(25/JAN/2020 Thakurgaon, Bangladesh) Guru Maharaja got ready to go to the pandal. But, as we heard that, still the initiation preparation is going on. So, Guru Maharaja left from the residence at 11:30am. There was two escort police vans with Guru Maharaja. And, I left early at 9am in order to cover the activities and see how the audio systems are there etc. There are two main stages with big pandal setup was there. One for initiation ceremony and another one for public program and for the devotees night stay. And, one more big pandal for devotees Prasadam, where at one shot 5000 devotees can eat. Apart from this, there was lot of shops for locals to shop, like tulasi beads, cloths, books, etc. And at a time 100 devotees can take bath, such an arrangement.
Today 930 devotees will take Harinama initiation. Day and night interviews were conducted and many got rejected, and filtered. At last 930 candidates got approved to take Harinama Diksa. Devotees were making flower rangolis, and securities were managing the crowd, making Barry gates for Guru Maharaja, over all everyone was just looking at the direction where Guru Maharaja is going to come. And thousands were just entering into this village Thakurgaon for Guru Maharaja's darsan.
Guru Maharaja car entered the Thakurgaon village, and both sides there were devotees for nearly half a kilometer or more. And flower showered, the car was struggling to move as devotees were just like honey bees surrounded the car. Police and securities were just trying to move and clear the way for Guru Maharaja's car.
And His Holiness Bhakti Vinaya Maharaja was present at the temple gate to welcome Guru Maharaja. When Guru Maharaja got down, Caru Candra Prabhu offered a garland made of pop-corn. And this was made by Madhavi Nandini Mataji from Dacca. Bhakti Vinaya Maharaj did a simple Arati to Guru Maharaja and welcomed him. Guru Maharaja took darsan of Sri Sri Radha Gopinath Gauranga, and Prabhupada; offered ghee lamps and went to pandal. While coming to pandal through out the way there were devotees and Public, simply was waiting to have a few seconds of darsana. They were waiting from morning 8am. Almost 5 hours of waiting just to see few seconds. Guru Maharaja got up on the stage, the whole atmosphere was resounded with ulu-dvani and hari-dvani. His Holiness Gauranga Prema Swami Maharaja, His Holiness Bhakti Priyam Gadadhara Maharaja was present. There few books got released. From Victory Flag Publications we released "Bhagavad-sevar Rahasya" a new Bengali book. Namasudha a small hand book also got released from Chittagong.
Guru Maharaja gave an address before the initiation ceremony. Then the initiation began Maha Varaha Pr was calculating how much time, it is taking to give out beads for 100 devotees, and he was with a stopwatch. And, Guru Maharaja said, for each devotee I give bead, I will chant one maha-mantra. But it took more than two hours for 450 initiations.
Then there was a break and Guru Maharaja went to take his lunch and a nap. Meanwhile the yajna was conducted. Guru Maharaja had his lunch, and a short nap. Then got ready and came back to the stage and resumed the initiation. And after completing 930 initiations Guru Maharaja came to room and refreshed and went to the stage for his evening program @ 7pm.
The evening pandal program was packed with more than 15,000 people. There were some ministers, and political leaders were there. Some are Muslims still they were there. And Krishna Kirtan Pr's team was performing lots of Kirtan and bhajans through out the day, and in the evening they were doing baul-sangeet. When Guru Maharaja came up to the stage and started his lecture. In his lecture, he explained about "Allah-o-akbar" which is nothing but a "satyam param dimahi" so, like this he started to could common things between Muslim religion and sanatana-dharma. And he also said the Buddhi-manta khan pastime. The crowd was totally there for Guru Maharaja. After the speech, the dignitaries came to Guru Maharaja and paid their respects. And some even touched Guru Maharaja's lotus feet and took blessings.
Then Guru Maharaja left the stage. We all packed our things and got into the car. The crowd started move out from the pandal towards Guru Maharaja's send off. Guru Maharaja understood it and he immediately went back to the stage and sat there to listen other's talk. And again all the crowd came back to pandal. Each dignitaries glorified Guru Maharaja and Bhakti Vinaya Maharaja. The whole session was extra boosting. Then completing the whole program Guru Maharaja left from the stage. And we reached home it was 10pm. Like this the day was fully packed with programs. Tomorrow also it will be the same for sure. (Syama Rasika dasa - Personal Diary)
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