Temple of My Heart

on the road to Mauna Kea

The following is taken straight out of my journal as I headed up to the summit of Mauna Kea, the highest mountain in the world (vs. tallest, aka Mt. Everest)

I am ascending into heaven, right now.

The road is gravel. It's like traversing another planet. We're above the cloud line. I'm peering out into an ocean... oceans and oceans of pure milky clouds. They blush pink in the setting sun.

Truly, I don't think I have ever felt so breathtaken by nature's majesty in... years? My life?

Oceans and oceans... swirling and swirling... and aquamarine and pure pure white.... we climb higher and higher...

The world is going dark... hopefully we make it in time to catch the sun.

We're driving along the edge of the world.

We have arrived. I step out of the warm Jeep and gasp. Breath from an ice-god whips my hair and chadar up here.

There, an eyelash of a moon. The clouds are now rivers in the valleys, the sky blended magnificently in rich rose and royal blue. A star shimmers above me, the first. My racing blood calms as I stand in awe of this splendor. And then, I begin to sing...

"Mama mana mandire..."

Oh Krishna, may You always reside in the temple of my heart.

This is your temple.

Note: There was a point in Hawaii where I did not visit a temple of Srila Prabhupad's for a year and a half. For five years I lived with zero Krishna culture - no devotees, temples, festivals, bhajans, kirtans, feasts, and even classes - and no way to access any of it. I coped by finding Krishna's temple in nature... so thus I began to sing the bhajan Mama mana mandire when nature's beauty took my breath away... and reminded me that Krishna is everywhere... if only I seek Him out.