Qualities

When rude is mistaken for strong,
and humble is mistaken for weak,
then you know we are in strange times my friend,
and the way is treacherously steep!

The stakes are raised in a hostile land,
where good qualities lose the meaning for which they stand,
and all is abysmal dark and swirling,
a tornado turning whirling and whirling,

So, if we've gone off the mark and fallen astray,
how do we know how to find our way?

Looking sharply, deep within,
searching for the origin,
the bright shining soul is self resplendent,
resting in your heart as a priceless pendant,

then will come clear the qualities that are true,
and they might be the ones that surprise you,
for though it is sweet to say humble and meek,
they crush out your ego that wishes to keep,
all of your true self hidden down deep,

If you can manage to let the ego die,
the world is in your palm and you are free to fly!

Catch a few moments to breathe

So it's Monday night (aaaaah it's actually Sunday night--but it feels like a Monday)and somehow I still can't quite get pictures up on this thing--aaargh. But I am reviewing the last week for a couple of moments before I hit the sack. This weekend was sooo busy and so I usually like to sit for a moment and think of the highlights of the weekend. One of the highlights for me was seeing the community young and old alike really pulling together in a harmonious way. So nice to see the this group of people putting in so much of their energy for a common goal. I'm feeling an intense gratitude for the devotees and really seeing community grow in such a nice way. It is so amazing to be part of this growth that we have experienced in the last year. The quote that I keep on chanting in my mind the last 3 days is:
Forget the past that sleeps,
and ne'er the future dream at all,
act in time that are with thee
and progress thee shall call
-Bhaktivinod Thakur
It keeps me in the present moment. Especially when I am very busy it helps me stay peaceful.
So on Saturday afternoon when we were at the second festival of the day and we got rained out by a deluge of a storm I just kept on thinking "Godspeed" everything is moving in God's time:)
Try and not be attached to the result!!!

Hold on to the seat belts....!

What an absolute whirlwind the last few weeks have been!!! Staying up all night for henna parties in Michigan....then catching a red eye flight home after days on stand by, getting home by three am and then waking up for the market at 6am! Program, family visiting and then of course the big biggety--my little bro got married!! Amazing wedding day---soo awesome. I am going to try and figure how to get pics up.
I find myself writing in my mind little blogs all the time but I don't always have access to the net. A few titles I thought up were-
-Going Raw (in the food sense:)
-Mehndi Momma madness ( High school graduates get tats at 11-4 am from me and my momma)
-Detroit and it's amazing historic ruins..........
So this week we are doing a double festival for the first time. A veggie food stall at the downtown farmers market in SLC and the Venture Outdoors festival. It should be wild!!!
Favorite quote right now:

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 1807–1882

55. A Psalm of Life

What the Heart of the Young Man Said to the Psalmist

TELL me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!—
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
Life is real! Life is earnest!	5
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;	10
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.
Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating	15
Funeral marches to the grave.
In the world's broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!	20
Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act,—act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o'erhead!
Lives of great men all remind us	25
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;
Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,	30
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.
Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,	35
Learn to labor and to wait.

Invocation......

So after so many different thoughts on writing a blog--the inspiration finally came. However, this is not some dear diary scenario where I am constantly running behind on keeping "it up". It is only another manufactured need.....so then why should I write? I hope to share some of my favorite quotes and craziness so that you--if there are any of you out there:)-can have some insight into a possible similar situation you may run into, or maybe you can just laugh at these thoughts of mine!! I hope that I can look back on them myself in the future. So I have to start with an invocation quote from Sri Prappana Jivanamrtam.
O saintly devotees, please purify this wrongdoer who on the pretext of saintliness desires in his heart the prestige of a poet, and who is thus afflicted with the practically incurable disease of insincerity.
-Srila Sridhara Maharaj
Oh, to be sincere..............to try to try and be real. Be a real servant, of Guru and God and Vaishnava. The quest to be real is fraught with the danger of losing that which is unreal-the false ego.... which is so painful to let go of! and I shall leave it at that...for today!