(Brijabasi Spirit Vol. IV (1977) #4)
Once again the opportunity to behold the transcendental forms of Sri Sri Radha Govinda, the worshipable Deities of New York Yatra, had been bestowed upon me. Kirtanananda Swami had stopped at the quarries in Canarer, Italy on his way to Bombay recently and there he personally selected the finest marble available for the Palace of our beloved gurudeva, Srila Prabhupada; and now it was waiting to be picked up at a New York dock for the last leg of the journey to New Vrindaban.
The first time I ever saw Krsna was in His form of Sri Sri Radha Govinda, Whose dark eyes captivated me. I had come to the New York temple as a materialist, seeking simply to gratify my tongue on the sumptuous prasada served there. One of the devotees, perceiving my farm background, gave me a pamphlet describing what was at that time the only farm community in ISKCON, New Vrindaban. A picture of Sri Sri Radha Vrndavana Candra smiled warmly to me, and I went for a visit. By the mercy of Srila Prabhupada and his dedicated disciple Kirtanananda Swami, I have been allowed to remain in the domain of Vrndavana Candra, despite my awkward attempts at service and my repeated offenses.
Thus, as previously my wayward wanderings had been directed, so my thoughts were turning to that holy dhama, where the melting snows, unleashed from the icy grip of winter, were fructifying spring’s seeds and nourishing the dormant vegetation for another year’s manifestation. Due to a dry November last year, the winter grains had barely sprouted when the cold weather set in. Fortunately, the thick snowcover had protected the tender sprouts, and now they were greening and setting roots.
Apart from the New York temple, the insanity of the city is overwhelming. Everywhere the evidence of man’s exploitive activities are visible. All the buildings, streets and organizations of men’s minds are the dominant feature. Everywhere are people, people, people. Millions of people. It seems like so many people — how can a handful of devotees make any significant change in the rampant consciousness of eating, sleeping, mating and defending that so obsesses them.
Yet, Krsna is the source and maintainer of all living entities. Actually, in a 20 acre field, there are as many living entities in wheat bodies as there are in human bodies in all of New York City. And what to speak of all the insects, or, as sometimes happens in a wet year, all the millions of living entities in rust spore bodies on each wheat plant?
Surely, in comparison to the vast numbers of living entities on just this insignificant planet, the human form of life is very rare. If Krsna is maintaining all the living entities, then surely He can make arrangements by which all humans can become eligible to rise above the mundane platform. This is the mercy of Lord Caitanya. Just as the warm spring rains burst the stark skeletal framework of Sri Sri Radha Vrndavana Candra’s fruit trees into cascades of delicate, scented blossoms, so the rain of the spiritual master’s mercy is reviving the higher values of life in our barren, materially contaminated lives. Although the blossoms of a material tree fly like snowflurries before the forceful spring wind, and the fruit is soon transformed back into earth, the beauty of the enlightened soul is ever-increasing, and the fruit of the process of devotional service, pure love of Godhead, is eternal.
The miracle of a desolate brown pasture metamorphosing into arrayed shades of greens, of grasses and mineral rich foliage–and the eagerness with which our bovine mothers graze on this new growth, miraculously turning it into spring-rich milk-is one of the wonders that merely hints at the glories of Sri Krsna. Yet even this simple enjoyment has degraded into an exchange of green paper currency for a plastic jug containing milk, and who knows what happened to it between the cow and the consumer.
Actually, spring in the city is barely perceived, mostly as a decrease in the heating bill. But now I had the chance to realize that another symptom was emerging. The devotees were all turning out in the lobby to go out on Harer Nama Sankirtana. I gladly joined them, knowing that back at New Vrindaban, and all over the world, devotees in diverse cultures and circumstances were also readying themselves to take the message of Lord Caitanya to the conditioned souls.
Anyone hearing the transcendental vibrations of the maha-mantra, Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, accompanied by mrdangas and karatalas, and seeing the dancing devotees, are perceiving the end of the wintry grasp of Kali-yuga, and the manifestation of the Golden Age of Lord Caitanya. This is the real coming of spring.
