Monday, February 1st, 2010

"House on Fire"

Crane, Guyana

I walked young Rivaldo to school. He's a great kid. He loves Krishna. He proudly walks to school each day with a shaven head and a small tuft of hair left in the back as us monks do. I suggested to him to study hard and to run those studies parallel to developing his Krishna Consciousness. We parted hoping that another year would pass soon when I would return.

From Rivaldo’s school I trekked toward the Coastal Road, Guyana's main thoroughfare where our most reliable driver, Ravi, picked me up for the drive to Crane. On our way we spotted a house in flames. Jet black smoke spewed out into the sky. Two buildings over was a school full of uniformed students standing out the veranda and looking at this building brought down to ruins. They stood in awe. "Where was the fire Brigade?" the driver, Ajamil and I wondered. It took a good ten minutes after our sighting it that a fire truck actually came full steam ahead.

It crosses anyone's mind who would see such a thing, "I'm glad it was not my home. Perhaps I could be next. Let's take precaution." Whenever there is a harmful fire it's natural to react and exterminate it if possible. The great thinker Chanakya said that there are three things that must be put out immediately- debt, disease, and fire.

In some discussion at the Crane Temple a devotee heard me say that Hitler used the sacred Vedic Swastika symbol as his Third Reich logo. He however, had this symbol reversed and I suggested that perhaps that's one of the reasons he failed. The devotee, Madhava said that recently a small yajna, fire ceremony, was held in the home of a woman in Guyana. Madhava, who was present, noticed that the swastika was also in reverse. That day the woman's house went up in flames and reduced to ashes.

I believe the moral here is to be prudent in dealing with yantras or Vedic symbols and be careful, very careful in dealing with fire as well as the fire of maya, illusion. Furthermore if one is trying to establish oneself spiritually as soon as your devotional house is detected to be on fire extinguish it ASAP. Avoid all fire and hazardous conditions as you plod along in your devotional endeavours. See that your exit signs are well lit, your alarm system is operable, your exterminators are working and you know how to use them, etc.

When you're in spiritual trouble learn to act quickly for help.

3 Km