BangaloreMangalore

We arrived in Bangalore early in the morning on Saturday, December 26, 2015. Jaya Vraja's son Bhagavat was there to pick us up, johnny-on-the-spot. He's always reliable. Good man. Good driver. 

After a pleasant ride to their home, we were lovingly greeted by our host family. We bathed, dressed in clean clothes, then went downstairs to meet with Jaya Vraja. We chatted about this and that, had a mug of hot soup (Jaya Vraja's cooking is famously out-of-this-world), rested a bit, then climbed into the car again, this time to participate in a gathering of devotees at Supriya Radhika's house. 

We were warmly welcomed by Supriya and her good husband Srikanth, their handsome son Surya along with their entire extended family, as well as by the regular group of ladies who meet for satsanga in that part of Bangalore.

The living room was packed. It was good to see familiar faces as well as some new ones. We had a lovely, sweet, uplifting kirtan. Intermittently, between kirtan melodies, Haripada Prabhu spoke inspiring words about how Krsna is the most important Person in our life and how, believe-it-or-not, we will forget our current family members at the time of death. He proved that to us by challenging, "Can anyone in this room tell me the name of one family member from your last life?" Everyone laughed and no one could come up with a name.  He strengthened his point by illustrating how we forget our family members on a daily basis--whenever we go to sleep. "When I fall asleep at night, I forget who my wife is, who my children are, I forget my parents and my siblings.  I forget where I am, where my home is, and how much money I have in my bank account." Everyone in the room admitted to the same forgetfulness when we fall asleep. And it happens every night. So he convinced us that we should all focus on cultivating our relationship with Krishna, because due to the fact that He has been with us throughout our entire sojourn in this material realm, through body after body, He really has proven Himself to be our very best Friend. Not that we should forget and neglect our relatives, just that we should keep Krishna in the center of our lives, remembering always that He is our best friend and constant companion who never leaves us.

After the kirtan-pravachan, we all happily honored Sri Krsna prasadam, the mercy of the Lord in the form of delicious vegetarian food. Prasadam at Supriya's house is like nothing you can imagine ever experiencing in this material world. It's like parijata compared to earthly flowers. Parijata is a heavenly flower. Literally.

Parijata Flowers

The parijata tree, which blooms at night and drops its flowers by daybreak, was brought to this earth from the heavenly planet of Amaravati by Lord Sri Krishna Himself at the behest of His beloved Queen Satyabhama, who assists the Lord in His delightful Dvaraka pastimes. These flowers are so special that if a parijata flower drops on the ground, it can still be offered to the Lord, or so I have heard.

Late in the afternoon, we were picked up by our dear friend Ram Aprameya dasa and taken to his home. He and his wife Janaki have been happily blessed with two adorable children, Mohan and Taruni Radha. Ram Aprameya, besides being a dutiful, exemplary father and husband is also an enthusiastic preacher of Krishna consciousness. Janaki, although a full-time mother of an active toddler and a small baby, somehow manages to chant the maha-mantra for two hours every day and conducts Bhagavad-gita classes for children in their apartment building. Besides that, whenever we are at their house, she cooks and cooks and cooks and serves and serves and serves until we feel like there is no way in the world that we can repay the debt of gratitude we owe her for being such a loving little mother to us. What an amazing couple! We spent the night with them and got to bed early so that we could be ready for Sunday's two programs.

Sunday morning, we were chauffeured by our host to a yoga studio where a handful of enthusiastic devotees, under the able guidance of Ram Aprameya, have attracted and cultivated a fifty-member congregation of equally enthusiastic devotees. The number of visitors is exponentially growing, as the devotees are regularly holding programs, engaging in harinama sankirtana, and distributing books as well. This is a sure-fire method for growing a happy, Krishna conscious congregation. Melodious kirtan, simple, straightforward preaching and tasty Krishna prasadam are the basic must-have components of any successful Hare Krishna program, and these devotees are spreading the mercy with ever-increasing enthusiasm.

After the Sunday morning program, we took a little nap at Ram Aprameya's house and spent some time playing with the babies. That evening, we drove to the Sri Sri Laksmi-Nrsimha Gandharvika-Giridhari-Gauranga Temple in Bangalore...

Gandharvika-Giridhari-Gauranga

to participate in the end-of-the-month kirtan mela. This mela being held not only at the end of December but also at the end of the year was a very special celebration with lots of dancing and a blissful, celebratory mood. After three hours of kirtan, Vibhava Krsna Prabhu announced that there would be another kirtan Thursday night January 31^st to celebrate New Years' Eve, and he invited all present to attend. The evening was concluded by honoring delicious maha-prasadam at Varada Krishna Prabhu's office, then we were driven home to spend a few days with our dear friends Shyamasundara dasa and Sundari Radhika devi dasi.

We always have a good time with Shyama and Sundari. They are our dear friends from way back. This time, we cooked for them, just for fun, because usually they cook for us. We drove them out of the kitchen, grabbed the pots and spatulas and dove into cooking up some Prema Pasta for them to sample. Shyama and Haripada Prabhus had fun talks together, and Sundari and I had some relishable, quality girl-time. Whenever we have to leave their house, we always feel like we hadn't had enough time together. Wednesday afternoon rolled around a little too quickly, but like it or not, we had to scoot out of there anyway. We waved our loving good-byes to our beloved hosts and headed down to the road to meet Raghavendra Prabhu. Raghavendra pulled up to the curb in front of Shyama's house right on time. 

We enjoyed a pleasant conversation with him as he expertly drove us to his home through the crowded, bumpy, honking streets of Bangalore. We arrived at his home in the late afternoon. He and his good wife Rashmi and their precious daughter Radhika are old friends of ours, and upon stepping over the threshold, we had the pleasure of meeting Raghavendra's parents as well. We looked around and saw pictures of Krishna everywhere. Raghavendra's Dad had built the house in 1971 and it was still in excellent condition, pleasantly clean and decorated with a devotional touch. Krishna is obviously the center of their home, as His pastimes are pictured in various paintings on every wall. He is also lovingly enthroned on a beautiful altar in the most prominent room in the house, which is suitable for large gatherings.

We had talked about getting together with Raghavendra and Rashmi for some time. Finally, Krishna granted our wish and gave us a splendid opportunity not only to associate with Raghavendra and family, but also to sing kirtan and share krsna-katha and bhagavata-prasadam with about thirty other devotees who came from as far away as ICC South (Rangaraja Krishna Prabhu came and even led some kirtan! WOO-HOO! It is a spiritual treat to participate in a kirtan led by Rangaraja Krishna) and Mangalore (our dear friend Sutapa Prabhu was there--we were so surprised and happy to see him!). We had an unforgettable evening with all the devotees there and after bidding farewell to all and expressing our desire to get together again as soon as possible, Ram Aprameya kindly drove us back to his home.

We spent the day with Janaki and the kids (Ram Aprameya had to go to work as it was a weekday). Our dear friend Hitesh, whom we had met at the Bhaktivedanta Youth Services programs in Manipal, had come to join us for the weekend. In the evening, Ram Aprameya, Hitesh, Mohan, my husband and I all drove back to Sri Sri Laksmi-Nrsimha Gandharvika-Giridhari-Gauranga Temple for the New Year's Eve kirtan mela. We were happy to see the turnout. Many devotees came to "ring in the new year" by loudly chanting the sweet holy names of Krishna and Rama. We cooked it up (the kirtan) for more than three hours while the cooks cooked it up in the kitchen. We then honored Krishna prasadam after midnight in Varada Krishna's office, as always. It's a tradition. What would a kirtan-mela at Laksmi-Nrsimha Temple be without honoring prasadam afterward at Varada Krishna's office?  

We were blessed to be given a comfortable room at the temple, so we were able to immediately hit the sack. When the alarm clock rang, we rose, paid obeisances, stretched, yawned, rubbed the sleepies out of our eyes, bathed and packed.

We rolled our luggage outside to the front of the temple and were picked up by three lovely devotees from New Rajapura Dhama up in the northern part of Bangalore. Upon arriving at New Rajapura, we were affectionately greeted by our old friends who have made this little corner of Bangalore part of the spiritual world. Humble and rather rickety on the outside, the makeshift corrugated steel temple is a hub of devotional service and loving exchanges on the inside. My husband and I had japa to chant, so we hung out in front of the temple for a little while soaking up some early morning sun rays. While we chanted japa, we were surprised to see four or five cows mosey up to the door of the temple and then walk on. "They always come for kirtan!" explained our hostess Gandharvi Gopika. We smiled, remembering that the appearance of cows anywhere is an auspicious sign. 

The day went swimmingly and the kirtans were blissful. All the devotees tasted the sweetness of the Lord's holy names. Toward the end of our stay there, Gandharvi led a beautiful kirtan that had us all dancing and smiling ear to ear. Unfortunately, we had to leave before the kirtan mela was to end, because we had a train to catch. The devotees interrupted their participation in the kirtan and lovingly saw us off with gifts, obeisances, hugs and auspicious, traditional rituals. So blessed we are to have such transcendental association!

We were early as usual for the Bangalore-Karwar train. We easily boarded and tucked our luggage under the seats. We turned in early and fell asleep right away. The trip was easy and smooth, by Krishna's grace, and after a good sleep, we arrived at the Mangalore station.

To be continued in the next post...