Prabhupada's Disappearance...and then Jaipur

10/29/06

After a very nice Prabhupada's disappearance day festival here in
Vrindavan, and the craziness that went along with it, I was off to
Jaipur for a few days for Darshan of Srila Rupa Goswami's respectable
deity, Govindaji. There are a few things here in India that have lived
up to what I had heard about them before experiencing them. One which
comes to mind immediately is Bahulastami at Radha-Kund, which is
everything someone could possibly expect, and on top of that more....its
really crazy. The other thing is The Govindaji temple in Jaipur. Before
going there, I had heard about the love of Govindaji by the people of
Jaipur, and how thousands of people go there daily, but until you are in
mangal aroti there, you cannot fully appreciate how amazing it is.
Thousands of people go to mangal aroti, and are singing in different
groups to Govindaji from their hearts.....its really quite a site to
see. I was fortunate enough to have two more darshans of Govindaji
before leaving Jaipur, both of them were at 8:30 in the morning, and
both were crazy as well. When you do parikrama around Govindaji, any
item on the wall is a sanctified object for the people there (locks,
paintspecks, marble, scratches..you name it...). Finally, people are
handing out mahaprasad right and left after acquiring it. It is
impossible to leave the temple without some sort of prasad, chandan, or
oil smeared on your forehead (that happened to several of us). In
Jaipur, we also visited Radha Damodar, Radha Vinod (Deities which were
worshipped by Lokanath Goswami), and Gopinath (found by Madhu Pandit).
I'll try and get pics up asap...haribol..

Chaitanya

Amul: short update

amul here,

vraj mandal parikrama is very nice, im here back in krishna balaram for a day for Prabhupada's dissapearance festival.  Alot of senior devotees here.  I saw Yagna purusa prabhu from NYC from far away, that was a nice suprise.

 

Vraj mandal is alot of fun, we are walking every morning after mangala arati then when we reach our destination we camp out and have the regular day programs, lectures, etc.  Some sannyasi's come to visit each day.  Its pretty austere but i have gotten used to it.  Rupanuga is here too.

 

Just 10 more days and then im off to Gujurat and then Bombay. 

 

haribol

radhe radhe

amul

Govardhan Pooja

10/22/06

Feeling that I had experienced a good amount of festivals at KB temple, I decided to head out on the road for Govardhan pooja. Where else to go than Govardhan, and that is where we did go...I went to the Bhaktivedanta Ashraam in Govardhan, right across the road from Govardhan Hill. They had a really nice program there, starting with a nice class, then go-pooja (H.H. Jayadvaita Swami performed aroti to mother cow), and everyone was able to feed mother cow. Then, everyone headed across the road, and performed abhiseka right on Govardhan hill. It was a pretty cool thinking that I was actually at Govardhan for Govardhan pooja. After that, everyone helped carry the 56 sumptous offerings for Giriraja across the road, and tapan bhoga was offered. Then it was time to eat...not yet though as I was asked to serve.... I didn't really mind, as it was still early, and for about an hour or more, We served out prashadam to the hundreds of devotees there (there didn't seem to be that many there before, but its funny how you always notice more at prashadam time...). Then I along with some friends sat down to eat, and our plates were piled up with item after item after item, after item......When I was full the prabhu next to me, his name is Govinda Kund, got one of the servers to put a big handful of more maha from Giriraja on my plate. What could I do but honor it??? So I ended up being double stuffed. After washing our hands, I and two other friends who came with me noticed that nobody from our group seemed to be around. As we walked outside, I looked to the right, and saw three green buses (the ones we came in) heading up the road. We ended up sprinting to them...if you know Govardhan, we ran from ISKCON...all the way to the town, where we caught the buses due to the traffic resulting from the business of Govardhan pooja. Its quite an experience sprinting after eating that much....That's all I can say about that.
This evening, Aindra prabhu sang Damodarastaka, and it was a classic. (I got it all on tape) Damodarastaka in KB temple starts at 7, and usually goes until 8:15 (when the temple closes). Some singers, will take it to 8:30 (at which point the devotees cleaning the temple start the hoses and start spraying people). Aindra prabhu takes it outside in front of the temple, and goes for another 30-40 minutes, moving around the samadhi, and other areas, so it was a very crazy event. As I was walking back to my room at Keshav Kunj, In noticed the fireworks still going off. Then one went off 5 feet from me (it sounded like a bomb). The fireworks tonight don't seem as frequent (although I am hearing more and more...), but now they seem to go off with huge bangs....by the way, I did hear them when I got up at 3:30, and on my way to mangal aroti this morning....
Overall it was a fantastic Govardhan pooja here in Vrindavan. Amul left his camera behind, so I took some pictures, which I can hopefully get posted for you.....Haribol...


Chaitanya

Diwali....

10/21/06

So today was Diwali in India, and I'll just give you a few basic things
which seemed pretty cool to me. Diwali started off as a completely
normal day, but you noticed that all the shopkeepers were decorating and
everyone was in a festive joyous mood. Then at around 10:30 or 11:00, I
was in the temple room, and it seemed completely normal. As I was
walking out towards the front gate, I noticed that they had opened the
two big middle gates here at KB temple (the only time I saw them do that
before was to allow the ambulance to come in...), and then a constant
flood of hundreds of people were just flowing in for about half an hour,
and then it became normal again. Then, at night, I woke up from a nap at
around 6:00, and I heard fireworks starting, because it had only just
gotten dark. Since then, all I have heard is fireworks, all night long.
When I walked out on the street, I had one explode 5 or 10 feet from me,
and I am sitting here at 10 PM, and the fireworks keep on going and
going and going and going. I'm assuming I'll here some at mangala
aroti.... This is definitely the place to be for firework lovers (yes
nimai.....it really is). Alright, I will now go to sleep, as tommorrow
is Govardhan pooja, and I will be going to Govardhan. Haribol.

Chaitanya

Govardhan Pooja

10/22/06

Feeling that I had experienced a good amount of festivals at KB temple,
I decided to head out on the road for Govardhan pooja. Where else to go
than Govardhan, and that is where we did go...I went to the
Bhaktivedanta Ashraam in Govardhan, right across the road from Govardhan
Hill. They had a really nice program there, starting with a nice class,
then go-pooja (H.H. Jayadvaita Swami performed aroti to mother cow), and
everyone was able to feed mother cow. Then, everyone headed across the
road, and performed abhiseka right on Govardhan hill. It was a pretty
cool thinking that I was actually at Govardhan for Govardhan pooja.
After that, everyone helped carry the 56 sumptous offerings for Giriraja
across the road, and tapan bhoga was offered. Then it was time to
eat...not yet though as I was asked to serve.... I didn't really mind,
as it was still early, and for about an hour or more, We served out
prashadam to the hundreds of devotees there (there didn't seem to be
that many there before, but its funny how you always notice more at
prashadam time...). Then I along with some friends sat down to eat, and
our plates were piled up with item after item after item, after
item......When I was full the prabhu next to me, his name is Govinda
Kund, got one of the servers to put a big handful of more maha from
Giriraja on my plate. What could I do but honor it??? So I ended up
being double stuffed. After washing our hands, I and two other friends
who came with me noticed that nobody from our group seemed to be around.
As we walked outside, I looked to the right, and saw three green buses
(the ones we came in) heading up the road. We ended up sprinting to
them...if you know Govardhan, we ran from ISKCON...all the way to the
town, where we caught the buses due to the traffic resulting from the
business of Govardhan pooja. Its quite an experience sprinting after
eating that much....That's all I can say about that.
This evening, Aindra prabhu sang Damodarastaka, and it was a
classic. (I got it all on tape) Damodarastaka in KB temple starts at 7,
and usually goes until 8:15 (when the temple closes). Some singers, will
take it to 8:30 (at which point the devotees cleaning the temple start
the hoses and start spraying people). Aindra prabhu takes it outside in
front of the temple, and goes for another 30-40 minutes, moving around
the samadhi, and other areas, so it was a very crazy event. As I was
walking back to my room at Keshav Kunj, In noticed the fireworks still
going off. Then one went off 5 feet from me (it sounded like a bomb).
The fireworks tonight don't seem as frequent (although I am hearing more
and more...), but now they seem to go off with huge bangs....by the way,
I did hear them when I got up at 3:30, and on my way to mangal aroti
this morning....
Overall it was a fantastic Govardhan pooja here in Vrindavan. Amul
left his camera behind, so I took some pictures, which I can hopefully
get posted for you.....Haribol...

Chaitanya

Diwali....

10/21/06

So today was Diwali in India, and I'll just give you a few basic things which seemed pretty cool to me. Diwali started off as a completely normal day, but you noticed that all the shopkeepers were decorating and everyone was in a festive joyous mood. Then at around 10:30 or 11:00, I was in the temple room, and it seemed completely normal. As I was walking out towards the front gate, I noticed that they had opened the two big middle gates here at KB temple (the only time I saw them do that before was to allow the ambulance to come in...), and then a constant flood of hundreds of people were just flowing in for about half an hour, and then it became normal again. Then, at night, I woke up from a nap at around 6:00, and I heard fireworks starting, because it had only just gotten dark. Since then, all I have heard is fireworks, all night long. When I walked out on the street, I had one explode 5 or 10 feet from me, and I am sitting here at 10 PM, and the fireworks keep on going and going and going and going. I'm assuming I'll here some at mangala aroti.... This is definitely the place to be for firework lovers (yes nimai.....it really is). Alright, I will now go to sleep, as tommorrow is Govardhan pooja, and I will be going to Govardhan. Haribol.

Chaitanya

Some more items....

10/19/06
Well, believe it or not....I am going to add items to the list....as I promised. Of course if you reference to the earlier four items, they will be added when I said I would add them (The IST factor....), so here we go. Its hard to believe that after VIHE finished, I've barely had enough time to blink, so hopefully I get time to put this on line tomorrow.

• Stuff will just randomly not work....when you need it: This is an oldie but a goodie.... A long while back, I remember getting up for mangal aroti one morning, and the shower wasn't working. Now put yourself in my shoes...you have just gotten up at 3:45, all pumped to take a shower and go to mangal aroti, but the shower doesn't work. It only has happened once, but it was really annoying. I mean you can take the random power outages, power surges, low voltage, and even turning the water off during the day...but when the water doesn't work before mangal aroti, its a problem...
• Loudness: Many people in India do not know when it is necessary to be quiet. For example, I have been going on Indradyumna Mahraj's parikrama's for the past few days, and the group often stops for long talks. Some of these are outdoors, where the locals can mix. Its amazing that when 200 devotees are intently listening to a speaker, some random people can start having an argument right there, screaming at the top of their lungs. This wasn't just a one time thing, it really happens all the time. After a while you just get used to it, but its pretty funny at first.
• Fights: If there's ever a fight or confrontation on the street, everyone...I mean everyone will stop to watch. This also means that if you're driving by on a rickshaw, the rickshaw wall slow to slower than a snails pace... It doesn't matter what the argument is about, but somehow, in some way, two people yelling at each other is fascinating to some....

That's all for now....I believe I have 3 more left, so check back for those in another 2 or 3 months...haha....


Chaitanya

Amul: Until we meet again...

Dear readers,

A little update on what's going on: Chai and I have moved out of our room in the guesthouse, we gave the room to our very own Susan mataji from Towaco to use instead. We are now staying at Keshav Kunj by the mercy of HH Radha Govinda Maharaj, who kindly gave us a small room. I will be there until the 20th, and then i am leaving for Braj Mandal parikrama to join Rupanuga prabhu. Chaitanya will be at KB temple until the end of Kartik.
It is hard to write and check email from Keshav Kunj since it is pretty far from where i go to connect to the internet. I only have 2 more days left here, and then i wont be near a computer for another month. so i guess that's kind of..it.....
I would just like to tell you all that i am sorry i wont be able to converse thru emails so much now until i get back home, because after Vrindavan i will go to Ahmedabad for 3 days, then Chowpatty for 20 days. I will probably have limited internet access there as well.

ok well, if you want to contact me, your welcome to call, i have a new number you can get it from any one of my family members.

ill try to write, somehow.

Oh by the way, me and Chai graduated from VIHE! Woooo!!!!! we finished what we came here to do. It feels great..now i just have to glue my ears shut so the knowledge doesnt spill out!

alright, now its time to move to another paragraph in this chapter of my life.

miss you all, forgive me i wont be in so much contact.
amul butter

Amul: I love my friends

A bunch of guys and girls led by Damodar, from Towaco made a video for me and sent it with Damodar's parents. It feels pretty damn good to be remembered. This definately makes up for the small amount of emails i'm getting!

Oh yea, I almost forgot. we went to bathe @ Radhakund for Bahulastami, at midnight. It was complete chaos. They estimated there was like 25,000 people there. HH Indradyumna Swami and a bunch of other sannyasis, along with Aindra prabhu came. They rocked bhajans real hard in Ragunatha das goswami's samadhi. Then at midnight EVERYONE (and their freakin sister) took bath in Radha Kund. Its a sight i will never, ever forget. I haven't seen that many people since Polish woodstock! Then, on our way back to our transport back to KB temple, i see a few familiar faces. Banke Bihari prabhu and his wife (towaco), are hanging out and i talked to them. Also Sarbendu prabhu's parents and brother are here. Then, heres the kicker, i see Gadadhar Pandit prabhu from the Bhaktivedanta ashrama, NYC!!!! i did a double take of him, and went up to him and was like "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!!!???" It was great, i cant believe i saw him amongst an ocean of people. What a night.

I just wanted to brag about how awesome my friends are.

later,

amul

Top Ten List....That's right..its being continued...

Haribol,

As you all know I started a glorious top ten list about my realizations about india something about 4 score and 7 years ago (maybe not that long...but it was pretty long). Anyway, I've decided to continue it....before you get all excited, I am going to repost the first edition (Yes...you can say it, I am reusing material...). But I promise that there will be at least 3 more items added to the list by midweek. Without Further Ado, here is that previous entry, untouched....

Top 10 List of Realizations About India

8/8/06

Being the extremely Bhakti Sastri student which I am, I have decided to write a blog about my top 10 realizations about India, instead of memorizing Bhagavad Gita verses (I will do that when I'm done). As many of you know, India is somewhat different from America, but by living here for about 6 weeks now, I have tested some views over time, and here they are. Now, as you look down at the list, you will notice that there is not 10 items there. Before you start questioning my ability to count to ten, or to count period, I will give you my reason for only giving you four reasons, not yet numbered. Reason number 1, nobody does a top 4 list, so that Idea was out, but the reason I'm sticking to is Reason number 2. Reason number 2 is that this way, I will not give away the whole thing at once, or the order, so there's some suspense ( In reality, I couldn't think of ten things, but I'll post them as I come up with them). Without further adu, imagine David Letterman is reading these, and here is my Top 10 List of Realizations of India.....Part 1:

 

 

 

 

• Time: A few years ago, we started coining the phrase IST, which stands for Indian Standard Time. Whenever we'd be late, or a program would start late, or someone else was late, it would just be Indian Standard time. Well, what I have now realized is that India is the birth place of Indian Standard time, so this is where it is personified in its most powerful form. Coincidentally, the time zone India is in has the initials IST...standing for Indian Standard Time. Anyways, everything is at least 5-10 minutes late here. If someone says they'll be there at 10, don't show up until 10:30 earliest, if you have to pick something up on Sunday, safer to go Thursday or Friday, so it'll be done. IST here in India is double or triple IST is in America.
• Left...Left...Left...or Right???: As you know, people in India drive on the left (a crazy and un-needed British Tradition if you ask me...also, sometimes you're not sure what side they're driving on here). But how about when you walk up to someone. Do you go towards the left or towards the right. In the west, its a common practice that you always go towards the right, so that neither person bumps into eachother. Here however, some people go to the left, and some people go towards the right. After awhile of almost bumping into people, you just decide to do your own thing and make everyone else conform with you (its been working for a little while...).
• Pushing and shoving: Indian people feel it is their absolute birthright to cut you in line. For example, yesterday I was waiting in line to swing the Jhulan in the temple. I clearly remember that I was in line behind this old dada, where a cream colored kurta. After looking around for about 5 seconds, I was now behind four ba's, one of them pushing me back, so she could squeeze her way into line. This is an example of a daily experience here. Now do you push the ba's...I mean come on, they're old people...I end up sucking it up most of the time.
• Power: Everyone knows this already, but I will reiterate it. India has still not figured out power. I guess it is a much harder thing to figure out that I thought. Just as I was writing this blog alone, the power went out 3 times. I'll give India this though...when the power goes out in America, its the end of the world (ref: NYC blackout). Here, everyone is ready for it. If you're in a shop, they'll whip out their kerosene lantern while they were showing you what you were looking at, with some sort of 3rd arm.

 

 

Well, that's it for now....stay tuned for more items soon.....

 

Chaitanya


Hope you enjoyed that blast from the past....stay tuned for more.....

Amul: Samadhi Ceremony of HH Bhakti Svarupa Damodar Swami Maharaj

Events of 10.3 - 10.5.06

man, what a past few days....

Let me start with last night. Maharaj's body was brought to KB mandir around 9 pm in an ambulence. The body was taken around KB mandir three times, and then was placed opposite Srila Prabhupada's samadhi so all the devotees could offer their respects and have darsan. It was so emotional. Many devotees were crying. Many senior sannyasi's arrived with the Maharaj's body. Also some sannyasi's i've never seen before.
After Darsan arati and Gurupuja (which was led by Guru Kripa Prabhu, yes, the Guru Kripa!) the next morning (yesterday), Sripad Maharaj's body was taken to Radha Kunda at around 8 am. Me, Chai, and Vishal didnt have a ride, so we got on a tempo. I grabbed the video camera and a change of clothes, and we left. It was an experience, it wasn't so crowded, but it was loud and slow. When we arrived in Radha Kunda, we went to Sripad Maharaj's temple (The local Iskcon temple), and Bhakti Charu Swami was singing "Je Anilo". This was taking place in the backyard of the temple, where Sripad Maharaj was to be put into samadhi. Bhakti Charu Swami added the line, "Kaha mora Svarupa Damodar...Patita Pavana". It was more emotional than the night before, many disciples from Manipur had come, they had traveled all night. It reminded me of the "final pastimes" video of Srila Prabhupada, when Narayana Maharaj sang "je anilo" for Srila Prabhupada. Everyone got a turn to offer Sripad Maharaj flowers, take darsan, and touch his wooden shoes.

Then it was time to take Maharaj for parikrama of Radha Kunda and Syama Kunda. That's when you could really tell how many devotees there were. I'm not good at estimations but i would say around 500+. While we were going around, i saw a familiar face - - Mahatma prabhu! I said 'haribol' to him but i don't think he recognized me, i would see him later anyways. I found out that he had flow in from San Diego as soon as he heard about his Gurumaharaj's

passing.

After the parikrama, it was time to place Maharaj's body in the grave(?) they had dug. They had a curtain around this, but I presume they bathed, applied tilak, and newly clothed Maharaj, and then brought him down into the grave. When they were bringing him down, everyone noticed how Maharaj looked as if he was just sleeping. It had been 3 days, but his body was still very flexible and his face was effulgent. I was very suprised. Bhakti Charu swami later mentioned thats a sign of a pure devotee, his body is not material anymore, but it becomes spiritual, even in this life. Srila Prabhupada was the same.

At this time, i had pushed my way inside crowed that had assembled around the grave. Took out our video camera and started shooting. I took a lot of still photographs with it as well, those are the ones im sharing with you all. Then they started to throw in the dirt that would fill the grave. But first they had to cover Maharaj's body in salt, then they started putting the dirt in. We got a chance to throw some dirt in too.

Then, it was time for prasadam. Rupanuga prabhu was in charge of the serve out to the general devotees, so he asked me to help. Even though i had not eaten the whole day, i thought it would be a great time to get some mercy. So I went to the kitchen, expecting to bring prasadam to the general devotees, but this prabhu asked me to bring rice where the senior devotees were eating. I didn't think much of it because i was just dropping it off, but when i got there, the prabhu in charge asked me if i wanted to serve the senior devotees! In my mind i was like "hell yea bro!", but really i said, "Oh, thank you for giving me this oppurtunity prabhu, sure i would love to." haha...I wonder when my mind and my words will express themselves in similar ways. My mind speaks new jersey slang and my speech is insincerely polite... So I helped serve different sannyasis, both from iskcon and gaudiya math, Prabhupada disciples, management, etc. It was amazing!

After i had taken paneer subji, rice, dal, chappatis, sweet rice, butter milk, and other preps, to my full satisfaction, i went back to the samadhi. I had remembered seeing Aindra prabhu and his crew arrive, so i wanted to see if they were still doing kirtan. They were, and i video taped a good portion of it.

We then took bath in Radha Kunda and left back to KB temple. This time we got lucky, and caught a ride with some devotees in a jeep.

These past few days have been very emotional, and very tense because we would get so many different types of news at different times. We didn't know what was going to happen when.

I have fond memories of Sripad Maharaj. He came to Spain for a week during the UK Pandava Sena trip. There he would hang out with us, even though he was a sannyasi and we were just some kids. I remember he did archery with us, and he was really good at it too. No one got the bullseye, but then Maharaj tried last, and he got it.

I also met him in Towaco a few months back when he came to visit. I talked to him with my parents right in front of the temple giftshop, i told him what i was doing in Vrindavan, and for his blessings. He was happy.

Maharaj was sweet, kind, intelligent, and a great singer. His kirtan style was different, but it was amazing.

Somehow a puffed-up kid like me was fortunate to be able to attend this wonderful ceremony, I pray that i never forget this.

dasdasanudasa bh. amul

HH BSDM Samadhi Update as of 15:00, October 3rd 2006

Haribol,

The news over here about the samadhi is changing every hour, its hard to get the exact info.

 

But as of right now, Maharaj's body is not going to be taken to Manipur, but is coming to Vrindavan around 8 pm tonight.  His body will be kept in the Prabhupada museum.  Then, tommorow morning he will be taken on parikrama, and then at 8:00 am, he will be put into samadhi at Radha Kund. 

 

a.s.

 

 

 

H.H. Bhakti Svarupa Damodar Swami

Radhe Radhe,

I'm sure you have all heard the news, about HH Bhakti Svarupa Damodar Maharaj's passing.

All of Vrindavan is in complete shock, the news came so quickly.

Maharaj's body is coming to Vrindavan, the day after tommorow, on his way to Radha Kund, from Calcutta. His samadhi will be in Radha Kund. Originally, his body was going to come straight to Vrindavan, but Manipur threatened violence if he doesnt come there. He has many many disciples in Manipur, and it wasnt possible for all of them to come to Radha Kund.

Many sannyasis from all over are planning to come to Radha Kund: BCS, GKG, etc.

We are planning to go, we will be taking video and pictures so we can share this historical event with everyone when we get back.

Maharaj just came to Towaco a few months ago for a presentation, I remember talking to him.

Vaisnava Thakur Ki Jay!

Bhakti Svarupa Damodar Maharaj Ki Jay!

amul