Finding the Time to Write

Hare Krishna!

Most seasoned devotees understand the pressures devotional service sometimes places upon us, and that “marathons” can often simply be another term for “life:” mothers with several children all under five years of age; parents who are supporting families and working hard to make ends meet, juggling devotional life and material needs; temple devotees on marathons that pull every ounce of resolve, strength, and energy from them. Right now I’m on such a marathon: writing two books while simultaneously managing a yatra, responding to international correspondence, fending off calls for personal meetings, and being in the thick of a Prabhupada marathon—including answering forty text messages daily. So you might fully empathise with the struggle I am having to complete the book called Introduction to Varnasrama. It is not the difficulty of the subject, nor is it the length of the book or a lack of interest on my part: it is about finding the requisite time. Quality time. And then when I do, I don’t want to be too exhausted to do justice to the challenge. Writing is sometimes like that. Tough. But one invigorating thing I can say is: writing this book has been highly edifying. Education is one of the benefits of writing, because writing is the best way to learn. And I am learning a lot.

Some devotees are asking about the Damodara-lila book and when it will be ready. Our original target was for the book to be in print by Kartika next year. Will it be ready before that? Probably! But I can’t say by how much. End of May? That may be too tight.

Devotees also ask whether the diaries of Radha-kunda devi dasi will come out in English. At present our translators are extremely occupied, not just with my books, but BBT work, so if the diaries do reach the English language, it won’t be any time soon. Add to that, that after almost thirty years of translating, Nalini-kanta is facing some health challenges that come with sitting eight to fourteen hours daily behind a computer.

Anyway it’s 3:25 am and I am eager to get back to the Varnasrama book because I am late for an editorial deadline. The reason for that is that the research and references I had for a chapter got lost in cyber space. As a result I have to redo the referencing on the duties of brahmanas and ksatriyas and that is three days of work. Those of you who have personally experienced losing research work, or even worse, losing written material, will be able to fully sympathise with my plight. But those are some of the hurdles in writing, and as they say, c’est la vie.

Yours in Krishna s service,
Sivarama Swami