For Janmastami this year, I was unable to go to the temple (because the school year was just beginning) and so I did something a little different. You may have noticed that my profile picture here isn't a photo. It's actually a screen capture of my "avatar" in Second Life (SL).
Second Life is an online, virtual-reality community. You create your own person, or avatar they call it, and you can travel around and talk with people--either voice or by typing. There are quite a few devotees there and quite a few temples. I've met devotees from India, Australia, Spain, England, and the US. They're all so nice and all so different. There's a temple that I go to there called The Lotus Room.
The Lotus Room has temples for Sri Sri Radha Krsna, Sri Sri Gaura Nitai, and Lords Jagannatha, Subhadra, and Baladeva. There's also a vegetarian restaurant, a movie theater with devotee movies, a sankirtan bus, a quiet area with a waterfall, and a goshala. Music plays all the time you're there. And, there's a classroom up in the sky where you can go and listen to classes. There are also many books available that you can download.
For Janmastami, Radha, her SL name, built a new temple. (It's Radha who's put this all together.) It was locked and no one could get in until the festivities began. She had asked me to give a class and, after asking me many, many times, I agreed. She gave me some Linden dollars, the SL currency, to buy decorations. She and I met a few days before and did some decorating with garlands and lights. I bought something that would drop flowers from the sky and another thing that dropped little colored lights from the sky.
When the time arrived, we all arrived. We set our environment to midnight so that it was dark. It was all so beautiful--the decorations, the devotees, the Deities--so beautiful. There were about six of us there from all around the world. For some it was early in the morning, others mid day, and for me it was almost midnight. And, for some it was Saturday and some it was Sunday. 
I thought it would be fitting to read from Krsna Book that night, just as I remember reading it with Srila Prabhupada in New Vrndavana. (I read from the chapter "Prayers by the Demigods for Lord Krsna in the Womb." The following text was taken from http://krsnabook.com/ch2.html.) After the reading we talked, and typed, about Srila Prabhupada, danced to the kirtan and had a wonderful, transcendental time.
Hare Krsna! Jaya Srila Prabhupada!
"At this time Lord Brahma and Lord Siva, accompanied by great sages like Narada and followed by many other demigods, invisibly appeared in the house of Kamsa. They began to pray for the Supreme Personality of Godhead in select prayers which are very pleasing to the devotees and which award fulfillment of their desires. The first words they spoke acclaimed that the Lord is true to His vow. As stated in the Bhagavad-gita, Krsna descends in this material world just to protect the pious and destroy the impious. That is His vow. The demigods could understand that the Lord had taken His residence within the womb of Devaki in order to fulfill this vow. The demigods were very glad that the Lord was appearing to fulfill His mission, and they addressed Him as satyam param, or the Supreme Absolute Truth.
"Everyone is searching after the truth. That is the philosophical way of life. The demigods give information that the Supreme Absolute Truth is Krsna. One who becomes fully Krsna conscious can attain the Absolute Truth. Krsna is the Absolute Truth. Relative truth is not truth in all the three phases of eternal time. Time is divided into past, present and future. Krsna is Truth always, past, present and future. In the material world everything is being controlled by supreme time, in the course of past, present and future. But before the creation, Krsna was existing, and when there is creation, everything is resting in Krsna, and when this creation is finished, Krsna will remain. Therefore, He is Absolute Truth in all circumstances. If there is any truth within this material world, it emanates from the Supreme Truth, Krsna. If there is any opulence within this material world, the cause of the opulence is Krsna. If there is any reputation within this material world, the cause of the reputation is Krsna. If there is any strength within this material world, the cause of such strength is Krsna. If there is any wisdom and education within this material world, the cause of such wisdom and education is Krsna. Therefore Krsna is the source of all relative truths.
"Dear Lord, husband of the goddess of fortune, devotees who are dovetailed in Your service do not fall down from their high position like the impersonalists. Being protected by You, the devotees are able to traverse over the heads of many of Maya's commanders-in-chief, who can always put stumbling blocks on the path of liberation. My dear Lord, You appear in Your transcendental form for the benefit of the living entities so that they can see You face to face and offer their worshipful sacrifices by ritualistic performance of the Vedas, mystic meditation and devotional service as recommended in the scriptures. Dear Lord, if You did not appear in Your eternal transcendental form, full of bliss and knowledge--which can eradicate all kinds of speculative ignorance about Your position--then all people would simply speculate about You according to their respective modes of material nature." . . .
"The appearance of Krsna is the answer to all imaginative iconography of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Everyone imagines the form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead according to his mode of material nature. In the Brahma-samhita it is said that the Lord is the oldest person. Therefore a section of religionists imagine that God must be very old, and therefore they depict a form of the Lord like a very old man. But in the same Brahma-samhita, that is contradicted; although He is the oldest of all living entities, He has His eternal form as a fresh youth. The exact words used in this connection in the Srimad-Bhagavatam are vijnanam ajnanabhid apamarjanam. Vijnanam means transcendental knowledge of the Supreme Personality. Vijnanam is also experienced knowledge. Transcendental knowledge has to be accepted by the descending process of disciplic succession as Brahma presents the knowledge of Krsna in the Brahma-samhita. Brahma-samhita is vijnanam as realized by Brahma's transcendental experience, and in that way he presented the form and the pastimes of Krsna in the transcendental abode. Ajnanabhid means that which can match all kinds of speculation. In ignorance, people are imagining the form of the Lord; sometimes He has no form and sometimes He has form, according to their different imaginations. But the presentation of Krsna in the Brahma-samhita is vijnanam--scientific, experienced knowledge given by Lord Brahma and accepted by Lord Caitanya. There is no doubt about it. Sri Krsna's form, Sri Krsna's flute, Krsna's color--everything is reality. Here it is said that this vijnanam is always defeating all kinds of speculative knowledge. "Therefore, without Your appearing as Krsna, as You are, neither ajnana-bhida (nescience of speculative knowledge) nor vijnanam would be realized. Ajnanabhid apamarjanam--by Your appearance the speculative knowledge of ignorance will be vanquished and the real experienced knowledge of authorities like Lord Brahma will be established. Men influenced by the three modes of material nature imagine their own God according to the modes of material nature. In this way God is presented in various ways, but Your appearance will establish what the real form of God is."
"The highest blunder committed by the impersonalists is to think that when the incarnation of God comes, He accepts the form of matter in the modes of goodness. Actually the form of Krsna or Narayana is transcendental to any material idea. . . . That is expressed in the Srimad-Bhagavatam as suddha-sattva, or transcendental. He does not belong to the material mode of goodness, and He is above the position of material goodness. He belongs to the transcendental eternal status of bliss and knowledge.
"Dear Lord, when You appear in Your different incarnations, You take different names and forms according to different situations. Lord Krsna is Your name because You are all attractive; You are called Syamasundara because of Your transcendental beauty. Syama means blackish, yet they say that You are more beautiful than thousands of Cupids. Kandarpa-koti-kamaniya. Although You appear in a color which is compared to the blackish cloud, because You are transcendental Absolute, Your beauty is many many times more attractive than the delicate body of Cupid. Sometimes You are called Giridhari because You lifted the hill known as Govardhana. You are sometimes called Nandanandana or Vasudeva or Devakinandana because You appear as the son of Maharaja Nanda or Devaki or Vasudeva. Impersonalists think that Your many names or forms are according to a particular type of work and quality because they accept You from the position of a material observer.
"Our dear Lord, the way of understanding is not to study Your absolute nature, form and activities by mental speculation. One must engage himself in devotional service; then one can understand Your absolute nature, transcendental form, name and quality. Actually only a person who has a little taste for the service of Your lotus feet can understand Your transcendental nature or form and quality. Others may go on speculating for millions of years, but it is not possible for them to understand even a single part of Your actual position." In other words, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, cannot be understood by the nondevotees because there is a curtain of Yogamaya which covers Krsna's actual features. As confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita, naham prakasah sarvasya. The Lord says, "I am not exposed to anyone and everyone." When Krsna came, He was actually present on the Battlefield of Kuruksetra, and everyone saw Him. But not everyone could understand that He was the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Still, everyone who died in His presence attained complete liberation from material bondage and was transferred to the spiritual world.
"O Lord, the impersonalists or nondevotees cannot understand that Your name is identical with Your form." Since the Lord is absolute, there is no difference between His name and His actual form. In the material world there is a difference between form and name. The mango fruit is different from the name of the mango. One cannot taste the mango fruit simply by chanting, "mango, mango, mango." But the devotee who knows that there is no difference between the name and the form of the Lord chants Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare and realizes that he is always in Krsna's company.
"For persons who are not very advanced in absolute knowledge of the Supreme, Lord Krsna exhibits His transcendental pastimes. They can simply think of the pastimes of the Lord and get the full benefit. Since there is no difference between the transcendental name and form of the Lord, there is no difference between the transcendental pastimes and the form of the Lord. For those who are less intelligent (like women, laborers or the mercantile class), the great sage Vyasadeva wrote Mahabharata. In the Mahabharata, Krsna is present in His different activities. Mahabharata is history, and simply by studying, hearing and memorizing the transcendental activities of Krsna, the less intelligent can also gradually rise to the standard of pure devotees.
"The pure devotees, who are always absorbed in the thought of the transcendental lotus feet of Krsna and who are always engaged in devotional service in full Krsna consciousness, are never to be considered to be in the material world. Sri Rupa Gosvami has explained that those who are always engaged in Krsna consciousness, by body, mind and activities, are to be considered liberated even within this body. This is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita: those who are engaged in the devotional service of the Lord have already transcended the material position.
"Krsna appears to give a chance both to the devotees and nondevotees for realization of the ultimate goal of life. The devotees get the direct chance to see Him and worship Him. Those who are not on that platform get the chance to become acquainted with His activities and thus become elevated to the same position."
Next week there's a Kabir Festival at Princeton University. Starts off with a film festival on Tuesday. On Wednesday, it's Prahlad Singh Tipanya, Musical Concert in Folk, Sufi, and Classical Styles. The films are on Tuesday, our regular dinner party night. So, I'm making chocolate cake to go! We think there will be food there, but, if not, I'll make brown bag dinners for anyone who want to meet us. I was surprised that some of my friends didn't know about Kabir. His poetry is so wonderful.
