PrabhaVisnu dasa:
Please accept my humble obeisance. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. All glories to Guru Maharaja.

I want to express my sincere gratitude to your beloved team who so affectionately organized such a great opportunity for us to meet and relish Krishna consciousness in a wonderful mood, under the tutelage and guardianship of our beloved Sri Gurudeva, HH Bhakti Charu Swami.

Gurudeva lives up to the name he was so lovingly awarded by HDG Srila Prabhupäda for he is indeed Charu — really very beautiful. His beauty radiates in the very nature of his association with whosoever he meets. This was apparent in the large number of disciples and well-wishers who attended the retreat. They love Gurudeva and wanted to have his association, even if it meant sitting for three sessions of diligent study each day.

The nectar rolled in through one’s vision, one’s hearing, one’s attention, one’s appreciation, one’s associating with such a large focused group of vaisnavas, and just being in Maharaja’s presence, in making eye contact with him, and just shutting one’s eyes and soaking up the sound of purity that emanates from his voice. Guru Maharaja does reflect the grandeur of his beloved spiritual master Srila Prabhupada, for practically his every intonation is one of dedicated commitment to the service of his Gurudeva, to attract and draw us deeper into the folds of the loving embrace of Srila Prabhupada.

I personally loved every moment in Maharaja’s association, and even though my aching bones often creaked in protest, my heart surrendered to the glory of the occasion, for it was an unsurpassable opportunity for us to be accorded such gracious and eminent alliance.

Your team must certainly be given full credit for their expertise in attending to every minute detail that brought about such excellence. The logistics of preparation and execution totally impressed me. That is what devotional service is all about; doing your very best, and then doing even more, in accomplishing the desires of your spiritual master. His happiness at a task/service well done is reward enough to sustain one for further dedicated endeavours to glorify the Lord and His most wonderful devotees.

When viewed against the backdrop of the Drakensberg range of mountains, and its very great distance from urban centres, your collective efforts at putting this seminar together was most certainly a mountainous endeavor of loving dedication to Sri Gurudeva. Well done! I’m proud to be associated with such a stalwart group of youthful vaisnavas. Your enthusiasm bodes well for the glorious future of Iskcon in South Africa, as well as in our global community.

To those that put together the menus for the week I am most ‘amply’ thankful. What a splendid spread! No expense was spared. Every taste bud was well tickled at every meal. The salt was perfect. The spicing was superb. Even the most critical of guests were at a loss for words to describe the nectarean tastes that we relished everyday. They were just too busy savoring the expert preparations in between a series of polite burps behind raised palms. It brought to mind the fabulous feasts we had in the early days of Iskcon in Durban. Srila Prabhupada’s disciples knew how to cook up a fabulous feast, and made us their ever-willing servants in the service of Srila Prabhupada. I must add that there were several very expert cooks present, with decades of service, who were wholly complimentary about the standards being maintained.

The service was just as superb. The dining staff of the hotel is to be complimented for their dedicated expertise in attending to what in their experience must have certainly been a first, catering for hundreds of well adorned, shaven headed men and sari clad women. I visited the superb kitchen and was impressed at how Iskcon had just taken over and created, as if by a whisk of a wand, the most functional kitchen dedicated to the service of Sri Krishna. The kitchen staff was well engaged in cutting and cleaning vegetables and fruit to be used for the Lord’s pleasure. How exalted their lives have spiritually become just by such acts of service!

The interaction amongst devotees was really rewarding; with some of us renewing friendships that span many years of book distribution and preaching. There was much to talk about, but sadly time was limited. Several even mentioned a desire to have a few more days of association, but unfortunately the demands of bread and butter issues took precedence. The ambiance of the locality of the Orion Mont Aux Sources Hotel spoke volumes about the need to unwind from the stresses of daily drudgery, and take to the mountains in search of spiritual truths. Well, Guru Maharaja and his band of devotees took the reality of spiritual life to the mountains, and echoed the mahä-mantra through its many knolls and vales, leaving the indelible magnificence of the holy names of Sri Krishna for the pleasure of many generations to come to savour. A tirtha the place has certainly become!

In concluding, with reluctance, I just hope someone could post just the first ten minutes of the final kirtan that Guru Maharaja sang in our last session. Now that was something that one can cherish for an entire lifetime! That was pure, direct connection with Srila Prabhupada, the Guru Parampara and most certainly Lord Caitanya Himself as He sang the glorious holy names of Sri Sri RadhaKrishna. Wow! Spiritual potency at its purest! We are indeed blessed. Hare Krishna to you, dear beloved brothers and sisters!

Your servants, as always

PrabhaVisnu dasa / Prema Bhakti Devi Dasi Sri Sri Nitai GauraHari Mandir Johannesburg South Africa.

P. S. HG Sunil Mohan Das has informed me that the final kirtan can be heard or downloaded on www. bhakticharuswami. com You can click on lectures on the right side of the page.

convert this post to pdf.