Sri Krishna
A Sonnet
I will mostly publish articles in prose on this blog, but from time to time a poem may find its way in. A devotee is supposed to be poetic, and one advantage of expressing the philosophy of Krishna Consciousness in a poem is that poems are easy to remember.
For this reason also when people in ancient times wanted to remember or reminisce about something they would hire a poet to write a poem about it.
This poem is in the form of an Italian sonnet. Sonnets are usually about romantic love, like Shakespeare’s “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”
But ordinary mundane things—not only poems but also computers, cameras, and the like—take on a spiritual quality when used for serving Krishna. Srila Prabhupada once told a disciple not to touch a typewriter with his foot because it was a holy thing.
Here is a poem called Goloka.
(Goloka is the highest planet in the spiritual world, where Krishna lives eternally and plays in the forest of Gokula.)
Note: On a mobile phone, this poem is best viewed by holding the phone sideways.
When people want to do the very least
And still expect to drink of Godly grace,
Then they don’t know Lord Krishna’s lovely face.
They’ve not yet risen far above the beast.
Goloka’s not a glutton’s selfish feast,
Not just a better kind of earthly place,
A pleasure island somewhere out in space
Where one enjoys the cream of West and East.
To know Lord Krishna’s kingdom we must touch
The nature of desire within our hearts
And humble ourselves like grass upon the land.
What can we lose when we will gain so much?
For truly, when we want the servant’s part,
The forest of Gokul’ is close at hand.
Eternally touching my head to the lotus feet of my spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada,
⁓Umapati Swami
Photo top: Naughty Krishna holding a piece of candy (Jishnu Das)>
© 2018 Umapati Swami
Srila Prabhupada
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada is the teacher who brought Krishna Consciousness from India to the West and then to the rest of the world. He is the founder of the worldwide Hare Krishna Movement as well as the author and compiler of many works of Vedic knowledge. He left this world in 1977.
Umapati Swami
One of the first American devotees of the Hare Krishna Movement, he became Srila Prabhupada’s disciple in 1966. Since then, he has preached Krishna Consciousness in many countries and is the author of “My Days with Prabhupada,” available from Amazon. Now 84 years old, he has started this blog to share what he has learned.
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