The black cool morning wraps a blanket of silence around the Soquel Seva Ashram, including the trees, the animals, and the devotees. I run down the hill in the dark and find the pujari picking flowers in the hills. The flashlight on his headband is my hope. Once I see it, I know that I am not late for mangal arati because he is still outside. As the sun rises, dewdrops begin to sparkle and glide off honeysuckle leaves. The birds awaken, thirsty for nectar. A blue bird flies to the green grass in search of a drink. An owl resting high above in a eucalyptus tree hoots its last hoot before day breaks. Soon other birds begin to call out their morning songs.

Outside the temple building one hears the sounds of wildlife. Within the temple room a sweet melody emanates as Lord Krishna and His associates are worshipped by the devotees. They chant:

Udilo aruna puraba bhage dwija mani gora amani jage

"Just before sunrise, as the eastern sky turned crimson, the jewel of the twice born, Sri Gaurahari awoke. Taking His devotees with Him, He began the kirttan, wandering through the countryside towns and villages."

At 6a.m., just after mangal arati, I walk up the ramp to Srila Gurudev’s house and quietly go inside to offer my dandavats to His Divine Grace. Srila Gurudev sits in His veranda. Sometimes he is silent; sometimes he appears to be in a very talkative mood. Today he is talking about a verse. He had been trying to remember it for a day and a half, yet it would not come to his mind. Even in his dreams he tried to remember the verse but still, the last part he could not remember. When he awoke one morning he turned to a random page of the Chaitanya Charitamrita in which Ramananda Raya describes the beauty of Krishna to Mahaprabhu. He had found the sloka!

He spoke about the beauty of the sloka: When Govinda looks in the mirror His mind becomes so overwhelmed that He wants to embrace Himself and realizes it is His own reflection. Srila Gurudev speaks elaborately on the subject and mentions that only a few other people have understood the meaning of this verse: Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad, Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, and Srila Bhakti Siddhantha Saraswati Thakur.

Then Sripad Goswami Maharaj comes out of his room to say a few words, discussing the sloka with Srila Gurudev. Afterwards, Gowsami Maharaj kindly directed me to that sloka: Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita: Madhya Lila, chapter 8, verse one.

Inspired by the devotees that regularly wake up early to worship the Lord, I have become extremely attracted to mangal arati, yet I do not understand why. Maybe it's the light glowing from Gurudev's room that tells me He is awake. The light that says, "I am here! I am your Gurudev. Come and let me shine my glance upon you!" Maybe it's the beauty of the ashram and the blossoming consciousness of all of the living entities on the property. I feel revived, energetic, but I still want to know more about this early morning ceremony. This is what led me to the next question of the week:

Why is mangal arati beneficial for spiritual life?

"Our life is focused upon the Lord and the Lord is waking up in the morning. We want to receive Him and we want Him to feel welcomed so when He is there, He isn't showing Himself to an empty temple. Our life is for serving Him. We want to be there and say, "Oh, my Lord, you are appearing and this is so wonderful." We want to be able to receive the Lord like we do the spiritual master. When the spiritual master is coming out of his room, all of the devotees want to be there to offer their obeiscences. The word "mangal" means auspicious. It is very auspicious for us to be there when the Lord awakes. Why should the curtains open and the Lord manifest Himself to an empty room while everybody is sleeping? Who could possibly do that? If Radha, Krishna, and Mahaprabhu suddenly walked into the room, would everyone be sleeping or would they be with the Lord?"
--Sripad Janardan Maharaj
 
"All the aratis and any chance to glorify and sing about the Holy Name of the Lord are good for your spiritual life. The Scriptures say we should do it all the time. We should glorify the Holy Name all day long and all night long but since we can't, we have to have some regulated times. Mangal arati is important because it is first thing in the morning. The moment we get up we are fresh; our minds are clear and we have a lot of physical energy. The Scriptures talk of the "Brahma muhurta" hour. It means one hour and a half before the sun comes up. This time is very auspicious because the sun is pushing all of the energies of the Earth from a sleeping stage to an awakened stage. Similarly it is pushing the mind, the intelligence, and the bodies of all the living entities from a sleeping stage to a higher stage of awakening. Just like when they talk about solar energy. There are certain times of the day that you get more electricity from the sun than your cells will take at other times. With our body and our mind, there is a time that we get more beneficial effects from the sun, and that is an hour and a half before it rises. Therefore, mangal arati is calculated to be at that time, and if we give our attention and energy towards glorifying the Lord, it is very beneficial and auspicious to begin the day hearing and chanting about the glories of the Lord."
--Sripad Siddhanti Maharaj

"It's beneficial just as hatha yoga is beneficial for your body. It's good for your spiritual life to wake up for mangal arati everyday. We all know the benefits of helping the body by doing yoga, eating right, and exercising. Mangal arati is all of those combined into one for your spiritual life."
--Sureshvari Didi

"Mangal arati fixes your consciousness for the rest of the day."
--Jivanuga Prabhu

Sureshvari Didi	Jivanuga Prabhu	Ramai Prabhu	Kirtida Didi

"The first thing I can think of is the paraphrase of the ninth verse of Sri Gurvvastaka:
One who, during the Brahma-muhurta (four dandas or ninty-six minutes before sunrise) with meticulous regularity wholeheartedly sings these eight prayers to the Divine Master, attains, upon leaving the body in his spiritual perfection, the qualification to engage in the direct service of the Lord of Vrindavan." (Kirtan Guide: p.38)
--Ramai Prabhu

"The morning hours are appropriate for practicing spiritual life. If you wake up early, you can have strength in your meditation throughout the rest of the day. There is no other way to wake up in the morning other than to take the darshan of the Deities."
--Kirtida Didi

"The different aspects of the Lord are manifested from the very beginning of the day until the end. Mangal arati is the beginning, for which I rise to start the day with a good step. Before Mangal arati it's good to chant the Hare Krishna Mahamantra, take a bath, and put tilak on different parts of the body. This will help all of the practicing devotees go to the most auspicious program: mangal arati, the gift of the Lord. "
--Adi Keshava Prabhu

Gurudev's ramp	Adi Keshava Prabhu	Kamala Krishna Prabhu	Nowla Kishor Prabhu

"Mangal Arati makes me think of the part in Sri Guru and His Grace where Srila Guru Maharaj talks about the bees in the honey jar. I like to wake up and think about trying to be the hungry bee, get right up, and go to mangal arati to get the mercy. It is said in various places that mangal arati is the most auspicious program, and I just need the mercy."
--Kamal Krishna Prabhu

"Mangal arati is beneficial for spiritual life because we get to engage our senses in service: we can chant the Holy Name, we can dance, and we can take darshan of the Deities through our eyes. These are the higher parts of devotional service: to sing, dance and chant."
--Nowla Kishor Das

Quote of the week, spoken by Sripad Siddhanti Maharaj in class one morning:
"Your growth is the ritualistic performance of the morning, the Bhagavatam says. What is ritual? Ritual is getting up and coming to mangal arati. You must do that ritual because what will that do for you? That will help you grow. Why does it help you grow? Because the sun is coming up and pushing everything up. It's pushing a little child to become a big child. It's pushing our internal energy to become strong, not weak. If all the forces of nature are coming up or growing and we're just slumbering away, we are going in the opposite direction of the forces of the world."