Making of E-Newsletter, THE EIGHT PETALS

Kunti, born in opulence as princess, married off in India’s most famous royal family of Panduas queen, and mother of five illustrious sons- Pandavas- renowned in the world for their intelligence, beauty, and strength; and last but not the least as the ‘bua’ (paternal aunt) of the Supreme Lord of the Universe in his celestial pastime; what do we expect? Materially, there is nothing wanting, yet she is thronged by the worst kind of sufferings. She led a very unenviable life of unpunctuated sufferings of loss of her very first child, early widowhood, constant overshadow of death on her sons by none other than their own cousins, worst kind of humiliation to her daughter-in-law, war between the family itself which claimed the life of countless people, including her grandsons. Despite incessantly haunted by inclemencies and having the Lord in front of her, she does not question her destiny. She just remembers the different ways in which the Lord had showered His mercy upon her.
She recalls her moments of tribulations when He had saved her:
visan mahagneh purusada-darsanad
asat-sabhaya vana-vasa-krcchratah
mrdhe mrdhe 'neka-maharathastrato
drauny-astratas casma hare 'bhiraksitah
[My dear Krsna, Your Lordship has protected us from a poisoned cake, from a great fire, from cannibals, from the vicious assembly, from sufferings during our exile in the forest, and from the battle where great generals fought. And now You have saved us from the weapon of Asvatthama.]
She is in full realization of His truth and like a true devotee, humbly supplicates herself to His lotus feet. Instead of asking for other benedictions or complaining; she, on the contrary, prays for more calamities considering them as stepping stones to devotion.
vipadah santu tah sasvat
tatra tatra jagad-guro
bhavato darsanam yat syad
apunar bhava-darsanam
[I wish that all those calamities would happen again and again so that we could see You again and again, for seeing You means that we will no longer see repeated births and deaths.]
It is her unflinching faith and love for Him that makes her stand out. She is so absorbed in Him that despite living through such pains, she asks for more as that would keep her completely devoted to Him. What a prayer!
It had been more than 7 months since I had lost my job- no income trickling in from any other stream, regular monthly commitments, and a young daughter along with additional liabilities. Further, I had declined two very lucrative offers from Bangalore, fearing that may deprive me of small opportunities of serving Guru Maharaj and Srila Prabhupada that I was abundantly getting here. A few devotees criticized, while a few condoned my decision, but interestingly both the articulations were out of pure concern. Where else can we find this selfless love and concern? The backdrop of economic recession and love extended by devotees made me further realize the truth of Varnasrama and joy of living in a community with Krishna at the center. It is the only structure that is resistant to these kind of volatility, nothing else, nothing else, and nothing else.
In the midst, I realized that if somehow I am able to start a Newsletter in support of Varnasrama and thus able to string the Varnasrama efforts made across the country and even outside, I will be able to do some
service to my Guru Maharaj, to many more senior vaishnavas working in the area. The ‘Making’ of this Newsletter was no less a test for a mere mortal like me, especially against the impoverished backdrop, but interestingly it was also very wonderful- the beauty of Krishna Consciousness movement. A person totally devoid of any qualification or love for Godhead was working on the Newsletter trying to give shape to an amorphous idea! Finally, I came up with some thoughts on different columns we could have, on what would populate different sections, on its presentation etc.
With a beating heart I sent the proposal to my Guru Maharaj for consideration. He readily gave His approval with a few suggestions, lavish as always in involving everybody in the movement and thus letting nobody be deprived of Srila Prabhupada’s blessings. In my own small manner I will be instrumental in fulfilling the dream of our grand spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, who so much wanted to establish Varnasrama, but mercifully left it for us to accomplish and thus please Krishna.
catur-varnyam maya srstam
guna-karma-vibhagasah
tasya kartaram api mam
viddhy akartaram avyayam [ BG, 4:13]
[According to the three modes of material nature and the work associated with them, the four divisions of human society are created by Me. And although I am the creator of this system, you should
know that I am yet the nondoer, being unchangeable. ]
Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu opened the floodgates of divine love to everybody, Srila Prabhupada mercifully extended it even to mlecchas leaving the most important task of accomplishing the Varnasrama centric social order for His disciples. And those disciples, continuing the tradition of causeless mercy made the movement more and more participative, creating a world where everybody from a vaishnava to shudra had a role to play in serving the Lord. There was no longer any need of imposing artificial modes on anybody. Just be your ‘original’ self and guaranteed spiritual evolution was waiting for us. What more are we waiting for? Just plunge and taste the nectar of living in a natural ambience, away from the pollution of material city life. The dusk is defined by the mooing of cows, milking sound, aromatic breeze, refreshing bath in the stream or river, chiming of the bells, fragrance of incense sticks, sound of melodious kirtan that makes the sun slowly appear on the
horizon, the dusk is no longer a dry four-lettered word, but godhuli vela or the time when the cows return after grazing day long and there is a cloud of dust as they march forward. Beautiful life awaits us, but we have to break ourselves free from the conditioning that joy is defined by material comforts. Happiness is defined only by Krishna, because He is the reservoir of happiness and bliss- “sac-cid-ananda vigrahah.”
I take no credit for ingenuously coming up with this idea of starting the newsletter. HH Bhakti Raghava Swami Maharaj had suggested of this on several occasions, but we were not ready to take it up.
Many efforts had been made in the past by senior devotees, but got aborted because of one reason or the other. Not that the situation is any better now; despite seeing its history and failed efforts of stalwarts I made up my mind to launch it- fools rush in where angels fear to tread! The only inspiration that I had was- I have nothing to lose, only to gain. If it succeeds, it will help so many more people. Srila Prabhupada and His representatives are so merciful that they will accept. I was reminded of the squirrel who rolled herself in the dust and then shook it off to help Sri Rama build the bridge to Lanka! Her contribution was negligible but He accepted it. The present effort is my humble offering at the lotus feet of HH Bhakti Raghava Swami maharaj, all the vaishnavas, all the devotees working silently in fulfilling the mission, and of course Srila Prabhupada.

All the issues of the newsletter, The Eight Petals can be accessed at:

http://ebooks.iskcondesiretree.info/index.php?q=f&f=%2Fpdf%2FThe_Eight_Petals

Now when I see the newsletter in its real form, I am not able to believe myself, I know I have not done it; He has made me do it:
mukam karoti vachalam
pangum langhayate girim
yat-kripa tam aham vande
shri-gurum dina-taranam
Please forgive the mistakes that have gone unnoticed. “If there be good in that I wrought,/ Thy hand compelled it, Master thine./ Where I have failed to meet thy thought/ I know, through thee, the
blame is mine.” I solicit suggestions for improvement and for enrichment from everybody.


Yours in the service of Srila Prabhupada,

Vrndavanlila devi dasi
(Dr Vrinda Baxi)