Bhakti Lata Das

I asked to sit beside him, and the yellow-shirted man on the stone wall turned his warm brown face towards mine, silver waist-long dreadlocks resting gently on his back. He, a man of intellect and experience, grinned broadly as he chose each word. And we rose to that land between the material and the spiritual, where there are no names or differentiations.

"It's so simple that the ones who say they are intelligent cannot understand it. Love. Everyone is searching for it."

A person must first love God, Krishna, says he. Who is God? "God is the one who can hear your thoughts."

What does God/Krishna require? We must find what we can do most perfectly. Be the perfect businessman, policeman, soldier. If you are to be the perfect intellectual or musician, "Don't get a job at McDonald's." (I laughed.) "And you quit!" And if you are not yet perfect, it is your intention that makes you perfect. : Michelangelo saw a perfect David even before he put his chisel to the marble, and so are you perfect even as your innermost being is liberated. In this way, time works with you to make you more and more who you are.

Every facet of this man's life was shaped to love Krishna: to do what he could perfectly. He sits in the park, and lets his presence flow. He explains and lets others grow to new depths of understanding. And as he does his daily work, his eternal mantra echoes in his mind from the stillness of dawn's prebirth to the wild dancing night: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.

With this mantra, he knows the presence of God. He remains true to his life commitments because of his first commitment. "There is no greater force in the material world than the sex drive. And no man, no matter how strong the commitment to his wife, can resist that force when the right pussy comes along--unless his first commitment is to Krishna."

But then again, who is God? Who is this Krishna?

"Everything lives. And everything has as much a right to live as we do. But this world is a prison. So when I take the life of a plant for my own, or when I step on an ant on my path to do Krishna's work, it is in His power to liberate the life. When I swat this mosquito, who wants to take my blood, I can ask Krisha to liberate the insect from this world of the cycle of life and death."

The man spoke emphatically, but not forcibly. He told me that the time would come when my guru would find me, and I would undergo a complete surrender. But for now, I keep my eyes open. Our conversation was long, and though we sat still on the wall as the dozens of jovial drummers and dancers soared before us, we too danced. The more I listen, the less I understand, but I am more whole for exploring the world behind the eyes of another wise, beautiful traveling companion.