Shri Krishna's abode in New Vrindaban, WV...4

The last day

The next day I got up a bit late, i.e. at 4 am. The bathroom had a line, so I had wait for 20 minutes or so to get it. Then I realized why Vinod sir had asked us to get early. There was no aarti happening today, so I slept more.

I reached the temple at around 4:45. To my astonishment, there were around 50-75 people busy in the courtyard, singing the mantra - 'Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare'. There was no dance happening, but some devotees were on their feet, were moving to and fro in slow motion. I had expected a lesser headcount. The Lord was still asleep.

At around 5, I realized that the gates of Lord's altar were about to be opened. I moved towards the front. The Supreme Personality appeared, dressed in bright white, same as that of full moon, but without any spots. All the devotees had moved towards the Lord to welcome him on the 8th day of brighter moon (Shukla Ashtami) in the month of Jyestha! Radhaji was smiling beside Him! 

Since there was no aarti, all the devotees hailed the mantra in full voice to welcome the Lord. After some time all the devotees did the same in front of Lord Narsimha and Lord Jagannath. The mantra singing went on and on and in between it used to become really fast. I was just clapping and looking at the sublime and eternal Lord of this world! 

After some time the doors of the altar were closed. The kirtan continued and I came out at around 7 am. I wanted to go to the kitchen and help again, but sensed as if I had to do something else. I started walking towards the Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's statue beside the lake. Actually the lake was in two parts. I called home and started telling my Maa the details of New Vrindavan and also beauty of Shri Krishna. I also told her how Lord Krishna united people from different countries, communities and cultures. I had seen and met people from different part of India, United States, Europe and of British and Afro-American community. The unifying force was universal here - our Lord :)! All of us had found a refuge in the Supreme Leader. 

Anyways after the call ended, I met a devotee from New York. He was a student who had recently completed his degree from Long Island University in New York and he told that he was lucky that iSKCON was just a walking distance from his university. He was a wearing a dhoti and I asked how he handles that. It has been a mystery for me. We talked for sometime and later I met him during the kirtan also. 

I took some more snaps with my phone cam. 

 After the breakfast, I went for the kirtan again. I knew that it was about to end, hence wanted to enjoy the last bit of celebration. I moved close to the Lord Vasudev's altar. The Lord had reappeared and ...! I can't, I just can't describe Him. Please, you judge Him! I just know that whenever I looked at Him, He looked better! Well, better than the last time, He is the best! Isn't He? Here's His snap -

I was rendered speechless, yet again. Whilst the Kirtan was going on I saw several devotees. There was one Afro-American devotee who was taking snaps of all kids.  In children the Lord takes the most innocent and nescient form! True! Later he started to dance with another American devotee and they took snaps. When all the devotees were busy dancing and glorifying the Lord's name, the Lord was watching all of us with a mild but charming smile! 

I also saw a devotee, who had both hands raised towards the Lord. She was quite old and had a lot of emotions in her eyes. I felt that she wants to hold Lord Krishna in child form. Later I saw a small American devotee. He must have been 2 years or less. He was wearing a kurta and shorts and was looking at the Lord incessantly. His dad told me that's what he wants to do all the time - Look at the Lord. I could not resist but take his snap along with the Lord, definitely after taking his dad's permission.  I also saw one devotee who was dressed up as Mirabai (I think). She had a doll in her hand, and she made her doll also dance when the kirtan was on.

I moved towards the exit of the courtyard, so that I can take a snap of devotees. It also has Ashish  (in center) and Vinod sir (in the right mid corner). The snap gives a fair idea of the courtyard.

The kirtan ended around 11:30 so I came back for packing my stuff. Vinod sir had said that we will leave immediately after the lunch. And so we had get in the line for dinner so that we can run immediately after that. But Shri Krishna had something else arranged. 

Before leaving, Vinod sir introduced all of us to Adiguru Prabhuji. He stood with us and narrated stories about how the New Vrindavan temple was built. he told that two of the devotees tried to propound that Srila Prabhupad was God, and then he expelled them. He accepted them when they offred this land bought from an American lady. I have forgotten the price at which the land was bought, but she wanted to sell it to someone who had some connection with the God. Kirtanananda Swami and Hayagriva Swami (the two devotees) explained her about Lord Krishna and got the land. The land on which the temple is built is close to a place, where 150 (not sure of the number) native American Indians were killed. So, by Lord Krishna's grace that land was purified. Prabhuji even explained how the devotees and volunteers used the build the road and the temple. They all had the same dress for everyone so everyday everyone used to grab new clothes. He also mentioned the first two statues of Shri Krishna and Radhaji that were worshipped at the temple (in the above pic they are still present at the bottom). Out of curiosity I asked him why  we don't have statues of Maa Devaki and Maa Yashoda, because Lord Krishna loves his earthly mothers a lot. He answered that in ISKCON the tradition was to worship the Lord along with Radhaji. But they do have statues of Maa Devaki and Maa Yashoda, that are taken out on Kartik Ekadashi (in November). That is the official time when Lord Vishnu gets up from His Shayan (sleep). Reasonable! When a child gets up from sleep, he wants to see his mother first! 

He also told us about the tree under which Srila Prabhupad used to meditate. Later he walked towards the tree as we moved in our minibus. He asked me to hug and like an obedient student, I did that :). We bid him adieu (U Mataji, P Prabhuji, V Mataji, Tulsi and I had already said goodbye to Shri Krishna and Radhaji before boarding the minibus).

The journey began thereafter and while taking the driver's seat Vinod sir asked whether I saw the Palace of Gold or not?   I said I was too busy looking at the Lord's awesomeness, so I have left it for next time. In some time realized that he had forgotten his bead-bag (comprising of his chanting rosary), so he had to return. He asked N Prabhuji to show me the Palace of Gold in the meantime. It was aesthetically build palace, with beautiful colored windows and nice flooring, but taking inside snaps was not allowed. One of the mannequins of Srila Prabhupad was so life like that I felt that he moved. He was sitting and writing something. 

The journey remained silent for some time because the kids (Roshan and Ashish) were tired. I was in back corner again. But the silent was not to prevail for long. Soon they got up and were refreshed. Thankfully U Mataji was there. I asked them the full form of NASA - Roshan answered that correctly. I was surprised. I also asked them about momentum. They were able to explain the concept, but had forgotten the definition. That is heavy for kids of 10 years of age. They were kids from a highly spiritual families and were aware of ultimate goal of human life - Moksha. At their age I did not even know what it is. Obviously they have better grounding, probably from previous births. Ashish even declared that he will return to reside in New Vrindavan after he will finish with his college. Both these kids have a brilliant future for sure. I had some philosophical and spiritual discussions with U Mataji too. 

In the evening, after dinner (that was arranged by N Prabhuji through his special effort, thanks to him for that), I thanked Vinod sir for this journey. He then narrated a story about one person who was trying to find true Lord. That person finally landed on Shri Krishna, since He is the only one who has a flute and in all his pics he is shown as enjoying. So the one who is Supreme Enjoyer is the Lord. The story vowed me.

We reached Bloomington after 00 hrs. The last thing I did was to talk to Tulsi. She had woken up and  was clinging with V Mataji. I asked her is she not getting sleep. She cutely looked at me and then turned and clung harder. I took my bag, said goodbye to all and started my walk towards the apartment, thinking about the divine face of Shri Krishna!

I sincerely thank Vinod sir for arranging this memorable, remarkable and illustrious journey for all of us. The journey was one, that most of us will remember for long. It was a great honor to be a small part of glorification and celebration of the Lord! As my Maa says, we get the companionship of Gurus, learned and spiritual people, through great luck and good karma of past lives. Hare Krishna!

(Thanks for reading these 4 posts. I hope I was able to explain the things as I experienced them. I am sorry, if I have missed anything, which I could have, my senses are obviously limited. All glories to Shri Krishna! Hari bol!)

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Another blog that I write is Sri Krishna's Blessings on Vedic Astrology

http://oneastrovedic.blogspot.in/2009/12/introduction.html
http://oneastrovedic.blogspot.in/

Shri Krishna's abode in New Vrindaban, WV...3

Darshan

Our lodge was just above the 'Govinda' restaurant. After getting down the stairs of the lodge, the temple was on the right hand side at a walkable distance. On the left hand side was the entrance to the restaurant. 

Before even my alarm can blow its horn, I woke up. It was 2:55 am. I slowly got up and searched for my stuff to take it to bathroom. I think I did disturb S Mataji and her parents. Sorry for that. After taking the bath, I met N Prabhuji moving towards the bathroom. At 3:25 I was in the temple. Shri Krishna was fast asleep and His aarti was about to happen between 4:30 am and 5 am. In the courtyard, there were some 4-5 people busy chanting - 'Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare'.  I roamed around the courtyard and paid my respects to Shrila Prabhupad. I had brought the Itra from my hometown for Shri Krishna and also pure saffron. I went inside the back room, and met one of the senior priests. I gave him the my gifts and asked him to offer to adorn the Lord with both of them. He received them with a smile. 

The courtyard was fairly big. On the front was Shri Krishna's altar, with Lord Chaitanya and Gaura Nitai on his right and Gopalnathji on His immediate left. On further left was another altar for Lord Narsimha. On the left hand side of the entrance, was one spring on which Lord Krishna's photo was there. There was also a small basket, in He was sitting in his child form and had all His toys with him. Lord Jagannath, Subhadra Mataji and Baldevji were also on the left. Just opposite to  them on the right hand side of the entrance Srila Prabhupad sat with his alluring smile. Also, on the right hand side we had a wooden chariot with Lord Krishna and Arjun. The courtyard had beautiful wooden flooring. On the roof and the walls there were pictures of Lord Krishna's pastimes. Several    pillars with symmetric carvings supported the roof. There were benches where people can sit and in one corner some mats were there, that could be taken to sit on the ground.

At around 4:15 am, Vinod sir, S Prabhuji and N Prabhuji arrived in the courtyard. Lord Krishna made his angelic appearance at 5am. Pleasing, sublime, radiant, ravishing, elegant, exquisite, charming, fascinating, dazzling, resplendent, enticing! Period. My vocab proved to be too small before my feelings at that moment. Sorry Radhaji, Lord Krishna took all my attention! So how they all looked? There you go...

I was standing behind the main singing priest, while the mridangam player was beating his mridang with full force. The aarti took some time to gain momentum and then it was like lot of energy being generated (thru singing)  in the courtyard. Vinod sir had moved very close to altar. All the devotees were singing the aarti with a lot of enthusiasm. The aarti went all till 6 am and it included aarti of Lord Narsimha and Lord Jagannath (respectively left and right of Lord Krishna in the courtyard). I had never heard such energetic aarti before (except at Somnath Temple in Gujarat, India in Nov, 2011). I was lucky to compliment the singer priest later on. 

At the end of the ceremony the main priest arrived and requested for some volunteers in the kitchen. I had no experience, so I went ahead and offered myself for any suitable job. I was relieved to see N Prabhuji and S Prabhuji also in the kitchen. Both of them were taking care of cutting oranges for breakfast. My job was to cut tomatoes. And I think Shri Krishna wanted me to become perfect in that so I cut two big baskets :D! At one time I thought whether the tomatoes will ever end. 

In the kitchen there were other devotees busy helping. One of them looked like a WWF fighter (not trying to make his fun, but that was my first perception) and I really thought that he was a professional cook (looked similar to ones we see in Indian movies). I met one Telugu devotee from New Jersey. I can't sit silent for long, so I had a good time interacting with devotees there. 

After the morning breakfast we had lecture from a senior Guruji from Mayapur, India. He narrated some stories about Lord Krishna. He said that it is written in Vishnu Puran that when Lord Krishna's devotees prepare for a feast for glorifying Lord's name, then, at the same time He also prepares for feast for all his devotees. He narrated the story how Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel met a Sadhu in Mathura, to whom they asked why India is not getting independence, inspite of such sincere efforts on their part. Sadhuji told them that the ventures that do not glorify Lord's name, cannot find success easily and even if success is there, it is short lived. After that only Mahatma Gandhi started his song in his preachings that we know as 'Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram, Patit Pavan Sita Ram...'. After that only they were able to find success in their venture.

He also talked about Srila Prabhupad's dream temple in Mayapur, that is up for construction to complete by 2017. He said that Srila Prabhupad said that even though he is in USA, but his heart was in Mayapur, India. He asked all of us to contribute to the temple.  He told the story when he was in China some time from now, and he asked for devotees help to build the temple. To his amusement, a little girl also raised her hand to offer help. He asked her how and she had a perfect answer. She said that she will collect all her money from her birthday and donate for the temple. Inspiring. 

I humbly request you to contribute to the Temple of Vedic Planetarium.

Before the 24 hour kirtan began all devotees visited the Palace of Gold build for Srila Prabhupad. I enjoyed the kirtan for some time. It began around 11 am. Two senior priests, sitting in the center of the courtyard of temple, were singing- 'Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare' and other devotees repeated after that. There were 2-3 devotees on mridangam, one afro-american devotee on flute, one American on guitar and rest on other instruments. On the whole the name of Krishna and Ram were floating in air and all devotees were completely submerged in that. I stood close to the altar and looked at Lord Krishna, incessantly. 

During the day, I also got to see U Mataji and her family. Also, I met S Mataji and her parents and daughter in between. Earlier in the evening I had some interaction with her daugher Rijula, who seemed a very quiet child. She had a little elephant, whom she always held with her. I once stole it from her and she kept on asking for it. Later she took it. Also, in the afternoon, I had a small chat with S Mataji's mother and she explained how she used to live when her husband went out for 1965 war. Yes, I was enthralled to hear that I had a veteran war hero was my roommate for a day. Her husband had his retirement from Indian Navy! 

I also had dialogues with V Mataji (Vinod sir's wife) and little Tulsi. She is one cool child. Always playful. I loved to spend time with her. 

Later in the afternoon I took my cam and went out for a walk. 

I visited the kitchen few more times during the day. In the afternoon, when I was there I met a Prabhuji from Belgium. He had visited Bombay ISKCON and Jagannath Puri. 

I advised him to visit Mathura Vrindavan and Dwarka in his next visit. Another time I met one more Telugu devotee from Virginia. He had been visiting the temple since 2008. I also met S Mataji (wife of N Prabhuji who came from Washington DC, Vinod sir introduced him last evening).

There were also devotees who were not Indians. And the main one was our chief cook. He proved to be an effective manager of resources and kept all of us busy. And he took care that he also was also busy cooking! N Prabhuji (the one who travelled with us) asked his name. He said - 'Gaurang Prasad' in American accent. Then someone asked him - 'What do you do?'. 'Cook for Krishna' - a prompt answer indeed. He was a tall and humble guy. His looks reminded me of Matthew Hayden. Later he told he was from Gainesville, Florida. He is about to visit India in October. I asked him what his name means. He told me 'Beautiful' or 'color of gold' and name of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. I remembered that as name of Lord Shiva so I told him the same. Later he hailed - 'Krishna is going to have a feast today!'.  He also explained me why we address people with 'Prabhuji'. I was of opinion that only Lord Krishna should be called as 'Prabhu' then why general public is addressed in that fashion. He said that The Lord is 'MahaPrabhu', hence the difference.

In the evening, there was one American Mataji who made chocolate cake, banana cake and coconut cake. Gaurang Prabhuji had his own Krishna statue in the kitchen, to which he offered the prasadam. I also got a chance to have the chocolate cake for dinner, and it was incredibly tasty. After all, it was for Lord Krishna, who is the Supreme Enjoyer so it had to be tasty. 

Later in the night I came to attend the kirtan again. It was going on in full flow. Possibly there were around 300 people in the central courtyard. I am not sure of any Sur or Taal or anything, but the music was very soothing. In between, it became very fast and people had started to dance also. T Prabhuji (from Washington DC) requested me to dance, but I humbly declined. I made some videos which I am putting below.

In the second video Vinod sir appeared at around 30s. Also, at the beginning of this second video there was one devotee, with whom I got a chance to interact the next day, just before leaving. He danced as if even he falls down, or trips over someone, Lord Krishna will hold him. I had never seen such a devotee earlier in my life. 

I went to room at around 11pm. Another eventful day lay ahead of me.

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Another blog that I write is Sri Krishna's Blessings on Vedic Astrology

http://oneastrovedic.blogspot.in/2009/12/introduction.html

http://oneastrovedic.blogspot.in/

Shri Krishna's abode in New Vrindaban, WV...2

The Journey

It was a beautiful Friday morning on June 14th, 2013. the Sun was shining bright and birds were chirping in a welcoming note. That was the day when we were leaving for New Vrindavan. Before leaving the apartment, I took out my tarot cards to see how the journey will be. I got Ace of Pentacles (indicating a financial opportunity - I interpreted this as gain of good Karma, but I was wondering how), Ace of Swords (signifying Influential people - my interpretation was meeting with Gurus and receiving some lectures) and The Sun (increase in Sattvic energy, recognition and meeting people of authority - I took this as meeting people of religious authority and Gurus). So overall the journey was predicted to be more than awesome. 

I reached Vinod sir's place sharp at 8:19 am. He had asked us to reach there by 8:20. Mataji welcomed me and in some time Ashish, and S Prabhuji arrived. Sir also arrived with 12 seater minibus. In the meantime N Prabhuji and S Mataji had arrived along with her parents and little daughter Rijula. We put our luggage in the minibus and started to pick up U Mataji and P Prabhuji along with their son Roshan. In total, we comprised of 4 kids and 10 elders. I had already met all of them in the earlier events. Unfortunately, Navan could not come due to his office obligations. On the way to U Mataji's place, Ashish declared his excitement for meeting Roshan. I was not sure what lay ahead of me, while I sat beside N Prabhuji on the backmost seat.

After everyone boarded the minibus, we started our journey. On the way, Vinod sir narrated how people visiting religious places in India will watch Bollywood movies. He added that we must take full advantage of our visit and hence we had kirtan in the minibus. Ashish took the mridangam and started to play while most of us sung. I had seen him earlier and he is really talented for sure. Later on N Prabhuji took the lead.  

We had our lunch at Indianapolis. The lunch prasadam was as usual awesome. Many thanks to all Matajis for preparing it. And special thanks to N Prabhuji for the sweet. By that time, the N Prabhuji had moved on the center seat in the first row and I was in the backseat corner and the official KT had started. I had always liked company of kids and kids as perspicacious as that of Roshan and Ashish, I must say, I really had nice time, even though by the end of journey my thoughts were to be changed, since my head was about to get empty. They had, I must say, a million questions. I tried to answer almost all of the, but obviously had to shrug off some. I told them about momentum, NASA, Newton's Laws, rocket propulsion, escape velocity, capitals of countries and what not. These kids were unstoppable. Thankfully, U Mataji was close by so she was controlling the kids. In the meantime we also had breaks in the form of kirtans. S Prabhuji, P Prabhuji and Vinod sir had taken turns in driving. Ohh, I forgot to mention, we also witnessed some sweet tantrums by little Tulsi, Vinod sir's daughter, who was apple of everyone's eyes. 

I took some snaps on our way:

Reaching the Destination

We reached our destination at around 8 pm Central Time. As we reached, Vinod sir hailed - 'Hari Bol'.  As we moved away from McCreary's Ridge Rd towards the temple, we were welcomed by a white peacock. The Lord was already showering His love. We saw Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and his mate along a lake on the left hand side. On the right hand side was the Palace of Gold. 

I wanted to see the Lord, but it looked a bit late. The place was awesomely beautiful, and obviously, it had to be, it is Krishna's abode, right? After getting down, Vinod sir introduced us to some of old colleagues from SF (If I remember both of them had come from Washington DC along with their families). We moved our stuff to our rooms. I was staying with S mataji and her parents and her daughter. Ashish adjusted with his great friend Roshan and his parents U Mataji and P Prabhuji. S Prabhuji and N Prabhuji stayed with Vinod sir and his family. 

We had dinner in the 'Govinda' restaurant. Vinod sir said that if anyone wanted to participate in morning Aarti of the Lord, must get up at 3 am. That was my target. 

(I like to describe the details, so that almost anyone can envisage the ambiance. Also, I refrain from using people's name, lest they are kids. If requested I can put the real names or remove them. I have taken the liberty of using Vinod sir's name and I am sure he will not mind.)


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Another blog that I write is Sri Krishna's Blessings on Vedic Astrology

http://oneastrovedic.blogspot.in/2009/12/introduction.html
http://oneastrovedic.blogspot.in/

Shri Krishna's abode in New Vrindaban, WV...1

The Beginning

It all started in 2011, when for the first time my friend and younger brother Abhishek Srivastava told me about ISKCON. He was a student and devotee at ISKCON Pune and his talks about Shri Krishna and events at ISKCON Pune had mesmerized me. We used to discuss about the shlokas in the Geeta and such. In early 2012 I was asked to leave India again for an onsite project. So the first thing that I did was to look for places where I can visit Krishna. I was offered projects in Apple, California and SF, Bloomington. The latter was finalized first and landed in Bloomington,IL. I had already seen that this place was close to Chicago, and hence I had made a programme that I will visit 1716 W Lunt Ave, Chicago soon. So, I paid my first visit to Shri Krishna on the Memorial Day weekend in 2012.  As I expected I definitely spellbound to see the Lord there. Later on I visited the Lord in Orlando , Florida with friends. The two pics that I took are below:

ISKCON Chicago, IL

Hare Krishna Temple, ISKCON Orlando, FL

 May be that was the time when Shri Krishna realized my enthusiasm and I fortunately met Vinod sir (we also know him as Vrindapati Das), though a friend of mine.  He organizes Sanjeevani events every other weekend in Bloomington where people come and listen to his awesome lectures and stories from ShrimadBhagwatam and ShrimaBhagwadGeeta. And after that lunch prasadam is offered to the Lord. I still remember my first visit to his place. We celebrated Govardhan Pooja at his place, the story how Shri Krishna as a kid lifted the Gowardhan Parvat on his finger. Vinod sir narrated the story how Shri Krishna shattered Lord Indra's arrogance. He also told other tales related to Gowardhan Pooja. The Mataji had actually made a Gowardhan Parvat with rice and other eatables. How did it look? Here it is:

In the coming days we similarly celebrated Geeta Jayanti and other festivals too. Vinod sir narrated stories about Garbhodakshayi and Kshirodakshayi Vishnu and the manifestation of the Universe once. I got  a chance to meet with several learned and spiritual people. I must confess that I was a less of a visitor as compared to Navan, who is my room-mate. I think, he visited almost all programmes, skipping just sometimes due to work. 

After some months Sir told that there will be a trip to New Vrindavan. I was initially not sure that I would be able to visit, but finally, as Sir once said to me on IM chat - 'Krishna has a plan for you', hence I got this chance.

(Normally, I don't write about things going on in my personal life, but this time after returning from New Vrindavan, I was feeling so overwhelmed, that I decided to write about this journey. I am writing this primarily because this blog (and the other blog) is kind of a diary of my thoughts, and I want to remember it!)

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Another blog that I write is Sri Krishna's Blessings on Vedic Astrology

http://oneastrovedic.blogspot.in/2009/12/introduction.html
http://oneastrovedic.blogspot.in/