I was filled with lots of questions within myself as a small boy; and when the time came, I was searching for the meaning of my birth. A passage from the Bible says: “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”—Luke 10:18-20.
As a kid, I played with unusual pets: worms, scorpions, spiders, bats, and snakes, and I would hear negative side comments such as, “You are some kind of a demon brat, because you take pleasure in playing with the Devil’s creatures! (~_~) I became very much interested in Herpetology, and writing a field guide book on Philippine snakes to publish it has been a passion of mine; but due to lack of funds and equipment, that project has been under “suspended animation”. Please see my other right-up A Heart for Snakes—An Enthusiast’s Autobiography and Scheme.
I loved the outdoors as a pastime. After school, especially during weekends, I would be in the fields with my peers and/or brothers. In my teens, I became pantheistic—the concept that the universe or Nature is God—not a personal one. But in the mid-‘70s, when I encountered the hippie phenomenon, the psychedelic movement, whose “high priest” Dr. Timothy Leary’s slogan was, “LSD turns you on to God”, I tried it. Popo, a childhood friend and a katropa (groupie), acted as “guide” to my initial LSD session. Although Professor Tim Leary teaches impersonalism—a teaching that we are all God, yet by insights due to some hallucination, I realized that there was really a personal God apart from myself.
I became so interested in God, yet I was still into psychedelics. I read different books—the Bible, other religious books, astronomy, astrology, mysticism, magic, the occult, and I also became a member of a “folk Christian” group climbing the enchanted Mt. Banahao. Using herbs and stones we collected from that venerated mountain, our mission was healing (exorcising) victims of witchcraft, ghosts, and nature spirits—for free.
When friends named Boy Espiritu and Tigs (now a.k.a. Acyuta das) introduced me to the teachings of Lord Krishna, I was some kind of apprehensive. Then, when I was invited to attend a Janmashtami, a festival celebrating the appearance [birth] of Lord Krishna, I responded favorably but with the condition that I take ganja puffs first before we go. In a makeshift temple in Makati, seeing the beautiful Deity of Lord Krishna-Chaitanya, and hearing the Bhaja Shri Krishna-Chaintanya mantra the devotees, whose chant leader named Kirtan das were chanting, I became so attracted. And lo! That was the beginning. It was in the ‘80s.
I chanted the names of Lord Krishna on beads [japa], studied the philosophy, and followed the regulative principles for yogis: no eating of meat, fish, or eggs; no intoxication—drugs, alcohol; no illicit sex; and no gambling. I attented sankirtan [congregational chanting] regularly and loved picking of flowers for Lord Krishna. I am doing this discipline some 30 years now. My wife and I brought up our three kids into this Vedic lifestyle.
This writeup is part of my humble attempt to please my diksha-guru (initiating spiritual master), Jagad Guru CHRIS BUTLER Siddhaswarupananda Paramahamsa, a bona fide spiritual master, disciple of Shrila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad, pure devotees of God [Lord Krishna] in the disciplic line Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya Sampradaya.
By Herschel “Bubot” Tolentino [a.k.a. Bala Krsna das]
FOUNDER: Bio Sparks – Alternative Rock “Underground” Band (Since 1984)
