Six Trains in Nine Days
On the afternoon of January 20, 2016 we left the quaint little Udupi train station with its lovely greenery and clean sidewalks and headed up to Mumbai. Traveling by train in India is our favorite mode of transportation. Even long train rides are pleasant, because we almost always take super-fast trains that have comfy beds and ready bathroom facilities, plus we meet interesting people and we even sometimes do kirtan on the trains.
We arrived in Mumbai at the CSTM Station near Chowpatty Temple early in the morning on January 21st. Our friend Shubhananda Hari Prabhu met us, helped us load our luggage and accompanied us in a taxi to the temple. It was my husband's second time to see the Chowpatty Temple, and my first time. We were escorted by a humble, soft-spoken devotee to a simple yet comfortable room where we parked our luggage and showered. After cleaning up, we went to the famously beautiful temple room to take darshan of Their Lordships Sri Sri Radha-Gopinath and participate in Srila Prabhupada's Guru-puja. My husband was asked to lead the kirtan. After the morning program, we chanted some rounds, met several devotees, honored Krsna prasadam, then returned to the temple room to lead more kirtan. We then rested a bit, and took care of answering some emails. Later, we went back to the temple room for a third kirtan. Kirtan is our life and soul and mission, so we were happy to be blessed with three opportunities to chant the holy names of the Lord before the Deities there at Chowpatty.
Shubhananda Hari had left us during the morning, but met up with us again later in the day to help us get to the train station. We departed Mumbai that evening, grateful for our friend's association, for the comfortable accommodations at the temple and for the chance to see Sri Sri Radha-Gopinath and meet the wonderful devotees of Chowpatty Temple.
We had an easy train ride to Veraval, where we arrived the morning of January 22, 2016. Veraval is the closest train station to Somnath. The Somnath Temple located in Saurashtra on the western coast of Gujarat is considered to be the first of the twelve main Jyotirlinga Shiva temples in India. We were picked up at the station by Kanupriya Prabhu and arrived at the festival site happy to be surrounded by familiar smiling faces and a lively impromptu kirtan. After being garlanded, we were led to our roomy ground-floor quarters in the building right next to the pandal. We were glad to be there to participate in Bhakti Vikasa Swami's Vyasa-puja celebration and Sravanam-Kirtanam Camp. Maharaja holds these camps several times a year in different places on different continents. He calls them "sravanam-kirtanam" camps because he emphasizes not only kirtan, as in kirtan-melas, but also hearing from sadhus and shastras. He says that both are essential, so he combines both in a power-packed weekend of hearing and chanting.
Three days of informative classes interspersed with lively kirtans filled our hearts with refreshing, renewed faith in and taste for the holy names of Krsna. Although everyone loves the classes and the kirtans, whenever there is an initiation ceremony at one of Bhakti-Vikasa Swami's sravanam-kirtanam camps, it is always the event that is most looked forward to by all the devotees. This particular camp was held in honor of Maharaja's Vyasa-puja celebration, so the initiation ceremony was the crowning event of the Somnath camp. There were more than a hundred devotees accepting diksha on that momentous day, and because Maharaja speaks to every initiate personally as they come up to accept their japa beads and recite their vows, the progress of the hours can seem slow. But everyone feels the excitement of the most important day of every initiate's life, and the time passes joyfully. Upon the announcement of each new spiritual name, the atmosphere is filled with cheers, chants, the beating of drums and clanging of kartals.
We concluded our stay in Somnath with confidential talks among devotees, exchanges of email addresses, and promises to keep in touch with friends, both new and old. We left Somnath and drove to Veraval where we caught a midnight train on January 24th heading to the popular holy tirtha of Lord Sri Dvarakadhisa, Sri Dvaraka-dhama. We arrived at Krsna's famous "island city" around 7:00 a.m. on the 25th. Some dear friends of ours, the Sharma family, met us at the train station. We had booked rooms at a hotel that was so near to the station that we actually decided to walk from the railway station to the hotel!
We were eager to take showers and find a place to abate our hunger. It turned out that because the Sharmas had frequented Dvaraka many times, they knew just where to eat, and had already made reservations. It was a pure vegetarian restaurant run by strict brahmanas who did not use any onions or garlic in their cooking. We were amazed and pleased to hear this news, and after praying to Lord Dvarakadhisa to accept their cooking and remove any impurities that might have entered the food, we thoroughly enjoyed the meal, which was served with great care and conscientiousness by alert, polite waiters.
After enjoying a lovely meal, we proceeded toward the holy island temple on what's known as Bet-Dwarka, which we approached by boat. Although pilgrims crowded onto the boat, which was large enough to accommodate at least forty people, everyone was courteous and careful not to endanger each other as they climbed down the steps and carefully stepped from the pier onto the deck of the boat.
During the pleasant ride from the coast to Bet Dwarka, the pilgrims on the boat sang songs glorifying Lord Sri Krsna, the King of Dvaraka. We arrived safely on the shore and disembarked without a mishap. We made our way down the long pier to Dvaraka Palace, one of the four most holy tirthas in all of India and considered to be the most important place to visit on the west coast, the other three being Bhadrinath in the north, Jagannatha Puri on the east coast, and Ramesvaram in the south. My husband and I had already visited the other three tirthas, so we were eager to complete our vow to visit the fourth, Sri Dvaraka-dhama. After finding places to hide our shoes, we got in line at the gate of the temple. The queue moved slowly but steadily through the corridors of the old-world stone temple. After several minutes, we were blessed to have the darshan of Lord Sri Dvarakadhisa. He was beautifully decorated with jewelry and flower garlands, and His lotus feet were strewn with Tulasi leaves and flower petals. Although our time in the presence of the Lord was brief, we felt deeply satisfied to have had the opportunity to offer prayers to His Lordship in person. After leaving the shrine of Dvarakadhisa Himself, we were escorted to a room where we were invited to sit down for what appeared to be a historical narration. After several long minutes of not knowing what the "historian" was saying, we noticed that people started to fidget and reach for their purses. It turned out that he was not really a well-meaning educator, but rather a huckster with his hand out to get money from innocent pilgrims. We stood up and walked out, feeling disgusted that such people are allowed to operate within the walls of holy temples in holy dhamas. Urged on by guards, we walked outside and toured the outer walls of the famous old building. The presence of the Lord is felt throughout the expansive Dvaraka Palace, and one is reminded of the wonderful histories noted in the Srimad-Bhagavatam of Krsna's pastimes with His queens, His children, and His devotees who all lived there five-thousand years ago. There is something soul-stirring about ancient stone temples--they speak to the core of the heart, the eternal soul within.
After Bet-Dwarka, we retraced our steps down the long pier and again boarded the boat, this time joining in with the singers of traditional songs. The boat-ride back to the mainland was joyful and filled with music and laughter. After the boat moored on the other side, we climbed back onto the dock, helping each other by grabbing hands and pulling each other out of the boat safely. We climbed up the steps to the pier and found our way to our hotel to relax for the rest of the evening.
On the 26th, we left Dvaraka for Ahmedabad. The train was packed with devotees who had attended the Sravanam-Kirtanam Camp in Somnath. By popular demand, kirtan was requested on the train. We gathered together in one bogie and rocked the car with mrdanga, kartals and loud voices crying out the holy names in powerful unison. Every photo taken turned out blurry because of the rocking train and the dancing, swaying devotees. Then, the devotees asked my husband to also give class. So he spoke from Srimad-Bhagavatam about the temporality of the material body and the eternality of the soul, about our duty as followers of Srila Prabhupada and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to be merciful to all souls.
When we returned to our bogie, our cabin neighbors also requested a kirtan. So we again unpacked the harmonium and kartals and proceeded to chant the sweet holy names of the Lord with them. They were satisfied that we fulfilled their request and we were satisfied to share the chanting of Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare with seven or eight new people who had had only minimal exposure to Krsna consciousness up to that point.
By the time we reached Ahmedabad, we were all so fired up that we spontaneously struck up a kirtan on the platform after stepping off the train! The kirtan was so ecstatic that everyone in the group danced and jumped like madmen while chanting with all our hearts. Kirtan is the nectar for which the soul is always anxious.
Quite a few of the devotees who had participated in the kirtans on the train and on the platform had to jump back on that same train because they were proceeding on to Surat. So we quickly concluded the kirtan, exchanged email addresses and phone numbers, and then saw them off as the train began to lumber on from its parked position.
We had some time before our train would depart Ahmedabad, so we took a taxi to the Ahmedabad ISKCON Temple to have darshan of Sri Sri Radha-Govindji and chant Their holy names in kirtan in the beautiful temple room there. A few devotees joined us and we felt blessed to have the opportunity to see yet another of Srila Prabhupada's hundreds of worldwide ISKCON temples.
We caught our next train in Ahmedabad at about 10:00 p.m. on January 27th and headed down to Mumbai. We crashed on our berths and eight hours later, we arrived at Borivali Station near the Mira Road Temple at 6:00 a.m. on the morning of January 28th. By the grace of the big-hearted devotees there, we were given a comfortable, clean room in the guest house where we rested, took bath, met with devotees and caught up on emails. The temple, temple room and Deities are all stunningly gorgeous and inspiring to see. Whenever we visit Mira Road, we always open up our harmonium and do kirtan in the temple room, as that is our favorite way to glorify and serve the Lord.
At 10:30 p.m. on January 28, 2016, we caught our train at Thane Station and immediately made our beds, as everyone else in the bogie was asleep, or trying to sleep. We quickly drifted off into deep slumber, as our train smoothly flowed down the tracks toward Udupi. This was the sixth train we had ridden in nine days, and for us, that was a record.
Okay, friends, it took me a year to get this story written. The next story will have to be about a more recent trip so I don't have to dig up such old notes!
We arrived in Mumbai at the CSTM Station near Chowpatty Temple early in the morning on January 21st. Our friend Shubhananda Hari Prabhu met us, helped us load our luggage and accompanied us in a taxi to the temple. It was my husband's second time to see the Chowpatty Temple, and my first time. We were escorted by a humble, soft-spoken devotee to a simple yet comfortable room where we parked our luggage and showered. After cleaning up, we went to the famously beautiful temple room to take darshan of Their Lordships Sri Sri Radha-Gopinath and participate in Srila Prabhupada's Guru-puja. My husband was asked to lead the kirtan. After the morning program, we chanted some rounds, met several devotees, honored Krsna prasadam, then returned to the temple room to lead more kirtan. We then rested a bit, and took care of answering some emails. Later, we went back to the temple room for a third kirtan. Kirtan is our life and soul and mission, so we were happy to be blessed with three opportunities to chant the holy names of the Lord before the Deities there at Chowpatty.
Shubhananda Hari had left us during the morning, but met up with us again later in the day to help us get to the train station. We departed Mumbai that evening, grateful for our friend's association, for the comfortable accommodations at the temple and for the chance to see Sri Sri Radha-Gopinath and meet the wonderful devotees of Chowpatty Temple.
We had an easy train ride to Veraval, where we arrived the morning of January 22, 2016. Veraval is the closest train station to Somnath. The Somnath Temple located in Saurashtra on the western coast of Gujarat is considered to be the first of the twelve main Jyotirlinga Shiva temples in India. We were picked up at the station by Kanupriya Prabhu and arrived at the festival site happy to be surrounded by familiar smiling faces and a lively impromptu kirtan. After being garlanded, we were led to our roomy ground-floor quarters in the building right next to the pandal. We were glad to be there to participate in Bhakti Vikasa Swami's Vyasa-puja celebration and Sravanam-Kirtanam Camp. Maharaja holds these camps several times a year in different places on different continents. He calls them "sravanam-kirtanam" camps because he emphasizes not only kirtan, as in kirtan-melas, but also hearing from sadhus and shastras. He says that both are essential, so he combines both in a power-packed weekend of hearing and chanting.
Three days of informative classes interspersed with lively kirtans filled our hearts with refreshing, renewed faith in and taste for the holy names of Krsna. Although everyone loves the classes and the kirtans, whenever there is an initiation ceremony at one of Bhakti-Vikasa Swami's sravanam-kirtanam camps, it is always the event that is most looked forward to by all the devotees. This particular camp was held in honor of Maharaja's Vyasa-puja celebration, so the initiation ceremony was the crowning event of the Somnath camp. There were more than a hundred devotees accepting diksha on that momentous day, and because Maharaja speaks to every initiate personally as they come up to accept their japa beads and recite their vows, the progress of the hours can seem slow. But everyone feels the excitement of the most important day of every initiate's life, and the time passes joyfully. Upon the announcement of each new spiritual name, the atmosphere is filled with cheers, chants, the beating of drums and clanging of kartals.
We concluded our stay in Somnath with confidential talks among devotees, exchanges of email addresses, and promises to keep in touch with friends, both new and old. We left Somnath and drove to Veraval where we caught a midnight train on January 24th heading to the popular holy tirtha of Lord Sri Dvarakadhisa, Sri Dvaraka-dhama. We arrived at Krsna's famous "island city" around 7:00 a.m. on the 25th. Some dear friends of ours, the Sharma family, met us at the train station. We had booked rooms at a hotel that was so near to the station that we actually decided to walk from the railway station to the hotel!
We were eager to take showers and find a place to abate our hunger. It turned out that because the Sharmas had frequented Dvaraka many times, they knew just where to eat, and had already made reservations. It was a pure vegetarian restaurant run by strict brahmanas who did not use any onions or garlic in their cooking. We were amazed and pleased to hear this news, and after praying to Lord Dvarakadhisa to accept their cooking and remove any impurities that might have entered the food, we thoroughly enjoyed the meal, which was served with great care and conscientiousness by alert, polite waiters.
After enjoying a lovely meal, we proceeded toward the holy island temple on what's known as Bet-Dwarka, which we approached by boat. Although pilgrims crowded onto the boat, which was large enough to accommodate at least forty people, everyone was courteous and careful not to endanger each other as they climbed down the steps and carefully stepped from the pier onto the deck of the boat.
During the pleasant ride from the coast to Bet Dwarka, the pilgrims on the boat sang songs glorifying Lord Sri Krsna, the King of Dvaraka. We arrived safely on the shore and disembarked without a mishap. We made our way down the long pier to Dvaraka Palace, one of the four most holy tirthas in all of India and considered to be the most important place to visit on the west coast, the other three being Bhadrinath in the north, Jagannatha Puri on the east coast, and Ramesvaram in the south. My husband and I had already visited the other three tirthas, so we were eager to complete our vow to visit the fourth, Sri Dvaraka-dhama. After finding places to hide our shoes, we got in line at the gate of the temple. The queue moved slowly but steadily through the corridors of the old-world stone temple. After several minutes, we were blessed to have the darshan of Lord Sri Dvarakadhisa. He was beautifully decorated with jewelry and flower garlands, and His lotus feet were strewn with Tulasi leaves and flower petals. Although our time in the presence of the Lord was brief, we felt deeply satisfied to have had the opportunity to offer prayers to His Lordship in person. After leaving the shrine of Dvarakadhisa Himself, we were escorted to a room where we were invited to sit down for what appeared to be a historical narration. After several long minutes of not knowing what the "historian" was saying, we noticed that people started to fidget and reach for their purses. It turned out that he was not really a well-meaning educator, but rather a huckster with his hand out to get money from innocent pilgrims. We stood up and walked out, feeling disgusted that such people are allowed to operate within the walls of holy temples in holy dhamas. Urged on by guards, we walked outside and toured the outer walls of the famous old building. The presence of the Lord is felt throughout the expansive Dvaraka Palace, and one is reminded of the wonderful histories noted in the Srimad-Bhagavatam of Krsna's pastimes with His queens, His children, and His devotees who all lived there five-thousand years ago. There is something soul-stirring about ancient stone temples--they speak to the core of the heart, the eternal soul within.
After Bet-Dwarka, we retraced our steps down the long pier and again boarded the boat, this time joining in with the singers of traditional songs. The boat-ride back to the mainland was joyful and filled with music and laughter. After the boat moored on the other side, we climbed back onto the dock, helping each other by grabbing hands and pulling each other out of the boat safely. We climbed up the steps to the pier and found our way to our hotel to relax for the rest of the evening.
On the 26th, we left Dvaraka for Ahmedabad. The train was packed with devotees who had attended the Sravanam-Kirtanam Camp in Somnath. By popular demand, kirtan was requested on the train. We gathered together in one bogie and rocked the car with mrdanga, kartals and loud voices crying out the holy names in powerful unison. Every photo taken turned out blurry because of the rocking train and the dancing, swaying devotees. Then, the devotees asked my husband to also give class. So he spoke from Srimad-Bhagavatam about the temporality of the material body and the eternality of the soul, about our duty as followers of Srila Prabhupada and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to be merciful to all souls.
When we returned to our bogie, our cabin neighbors also requested a kirtan. So we again unpacked the harmonium and kartals and proceeded to chant the sweet holy names of the Lord with them. They were satisfied that we fulfilled their request and we were satisfied to share the chanting of Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare with seven or eight new people who had had only minimal exposure to Krsna consciousness up to that point.
By the time we reached Ahmedabad, we were all so fired up that we spontaneously struck up a kirtan on the platform after stepping off the train! The kirtan was so ecstatic that everyone in the group danced and jumped like madmen while chanting with all our hearts. Kirtan is the nectar for which the soul is always anxious.
Quite a few of the devotees who had participated in the kirtans on the train and on the platform had to jump back on that same train because they were proceeding on to Surat. So we quickly concluded the kirtan, exchanged email addresses and phone numbers, and then saw them off as the train began to lumber on from its parked position.
We had some time before our train would depart Ahmedabad, so we took a taxi to the Ahmedabad ISKCON Temple to have darshan of Sri Sri Radha-Govindji and chant Their holy names in kirtan in the beautiful temple room there. A few devotees joined us and we felt blessed to have the opportunity to see yet another of Srila Prabhupada's hundreds of worldwide ISKCON temples.
We caught our next train in Ahmedabad at about 10:00 p.m. on January 27th and headed down to Mumbai. We crashed on our berths and eight hours later, we arrived at Borivali Station near the Mira Road Temple at 6:00 a.m. on the morning of January 28th. By the grace of the big-hearted devotees there, we were given a comfortable, clean room in the guest house where we rested, took bath, met with devotees and caught up on emails. The temple, temple room and Deities are all stunningly gorgeous and inspiring to see. Whenever we visit Mira Road, we always open up our harmonium and do kirtan in the temple room, as that is our favorite way to glorify and serve the Lord.
At 10:30 p.m. on January 28, 2016, we caught our train at Thane Station and immediately made our beds, as everyone else in the bogie was asleep, or trying to sleep. We quickly drifted off into deep slumber, as our train smoothly flowed down the tracks toward Udupi. This was the sixth train we had ridden in nine days, and for us, that was a record.
Okay, friends, it took me a year to get this story written. The next story will have to be about a more recent trip so I don't have to dig up such old notes!
posted by Phalini @ 12:13 PM
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