SLOKA OF THE DAY:

Bhagavad Gita As It Is -
Chapter 8 Text 19
bhuta-gramah sa evayam
bhutva bhutva praliyate
ratry-agame 'vasah partha
prabhavaty ahar-agame

bhuta-gramah--the aggregate of all living entities; sah--these; eva--certainly; ayam--this; bhutva bhutva--repeatedly taking birth; praliyate--is annihilated; ratri--of night; agame--on the arrival; avasah--automatically; partha--O son of Prtha; prabhavati--is manifest; ahah--of daytime; agame--on the arrival.

TRANSLATION

Again and again, when Brahma's day arrives, all living entities come into being, and with the arrival of Brahma's night they are helplessly annihilated.

JOURNAL:

Srila Prabhupada writes in his purport to this sloka; But those intelligent persons who take to Krsna consciousness use the human life fully in the devotional service of the Lord, chanting Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Thus they transfer themselves, even in this life, to the spiritual planet of Krsna and become eternally blissful there, not being subject to such rebirths.

Chanting on campus is different than chanting elsewhere. The other students smile more often than not when they come close enough to hear me. There is an appreciation of diversity that became very apparent yesterday in my Public Speaking class.

We gave our first speeches doing what is called the bag exercise. This is where you design a paper bag with how people see you from the outside. You then put items into your bag to represent how your insides look. You then present your bag to the class and explain it.

During the speeches I learned that there were a handful of Christians in the class, one Zen Buddhist, three people in recovery who talked about their "Higher Power", one guy who mentioned that he was reading the Satanic Bible and myself. Diversity at its best.

I did not have the courage to mention the name of Krishna. What I did do was explain a couple of negative aspects of my inner self and then I told the class that I "balance these things by doing formal meditation". While I said this I brought out my japa beads and laid them on the table in front of me. I then told the class that I was not the type of guy who believed in God and that I also didn't believe in tables or chairs either. I know that God exists just like I know that tables exist. I ended with, "How do I know this? Because every now and then I can hear Him". And with that I pulled a small bell out of my bag and rang it. It was very effective.