Diary written by Prana-natha prabhu
Friday, 14th January, 2005
Gurudeva flew into Sydney from Fiji for a few hours stopover to relieve the devotees feelings of separation from the spiritual master before going on to New Zealand. The devotees were so ecstatic to see him they could hardly wait for him to come out of the airport.
Tulasi Mataji lives near the airport, so Gurudeva went to her house for lunch during his stopover. Tulasi had spent some time in Italy with the devotees a few months before, and she had learned to make ravioli the way Gurudeva likes, so Gurudeva had emailed her asking for ravioli for lunch. Tulasi said she was meditating on the ravioli so much that if she had died before Gurudeva arrived, she would have had to take birth again as ravioli. Fortunately, Gurudeva liked the ravioli and ate most of it, leaving only a few remnants for the devotees.
At Tulasi’s house
Monday, 17th January
Gurudeva arrived back in Sydney after his trip to New Zealand. He was glorifying the devotees in New Zealand so much. He said he likes Fiji best, then New Zealand, and somewhere after that is Sydney.
Dinner was held at Sandipani Muni’s place and afterwards a short program of bhajans and question time where once again Gurudeva’s wisdom shone through. Gurudeva answered questions about the recent Tsunami tragedy. He said that yes ultimately it is the person’s individual karma that led them to die in this life in this tragedy but that we should have compassion for the victims. Gurudeva explained how to deal with questions about how God could allow this tragedy to occur and that we need to preach with compassion and understanding.
The devotees in Sydney attempted to capture this spirit.
Taking prasadam at Sandipani Muni prabhu’s house
Tuesday 18th January
After the morning program at Krishna Vijaya’s house, Gurudeva began his gruelling schedule of visiting devotees in their homes.
In the evening, there was a program at Ananda Moya Prabhu’s house. It was his daughter’s birthday, so he had hired a jumping castle, and when Gurudeva saw it, he went and jumped on it. Unfortunately, Gandharvika Mataji wasn’t there with her camera, so there is no photo. Ananda Moya served a picnic dinner for Gurudeva in his back yard before Gurudeva sang some bhajans and showed the video of the installation of Radha-Golokabihari in Suva. Some of the devotees had seen the video before, but still, everyone was overwhelmed by how beautiful the Deities are. We all sat there unmoving until there was nothing more to see. Gurudeva played a tune none of the devotees had heard before, and explained that the devotees should dance ecstatically in a large circle one way, and then the other. Then he showed us video of the devotees in Fiji doing the dance.
Gurudeva playing guitar at Ananda Moya prabhu’s house
Wednesday, 19th January
Gurudeva as usual set the example for the devotees with focussed and heartfelt japa before and after the morning program. In the evening, Gurudeva took prasadam at Naveen Krishna’s house,and he said that the prasadam there is always so good, that in future, he will spend longer in Sydney so he can go to Naveen Krishna’s two or three times, rather than only once.
After prasadam, Gurudeva attended a program in the home of a devotee who had lost a family member. He expertly sensed the mood and devotion of the devotees present and gave a simple yet sublime explanation of Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2, Text 40 in describing that a little endeavour in spiritual life is never lost and that a little advancement can protect one from the most dangerous type of fear. The devotees were swept away with Gurudeva’s sweet melodious bhajans and all present went home uplifted by the association of the Lord’s pure devotee.
Prasadam at Naveen Krishna’s house
Thursday 20th January
Gurudeva’s last instructions on this trip to the assembled devotees was about the need for community and congregational development to bring about loving relationships between the devotees. This would in turn result in ISKCON becoming more attractive to newcomers.
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