26/FEB/2015 - Sri Navadvipa Mandala Parikrama - Day 5 by Maha Varaha Das

26/2/15 NMP Day 5: Last night, after visiting all six parikrama parties, we reached ISKCON Mayapur at 6:30 pm. As soon as we reached, Guru Maharaj asked us, "Why did you guys let me visit all six parikrama parties? I just wanted to visit three or four, come back early to Mayapur, do some exercise and sleep early. But you people dragged me for the whole day." We were a little shocked hearing this from Guru Maharaj, although this is not something new. I told Guru Maharaj that it was neither him nor us - it was because of the "Gauranga Fever."

Today morning, before leaving for parikrama, I asked Guru Maharaj how many parties he was planning to visit. He said three or four parties and that he wanted to come back here, to Mayapur, at around 2 pm.

We left Mayapur this morning at around 10:30 am and drove straight to Triveni Ghat. This is a new ghat which is located at the confluence of the Jalangi and Ganga. It is one of the most beautiful areas in  Mayapur, where one can witness the merging of the green Jalangi water into the main stream of the Ganga. We cruised, heading towards Pratapnagar ghat to meet the international party. This is the same place where we met the Russian party, yesterday. As our boat was slowly approaching the ghat, our boatman was trying to find a space to dock our boat in between over 20 other boats which were waiting, rubbing each other to ferry the devotees to Rukunpur.

Seeing Guru Maharaj's boat circling around and trying to find a space, some devotees spotted the boat and ran towards the bank, calling out, "Gauranga! Gauranga!" to receive Guru Maharaj. Some devotees were already on their boats, some at the bank of the Ganga and some under nearby trees which were slightly far away from the bank. Guru Maharaj spoke for about 20 minutes here, as the sun was becoming hotter and hotter. Guru Maharaj narrated a couple of Lord Caitanya's pastimes in relation to Ganga. He said that once, when a Brahmin was taking a bath in the Ganges while facing the bank, he saw the water level of Ganga rising up and climbing up her bank. Then, Ganga was coming down. This action repeated quite often. Then, the Brahmin noticed mother Ganga, in her liquid form, was trying to touch the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya who was walking along the bank, up and down. When Lord Caitanya would walk away from the bank, Ganga would raise herself and when Mahaprabhu would walk down, she would come down. Finally, the Brahmin saw Mother Ganga come out from the water in her actual physical form to touch the feet of Lord Gauranga. The Brahmin stood still with his jaw hanging down. Then he said, "I am here, worshipping mother Ganga daily, since my whole life, trying to take her darshan, but it never materialised. Who is this small boy?" Later, Lord Caitanya warned the Brahmin not to reveal what he saw here. 

While, the international party was heading to their next destination (Rukunpur), Guru Maharaj was driven to the house of Vidya Vacaspati. There, we met the Bengali Namahatta group. Guru Maharaj narrated the same pastime about the eagerness of the people of Navadvipa to see Lord Caitanya at the house of Vidya Vacaspati. At the end of the class, we celebrated the birthday of His Holiness Gauranga Prema Swami, a senior sannyas disciple of Guru Maharaj.

Now, it was 1:30 pm. From the house of Vidya Vacaspati Prabhu, we drove to Swarupganj to meet the Gita Course party. Guru Maharaj spent 45 minutes there, narrating different pastimes of Lord Caitanya. After making Guru Maharaj to sit in his car, I told Sudama Prabhu, who is Guru Maharaj's driver, to drive to Mayapur as it was already 2:45 pm. Instantly, Guru Maharaj said, "No! No! I want to go to Harihara Ksetra, which is just on the way, to meet the Hindi Party." We tried our best to convince him, but it bore no fruit. Guru Maharaj said, "I promise, I will remain in my car and speak only for 10 minutes." We moved forward to please him. Guru Maharaj maintained the time very well. After Guru Maharaj completed his short speech, I saw Dharesh Prabhu who came running to me and said, "Guru Maharaj wants to know whether he should take the boat to go to Mayapur or go by road?" I told Dharesh Prabhu, "Whatever Guru Maharaj wants." He replied back: "Guru Maharaj said 'I will follow whatever Maha Varaha says.'"

This is Guru Maharaj. He knows where and when to pull the string of authoritativeness which will favour him and when to let it loose so that others will be pleased. For Guru Maharaj, it is a daily fight. His subtle body is still moving forward at an ever increasing speed to serve Srila Prabhupada and Lord Caitanya but his physical body is not cooperating with that. - Maha Varaha Das

25/FEB/2015 - Sri Navadvipa Mandala Parikrama - Day 4 by Maha Varaha Das

25/2/15 NMP Day 4: Last night, Guru Maharaj went to bed at 10 pm and as a result of that, he woke up fresh at 5:30 am, today. Till 6:30 am, Guru Maharaj did his exercise and chanting. After that, Dr Vaisnava Prana and Dr Dina Pavana came to collect the blood sample of Guru Maharaj as per the routine check-up. Today, the plan was also to leave as early as possible to visit as many parikrama parties as possible. Let's see what is going to happen... Guru Maharaj's car left the Mayapur campus at 9:30 am to Sri Caitanya Math which is located past the Yogapitha. There, Guru Maharaj met the Hindi parikrama party and spoke for 30 minutes. Our next plan was to visit the Russian Party which was at Pratapnagar Camp. Madhava Kanta Prabhu reported that they had just finished breakfast and were about to leave to Pratapnagar Ghat in 15 minutes. For Guru Maharaj to reach Pratapnagar Camp from the current location (almost at the Taranpur Ghat), it would have taken around 50 minutes. So we, the servants, were in a deep confusion regarding if we should really visit the Russian party now or not. We didn't want to hold them for another 35 minutes, unnecessarily, at the camp site. We all were thinking deeply about what to do next. By now, our car (with Guru Maharaj inside) had reached the Taranpur Ghat. Then Guru Maharaj came up with a superb idea. He said, "The Russian party will leave the camp in 15 minutes plus take 25 minutes to walk to the ghat. So they will be at the ghat in 35 minutes." Guru Maharaj then asked Madhava Kanta Pr to ask the boatman how long it would take to reach Pratapnagar Ghat if we left now. The boat man said that it would take 40 minutes, since we were cruising upstream, against the current. Guru Maharaj said, "So let's meet them at the ghat and I will give class there, sitting on the boat." We cruised along the Jalangi for 15 minutes and after reaching the confluence of Ganga Mata and the Jalangi, we took a sharp right turn, leaving behind the Jalangi and merging into the Ganga. Vikas, the ISKCON boatman, cruised the boat along the bank to avoid the wild central surface current of Ganga Devi. Again, this was our second beautiful boat ride on the Ganga. As we were approaching Pratapnagar ghat, we heard the soft kirtan and it was growing stronger and stronger. We reached exactly in 40 minutes. Now the time was 11:40 am with the soothing sun over our heads. As soon as Guru Maharaj's boat was docked, the Russian devotees walked forward and filled up the semicircular muddy bank of Ganga mata. From our boat, which wasvway up the hill, we could see the local villagers lined up like a wall behind the devotees to witness the program. The whole atmosphere was peaceful and somewhat silent except for the sound of Ganga slapping the little stones along her shoulder. That was very pleasing to the ears. To add more pleasure, Guru Maharaj started his class, explaining about the significance of Arktila and how the Pandavas visited Mahatpura, etc. Guru Maharaj finished his class within 30 minutes since the Russian party had an hour's boat ride to Rukunpur, which was their next destination. Towards the end of the class, Guru Maharaj also reminded the devotees not to hang their feet off the boat as it may touch the liquid form of mother Ganga and thereby cause one to commit an offence to her. Guru Maharaj also reminded devotees not to sit on the edge of the the boat as the cooling breeze of Ganga may put one asleep while riding; hence, one may fall into the Ganga. He also said that once, a brahmacari fell into the Ganga and was saved by the matajis' boat.

As the Russian devotees were settling down on their respective boats, we lifted Guru Maharaj with his wheel chair, climbing up the small hill until we reached the smooth path. Our next destination was to meet the Bengali parikrama party who was in the Navadwip town.

As the streets of Navadwip are narrow and congested, the big vehicle which I was in, was not able to make it all the way to the temple of Dhameswar Mahaprabhu. Guru Maharaj met our third parikrama party for the day, which was the Namahatta Bengali party. We joined Guru Maharaj an hour later when he returned by the same way. From Nabadwip Town, Guru Maharaj went to the Maganpur ISKCON camp site at Vidyanagar to meet the international party. As our car pulled in, we saw a stream of devotees walking into the camp, dancing in ecstasy and chanting, "Gauranga! Gauranga!" This electrified the whole atmosphere with the mood of Gauranga. As devotees were settling down to honour their lunch prasadam, Guru Maharaj narrated the beautiful pastime of the visit to the house of Vidya Vacaspati. When the news spread around Navadwip, like wild fire, that someone spotted Lord Caitanya at the house of Vidya Vacaspati, the people of Nabadwip went mad, dropped everything and rushed to get a glimpse of Mahaprabhu. When boats were not able to accommodate the people, nobody stood behind. People swam across the Ganga and the whole Ganga turned from saffron to black - all you could see was nothing but heads. All you could hear was the chanting of, "Gauranga! Gauranga! Destination! The house of Vidya Vacaspati." While Guru Maharaj was narrating the whole pastime with emotion, the loud, non-stop chanting of, "Gauranga! Gauranga!" erupted into the air, following the flow of the story, and thus, added more ecstasy. It transported everyone to the Caitanya Era. Some devotees followed Guru Maharaj's car, chanting, "Gauranga! Gauranga!" all the way until his car left the camp.

Next, from Maganpur, we drove to Swarupganj to meet our fifth parikrama party for the day. It was the second Namahatta Bengali party. Guru Maharaj had his lunch on the go. After having darshan of Lord Jagannath, Baladev and Subhadra, Guru Maharaj spoke for 20 minutes, here. Then, we headed towards Harihara Ksetra to meet our sixth parikrama party, which was the Gita Course party. Here,  Guru Maharaj spent more than 30 minutes narrating the story of Lord Caitanya and the parrot Suka. Though Guru Maharaj has narrated this pastime hundreds of times, more than 700 devotees sat and enjoyed listening to the whole pastime. Towards the end, the famous, "Gaura! Gaura!" act of parrot chanting went on and on and on for 10 minutes.

It was not Guru Maharaj's plan to visit all six parties today, but somehow, the parties were close to each other and the fever of Gauranga took us around Nabadwip Dham. Now, we are on our way back to ISKCON Mayapur. Today, I had a wonderful realisation. Sometimes, I feel that staying in the ISKCON camp is still too opulent - internet, mobile phones, pizzas, etc etc. Unless one wanders around like a mendicant in the wonderful land of Lord Gauranga, passing through the remote villages, forests, kicking the soft sandy roads, rolling in the dust, visiting all the holy places and chanting the holy name, one cannot discover this great wonder of the world. This is why our acaryas requested everyone to join this Nabadwip Parikrama at least once in a year. As Guru Maharaj always says, here, Lord Caitanya's mercy is flowing freely to everyone - now come and grab it! - Maha Varaha Das

24/FEB/2015 - Sri Navadvipa Mandala Parikrama - Day 3 by Maha Varaha Das

24/2/15 NMP Day 3: Today, Guru Maharaj woke up at 7 am. After his shower and breakfast, he decided to go for pool therapy. It has been more than five months since he used the pool. In Mayapur, we have a nice walking pool for Guru Maharaj. Now, since the winter is fading off, it is the perfect time to resume the pool exercise. After walking 432 steps in the pool, at around 11.30 am, Guru Maharaj left from the Gada Kitchen area, driving off to Yogapitha to meet the Gita Course parikrama party. He spent about 45 minutes narrating the special pastime of how Nimai was bathed by the demigods on a golden snana bedi (bathing arena). This is an amazing pastime which Guru Maharaj explained in detail.  From Yogapitha, we took off to Taranpur Ghat to cross the Jalangi river. From across the Jalangi, we drove for almost 45 minutes to Pratapnagar to meet the International party. While Guru Maharaj's car was pulling into our ISKCON camping site at Pratapnagar, we saw that the devotees were settling down for their lunch. They had passed through Nabadwip Town, today, with a vibrant kirtan led by HH Sacinandana Swami. Before the lunch was served, Guru Maharaj narrated the significance of Koladvipa for about 20 minutes. HG Jananivas Prabhu, HG Pankajangrahi Prabhu, His Holiness Bhakti Nityananda Maharaj and others were also there to give association for the International group. Guru Maharaj also took this chance to announce about the effort of the Bhaktivedanta Swami Charity Trust to protect and preserve some of the most important holy places which have already been discovered but are still under the possession of non-devotees. Guru Maharaj requested the devotees to extend their help, if they wish to do so, in order to purchase those places. The places which are yet to be bought are Kuruksetra, Naimisaranya, Brahma Pushkar, Radhakunda and Shyamkunda.

From here, we drove about 10 minutes to meet the Russian party which was just streaming into our newly purchased parikrama camping site, called Maganpur, at Vidyanagar. This place is one of the most beautiful camping sites of ISKCON. It is full of mango trees, palm trees, beetle nuts trees, ponds, etc. During Guru Maharaj's class to the Russian party, he mentioned that 500 years ago, Navadvipa Dham was exactly as this Maganpur is now. Yes, truly amazing. His Holiness Bhakti Caitanya Maharaj, who was leading the Russian party, acknowledged Guru Maharaj's description of this place. For Russian devotees, it was a feast for both the ears and tongue, as Guru Maharaj was narrating pastimes of Lord Caitanya while they were having lunch.

Towards the end of the class, Guru Maharaj, who originally planned to visit another parikrama party, decided to go back to Mayapur to take rest. Guru Maharaj honoured his lunch on the way, driving to Mayapur. We reached Mayapur at 6 pm. Guru Maharaj went inside the temple hall to take darshan of the deities. After darshan and dinner, Guru Maharaj decided to go to bed early. Now, it is 10 pm, and Guru Maharaj has just gone to bed. - Maha Varaha Das

23/FEB/2015 - Sri Navadvipa Mandala Parikrama - Day 2 by Maha Varaha Das

23/2/15 NMP Day 2: We are on day two of the Parikrama. It was a dense, foggy morning. We could hardly see the Conch building from Guru Maharaj's roof top. We thought to leave Mayapur early to avoid the sun at its pea but Guru Maharaj decided to take a nap after his breakfast. After a short nap and darshan of Sri Sri Radha Madhav, Lord Nrshingadev and Pancatattva, Guru Maharaj left the Mayapur campus at around 11:30 am.

For the last two years, Guru Maharaj has somehow visited all six parikrama parties on almost all of the six days. But this year, he is kind of going easy as he is still undergoing treatments; the doctor has strictly advised him to take sufficient rest. Last night, Guru Maharaj managed to visit three parties.

At around 12 noon, we crossed the Jalangi River and drove to Pancanantala to meet one of the Namahatta parties. Around 1,500 Namahatta devotees were attentively watching a Nrshima Lila skit under the big banyan tree. HH Bhakti Purushottama Swami and HH Gauranga Prema Swami were seen enjoying the skit in the midst of the devotees. The Pancanantala spot is located alongside the main road. Hence, there was not much room to park Guru Maharaj's car. We just parked Guru Maharaj's car on the main road so he could give class from his car. But as soon as the devotees saw that Guru Maharaj's car was pulling over, they swarmed his car like honey bees. Security guards came into action to keep the crowd under control. After some time, Guru Maharaj spoke for 25 minutes from the car. As soon as the class got over, Guru Maharaj's car was surronded by hundreds of devotees. The car was not able to move an inch forward. Everyone was swarming in to get Guru Maharaj's blessings, to give daksina, etc. In the midst of this scenario, one mataji with her small baby pushed her way through and pleaded Guru Maharaj to do the anna prassanna (first grain feeding) ceremony. We, the servants, tried convincing her to get it done later but it was of no use. Her determination convinced Guru Maharaj and finally, Guru Maharaj fed a spoon of sweet rice to the baby. For about 15 minutes, our car was not able to move anywhere, not even an inch. It was completely blocked by devotees. After making our great escape, we drove straight to Surabhi Kunja to meet the international party. As soon as Guru Maharaj's car pulled into the temple compound of Surabhi Kunja, devotees spontaneously started chanting Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! It went on and on and on until Guru Maharaj took the stage to start his class. Guru Maharaj spoke on how Lord Siva was so eager to come all the way from Kailash to Godrumadvipa upon hearing that Gauranga Katha was going on there. Guru Maharaj explained about Surabhi's and Indra's pastimes here. Guru Maharaj told how Nitai opened the first Namahatta from here and how it spread over Bengal. Guru Maharaj explained how after some time, it died down but then Bhaktivinoda Thakur re-enlivened the system. Then again, it died down, but Guru Maharaj explained how it has been revived by ISKCON, whether it be called Namahatta, Bhaktivriksha, etc. Guru Maharaj also sang, "Nadia godrume nityananda mahajana patiyache namahatta jibera karon," and everyone joined in to sing along! Guru Maharaj spoke on how Lord Caitanya once was asking Advaita Gosai about how the preaching was going on in Godrumadvipa; Advaita Gosai told Gauranga how there was no one left to buy the holy names - everyone had become devotees thanks to Nitai! Guru Maharaj glorified Bhaktivinoda Thakur, describing him as the best person in time management and how he left absolutely no time for maya. Guru Maharaj also stressed how Bhaktivinoda Thakur was such a great example of the possibility for grhasthas also to be completely Krsna Conscious. There was also a brief description about the location of Bhaktivinoda Thakur's Gaura-Gadai deities and on Gaura Kisora Dasa Babaji Maharaj's hut from where he would hear Bhaktivinoda Thakur's katha. The fact that Surabhi Kunj was under the Gaudiya Math was a point of great joy for Guru Maharaj as he expressed the need for all these places of significance to be protected. Guru Maharaj also explained how there were still many places that needed protection such as Brahman Puskara, Naimasaranya, and Kurukshetra. Guru Maharaj always maintains utmost respect and appreciation for all Vaishnavas. And again, devotee care was there as well in Gurudeva's class. He asked if the devotees were getting nice prasad and if everyone was liking the Navadvipa Mandala Parikrama and there was a thunderous "Haribol" from everyone!

After the class, Guru Maharaj went to Jagannath Temple at Swarupganj to take darshan of Their Lorships. HG Sankarshan Prabhu (ACBSP) and his family members warmly received Guru Maharaj. We departed from Svarupganj at almost 3 pm, driving off to Pratapnagar to meet the Russian Party. Today, the Russian party had a long walk.

As our cars were approaching Pratapnagar, we saw some Russian matajis walking barefoot without any sign of uneasiness, tolerating the burning gravel road. Guru Maharaj had his lunch in the car and waited for some time for all the devotees to get refreshed and settled down under the prasadam tent for their lunch. While the lunch was getting served, Guru Maharaj narrated the pastimes of Koladvipa. Guru Maharaj spoke on the fight between Varahadeva and Hiranyaksha. Guru Maharaj also spoke about how Lord Caitanya was teased by a drunkard, but how he was easily forgiven as this place is known as Aparadh Vanjan Kuliyapad. No offences are taken into consideration.

After a 30-minute class, Guru Maharaj drove to the nearby ghat and crossed the Ganga River by boat. By now, it was already 5:30 pm. The boat ride on the Ganges was so pleasing. During the cruise, Guru Maharaj was replying some emails. The cool breeze which was combing our faces stole away the tiredness. The sun was retiring for the day. It was the perfect setting and a wonderful scene set on the background of the rising TOVP.

It was a 20 minute boat ride. After reaching the ghat near the confluence of the Jalangi and Ganga rivers, Guru Maharaj was driven to Jagannath temple at Rajapur to meet another Namahatta party. Upon reaching, Guru Maharaj had a nap. After the nap, he had darshan of the world famous Rajapur Jagannath deities followed by 40 minutes of class on the pastimes of the presiding Lord. More than 1000 devotees filled the whole garden, attentively listening to the pastimes. Among them were HH Bhakti Purushottham Swami and HH Gauranga Prema Swami. Guru Maharaj returned back to Mayapur by 9.15 pm. - Maha Varaha Das

22/FEB/2015 - Sri Navadvipa Mandala Parikrama - Day 1 by Maha Varaha Das

22/2/15 NMP Day 1: Today, being the first day of Navadvipa Mandala Parikrama (NMP), the whole atmosphere in the Mayapur campus was filled with kirtan from the very start of dawn. This year, we have six parikrama parties participating. They are the International party, Hindi party, Russian party, Gita Course party and two Nama Hatta parties called Gauranga and Nityananda. We got to know from the parikrama registration booth last night that, this year, about 7,500 devotees have registered for the parikrama. Just at sunrise, all six parties streamed out of the ISKCON Mayapur campus through various gates. Each party had its own set of Sri Sri Gaura Nitai deities, Srila Prabhupada, Srimati Tulasi devi, flags, banners, kirtan parties, etc.

Since there was an emergency meeting in Mayapur, Guru Maharaj was not able to go to any of the parikrama parties in the morning session. By the time the meeting got over, which was by about 10 am, Guru Maharaj was visibly extremely tired. He had a late breakfast and then had a nap to regain some energy so he could attend the parikrama parties. He had almost two hours of rest followed by fruits and then instructed us to find out the current location of all the parikrama parties. Madhava Kanta Prabhu sprung into action without any delay. Just before leaving Mayapur campus, Rakesh Prabhu and his good wife suddenly arrived to meet Guru Maharaj. Guru Maharaj spent about 10 minutes with them, giving a brief darshan. Then we rushed to Tarangpur Ghat at around 2:30 pm. We crossed the Jalangi by boat and then drove to meet the international party at Harihara Ksetra. When we reached Harihara Ksetra, devotees were taking prasadam. Guru Maharaj gave a small talk describing the significance of Harihara Ksetra from the car. Guru Maharaj spoke about how in Harihara Ksetra, Lord Siva chants the name of Gauranga into the ears of the devotees who leave their body there. Then, Guru Maharaj was wheeled down to take darshan of Lord Harihara. After that, we drove  to Vidyanagar to meet the Gita Course party which has almost 1000 participants. There, Guru Maharaj gave a Bengali class for 25 minutes. We then drove off to Pratapnagar to meet the Hindi party. We reached Pratapnagar at almost......Guess what time it was? Yes, 7:30 pm! After a short refreshment, Guru Maharaj narrated pastimes related to Mahaprabhu to a crowd of 800 devotees. During the question answer session, one devotee asked Guru Maharaj, "How do you receive this much enthusiasm in this health condition?" Guru Maharaj spoke about how much Srila Prabhupada did and how much sacrifice Srila Prabhupada took. Then Guru Maharaj said, "What I am doing is nothing." In this way, he explained his answer and at the end, he humbly requested all the devotees to bless him. Then, His Holiness Radharamana Swami Maharaj explained the following verse in response to Guru Maharaj's answer:

"kṣāntir avyartha-kālatvaṁ
viraktir māna-śūnyatā
āśā-bandhaḥ samutkaṇṭhā
nāma-gāne sadā ruciḥ
āsaktis tad-guṇākhyāne
prītis tad-vasati-sthale
ity-ādayo ’nubhāvāḥ syur
jāta-bhāvāṅkure jane

Translation:

When the seed of ecstatic emotion for Kṛṣṇa fructifies, the following nine symptoms manifest in one’s behavior: forgiveness, concern that time should not be wasted, detachment, absence of false prestige, hope, eagerness, a taste for chanting the holy name of the Lord, attachment to descriptions of the transcendental qualities of the Lord, and affection for those places where the Lord resides — that is, a temple or a holy place like Vṛndāvana. These are all called anubhāva, subordinate signs of ecstatic emotion. They are visible in a person in whose heart the seed of love of God has begun to fructify." (Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu 1.3.25-26). The class ended by Maharaj highlighting these great qualities of Guru Maharaj to the assembled devotees. Then Guru Maharaj reached back to Sri Mayapur Dham by 10:30pm. - Maha Varaha Das

03/JAN/2015 - New Delhi (Diary by Shyama Madhusudhana Prabhu)

(03/JAN/2015) Last night, we reached home from Guru Maharaj's weekly hospital check-up at 1:15 a.m. We unloaded the car, unpacked, and attended some phone calls from abroad. As you can imagine, it was a very late night. Guru Maharaj ended up going to bed at about 3 a.m. This morning, I entered Guru Maharaj's room at about 11 a.m. Some local devotees and some devotees from Vrindavan had come to meet Guru Maharaj. Afterwards, Guru Maharaj did his translation of the Caitanya Book. Today was the start of a new lila, the one in which Jagannath Misra sees Nimai in a dream, as a sannyasi, crying out to Krsna in ecstasy. After finishing the translations for the day,  Guru Maharaj chanted his gayatri and was ready to take lunch; by now, it was well past 2 p.m. Guru Maharaj rested for just 45 min this afternoon as he was giving class in the Punjabi Bagh Radhika Raman temple. Janakiram Pr, Dhanya Nimai Pr, and I went along with Guru Maharaj, following behind the other devotees. Upon reaching the temple, there was a tumultuous kirtan with hundreds of devotees singing, dancing, playing mrdangas, karatals, and ghantas, welcoming Guru Maharaj  to the temple after seven to eight years! As Guru Maharaj entered, a beautiful rendition of Radha Krsna Prana Mora was being sung.  Guru Maharaj offered aarti and flowers to Krsna-Balarama, Jagannath-Baladeva-Subhadra, Radhika Raman, and Srila Prabhupada. Then, Guru Maharaj gave class on the glories of the holy names, speaking about Ajamila calling out to his son, Narayana, at the time of death and a lady who was saved by the Visnudutas due to her chanting of Rama's name unintentionally, motivated by her parrot who would always chant Rama's name. Guru Maharaj also spoke on the specialty and straightforward approach of Bhakti Yoga, how it is this love of Krsna that is the ultimate goal; he elaborated on the pastime of Hanuman hugging Rama in this regard and how chanting the holy names of Krsna is the one devotional service that will still be performed even when we see Krsna face-to-face, not performing aarti etc. After class, Guru Maharaj distributed sweets to about 400-500 devotees who were literally falling at his feet for blessings and giving presents and their love. Guru Maharaj then went to meet some of his disciples. It was a nectar-filled meeting. Two devotees took shelter. Next, a 20-year-old devotee was asking Guru Maharaj about how he gets disturbed by thoughts of females and watching movies, sometimes, to due peer pressure. He excused how there is a battle within, one in which he sometimes wins and sometimes loses. Maha Varaha Prabhu was keeping a strict watch over the time. So to extend the meeting time, Guru Maharaj asked Maha Varaha Pr to answer this question. Everyone laughed at this joking response from Guru Maharaj. Then, Guru Maharaj explained how when he was 19, a temple president's wife said that if he didn't get, married, then he couldn't go back to Godhead. Guru Maharaj told Prabhupada about how he wasn't even thinking of marriage as he was only 19. Prabhupada explained to Guru Maharaj how a disciple has until 25 years of age to decide to stay as a brahmacari or grihastha and then the Guru will tell the disciple what the disciple cannot see at 25 years of age. Then Guru Maharaj inmediately said that after this exchange with Prabhupada, he was given sannyasa ashram at 21 years of age and everyone laughed. It was getting quite late but the Punjabi Bagh Temple President had one last question - he asked Guru Maharaj about how he keeps his enthusiasm so high even now. Guru Maharaj immediately said out of humility that he doesn't feel that he is much enthusiastic at all but that he wants to engage whatever energy that he has left in the service of Lord Caitanya's mission and to please Srila Prabhupada. Then, we all got ready to leave and as we drove out of the temple, hundreds of devotees were ecstatically singing Nrsingha prayers and "Jai Gurudeva"! Guru Maharaj took prasad in the car, chanted his gayatri, and entered the house past 11 p.m. Guru Maharaj took some juice and went to bed hearing Brhad Bhagavatamrta at around 1 a.m. Guru Maharaj never complains about any inconveniences and is extremely merciful, such a true fighter for Srila Prabhupada! Jaya Gurudeva!

(Diary for 3rd January 2015 by Syama Madhusudana Dasa)

01/JAN/2015 - New Delhi (Diary by Janakiram Pr)

Hare Krishna
Jay Srila Guru Dev
Happy KC New Year to everyone

Today morning around 10.30 I went to GMs room to pay my obeisances. Prior to visiting the hospital Guru Maharaj visits the temple ,just a day before today happens to be one such a day.
I was waiting with Camera to go with GM, GM came out from the room around 11.30 . we reached the ISKCON Delhi temple at 12.20pm. Devotees were waiting to receive GM and on his arrival they welcomed him with nice Kirtan . It was new year,so the temple was packed.The devotees arranged a barigurd so that everyone could have smooth darshan, the crowd was certainly managed well. Guru Maharaj went to Sri Gaura Nitai Altar H.H.Gopal Krishna Gowswami Maharaj was doing Arati and Guru Maharaj offered a lamp to Gaura Nitai as well after which he offered lamps to Sri Narasinga Dev ,Sri Sri Radha Parthasarathi finally Sri Sita Ram Laxman Hanuman. Guru Maharaj never skips to offer his respects to Srila Prabhupada and offer him prayers, but because the temple was so crowded we were not able to go to Srila Prabhupada alter.

GM came out and was waiting near the lift for Gopal Krishna Maharaj. But as usual in the short wait period few devotees came to see GM and Guru Maharaj blessed them.When Gopal Krishna Maharaj came they both hugged each other and Gopal Krishna Maharaj was ensuring about GM's health. It is always so heart warming to see these loving exchanges. These great personalities show us by example about dealings amongst Vaiahnavas.
Guru Maharaj said "Delhi is  first position in Book Marathon and I also distributed books for you Maharaj." Then GKG Maharaja continued "Delhi is No 1 in December Marathon but Sri Mayapur is No 1 in whole year because they have dedicated sankirtan devotees".  Guru Maharaj said" Maharaj, your disciples are taking care of me so nicely" For which Maharaj replied" Delhi is your second Home! It always amazes me as to how Guru Maharaj never fails to express his gratitude. After the nice meeting with HH.GKG Maharaj we left the temple, and reached home around 2.30pm we all got down but GM was doing His Gayatri.
After that Guru Maharaj came in to the house. 3 devotees were waiting to see Guru Maharaj, so Guru dev spoke to them.One of the mataji's from that group took aspiring from Guru dev.Guru Maharaj blessed them then went inside the room for lunch. I started serving lunch and Radhapathi pr started telling Breaking News. After that  Danyanimai pr read some mails, Guru Maharaj recorded some replies and finally at 4.45pm went to bed for rest. then I came down Mahavaraha told to call Gauranga Simha pr (Mayapur) and connect him to GM as soon as Gm wakes up. Around 6.15pm we woke Guru Maharaj. I cleaned His eye and we helped Him get down. Then I connected to  Gauranga Simha pr. Guru Maharaj was asking about the residents of Mayapur and what kind of Medical facilities they need like this their conversation went on for over 30 mins. meanwhile I started setting up the Broadcast for Srila Prabhupada Katha class since Shyama Rasika pr left to Sri Mayapur. After the class GM distributed ekadasi sweets then He met some devotees from Ajmir  around 10.20pm GM went to His room and started taking dinner around 11.45pm GM went to bed HG. Jayaradhay pr started reading Sri Brihad Bhagavatamrta - By Jr

(Shyama Rasika Dasa: Today morning I got Guru Maharaj's blessings and left from Delhi to Mayapur.)