Shukasari

  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?