What's in a name?

The Tittle of my Blog: Firefly Diaries has a multitude of meanings for me, The first I will describe related to an even at a very pivotal point in my life. Here the story goes....

On my first trip to india in the sacred village of vrindavan Krishna's divine place of pastime, I found myself in a vulnerable spot, i had stayed back at the temple to help hose down the floors and stay for a bit of the late night Kirtan that goes on for 24 hrs a day. Earlier I had changed money at a shop around the corner but all he had were stapled stacks of 10 Rupee notes, 100 notes per stack each about 1/2 an inch thick I had not enough room in my pockets to fit it all, the remaining two stacks I ended up giving to the dieties thinking better God that a thief.
to my Horror there was not a single rikshaw out on the street to take me back to my Ashram a distant walk through dark alleys filled with unknown dangers lurking in the shadows, the paranoia hightened by my father warnings that the theive in india can smell your money even at great distance, and here I was walking alone with many aromatic bushels  of cash at  atime when 18 yr old white boys shouldent be out.

I set forth on the sacred path that pilgims come to stroll from all over the world and monkey and thiefs stalk to exploit, thinking that if i were to have my last steps arrested by the swift thrust of a knife at my throat then there is no better place than here to have my blood offered back to the earth.

with great intensity I chanted the sacred mantra HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE HARE RAM HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE not knowing whether to cry out loudly to ward off danger or to mutter quietly so as to not attract it. I sang out pleading for protection making promises of how i will use my life if it is kindly spared.

as I walked the path feeling the cold soil under my bare feet step by step into fading darkness Mantra reverberating in frenzied progress..suddenly green streaks of light cross my path, my hurried pass now slows..Am I experiencing some form of ecstasy from this chant? Now at full stop i see that I am surrounded by lateral streaks of blinking light, mesmerized amidst a total lack of explanation it finally connects...FIRE FLYS!!!  I had always wanted to see fire flys until this moment feeling cheated to have never seen such a marvel of nature and here it is amides this moment of fear ire flys of all things. Krishna admits to fulfilling all the desires of the living entities and here he has fullfilled such a random desire long forgotten, why would he not fulfill my desire for safety in his home town and to live to spend another day in this beautiful place?
 after taking enough time to relish the moment and enjoy the show i continued on my intend route now with a smile a prayer of thanks. The fire flies illuminated that God is here and through His Super Consciousness He is Listening and animating this world, available to show us the way with the elements that we can understand.

Now I look for Fireflies to guild my every step.