Mysterious Russian Swami

Who is this mysterious Russian Swami?

Avadhuta Maharaja

Me and Avadhuta Maharaja in Kiev

Here's a photo of Avadhuta Maharaja and myself at the Veda Life Festival in Kiev. His holiness, Bhakti Bimal Avadhuta Maharaja is a transcendental genius, spiritual mentor, and visionary entrepeneur. He's a difficult man to describe. I spent an hour trying to explain my time in Thailand to a friend and they went crazy trying to understand Avadhuta Maharaja. Don't try. This man is a mystery. You'll never figure him out. Keep it that way.

After we met in Bangkok, Avadhuta Maharaja insisted that I visit Russia. "Come in the summer. You'll love it."

School gets out for me in July so it was a perfect fit. I studied a bit of Russian in High School, and all these years I've been waiting to try it out. My itinerary took me to Kiev, first, where Avadhuta Maharaja had organized the Veda Life Festival.

Kiev in Summertime: Temple of Sophia

I was to speak on "Subjective Evolution of Consciousness" or how consciousness generates matter. Matter does not produce consciousness, rather consciousness produces matter. More about this later. But any way we raced over to the fair-grounds where the Veda Life festival was held.

At the fair-grounds in Kiev

Avadhuta Maharaja discussing the philsophy with  a young man from Kiev

Goswami Maharaja's lecture

Listening attentively

This was a slow crowd. It's about 11:00 in the morning and the festivities have yet to begin.

Group photo with Bhakti Lalita, Sudarshana, Madhusudhana, and Bhakti Sudhir Goswami

This time with Avadhuta Maharaja, center

With Veda Life Kiev

Listening to Bhajans and relaxing.

This is kind of a "Woodstock" for Yoga.

Sophia temple in Kiev in Summer

more Vedalife

"The materialistic demeanour cannot possibly stretch to the transcendental autocratic who is ever inviting the fallen conditioned souls to engage with him and participate in the divine dance of dedication..."

The people of Kiev are great listeners, fascinated with the ideas of the ancient wisdom traditions of India. I did my best to represent the concepts mentioned by my Guru Bhakti Rakshaka Shridhar Dev Goswami in his book the Search for Shri Krishna, Reality the beautiful.

In this way, Avadhuta Maharaja gave me a great opportunity to meet some wonderful people in Kiev, Ukraine. After this it was off to Moscow .

Thai Tea, Dueling Umbrellas, Street Joy

The trip to Thailand was brilliant.

We visited temples, ate spicy coconut soup with lots of ginger and chiles, sipped "Thai" tea, walked through colorful markets. We went to the Tiger Park

Aurora risks her life to get photo of wild tiger.

While I watch shamelessly.

and spent lots of time with the elephants.

These two mother elephants are protecting their babies. You can see the tiny trunk of a baby elephant to your right. Petting them right now is extremely dangerous, but I made friends with them after bribing them with mangos and mantras. 

The highlight of the trip, of course, was my reunion with old friend and partner Bhakti Sudhir Goswami. 

Goswami Maharaja is a profound philosopher with has a great sense of humor. We found some old ceremonial umbrellas on the new property that is being converted into a yoga center, there in the jungle. 

We were fooling around for a few minutes and it was turned into a video on youtube. Here's the link to "Dueling Umbrellas," a piercing social commentary on the hypocrisy of modern life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mb9j_nNjVh4

There in Chiang Mai, the devotees go out on Hari Nama just like in the olden golden days of the Hare Krishna people, when folks were happy to see us playing our drums and singing the holy name.

That's me with the kartals...

That's me in the spot-light...

Chanting Hare Krishna

Oh no I've said too much. ...Said it all...

I thought that I saw you chanting...

I thought that I saw you dance....

I think I thought I saw you laugh.

But that was just a dream....

That's the police station on the right.

The thunderous drumming of Gopa Kishore

Oh... we danced through the night...

and we kept the chanting tight...

and before too long everyone there was happy.

After catching up on old times, it was decided that our purposes might be better served if, for the time being I embarked on a writing project with Avadhuta Maharaja. So we flew to Bangkok where I met with the mysterious Russian Swami.

"You must come to Russia," my friend.

I Believe in Miracles, part two

Here's my wife Aurora with Govinda Maharaja. They met during his tour of Mexico, I think in 2006. Govinda Maharaja was an affectionate Paramahamsa who saw something good in everyone. My wife is very loving and sweet. So this is a photo of my two favorite people.

After I got the news from Goswami Maharaja I told Aurora: "I just got an email that will change our lives."

Water itself is a miracle.

 I told her about the trip to Thailand and she was ready to go at a moment's notice.

For me, this was a miracle. I felt that the hand of God had reached down and picked me up. What would be his purpose?

I believe in miracles.

I  believe in miracles. Sometimes people question whether Jesus turned water into wine,







but I don't mean that kind of miracle. Water itself is a miracle. Think about it. Liquid oxygen is toxic, so is liquid Hydrogen. They are both dangerous, explosive, volatile materials.

Logically their combination would be deadly. But combine Hydrogen and Oxygen, let them share a couple of atoms and what do you get? H20. So Water itself is a miracle, what to speak of wine.

One day I was playing with the ukulele and thought, why not make a video? I need to understand more about the technology if I'm going to continue teaching. So I goofed around a bit and came up with a reasonable version of "Beyond the Sea" by Bobby Darin. It took me hours to understand how to upload it to YouTube, but finally I did it. I didn't really care if anyone saw it or not, I was happy to have learned something new.

Here's the link  Captain Panic Ukulele Video

I did this entirely as a whim. I recorded it once or twice and then I could see I looked like a sad old man, so I pepped it up and really tried to smile. It came out very comical. I was very depressed when I recorded this, because my brother Philo had just died of Pancreatic Cancer.

I had lost my mother in 2011, and Philo suddenly passed a year later. My life was in turmoil. I was hanging on by a thread. I began to question everything I knew. When my mother died, I thought, "How is it possible that we end as a box of ashes?" "Is that all there is?"

After I made the ukulele video I forgot all about it. I began talking to my other brother Jean-Pierre on the phone. We hadn't seen each other in 37 years. I don't know how that was possible. First there was the divorce and he went with my step-father, the Marquis of Aubignosc. Then I lived in Mexico for a while and he was a cowboy in Reno, Nevada.

After that, I joined the Hare Krishna People and he began life as a truck-driver. He's driven some 20 million miles since then. I've logged a few myself.

We agreed to meet in Fresno last July. He doesn't have a fixed residence, but lives in his 18-wheeler. So I told him fine, we'll meet, catch up on old times, and ride Interstate 5 from Fresno to Seattle.

That's me in front of Jean-Pierre's Truck

My brother Jean-Pierre: Hell's Angel, War Vet, Truck-driver supreme.

Seeing my brother again was a true miracle. We had a lot of fun riding up and down: Fresno to Stockton to Sacramento to Corning, California, to Coburg, Oregon, to Portland, to Seattle and Snohomish. He mostly hauls glass--huge panels, 80 tons at a time.

He loves the wandering life and doesn't want to settle down. I've invited him to Mexico, but the road calls.

Brother Pierre

Pierre with the amazing "Profile"

The suprise of my life was when he told me we were not alone, but would ride with his dog, "Profile" a terrifying pit bull terrier. Jean-Pierre told me he couldn't come to Mexico because he had to take care of his faithful dog. Profile was a great dog who knew how to defend a truck. He died last year, so my brother drives alone now..

Long lost brothers reunited after 37 years

Our reunion was heartfelt. We are very different, but blood is thicker than water, I suppose. I really never thought I would see him again, so in a way this was a miracle.

Even more miraculous: when I returned to Mexico I had an e-mail from an old friend. It was Goswami Maharaja, asking me if I were Captain Panic. There was so much between us. I had a special relationship with Goswami Maharaja. Just as Jean-Pierre is my long lost brother, Goswami Maharaja was my long-lost spiritual brother. We parted ways in the 1990s. I expected to open yoga centers in Central America, but it didn't work out. I was ashamed of how far I had fallen from a high spiritual standard. But the visit with my brother Jean-Pierre gave me the spiritual strength to respond. "How would you like to visit Thailand with your wife?" the email said.

This was a clear challenge: accept the call to adventure or forever slide into mediocrity. I thought, "well if I can ride shotgun with a hell's angel truck-driver from Lodi to Snohomish, I can fly to Thailand to see my long-lost godbrother."

"I'm in," I wrote.