Hare Krishna,
Please accept my most humble obeisances! All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
How I came to Krishna Consciousness
I was raised as a good Catholic. Okay, not that good, but at least as a Catholic boy. I found the Bible and New Testament captivating, and I still remember some of the quotes decades later, but something was missing. There were major questions for which I didn’t get satisfactory answers, so I became an atheist. Science seemingly made more sense.
I was studying in a school in my local town, and we frequently had devotee kirtan parties passing by. Naturally, for kids it was a major attraction and we all ran to the windows to look at the strangely shaven people dressed in orange sheets. I even learned the mantra and jokingly chanted couple of times.
I later saw a devotee booth in a shopping centre and curiosity won over. There was a pleasant smell of incense, and table was covered with books. As an avid reader who was looking for the meaning of life, I bought a couple of smaller books and started reading them. It was interesting, but I wasn’t convinced.
After some time, I again saw the devotee booth and looked through other books. Bhagavad-Gita had a drawing of reincarnation which I was curious to read, but as a child I couldn’t afford it. My birthday was coming up so father asked what gift would I like, and I said: “Bhagavad-Gita!..” I found it on my table few days later. Its amazing how my atheistic father made me into devotee of Sri Krishna. After I began reading, it became instantly clear I had finally found what I was looking for all my life, all the essential questions were answered. My atheism was blown out of the water. I’m certain I did a tiny bit of devotional service in one of my previous lives, as Bhagavad-Gita was that missing link I was looking for by reading tons and tons of books.
When I visited the temple for the first time, devotees were about to leave for India within two weeks, so I jumped on the plane too. We spend the next two months in Vrindavan, Mayapur and Jaganath Puri. It was an incredible experience, but I was too new to experience the holy places fully. However, I valued every opportunity to learn something new, something eternally valuable.
Speaking about the books, I loved to discuss Krishna Consciousness philosophy, but I was facing a problem: people like to speak at each other, rather than with each other. None of us were trained how to discuss and it wasn’t satisfactory. We (and most definitely me) needed guidance about discussing in the mode of goodness, so it would be both spiritually enlightening and blissful for both sides. However, I couldn’t find anyone who would show me how, but I’ve kept looking, and now my search is finally over.
Fast forward to this year
A good friend and a mother figure Palika mataji wanted very much to introduce me to Cintamani Devi and her studying style. She sent me an introductory lecture and I loved it! So much so I joined Cintamani’s WhatsApp broadcast and Facebook group. Unfortunately for me, she at that time stopped Facebook discussions and focused on the book series Brilliant as the Sun, a retelling of Srimad Bhagavatam in an easy to understand and entertaining way. You can find them in The Other projects section.
A couple of months later I was talking with Cintamani mataji and she asked if I could redesign Sadhu Sanga website. I said no, since it wasn’t my area of expertise, but I offered to find someone else. However, no one I talked to wanted to commit to do the website at the level we wanted. So I ended up doing exactly what she asked me to do in the first place – designing this website for Improving our Sadhu Sanga. (I hope you like it.)
I worked on it for several months, burning the candle at both ends—double shifts at work, every single free minute spent on learning and designing the website—I still had much work to do, then Cintamani mataji told me Akshaya Tritiya was in a few days, a very auspicious day for new beginnings and it would be very good for us to launch the site on that day. I said the chances were very slim but as Srila Prabhupada said, “Impossible is the word in fools dictionary.” I pulled out all the stops and the website was somehow done on time, and it was launched on the auspicious day, to our great delight.
I know improving Sanga will greatly boost the quality of our spiritual discussions by deepening our understanding of Srila Prabhupada’s books for millions of devotees. To me it’s not a question of if, but rather when.
Cintamani mataji in her mini-biography very nicely explained how beneficial it was for her life to apply these Principles, and I can testify it works in my life too. I’ve just started and it already bears fruits, so I can’t wait to see what happens next!
Your servant,
bh. Pranas
OM TAT SAT