Cooking at the Gurukul

Cooking classes are continuing here for the girls at Mayapur Academy and we had the great pleasure of learning and witnessing how to cook over cow dung fires at the Gurukul! It was such an amazing experience and the feast was just sumptuous.

It makes me realize how fortunate we are to have been given this gift of Vedic culture. The sad thing is sometimes we forget how practical it actually is and instead we feel that, "That was something people could do in other ages, not in Kali yuga." Seeing how the boys at the Gurukul are cooking and living so simply like this is such an eye opener.

It really is our choice. We can choose to live simply and be happy, or else we can choose to live with distractions. It should be noted that living simply doesn't mean one has to live in the forest, one can be very materially situated and still choose to live simply.

This is something I have direct experience of as in the span of not even three days, Krsna is presenting me with experiences of two extremes of living simply in two vastly different situations and being happy in Krsna consciousness. The Pune Yatra takes place due to the efforts of so many devotees. One of these devotees is HG Krsna Chandra Prabhu & family, at whose bungalow the Yatra takes place. HG Krsna Chandra prabhu and his family give everything that that they have for Krsna. Krsna has given them so much materially and the amazing thing is that they give it ALL in the service of Krsna and the vaisnavas. Because of that complete surrender to Guru and Krsna, they are blissfully advancing in Krsna consciousness.

That being said, now I got the wonderful opportunity to see how by living so simply one can be so happy. Ultimately we have to choose the situation that best helps us advance in our spiritual life. For most of us, it will probably be somewhere in the middle of these two extremes I've mentioned here, but the most important thing is to remember Krsna. May we always remember Krsna and never forget him!