Amul: VIHE outing to BARSANA!

I made a friend!
Some Kunda where Madhumangal ate Laddus
Where Krishna took Tax

9/29/06

Today we went to Barsana with HG Janananda prabhu and HG Prabhupada das prabhu. Man, It was amazing. We did a parikrama of all the major temples (about 4 or 5, I forget their names, there were about 4 or 5. We also bathed in Prema Sarovara and had class there. I also had darsan of Ramesh Baba, the "don guru" of Varsana! That's just a rough description. Attached are some images, I have a million more but its so hard to post them up!

A scary/exciting thing happened when we got to the main temple. A little background info first: I was a little puffed-up because every temple we went, I was being all 'James Bond' about taking pictures, I would turn the flash off and use someone as a shield and take a

picture quickly, when it was strictly forbidden. I was successful throughout all the temples. So this time we were at the biggest and nicest temple, you know, the one really high up on that hill. This one was the mother of all of 'em. So, I got right up close to the deities and used Chai as a shield, but I forgot to turn off something very important: the flash. All the pujaris were doing their own thing, giving out Tulsi, Caranamrita, just really peaceful. When that flash went off, it was like that scene in "Lord of the Rings", where one of the Hobbit friends drops the skull in the dark well, and immedietly all hell breaks loose. All the Pujaris and caretakers of the dieties all looked up and started yelling. A few of the younger ones came over and grabbed me and my hands, and one of them went for my camera. I was suprisingly calm, but I was scared they were going to smash my digital camera. I had heard they do that. I thought fast and in broken Hindi, I told the guy I would delete the picture. He understood, and I quickly got on the camera menu and deleted the picture. Right before I deleted it I had a sneak peek of the image, it wasn't such a great picture, HA. They pujari told me in hindi, "didn't you see the sign, theres no picture taking!", and he pointed to two huge black signs on either side of the altar that said, "no picture taking". I smiled in my head, "I dont read Hindi bro." But then I realized, "Man, if they asked me why I didn't read the sign, they must think I'm from India...sweet!" For the first time, someone thought I was from India, and not Videsh. Then, they all left, and everything went back to normal. I stood there, stunned from what had just happened. I was a little proud that I got some attention, and a little scared that I had offended someone. Janananda prabhu came over to me to ask me if I was okay, and gave me an assuring pat on the back. I prayed to Srimati Radharani for forgiveness, and with a melodious harinam, we left.

As I sit in our room now, I ask myself, "Why did you take such a risk? Your camera could have been destroyed, or you could have gotten jumped." I reflected for a while and it hit me. I am into photography, I into taking risks, and I recently read a part in this book... its called "Vrindavan Days"... :

...If Vishakha can retrieve bananas from a monkey, she can certainly photograph the Radha Damodar Deities.

“If I try it, the pujari might react violently,” I tell Achyutananda. He agrees. Vishakha’s the one.

Her face set like a Mount Rushmore President, Vishakha, walks up the seven steps to the altar. There are no less than three sets of Deities in the dim alcoves: the Deities belonging to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s biographer, Krishnadas Kaviraj; expansions of Jiva Goswami’s original Radha Damodar Deities; and Jayadev Goswamis Deities. These Deities are guarded by strict smarta-brahmins, and photographs have never been allowed.

Before the pujari can protest, Vishakha takes five pictures. The lamp flashes like a strobe at the Avalon Ballroom.

"No photos! No photos! No! No! No!” the pujari shouts, waving his arms. The temple goswamis jump to their feet, but it’s too late. Vishakha is already walking out to the street.

“Good shots?” I ask.

“Yes,” she says, giving a tiny smile. That’s all. just a typical Vishakha-Yadubhara smile, lips closed.

-amul

Govardhana Parikrama

9/24/06

After being in Vrindavana for approximately 2 ¾ months, we finally went on Govardhana parikrama. The cool thing was that we were able to go with H.H. Mahanidi Swami. We went to Radha-Kund last night, and Mahraj gave a nice class, and we slept out on his veranda there. He is so nice and simple, that he was serving us Prasad last night. We woke up, and started parikrama just after 4 this morning, and started rolling. Mahraj walks faster than anyone I know…including my dad, so keeping up with him is quite a task. He stopped at a few places and gave nice talks about the different holy sites around Govardhan which was nice because the way he puts it was different from anything else you hear. Anyway, we finished in about 4.5 hours, and by the time he finished, more than ¾ of the group had tailed off. Afterwards, we had the opportunity to bathe in Radha Kunda, and then headed back to Vrindavan.

Chaitanya


By the way…I had my first monkey encounter today. At Radha-Kunda (where the monkeys are not supposed to be so bad…. By Gopal-Bhatta Goswami’s Samadhi or Bhajan Kutir (I can’t remember which) a monkey approached me slowly, and seeing that I didn’t have anything he would be interested in, decided my dhoti was good enough, and gave it two tugs (nothing happened though…). After that, he backed off, and I shooed him away….

Amul: PICS! VIHE outing to Goverdhan!

We went on an outing yesterday to Goverdhan with HG Janananda prabhu and the rest of the Nectar of Devotion crew, it was an amazing experience, enjoy the pics!

amul


HG Janananda prabhu and the rest of the gang relishing stories at Govinda Kund

Surabhi Kund

Giriraj Maharaj KI JAY! Ecstacy!

Scenic Harinam

Bhajans at Surabhi Kund

Someone tell that dude to put some pants on!

Tulsi arati in the middle of Goverdhan's forest, does it get any better?

Sadly, we had to leave!

Amul: Ujjain!

September 15th-19th

   

Friday, 11:00 PM

It felt weird to wear pants after two months of wearing dhotis every day.  Rupanuga prabhu, recommended I do so, because it would be more comfortable overnight.  As I put on the pants, I lamented that I would have to one day put on pants again and leave my dhotis and Vrindavan, for a long time.  I quickly stopped thinking of it.

   

    We were on our way to Ujjain, for H.H. Bhakti Charu Swami's vyasa puja.  Me, Chaitanya, Rupanuga, Dhanurdhar, Kuntibhoj, Somnath, and Bhaja Gauranga.  Although I am not a direct disciple, I consider him my siksa guru.  He is my parents' guru, and has known my family for many years.  I also thought it would be nice to go on behalf of them.

    I felt excited to leave Vrindavan for a few days, I wanted to experience something new, something different.  Routine had set in very firmly with class, prasadam, and other things, so to change that was intriguing. 

    I won't bore you with the whole travel description.  Yes, there were the funny garam chai wallas and lassi wallas.  And the train was really loud, and there were smells I've never smelled before.  It was comfortable though, we went to sleep and in the morning we were in Ujjain after a 9 1/2 hour ride. 

   

    Some devotees picked us up with 2 Qualis jeeps and brought us to the temple.  The temple is in the outskirts of Ujjain, in a quiet part of the city.  It is made completely out of beautiful white marble and three huge gopurams that you can see from far away.  Minor construction was still going on, but most of the temple was done.  We showered and headed down to the temple room.  A seminar was finishing up, and it was almost time for prasadam.  Prasadam!  That's one thing we were all looking forward to, the taste of prasadam from somewhere else.  But before prasadam I saw many friends, such as Sandipan Krishna prabhu, Dina Krishna prabhu, and Chiranjeev Krishna das, who we all remember as Babai.  I just noticed that all of those devotees I just mentioned are "______ Krishna das", haha. 

   

    Later that day there was talk with Maharaj with all the devotees in his quarters.  It was not a preaching talk, but more of a talk with people who have been in the movement for a while.  The topic was about the future of ISKCON.  Maharaj was telling us about one disciple he has who bought a big part of a lucrative company, and was employing other devotees.  Sandipan Krishna and Dina Krishna prabhus were a part of this.  Basically they were performing their job for Krishna and guru, and not only providing financial stability for ISKCON, but also preaching too.  It was very interesting, and Maharaj encouraged devotees to start doing this.  He also talked about how preaching is changing in ISKCON and there are so many innovative ways to preach these days.  He mentioned the youth of ISKCON too and during that part coincidently, he saw me.  He kind of stopped the class and asked when I had come, then he introduced me and Chaitanya as examples of youth and future of ISKCON , it was so embarrassing!

   

    The next day we attended the morning program (almost all of it ;) ) and there was a ceremony to install Srila Prabhupada on his new vyasasan that was huge, magnificent, gold and wood colored.  Oh man, I forgot to mention the deities!  They are so beautiful!  There is Gaura Nitai, Radha Madan-Mohan, and Krishna Balaram.  All the deities are very beatiful, but Srimati Radharani is extra nice, one of the most beautiful deities I have ever seen! 

   

    Maharaj gave class and in the class he mentioned to everyone why he was reluctant to have such a big festival for his vyasa puja because of the whole sannyasis falling down in the past from being worshipped too heavily. He was very sincere when he said this, and when I thought of it, it is indeed a very important point. 

    He also told us to never leave ISKCON because within ISKCON we are protected.  "And as soon as you leave ISKCON," Maharaj said, "your devotional life is in danger."  What a bold point! He didn't mean that whoever is not in ISKCON is devotionally weak, but he was saying that for people who are in ISKCON then leave to go somewhere else, they are putting their devotional life in jeopardy.  Maharaj was also telling the glories of Srila Prabhupada along with a few godbrothers, whos names I don't remember. 

   

    The temple bramhacharis of Ujjain are such nice, caring devotees.  One very touching story I want to share was when I went to the bramhachari ashram to take a nap.  I went to the second floor, where the bramhacharis stay, and laid down on the bear marble floor.  It was comfortable because it was cold, but I did not have a pillow, but I didn't really mind because it was just a nap.  I quickly fell asleep, but was awoken by a gentle bramhachari who was trying to put a pillow under my head and at the same time trying not to wake me up.  I saw his smiling face for a few seconds, until my eyes closed and I fell asleep again. 

   

    When I woke up a few hours later, I quickly remembered what the bramhachari had done for me.  Such a small act of kindness brought about so much emotion and realization in me.  That is what a real devotee is, so caring and eager to perform service for another.  Man, I wished I could be like that!  He didn't even know me, a puffed-up kid from America, and I didn't know him!  But I remembered his face.  I saw that devotee only once again, during prasadam time from afar, he was....serving. 

vancha-kalpatarubhyas ca
kripa-sindhubhya eva ca
patitanam pavanebhyo
vaisnavebhyo namo namah
I offer my respectful obeisances unto all the Vaisnava devotees of the Lord. They can fulfill the desires of everyone, just like desire trees, and they are full of compassion for the fallen souls.

   

    That night was the actual Vyasa Puja ceremony.  It was held in a huge hall in the guesthouse, that was still being built.  Maharaj sat on a large vyasasan decorated by flowers and accepted all the worship by his disciples with his head down and hands folded.  Devotees made lines to offer flowers to Maharaj, and Maharaj reciprocated by giving devotees garlands.  The atmosphere was very sweet.  It made me imagine what it might have been like during Srila Prabhupada's time, worshipping the guru with great opulence. 

   

    The next day, Monday, we went to go visit holy places in Ujjain.  Holy places? I never knew Ujjain had holy places.  We visited a few Lord Shiva Temples, the places where Krishna studied, a Nrsimhadev temple (awesome), a river where Lord Rama came, and a few ghats.  It was great!

   

    I forgot to mention the bhajans and kirtans.  They were so fired up! "There is no such thing as a mellow kirtan here" -Sandipan. He's right, everything is really heavy with wompers and loud speakers.  One time, after Maharaj led, he requested me to sing.  I did for a little while, it was nice to for Radha Madan-Mohan.  There were some nice kirtaniyas there, like Bhagavat Tattva from Mumbai and a few local devotees who could really rock it.

   

     Anyways, it was an amazing trip, I had a lot of fun.  Please, if you ever have a chance go to Ujjain, go.  You will have a wonderful time with some really advanced and downright cool devotees!  I'm back in Vrindavan now, with a month left of VIHE, miss you all.

 

A.S.

 

 

 

   

   

Amul: Special Sightings and Off to Ujjain!

    So me and Chai were waiting for the darsan doors to open for darsan arati, and 2 feet away from us this prabhu pays his obeisances.  As he gets up, I look at him, turn away, realize who it is, and look again ("double take").  It was none other than Sandipan Krishna prabhu himself, from good ol' UK bruv!  It was such a great suprise, we talked for a short time, he was in Delhi for business, and he decided to come to Vrindavan that morning.  Then he said he was leaving for Ujjain....

    Which brings me to my next point, we are going to Ujjain tommorow too!  For H.H. Bhakti Charu Swami's Vyasa Puja.  I can't wait to see Maharaj and a lot of familiar faces.  We are leaving tommorow (Fri.) and coming back Tuesday morning. 

    Anyways, everything over here is fine, guess who else is here too?  Rupanuga prabhu, a fellow Towaco-vasi!  He's staying with us for a few days, we are having a blast, he's like a hometown hero around here.  He practically owns the place.

    Classes are good, we had an NOD exam this week, and we also have a BG exam tommorow (7-12).  

I can't believe its the middle of September already....

 

miss you all,

amul

 

ps. why has everyone stopped emailing? Being too busy is a lie and a lame excuse. 

Amul: Sri Radha Kunda meditations

Radhe Syam!
We visited Radha Kunda today, fully clear of any controversy, and with faith in our bhakti sastri knowledge, we bathed. It was an experience i cannot really describe in words. I will leave you with this short meditation and pictures from the trip:

"O friend, please meditate on Radha kunda's flowering-vine pavilion, which is praised by Vrindavan's great splendor, which is respectfully worshiped by Lord Hari's favorite regal mountain, Sri Govardhana, which bows down, placing its peak on the ground before it, and which is filled with the beauty and sweetness of Radha kunda's extremely wonderful amorous pastimes."


Sri Radha Kunda


Myself and Greg, after bathing.


A wonderful painting, at the place where Mahaprabhu Himself bathed in Radha Kunda.

Bhaktivinoda Thakur's appearance day...

9/7/06
Haribol,
Yesterday was Bhaktivinoda Thakur's Appearance day, and Haridas Thakur's disappearance day. Here's one or two pictures to show what they did here. Also, today is a lunar eclipse, which in India is a very serious event. The temple will be closed for the entire afternoon and evening, but I think we still have class...haha...

Chaitanya

Radhastami.....

9/1/06

Haribol, here’s my update on Radhastami as of 5:29 PM on Radhastami day….I’ll most likely add a second installment tomorrow (these will probably be posted at the same time so you won’t even notice…)

You could say that Radhastami officially kicked off last night, as the anticipation for the next day was very high. The kirtan was really rocking, and you could really feel the excitement. Then came today….mangal aroti was very nice, and then came 7:30 darshan (it ended up being at 7:43…which some may consider early for IST…). First Gaur Nitai’s altar was opened, then Krishna Balaram, and then Radhe Shyam. I had moved over to Radhe-Shyam’s altar earlier (anticipating a huge rush…Radhe-Shyam are easily the most popular deities here on a day to day basis..what to speak of Radhastami), as soon as I took darshan of Krishna-Balaram. Unfortunately everyone else did not think this way. After the small deity of Prabhupada had moved in front of Radhe-Shyam’s altar, there was a longer wait than usual for the opening of the altar. Then when Aindra Prabhu’s head appeared from behind the curtain (he dressed, and was going to open the curtain), everyone started going crazy, but still they didn’t open it. After about a minute or so of frenzied anticipation, the curtain was opened. At the same moment, I felt the force of hundreds of people just rushing in the direction of the altar, and I was getting tossed about like a buoy in the turbulent ocean. Then after they started kirtan, the pushing and shoving only increased, until it reached a point where this one brahmacari was just pushing and shoving for the sake of pushing and shoving…it was really pretty intense.. After 15 or 20 minutes in the chaos, I decided to get out, and move to another part of the temple room.
The rest of the program was really sweet, and had a nice mood. The morning class given by both Radha Raman Mahraj, and Dhruva Mahraj Prabhu was really good, and lasted almost two hours, going straight into the abhisek kirtan (once again electric), which lasted straight to noon. It was really an extremely nice program, and I will try and post pictures.
The 4:45 darshan was once again really crowded (not nearly as extreme though…), and the deities are now wearing a beautiful new outfit which is purple and has grapes on it..check it out online, it is really beautiful. By the way, the decorations in the temple room surpassed any decorations for any festival here, the front section is covered by nets of flowers, and they spared no expense. This one’s for Damodar…they spent more than 2 lakh’s on flowers….I’ll update you on the night kirtan and the night darshan tomorrow. At 10 PM they have a special darshan of the deities, and you can also take darshan of Srimati Radharani’s lotus feet (the only day of the year where this is possible). Back with more tomorrow….Radhe Radhe….



Second Installment -9/3/06
Night Darshan was really nice. Wasn’t super crowded, and the deities looked really beautiful. About an hour before the darshan, there was really sweet bhajans. Overall, Radhastami was probably the best festival since we’ve been here….That’s all for now…take a look at the pictures…. there is none from the night darshan...these are all from morning darshan....the afternoon dresswas really cool, so I recommend you go to ISKCON Vrindavan's darshan sight to check it out...

Chaitanya