A personal account – Manish Negi, Manchester (UK)
How many people would consider spending a Sunday travelling 85 miles to a different city in the name of the lord, well a few hundred did, on May 29th in (Oldbury) Birmingham at the Balaji Temple. What a scenic setting, the lovely weather, sumptuous prasadam 3 times a day, the heavenly sounds to feed the the soul, darshans of Lord Jagannath (Subhadra, Balaram), Lord Balaji Venkatesh and the association of several hundred blessed devotees singing the holy name of the lord, for a well over 24 hours. It was a soulful journey we made, one that I would remember always and would love to do every single year.
The 24 Hare Krsna kirtan started at about 4 pm on May 28th and had a whole list of esteemed senior devotees with magical melodies to render over the next 24 hours and more. The live telecast was available on www.mayapur.tv If you can get your hands on Amala Prabhu & Madhava Prabhu’s renditions, you could consider yourself lucky. In Manchester, our very own Gaur Nataraj Prabhu is very talented as well.
The morning started early with a 6 am departure from Manchester with Poonam Mataji (and Raj Tandon Prabhu) as our ParthSaarthi. We arrived at about 8 am and it wasn’t before 10 pm that night that we started the return journey. No one really wanted to leave and could have stayed there forever. Clearly, it was the magic of the songs of the soul. The mood was that of simple and honest devotion, and not until we experienced, we realized that we were in for a day of absolute mental satisfaction on being able to make our attempts to connect with our beloved Kṛṣṇa, I certainly did, I felt. To add to the effect, I was dressed for the occasion. In Radha Mohan Prabhu’s words, the dhoti kurta is like the devotee’s uniform and helps set the mood to situate oneself better while performing Kṛṣṇa conscious activities. If not for Din Bandhu Prabhu’s help, I would have been lost with the length of the south Indian style dhoti that had to be cut to separate the angavar gamcha. After all, it had been 15 years since I last wore it in the Radha Kunja Bihariji temple in Pune (that’s where I took my 1st steps in Kṛṣṇa consciousness). I miss my 1st spiritual masters HG Radheyshyam Prabhu & Rasikananda Prabhu and long to meet them again someday. I hope they have Kṛṣṇa’s due mercy.
In the words of Sachidanand Swami Maharaj, the chanting should serve to help us realize our relation with the Lord Shri Hari. In Braj Raj Prabhu’s opinion, effective chanting is when we speak so loud and clear so as to let Kṛṣṇa hear us crying out his name in all sincerety, like a child hankers for his mother and would not stop until the mother will appear and attend to the wish of the child. These messages had an amazing impact on me and I must have taken it to my heart for when I was dancing to the holy name, I had tears running down my face for a while. That must have been my moment of realization that I really needed to be with my lord having lost my way as a sinful soul. I wonder what people would have thought looking at me at that moment but all I know was I really badly wanted to hold on to Kṛṣṇa. The desire was so intense in that moment that I just could not hold myself and wept inconsolably for some time until the hand pull from my 5 year old son made me realize I was a mere grahastha with karma to fulfill and a long way to go before I can hope to get my ticket to goloka vrindavan.
There were several opportunities that day, to earn good credit and one of them was witnessing the bathing of Gaur Nitai in all the splendor and glory, Bhakti Vishrambha Madhava Swami Maharaj doing the service himself. Sachidanand Swami Maharaj said, one who witnesses this beautiful event would never ever see yamraj. I am hoping I get delivered by narayan himself, high hopes for a sinful soul like mine. My efforts will have to count and count I did while joking with shekhar prabhu. At the lunch seva, serving prasadam, comparing number of people I may have possibly served to the number of people he took signatures (1000+) from, for the campaign for saving Yamuna (http://brajdhamsewa.org:8008/). While having breakfast Prasadam, another discussion was with vijayendra prabhu on how kṛṣṇa conscious people never seemed to age and remained blissfully young, kṛṣṇa enabling them to ‘serve’ to their hearts content and earn their individual tickets to go back to godhead (http://www.krishna.com/magazine)*. It is interesting to see how cosmetics and skincare is amongst the biggest industries in the world, sadly without kṛṣṇa in the centre, it would all be just a big spent without lasting results.
The Manchester devotees had an all important responsibility to prepare lunch prasadam. The enthusiasm was to be seen to be felt. Everyone simply wanted to grab an opportunity to contribute and just not let go. It took me a while to get in the kitchen and serve. The view from the kitchen was complete and no one could have missed on the events of the day. Priya Rani Mataji being primarily responsible ensured everyone participated and the act was a success, with as many as 2300 people served utilizing every single grain of the entire preparation. One massive effort it was. Hari Bol !
In the middle of everything, one other amazing experience was that I seemed to want to go on and on chanting the holy name of the lord. Even after my quota of 10 rounds a day, I continued and stopped only after 15 simply because we had reached home. When they say association is important, it is indeed true for our advancement. Without it, we are like a fish without water. I earnestly believe in that, and would want to stay in Manchester for this is where I have found my true family. The devotees at the Whalley Range temple are so filled with love and care and while I may not know what they do in material life, I am confident they are a wonderful group and their constant association would help me and my family stay closer to KṚṢṆA, our eternal father.
* Note : There are several aspects on Kṛṣṇa katha and enlightening info on how hare kṛṣṇa movement is making an impact to the environment and the living entities alike, serving as means to a kṛṣṇa conscious end objective. The BTG magazine can be subscribed via http://www.krishna.com/content/subscriber-services. Currently, BTG is offering a free gift (60 years of BTG on DVD) on a one year (6 issues) subscription for a very nominal cost of about £ 22 only. I personally recommend to all having secured for myself already.
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