Are you tired of suffering? Do you want to stop feeling clueless? Is it scary to remember the impermance of life? Well if you are looking for a end to these problems, we have your back. The residents of B.L.I.S.S London are following the path of spiritual realization, where the ultimate goal is eternity, bliss and knowledge - that is to say: perfection. Following a strict regime of spiritual activities, the students of His Grace Purujit Dasa (A loyal student of His Divine Grace Shrila Prabhupada) are unbounding themselves from the shackles of existence, link by link. To give you an idea of what you can do to free yourself from the miseries of material existence, here is a day in the life of a B.L.I.S.S devotee.
4:00 AM : Wake up
Any disciple of Shrila Prabhupada absolutely must wake up by 4AM everyday. Prabhupada gives this instruction on the matter: 'Śuci means always cleansed. Internally... Bāhyābhyantara-śuciḥ. Inside and outside. Outside by taking bath, washing with soda, soap, or if soda, soap is not available, with earth or oil. That is external cleanliness. Similarly, internal cleanliness, one must rise early in the morning, evacuate, then after taking bath must chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, see the maṅgala-ārātrika. In this way one has to purify himself internally and externally.' - Lecture on B.G, September 2 1973
Of course, if you would like to wake up earlier to perform some spiritual activities such as reading, writing, chanting etc. then that is wonderful! (Just make sure that you get enough sleep to stay awake during the Shrimad Bhagavatam class)
4:30AM : Mangala Arati
Shrila Prabhupada says: 'My instruction is that all of my disciples must attend the mangala arati and chant 16 rounds daily.'
Our Mangala Arati begins with the chanting of 'Sri Gurvastakam' of which you can check out the lyrics here.
This is followed by more Nrsimha prayers, a Tulasi Puja, recitations of the Sri Siksastakam, Shrila Prabhupada's books and the ten offences against the Holy name.
5:00AM : Japa
At 5am, the B.L.I.S.S devotees begin to chant their rounds. As per Shrila Prabhupada's instruction, we chant the mantra Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare, 108 times. This is one round, and we repeat this 16 times. 'It should be chanted a steady amount of times regularly. We chant at least 16 times around the string of 108 beads daily (one full mantra on each bead). This keeps us strong in spiritual consciousness.'
7:15AM : Greeting Deities & Guru Puja
At 7:15, the Pujari opens the Pancha Tattva deity and we greet them with the song: Govinda, from the Radha Krishna Temple album. 'Govindam ādi-puruṣam tam ahaṁ bhajāmi. These verses, Brahma-saṁhitā, it was composed by Lord Brahmā. Therefore in the Vedic literature, this, this is called Saṁhitā. Saṁhitā means part of the Vedic literature.' This is followed by a Guru Puja, as the devotees glorify Shrila Prabhupada with the bhajan Sri Guru Carana Padma, by Srila Narottama Dasa Thakura, and a kirtan until 8:00.
8:15AM : Shrimad Bhagavatam class
The next activity is the hearing of the Shrimad Bhagavatam. In the Bhagavad Gita, 9.2 purport, Shrila Prabhupada states, 'In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is also confirmed that when one becomes purified by executing the process of devotional service, especially by hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or Bhagavad-gītā from realized souls, then he can understand the science of Krishna, or the science of God.' So every morning one devotee will read out a verse from the Bhagavatam and give a class on their realization. On Fridays, instead of Shrimad Bhagavatam, we hear from the Caitanya Caritamrta. These classes are streamed live everyday on our Facebook page.
9:00-9:30AM : Istagosthi & Prasadam
'For a devotee, there is no point in making friendships with ordinary persons; he should make friendship with other devotees so that by discussing among themselves, they may elevate one another on the path of spiritual understanding. This is called istagosthi.' - S.B 3.29.17 Purport
After the class, the devotees will suggest and discuss various ideas about improving temple life and making the environment more conducive for Krishna Consciousness.
During the Kirtan and Shrimad Bhagavatam class, two devotees cook for Krishna, the standard preparations are rice, dhal, chapati and sabji. By the end of the class the preparations are offered on the altar for Krishna, and by the end of Istagosthi, all the plates and cups are put out so the devotees can begin to relish Krishna's mercy together.
'The tongue has two functions - to vibrate and to taste. So if one repeatedly hears and vibrates the Hare Krishna mantra and tastes prasada, food offered to Krsna, by this very simple method one will realize Vasudeva, Krishna. Krishna will reveal Himself' - The Teachings of Queen Kunti, 4
10:30 - 11:30 : Free time
After the devotees take prasadam they have some time to do various personal serices. Such as bathing, cleaning the ashram, finishing rounds etc.
11:30AM : Sankirtan
Everyday, devotees go out on the streets of London, on Sankirtan, or book distribtion, spreading the transcendental literatures of His Divine Grace A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (And collecting Lakshmi to fund the temple). Shrila Prabhupada strongly encourages all his disciples to preach, saying in the Shrimad Bhagavatam 7.6.24 Purport, 'Preaching is the best service to the Lord. The Lord will immediately be extremely satisfied with one who engages in this service of preaching Krishna consciousness.'
6:00PM Gaura Arati
The devotees return to the temple for 6PM, on most days. Some days they stay out and miss the evening programmes to distribute more books to the inhabitants of London. Regardless, there is always someone to greet the deities at 6 with the wonderful bhajan 'Gaura Arati,' by Shrila Bhaktivinode Thakura. This is followed by a kirtan until 6:30.
6:30PM Bhagavad Gita class
Just like the Shrimad Bhagavatam class, everyday at 6:30 there is a Bhagavad Gita class, also streamed on Facebook. "To hear about Krishna from Vedic literatures, or to hear from Him directly through the Bhagavad-gītā, is itself righteous activity. And for one who hears about Krishna, Lord Krishna, who is dwelling in everyone's heart, acts as a best-wishing friend and purifies the devotee who constantly engages in hearing of Him. In this way, a devotee naturally develops his dormant transcendental knowledge. As he hears more about Krishna from the Bhāgavatam and from the devotees, he becomes fixed in the devotional service of the Lord. By development of devotional service one becomes freed from the modes of passion and ignorance, and thus material lusts and avarice are diminished. When these impurities are wiped away, the candidate remains steady in his position of pure goodness, becomes enlivened by devotional service and understands the science of God perfectly. Thus bhakti-yoga severs the hard knot of material affection and enables one to come at once to the stage of 'asaṁśayaṁ samagram,' understanding of the Supreme Absolute Truth Personality of Godhead."
7:30PM Prasadam
After the Bhagavad Gita class ends, devotees take hot milk together, which one devotee would have prepared and offered to the Lord during the class. We take the milk with some turmeric and black pepper, which has some health benefits. 'There must be sufficient milk in the human society. If you drink more milk and milk products, then your brain will be very sharp. You will understand things very nicely, corectly. Therefore milk is very important.' - Lecture on S.B October 20 1975
After the devotees take milk and engage in Krishna Katha together, they separate and perform personal services, preparing for the next day. Though this is not always possible, by 9:00PM all devotees should be ready to sleep. This is what a typical day in the B.L.I.S.S temple looks like, but of course there are many celebrations and events going on which we must adapt to. This means that some days are very different, but we can always end the day by praying for Krishna and Shrila Prabhupada's blessings to continue in Krishna Consciousness for the next day.
This programme goes on perpetually, and it increases in pleasure everyday. You can try to implement some of the activities from this daily meditation practice into your routine and see how your life changes.
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