Respected vaishnavas. This time then chat is given by Gurumaharaj's secretary, Sriman Pancha Tattva Prabhu. He is giving a report about what is going on in Vrindavan at the moment. Please send your comments, appreciations and questions.
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Sriman Pancha Tattva Prabhu:
To write about Vrindavan and the lilas of a pure devotee in Vrindavan is very demanding. It is necessary to have realization and understanding, which I lack.
Dear brothers and sisters, thank you for accepting me. I hope you offer my dandavats pranams to Srila Gurudeva, and the same to all the assembled devotees.
All devotees in the parikrama have joined in the cleaning of the sacred dhams, even Guru Maharaj, with the support of other missions. They finance specialized workers who do the task systematically. Personally, Guru Maharaja coordinates all this and many people do not know about it, because he does not present himself as the coordinator, but as a volunteer. This is very important because it's common to find organizations that wants to obtain fame, but this is not Guru Maharaj' style. His service is silent and nice. He has many ideas and projects which are connected to the recovery of sacred dhams, like the cleaning of them, the protection of Yamuna, the treatment of black waters. And one may ask what all of this has to do with bhakti. Two or three days ago, Guru Maharaja narrated it in one class.
He said: One morning I had a revelation of why Vrindavan has so many problems, and is threatened by pollution, dark waters, plastics, etc. You can observe that there is a lot of garbage, destruction of important sites, etc. And why? I thought about it and the answer came: This happens because Vrindavan is inviting us to serve it. Vrindavan invites us to become activists. By mercy, Vrindavan takes this shape to give us service, to let us do something for the dham, dham seva. I thought: If Vrindavan would be a nice garden or a perfect forest, then what service could we do there, how could we serve it? In Vrindavan they are so worried about the internal cleaning that they forget about the external aspect, they don't care about the external things. And for that reason we many times see garbage or places which are not clean, but they are pure internally. On the contrary, in the West, everything is clean outside, on the external level. We are dedicated to have all the things well organized. But internally we have all the things dirty and unclean. For this, it is important to serve the dham with systematic projects. Because Kali Yuga moves fordward constantly, everyday Kali advances.
Last time when I was here, about 8 years ago, prashada was served in dishes of leaves and glasses of baked clay. But this doesn't happen anymore. In a gaudidya math festival they served in tecnopor dishes and plastic glasses. During the Govardhan puja day, Guru Maharaj encouraged the devotees to offer fresh fruits and dry fruits. Because the sugar, oils and chemicals in the sweets are terrible. It's very nice to see Guru Maharja fighting against all of this, showing his pesonal example, saying the right things in order to fix proposals. But it's not easy to make changes. There was a meeting with presentation of new ideas to the local leaders, in order to work together, all joined for Vrindavan. Guru Maharaj said that he does not only need help from here, but many things can be done from outside, from there, from your house.
In these days, a very interesting documentary about Vrindavan is being produced here. More than 40 clips are about the protection of the Yamuna. Guru Maharaj is also participating in this project and in one interview he proposes the action planification. This video will be revolutionary, because there is no material like this, and it would be of great help to awaken the consciousnes in India and the rest of the world about what is happening in Vrindavan.
Gurumaharaj welcomes many visitors daily. For example, here is Vidagdha Madhava Prabhu from Hawaii, a godbrother of Gurudeva who is dedicated to book publishing. Some days ago, Sri Nandanandana Prabhu, also known as Stephen Knapp, a famous writer and editor of Vaishanva Literature was also here. One former judge from Calcutta was also here and he supported the ideas about protecting the dham. He also shared some advice that Gurumaharaj himself - in a student mood - wrote down in order to not forget.
In the past, music was played in great kings' assembly halls and in temples in front of the deities, but Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu brought the music to the streets, to all the people, in the form of the Harinama Sankirtan. One devotee has written a book in bengali about Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and amid his preferable books to read is the Sri Caitanya Caritamrita. He was very happy when Guru Maharaj showed him the Caitanya Caritamrita in Spanish written by Gurudeva Atulananda. He could not read it, but he was happy to have it and asked Gurumaharaj to read loud so he could hear the spanish pronunciation. Guru Maharaj recited a verse playing his charango and the devotee was so happy to hear that.
Another important personality who arrives today is the famous doctor, ecologist and vegetarianism promoter Sahadeva. He is also the president of a temple in South India (Secundarabad).
Everyone are very motivated with the activism in Vrindavan promoted by Gurumaharaj.
I announce the next concert of Jalebi in Brahma Kunda. All are invited, it is for free. You can come with your family. Ramananda Prabhu and Yashodanandana Prabhu are doing parikrama in Vrindavan and they are going to give this concert in the next days. The last event was the presentation of Quirio from Germany, Jivana Mata with sitar and Gopi Priya Mata dancing. That was on Diwali.
Guru Mahara is still working in the development of the Oidatherapy. His wish is to finish book one and two of Oida which are the foundation of his investigation.
Very soon the meeting of the World Vaishnava Association is coming. It is difficult to gather everyone, to have all the acaryas here. Especially during these kartik days, when all the maths are full of pilgrims. Many local and foreigner travelers, so they have busy agendas due to the parikrama. For example, tomorrow the Vrinda kunja group is going out for a full day visiting Raval. It will be an intense day of meditation and prayers. Gurumaharaja has said at the beginning of the kartik that this month is for prayer, to increase our love for Krishna, for the Vaishnavas, for the spiritual life. It does not mean tourism, but to clean ourselves internally, praying for service, asking for the opportunity to serve in these places, to serve all these Vaishnavas, all these ideals.
Guru Maharaja everyday is keeping an eye on the list of devotees who are in the math, engaging them in service. Sri Hari Prabhu is building a meeting lounge for Gurumaharaj in the terrace roof of the temple. Vrindavan Prabhu is going to work on OTMs, Narayani mata on the designs of Odia, Prabhupada Mata on Oidatherapy, Damodara Lila Mata on communications and public relationships. Janananda Mata is the new chief of seva and treasury. She also leads the Mataji Ashramas. Raval Mata along with Jivana Mata and Janananda mata are the cooks of Guru Maharaj. Raval Mata is editing the Yoga Inbound book. Srivas Prabhu on the video editing. Ishana prabhu is going to work on compiling photos of the past for the files. Prisni Mata and her cleaning team do marathon everyday in the Yamuna, a super service. Gopi Mata is in charge of the parikrama and logistics. Vrindavan prabhu arranges the Justin TV transmissions every day. Well, the list is very long and I surely forgot someone who is doing a huge service here, but I want to mention especially those who are part of the office which is in charge of Gandharvika Mata.
Yesterday, Gurumaharaj made a survey in the parikrama group about the cleaning in Vrindavan. The answers were so good. This evaluation is very important because it reveals that the work is honest, from the heart and it helps to understand Vrindavan by means of seva. A detail in this connection is that Guru Maharaj said that it is not necessary to write down their names, but all of them signed with their names.
I think that in the history of Vaishanvism, Vrinda is making a difference with this cleaning program, and it is also giving an example for all the missions of the future about how to serve the dham.
Gurumaharaj's daily routine is more or less like this: Guru Maharaj starts the day around 3 or 4 am. All night he listens to lectures from Srila Prabhupada very loudly, so it's heard in all Vrinda Kunja. He said, "I never buy anything for myself, and I hesitated so much about this speaker, but I think this is one of the most valuable investments that I've ever made. A good speaker to hear the lectures of my Gurudeva. It was like meeting my Gurudeva again." Then Guru Maharaj sits on his bed or his chair and listens to more nectar from Srila Prabhupada and he enjoys very much with Srila Prabhupada's mood and humor when he relates stories or even jokes. He is always listening and writing. "Did you hear what Srila Prabhupada said?" It's like when you listen to music and you want to share it with all the other people, when he sharea the nectar and classes. One confused devotee said that Guru Maharaj does not follow Srila Prabhupada. I invite this confused devotee to stay only one day together with Guru Maharaj. He listens to lectures of his Guru all night long and continues at dawn, every day. At a loud volume, so high that the neighbours can hear it.
Then about 5 am Gurumaharaj writes or checks something. Today he wrote the introduction for the upcoming polish edition of "Our family the Gaudiya Math". Other days, Gurumaharaj goes to the mangal arati. Some days ago he asked for a small table and he worked in the temple while the devotees were doing the arati. Gurudeva was writing a more detailed explanation about he healing circle for the Oidatherapy. At 6 am, he goes out for a morning walk, he is so punctual. Today it was 6:04 and he say: 4 minutes, I am late. :) Then around 7 am, he comes back and goes to give the moring class. This is up to 8.30 am. Then he takes prashadam there in his until 9.00 pm, always with a devotee talking about how to expand the preaching. Then he organize his plan of the day: parikramas, meetings, visits, calls etc.
Guru Maharaj is aware and keeps an eye on many projects, like the documentary production about the cleaning in Vrindavan, the Oidatherapy books, new publications, etc. This happens daily. Generally some visitors come and he welcomes them. Gurumaharaj is always giving prashadam brought from South America and books and publications of the South American devotees. He likes so much a publication made in Peru about the Trulies.
Now he entered this room. The weather is changing here. He asked for this coat. He is going to design a little face for a Giri Govardhan with his tilaka. In the morning, devotees go out to do cleaning and in the afternoons Gurumaharaj goes out on the Yamuna on boat for the Yamuna puja and meditation. In the evenings he has meetings with devotees or working meetings. He always dedicates part of his time to all the devotees, friends, visitors, guests, etc. The day goes too fast, but if you write down all the things Gurumaharaj has made, it would be very difficult to do all that. For example, the other day, Gurumaharaj made a translation to Yadubara prabhu of the old documentary which the German TV had made. Yadubara prabhu is a disciple of Srila Prabhupada, and thanks to him today we have a lot of nectar of Srila Prabhupada on video. This prabhu was the cameraman and video director of many video productions of Srila Prabhupada. He is now working on a documentary about the history of Vaishnavism in Europe.
Now GM is taking prashadam. He has taken a hot soup :) He was taking only fruits since he arrived to India. I say that remembering that kartik is a month of austerities and much work and Guru Maharaj as an Acarya, giving an example.
Ok, now I say goodbye to all of you.
Dandavats pranams!