What's Not to Love?

I offer my unlimited pranamas to my Guru Maharaja, Sri Sripad Bhaktivedanta Damodara Maharaja.

 Sometimes it's the simple things in life, the little gestures that go a long way. Since I arrived, the Vrajavasis have been surprising me time and time again with their simplicity, inherent trust in others and generosity. What seems like overly generous/sweet/simple to us (Westerners) is simply the norm for Vrajavasis.
     For instance, today I went to the little shop that sells dairy products to purchase fresh milk and yogurt. A side note in case anyone is wondering- yes, the milk is freshly delivered directly from the cows to the shop, which is rare to find in the United States (except one place I know, Gita Nagari ISKCON farm in Central Pennsylvania, has raw milk available). So I tried to pay, but the bill I had was too large; they did not have change. The boy working there said, "No problem, bring it later." A lot of vendors are like that.... without even a second thought or giving that questioning, doubtful look - like when someone raises one eyebrow trying to discern whether or not we are trustworthy - he just assumed that of course I would return later to pay. How simple, right? 

Shopkeeper at the dairy shop smiling big

     Another standard in Vrindavan is that many temples provide prasadam (food that has been offered to the deities-- yes, the deities eat regular meals throughout the day!) to people who visit; sometimes there are set times, other times they distribute prasadam at random to people who come for darshan (seeing the deities). So it is not possible for someone in Vrindavan to go hungry.

People lined up outside a temple for prasadam

    Even though there are countless examples I could mention, one last one I will share is that whenever there is an Appearance or Disappearance Day of a great Vaisnava, temples will hold festivals open to everyone- there will be decorations, a feast, kirtan, and hari-katha to honor that Vaisnava. Everything is for the Vaisnava's enjoyment, but the people who partake receive the remnants. Oftentimes as well, a person or family will sponsor a feast in honor of the day their loved one was born or passed on. This is done as an act of charity on behalf of their beloved. At that time, they typically give rupees in charity to all the guests. So the culture here is to give gifts on birthdays instead of receive them. In my attempt to do such a thing on my birthday in 2013, I did get gifts for others... but I also bought gifts for myself :/... I guess we all have to start somewhere.

Some rupees I received in charity from attending Appearance/Disappearance Day events

Finally, I will end by providing a little taste of how the parents of Sri Krishna gave in charity on His Appearance Day (source: Hari-Katha Tour Report Hidden Treasure 00):

"In pursuance of the Vedic tradition where Nanda Baba and Yasoda Maiya distribute charity on this day, devotees spontaneously joined in the festivities and distributed colossal amounts of maha-prasada to their 15,000 guests. For many weeks, the sannyasis and brahmacaris had been begging door to door in the blazing heat of the sun in order to collect the ingredients for Nanda Baba’s festival, and so many rooms had been filled with the collected provisions. All the ingredients were now transformed into sabji, puspanna, kichories, puries, laddhu, bundi, chutney, fruit salad and other preparations that are very dear to Krsna. When all the preparations had been offered, the devotees opened the gates to let in the first four hundred pilgrims, and so it went on for five hours. Also, 5,000 parcels of maha-prasada preparations were prepared to be distributed to all the families, friends and well-wishers of the Matha who were unable to attend the festival. In this way the Grand Festival of Nanda Maharaja was celebrated with uncommon enthusiasm."