Srila Gurudeva in Finland

Srila Gurudeva arrived in Finland on Wednesday the 2nd of October. During next two days he gave morning classes at the Helsinki temple, talked with devotees and also visited some grhastha couples. On Friday he took a boat to Estonia but we were happy to know that he would come back after the weekend. That is the benefit in living in Finland; Gurudeva is always coming here twice, because traveling between Estonia and Finland is most practical to do that way. So, we are getting his double mercy!

A special home program took place on Monday evening. It was held at Radha-kunda’s and Syama-kunda’s house. They are both Gurudeva’s disciples and he is always calling them and their children “the Kunda family”. Since Gurudeva was going to stay the next night at their house, he arrived there earlier. That way he also had the opportunity to talk with his hosts and arriving guests before the program started.

At first we chanted together. Gurudeva was leading and playing the guitar. We also chanted his Hanuman song which is one of the favorites of many devotees. Because Gurudeva did not know all the devotees gathered together, he asked everyone to present themselves and tell others what they like most in Krishna consciousness. Finally he said himself that he likes to be with devotees and help them and if there is some time without problems that needed to be solved, then he just likes to chant Hare Krishna.

Since there were present some congregational members unfamiliar with some practises of Krishna consiousness, Gurudeva wanted to explain some points before we proceeded with the program. He stressed that if a guru thinks himself to be a guru and worshipable because of that, then he actually is not a guru at all but an ass. In Krishna consciousness there are different positions but the meaning of every position is the service that is required in it. A part of guru’s service is to receive some worship but he must always see himself as a servant of others.

When we bathed Gurudeva’s feet it literally felt like he was tolerating it only to serve us; the bathing substances were ice cold so there was definetely nothing to envy about this so called worship. Of course, Gurudeva took it with a sense of humour.

During the bathing and arati we chanted Gurvastaka and Guru Vandana prayers. After that some of Gurudeva’s disciples read their offerings and he also had some appreciative words to say in reciprocation. In one offering there was a description about the way how Gurudeva is cooking pasta and he stopped its reading in the middle of it because he wanted to explain how there are two ways to check whether pasta is ready; either you look at it very closely or you throw it up to the ceiling. If it stays on the ceiling it means that it is ready. Gurudeva said that he prefers the first method because the latter one, although practiced by Italians and also himself before, makes quite a mess.

Among all the presents Gurudeva seemed to appreciate most woollen socks made by Mother Eeva, whose son and daughter-in-law are both in Krishna consciousness. He was happy to hear that she had made them herself. He will need them during the winter at New Goloka.

Like always it was wonderful to see how encouraging Gurudeva is and how he truly appreciates what ever little service we are able to do. There is also a lot to learn about how he is able to take himself with a sense a humour; he was joking that by hearing the offerings he would be able to go on another year.

After some more chanting, there was a surprise we had to wait a while. Gurudeva was like a little boy when he was peeking to the upstairs and trying to see what was it. He was happy to find out that it was a play telling about Bhaktivinoda Thakura and a man who claimed to be Maha-Vishnu. Bhaktivinoda Thakura went to meet him and was not at all impressed because of the man’s magical tricks but rather bored and he used his time better by chanting Hare Krishna. Finally he arrested the guy.

The play did not tell the rest of the story so Gurudeva explained how Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s family and he himself got sick when the bhogi-yogi was in jail because he was using his mystic tricks to cause that people would get scared and release him. But, when his hair was cut off he lost his power and after half a year he committed a suicide.

Venu-Gopal, one of Gurudeva’s disciples, had a special present for him; he sang a song playing his guitar. After that everyone took Prasadam. We had made some extra preparations for Gurudeva although we were not able to beat the hospitality of the devotees in Fiji. Like usually, Gurudeva gave a special notice for pizza.

After the Pradasadam devotees started to leave but everyone was happy after the nice celebration. This was especially because of Gurudeva; he created such a nice, relaxed and friendly atmosphere and there was no pressure if everything did not go exactly according to all the rules and regulations. Like Gurudeva said before the celebrations; the main thing is that devotees are gathering together and having a good time in Krishna consciousness. That way we are able to feel that we are part of Srila Prabhupada’s big family.

Text by Nandarani devi dasi

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