Here’s a few photos taken about three hours ago of our Mayapur Masters, Sri Sri Radha Madhava, Sri Sri Panca-tattva and Sri Sri Prahlada Nrsimhadeva. Their new outfits are spectacular (unfortunately these photos don’t do any justice to them at all).
At mangala-arati 4-5,000 people were queuing to get in – quite remarkable when you realize how far out into the countryside we are.
Devotees have stuck some nice decorations on the pillars in the temple room describing Krsna’s qualities.
HH Jayapataka Swami did the mangala-arati offering to Lord Nrsimhadeva, gave class in Bengali, and was there to greet the Deities with a plate of lamps.
The temple was of course fully crowded, showing us once again the need for the new temple, which is rapidly being constructed, even during the celebrations.
Tomorrow Friday September 3 2010 is Srila Prabhupada’s Vyasapuja, his 114th appearance day anniversary. On this Janmastami day I humbly pray to Sri Sri Radha Madhava, Sri Sri Prahlada Nrsimhadeva and Sri Sri Panca-tattva to kindly allow this fallen soul into Srila Prabhupada’s eternal entourage.
Here’s a question I just got in from Bhakta Fernando in Brazil:
May 14-17 took me and daughter Sachi back to my Mum’s house in a small village called Gunness, nearby a small town called Scunthorpe in the north east Midlands.
Its where I was born and grew up. No need to say much about a town that had one third of its population of 70,000 working in three different steel works at the time I left school in 1967. It was the UK’s biggest steel processing center, euphemistically called the “Industrial Garden Town”.
I had a couple of years working in the bowels of hell before I got wise and quit. That’s a story in itself. Let’s just say that I was glad to get out at the age of 20 with a “10 pounds Pom” free ticket to Australia.
Mum has lived in the same house since about 1947. Two of my brothers, Alan and Gary, and my sister Linda live in close proximity and my eldest brother Brian lives in Wales. Linda is at least a vegetarian and has some belief in the soul and reincarnation.
Mum’s a good soul, has a deep and abiding faith in God. She always says ‘Hare Krishna’ whenever I ring, and is really very happy that I became a devotee.
Mum is old now, 87, and getting frail. She’s lived by her self since 1986 when my Dad died and has been pretty independent and self-sufficient since then. However this year she has started to struggle to maintain herself. Her body is riddled with arthritis which makes it painful to even sit down, what to speak of walk around. She spends most of her time in a reclining chair and hadn’t been out of the house since Christmas.
Time is upon us all, and we feel it not more so than in the deterioration of these bodies. Mum has a picture of her wedding day in 1943 up on the wall, and I couldn’t help but be struck by the contrast.
There go I.
While I was there I took the opportunity to visit my old school friend Chris Hall, whom readers of this blog will perhaps remember was one of the two friends I emigrated to Australia with in 1971. I posted a picture of him taken on the night I shaved my head and committed myself to Srila Prabhupada’s service on Feb. 14 1972.
He returned to Scunny and still works at the steel works as a metalurgist. We remain good friends although his spiritual inclinations are about nil. At least he appreciates my choice, and knows it was made after serious and deep search. He does love prasadam, so that’s a plus.
I went with Sachi to visit Alan, the second oldest brother. He’s retired and lives in another small village the other side of Scunny. We had a pleasant couple of hours together and finally he got round to asking me a question he had always meant to ask but never got round to. “So what made you join the Hare Krishna’s?”
Better late than never. After 38 years he finally expressed his curiosity. So I told him in brief about the events leading up to my ‘epiphany’ and my internal transformation. It was a journey to reality rather than a ‘religious’ quest. I wasn’t looking for God, but that’s where my search for answers about the meaning of life took me. Srila Prabhupada and the devotees gave me answers I couldn’t find anywhere else. Alan listened and so did Sachi. She hadn’t heard me speak about it before either and both appreciated it.
Sachi returned on the train to Cambridge on Sunday night, with a promise to meet up again in New Delhi. She signed up for a one month course on ecology and alternative energy from mid-July to mid-August. More about that later.
Shortly after my visit Mum made the decision to move into an aged care home. It was a big wrench, giving up her privacy and a house she’s lived in for 60+ years, but she’s made the adjustment quite well and the advantage of having instant care and help on hand now out weighs the loss of individual privilege. The house has to be sold to help meet the cost.
She’s philosophical about it. When I phoned her the day before she moved, she told me, “This is it, this is the last stage.” She’s not hankering to stay on. She’s told me quite a few times that she wants to move on. She’s had enough of her old body and she told me, “When I go to sleep at night, I pray that I won’t wake up. I don’t want to take another birth.”
We’ve talked about what she should do when the time comes to leave, that she should take shelter in God and chant the holy names. At least she agrees in theory, and for my part I pray to Srila Prabhupada to be there to guide her onto her next transitionary stop. At least I hope she will take birth in a devotee family.
Mum with my younger brother Gary, Sachi, and Gary’s boys.
May 13 I left Zagreb and flew to Luton, England, to be picked up by my old and dear friend Bhagavat Asraya prabhu, who everyone knows has a heart as big as his belly 
Here's Bhaggy with another very old and dear friend, Kurma prabhu
Uncle Bhaggy is always a genial host and I am happy to say he is my best friend in Krsna consciousness. We have known each other since he joined in Melbourne in late 1974. He has hosted me on numberless occasions and his wife Sarva Mangala is one of my wife’s best friends.
I stayed the night at Bhaktivedanta Manor and the next afternoon I hired a car and drove up to the famous, ancient, hallowed university city of Cambridge.
There I picked up my oldest daughter Sachi.
She is 25 years old, and two years ago graduated in engineering from Cambridge university. She likes it so much she decided to settle there and just recently she and her Mum bought a house there.
Before going up I had a surprise exchange about Sachi with one of the veteran sankirtan devotees at the Manor, Sriman Dayal Nitai prabhu. Without knowing I was about to meet her he told me he had been up in Cambridge in early March this year selling books. He had bumped into a small group of young women on the street. He started chatting with them, and asked each one their name. When one of them replied “Sachi” he told her, “That’s great, that’s a spiritual name.” To his great surprise she smiled and told him she knew, and that her father was Hari-sauri dasa. They had a good exchange, she was happy to give a donation and accept a book, and it turned out that it was Sachi’s birthday and the other girls were visiting friends. [Sachi was born on Gaura Purnima in 1985 in London, that's why she got the name.]
Dayal Nitai told me, “I have to tell you, she was so well spoken, polite and intelligent, I was really impressed with her. She really came across as a decent, caring human being.”
I was very happy to hear his assessment because I split up with her Mum in 1986 and although I always kept in touch Sachi hasn’t had any direct contact with the devotees and doesn’t know very much at all about Krsna consciousness. I confess it remains a regret on my part that I wasn’t able to offer her a spiritual upbringing, although I understand that Krsna has His plan and we all have our own karma to fulfil.
Nevertheless, she was well brought up, is a life-long vegetarian, and went to an exclusive girl’s school called Haberdasher’s Aske’s School for Girls [see http://www.habsgirls.org.uk/index.php] which rather ironically is just down the road from Bhaktivedanta Manor. She is extremely bright, won a scholarship to Cambridge, graduated in engineering manufacturing processes, and has spent most of the last year and half doing research on alternative energy.
Anyway, we had arranged to drive up together to visit my Mum and spend the weekend with her in the ancient, famous, hallowed precincts of Scunthorpe, North Lincs., which I will write about in the next part of this blog.
We drove back up from Split to Zagreb on May 13, arriving in the late afternoon. The devotees were out on hari-nama so I was free for the evening.
Next morning I was flying to London and Bhakta Marko Jirasek volunteered to drive me to the airport.
Bhakta Marko making me feel at home in Zagreb
As we loaded my luggage into his car at the side of the temple we were joined by two kittens.
I saw them disappear under the car and just before we set off I asked Marko to check to make they weren’t still underneath. One of them popped up in front when the motor started and Marko assured me, “Don’t worry, they are clear.”
So we set off. We got half a kilometer down the hill when we heard a muffled sound coming from the back of the car. We both turned and looked at each other. “Did that sound like a cat?”
Marko stopped the car and went round the back, peering underneath. Sure enough, one of our little friends had somehow lodged itself up in the wheel arch and obviously got stuck when we drove off. Amazing how it found any space, and how it managed to not fall out under the wheel. Marko reached under and extracted it, a bit frightened
but none the worse for its little excursion.
As he trudged up the hill to deposit it back in the temple car park I thought about the famous saying that cats have nine lives, for their almost miraculous ability to survive life threatening situations.
And then I thought, “Well, actually cats have millions of lives, just like everyone else. Everyone dies, even cats.
Nothing special in having many lives. What’s special is in ending them.”
The last stop on my tour of Croatia was the southern Adriatic port and holiday resort of Split. Split goes way back, more than two thousand years, first as a Greek colony and then part of the Roman empire. It is currently the second largest urban center of Croatia.
I was transported down by Sudama prabhu & his wife Vinata dasi,
It took us over four hours but a decent highway made it a pleasant journey. Vinata also provided excellent translation for my seminars.
In Split I was hosted by a real clown
His name is Madhucchanda dasa and he earns a living entertaining kids with magic tricks and good humor. He is a perfect man for the job, always jolly and eager to serve. Along with his wife Acyuta Priya, I was made to feel completely at home. Their new flat commands a wonderful view of the harbour, and directly over the waters lies our temple.
However to get to it you have to go the long way around the bay.
The devotees have had the same temple facility for a number of years. Although it doesn’t look much from the outside,
the temple room is light, clean and spacious enough for about 80 devotees.
And it houses very beautiful Deities of Sri Sri Gaura Nitai.
The Sunday feast was well attended by about 40+ devotees
and the morning and evening sessions of “Srila Prabhupada The Living Bhagavatam – Writing” during the week were well appreciated by the dozen devotees who took their time off from work and other duties to attend.
All in all it was a very pleasant and enlivening visit. I fondly remember my previous trip several years ago and I hope by Sri Sri Gaura Nitai’s mercy that They bring me there again.
This week the construction team passed the halfway mark of the number of piles hammered into the sacred ground of Sri Mayapur dhama. Over 1,300 in the first six months.
According to Sadbhuja prabhu, the project Director, Gammon expect to have completed the sinking of the piles by December 2010.
Many piles have already been capped with concrete, and these cappings will form the basis for the plinth to be laid. If the schedule remains as it is we could see the first slab by next Gaura Purnima festival. If that happens there will be a huge kirtana organized on top of it to further invoke the blessings of Lord Caitanya!
Here’s a few pics.
Five pile drivers are working from early morning till late at night:
All piles are load tested to 250 tonnes, about twice the required capacity, and above ground columns are now being constructed:
These piles are being prepared for capping:
Stainless steel cages being prepared for piles:
I visited Sadbhuja prabhu in his office where he showed me a scale model under construction of the main dome. Hanging from its apex is a simple scale replication of one of the possible designs of the planetarium ‘chandelier’ which will demonstrate the movements of the main planets according to the Srimad Bhagavatam.
This one resembles an inverted orrery, and is one of several ideas currently being considered.
I wanted to mention one special devotee in Karlovac. His name is Raghunatha prabhu.
He drove me and Radhe Govinda prabhu to the health spa. He also took a dip himself (seen here on the left):
He’s a keen soccer player, and a good bhajan singer also. And he’s a really nice, gentle, humble guy, keen to serve and always busy in his duties.
Nothing unusual about that, you might think. An ordinary, likeable undistinguished devotee (although no devotee is undistinguished). Until you know that he was a conscripted soldier in the recent Balkans war, stepped on a land mine and had his foot blown off.
It is devotees like Raghunatha that give me hope and make me a lot more thankful and appreciative for the opportunities and facilities that life (Krsna!) has thrown my way. He’s making the most use of his bad bargain and without resentment or complaint. He’s a great example for all of us as to what being a humble servant really means and a good example of Krsna’s claim in Bhagavad-gita that devotional service is “susukum kartum” ‘joyfully performed’ no matter what the circumstances.
Next stop on my summer tour from May 5 – 8 was Karlovac. Its about an hour south west of Zagreb.
Its a small town of about 60,000 but we have a nice center with approx. 40 active devotees. The temple is a small rented apartment three floors up in a one hundred years old building in the down town area.
Their Gaura Nitai Deities are extremely attractive and apparently were made by a devotee in Europe.
Despite the limited facilities the devotees are enthusiastic in their preaching and the turn out for the Sunday feast was very good, as was the attendance for the morning and evening classes.
The evening seminar topics were Cleanliness and Book Writing and I also did four SB classes.
One thing I took advantage of was the fact that one of the devotees, Srivasa Pandita prabhu, works in a health spa. Just before setting out on my tour, I put my lower back out and it gave me quite a bit of trouble, especially when actually traveling, lugging my luggage, and getting in and out of cars etc.
We drove to the Leshche thermal spa for an afternoon session and my visit was both enjoyable and therapeutic. Its a big set up with inside and outside spas. It sits on the banks of clear gushing mountain stream.
The spa waters are piped up from some deep underground volcanic source so I took a dip in the inside spa for half an hour, combined with an expert massage from Srivasa Pandita prabhu. It really helped a lot.
Meantime my tour arranger and companion on my travels, Radhe Govinda prabhu, took advantage of the outside facilities.
As payment Srivasa Pandita prabhu requested me to attend the installation of Sri Sri Gaura Nitai at his home in Bosiljevo on May 9, a short drive from Karlovac.
It was a nice program and attended by a full house of enthusiastic devotees.
After taking a little delicious maha-prasadam
the devotees gave us a blissful send off for our trip to Split, four hours away in the south.
At this stage of life, the physical instability of our existence becomes more apparent and the exit from our field of activity of our near and dear ones becomes accelerated. Already this year we have seen
Sriman Grahila Prabhu
Sriman Padmalocan Prabhu
and Srimati Amekhala dasi
complete their transits, and three days ago we just saw Sriman Vicitravirya Prabhu do likewise. We have to expect it, disease is part and parcel of material existence.
Yet sometimes even devotees become bewildered when a great or prominent devotee is suddenly taken from our sight. Such is the case with our beloved Sriman Aindra Prabhu, who unexpectedly departed on Friday July 16 night, around 10.30 PM.
Like everyone else, I was quite shocked to hear the news yesterday morning, after his body was discovered in his room at Krsna Balaram Mandir in Vrndavana. Apparently his gas cylinder blew up and he died as a result of that a very short time after. Devotees missed him in the early morning when he always dressed the Deities, and on knocking on his door got no reply. They had to break in and saw the room blackened and burnt by the blast. Aindra prabhu’s body was found behind his altar, kneeling in the obeisances pose. The supposition is that he lit his gas cylinder and it blew. He then went behind the altar to where there was a window but left just after, offering his obeisances to his Deities from behind.
A lot of devotees are in shock. How could a great kirtaniya like Aindra prabhu, still healthy and enthusiastic, with apparently many more years ahead of him for chanting the glories of the Holy Name, make such a violent and dramatic exit?
I received a letter from one of my FaceBook friends Sukavaka prabhu, asking for some way to understand this:
“pamho pr ji.sorry but i hv another question,if u would like to answer it. seeing the sudden death of our very dear aindra prabhu ji,a question arises why does such pure devotees (even srila prabhupada) also have to undergo such tragic and painful end, if krishna wants they can die a peaceful death?
Here’s my reply:
Just because someone becomes a devotee it does not mean that physically everything will be perfect. In fact, the glory of a devotee is that despite the physical unreliability of having a material body, he remains fully absorbed in his devotion to the Lord.
Srila Prabhupada explains this in SB 3.16.37:
PURPORT
“When something is arranged by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one should not be disturbed by it, even if it appears to be a reverse according to one’s calculations. For example, sometimes we see that a powerful preacher is killed, or sometimes he is put into difficulty, just as Haridasa Thakura was. He was a great devotee who came into this material world to execute the will of the Lord by preaching the Lord’s glories. But Haridasa was punished at the hands of the Kazi by being beaten in twenty-two marketplaces.
“Similarly, Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, and Prahlada Maharaja was put through so many tribulations. The Pandavas, who were direct friends of Krsna, lost their kingdom, their wife was insulted, and they had to undergo many severe tribulations. Seeing all these reverses affect devotees, one should not be disturbed; one should simply understand that in these matters there must be some plan of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Bhagavatam’s conclusion is that a devotee is never disturbed by such reverses. He accepts even reverse conditions as the grace of the Lord. One who continues to serve the Lord even in reverse conditions is assured that he will go back to Godhead, back to the Vaikuntha planets.” [end]
From this we can understand that a devotee is always protected by the Lord and whatever happens to them is directly under the control of the Lord.
Why did Srila Prabhupada have two heart attacks on the boat just when he set out for America? When I traveled with him, he constantly suffered from a variety of diseases — kidney malfunction, heart palpitations, severe toothache, high blood pressure etc. Why didn’t Krsna arrange for him to go there when he was healthy and fit?
We can ask these questions, but then, the glory of what Srila Prabhupada did was magnified because he did it despite the physical ailments he had.
Aindra prabhu’s body was found in the kneeling position, offering obeisances to his Deities which shows that despite the explosion his heart and consciousness was clear and fixed on the Lord.
We cannot second guess why a devotee leaves. It may be to our eyes sudden and without rationale. But that is because we are not seeing the interaction of that devotee with Krsna.
In Vrndavana everything is under the control of Yoga Maya, and fully surrendered devotees are directly under Srimati Radharani’s control. Aindra prabhu dedicated himself to the service of Sri Sri Radha Shyamasundara for many years. He would dress Them with great love and devotion and then during the greeting of the Deities he would join the eager throng of devotees crowding forward to have Their Lordships darshana, a glint in his eye and huge smile on his face as he gazed lovingly at the cynosure of his life.
In the afternoons he would sit before Them with his harmonium and his band of fellow chanters, leading everyone into increasing levels of ecstatic revelry.
His name became synonymous with the chanting of the Holy Name, so that is not a small achievement. To have oneself always associated with the Lord in the minds of others means he achieved the status of a great devotee, by the mercy of the Lord. There is therefore nothing inauspicious.
While we lament his passing, Aindra prabhu and his 24-hour kirtana companions have left us with many hours of transcendental sound vibration in the form of recorded kirtanas. We are still fortunate that in this day and age such recordings remain. At least modern technology has some good to offer us. So let us hear them with pleasure and gratitude, remembering the wonderful service performed by this great devotee and disciple of His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada.
I have good cause to always remember Sriman Aindra prabhu. Of course, we all do, with the many hours of blissful kirtana recordings he left us and the indelible impression of his personal association.
But I have a special reason for remembering him everyday.
In 1989 I was attending the Mayapur Gaura Purnima festival. I had had a rather turbulent time in the mid-80s after giving up my sannyasa and service as GBC in the South Seas zone. I was just starting to get stablized again and I developed a strong sense or need that I should begin worshipping Srila Prabhupada in his murti form again.
I say ‘again’ because in early 1978 I bought one of the very first small brass murtis of His Divine Grace and I did daily puja, massaging him, bathing and dressing him, and then offering arati and a plate of fruit.
However, due to a heavy travel schedule, and also having to visit Indonesia on a regular basis which is mainly a Muslim country, after a while I ended up leaving that murti on the altar in the Adelaide temple (where I hope he is still being worshipped).
So 1989 came around and I had a strong desire to begin my personal service to Srila Prabhupada again.
I looked around Navadvipa but couldn’t find any suitable murti. Then I went over to Vrndavana with the hope I would have better luck in locating a nice deity. I had intended to take a look around Loi Bazaar but I wasn’t very hopeful.
After a day or two I had the occasion to go up onto the top floor of the Gurukula building to meet with Bhurijan prabhu. My route took me right past Aindra prabhu’s room. Just as I passed it, Aindra stepped out, greeting me with a huge grin and some kind words. I had been the GBC in New York in 1982-3 when with my encouragement he took his leave from his many years of service there to move to Vrndavana; so we knew each other quite well.
We had a good chat, I hadn’t seen him for some time and then he invited me into his room to see his Deities. I was rather amazed at how he had transformed his room into this incredible sanctuary. A huge altar dominated, filling half the room. The walls and floor were caked in cow dung and his Deities were resplendently situated, happily receiving the worship of Their dedicated devotee. It was impressive to say the least.
As we talked, I suddenly got inspired to ask him if he knew where I could get a nice Deity of Srila Prabhupada. Without hesitation and without looking, he stuck his hand behind the curtain that hung down over some concrete shelving just behind him. In a second he produced a beautiful six inch murti, exactly what I had been looking for.
“But what about your worship?” I asked him.
“Its OK, I already have Srila Prabhupada on my altar. This murti was given to me six months ago so you can have him.”
I was very happy. To me it was a confirmation that Srila Prabhupada wanted me to start personally serving him again. He had come to me via Aindra prabhu, without any extra endeavor on my part.
I keep the murti for a few months in Australia without beginning the worship. I was still a bit unsettled and unsure whether I would be able to keep it up once started. Then in October 1989 (Friday 13th to be exact!) I got married to Sitala dasi in London, Soho Street, in front of Sri Sri Radha Londonisvara.
The next day was the first day of Kartika, and we flew to India to spend the first month of our marriage in the holy precincts of Vrndavan-dhama. I had brought my murti of Srila Prabhupada with me and on Srila Prabhupada’s tirobhava mahotsava we began the daily puja of His Divine Grace.
Its still going strong, and every day as I bathe and dress Srila Prabhupada I have cause to give thanks to Aindra prabhu for bringing him to me.
I am sure Aindra is doing his puja and service to Srila Prabhupada now in a more elevated place than this material world (not that he was living in it anyway for the last 27 years) and I hope to join him when its my turn to leave.
I just received the following message from Akhandadhi prabhu:
July 15 2010
Hari Bol Devotees,
——————————————————-
By Krsna and Srila Prabhupada’s grace I was able to visit Vicitravirya prabhu at the beginning of June. It was the first time I had seen him since March 1982. I was keen to see him because I heard he was in the final stages and I wanted to see him one last time and express my sincere well-wishes and support. I am very glad I was able to do so.
I went to his place in Wales with my old friend Bhagavat Asraya prabhu, and another friend whom I had not seen for many years, the author of the above message, Akhandadhi prabhu.
Vici was happy to pose for a couple of shots to remember him by:
With Vici: Hsd, Vicitravirya prabhu, Bhagavat Asraya prabhu, Akhandadhi prabhu.
Our meeting was sweet and deep. Vici was pleased to see us, and he still remembered me with affection even though we had never done any service together. I had no trouble remembering him because he was the kind of person whom once having met, you didn’t forget. He left an indelible impression on the heart.
When last I saw him he was the temple president at Bhaktivedanta Manor and I was the new GBC for New York. We had flown back to Europe together from India after a crisis erupted in the yatra in England. After that we lost touch.
Then a few years ago I heard that Vici had contracted amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) commonly know as Lou Gehrig’s disease, a famous baseball player who died of it in the early 1940s. ALS is a type of motor-neuron disease with no cure. It brings about a rapidly increasing paralysis, difficulty in swallowing and speaking and a life expectancy of 3-5 years. However, mental functions remain intact and unimpaired.
Vici was brought back to Wales by his two sons a couple of years ago and they performed wonderful service, giving up their jobs to become the full time carers for their father. I am sure that Krsna will give them unlimited blessings for their sacrifice and devotion.
Vici became gradually fully incapacitated and when I arrived in England at the end of May I heard he was in the final stages. I had a strong desire to see him one last time, and by Srila Prabhupada’s mercy it was fulfilled.
Together with Bhagavat Asraya prabhu we drove to Wales. We stayed overnight at Buckland Hall, a resort and convention center where Akhandadhi prabhu is the manager. The following day we went over to Vici’s house and spent an hour, reminiscing and talking seriously about his coming departure.
Vici was as I always remembered him, the perfect British gentleman. He was sober, clear and focused, gentle and polite and without any fear, resentment or bitterness about his condition. We talked frankly, asking whether he was ready to let go and move on. He assured us he was. I told him about the recent departures of several other godbrothers-Padmalocan prabhu, Grahila prabhu and Dhami prabhu in Australia. All of them had cheerfully faced up to their imminent departures, preparing themselves mentally by detaching themselves from any worldly connections, and placing themselves consciously at the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada. He was grateful for the news and took solace and encouragement from it.
I particularly remember his response to Bhagavat Asraya prabhu’s question: “What are you hoping for Vici prabhu, at the moment when you have to leave?”
His reply: “That Srila Prabhupada will come for me and take me to where he is preaching. I want to join in the sankirtan movement again.”
He reminisced briefly how wonderful it would be if the old days of sankirtan chanting and book distribution in Oxford Street, and at the Manor, could again be manifest with all the devotees.
At the end we had a short but sweet kirtana and then we took our leave. Now Vici prabhu has taken his leave, and we sincerely pray to Srila Prabhupada to make all arrangements for the fulfilment of his desire. We are quite sure he has.
May Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Srila Prabhupada, and Vici’s beloved Sri Sri Radha Londonisvara/ Radha Gokulananda shower Their unlimited blessings on this wonderful soul!
May 1-3 2010: Next stop on the tour was the capital of Croatia, Zagreb.
The devotees have constructed a beautiful three storey temple and asrama, up in the hills in the south of the city.
They gave me a third floor room with a great view of the valley:
The temple room is attractive and spacious and the Deities of Sri Sri Gaura Nitai are very beautiful:
I have been to Zagreb before and I was happy to be back. The Sunday feast was well attended, and the audience attentive as I delivered my SPLB seminar, this time on the topic of Deities.
I was told the temple has another set of Deities hidden away behind curtains at the back of the temple hall. I took a peek and saw some of the most beautiful Radha Krsna Deities anywhere in ISKCON.
They are six feet tall and have been waiting to be worshipped for several years. Wisely though the managers are waiting until they can be certain that they can maintain the demanding schedule that Their Lordships require.
One of the highlights of my visit was a trip to a local museum on May 4, to see an exhibition called “Body Revealed“.
From April 28- May 1st I was in Ljubljana (pronounced Yubyana)
Its a two hour car ride from Rijeka through some stunningly beautiful country side to Slovenia’s capital.
Slovenia has a small population, about 2.8 million, and until recent decades its main economy was all agrarian. People are very nice, friendly and the country is well maintained. New highways enable you to zip from one place to another without anxiety.
The temple in Ljubljana is excellent. Its a complex of large old stone buildings, with walls about 2-3 feet thick. There’s one main building for the temple and asrama. And another for offices, guest quarters etc.
The presiding Deities are gorgeous 4′ forms of Sri Sri Panca-tattva.
It was my second visit-I was here a few years ago-and recognized a few familiar faces. Its nice to see the same devotees whenever you go back to a temple, it shows steadiness and solidity in the yatra.
One face I was very happy to see was Madhusudana prabhu, who used to be my secretary when I was Co-Director in Mayapur in 1999-2001. He’s been off doing his own thing for the last few years but he came over to spend a day and catch up.
He was a young man when we parted company, now he’s creeping into middle age and he’s had a few good realizations, mainly about the limited nature of material happiness.
He told me how during the recent economic recession so many people in Slovenia lost their jobs and businesses, including his own, went bust. He told about a contractor he knew who had a company which employed 70 people. The hapless fellow, whom he had a friendly relationship with, did a job worth $2 million, and then ended up committing suicide because he couldn’t pay their wages. They had done the job and then the customer failed to pay. Very sobering.
Now this week Madhu is paying his first visit back to India in many years. [believe it or not, he just rang me from Delhi as I was writing this blog]
One new and very wonderful addition to the Ljubljana temple complex is Govinda’s restaurant. Its privately run by devotees but adjoins the temple buildings. Its beautifully decorated, and in two years has become the number one vegetarian restaurant in the city. Its very popular and the food is – divine!
From April 24- 28 I was in Rijeka.
I flew from Prague to an airport near Venice, and then drove 3 hrs. over the border to Rijeka. Nice place, on the Adriatic coast. It was my first visit. The temple is a spacious rented flat in an excellent location right in the down town area, exactly opposite the Opera House.
Here’s the view of the opera house from the temple room balcony:
And next to it is the main city square:
Only one devotee and the Deities of Lord Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadra devi stay there,
But we had a good turn out, especially for the Sunday feast.
I presented the module on ‘Association‘ from my “Srila Prabhupada The Living Bhagavatam” seminar series and the devotees seemed to appreciate it alot. It was the first time for most of them to hear a few hours of Prabhupada-katha.
If you are ever in Croatia, pay a visit, you’ll like it, and the devotees will appreciate your association.
I was fortunate to be invited as a speaker at the European Premiere of the new film, ‘Lost Village’, [see http://www.lostvillagemovie.com/about.htm] on April 21 2010 in Prague, Czech Republic.
It features HH Lokanatha Swami and his home town Aravade (pronounced Arav day). Its a Krsna conscious take on the lost values of the village culture and economy, and a peek at the impending crisis of big city life like Mumbai.
I was asked by Director Bhaktivaibhava Swami
to attend and say a few words about the illusion of consumer economics. He had filmed me two years ago at the Czech Rep. summer camp and included a couple of comments I made in the film.
Briefly: consumer economy is a cheating system because the propaganda is that by always buying new goods we will become happy. Yet the very impetus for buying new goods is dissatisfaction with the ones we already have-otherwise why would we replace them? The whole advertising industry is geared to creating dissatisfaction with what we already own so we will go out and spend, spend, spend. So the driving force to sustain consumerism is unhappiness, the very opposite of what it claims to deliver.
Getting to Prague proved to be a bit traumatic. Without boring you with the details, I was supposed to leave Delhi right when the Icelandic volcanic ash scare began.
I went out to the airport to catch a 1.50AM flt. to Vienna and a connection to Prague.
When I arrived at the airport, all European flts. had been cancelled, except mine. Considering myself fortunate, I duly checked in, went through immigration and patiently awaited a boarding time of 1.00AM. The appointed hour came and went with no sign of airline staff. At 1.30AM they finally informed us the flt. was cancelled. We had to go back through immigration and have our exit stamps cancelled, and then collect our bags back. By 2.30AM we were all ready for bed. No such luck. The airline (Austrian) against European rules, informed everyone they were on their own and no hotels would be provided. We were unceremoniously dumped in the airport. Bad form considering the several families with little kids that were travelling.
I was lucky. I headed off to the Delhi temple, managed to contact the guest house manager and by 3.30AM I was gratefully ensconced in a clear air conditioned room (did I neglect to mention that the day time temperatures were 42 deg. C?)
I tried rearranging the booking but to no avail. The ticket was booked through Air India — forget it!
Prague also informed me that unless I arrived on the morning of the Premiere they would have no choice but to cancel the ticket. Since I had arranged to visit several other countries after Prague, I was rather keen that that didn’t happen. So on the second night, the one before the event, I decided to just front up at the airport and see if I could get on wait-list. Of course the airport was unbelievably crowded since several thousand other hopeful fliers were there doing just the same thing.
I waited in three separate lines for 1.5 hrs. before I even go in through the doors to the airport. At the Austrian counter hundreds of travellers were lined up, but at least the flt. was on ‘go’. The wait-list line was 50+ so I dutifully joined it, praying to Krsna for a little travel mercy.
Its been a while (over 2 months in fact) since my last posting. Since then I have been on a short tour to Europe and Canada which I’d like to share with everyone. But before that, here’s a Mayapur TOVP update:
Govinda prabhu, one of our key construction managers, informed me that yesterday the construction company, Gammon, hammered in the 1,000th pile for the foundations (out of 2,600+). Things are going well, with the five pile drivers on site hammering away from 5:00 AM to 9.00 PM. Its a comforting sound, knowing that Srila Prabhupada’s biggest challenge to the western, materialistic science-based view of the universe is now underway.
Another milestone: yesterday the first above ground column was started, on the central area of the main temple. This is two months ahead of schedule. No photos since there isn’t much to see since the last posting.
Here’s an interesting question from Bhakta Stanislav in Riga Latvia:
Answer
The various rings that Srila Prabhupada is sometimes seen wearing were all gifts from disciples and admirers. Srila Prabhupada had no interest in wearing jewellry of course, but he liked to recognise the devotion and service of his followers. On that basis, he sometimes was given a ring and he wore them.
Sometimes he would receive a ring, wear it for some time and then give it away:
[TD 1] March 21 1976 – Mayapur
“In the afternoon devotees gathered in Prabhupada’s room for a last darsana. On behalf of the Philadelphia temple, Ravindra Svarupa prabhu gave him an eighteen-carat gold ring made by Gopinatha dasa. Prabhupada held it for a moment, puzzled as to what the design was. “It is a crown?” he asked.
Ravindra Svarupa reached forward and turned it up the other way. That revealed the words “Hare Krsna,” with three small diamonds forming the diacritic dots under “Krsna.”
Prabhupada smiled with pleasure and appreciation, and he slipped it on the little finger of his right hand. Then, opening the drawer in his desk, he pulled out another ring, a large, decorative, golden one with a big, black stone, which he handed to Bhavananda Maharaja. Very gratefully, Bhavananda immediately put it on, and it fitted perfectly.”
April 16 1976 – Bombay
“Prabhupada has been taking his noon massage sitting on the tiny balcony between his bedroom and the kitchen. When we began today, I slipped the Hare Krsna ring from his finger. He has been wearing it continuously since it was given to him in Mayapur, but because it is a little loose I usually take it off to massage his hand.
Prabhupada looked at it when it came off. Then he looked at me and said, “It is loose? So, now you try it.”
Surprised, but very eager, I put it on the little finger of my left hand, but it was a bit slack.
He said, “Oh, too big?”
Not wanting to lose the opportunity, I didn’t reply but quickly tried it on the little finger of my right hand, and it fit nicely.
“All right,” he smiled, “you can have it!”
I immediately offered him my obeisances and very gratefully tucked it into the fold of my gamcha.
Prabhupada doesn’t give away such items often, so I was in ecstasy to get this special gift from him without any prompting and for no apparent reason.”
[TD 2] June 19 1976 – Toronto
“Before he left, Subhavilasa came forward with an unusual gift — a child’s piggy bank. Srila Prabhupada laughed to see it. It belonged to Subhavilasa’s son, Indriyesha, and it was stuffed full of coins. When Srila Prabhupada came to Toronto last year, he had done a similar program at Subhavilasa’s house and Indriyesha had handed the piggy bank to him. Prabhupada had held it in the air and shook it and then laughed — it was half empty. He had handed it back to the boy and told him “Fill it up!” So throughout the year the boy has been faithfully adding one coin after another in anticipation of Srila Prabhupada’s next visit. Now today, he got his chance to again present it. This time Prabhupada very happily accepted it, greatly pleasing the entire family.
Subhavilasa also presented a gold ring as guru-daksina, which Prabhupada put on. Then at about 8:00 P.M. he returned to the temple. A few minutes into the journey Srila Prabhupada slipped his new ring off and gave it to Pusta Krsna, who was both surprised and grateful to receive it.”
[TD 3] July 30 1976 – New Mayapur
“One of the devotees gave Srila Prabhupada a gold ring with the maha-mantra inscribed on it. He put it on and now wears rings on three fingers of his left hand and two fingers of his right.”
A ring he wore constantly on the third finger of his left hand was a small gold ring with a diamond in the center which I believe was given to him by Yamuna dasi.
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