Irish Blessings

The flight to Ireland was easy and smooth, and By Krsna's grace, we landed successfully at the Dublin Airport. We easily got through customs and right away found our luggage and our good friend, Gopala Acarya. I sat in the back of Gopala's car catching up on japa while my husband sat in the front catching up with Gopala. A lot had happened since we had last seen him five years before.

Gopala Acarya Dasa

When we arrived at the outer banks of the lake that surrounds Inish Rath island (now called “Govinda-dvipa”), our car was ferried across by a good-natured, jolly gentleman named Madhukantha.

We happily disembarked and walked up the well-known path that gently winds through leafy trees to Sri Sri Radha-Govinda's famous mandir, an old Victorian mansion built in 1854 by Cavendish Butler, and passed from one owner to another, until the island along with its mansion was finally purchased in 1982 by the devotees of Krsna.

Govinda-dvipa, the Palace of Sri Sri Radha-Govinda

We were greeted at the front porch and garlanded by devotees singing the sweet holy names of the Lord. Aravinda Prabhu from Poland, who takes care of the cows full-time, led the blissful kirtan. We were happy to see him, and to see the other devotees in the welcoming group.

Kirtan Party led by Aravinda Prabhu

The air was chilly and moist, so we shivered in our summer attire and goosebumps appeared on our bare arms. But despite the cool temperature, the devotees garlanded us with fresh flowers and gave us a warm welcome.

After a quick tour around the temple building, and merciful darshan of Sri Sri Radha-Govinda...

Sri Sri Radha-Govinda, Govinda-dwipa, Ireland

Gopala and his wife Jahnava showed us to our room. Jahnava held in her arms their two-month-old daughter, Sri Nirsimhi, an adorable little girl with bright eyes and kissable cheeks.

Jahnava and SriNirsimhi

Their seven-year-old son Yadunandana was still at school, so we had to wait a little while to see how big he had grown... 

Yadunandana

The room had been comfortably pre-heated, with two cozy beds outfitted with plenty of warm blankets. Jahnava also supplied us with sweaters, mittens, and socks. 

Our host family

We warmed up quickly and were ready to turn in early. It had been a long night on the airplane and a full day. We were ready to hit the sack.

After mangala-arati and Tulasi-puja the next morning, Gopala announced the schedule for the upcoming week. 

After Gopala finished reporting the line-up of kirtans and classes, we paid obeisances to all the Vaisnavas. Prabhuji and I looked around the temple room. We saw some familiar faces—Aravinda Prabhu, Maha-mantra Mataji who takes care of the Deities, Madhava Krsna Prabhu from Poland, who distributes books, leads kirtan, serves as the temple treasurer, worships the Deities, works in the garden, drives a tractor, and pretty much anything else that needs to be done, he does, Karunesvari Mataji who runs a prasadam distribution business and whom we had met five years before. We met many devotees for the first time as well—Rohini Kumara Prabhu and his good wife Vaisnavi were there along with their two boys.  We met Przemek Prabhu, also from Poland, who quietly made sure the fire was always burning in the temple room woodstove, and Mother Nandini, who was always serving prasadam to the devotees, no matter how late they came for breakfast or lunch. Madhukantha was there, too. We were pleased to note during our stay that he was not only an enthusiastic ferryman, but also an accomplished kirtaniya. He led the kirtan on nagar-sankirtana (see below), and during the twenty-four hour kirtan, he was one of the stalwarts who stayed up all night singing his heart out to Sri Sri Radha-Govinda while almost everyone else napped and snapped.

Cavan, Ireland Harinama-Sankirtana

On Friday, October 2, the devotees of Govinda-dvipa took us on a blissful harinama-sankirtana in downtown Cavan. Cavan is a small city with a funny reputation. It is said that the people of Cavan are miserly. Miserly they may be, but they seem to like the chanting of Krsna's holy names—at least some of them—especially the children! Cavan has a perfect spot for harinama-sankirtana. Just in the middle of town, there is a round concrete stage covered by an open-air canopy. We set up our instruments and started singing and dancing. The smiles of the people communicated their appreciation of the kirtan. Several children who walked by with their parents lagged behind wanting to hear more and to see the devotees dance. They would often convince their parents to return after shopping or banking and stay awhile to listen to the kirtan. Several devotees bravely approached the passersby to try to convince them to take books. For the book distributors, the Cavanese were a hard sell, but “mantra yoga” leaflets, describing the secrets of mantra meditation, they readily took.

Saturday October 3, 10:00 a.m. to Sunday October 4, 10:00 a.m. the 24-hour kirtan was held. Haripada Prabhu kicked off the event with a fired-up class about the glories of chanting Hare Krishna.

Haripada Prabhu prayerfully prepares to speak about the glories of maha-mantra meditation

Besides devotees from all over Ireland, a group of Birmingham devotees came to lead kirtans.

A few of the devotees who participated in the 24-hour kirtan

Jagannatha Kirtanananda Prabhu of Birmingham (pictured above and below in the black sweater with his back to the camera) did a great job of recruiting singers, keeping track of who was supposed to lead kirtan at what time, and chalking their names and time-slots on the blackboard so everyone could see. 

Jagannatha's blackboard is in the background

Everything went swimmingly, with no appreciable breaks in between kirtans. Everyone was still awake--even Sri Sri Radha-Govindaji!  I had never seen Deities stay up all night before.  That was a first.  Not only did Their Lordships stay up all night with us, but They were dressed in amazing outfits that were decorated with Their auspicious holy names!

Sri Sri Radha-Govinda in Their Holy Name outfits

Around 10:00 p.m. on Saturday, my husband and I noticed each other nodding out.  We decided we needed to take some rest so we could be alert during our 2:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m. slot. We set our alarm for 1:45.  In its female British accent, "It's time to get up.  The time is 1:45," announced the alarm clock a mere snap later.  We jumped up, washed our faces and found our way in the dark to the temple. Feeling somewhat refreshed, we took over the mic. The devotees who were there responded enthusiastically to our kirtan, and after an hour, we passed the microphone over to another enthusiastic soul. At 7:15, the Deities appeared in Their new pearl outfit which we heard had taken seven years to complete.

Radha-Govinda in Their new pearl outfit

At about 7:30 a.m., we started leading the kirtan again, and kept going for two-and-a-half more hours. By Sunday 10:00 a.m., we were all so fired up and the holy name was tasting so sweet that we couldn't even feel how physically exhausted we were. We just felt spiritually surcharged and ready to keep chanting. But just to be practical, my husband and I paid obeisances, thanked everyone for participating, then went and honored breakfast prasadam.  After breakfast, we could feel the tiredness slowly pulling down on our eyelids, so we took rest.

Later, we all gathered and talked among ourselves about how blissful the 24 hour kirtan had been...but how during the wee, small hours of the morning, it had become difficult for the few who stayed awake chanting to keep the kirtan going. Madhukantha Prabhu and Bhaktin Arina were two of the stalwarts who kept on kirtaning while almost everyone else napped and snapped. Everyone agreed that for such a small crew of devotees, 24 hours is a long time. We thought that maybe next time we would do a shorter number of hours so the enthusiasm and physical strength of the kirtaniyas would hold up better.

On Monday, the ladies got together at Vaisnavi's house for a sweet afternoon of kirtan, Srimad-Bhagavatam nectar, prasadam, and “girl-talk.“ We all enjoyed our time together, and vowed to hold another Ladies' Lunch next time Prabhuji and I come to Ireland.

Downtown Dublin is an awesome venue for harinama-sankirtana, but on Tuesday we had a little challenge at the first spot. No sooner had we sat down and set up our instruments when a big, well-dressed security guard with a poker face came and told us to pack up and leave. Gopala tried to charm the guy, but he wouldn't budge. Gopala asked to speak to the manager, but the manager wouldn't show his face. So we picked up and moved to another location.

At the new location, we saw a group of three young people sitting on the sidewalk looking bored. They had a guitar with them, but they were just sitting and talking and looking apathetic about life. As soon as we set up our harmonium and started chanting, an obviously frustrated young man came up to us with steam shooting out of his ears and expletives shooting out of his mouth and demanded that we move. He was apparently used to playing his guitar and singing there for money, just not when we happened to walk up. As soon as we set up our instruments, he stormed over and announced that this was his spot! We had seen musicians in the past who would perform on the sidewalks of cities, humbly hoping that passersby would toss money into their open guitar cases. But this guy was adamant. He was convinced that this was his turf, and that we were imposing on him. 

Haripada Prabhu responded to his belligerent tirade with a firm yet humble statement. “We're not moving. We're going to stay here and chant. But we'll chant quietly, and you can go ahead and play your music. We'll stop after forty-five minutes. And I'll personally buy dinner at Govinda's Restaurant around the corner for you and your friends.” The young man was somewhat pacified. He started to play his guitar, but no one threw money into his guitar case, so my husband went over and gave him a donation. The young man played his music for a while, then packed up and left. We stayed and blissfully chanted Hare Krishna, distributed some books, passed out flyers and invitations to appreciative passersby, and taught several people how to chant the maha-mantra. It turned out to be a successful harinama, despite the initial challenges.

Govinda's Restaurant, Downtown Dublin

After a couple of hours of nectarean harinama-sankirtana, we honored Krsna prasadam at the famous Govinda's Restaurant, then had a sweet kirtan with the Tuesday evening crowd who had gathered in the temple room above the restaurant. There must have been thirty people there—some seasoned devotees--including our dear friend Magda from Poland--

Magda

--some students, some working people—all obviously serious practicioners of bhakti-yoga and earnestly interested in reaping the benefits of maha-mantra meditation.

Wednesday, October 7, we piled in the camper van with a group of devotees and headed down south to the home of Ananda Hari and his good wife Pavani and their two adorable kids.

Ananda Hari and Family

At their lovely seaside place, we met the famous cook Kurma Prabhu and his sweet wife Dhira Lalita. They now live in Ireland, so the Irish devotees have the benefit of their delightful association. Kurma led kirtan, singing an old 70's “L.A. tune,” which of course everyone was able to follow and respond to without a problem, because the Hare Krishna tunes in those days were simple and easy to sing. Gopala Acarya cooked up a killer feast, true to his reputation as the best cook in both Poland and Ireland (well maybe now that Kurma Prabhu is there in Ireland Gopala's status there might be questioned) and we all honored prasadam to our full satisfaction while exchanging entertaining stories about our time in Krishna consciousness.

After the feast and a couple hours of chatting in small groups, we exchanged loving farewells with all the devotees who had gathered there. Ananda Hari Prabhu then kindly drove my husband and me to the airport. As soon as we pulled up to the terminal curb, we realized that one of our carry-ons was back at Ananda Hari's house! Oh no! We had left it in Gopala's camper van. We had thought we were going to be driven to the airport by Gopala in the camper, so that's why we had left it inside the van. But we decided not to bother Ananda Hari Prabhu about it, since it would have been an hour drive back to his house and another hour back to the airport. We decided to just let it go, promising ourselves that we would definitely have to come back to Ireland again soon in order to pick it up.

Grateful beyond words for all the Irish blessings and inspiring association, the fantastic kirtans and amazing feasts, we both offered a prayer of thanks to Their Lordships Sri Sri Radha-Govinda

Radha-Govinda in Their rose outfit

for having allowed us to come and meet the wonderful devotees there. We agreed that even if we had not left our carry-on bag in Gopala's van, we would have made a determination anyway to visit again as soon as possible!

We were quite early for our flight, as per my husband's expert arrangement (he always likes to be early wherever he goes), so we had plenty of time to catch up on japa and do a little reading and snoozing at the airport before checking in.

To be continued...    

Sravanam-Kirtanam Camp, Dallas

Thursday, September 24, 2015: After a blissful three weeks in Houston, including a memorable Janmastami, an unforgettable Vyasa-puja, and an incredible prison-preaching experience in Huntsville, Texas headed by Gopal Krishna Prabhu and his partner Sridhara Shyama Prabhu, my husband and I hugged our kids good-bye and drove to Dallas for His Holiness Bhakti Vikasa Maharaja's Sravanam-Kirtanam Camp. 

As soon as we entered the city, we drove to the home of Deva-prastha Prabhu and Adi-sakti Mataji, our dear friends who had invited us to stay with them during the camp. We were warmly welcomed and shown around the house, which was pleasingly decorated both inside and out. Adi-sakti is an accomplished artist, and we were happy to see several of her works of art placed here and there throughout their home. She is also a good cook, and she had prepared a simple but tasty dinner for us, which we happily honored before taking rest.

The next morning, after a couple of navigational challenges (including a one-way street that was supposed to go the other way, according to Google Maps), thanks to my husband's expert map-making and his die-hard determination, we found our way to the old Gurley Avenue temple just in time for mangala-arati.

We had not seen the old Dallas Temple for almost thirty years, so we didn't quite know where to put our shoes or which door to enter. Luckily, a friendly devotee walked toward us with a smile and showed us in. 

Dallas Temple has a special mood. On the outside, it looks like a turn-of-the-century sandstone cathedral. Inside, the polished dark wood floor and massive, equally dark carved pillars complemented by tufted cornflower-blue-velvet benches all around the edge give an antique ambience to the dimly-lit temple room.

ISKCON Dallas temple room

Sri Sri Radha-Kalachandji, dressed most luxuriantly and lovingly enthroned on Their intricately carved teakwood-and-marble asana, preside over Their adoring devotees, gazing down upon them with loving glances.

Sri Sri Radha-Kalachandji

At the time of our visit, Their Lordships' altar was decorated with twisty driftwood and feathery leaf fronds reminiscent of a Celtic Renaissance garden, lending an even more ancient mood to the place. 

Across the hallway and in contrast to the temple room is the famous and very up-to-date Kalachandji's Restaurant, voted the best vegetarian restaurant in all of Dallas.

Kalachandji's Restaurant

Kalachandji's boasts an inviting atmosphere, attractive decor and a menu chock-full of mouth-watering choices. No wonder we saw patrons constantly going in the door of the restaurant while we were there!

The Sravanam-Kirtanam Camp headed by His Holiness Bhakti-Vikasa Swami, with its nectarean kirtans, informative classes, lively discussions and delicious prasadam, was an experience worth recommending to others. We were lucky to participate in the event on both Friday and Saturday, but regrettably had to miss the Sunday segment. We had packing still left to do before catching our flight to India. So we said “Haribol” to our excellent and cordial hosts and headed out early Sunday afternoon.   

To be continued in the next post...

Huntsville Janmastami Celebration

One of the most memorable experiences during our time in Houston was our trip to the Estelle Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice near Huntsville, Texas.  Although we had not planned it into our schedule, Krishna apparently had, so we went along with Krishna's plan. It's always good to cooperate with Krishna's plan.

We were invited to participate by Sriman Gopal Krishna Prabhu of the Houston Temple. An enthusiastic and dedicated prison-preacher, he works in conjunction and alternates with Sriman Sridhara Shyama Prabhu from the Dallas Temple to conduct regular, open call Hare Krishna services which come under the wider umbrella of Eastern Religions.  But this was not just any ordinary program. It was their Janmastami celebration, so they had invited a huge number of inmates for the festival.

After clearing security, we entered a room full of men--maybe forty or fifty--who sat ready and waiting for the Hare Krishna Festival. Comfortable sitting cushions were arranged around the edge of the room, and the devotees had set up a microphone and amplifier with speakers.

My husband started the kirtan. The inmates joined in enthusiastically from the very start, singing robustly like old kirtan veterans. As the kirtan picked up to a more lively pace, the men almost all stood up to dance. They bounced and jumped back and forth, up and down the length of the room, chanting more and more loudly and grinning from ear to ear as they felt more and more jubilant with the intoxicating sound of Lord Krishna's holy names. Even His Holiness Bhakti Vikasa Swami joined in the dancing. The men formed a train, each man holding onto the shoulders of the man in front of him. They weaved and hair-pinned around the room like expert dancers from the old Agnideva kirtans of the seventies.

After the kirtan, His Holiness Bhakti Vikasa Swami and His Grace Haripada Prabhu took turns speaking about Krishna conscious philosophy and answering the men's questions. They reminded the prisoners how we are all imprisoned in material bodies because of our desires and our actions in the past, and how the chanting of Hare Krishna breaks the chains of our imprisonment in this material world. Haripada Prabhu compared the chanting of God's holy names to a spiritual alarm clock that wakes up the soul to his true identity. Maharaja challenged the men to improve their lives by deepening their relationship with God and making loving service to Him their life's prime focus. Some of the men asked questions and Maharaja suggested that my husband answer first. After my husband answered, then Maharaja would give his perspective on the topic. So altogether it was an enlightening, enlivening group discussion.

After the pravachan, a delicious and colorful feast of Krishna prasadam was served by the devotees who had come from both Houston and Dallas to help out with conducting the Huntsville Janmastami program. With satisfaction, I watched the eager faces of the inmates as they were served sumptuous helpings of paneer subji, rice, whole wheat bread and carrot halavah, all cooked and offered with love to Lord Kalachandji. The devotees also served generous helpings of sweet, juicy, crisp green grapes that had been brought by Sridhara Shyama Prabhu and his good wife Lalita-sakhi devi dasi.

During the feast, one very nice, sincere young man--I'll call him Haridas--sat with my husband and me and asked deep, soulful questions about how he could become more sincere and serious in his Krishna consciousness. We felt extremely satisfied preaching to Haridas, a deep soul connection.

As we said our good-byes to all the inmates and to the Dallas devotees as well, Haridas shook our hands warmly and looked into our eyes with an expression that said, “Please do come back again.”

As we drove back to Houston, we shared our impressions and experiences, which were all positive. We reminisced about the exhilarating kirtan, the exuberant dancing, the heartfelt questions, and how the men enthusiastically honored Krishna prasadam. We vowed to come back to the Huntsville Prison for another preaching program next time we're in Houston, Krishna willing.

After Houston, we headed up to Dallas. To be continued in the next post...

Turning Point

If you’re wondering why I’m beginning my story now, after what I’m going to write about has been going on for so long, the answer is that I thought I didn’t have time to write about it. But then I remembered how Srila Prabhupada quoted that old saying, “Drops of water wear away a stone.” And I also remembered how he said, “Two lines, four lines, write your realizations” and how he said that there is time for everything; one simply has to arrange for it. Besides these reasons, there is also an element of fire under my seat lit by other devotees who have urged me to write about our travels, so with all these motivators returning again and again to my mind, I decided to embark.

The turning point came on August 7, 2015. That’s the day we sold our house, the house my husband had built with his own hands.

The house my husband built

We had been talking about selling our house off and on over the last so many years. Now we had every reason to do so, because all our kids had moved out, our cows no longer needed our direct care, we were about to close our business, and we had a place to live elsewhere.

By the supreme arrangement of Yogesvara, the Master of All Mystics, Lord Sri Krsna, a buyer emerged. My husband and I were in India when she appeared from behind the curtain of prayer and with the help of our Godsister Mamata devi dasi. We flew home. Our buyer was coming to Prabhupada Village soon and we needed to get the house ready for her.

As soon as the plane landed, we hit the ground running. We knew we needed to trim down more than eighteen years of accumulation (read: “stri”) to a quantity that we could carry to India in two suitcases and four carry-ons. We cleaned, sold stuff, gave stuff away and made dozens of trips to the dump.

Two weeks later, our buyer arrived. The deal closed quickly. We moved out so she could move in, then we left Prabhupada Village for our very last and final business trip in New York. We were about to close our ten-year-old amber-and-silver jewelry business, and we looked forward to seeing and saying good-bye to our beloved New York clients. Armed with a load of Srila Prabhupada's books to distribute to our customers as farewell gifts, we headed up to Bouckville, New York, a tiny town near Syracuse.

The trip went smoothly and the sales went well. We gave out Srila Prabhupada's books as gifts to our customers who all wished us well in our newly opening life-chapter.

When we returned to North Carolina, we still had more cleaning to do at the house. Although we had just disembarked from the plane a few days before and our body-clocks were still off from jet-lag, we pushed through the sleepiness to finish the cleaning and clearing of stuff that had piled up over the years.

Almost as soon as we returned from New York, we took a break from our de-cluttering and headed up to the Petersburg, Virginia Federal Correctional Institution with Sarva-drik Prabhu and his wife Sudevi for a weekend of prison preaching and association with the devotees of Richmond, who hold regular Bhakti-vriksha programs there.

After a blissful time with the Petersburg and Richmond Bhaktas, we headed back down to Prabhupada Village for more cleaning. We had about one more week before we were scheduled to leave on a tour to see our kids and grandkids, so we were motivated to finish as quickly as possible. We were busy, busy, busy up until the very last minute. We were thankful that we had pretty much reached our de-cluttering goals, and felt satisfied that we had done our best. We began our journey to Georgia, Florida and Texas with happy, grateful hearts.

The trip went well. We had a long-cherished family reunion with our son Ben (aka "KD" or Krishna dasa), his lovely wife Stacie, and their four beautiful children in Savannah. Our younger son Nitai Pran came up from Gainesville to join us. We all laughed and talked for hours, catching up after a long time. As lunchtime rolled around and the youngest kids' tummies started growling, we all piled into cars and headed to the Sentient Bean, a popular vegetarian restaurant.

The Sentient Bean Vegetarian Restaurant, Savannah, Georgia

When I saw the name of the restaurant, I wondered if they had derived it from Srila Prabhupada's oft-used phrase "sentient being." The menu was full of delicious choices, and upon entering, we made our orders and then we were escorted to a big table, big enough for our entire group of nine, to enjoy our colorful vegetarian meal.

Afterwards, we took a walk in Forsyth Park, right across the street. The kids romped and climbed trees while we adults strolled and chatted, hoping that that would burn off a few of the calories we had just ingested. While we were there at the park, we saw a man fashioning woven "roses" out of palm leaves.  I love old arts and crafts like that.

Before hugging everyone and saying our final good-byes, we all paid a visit to the Coldstone Creamery, a unique ice cream parlor, where Prabhuji and I secretly offered the whole store to Krishna. We then proceeded to purchase almost the entire stock of ice cream and toppings for our family dessert binge. I was amazed to see how much ice cream we could all eat after such a satisfying meal at the Sentient Bean. As my friend Vrndavanesvari says, "There's always room for dessert."

The following morning, Pita and I traveled to Alachua to see our ox Abhay, who had relocated to warmer pastures (tormented by below-freezing temperatures, he had practically frozen during the winter in North Carolina—now he looks happy, peaceful and WARM in the Florida weather).

After petting Abhay, massaging his brisket and dewlap and feeding him all kinds of treats, we traveled over to New Talavana for a day and a half of blissful retreat with our friends Sri Raga Prabhu and Narada Priya Mataji, then on to Houston.

ISKCON Houston

For many years, my husband and I have had to engage in business during August and September, so we always found ourselves celebrating Janmastami and Vyasa-puja either in a motel or driving down the road to our next business engagement.  This year, for the first time in YEARS, we spent Janmastami and Vyasa-puja IN A TEMPLE instead of in a motel or on the road!!! It was so awesome to be in front of Sri Sri Radha-Nilamadhava...

Sri Sri Radha-Nilamadhava, Houston ISKCON

...drinking in Their gorgeous, benevolent darshan, as the midnight arati conchshell was blown and the kartals and mrdangas percussed to the nectarean kirtan. After having fasted all day and into the night past 1:00 am, we feasted to our hearts content, then crashed. (I'm not as strong as I used to be. When I was in my twenties, I could stay up all night on Janmastami night, go to mangala-arati on Srila Prabhupada's Vyasa-puja morning, and dance for the whole arati. Couldn't do it this time.)

Our daughter Kamalini was in the throes of not just morning sickness, but all-day, all-night sickness. She's going to have a very easy baby, according to some. My husband and I took over most of the cooking for the three weeks we were there with Bhakta Tracy, Kamalini and Bhadrasena.  We chauffeured Bhadrasena to school and back, and helped with cleaning and laundry.

During our time in Houston, we experienced a most phenomenal preaching program at the Huntsville, Texas Correctional Complex.

His Holiness Bhakti Vikasa Swami

 His Holiness Bhakti Vikasa Swami was in Houston at the same time, so we had quite a crowd of devotees at the prison for their annual Janmastami Festival. It was a stupendous success, and the cherry on top was a fantastic feast of Krishna prasadam prepared by the dedicated devotees of the Houston and Dallas Temples.

To be continued in the next post...