Thursday, June 20, 2013

A new beginning



By carucandra dasa 


During the last couple of months i have been contemplating my next move.  Being a goal-oriented person, it is fairly uncomfortable for me to not have a specific plan to follow. 

Anyone who knows me knows that i always go big…  the results are rarely proportionate to the endeavor, but i would rather go big and come up short than to go small and come up with nothing.  In fact perhaps my best quality is that i try hard…  and although “participation awards” aren’t held in the highest regard, i think that these days participation is a huge step up from what the majority of people do.

We have all heard the expressions, “if at first you try but don’t succeed, try, try again”, and “brush the dirt off and get back on the horse”…  but to me these adages, while true, do not quite fully encompass our philosophy…  they still leave room for one to eventually give up after getting bucked off one too many times.  So i was inspired to come up with a new expression that describes the type of determination that an aspiring vaisnava should possess…  “forever endeavor.”… not only does it completely describe the unflinching determination that we should have, but it also has a nice ring to it…  plus it prompts some to call out “amen!” after hearing it (or maybe that’s just me).

So no matter how many times i fail, i wont give up…  after all, my goal is an honorable one…  its not like i am saving up for a car to impress a girl, or undergoing physical training to take out my enemies and rule the world, i am simply trying to serve Srila Prabhupadas mission with my natural inclinations…  and that’s all he ever asked of us….  He wanted us to keep doing whatever we were doing, but with Krsna in the center.

My default back-up plan for the past several years has been to move to Mayapura and spend time studying and perhaps teaching.  But the reason that was a secondary plan as opposed to a primary plan was because i feel that i have a debt to Srila Prabhupada to help spread his mission in America.  

So while i could just move to Mayapura and spend the rest of my days there, i feel i cant turn my back on my duty in America fully…  so as i continue to spend half of the year there, i will keep on exploring options in America for the spring and summer months. 

Perhaps there is another retreat center in the future for the Bhagavat Commune on a piece of land similar to our first property where we had our wonderful Govardhana Puja celebration back in 2010.  If it comes to that i will be less focused on making it suitable for year-round residents and more geared toward retreats and workshops at first to keep expenses down.

i will post updates here as they happen.  Thank you for showing interest and please feel free to email me with your own thoughts on our vision.

Hari, Hari!

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