By Janaki Devi Dasi
On thursday 26th October New Vrindaban was graced by the presence of HH Bhaktimarga Maharaja who visited for the weekend. The aim of his visit was to inspire the local devotees to start up a drama troupe with the aim of putting on regular performances for devotees and guests alike.
The workshop was attended by 12 New Vrindaban residents including Vaisnava youth. In a short time everyone bonded together and got to the serious business of identifying with their roles. As the play was based on Bhagavad Gita As It Is, it goes without saying that the main characters were Krsna and Arjuna played by Ram Ranjana and Bhakta Jason. Some of the Pandavas were also in attendance as well as “The Mind” and other characters. These were played by Kunjabiharini dd, Bhaktin Megan, Yadurani dd, Prahlad dasa, HG Vyasasana prabhu, Bhakta Lotus, Bhakta Voiko ,Bhaktin Alecia, Bhaktin Evelyn and Jagannatha dasa.
The sound was expertly managed by Janaki dd and were it not for a power failure-the lighting would have been managed by Rukmavati dd. The lighting was set up by Tattva Darshan prabhu.
All the devotees performed wonderfully, everyone was most encouraged and won over by Maharajas warm and loving personality. He also gave all the Bhagavatam classes and led energetic kirtans as well as made himself 100% available for all devotees that desired his association.
After the performance in which all the actors performed wonderfully we took Maharaja to Columbus temple. Maharaja gave an enlightening account of his walks across Canada to a packed temple room which included several college students who were inquisitive and asked many questions and then he led a wonderful kirtan. On the way back we got stuck in a 2 mile tailback and Maharaja decided he wanted to walk to the source of the tailback and took his disciple Hari dasa with him at a very fast pace. Many persons where curious as to who the monk in orange was and in this way Maharaja likes to let people know that devotees are still around. After all, many of the comments he gets are “where have you guys been? I have not seen you since the 70’s”……
Srila Prabhupada ki Jaya!