By Parasuram das
As soon as the St Patrick’s day parade – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbC0WhCjROc – in London was over we had to race to catch our flight to India, time was limited. We only had 2 weeks to comple the task. HH Mahavishnu Swami said “it was mission impossible.” The plane touched down in Varanasi airport, we arrived in the dark at Assi ghat where the devotees were already waiting on the boat and immediately we took off, cross the Ganga and made camp for the night.
According to Wikipedia, Varanasi is the oldest city in India. It is lord Shiva’s abode. In Varanasi, at the point of death, lord Shiva comes and chants the name of Rama in your ear. We are very fortunate to be here. The crew this year is made up of HH Mahavishnu Swami, Arjuna prabhu (Russia), Krishnamayi (Estonia), Sanak Sanatan prabhu (Germany), Vidyapati prabhu (South Africa), Sri Sri Baladev prabhu (an Australian devotee who claims to suffer from anorexia) and Parasuram das (Ireland).
On the second day a very merciful wind kicked in making sailing very easy. In this way we were able to perfome kirtan all the way to Patna, a distance of 250km (our sound system was solar charged).
We found beautiful sandy banks to camp at night, and there was always a little wood lying around for cooking the kitcheri and rothis. Maharaj kept us alive with Krishna katha. This year we read from the Radha Damodar Vilas, which was so enlivening, and the huge quantity of dead bodies kept us sober, well for a little while.
It was brilliant, Krishna consciousness doesn’t get any better?
Please see the movie