Yamuna Devi - a Life of Unalloyed Devotion added a new photo. Something a little different this week, a shared memory of Srimati Yamuna Devi by Jahnavi Harrison: Some of my most treasured times with Yamuna were when we honoured prasad together. Eating with her was a spiritual and sensory experience from another realm. She would simultaneously make everyone feel completely welcome and comfortable, whilst effortlessly entraining each person to her level of focus on the act of receiving Krishna’s grace through prasad. From the very first time I ate with Yamuna, my perspective on the act of eating changed totally. There was no pinpointing where her meditation began - no dividing line between daily activities and ‘meditation’. It flowed on, from long before her morning sadhana, to prayerful cooking in the kitchen, to sitting at the table for lunch - a continuous state of gratitude and devotion. Sometimes she would begin by grasping for the hands of other guests, or fold hers and place her elbows on the table. She would close her eyes and begin to softly sing the prayer with her resonant voice, sometimes low and rich, and sometimes rising with deep feeling. I don’t think I ever heard her sing it the same way. There was no rote, no rushing. It was truly a song of love. Beyond knowing it intellectually, I began to understand from my heart, what ‘honouring prasad’ meant. She would eat slowly, sometimes commenting on different aspects of the dishes. Often, she would question her fellow diners - asking pointed questions about spicing, textures and quality. ‘What do you taste?’, she would ask, smiling enigmatically as I tried to guess the ingredients. Sometimes she would ask my opinion on what I thought could improve, and I would try to honestly answer, though I felt like a fool to report my unrefined perceptions. After some time I began to appreciate how she was training us with this questioning. I could see how to perceive and discern between different qualities in prasad was not so different between noticing and discerning between similar variables in hearing sastra, kirtan, or anything perceived by the spiritual senses. She would prove this point by visibly relishing Srimad Bhagavatam or kirtan as if she was tasting a delicious dessert. Eyes closed, she would turn her face very slowly left and right, and either fall silent or exclaim with gusto - ‘Nectar!’ or ‘Krsna!’ Though I didn’t relish in the same way, I knew that as an exceptional cook, she had extremely refined taste. Seeing that this level of taste existed, helped me to understand that through the process of bhakti yoga, I too could refine my senses and appreciate ‘all things Krsna’ in a similar way. In my favourite mealtime moments, she would verbalise this point, often telling a beautifully detailed story about Srila Prabhupada and his level of sensory refinement. The last time I saw her she told of how in her early period in Vrindavan, she had sourced some extremely high quality wheat from one of the main temple kitchens, ground the grains herself and made chapatis on a cow dung fire. When she served the breads to Srila Prabhupada, she described how he elegantly tore off a small piece and popped in his mouth, chewing thoughtfully. Within moments he had identified the specific type of grain and cooking fuel, and commented, ‘Very good, but they could be even better if you left them on the tawa for just two seconds longer.’ She was amazed at his level of perception, and brought us all into that timeless moment - holding up her fingers ‘two seconds’ as Srila Prabhupada had all those years ago. Often, when she spoke of Srila Prabhupada, tears would glide down her cheeks, but she rarely seemed to notice. She was not self conscious - in that moment she was deeply connecting with her guru through memory. Though the quality and presentation of the meal were usually enough to make me fall into an awed silence, we had the most enlivening and deep conversations in those moments. I would curse my poor memory as I sat with sticky hands, unable to write anything down as she recalled countless instructions and amazing stories from her life. She always wanted to stay and discuss more, or use the time to question and hear from me about my life since we’d last met. There was no time inappropriate for careful listening or deep reflection.
Posted on: Sat, 04 Oct 2014 10:29:52 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015