By Nartaka Gauranga Das Director, IYF, Baroda
See pictures of the camp at the following URL by clicking on it or cutting and pasting it into your web browswer:
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/DCDas.Bvks/BharuchYatraMay2010? feat=email#
Inspired by His Holiness Bhakti Vikas Swami, more than four hundred devotees from twenty places around India, mostly from Gujarat, gathered to hear and chant about Lord Krishna at a three day “shravanam kirtanam camp” organized by Maharaj’s disciples, near Bharuch, the largest town on the banks of the holy river Narmada, from May 7-9.
Starting at mangala arati at 5:00 AM on May 7, devotees were engaged in hearing Krishna katha throughout the three-day program. HH Bhakti Vikas Swami delivered lectures in Hindi, and also led congregational singing of many vaishnava bhajanas. Maharaj stressed the need for reading Srila Prabhupada’s books and understanding them very carefully.
Daily there were extended interactive question and answer sessions during which devotees had their doubts clarified directly by HH Bhakti Vikas Swami.
A three day seminar on varnashram presented by Sriman Savyasachi Das, who is a medical school graduate, was another feature of the camp. The seminar was meant to inspire the attending devotees to adopt a simple village life, and give up the materialistic way of life found in modern urban India, which is a great impediment in the advancement in Krishna Consciousness.
Sriman Jasomatinandan Das, Zonal Secretary for ISKCON Gujarat and Temple President of ISKCON Ahmedabad, Sriman Basu Ghosh Das, Temple President of ISKCON Baroda, Sriman Sacchidananda Das, Temple President of ISKCON Vallabh Vidyanagar, and Sriman Vrindavan Das, Vice-president of ISKCON Surat, and other senior leaders of ISKCON attended and delivered inspirational lectures for the benefit of the attendees of the camp.
Several dramas were presented by the devotees and also by devotee children. All the devotees were immersed in the holy names and camp programs, forgetting the inconvenience caused due to the intense heat of the Indian summer! During the nights, many devotees took rest on the bank of river Narmada, enjoying the cool breezes blowing in off of the river’s water!
It’s interesting and important to note that at this camp all the prasad
(meals) were cooked and served by devotees themselves with love and devotion, without having to hire professional brahmin cooks.
On Saturday, May 8, in the evening, the entire group of four hundred devotees went out to perform harinam nagar sankirtan, organized on the streets of the Bharuch town, and accompanied by a number of devotees distributing BBT and Bhakti Vikas Swami’s books. Almost seven hundred books were distributed during that “maha-nagar sankirtan” program
A small book entitled “Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu,” written and published by HH Bhakti Vikasa Swami was distributed in bulk to the visiting devotees so they could further distribute it at their respective places.
One of the themes of this camp was also to encourage the congregational devotees to keep the complete Srimad Bhagavatam set in their homes. Towards this end twenty one Srimad Bhagavatam sets were ordered by the participating devotees.
On the evening of May 9, a public program was organized in which various dignitaries of the Bharuch town attended and wherein they were presented with several of Srila Prabhupada books as a gift.
The members of the Bharuch Camp organizing Committee wish to express our eternal indebtedness to Srila Prabhupada, and to HH Bhakti Vikasa Swami, who afforded us such a nice opportunity to hear and chant the glories of Lord Krishna, the yuga dharma for the present age of Kali.