Dear devotees.
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada! All glories to Guru Maharaja!
Here is a continuation to my report of Guru Maharaja’s activities in Sri Vrndavana-dhama.
Day 11: SB-class and Vrndavana temples
Guru Maharaja attended the mangala-arati at 4.30. Then he went to Srila Prabhupada’s quarters for japa time. I was there also. I felt it was very nice to chant in Guru Maharaja’s association. Although I have to struggle
always, I felt now there was some special mercy.
At 7 we moved to the temple. There Guru Maharaja attended Srila Prabhupada’s gurupuja. After that he spent a little time chanting Hare Krsna. At 8 Guru Maharaja started the Bhagavatam lecture.
Today was the first day of Katyayani vrata. In the verse were the words “tivrena bhakti-yogena” (which mean by the intense practice of devotional service). Just like the gopis we should be very determined in our bhakti-yoga, not deviating. He narrated the pastime in which Krsna stole the gopis’ clothes. Some materialistic people could easily misunderstand this pastime. Still, this was Krsna’s special way to fulfill the gopis’ desire to get Him as their husband. Krsna is not a boring person, that if you press button A you will get the result B. If Lord Krsna wants to do something, He will do it in a most extraordinary way, like we have all experienced Krsna’s intervention in our lives.
After the lecture many devotees came to Guru Maharaja to ask questions and bring him maha-prasadam. Then we went to the Green House. He worshiped Giriraja and then had breakfast. He was mainly honoring the maha-prasadam he had received previously. Then, at ten we started our parikrama.
First we took rickshaws to Radha-vallabha. This time darsana was open and we had the chance to see the Lord’s transcendental beauty. Guru Maharaja received garlands and maha-prasadam from the altar, which he then distributed to the devotees. Next we went to a Nrsimha temple in Vrndavana where an ancient form of the Lord is worshiped. This is a special Deity, because Lord Nrsimha is smiling very jubilantly here. Next we went to Raghunatha Bhatta Goswami’s Samadhi, where the Deity of Radha-Madana-mohana is being worshiped. Here also we could see an ancient edition of Srimad-bhagavatam, which was given to Srila Raghunatha Bhatta by Lord Caitanya Himself.
Next we went to Imlitala. This is the place where Mahaprabhu would sit and chant Hare Krishna while staying in Vrndavana. Guru Maharaja gave a small speech here in which he was speaking on the importance of becoming fixed in practicing bhakti-yoga. After Imli-tala we visited Seva-kunja, which is the place where Krsna was massaging Radharani’s lotus feet. In seva-kunja we can also see Lalita-kunda. When Lalita brought Syamananda to this lake to have a bath she came out as a manjari.
After seva-kunja we returned to the house.
At 4 o’clock we continued the parikrama of Vrndavana temples. First we went to Radha-Govinda. This used to be the most magnificent temple in Vrndavana but unfortunately the muslims destroyed it to an extent it can no longer be used. They forbade me from filming here.
Just nearby is the place where Srila Rupa Goswami found Govindaji. He saw a cow came to this place every day and discharged all her milk here. He called some of the villagers to help and together they dug this place and found Sri Govindaji and an ancient deity of Yogamaya. The Yogamaya deity is still in a chamber which is situated underground. Anticipating they would forbid from filming here too, Guru Maharaja made a special arrangement:
First he went down to the chamber with the pujari. Then they came up. Guru Maharaja sent me down alone and in the meantime he would keep the pujari busy by presenting various questions to him. At that time I could peacefully film Yogamaya.
After Yogamaya-darsana we went to the Lal-Babu temple. He used to be a vicious landlord and businessman but then he had a change of heart and became a devotee. With his money he built this temple. Next we went to Gopesvara temple where a 5000 years old deity of Lord Siva is situated. In the evenings the priests dress lord Siva in sari to commemorate his participation in the rasa dance.
At the end we went to visit Vamsi-vata, the place where Lord Krsna played His transcendental flute and called the gopis for the rasa-dance.
Day 12: Japa retreat at Kadamba-khandi
I did not take part in this parikrama as I had to take care of my health.
Day 13: Radha-kunda and Surya-kunda
We gathered by the bus at 6 A.M. There was another car, a jeep, but Guru Maharaja stayed rather in the bus. After a fair hour we arrived in the Radha-kunda. First we offered our obeisances to Kundesvara Mahadeva. When we first came to the banks of Radha-kunda, one of the pandas greeted Guru Maharaja very heartily by embracing him. He was Dan-bihari Panda. Later Guru Maharaja explained his name: “Dan means donations and Bihari means one who enjoys moving about. So Dan-bihari is he who enjoys moving about collecting
donations.” Everybody laughed. He said we don’t actually need a panda to guide us around but to keep other pandas away.
Next we went to the ISKCON temple for darsana. Guru Maharaja offered his obeisances at the rooms and Samadhi of HH Bhaktisvarupa-damodara Swami and he asked everybody to do the same. We had breakfast here. One of the local devotees was constantly guarding us with his small sling to drive away the monkeys.
Then we continued our parikrama in the usual way. After coming to the end we did a puja to Radha-kunda under the guidance of Dan-bihari. At some stage of the ceremony he gave a pot of milk to Guru Maharaja, who then poured it in the kunda. Everybody would take hold of Guru Maharaja to take part in this offering. Then we all gave donations to Dan-bihari, who was very hapy and gave us all his blessings. Srila Gurudeva said anybody who wants could now take a bath in Radha-kunda. About half of the devotees did so. Half stayed back, chanting Hare Krsna. Guru Maharaja did not bathe as he wanted to watch out for becoming more ill. (At this point he had quite a strong cold).
After a bumpy ride we all arrived in Surya-kunda. There is a gaudiya-matha temple here, but at the time we were there it was closed. Guru Maharaja narrated the pastime of Surya-puja, which was transcendentally hilarious and exciting. Namacarya prabhu tried to persuade the pujari to open the altar for darsana and he even tried to pribe the pujasi, but he did not succeed unfortunately. Anyway, Srila Gurudeva led an ecstatic kirtana in the temple and everybody was dancing blissfully.
Then we returned to Vrndavana.
Day 14: Kamyavana and Vrnda-kunda
We left for Kamyavana at 6 A.M. Since Kaman (the local town) is situated in Rajasthan, it was a long journey, about 50 km. On arrival we visited first the Radha-Govinda -temple. We had a short kirtana and then Gurudeva explained about the historical significance of this place.
When the muslim-tyrant Aurangzeb started demolishing the temples of Vrndavana the devotees evacuated many of the important Deities, like Govindaji, Gopinatha and Madana-mohana to Jaipur. At first they brought the Deities to Radha-kunda and then to Kamyavana. It was in this very place that Sri Sri Radha-Govinda were staying a few days. Together with them was traveling the original Deity of Srimati Vrndadevi. For some reason, Vrndadevi did not want to move away from Vraja-mandala. The books don’t tell what exactly happened, but they just state she wanted to stay. So in this temple in Kamyavana we can have the darsana of the original 5000 years old deity of Vrndadevi. Presently we can only see her red face. But this deity of Yogamaya has ten arms, which are now covered in cloth.
Then Guru Maharaja explained more about the glories of Vrndadevi and Tulasi-devi, which is her expansion. Then we had prasadam and lots of mahaprasadam of the Deities there, which Guru Maharaja distributed to the enthusiastic devotees. After this temple we got on our bus.
Something happened which Guru Maharaja said was a cultural exhibition. The local panda (priest) tried to enter our bus by force. He was very determined to join our parikrama, although he was certainly not at all needed. He would have joined us simply to collect donations. It was quite exciting. Guru Maharaja told the devotees several times to just push the man out of the bus. All this time the panda just shouting and explaining something in Hindi. Eventually we got him out of the bus.
Next we went to visit the temple of Radha-Gopinatha. Like in Govindaji temple, the Deities here are pratibhu (replacement) Deities. From there we went on to Chaurasi khamba (the place of 84 pillars). This is the place
where the Pandavas would stay while residing in Kamyavana. Srila Gurudeva explained that the Pandavas would live some time in Kamyavana during their 14-years’ exile. Therefore there are many places associated with the Pandavas in the vicinity of Kamyavana. Chaurasi khamba is quite a small structure in order to be a royal residence, but the explanation for this is that here the Pandavas were in exile so they would have to remain undercover.
After Chaurasi khamba we walked back to our bus and went on to the place where Lord Krsna killed Vyomasura. Guru Maharaja said Vyomasura was the demon killed by Lord Krsna just before His departure from Vrndavana. This took place in a mountaneous region in Kamyavana. We had to climb a hill/small mountain to reach Vyomasura’s cave. Here he would hide the cowherd boys he had kidnapped. From there we climbed to yet another place where there is an impression of Lord Krsna’s ornaments which fell off the
Lord during the fierce battle. From there we climbed up, to the place where Krsna landed after killing the flying demon. In this place one can see the lotus footprint of the Lord.
Beneath the mountain is a place where one can see the lotus footprint of Balarama.It happened so that when Vyomasura was killed he fell on Earth, which started vibrating and in order to stop the Earth from breaking apart Lord Balarama would stabilize it by keeping His foot on it.
Very close to Vyomasuras cave is another place where Lord Krsna and the cowherdboys would go sliding. Headed by Guru Maharaja we all slided down the slope. In the beginning we did not know the technique how to get a good slide, but then we got into it more and more and eventually it was so fun it was hard to leave this place. Afterwards Guru Maharaja said he had slightly hurt his back in the middle of all this. He was all the time encouraging the devotees to slide down the hill. Next we went to our bus and visited the temple of Kamesvara Mahadeva. Guru Maharaja chanted gayatri in this temple. Then we visited Bimala-kunda.
Then we got on our bus and drove off to Vrnda-kunda. Here many of the devotees would take bath. Next we would have prasadam. The devotees there would serve us sumptuously. After prasadam HG Dinabandhu Prabhu explained the glories of Vrnda-kunda and he would also narrate some Vrndavana-katha. He and Guru Maharaja have a very friendly relationship. At the end he gave a BIG manohara-laddu to Guru Maharaja. (It was Vrndadevi’s mahaprasadam.) Now it was getting dark already so we all got on our bus and drove to Vrndavana. We arrived a little before seven P.M. What a day full of nectar!
Day 15: Rama-ghata, Biharvana and Chira-ghata
Departure for parikrama was at 6 A.M. First we arrived at Rama-ghata, which is the place where Lord Balarama had His rasa-dance. On arrival we sang a part of “Jaya Radhe Jaya Krsna Jaya Vrndavana”. Then Guru Maharaja would speak on how Lord Krsna would feel great separation from the loving residents of Vrndavana, even while livink in Dvaraka. It was a very interesting class. We would have prasadam on the roof of the Balarama-temple.
When we got out of the temple there were many local children there. This is not so special, as curious children always gather where the foreign pilgrims are moving. The speciality was that many of the children had snakes with them they had for pets. In this way they were trying to make us happy to give a donation to their cobra. We simply walked calmly back to our bus.
Next destination was Biharvana. This is a very beautiful place where there is a kunda, a temple and a goshala with over 700 cows. We would stay there for about an hour and chant there. Guru Maharaja said the Deities in this temple are known for their power to cure alcoholism and other attachments to intoxication. He said this is the place where someone could get help, if he had such a problem.
After Biharvana we drove to Chira-ghata. There we had the darsana of Katyayani-devi. Then we would walk to the ghata, which is said to be the place where Lord Krsna stole the gopis’ clothes. Srila Gurudeva narrated the
pastime in a very exciting manner. We walked to the Yamuna, where some of the devotees would take bath. Guru Maharaja and the others would chant on her banks.
On getting in the bus it was just one o’clock. Everyone thought today we would be early in Vrndavana. However it so happened that after driving some time there was a strange hissing sound. Two of the tires of our bus had been punctured simultaneously. It would take some time to repair them.
It happened in one village, and thus Guru Maharaja and others got out of the bus. Guru Maharaja wanted to see the local temple. The villagers said there is a Caturbhuja-temple in the village. We got there and were greeted by the pujari. He was a friendly man, a follower of Vallabhacarya. He ushered us in and sat us down. He told us a pastime from the tenth canto, the Brahma-vimohana-lila. It was the pastime as we know it. A point I remember was that he said Brahma would steal the cowherd boys because he saw how Krsna, the Supreme Lord, would eat food from their hands as they were having their lunch.
He said the Deity in this temple was an original 5000 years old Deity (it looked very ancient, yet beautiful). He said this was the form lord Brahma saw. He also said Srila Sanatana Goswami had visited this village for six months. Next to the Deity room there was a small alcove with the sitting places of Sanatana Goswami and Vallabhacarya. It was such a nice experience to visit this temple Guru Maharaja said perhaps it was Krsna’s arrangement that the bus tire broke.
When we got to the bus again we could see the matter was not just a small thing. Two of the tires were punctured and the men were working on them in an usual Indian effective manner. There was another temple nearby and we went there for a visit.
It was closed and suddenly a man appeared on the scene and started speaking frantically. He was the pujari from this temple and he seemed to be a bit mad. Then we went back to our bus to wait. Meanwhile we saw many policemen and some villagers with rifles. They said there had been a murder in the village in the morning.
Who could have known that simply by breaking a tire in the middle of Vraja countryside so many things would happen in just two hours.
Fortunately they were able to repair the tires and at last we got on our way to Vrndavana.
Day 16: Eastern Vraja-mandala
This morning Guru Maharaja was feeling better. Good. The medication is working.
We left for parikrama at 6 A.M. This time there were a few free seats in our bus. First we drove to Mansarovara via Mathura. The journey took about one and half an hour. On arrival we noticed some other parikrama party/parties had been there as the entrance to this holy place was covered in rubbish.
Guru Maharaja sat on his chair and started a kirtana. Then he explained the glories of this place. He told us how in the Nectar of Devotion there is a description of the stages of devotional life from sraddha to prema. Then, he said there are further stages, which are the developments of prema. One of these stages beyond prema is mana, or transcendental anger, which Srimati Radharani sometimes feels. He said She enjoys this mood, and similarly Lord Krsna enjoys exciting this mood in Her. Sometimes Lord Krsna even massages
Radharani’s feet and puts them on His head just to inspire Her to forsake this mood.
This is also the place where Paurnamasi brought lord Siva when he wanted to take part in the rasa-lila.
After the short class we went to the two small temples which are there in Mansarovara. The other is the older temple, in which there is a picture where Lord Krsna is massaging Radharani’s feet to appease Her transcendental anger. In the other temple there is “an esoteric Deity” of Radharani (which is basically a Govardhana-sila).
Then we had breakfast. One of the devotees in our group had bought Sou’n Papdi and wanted Srila Gurudeva to distribute it to all the devotees. Some of the dogs were harassing us while eating so a devotee had to keep on driving them away. After breakfast we got on our bus and drove to the next location, Bhandiravana.
When we got off there Guru Maharaja was greeted by the local pujari family. He had known them for many years and they wanted to make rotis and chass for us (to get a donation, of course). We visited the two temples here, Radha-Krsna and Balarama-Revati. Then we went to the Bhandira-tree, which is an ancient banyan-tree.
Guru Maharaja told us this is the place where Radha and Krsna got married (according to Brahma-vaivarta Purana). It was around here Lord Balarama killed Pralambasura. Srila Gurudeva told both the pastimes in an exciting way and with plenty of details. Then we went to another place nearby called Shyamavana. Here there is a temple with a deity of Sridama. When Lord Krsna left Vrndavana Sridama remained in this place to wait for His return – and here he is waiting even to this day. This is an excellent example of how patient we should be in our devotional life.
We came here early so there was plenty of time. Thus Guru Maharaja said we could stay here for an hour. Everybody was spread around Shyamavana to chant and relish the natural transcendental atmosphere of the place. Guru Maharaja said this place is like the original Vrndavana forest.
He went to sit in a kunja and chant there. I wanted to stay around just to see he was comfortable. I served him a cup of Sprite. Then a big herd of neel gae ran through the forest. After some time we left the kunja and I asked about the deer. Guru Maharaja said they are the same deer the gopis speak of in their prayers in the Srimad-bhagavatam. He said these deer are very special and that they are very dear to Krsna. We walked on and we saw some ten more neel gae. When we returned to the Sridama-temple many devotees
said they had seen the deer. Someone had even seen a cobra nearby.
Then we went back to the temple area where the local matajis greeted us with a mountain of Brijbasi rotis, made from millet flour. We all sat down and they served all of us as many rotis we could think of. They also served us chass, which is a local drink like buttermilk.
After the Brijbasi snacks we got on our bus and left for the next place, Baelvana. The bus could not reach there so all of us had to walk some 20 minutes. Baelvana is also known as Srivana, because it is the place where Srimati Laksmidevi resides.
Guru Maharaja told us this is the place where Laksmi is practicing austerities to gain an entrance to rasa-dance. However She cannot enter as long as she will not become a follower of the cowherd damsels of Vraja. We remained in this place for twenty minutes more and started walking to the banks of Yamuna from which we took a boat to the other side, Vrndavana.
On getting there we shared a rickshaw with Guru Maharaja to the Green House. On the way I made some questions about demigods and how they also exist in the spiritual worlds. Guru Maharaja would answer all my questions very clearly.
In the house he had prasadam at four. During the evening he would meet with some devotees and chant the holy names.
Day 17: Govardhana parikrama
This morning departure was at 5.30 A.M. We left some ten minutes late and our bus was packed full, about 55 devotees ready to endeavor to satisfy the Lord. The journey took about 1h 20min. When we arrived at Kusum-sarovara it was not too cold or dark, just a perfect start for a Govardhana parikrama.
Guru Maharaja said this time we would practically just walk our way through, without stopping in many places. In the beginning we stopped at the place where the Govardhana hill appears for the first time from the sand of Vraja. He said: “Now we should pray for Giriraja’s blessings so that we could have a wonderful parikrama and that we could enter deep into the transcendental mood of Vrndavana.”
Then we walked to Govardhana town just to stop briefly at Manasi-ganga and Harideva. Devotees bought foodstuffs from the Giriraja sweet shop. We had prasadam at the Govardhana-palace (ISKCON Govardhana). The next stop was at Govinda-kunda. There Guru Maharaja went very close to Giriraja. He was looking intently at the different Govardhana-silas. He was to choose a sila for Devadeva Prabhu (from S.A.) Syamananda Prabhu also got a sila from Guru Maharaja.
From Govinda-kunda we walked on to Kadambavana. On the way we spotted some of the mysterious blue cows of Govardhana.
At Kadambavana Guru Maharaja was careful to see everyone would roll in the dust. After all such activities are for rapid spiritual development. He said we should be especially careful to see we have some of the holy dust on our faces. Then he humoristically addressed the “conservative South Africans” whether they all had already rolled in the dust. Everybody nodded.
Then we walked on to Jatipura and from there to Govardhana town and then to Uddhava-kunda. Srila Gurudeva was again greeted by the friendly pujari, who gave him a garland and some mahaprasadam of Radha-Uddhavabihari. We continued the parikrama and eventually arrived at Kusum-sarovara at 3 P.M.
We got on our buses and arrived in Vrndavana At 4.10 P.M. Then he took a bath and honored prasadam.
In the evening an ayurvedic masseur came and gave oil massage to Guru Maharaja. At 7.30 HH Devamrta Maharaja came for a visit.
Day 18: Jaipur departure
A little before four I would offer Giriraja His fruit salad. I also assisted a little to get all Guru Maharaja’s things together for our pilgrimage. Then we would walk to the bus. The departure was planned at 4.30 A.M, but as is usual in India, it was delayed some half an hour. Guru Maharaja traveled in a jeep (a much more comfortable meand of moving about) with some devotees. Most of us were in a bus. It was dark and misty.
Our first destination was Karoli, where Sri Madana-mohana is worshiped. In this temple they do not allow any sort of filming or taking photos. Anyway, we had the darshan of this ancient Deity, which was worshiped by Srila Sanatana Goswami. Then Guru Maharaja gave a short speech where he emphasized the importance of worshiping and remembering Madana-mohana, the enchanter of Cupid, in our spiritual life. Then we quickly got on our vehicles to reach Jaipur before sunset. That is, in the Padma Purana it is said that if one wants to have a full vision of Lord Krsna, he should have darsana of Madana-mohana, Govinda and Gopinatha in one day, between the sunrise and sunset.
We were traveling in a bus, so we did not make it in time. However Srila Gurudeva arrived inJaipur earlier than us and he got this special mercy. Afterwards he said they reached Gopinatha just at the time of sunset.
Day 19: Jaipur temples
Guru Maharaja wanted the devotees to take part in the mangala-arati in the Govindaji temple. We reached the temple around 5 A.M. and a few minutes after that the curtains opened. There were a few hundred people obrerving the ceremony. I was filming all that took place. First there was the aratrika. All the while the local devotees were chanting mantras and hymns in glorification of Govindaji. After the arati most of the devotees started circumambulating Govindaji. Some distributed enthusiastically maha-prasadam to everybody.
Then we started japa. Guru Maharaja sat on his chair in one corner of the temple. Most of the devotes surrounded him, sat down chanting Hare Krsna. Since it was cold, Guru Maharaja was wearing his jacket and a chaddar. His feet were wrapped in another chaddar. Chanting in the transcendental atmosphere of this temple was very ecstatic.
At 7.30 Guru Maharaja gave a class. He spoke about the meaning of worshiping Madana-mohana, Govinda and Gopinatha. The class was based on the prayers we find in the song book.
He said Madana-mohana is the Deity one should worship first, because He is the attractor of Cupid and can control our mind and senses. Govindaji is the presiding Deity of the process of devotional service. He will engage us in His service. Gopinatha represents the ultimate goal of life, love of God. By His grace we will have a deeper understanding of the qualities and personality of Krsna. Guru Maharaja said They are all Krsna, but they represent His different moods, like Lord Nrsimha represents Lord Krsna’s mood of protecting the devotees.
Next we had our breakfast in the park surrounding the temple. Before that we spent some time in the temple courtyard. The local people were very respectful to Guru Maharaja. Many offered their obeisances to him and quite a few came and touched his lotus feet.
We had not made any arrangement regarding the breakfast, so basically we were honoring Radha-Govinda’s maha-laddus. It happened so that everybody gave their laddus, fruit, biscuits, bread and sweets to Guru Maharaja, who would then distribute them. It was quite a sweet experience.
After the breakfast we walked to the temple of Radha-Gopinatha. They welcomed us very warmly. We had the darsana of Gopinatha. Srila Gurudeva commented: “He is a very captivating Deity.” That’s true. We also were able to see and even touch Madhu Pandita’s kurta and hat. They were made of tiny Tulasi-beads. Madhu Pandita is the devotee known for his devotion for Gopinatha.
Next we walked to the temple of Radha-Vinoda, the Deity of Srila Lokanatha Goswami and then on to Radha-Damodara. In this temple we had the darsana of Srila Jiva Goswami’s Deity which was given to him and carved by Srila Rupa Goswami. We also saw Sri Radha-Vrndavanacandra, the Deity of Srila Krsnadasa Kaviraja Goswami. The head priest in this temple did not allow us to film the Deity. Guru Maharaja was trying to persuade him saying previously this was no problem. Still the mahant persisted. Next we went back to the
Govindaji temple. When we arrived to our hotel it was time for lunch. Then Guru Maharaja did his puja to Giriraja.
At 4 P.M. we got on our vehicles and drove to another place, Kanak-vrndavana, the Vrndavana Gardens. This is a very beautiful place which was built by the historical royalties of Jaipura. We had the darsana of Sri
Sri Radha-Nathdwar, the Deity of Maharaja Jai Singh’s sister. There also the locals forbade us from filming the Deity. However I just turned our camera on and recording and left it standing on the tripod, as if nothing special was going on. Guru Maharaja liked this idea and he sent somebody to go in front, as if having a darsana, while he was actually obstructing the pujari’s view to the camera. In the meanwhile he was zooming to the different parts of the Deity. He smiled and said to me: “Actually it is going quite nice!”
The same happened in the next temple. Immediately one of the servants of the temple prohibited filming etc. As instructed by Guru Maharaja I had turned the camera on and recording even before we entered the temple. Just like in the previous temple, I set the tripod down in front of the Deity, as if nothing was going on. The man was suspicious and he had his eye on me. Then one of the matajis went and started speaking to him, asking questions. Captivated by the discussion the man did not notice as Guru Maharaja and I were operating the camera and filming the Deity. In this way we can use our trickery in Krsna’s service.
Next Guru Maharaja went to the local garden with the devotees to chant for some time. Then everyone returned to the hotel.
Day 20: Return to Vrndavana
This morning we went to the Gopinatha temple for mangala-arati. The ceremony was quite short. Originally we wanted to stay there for the japa-time, but the local devotees were chanting prayers very loudly and thus we decided to move on to Govindaji. There we chanted until 7.30.
Then Guru Maharaja gave a class on the Bhagavad-gita verse 2.7. In this verse Krsna is addressed as Govinda. Usually materialists think it is God’s duty to satisfy our senses. Then our spiritual life becomes like making business with God.
He gave a funny example of this mentality: “Just like our bus-driver. All this time he’s been taking us around Vraja-mandala and he keeps coming to me to tell the devotees to give him money. Sometimes I think that if we don’t give him money he will not take us to our destination.”
Rather we should engage our body, mind and words in Krsna’s service and pray for protection from the material energy.
At the end of the lecture a man in the audience stood up. He introduced himself as Manomohan Prabhu, Srila Prabhupada’s first Indian disciple. Actually Guru Maharaja had visited him some 15 years ago. Today would be the last day of our yatra and Manomohan Prabhu gave it a very sweet conclusion.
He said: “I am a disciple of Srila Prabhupada. He was so great and he would deliver so many fallen people. Now he has gone back to Vaikuntha. It is our great fortune that we still have the association of great devotees like (Guru) Maharaja. So just take shelter of these feet (he was pointing at Srila Gurudeva’s lotus feet) and your ife will be perfect.”
Then there was a special darsana of Radha-Govinda. Today was ekadasi, and the pujaris had made a chappanbhoga-offering for the Lord. When they saw Guru Maharaja, they took him inside the railing, very near to Radha-Govinda, for a close darsana. They gave him a big bag of ekadasi-mahaprasadam and a
maha-garland. After the darsana we all went back to the hotel. I served Guru Maharaja fruit salad for breakfast.
At 11 we moved our luggage to the vehicles and started for ISKCON Jaipur. The temple is quite far from the city centre, about 50 kilometers away. It is still under construction. They worship very special Deities of
Dauji-Giridhari, where Lord Krsna is standing with His left hand upraised, together with Lord Balarama. We observed Rajbhoga-arati there. Then we had lunch in the prasadam hall. Guru Maharaja was speaking with HG Devakinandana Prabhu.
After prasadam we got on our vehicles. Guru Maharaja reached Vrndavan at about 7 P.M. Most of the devotees arrived at 8.15 P.M. on the bus. In the evening Guru Maharaja wanted some fruit infusion with honey. He said his cold was now over.