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...