NEWSLETTER -October/November 2006

Compiled by Kisori devi dasi.
Contributors- Fiji- Gurusharana dd
Auckland- Bhaktin sholin
Bhakta Krishan
Bhakta Kunal
Sydney- Kisori dd

Fiji-Auckland-Sydney yatra -14/10/06 to 13/11/06

FIJI (14/10/06 to 1/11/06)

Gurumaharaj arrived in Fiji (Nadi), early (3am) on the morning of Sri Radha Kunda Appearance. He celebrated Radha Kunda appearance at the Sri sri Krsna Kaliya Temple in Lautoka and spent a few days in Lautoka before going to Suva. Along the way, he stopped for dinner prasadam at Gita Kirti and Gurusmarna mataji’s home in Sigatoka.

Gurumaharaj then spent a few days in Suva and celebrated Govardhan puja in Suva. He also showed a video of his last trip to India as many devotees from Fiji are accompanying him on his next trip in February next year. He also showed a video of Srila Prabhupad’s final pastimes in which devotees tell of their remembrances of Srila Prabhupad. Here is Gurusharana’s summary on the celebration in Suva for Govardhan puja: Sri Govardhan puja was grandly celebrated at ISKCON Suva Sri Sri Radha Golokabihari Dham. HH Bir Krishna Das Goswami Maharaj’s divine presence made the festival even more blissful. The program started with Gaura Arati, and then Sri Sri Radha Gopinath arrived and were seated on Sri Govardhan hill whose base was made of cake and covered with icing and designed with variety of sweets.
Sri Sri Radha Gopinath were welcomed with ecstatic kirtan and then Maharaj gave class on how Sri Govardhan appeared (Srimati Radharani requested Lord Krsna to make a beautiful arena for the rasa dance, Lord Krrsna’s love manifested in the form of fire and water and sprung out from Lord Krsna’s chest and fell on different parts of the land in Sri Goloka Vrindavan dham. Sri Govardhan then manifested wherever Lord Krsna’s love as fire and water fell on the ground and kept on expanding. The residents of Goloka dham became terrified because if Govardhan kept expanding, the entire Goloka dham would
be covered. So Lord Krsna then slapped Govardhan and said why you keep on expanding, I didn’t ask you to expand so much, so Sri Govardhan stopped expanding at a length of 800,000 miles and Lord Krsna and Srimati Radharani with all the gopis performed many intimate pastimes on the most beautiful Sri
Govardhan hill). Maharaj also told about how Sri Govardhan arrived on the earth planet and other pastimes where Sri Govardhan has delivered conditioned souls. Then arati was offered to Sri Govardhan, more than 400 guests and devotees offered ghee lamps to Sri Sri Radha Gopinath and Sri Govardhan while Maharaj
sang Sri Damodar astakam. Finally everyone got to do parikram and then prasadam was served. Sri Giriraj Govardhan ki Jaya. Sri Sri Radha Govardhan Giridhari ki Jaya. Gurumaharaj then left Suva to visit Labasa for a few days where he celebrated Srila Prabhupad’s Disappearance. He then returned to Suva and on his last day there, 31st of Oct., performed an initiation ceremony after Gaura arati in the
Sri sri Radha-Golokhabihari temple. Eight devotees got brahmin diksa and 2 devotees got harinaam diksa. The same evening Gurumharaj left for Sigatoka (Gita Kirti and Gurusmarna matajis’ residence), where he spent the night before getting a morning flight out of Fiji. There were many devotees to see him off when he left Suva for Sigatoka. The mood was generally sad as it had been a shorter visit to Suva than usual.

Gurumaharaj left Nadi on 1/11/06 and arrived in Auckland in the afternoon.

AUCKLAND (1/11/06-8/11/06 then 13/11/06)
1/11/06
On his arrival from the airport, there was a warm welcome at Draupadi’s home with a short arati and coconut breaking at the doorway. Gurumaharaj then sat down for an informal chat with the devotees before taking a rest. Dinner was at 5pm at Draupadi’s home and a formal welcome ceremony was performed with gurupuja and footbathing. The devotees then presented Gurumaharaj with a guitar that they had bought him as a Vyasapuja gift (Vyasapuja had been on Pasankusa Ekadasi in October), which he really liked and thanked the devotees for. This is the guitar that Gurumaharaj used throughout his Auckland visit for the many enjoyable sessions of spiritual dancing. Later in the evening, there was a home visit to Bhakta Asimit’s where there was lovely kirtan.

2/11/06
After mangal arati at Draupadi’s home, Gurumaharaj gave class on Srila Gaura Kisora das Babaji Maharaj’s Disappearance. He went to Nandvraj prabhu’s home in the morning. Nandvraj prabhu, a senior TKG disciple, is the person who had initially invited Gurumaharaj to New Zealand and Gurumaharaj has a lot of love for him. Later in the afternoon, Gurumaharaj went for a walk and this was a new and funny experience for the Auckland devotees as he walks so fast and they had to struggle to keep up! Dinner was at Bhakta Thakur’s home and there was a celebration here for Gaura Kisora dasa Babaji Maharaj with pusphanjali and kirtan. Gurumaharaj visited 2 more homes before retiring for the day. In Sydney and Auckland, Gurumaharaj does home visits. He has a daily schedule of home visits and travels around with a few devotees through the day visiting devotees in their homes, answering their questions, having kirtan and checking on their spiritual welfare. He takes a little fruit prasadam at every home. Often, there are many home visits in one day and Gurumaharaj retires for the day a very tired spiritual warrior.

3/11/06
After the usual morning program- and this included offering ghee lamps to Lord Damodar as it was Karttik, there was morning class on SB 8.3.11. A few main points from class were: *Supreme Personality of Godhead can only be understood by devotional service. * Krsna consciousness cannot be preached through ritualistic means.people need to understand why things are done in certain way; every thing has a reason behind it. And once people understand why things are done in a certain way, it becomes easier for them to accept Krsna Consciousness. * Everything we do has a meaning to it. * Devotional Service – needs to be done with the right mood both internally and externally. * that a person needs to think from within the reason one is doing something, then he will get the taste of it. But if one does not think about it and just does the action ritualistically, then distaste builds up and one does not get any satisfaction. – *Bhakti can be gotten from following in the footsteps of devotees. * Bhakti should come naturally – it should be naturally the internal mood of a devotee.
* Bhakti is doing things for Krsna with love without any desire for one’s own sense gratification.
* Bhakti comes from bhakti.

Breakfast was at Satyabhama mataji’s home and Gurumaharaj sang a few very beautiful kirtans after breakfast.

The next home visit was at Sridhaam prabhu’s and here Gurumaharaj was very impressed by the beautiful works of devotional art at his home.

After nice dinner prasadam at Bilvamangal prabhu’s home, Gurumaharaj conducted a program at a local Ram Krishna temple, where he spoke from the Ramayan. He told Valmiki Muni’s story and talked about demigod worship and finished off class by describing how Sugriva and Bali were born. The assembled people really appreciated such an in-depth explanation from the Ramayan and warmly applauded him. Gurumaharaj then spent some time talking with the local temple president before returning home with all the devotees.

4/11/06

Gurumaharaj left Draupadi’s home early this morning for Sri sri Radha Giridhari (New Varshana, Auckland) temple. Where there was morning class. This was followed by breakfast at Sundargopal prabhu’s home then a series of home visits to devotees living around the temple area. His final visit was at
Amrita Vilasini’s home where he enjoyed dinner prasadam, and then showed a video of Srila Prabhupad from ISCKON’s early days. Devotees enjoyed watching Tamal Krsna Maharaj (Srila Gurudev), and Mukunda Maharaj in the early days.

5/11/06

Class this morning was on rasa-lila, in which Gurumaharaj explained the difference between rasa and raasa.
Rasa- taste of food, relationship, etc., mellow Raasa- dance He explained that the raasa dance was performed when Krsna was 8 years old and that at that age, it is uncommon to have these lilas’ and feelings, but Krsna’s lilas are all transcendental. Also that raasa lila is a “parakiya rasa” which is unalloyed lawless love and that this has much, much more taste compared to material love or lawful love. He also mentioned Maharaj Pariksit’s concerns on spreading Krsna Consciousness, given that people will have questions regarding the raasa dance, and simultaneously explained Sukadeva Goswami’s reply to these concerns. He
commented how the raasa dance was being misinterpreted in this day and age.

Breakfast prasadam was at Dwarkadisa prabhu’s home, followed by many home visits to the devotees living in the temple compound.

Gurumaharaj gave midday class at the temple on Tulasi-vivha and explained the whole story of how Tulasi devi actually ended up marrying Visnu. The congregation really appreciated the beautiful story. After a few more home visits in the afternoon, Gurumaharaj went for dinner at Nimananda prabhu’s home, where he continued the video of Srila Prabhupad and everyone got completely immersed in Srila Prabhupad lila and had to be reminded of the next home visit.

The next home visit was at Bhakta Sandeep’s and this turned out to be very significant because this is where the fever of spiritual dancing began. Gurumaharaj started singing kirtan and the ladies got up to dance first, followed by the men and soon the whole room was dancing away, with Gurumaharaj actually standing up on the sofa with his guitar, playing and singing!! Everyone demanded more and more until Gurumaharaj was so tired and had to stop. It was a great way to farewell Kartikk, seeing that it was the last day of it.

6/11/06

Mangal arati was followed by class on SB 8.3.19. A few points Gurumaharaj spoke on were;
– guru is a person who does not deviate from what is stated in the scriptures , who has come to deliver the conditioned souls as Krsna’s most intimate servitor, who is Krsna’s representative and who therefore cannot be separated from Godhead. – religion that does not follow the Vedic scriptures is divided into 3 modes of nature depending on the type of worship-ignorance involving worship of ghosts, passion involving worship of demons and goodness involving worship of demigods.
– Praying to demigods yields short-term results and demigod worship is quite ritualistic, therefore the only path that one should choose is chanting the Maha mantra.

Dinner in the evening was at Ramanuja prabhu’s home, where Gurumaharaj again engaged everyone in dancing by great kirtan. All the devotees got up and danced and Gurumahraj was showing the different actions to do like the Hanuman pose, the Lord Rama pose, Lord Krsna with His flute, Lord Balarama with his club and Gaura-Nitai Bhagavan with Their hands upraised. Everyone was dancing in pairs, arm in arm and going through all the poses as the kirtan dictated and it was extremely blissful and joyful.

The last home visit was to Bhaktin Sholin’s home where many philosophical issues were discussed. A few were that devotees should not be too fanatical and ritualistic, eg, as to refuse water offered by a non-devotee, as this could be disturbing to the person offering and that Krsna will always protect the
devotee anyway. He said that the mood of the devotee should be to increase Krsna Consciousness rather than to drive people away through their fanatical ways. He further went on to say that many devotees are actually following quite a few rituals which are totally unnecessary on the path of bhakti.

Everyone appreciated this practical discussion and cleared their doubts on some rituals that have been introduced by amateur devotees.

7/11/06

Again today, the joyful Auckland devotees participated in kirtan after breakfast at Hiranyagarbha prabhu’s home and then there was spiritual dancing again after dinner at Padma prabhu’s home.
Padma prabhu is of Asian background and Gurumaharaj had a very Asian dinner
with sushi rolls and other Asian dishes.

8/11/06

After morning program today, Gurumaharaj left for the airport. Many devotees had come to see him off and everyone felt very sad at the separation. Many pictures of Gurumaharaj were taken with the intention of enlarging them later. Gurumaharaj was very patient throughout the picture-taking session.

After saying goodbye to all the devotees, Gurumaharaj left for Sydney promising to be back very soon.

He returned to Auckland from Sydney on the 13/11/06 for a 8 hour stop-over (on his way back to USA) and was warmly welcomed back with beautiful garlands and escorted to Draupadi’s home where a short arati was again performed to receive him.

He spoke with the devotees and commented, “feels like I was just here.” Just after his arrival, he took rest and at 5pm the formal reception program started with dinner prasadam first (as a few devotees were still being awaited) then footbathing and gurupuja. Then the magic of spiritual dancing again hit
everyone and there was continuous kirtan from about 5.30pm to 7pm when Gurumaharaj finally had to stop otherwise he would’ve been late to the airport. Everyone persuaded him to stay for as long as possible before departing for the airport. The atmosphere was really ecstatic and the whole roomful of devotees was wholeheartedly dancing away, with Gurumaharaj standing up on the sofa playing his guitar. The devotees danced in pairs and as a group and again went through the poses of “Nitai Gaur Radhe Shyam jai Krsna Balaram.’ Kirtan went on and on and old and young all danced their hearts out to the lively kirtan. These were the same poses as shown in the Janmastmi video on Gurumahraj’s website. This last spiritual dance in Auckland is also on the website. Everyone demanded more and more and time flew by very quickly and soon it was time to go to the airport. More than 40 devotees were present to see
Gurumaharaj off and he gave some blessings to everyone before saying a final goodbye.

SYDNEY- (8/11/06-13/11/06)

8/11/06

Gurumaharaj arrived from Auckland at 10.30am and had dinner at Navin Krsna prabhu’s home today.

9/11/06

Today, Gurumaharaj visited a man who does past life regressions and had a very interesting talk with him. Gurumaharaj has undergone formal training in past life regression and hypnosis and he uses these as tools to help spread Krsna Consciousness. He has helped many devotees overcome subconscious mental
issues and thus strengthen their bhakti. He has also regressed devotees having problems so as to show the devotee why they are happening and how the law of karma actually works so that the devotee can take to bhakti with a greater understanding and deeper commitment.

His main aim in regressing a person is to make them aware that they are not the body but the soul, which has taken many bodies over many lifetimes and in this lifetime may be experiencing something negative due to some action in a past life. Once a person actually realises that they are not the body, it
becomes much, much easier for them to embrace the philosophy of Krsna
Consciousness and actually know it to be the truth.

Gurumaharaj uses this tool as he sees necessary, according to a person’s particular needs. He said that so many people get so relieved to find out that they are not their bodies especially when they are regressed to the point where they see that they are dying by suffering horribly in some life and then the
souls actually leaves the body and they see that they are actually still alive, and it is the body only that has died.

An example was given of a man who was sold as a slave and treated really badly and when he was regressed it was found that he had been a slave trader in his past life. Another example was given of a married couple who were constantly fighting and when the woman was regressed it was found that she had
been a knight in her past life and had actually killed her husband( who had been a knight as well) in battle and their fighting mentality had made its way into their current lives. The woman was very relieved to know the reason behind their marital disharmony.

Gurumaharaj was asked- Bhagavad-Gita says we cannot remember our past lives due to changing bodies, therefore how is it possible to remember past lives upon regression? He answered that when the soul leaves the body for another then these memories actually travel with the mind, intelligence and ego, which
is wrapped around the soul and that we are not directly able to recall them because they are buried in our subconscious mind. He said that little children are sometimes able to remember their past lives and that some people are able to remember, eg, Bharat Maharaj being able to remember his human life even when he was in a deer’s body.

After this very enlightening visit, Gurumaharaj made one home visit before visiting Tulasi mataji’s home for dinner.

10/11/06.

After the usual morning program at Krsna Vijay prabhu’s home, which has an upstairs temple hall with Sri sri Radha Gopinath as the presiding Deities, Gurumaharaj had breakfast at Govindamohini and Navadvip’s home then commenced on multiple home visits.

At Astasakhi mataji’s home, a question on a BG sloka was raised, which basically says that the austerity of the tongue is to always speak truthfully, beneficially and pleasingly (satya priya hitam). Gurumaharaj explained that one should not speak if one cannot fulfil all these three conditions. However, the
time, place and circumstance must be taken into account and it was possible to prioritise when to apply which condition more. The approach taken is that a devotee never lies, and then beneficial is higher than pleasing, because if someone is too offended by what is being said then it will not benefit them at
all. He said it was better just to speak only however much was necessary, rather than tell everything and risk driving the person away. He emphasised that it was very important to tell the truth especially in
preaching as once a person lost trust, it could never be repaired. He said that one way to make something less hurtful was to say it in a positive way, eg, “ You are more intelligent, you can do better than that”, rather than saying, “ You are so stupid.”

Another point which was discussed was religious practices or rituals and Gurumaharaj said that unless one could verify from the Vedas the reason behind a particular practice, it should not be adopted; otherwise it is just ritualistic to do something without knowing the reason behind it. He said that
our process was the descending process of acquiring knowledge and being a devotee meant knowing the reason behind a practice and being able to explain it. And also that if one had faith; they could distinguish between rituals and reality. The other thing that should be done if one is unsure is to ask
advanced devotees. He said that the important thing was to always remember Krsna and chant properly and all the other rules and regulations came secondary to this.

Gurumaharaj then went on to say that rituals did not have much attraction for Westerners and young people and that for people being introduced to Krsna Consciousness, especially Westerners, it was best that they were introduced gradually rather than all of a sudden, for eg, attending home programs rather
than being taken to a temple directly because they can actually be offensive when they see the Deities and see so many things they don’t understand. The next day, this point was further emphasized when Gandharvika told of a repairman coming to her home to do some work in the bathroom and getting a big
scare when he saw the Deities there! Of course, it did not help that they had big, big, Jagannath, Baladev and Subhadra Deities which had just recently been taken on a ratha-yatra!

The next home visit was at Goverdhan prabhu’s place and another very interesting discussion took place here on ghosts and people getting possessed. Gurumaharaj said that if a person was seemingly possessed and was chanting Hare Krsna, then it was definitely not a ghost that possessed the person. Rather,
the person might have some sort of mental or other organic condition as all ghosts go away even with nama abhas chanting.

Gurumaharaj then went to Bhajagovinda prabhu’s for a home visit before dinner at Govindamohini’s and Navadvip’s, who had prepared many varieties of sumptuous prasadam for Gurumaharaj and all the guests.

11/11/06

After mangal arati at Krsna Vijay prabhu’s home, there was initiation ceremony in which 3 devotees took Harinam diksa. Gurumaharaj gave the names, Vrndavani, Nandakumar and Gokula to the initiates.
Gokula prabhu actually lives at the Cessnock, Sydney farm and he takes care of the 75 or so cows there, most of whom he knows by name. For the initiation lecture, Gurumahraj spoke on the 10 offences against the Holy Name (the do-nots) and the Siksastika prayers as the “dos’ to promote effective chanting.

At the same fire sacrifice, were sitting Gandharvika and Kisori, both of whom are pregnant and expecting shortly. Gurumaharaj, out of his causeless mercy, had asked them to participate in the sacrifice so as to perform the “safe delivery” samskara for both of them. Therefore, he also spoke on the
responsibilities of being a parent and said that it is a heavy, heavy responsibility and that it was actually violence against the child if the parents did not teach the child about God. Given that it might not be a legal form of violence, but it is violence nonetheless.

Gurumaharaj had breakfast at Krsna Vijay prabhu’s place then left to visit Bhakta Joe, who is a rose farmer and wholesales roses to florists. He regularly donates large amounts of roses to the Sydney temple free of cost, thus saving the temple significant amounts of money. Gurumaharaj had a walk around the entire rose farm and greenhouses and was very interested to see the whole process of growing roses.

The next visit was to Viraaj Krsna prabhu’s place, whose great-grandmother is 94 years old and in very good health. Gurumaharaj was inspired by her to drink lots of water, which she said was the secret of her success. Here, Gurumaharaj spoke about a devotee named Rudrani in Canada who had left her body in a very inspirational way just that day. She had been given a picture of Vrnda devi and was looking at it when she suddenly remarked, “Oh, I can see the real Vrnda devi now. Its time for me to go.” And then she left her body very peacefully. He was very inspired by her having perfected her human form of life and gone back to Godhead.

Gurumahraj answered a few questions and again discussed the austerities of he tongue. He also took Viraaj Krsna’s 7 month old son on his lap and played with him a while.

The next home visit was at Bhakta Bobby Singh’s, where many friends and family had gathered to hear Gurumaharaj. One important point discussed here was that for someone starting to chant, it should be a steady practice. It did not matter if it was as slow increase in the number of rounds, what was more
important was that it was done daily.

The next visit was at Gangamayi mataji’s where again many people had gathered to hear Gurumaharaj. In answer to a question that there was not too much time to read BG and SB, Gurumaharaj said that one could read Srila Prabhupad Lilamrta instead as Srila Prabhupad was person bhagavata and by doing so one would get equal benefit. He said that once one read about Srila Prabhupad and got to know him, one would know how to think, what to read, etc, as Srila Prabhupad is acarya, ie, teaching by example. He said that Srila Prabhupad Lilamrta is the first book that he recommended a beginner to read.

He also elaborated on how one could get their 16 rounds done- by doing 4 rounds before breakfast, 4 before lunch,4 before dinner and 4 before bedtime.

He also emphasized on grsthas increasing book distribution and a few ideas he gave were to talk to expert book distributors so as to get some ideas from them, to set up book tables, and to sponsor cartons of Bhagavad Gita for Gita jayanti.

Dinner was at Sandipani Muni prabhu’s home today and while having dinner Gurumaharaj spoke about adapting preaching techniques to keep the congregation interested for the entire presentation. Using humour and making the class interactive were two of the techniques which he uses. The other new technique he has started using at New Goloka is to conduct the whole Sunday class while standing up and moving through the congregation and making it as interactive as possible.

After dinner, there was a home visit to Bhakta Ram Sajjan, where a tent had been erected in the compound and many guests had gathered. A member had recently passed away from this family. After kirtan, Gurumaharaj asked for questions from the audience and was asked about the soul and its journey. He explained that the soul or atma is actually the self and its symptom is consciousness and how it actually changes bodies at the time of death depending on what the mind is thinking at the time of death. He said that there is an ISCKON in the spiritual world and therefore the people you practice bhakti with will be there and if you do bhakti with your family, they can all be there, except in different bodies and different relationships.

Another question asked was- why was it that some people have never heard of Krsna, was it because of their karma? Gurumaharaj answered that this was because they did not have any desire to hear. It did not have to do with karma in past life because karma cannot interfere with spiritual life at all, as
spiritualism is transcendental to karma. After honouring some fruit prasadam here, Gurumaharaj retired for the day at Krsna Vijay prabhu’s home.

12/11/06

After mangal arati and Tulasi puja, Gurumaharaj gave class from SB 5.18.28. A few points from this class:

– there is always devastation during Lord Brahma’s night. – This sloka is spoken by Vaisvatu Manu (who was King Satyavrata in his previous life), who is praising Krsna for saving him in the form of Matsya.

– Matsya avatar was 8 million miles long, golden in colour and had a big horn.
– In Vaikuntha, the animals there are all Laxmi-Narayan and they have
temporarily assumed the animal form to serve Krsna. However, in Goloka Vrndavan, if one is cow, he is always a cow.
– What the 6 points of surrender are and how King Satyavrata was so surrendered to Matsya who protected him.
– Krsna sometimes gives protection in ways we don’t like, but in ways He sees fit.
– For any situation one is placed in, one should ask why is Krsna doing this and find out the reason
– Bhakti is transcendental and actually changes astrology and lines on palm, so it is better to just depend on Krsna.

After morning program, Gurumaharaj had breakfast at Shyamapriya’s where he showed the video of the spiritual dancing in Auckland and said that the atmosphere in Auckland was so enthusiastic and everyone was dancing and asking for more and more kirtan at every home he visited!

At Bhakta Steven’s home, Gurumaharaj was very impressed with his daughter, Mayuri Krsna, who is 4 years old and very Krsna conscious. She actually attends the Prahlada School which is run by a few devotees twice a month and has learnt many kirtans and slokas from here. She has a little altar of her own with little dolls as deities and she puts them to sleep every night. She showed Gurumaharaj her altar, and then carefully closed the door of the altar. Bhaktin Lalilta, Mayuri’s mother was actually just coming into Krsna consciousness when she was pregnant with Mayuri and becoming a devotee was an intense experience for her as she was very regular and would attend all classes. Gurumahraj said that was the reason that Mayuri was so Krsna conscious because the child hears and learns many things while in the womb. Gurumaharaj will visit the Prahlada School on his next visit to Sydney.

Dinner today was at Krsna Vijay prabhu’s home.

13/11/06

Gurumaharaj left Sydney at 6am for an 8 hour stop-over in Auckland before
flying on to USA.

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