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
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