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Prabhupada Guide Dreams To Rock My Soul 

by Dhanistha dasi

The best way to review Dhanistha dasi’s book, is to give some excerpts- 

At Radha-kunda- In the village of Vrndavana every step is a pilgrimage on sacred ground. We were especially eager for the moment we could see the Radha-kunda. We had been told, the lake is so sacred we should stand on the bank, offer prayers, and simply take Her water and pour some on our heads out of respect, thus, cleansing our very souls with the liquid prema. Enter another world warm and fragrant, cool sparkling deep waters, blue with liquid silver reflections on the surface. At the edge of Radha-kunda lake, one cannot drink deep enough the view nor the memory of it even now. We women stood on the edge of the Radha-kunda, the most sacred place in the universe, the place the sages have told us is filled with the liquid love of Krishna-prema.  we entered Her lake in quiet supplication to the power and beauty and serenity of the place. As we stood, waist high in the loveliness of cool waters, Sonapuri and I spoke some words to each other in awe of what washed all around us.

I rode a rickshaw with two of my friends to visit the holy place where the Rasa dance took place. We were suddenly startled, when during the bumpy cobblestone ride, on of the wheels on the small rickshaw shook loose and broke off, rolling away as we spilled out into the street. The rickshaw drive seemed angry at us somehow and yelled a few things in hi unexpected dismount from our carriage and immediately hailed another rickshaw walla to complete the journey. In the holy dhama, everything is acutely significant, thought at the time, we may not know the ‘whys’ of it all. I was thinking how we were going a simple short distance, along a well-trod path, by customary means, still what difficulties arose in a moment, by the arrangement of Lord’s wheel of timing.

We arrived a few minutes later at the place called Seva-kunja. Still a little disheveled and a bit shy about being on our own, we hurried along and were stopped short at the gate with a loud protest from one of the caretakers of the holy site. We were about to walk right in, forgetting to remove our shoes. Jolted by the nature of such an offense, we scurried back embarrassed and mortified we could be so thick and insensitive. Now at the gate stood a stout red old monkey. He started to take a shoe from us until he spotted a bright pink book in the hands of one of the girls. He ran and grabbed it, pulling quite hard, but she held on for the fight. It was funny, but serious too. The look in the devotee’s eyes was, “I’m not about to give this up, so you might as well let go.” The monkey made a face, jerking a couple of times on the book with his long arms extended. He jumped up and down screaming in some last uncivilized attempt to steal The Nectar of Devotion from the clutches of stubborn determination, then lumbered off with a shake of his old red head. Srila Prabhupada had told us these monkeys of Vrndavana were yogis in their past lives who had simply wanted to sit naked in the forest and live in trees. Now they were taking their last birth in the land of Krishna to be blessed with liberation at the end of thwir lives there. We have to be careful toward all souls, even they cause mischief as monkeys.

My note: I enjoyed Dhanistha's book. It gives great insight on the early days of the movement and all the joys and ups and downs of the life of a very sincere disciple of Srila Prabhupada, and some hardships she had to endure in order to execute her service to Srila Prabhupada, this book is a very good read.

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If you would like to order her book, "Prabhupada Guide Dreams To Rock My Soul" please send donation for $20.00 + $4.00 s&h per book to:

Dhanistha dasi 

Rt. 1 Box 267

Stonefort, Illinois 62987