Sanatorium by SDG

Swami Syama said he was honored to serve at the sanatorium, and he considered it the cutting edge of preaching in the Krsna consciousness movement. When devotees who were sidelined with injuries proved that they could continue their sadhana, or just continue to try, they were setting the best example.

Satsvarupa das Goswami - Sanatorium


JOURNAL:

I have finished reading Sanatorium and personally found it to be well worth the time. The flow between prose and poetry can be seamless at times; a wonderful technique that I have not seen used in any other novel.

My copy was censored twice by using cartoons to block the offensive paragraphs. The second of these cartoons depicted the censor as an Arab terrorist. How this is less offensive then the mention of male genitalia I'm not sure. I did a little research and have read the "bad parts" on-line. The book would certainly not be censored by the secular world.

Overall I enjoyed this novel and would recommend it. It could be a great preaching tool for approaching a non-devotee. If any of my readers have read it I am curious to hear your reactions to this controversial piece of literature.

Sanatorium by SDG

Swami Swims medicates, I mean meditates, and all the subpersons slowly move on a muddy river. They come from his heart. They are different parts of himself.

. . .

There's my story, how I jumped out the window of a four-story building. I broke both my heels. The left ankle is still a cause of great dismay. Unfortunately, that's not a spiritual story, because all I had done before jumping out the window was read a karmi edition of the Isopanisad. It did give me the impression that there was no difference between matter and space, and so I could jump out the window and not be hurt. I also thought the afterlife was blue.

Satsvarupa das Goswami - Sanatorium

JOURNAL:

Ahh, fiction. We never know if the character is speaking or if the author is speaking through the character. Are the above sections a form of self confession? Is the first how our author feels about his writing? Is the second true, just a bad rumour, or made up out of whole cloth? We the reader will probably never know.

I do find it entertaining writing and that is the point of writing fiction; to entertain.

Sanatorium by SDG

She wasn't wearing devotee clothes but rather a T-shirt that revealed her firm, ample breasts, and she wore tight dungarees. She . . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
Braja dasa was resolute now.

Satsvarupa das Goswami - Sanatorium


JOURNAL:

CENSORED!
My copy of Sanatorium, which I bought from Google Books for my phone, is censored. Instead of the offending paragraph I have a bad cartoon of two dogs rejoicing in the anonymity of the Internet. From the tone of this novel, and considering who the author is, I find myself more offended by the censorship than I do anything I have read so far.

Sanatorium by SDG

I just learned that Sid Ceasar
will be "live" on Larry
King Live tonight but
it's 10 P.M. I have to
pee now and chant japa.
Harer nama harer nama.

I wish my urge to chant
was like my urge to pee-
I'd be a mahatma.


Satsvarupa das Goswami - Sanatorium

JOURNAL:

Snicker :-) Snicker

:-0 !!!

Sorry, your right. That's not funny.

snicker :-) snicker

Sanatorium by SDG

The adult Boy Scout master said, "Does this sanatorium belong to a certain religion?"

The county dormitory chief hesitated and said, "Yes, this was built by the Hare Krsna religion." Some of the Boy Scouts began to titter and sing the Hare Krsna Mantra. The inmates joined in with them and sustained a kirtana for about one minute.

Satsvarupa das Goswami - Sanatorium

JOURNAL:

This scene in the book reminds me of how my friends and I would act when we would see the Hare Krishnas on the street. The devotees always smiled at us even though we would be teasing them. At the time I thought they were just humoring us kids but now I realize that at eight or nine years old I was chanting Hare Krishna and enjoying!

PICTURE OF THE WEEK (from SDGonline.org):

My drawing for today is “Writing and Drawing, 1999.” It shows five portraits of the artist writing and drawing with his pen. On one page it says, “We want a K.C. rooted tree, and from that you can write your trees and branches of poems with your pen. Root is sravanam-kirtanam.” Another shows a self-portrait drawing a picture of Radha and Krishna: “Are you going to keep on drawing? Why not?” It’s another way to aspire for Krishna conscious service. They are behind-the-scenes sketches of the artist with pen in hand and it gives us an insight as to his personal working character.

(Satsvarupa das Goswami 4-17-12)

JOURNAL:

Reading Sanatorium is like looking at this self-portrait of the author. I am not very far into the book but I have to wonder how many of the characters are just different aspects of S.D.G.'s own personality.

Sanatorium by SDG

Tim: "Yeah, but you weren't told you had a short lifeline."

Swami Swims: "Even if he told me I had a shorty, Prabhupada said that if you clapped your hands while chanting, all the lines can get rearranged."

Satsvarupa das Goswami - Sanatorium


JOURNAL:

The problem with fiction is that you never know if what you read is true or not. I have even read fiction that listed the author's qualifications after the story was over - and these were fictional too. So, take the above quote with a grain of salt. I would like to think Srila Prabhupada said something like that but I don't really know. What I do know is that I am enjoying Sanatorium very much.

I Read Banned Books

In the dream he fought hard against the mob. Always outwitting them as Billy the Kid in the Old West. Finally he was trapped by the biggest one with the knife. In desperation and sharp thinking he said, "If you come a step closer I'll wake up from this dream."

Satsvarupa das Goswami - Sanatorium



JOURNAL:

Growing up it was fashionable to read "banned books". Recently I ran across a copy of Satsvarupa das Goswami's book, Sanatorium, which was banned by ISKCON. Naturally, I have started reading it. I read his book of poetry, When the Saints Go Marching In, which is frowned on, if not banned itself, and enjoyed it very much. So now I have started Sanatorium.

S.D.G.'s writing has always been important me. I read the Japa Reform Notebook and discovered his journals early in life. He was the official biographer of Srila Prabhupada and an editor and contributing writer of Narada-Bhakti-Sutra. His textbook, Readings in Vedic Literature, is the best of its kind. I have read a lot of his work, be it poetry, instructional or fiction. I have also read his critics' complaints about him.

I myself will not judge a devotee of Lord Krishna. I know that his writing connects me to Prabhupada and Krishna, helps me with my japa and entertains me with its earthy connections. I can relate to the struggles he writes about and I don't mind him being human. In fact, it helps me.