Gurudeva’s visit in Finland May 2002 by Jayananda das.

Gurudeva came to Finland on Monday 27th of May. During his visit the following took place:

Gurudeva’s ex-disciple who had gone to follow Narayana Maharaja came back and her new name is Vraja Lila dd.

Gurudeva gave re-initiation to the author and his name became Jayananda das. He also gave second initiation to Rasarani dd and to the author.The day was busy because on the same day the author got married to AstaSakhi dd. Gurudeva acted as the priest and the ceremony he performed got a lot of positive feedback from the audience. Although when Gurudeva was reading from the marriage ceremony papers : “your house should have 11 men (=husband and 10 sons)”, one lady who had followed the ceremony wrote to Gurudeva being a little upset about this chauvinist comment. gurudeva was amused by this and he said that next time he better change the marriage procedure because Finland is such a feminist country. The next wedding -according to Gurudeva- the husband could be brought to the temple covered with a veil where then his father would offer him to the bride. Gurudeva thinks that Finnish ladies are very strong willed, where as men are generally speaking a little softer.

Later on Gurudeva came to the author’s house for a few days. From there he gave morning classes at Ajamidha prabhu’s home temple He also held a community meeting at author’s house and one(for congregation that has been around for a little longer) at Ajamidha’s house. He was speaking very strongly about devotees needing to think with their own brain with taking charge of their own lives and the spreading of Krishna-consiousness. The same day he went to a third meeting that was held by a lake. People passing by were staring with disbelief when 30 devotees were singing Gaura-arotik and other Vaishnava songs, including Gurudeva’s Hanuman song. The speech was very inspiring and it brought back memories from Navadvipa Mandala Parikrama’s best Caitanya-lilas and sankirtan talks.

On Sunday Gurudeva was taking care of his e-mail. On Monday he gave many darshans, without sparing his time and trouble. His first concern seems to always be helping and serving the devotees. At night he showed the devotees his rock-tour in Tallinn, which inspired the temple president in Finland, Tattvavada Prabhu, t ask Gurudeva if he would do a similar concert in Finland next summer.

On Tuesday morning Gurudeva gave Bhagavatam class and unfortunately he left our country after that. He promised to come back though : “When you least expect it”, he commented with a smile.

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