart just broke. My husband's friend said his car broke down and it will take a while before he could reach us. My husband suggested we go the next day, but I was adamant. I wanted to meet this saint, whom I heard once or twice when I was still in Iskcon. His name resonated with my biological father's name and somehow I wanted to meet him.  After ...

The recent flood that hit my country, left me quite numb thinking about all the victims' pain and suffering. Here we are, trying to make living quite palatable, and all of a sudden torrents of rain comes to wash off everything we own.  Houses were damaged, cars submerged in water almost irreparable, household goods becomes junk as everything owned was gone and had to be replaced.  No matter how hard we try to make our living here comfortable, it is actually quite impossible as the design system of this material world is full of the three fold miseries, namely miseries arising from one's mind, miseries arising from another living entity and miseries given to us by the demigods.  Although many were affected by the flood, there were also fortunate ones who didn't experience anything of that sort at all. Due to their good fortunes they still have everything they owned intact. As I was contemplating these while filling my cup with water from a Cuckoo water filter (bought by my...

 The other day, a friend of mine who knows palmistry, looked into an old woman's hand. She must be around 85 years old.  He smiled at her and said, "Madam, you have indeed a long life." The elderly lady looked at my friend grimly and said, "Who said so? I don't have a long life!" My friend and I looked at each other. We were not really perplexed at what the lady just said. It only shows how very correct our scriptures are. No matter how long we live, we still feel we don't have a long life. We may have those around us, leaving their mortal bodies, but we still feel, death will not come to us and we still want to enjoy this material world to the fullest. This is how Maya, the illusory energy of the Lord, tricks us into thinking thus.   Ultimately, what is the use of a long life, if it is not used in devotion?  What is the use of a long life, if it is not used to serve the Vaishnavas?