Saturday 17 December 2011

Thursday, December 15th, 2011

Star Light

Venables Valley, British Columbia

Though clouds might be lurking in the valley, bright shining stars always punctuate the sky above the village of Saranagati. There are also luminaries found in the valley itself; only they are humans. They are especially the kids. It was my second day for drama workshop with the students at Govardhana Academy. For sure, they shine.

As part of an exercise to learning lines for a drama production, I had them memorize in Sanskrit, another one of my choice verses from the Gita. 9.29 reads like this:

"I envy no one, nor am I partial to anyone. I am equal to all, but whoever renders service unto Me in devotion is a friend, is in Me, and I am also a friend to him."

The contents of this verse leave us with an apparent contradiction, and here is the justification behind the dichotomy that is explained in the commentary by author Srila Prabhupada:

"Any person in this material world may be very charitably disposed, and yet has a special interest in his/her own children. The Lord claims that every living entity - in whatever form - is His child. And so He provides everyone with a generous supply of the necessities of life. But, for His devotees, He gives specific attention."

And here's more to think about:

"When a diamond is set in a golden ring, it looks very nice. The gold is glorified and at the same time the diamond is glorified. The Lord and the living entity eternally glitter, and when the living entity becomes inclined to the service of the Supreme, he looks like gold. The Lord is a diamond, and so this combination is very nice."

May the intent behind this verse and your time and thought to it allow you to glow and become like a star.

9 Km

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