This is the first newsletter about the glorious

activities and personality of His Holiness Bir

Krishna das Goswami Maharaj. This newsletter will

cover the recent visit of Guru Maharaj to Fiji and

his return to New Goloka (North Carolina, USA).

I humbly beg all the devotees without whom this

newsletter would not have been possible to please

accept my heartfelt appreciation-Visvanath Prabhu,

Gayatri Mataji, Bhaja Govinda Prabhu and Sumukha

Prabhu Thank you very much.

The main aims of this newsletter are to glorify Guru

Maharaj and to bring devotees closer to him.

It is intended that this newsletter be published on a

regular basis therefore any current and upcoming

reports from devotees around the world would be much appreciated. Please send to Kisori devi dasi at S984219@fsm.ac.fj (until further change).

Guru Maharaja’s visit to Fiji lasted from the 10th to

the 27th of March.

March 10th, 2003. Guru Maharaj arrived at Nadi

airport. ( Fiji’s largest international airport

situated on the western side of the island). His

flight landed at 5:30pm and he came out by 6:10pm.

There were about 25 Lautoka devotees present to

welcome him. All the devotees were very enthused and

had a banner reading “ Fiji Yatra Welcomes you Home

Guru Maharaj” which had been financed by Govinda

Mohini Mataji who is a pharmacist by profession and a

very enthused disciple of Guru Maharaj. The devotees

had been doing kirtan while they waited.

As soon as Guru Maharaj could be seen Bhaja Govinda

Prabhu went and took his luggage after offering his

prostrated obeisances and a garland of flowers. Guru

Maharaj commented that he could hear kirtan and that

there were so many devotees present.

As soon as he came outside all the devotees garlanded him and many photographs were taken. Guru Maharaj addressed everyone generally while his luggage was loaded into Bhuwan Mohan Prabhu’s (Srila Prabhupad’s disciple) car. Then he said to everyone “ See you all at the temple” and took his seat in the car. On the way to Sri Krsna Kaliya Temple, Lautoka, Guru Maharaj spoke about his visit to Sydney, from where he had come directly to Fiji. He praised the Sydney yatra commenting on the devotees and the preaching activities. He said that in 6 days he had visited 30 different houses! He then asked about preaching in Fiji and Vamandev Prabhu, the Temple President of Sri Krsna Kaliya Temple gave a short report. Guru Maharaj then said that he was feeling very hungry as he had not taken prasadam on the plane and if prasadam was ready. Of course prasadam had been prepared at the temple with his disciples eager to serve him! As soon as they arrived at Sri Krsna Kaliya Temple, Guru Maharaj went to his room in the brahmcari’s

ashram. He was very pleased with the manner in which

his room had been prepared in terms of there being no

extra floormats or excessive flower decorations.

A grand reception had been planned for him at the

temple which is just adjacent to the brahmcari’s

ashram. Guru Maharaj then went to the temple to do a

quick darshan of Sri Gaur-Nitai Bhagvan, Sri Krsna

Kaliya Bhagvan , Sri-Sri Radha Govindji Bhagvan (achal

deities) and Sri-Sri Radha Giridhari Bhagvan (chal

deities). Young devotee girls showered flowers upon

his divine form as he climbed the steps. He said

“Jaya!” in a pleased manner.

After Guru Maharaj had honoured prasad, a feet-washing

ceremony was conducted by Revatinandan Prabhu and Amsu

Prabhu while a soft and sweet “Gurudeva” kirtan was

led by Bhaja Govinda Prabhu. An arati ceremony was

also conducted during which Guru Maharaj handed out

prasadam to all the devotees present with his own

hand. Svad anna trptan hari bhakta sanghan krtvaiva

trptim bhajata sadaiva. About 40 devotees were

squeezed into the prasadam room and everyone felt

specially blessed to get prasadam in this way. He then

spoke for about 15 minutes saying that he was happy to

be back in Fiji. He reflected on his past few weeks

which had been spent traveling continuously from India

to Australia and now to Fiji. It was a short sweet

arrival lecture which he concluded by saying “ See you

all at mangal arati! Guru Maharaj looked visibly tired

and he took early rest at 8:30pm.

11th March,2003. At 4am lights went on in Guru

Maharaj’s room and he came out at 4:22am. The first

thing he used to say to his servant was, “Hare Krsna,

you ready to go?” This was his daily routine.

On entering the temple after paying obeisances to

Srila Prabhupada, Guru Maharaj used to sit right in

front of the Gaur-Nitai altar and chant, sitting with

a very straight back. As soon as the curtains opened

for mangal-arati, he would do quick dandvats and

darshan and sing the Guru-astaka prayers in a very

sweet tune which invariably made everyone dance.

Today he was not happy with the poor turnout of

devotees at mangal-arati. This was, to some extent,

due to the windy and rainy weather as a tropical

cyclone had been detected some distance from the main

islands.

Guru Maharaj always sang Narshing prayer as well and

for Tulsi arati two cushions and the harmonium would

always be arranged for him right in front of Tulsi

Maharani as Guru Maharaj would always play the

harmonium at Tulsi arati. After offering all the

vaisnavas his respectful obeisances, he would then

would sit right in front of Srila Prabhupada and chant

japa from 5:30 to 6am sharp all the while deeply

meditating on Srila Prabhupada .

Today he looked around to see if devotees were still

sitting and doing japa with him or not. Guru Maharaj

likes devotees to sit and do japa especially during brahma-muhurta, as this is a very auspicious time. At 6am after reciting the gayatri, Guru Maharaj would then retire to his room and prepare his morning class. Morning class at the temple was from 6:45 to 7:30am. Today Guru Maharaj read from SB 3:22:21.

At 7:30am curtains would open for darshan and after

darshan everyday Guru Maharaj would offer gurupuj to

Srila Prabhupad.

Guru Maharaj is very sensitive to noise. Whenever

kartals and /or mrdang is played loudly he always puts

on his ear noise filters. Devotees were constantly

encouraged, therefore, to play the musical instruments

softly. In fact, in Labasa, after a really ecstatic

kirtan in which the mrdang was played really loudly ,

Guru Maharaj jokingly commented the even the house in

which he was staying had been shaking and that that

kind of shaking was not really ecstasy!

After gurupuj, Guru Maharaj always took a tiny drop of caranamrta (as it is usually very sweet and as we all know Guru Maharaj does not take salt, sugar or oil). Then he usually retired to his room till breakfast. At 9am breakfast was served at the temple. A large variety of fruits and yoghurt was served. Guru Maharaj really likes sliced bananas and yoghurt and he likes the yoghurt not to be too sour or too sweet. He commented “This is the best prasadam.” And asked who had prepared it. Hardworking Vrajrani Mataji had prepared breakfast and she was delighted at Gurudeva’s appreciation. During breakfast, Gurudeva spoke with the few devotees present inquiring about their devotional life. He also asked a lot about the local situation and who was managing what. The original plan had been for Guru Maharaj to leave for Labasa today, but due to poor weather conditions this had been postponed indefinitely till the weather cleared, much to the delight of the Lautoka devotees. Guru Maharaj then inquired about the schedule for the day. Nothing specific had been planned and Guru Maharaj was pleased as he had been so busy in Sydney that he had been unable to do good solid reading for some days. So the day was conveniently set aside for reading and resting.

Just to make sure that Guru Maharaj was not disturbed,

a notice was put on Guru Maharaj’s door “Please do not

disturb Guru Maharaj”. At 3pm sharp, Guru Maharaj came

out of his room for a walk, however, just after a

short distance he returned, as the ground was muddy

due to the recent rain.

Back in his room, Guru Maharaj started making

arrangements to go to Labasa where he was much looking

forward to be. However, no flights were available to

Labasa today due to poor weather conditions and the

earliest available flight was at 6:55 am on the 13th,

so arrangements were made to take this flight to

Labasa.

At 5pm lunch was served at Vrajendranandan Prabhu’s

place, who is a disciple of Guru Maharaj. Guru Maharaj

was welcomed very nicely with feet-washing ceremony

and arati. He liked Vrajendranandan Prabhu’s family a

lot as they are all aspiring disciples. While prasad

was being served Guru Maharaj was chanting on his

beads and a young boy, about 3 years old who was also

present, was also chanting. Guru Maharaj liked this

boy’s innocent chanting a lot.

Halfway through the meal, however, the power got cut

off and candles were lighted. Guru Maharaj looked very

royal sitting surrounded by pillows and being fanned

with camar in the soft candlelight. Govinda Mohini

could not resist and took many pictures.

After prasadam, Guru Maharaj spoke quite heavily

against migrating from Fiji. He spoke about Australian

devotees saying that so many of the children born to

devotee parents are not being able to be controlled by

their parents as they were getting their bodies

tattooed. He said that it was Lord Caitanya’s desire

that devotees remain in Fiji and preach.

Evening class was at 7pm at the temple. Before the

class Guru Maharaj asked in which direction the

cyclone was moving. Like little children speaking to

their father the devotees replied in bits and pieces,

often finishing each others sentences for them.

The class was on “The Search for the Best Devotee”

from the Brhad Bhagavadmrta. In the middle of the

class, a little ginger-coloured kitten wandered into

the temple hall due to the rain and wind outside. Guru

Maharaj asked “Who is this new devotee? He’s wearing

saffron but doesn’t belong to the temple hall!”

Everybody laughed and the kitten was taken outside. Incidentally, the same story from the Brhad Bhagavadmrta had been recited by Srila Tamal Krishna Goswami Maharaj, Srila Gurudev on his last visit to Fiji. This is a very sweet and intimate story of how Narad Muni is trying to find out who serves Krsna best and how he meets so many pure devotees in his search. It is said that whoever hears this story attains pure love of Godhead! After class, Guru Maharaj again took early rest at 8:30pm.

12th March,2003. The same daily routine was followed

with breakfast at the temple.

Today devotees met Guru Maharaj one after another each

spending about half an hour with him. At 2pm all the

full-time devotees living at the temple had a combined

meeting with Guru Maharaj. He asked everyone if they

were happy in their service or not and asked everyone

to write down their complaints, the spiritual father

sorting out everyone’s troubles and carrying out his

duties as GBC for Fiji.

At 5pm dinner was arranged at Sumukha Prabhu’s place.

Bhaja Govinda Prabhu drove Guru Maharaj over in his

car and Guru Maharaj joked with him about his car

being dirty. Of course, Bhaja Govinda Prabhu had been

careful to clean his car beforehand! Guru Maharaj

likes Bhaj Govinda Prabhu a lot. Bhaj Govinda Prabhu

is a disciple of Srila Tamal Krishna Goswami Maharaj,

Srila Gurudev, and he meticulously serves Guru Maharaj

on all his visits.

At dinner all of Guru Maharaj’s favourite dishes had

been prepared and he encouraged Sumukha Prabhu and his

good wife Manjumukhi Mataji a lot. These two disciples

of Guru Maharaj along with Govinda Mohini Mataji were

fortunate in being able to travel with Guru Maharaj

all over Fiji. Guru Maharaj always takes a little ghee

with his meals so a little bowl of ghee is always

present alongside his plate except at breakfast.

Evening class again was at 7pm and everyone was again

bathed in the nectarean details of exchanges between

Krsna and his intimate devotees. A lot of intense

emotions are portrayed in this story by all the

characters and it is very absorbing.

13th March,2003. The morning routine was the same,

except that there was no morning class as today Guru

Maharaj was to fly out to Labasa.

On the whole, Guru Maharaj was not happy with Lautoka

yatra and he was not planning to return for Gaur

Purnima on the 18th as originally scheduled..

It was indeed a devastating departure. He told the

devotees to be spiritually strong. The Lautoka

devotees started praying very hard for Guru Maharaj to

return as they needed a lot of spiritual guidance and inspiration and really wanted him to be present for Gaur Purnima.

Labasa yatra.Radha-Vrindavancandra.

13th March,2003.

The morning flight landed at Labasa airport and Guru

Maharaj was grandly welcomed by all the Labasa

devotees.

Labasa is unique in that one senior devotee,

Hamsavatar Prabhu has constructed a large

hall-Nityananda Hall as well as a house for all

visiting sannyasis called Gurunivas. He had undertaken

this project as a service to his guru, His Holiness

Tamal Krishna Goswami Maharaj, Srila Gurudev.

Apart from this, there is also the main temple where

Radha-

Vrindavancandra are the presiding deities. Hamsavatar

Prabhu’s family of devotees has succeeded in making a

large percentage of the Labasa population Krsna

conscious. The atmosphere is one of a village with

open-hearted people.

Guru Maharaj had breakfast at Vrindavancandra Prabhu’s

place. In the evening, there was feet-washing ceremony

and arati at the temple. Guru Maharaj also gave a very

sweet class saying he was so happy to finally be in

Labasa.

Guru Maharaj spent the night at Gurunivas.

14th March,2003.

Mangal-arati was at the Nityananda hall and breakfast

was served at Rasabihari Prabhu’s residence. At 1pm

there was a school programme arranged at one of the

local schools. Before Guru Maharaj arrived at the

school, a few devotees had already started doing

kirtan. However, there was not much response from the

students. But when Guru Maharaj arrived he made all

the 500 students chant with him. He made the

atmosphere spiritual. Sumukha Prabhu says,”There I saw

the power of my Gurudeva.”

Guru Maharaj had been very nicely welcomed by the

students with many garlands. After the school

programme, lunch was at Hamsavatar Prabhu’s place at

5pm.

15th March,2003.

Today was Amardaki Ekadasi. Mangal-arati was in the

Nityananda Hall. Guru Maharaj gave morning class from

the SB.

Lunch was at Acutya Prabhu’s place where many

varieties of prasad had been prepared. Acutya Prabhu

and his wife Sundari Mataji encouraged Guru Maharaj’s

disciples to take good care of him.

Evening programme was at Sridham Prabhu’s place. There

was a large audience present. Guru Maharaj spoke on

the childhood pastimes of Lord Caitanya. Everyone was

absorbed in enjoying the cheeky childhood pranks of

Lord Caitanya .

Tonight, the kirtan was simply ecstatic and so

superheated. It just went on and on and everyone was

dancing in ecstasy for almost an hour. This kirtan was

more than enough to make a lame man dance! After all,

it is meant for rousing us from deep slumber from the

lap of the witch Maya.

16th March,2003.

Mangal-arati again was at Nityananda Hall followed by

breakfast at Prataparudra Prabhu’s place. The midday

programme was at the temple. Midday class was

extremely instructive. Guru Maharaj spoke on chanting

and recounted a story of one lady reporter who after

attending morning programme had concluded that japa

period was actually the devotees’ social time as they

spent most of this time talking! Guru Maharaj is very

strict about chanting. He does not talk to anyone in

the brahma-muhurta period unless it is about

Krsna.”Business can wait.” He highlighted the

importance of making some material adjustments in

order to chant effectively such as sitting up straight

so that the lungs and the brain are filling up with

oxygen well, as well as eating little the night before

so as not to fall asleep while chanting.

As well as being Guru Maharaj’s last day in Labasa, it

was also the disappearance day of Madhvendra Puri

today. Guru Maharaj gave a very nectarean evening

class of Madhvendra Puri’s pastimes. He told of how

Madhvendra Puri’s deity Gopal is worshipped in a

unique way by placing toys in front of it. The deity

is worshipped in the mood of Krsna playing as a little

boy with toys such as spinning tops, wooden figures,

etc, being placed in front of him. He also told of how

one deity had once stolen sweet rice for Madhvendra

Puri and since then had become known as Ksircor

Gopinath..

Guru Maharaj had given an instruction that everybody

have some questions to ask tonight as noone ever had

any questions. One question raised was that if one has

a picture of Krsna at his home and is doing worship,

if this was enough and could be used as an excuse not

to serve the deities at the temple. Guru Maharaj

replied that it was not the same thing at all because

temple deities are installed and worshipped in a

regulated manner and when the temple deities are

worshipped it is also sankirtan as the deities are

preaching deities. It was also Prabhupad’s instruction

that grsthas should live close to the temple and serve

the deities. Also when one serves in the temple, he

also serves the devotees, whereas when he serves at

home, then service of devotees is neglected.

As it was his last class, Guru Maharaj was very sweet

and open and said that his heart is actually in Labasa

with the devotees all the time and that he has the

best time in the world when he’s in Labasa. He

compared Labasa to Vrindavan and Suva to Dwarka, Suva

being full of opulence.

17th March,2003.

After mangal-arati, Guru Maharaj took an early flight

to Lautoka for Gaur Purnima. Although Guru Maharaj had

not wanted to return to Lautoka so much for Gaur

Purnima, he returned to conduct an opening ceremony

for the new prasadam hall, restaurant and accomodation

block being constructed at Sri Krsna Kaliya Temple.

Guru Maharaj arrived at Nadi at 9am.

Breakfast at Gauri Mataji’s place was very relaxed

where Guru Maharaj enjoyed the association of his

godbrothers and godsister. He led a very sweet kirtan

and commented that this house was the most Krsna

conscious house of all. Today, Gurudeva asked everyone

to be seated and to be served at the same time as he

was served. He usually likes everyone to take prasadam

the same time as he does.

During the day he met a few devotees and rested .

Late lunch was at Sri Kesav Prabhu’s place and, as

usual, a large variety of preparations had been made.

Guru Maharaj was very sweetly welcomed by a

foot-bathing ceremony and then an arati conducted by

Manju Mukhi Mataji, who became quite emotional while

doing arati. After this, as he was being fanned by Sri

Kesav Prabhu, while taking prasadam, he talked with

Sri Kesav Prabhu about how he had entered devotional

life. All the devotees sat around listening to Guru

Maharaj speak.

Evening class at 7pm was at the temple when the story

from the Brhad-Bhagavadmrta was completed tonight.

18th March,2003.Gaur Purnima.

A large number, around 60 devotees were present for mangal-arati today. At 9:15am , signing of the temple contract took place by the sponsor and the foundation-laying ceremony took place under the expert supervision of Guru Maharaj. Guru Maharaj put cement first followed by all the devotees while he sat and watched shaded by an umbrella held by Hamsavatar Prabhu. At 10:30 am, a big harinam had been organized in the city and Radha-Giridhari Bhagwan, splendidly dressed for the occasion, bestowed unlimited mercy on all the fortunate people in the city today. Guru Maharaj was relentless in covering as many streets as possible with the Lord’s mercy as he led the military procession against maya. The weather had now become hot with the sun blazing in the sky and it was amusing to see Guru Maharaj walking ahead and his servant usually running to catch up to hold the umbrella over his head! At 1pm, about 600 plates of prasadam was distributed in Lautoka city thus further spreading the Lord’s mercy. For the rest of the day, Guru Maharaj met with a few devotees . The evening programme started at 7pm and consisted of abhisek of Gaur-Nitai Bhagvan followed by arati, class, and finally drama. The class was very absorbing and extolled Lord Caitanya’s mercy –how he had delivered Jagai and Madhai and later absorbed their sins and become dark in colour like Krsna, how he had appeared and why as well as how Advaita Acarya used to pray for his appearance. The drama prepared by the Lautoka devotees dwelt on the entry of Kaliyuga, how it changed people’s lives and made them sinful, King Pariksit’s offence and finally how Lord Caitanya’s appearance rectified people’s lives again by harinam. Guru Maharaj broke fast in his room before taking rest.

19th March 2003.

Just after mangal-arati, Guru Maharaj left for Suva by

plane. At 7:15am, he had arrived in

Suva and was joyfully greeted by about 25 devotees.

Guru Maharaj went straight to Jairam Prabhu’s place.

Jairam Prabhu is the Suva Temple President and Guru

Maharaj will be staying here while in Suva. Guru

Maharaj was given the room that used to be used by

His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami Maharaj, Srila

Gurudev.

Jairam Prabhu’s entire family are very nice strong

devotees, all firmly fixed in Krsna consciousness and

they always serve Guru Maharaj with much love and

attention. Guru Maharaj enjoys their association a

lot.

A quick foot-bathing reception was done by Bhimsen

Prabhu and Visvanath Prabhu. Breakfast was served at

9am and as usual Guru Maharaj ate basically fruits. He

also really enjoyed the semolina idlis made by

Ragabhumi Mataji.

Today, Guru Maharaj rested as he tired from the Gaur

Purnima festivities. He also chanted and read in

preparation for the official evening reception and

class at the temple.

At 2pm, Guru Maharaj went to see the new Suva temple

project site. He was much pleased with the progress

made ..

The temple hall was packed for the evening reception

programme with about 200 guests and devotees. Guru

Maharaj thanked everyone for being engaged in Krsna consciousness while he was away. He spoke about feeling very nice and satisfied being with everyone. Class was from the Caitanya Caritamrta about the pastimes of Lord Caitanya’s sankirtan party and the Kazi’s attempt to stop the sankirtan.

20th March,2003.

Morning programme was at Jairam Prabhu’s place.

Morning class today was from SB Canto 5, Chapter 5. on

the Teachings of Lord Rshabdev. Breakfast was served

by Vilasini Mataji.

During the daytime, Guru Maharaj was busy with visits

by Vasudeva Prabhu and Bhagwati Mataji.

Aristanemi Prabhu had invited Guru Maharaj for late

lunch today and as Guru Maharaj wanted to get some

exercise, he decided to walk there. It was about a 45

minute walk with the hot sun blazing down, so when

Guru Maharaj arrived, he decided to shower first

before respecting prasad.

Hiranyangi Mataji very quickly gave Guru Maharaj a new

towel and soap as well as a room to change.

Immediately after a quick shower, Guru Maharaj sat

down to take prasad. Everything had been prepared very

nicely and Guru Maharaj again enjoyed his big-time

favourite of daruka which is a local Fijian asparagus.

He joked, “I hope I can take some daruka to

Krishna-loka for Krishna when I go back home to

Godhead.”

The evening programme today was at the Fiji School of

Nursing. The topic was “Yoga for the Present

Civiliasation.” A bigger audience had been anticipated

, but many students had gone home for their

mid-semester break, so there were about 50 interested

nursing students. Some of these students attend the

regular cell programmes held at the Nursing School.

Guru Maharaj spoke about astanga yoga and compared it

to bhakti yoga. He proved how bhakti yoga is practical

and applicable, yet at the same time, the principles

of astanga yoga are still there, so that the audience

did not feel as though they were missing out on

astanga yoga.

21st March,2003.

Mangal-arati as usual at Jairam Prabhu’s place.Morning

class was continued from the SB with Lord Rshabdev’s

teaching-mahat sevam- service to the devotees being

the thrust of the class.

Breakfast today was at Acarynidhi Prabhu’s place ..

Acarynidhi Prabhu did quick foot-bathing reception and

arati. One amusing coincidence was that when Guru

Maharaj arrived, a recorded gurupuj kirtan was playing

which had actually been sung by Guru Maharaj himself.

So while arati was offered this track continued to

play and everyone laughed at Guru Maharaj’s comment

that now he could have his own gurupuja and he had led

the kirtan himself! Vasudeva Prabhu and Bhagwati

Mataji also came for breakfast today.

After breakfast, Guru Maharaj caught up on his emails

and reading. Again, Vasudeva Prabhu visited Guru

Maharaj today in regards to the new temple project.

Guru Maharaj also spent most of the day video editing

His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami Maharaj’s Pusp

Samadhi tape which will be shown in the evening

programme tonight.

Lunch was at Jugul Kisora Prabhu’s place. They had

prepared a nice lunch. During lunch, Guru Maharaj

discussed the need to set up an education institute

for training up devotees in the philosophy of Krishna consciouness. Jugal Kisora Prabhu and his wife Radha Sangh Mataji are very nice sankirtan devotees. Guru Maharaj said that Srila Prabhuipad has written the books primarily for reading and secondarily for distributing. Evening programme at the temple was nice with Guru Maharaj showing video clippings of the GBC meetings in Mayapur as well as the ISKCON project at Mayapur including Srila Prabhupad’s Pusp Samadhi, etc.

22nd March,2003.

Usual morning programme. A harinam and picnic had

been planned for today.

Breakfast was at Nandvraj Prabhu’s place where a

Gujerati-style breakfast was served. Guru Maharaj

tasted everything a little but mainly ate his standard

fruits. Bilvamangal Prabhu who stays in the flat

downstairs to Nandvraj Prabhu had invited Guru Maharaj

before breakfast by a foot-bathing ceremony and also

had a light discussion with Guru Maharaj. He is

aspiring for second initiation from Guru Maharaj.

As it was a hot day,Guru Maharaj decided not to move

around with the harinam party in the sun but to join

the devotees in the prasadam tent from where prasadam distribution was done. So Guru Maharaj reached Navua Town, which is about a 45 minute drive from Suva city right in time to lead chanting for about an hour. By then prasadam distribution was also over so everyone left for the beach. On the way to the beach, Guru Maharaj visited Sravaniya Mataji who had just returned from India for a chat. The devotees including Vasudeva Prabhu were already in the water, so Guru Maharaj joined them immediately. Guru Maharaj spent about an hour in the water. While devotees were coming out of the water one by one, Guru Maharaj had a meeting with Parsuram Prabhu. After everyone had had lunch, Guru Maharaj started singing bhajans accompanying himself with his guitar. Everyone was immersed in transcendental ecstasy and felt that the sun should not set today. Then it was time to go back to Suva. Late lunch was at Bhakta Ravin’s place who is aspiring initiation from Guru Maharaj. Prasadam was very nice and Guru Maharaj joked that if Bhakta Ravin promised to give him daruka all the time then he could give him initiation in return! Guru Maharaj spoke lightly about how to keep up initiation vows and how Srila Prabhupad used to chant his 16 rounds-4 rounds before breakfast, 4 before lunch , 4 before dinner and 4 before going to bed. He said one can therefore chant 16 rounds very easily. Everyone was a bit quiet due to the tiredness of harinam and picnic and Guru Maharaj took early rest tonight.

23rd March,2003.

Usual morning programme except that the SB class was

given at the temple as it is Sunday. In morning class,

Guru Maharaj spoke very strongly about being

responsible and spoke about ideal grstha asrama. The

temple hall was packed with about 100 devotees for

morning class. Visvanath Prabhu says that it was

probably the heaviest class he had heard of Guru

Maharaj.

Breakfast today was at Radhapati Prabhu’s place. After breakfast, Guru Maharaj went to visit Vilasini Mataji’s husband in hospital as he had suffered a spinal cord injury last year. Guru Maharaj led a soft kirtan by his bedside for about 15 minutes. Guru Maharaj had also visited him in hospital in Sydney. At midday, Guru Maharaj gave the Sunday feast lecture at the temple and also led arati kirtan. At 3pm , the National Council Meeting was scheduled and this meeting actually went on till 6pm, so lunch was delayed an hour. Lunch was at Indradyumna Prabhu’s place. Indradyumna Prabhu is a very nice disciple of His Holiness Bhakti Caru Maharaj. After lunch, Guru Maharaj was very relaxed. He sat with all the devotees and completed his rounds then spontaneously asked for the Krsna book to read from it. It was a very scenic and familial atmosphere as he sat reading surrounded by all his children and grandchildren. Dwarkadisa Prabhu and Jivanatha Prabhu were massaging Guru Maharaj’s feet as he read. Guru Maharaj felt very relaxed and was enjoying the family atmosphere.

24th March,2003.

Usual morning programme. Breakfast was at Krishna

Kanta Mataji’s place. Guru Maharaj spent the day

reading for tonight’s lecture at the University of the

South Pacific which had been organized by Bhimsena

Prabhu. The topic for the lecture was “Why Bad Things

Happen to Good People.”

Guru Maharaj went for a walk at 4:30pm.

Lunch was at Sugriva Prabhu’s place and Radha Sakhi

Mataji had made pizza for Guru Maharaj.

The evening programme was delayed to 8pm as there was

an exam being conducted at the lecture theatre. Guru

Maharaj started off the lecture with a very academic presentation on the history of world religions and their different perspectives on the topic under discussion. He then concluded with a Krishna conscious perspective. Then there was a nice kirtan led by Guru Maharaj in which everyone present participated. Prasadam was then served. Some interested people met Guru Maharaj at the book table and asked questions. The entire programme had been funded by the University Student Council of which Bhimsen Prabhu is a board member. The student Council appreciated the programme and requested more programmes of a similar nature in the future.

25th March,2003.

Usual morning programme. Breakfast was at Jairam

Prabhu’s place.

Today is the final day for Guru Maharaj in Suva. So

during the day, Vasudeva Prabhu came for final

discussions before Guru Maharaj left. Vasudeva Prabhu

is Srila Prabhupad’s disciple and is the main

coordinator for the new temple project in Suva.

Navabhakti and Aryamani Matajis’ came to see Guru

Maharaj for some advice and to give daksina.

Lunch was at Jivanath Prabhu’s place. Today, Guru

Maharaj again requested that everyone be served at

the same time as he was. Plates were prepared for all

the devotees that could fit into the prasadam room and

when everyone sat down, all the plates were brought in

at once and everyone was served together. Guru Maharaj

liked this style of serving. This was how His Holiness

Tamal Krishna Goswami Maharaj, Srila Gurudev, had

trained his disciples. Everyone started taking

prasadam together.

Evening programme was at the temple and it was Guru

Maharaj’s final address to all the Suva devotees for

this trip. Guru Maharaj thanked everyone for the nice association and said that his heart pained at the thought of him having to leave tomorrow. He spoke very little but rather chanted a few bhajans with harmonium. Everyone was a little down that Guru Maharaj is leaving tomorrow and they would now get darshan after 6 months at Radhastmi

26th March,2003.

A quick morning programme was conducted as everyone

had to leave early for the airport. There were about

40 devotees present at the airport. Everyone offered

Guru Maharaj garlands and he distributed one back to

each devotee as prasadam. Finally, Guru Maharaj had to

say goodbye. He hugged all the male devotees and

thanked all the mothers with folded palms for their

service saying that he had put on a few extra kilos

due to their service! Some devotees started crying at

the physical separation but Guru Maharaj assured

everyone that he would be back for Radhastmi which he

is going to celebrate in Suva. And Guru Maharaj walked

to the security areas and finally into the aircraft ,

waving to all the devotees. The devotees stood

watching until the plane disappeared in the early

morning clouds.

Guru Maharaj arrived at Lautoka at 9:30am. Although no initiation ceremony had been planned for this visit, Guru Maharaj, out of his causeless mercy decided that there was no reason for two young aspiring disciples to wait any longer. Therefore, an initiation ceremony took place this evening at the Sri Krsna Kaliya Temple!

27th March,2003.

Usual morning programme at Krsna Kaliya Temple. All

day today devotees were coming and meeting Guru

Maharaj as it was his last day in Fiji. Everyone was

feeling so sad that he would be flying out today.

Guru Maharaj distributed a lot of his socks and other

personal items to quite a number of fortunate devotees

and a lot of devotees gave him new socks as presents.

He said that he gives away socks and Krsna provides

him with new socks.

Guru Maharaj always likes leaving in plenty time for

the airport so that all the official business can be

done quickly and he can spend time with all the

devotees, so he left Lautoka at about 6:30pm. Before

he left he came into the temple and did final darshan

of their Lordships and Srila Prabhupada.

A large number of devotees went to the airport to see

Guru Maharaj off as everyone was eager for final

association, instructions and opportunities to serve.

After checking in, everyone went and sat with Guru

Maharaj in a clear spot in the airport building. Guru

Maharaj sat in a chair with all the devotees sitting

at his feet surrounding him. It was an impressive

sight indeed which amazed and impressed a lot of

onlookers. One European lady was so impressed that she

also took off her shoes and joined us sitting

cross-legged on the floor!

Guru Maharaj saturated everyone with his presence. He

spoke to each and every person and reciprocated very

lovingly to each of their inquiries. He gave general instructions and advised young devotees to get an education. But one thing that noone present will ever forget is the prasadam-lila! Guru Maharaj happened to glance at the prasadam packed for him for his journey and asked to see it. All the prasadam had been packed in identical containers by Jaya Lalita Mataji who had lovingly made each preparation. Guru Maharaj actually wanted to lessen the weight carried by him so he started to take out each container to see what he could give away. As he opened the container the devotees yelled out which preparation it contained. After sniffing the contents, Guru Maharaj put the container aside to take with him. This happened for each container with the devotees yelling with increasing glee as Guru Maharaj opened a new container because they all knew that all the preparations were absolute favourites of Guru Maharaj. There was much loving laughter as pizza, daruka, bean, jackfruit, capattis were all put aside one after another for Guru Maharaj to take with him. Finally, as there were 2 containers of pizza, one container was distributed to the devotees present who shared the little pieces lovingly among themselves. After this some devotees gave gift-wrapped presents to Guru Maharaj. Like a little boy, Guru Maharaj opened them at once. He has this habit of opening all his presents at once which is so endearing! Then it was time for Guru Maharaj to leave. All the devotees walked with him up to the departure gate. He hugged all the male devotees many of whom put their heads on his lotus feet and said “Haribol” with folded palms to all the Matajis. As many devotees as could fit into the narrow space craned their necks to get a last look as Guru Maharaj disappeared into the insides

of the airport with a final wave to everyone.