http://braindeadbhakti.com Gurunistha's life in a Northern Californian monastery. Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:03:04 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Today I was thinking of how service as a spiritual practice is seen somehow as lower or less spiritual than say meditation or renunciation. Service is considered to be more of a religious practice whereas meditation etc. is spiritual, deeper. Our tradition very much defies this notion. If service is directed ... http://braindeadbhakti.com/2008/11/18/more-on-service/ I got back to our monastery Audarya in California a couple of months ago. Costa Rica was quite an adventure, a lot happened in four months. Anyway, this entry is not about that, but about my trip back to the States. Here's what I wrote at George W. Bush International ... http://braindeadbhakti.com/2008/11/11/low-life/ And into the river they drown the lucky ones but my false ego makes me float like a bloated bath duck and I'm gliding on the surface of life Let me sink forever by the weight of the words of the wise I will learn to breathe water and never break the surface again. http://braindeadbhakti.com/2008/08/23/breathe-water/ A little over a week ago there was a lightning storm here (which happens almost every night now that the rainy season is advancing). One of the lightnings apparently hit the creek where our microhydro turbine is and the electric surge traveled in the cables to our inverter, which shut ... http://braindeadbhakti.com/2008/08/22/electricity/ A couple of months ago we were at some local's land here in Costa Rica, looking for a cow we were thinking of buying. As we were hopping from a dry spot to another on a muddy path between two pastures, Vrindaranya, one of our monks, said how she had ... http://braindeadbhakti.com/2008/08/01/death-and-taxes/ I've spent a month and a half here in Costa Rica, plans changed and I'm staying here with Mayapurcandra (see the wrestling pic), setting the place up and overseeing the construction of cabins. We have a local caonstruction crew here, a lot of young guys, and it's so funny how ... http://braindeadbhakti.com/2008/07/12/humidity-89/ I'm on my way to Costa Rica with my teacher and another monk, we bought some land there last year and now we are building a self-sufficient monastic community in the jungles of Costa Rica, Guanacaste. It's in a real pioneering stage, we are basically building a whole mini-world from ... http://braindeadbhakti.com/2008/05/27/off-to-the-jungle/ One of my old friends from the Finnish hardcore scene wrote me the other day. She said she had been thinking about my decision to drop everything and move to the monastery and she admitted she thought at fist it was practically insane, but now she started thinking about the life ... http://braindeadbhakti.com/2008/05/21/burning-bridges/ One day last winter we went to the Pacific coast which is only 30 minutes from our monastery. It's said that wrestling is a Vaishnava sport, so we decided to explore that side of our path! FYI, in the picture, yours truly is humiliating Mayapurchandra, my Polish co-monk. http://braindeadbhakti.com/2008/05/11/wrestling-on-a-beach/ Ive been quiet for a long time. It's been very busy here. In late March we finally had an opening celebration for the temple we have been building. After almost two years of continuous work we finally cut the red ribbon and let the masses in (pompous enough?). It has ... http://braindeadbhakti.com/2008/05/08/a-place-for-worship/