On the ground in Mayapur
Every day is a festival in Sridam Mayapura. Mangal arotik has no less then 2,000 people every day and up to 7,000 on gaura Purnima. There would be more except there is no room. When it is that full you could not get a cat in there. After the morning announcements the many new guests are rounded up and taught to chant the Hare Krishna maha mantra. Two words at a time then one full round together.
The announcements are important because they give word of all the great events everyone can attend. As I am writing this the Hare Krishna naga sankirtan party is passing by, headed by Gita Nagari Prabhu and his Indonesian buddy Kamala Kantha Prabhu. It is Sunday, so there are tons of guests. The party with its Gaura Nitai murtis engages the crowd in chanting Hare Krishna and purifies the whole area with transcendental sound.
A really good play of the Mahabharata was performed by the members of ISKCON's Mayapur International School. The game of dice was the theme. The story has one part performed every month. It was opened with a dance and a 12 year old girl singing the Vrndavane Ramyastana song. The song is about the divine couple Radha and Krishna in Vrndavan situated on a golden throne in the middle of a lotus flower. the petals of the lotus are none other than the 8 chief gopis surrounding Radha and Krishna. In that assembly of Radha Krishna and Their associates there is a flood of laughter and joke as they address one another.
Yesterday I went to Kolkatta to attend Bhakti Charu Swami's seminar. Maharajah talked about how those who are ignorant are attached to the material world. "They think sense gratification brings happiness, but actually it brings misery. They come again and again into the the material world and suffer very much. Those who are intelligent and self realized properly apply the human form of life to get free from from material existence."
This was translated to me from Bengali. The seminar was at the Govinda's restaurant a little ways from the Albert Road Sri Sri Radha Govinda Mandir. After telling the self realization message he told Krishna book stories from the last chapters of Krishna living in Dwaraka. Then the seminar finished and Maharajah invited me to take some prasadam. Great feast. Afterwards I went home on local bangala transportation. I took a taxi, a train, a riksha, a boat, and a bus. Under $2 dollars.
The taxi got pulled over by the Kolkatta cops for running a red light. The driver had to give the hundred rupees he had just made from me to bribe the officer. Thus I had to walk the rest of the way to the train. Getting on the train to Krishna Nagar city was a brutal rush of humanity all trying to get a seat. Then people started stuffing in for the standing room. It was like a college prank of seeing how many guys can fit into a Volkswagen. Sardine fish in a tin have more space then there was between the people on that train.
Arriving in Krishna Nagar I was directed to the motor riksha and squeezed onto that for 20 kilometers. Finally it stopped and the driver pointed down a path into the dark jungle that looked like it went nowhere. He simply said, "Mayapura." Chanting Hare Krishna I went down the dirt passageway for some time. Eventually it ended at the confluence of the Jalangi River going into the Ganga. I boarded a boat, for 1 rupee ($.06). The boat landed on the shore of Mayapura. Next was the local bus for 6 rupees. The adventure ended in front of the wonderful Mayapura Chandrodaya mandir. The city built by our illustrious founder acharya, his divine grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
Sachinanada Maharaj came from Germany and delivered a knockout seminar on how to chant Krishna's holy names. He talked about how Krishna would sit in the pasture grounds of Vrndavan and the cowherd boys would perform kirtan for the Lord's pleasure. "We should think like this when we chant, to direct our kirtan towards Krishna's pleasure. The holy names needs to arise in the heart. You cannot isolate your devotional life from chanting Hare Krishna."
I hope this meets you well. Yours, Mishra Bhagavan Das
HpS-ASA - Welcome MBD! Misra is our associate since our Brahmacari life in Berkeley. The Mayapura report is off the chart. Thank you so much.
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