The Ecstatic Goa Yatra!

(above : A scene from Goa)

December 07, 2007.

Hare Krishna!

Goa Yatra? Goa and Yatra are two words that don’t go together. Not unless there are devotees of the Lord involved! Yes, a couple of days ago I returned from my most ecstatic Goa trip yet. I will describe the whole trip in some detail in the following words (and still some details might get left out), but let me first mention the names of two outstanding personalities who have won my heart many times over. H. G. Jai Narsimha Prabhu who has very kindly accepted me as his counselee, and H. G. Vishnulok Prabhu who had very kindly come to be the priest for the wedding ceremony. In the course of my narration below, I will extol the glories of these two glorious soldiers of Srila Prabhupada’s army. An ecstatic trek up the hill through lush green vegetation and menacing large spiders, and an invigorating wedding ceremony are all part of the narrative below. Read on!

Wedding ceremony? Yes! The wedding ceremony of our dear Shubham Prabhu!Shubham Prabhu had very humbly invited many Vaishnavas to his wedding. Looking at his humility and simplicity everyone was very eager to honor his invitation by attending the wedding. Even those who could not come had sent their sincere wishes to Shubham Prabhu. So, what started off as a trip to Goa for attending a Vaishnava’s wedding, ended up being a two-day yatra beautified no end by the most blissful wedding ceremony of Shubham Prabhu in the presence of quite a few exalted Vaishnavas.

We boarded the bus to Goa at around 1730 on Dec 02. Along with us on the bus were a few unfortunate hippy-like people most probably associated with some bogus organization. When the bus stopped at night at some eating place, we all got down to honor some Prasadam. I saw these hippies that time again and was wondering just how great Prabhupada is. Without him so many hippies like the one I was seeing would have gone to the worst kind of hell and would never have come close to salvation. I was really feeling quite disgusted at the sight off these unfortunate ladies who were smoking. But this is not where this story ends! When I entered the bus again, I was almost shocked to see that these ladies were holding Srila Prabhupada’s books! “Beyond Birth and Death” and two others. H. G. Jai Narsimha Prabhu had handed them those books. They were saying “we will keep just one”, but Jai Narsimha Prabhu told them “you can keep them all without paying for them”. I remember mentioning to Amol Katkar Prabhu how I was condemning these hippies, but Jai Narsimha Prabhu didn’t condemn them but instead showered on them his compassion by giving them the books. Time bombs! Later I was talking to Jai Narsimha Prabhu about this and he said “Ya, they are from Czechoslovakia… who knows next time they might come across H. H. Indradyumna Maharaj somewhere in Europe and might remember these books and might become devotees…”

H. G. Jai Narsimha Prabhu is a massive book distributor. Wherever he goes, he carries books with him to distribute. He looks upon every situation as one in which to distribute Srila Prabhupada’s books. How glorious! More of his glories are yet to come. Hold your breath and read on!

In the bus Amol Prabhu and I had very nice discussion on the Bhagavad Gita verse ‘karmany eva adhikarste…’. We also sang a few Vaishnav songs before falling asleep. It was a sleeper bus. We alighted from the bus at around 0730 the next day in Madgaon. Shubham Prabhu and his dad had come to receive us! That was really very kind of them. They had also arranged a Qualis (a big 4-wheeler) for us to move around in Goa. And boy, didn’t we really use it well! The Qualis took us to the Ramanath Temple. It’s a beautiful Vaishnav temple. The deities are Sri Sri Laxmi Narayan and Sri Ramanath (Lord Siva). The wedding was to be held in the same temple the next day and our living arrangements had also been made in that temple. Very nice arrangements too.

(above : Ramanath Temple)

(above : The pond in the Laxmi Narasimha Temple)

At 1030, we all were ready for the day and after eating something, we boarded the Qualis. Then we went to three beautiful Vishnu Temples. First we went to the Sri Sri Laxmi Narsimha Temple in Velling (?). We spent quite some time there. We sang Narsimha Prayers. It’s a very beautiful temple. We also got the opportunity to witness the dressing up of Their Lordships. In the temple is a fresh water kunda (pond) which creates a very serene atmosphere. The water is crystal clear and comes from a natural spring through a “gomukh” (the opening is shaped like a cow’s mouth). Next we visited the Mahalasa Devi Temple in Mardol. Mahalasa is the Mohini Murti incarnation of Vishnu who had come during the Sagar Manthan (the great churning of the ocean) to bewilder the demons and retain the nectar with the demigods). Then we visited a very beautiful Balaji Temple which is situated in a very picturesque setting surrounded by beautiful green trees all around. After a long time I saw beautiful butterflies flying from one flower to another in the bright sunshine. I painfully realized how bereft we are as city dwellers from this enchanting beauty of Mother Nature. How lifeless are our surroundings in the city. How much away from reality are we who have created such big cities just to fulfill the animalistic necessities of our lives which are already freely available in nature. Oh, how grateful we must be to His Divine Grace for giving us the opportunity to transcend all this and go back home, back to Godhead where everything is infinitely more beautiful than we can ever imagine even in our wildest dreams. Jai Srila Prabhupada!

Our next destination was the ISKCON center in Goa! There, the associated devotees welcomed us very warmly. We were feeling right at home as soon we were amongst them. I have recently traveled a lot and in whichever part of the world I go, as soon as I am amongst devotees, I feel as if I have known them for years. This gives us a glimpse into spiritual relationships. They are ever fresh and all blissful. In the ISKCON center we met a brahmachari from Sri Sri Radha Gopinath Temple (Chowpatty, Mumbai, India) named H. G. Madhavendra Puri Prabhu. Madhavendra Puri Prabhu (disciple of HH Radhanath Swami Maharaj) had come to Goa to conduct a lot of preaching sessions all over Goa. He will start visiting Goa more often now and its only a matter of time before Goa become highly Krishna Conscious!

We also met Brijesh Prabhu in the ISKCON center. He was very excited about the new temple land that ISKCON Goa has recently acquired. Some land owner has donated 8 acres of land free of cost. This is surely an auspicious omen and indicates that the Lord has mercifully glanced over Goa now. This land and the presence of Chowpatty devotees… I have no doubts in my mind about the bright future of the land of Goa.

We had an absolutely delicious lunch Prasadam feast there, served on banana leaves. Whats more, Brijesh Prabhu was so kind and enthusiastic that he took us to the new land! It was an experience of a lifetime! The land is in the middle of the town and yet seems to be in a faraway place. Our car took us to the base of a hill and the rest of the way we had to hike up quite steep hill. The whole climb was through a beautiful plantation with lush green tall trees. The whether was very nice too, bright and sunny and not too hot. Quite ideal for hiking. On the way we encountered nice streams of clear running water that produced that sweet and intoxicating sound. We also encountered large and menacing looking (3 inch diameter) spiders with their large (around 2 meter diameter) webs spread out. It was quite a hair raising sight let me tell you.

(above : A big spider!)

When we finally reached the top we were greeted by the beautiful sight of the ISKCON land spread in front of our eyes. Lot of it was covered by golden grass glistening and waving in the breeze. Immediately vague sights of the future temple rose in my mind and I felt ecstatic. The land right now is untouched by human hand and thus looks quite charming. Presently, there is only a bamboo frame of a kutir (a hut like structure) on the land. Gradually things will start coming up there.

(above : The bamboo framework of a kutir on the new ISKCON Goa land)

(above : H. G. Jai Narsimha Prabhu -- ever fresh and energetic!)

After coming down from the land, Amol Prabhu and I went to BITS Pilani, Goa Campus. Amol Prabhu had to meet a relative there. We had to catch two buses to reach there and we had no idea how we were going to come back. Public transportation is not as good in Goa as in other states. While we had gone there, the other devotees went to the Kolwa beach to satisfy the kids that were with us. Even on the bus I met some boys who had studied in Pune and one of them had even attended ISKCON Pune’s programs. In BITS, we met a boy who is doing his graduation in Physics and is very much interested in Quantum Mechanics. Amol Prabhu talked with him there about papers on Quantum physics by Rasaraj Prabhu (who is both a highly respected scientist and a disciple of His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada, and therefore presents the Vedic perspective in highly intellectual forums like amongst Nobel laureates) and about the Bhagavatam and about the descending way of gaining knowledge. At around 1930 we got a call from Jai Narsimha Prabhu and to our great joy he told us that they will soon come there to pick us up! Krishna’s arrangement! That’s the first thing that came to our mind :-)

The Qualis then took us to the house of H. G. Baladev Anand Prabhu. He is a very senior devotee and is also a lawyer. At his house we met quite a few sweet Goan devotees and it really was a heart warming experience. We had an ecstatic kirtan there and an equally ecstatic dinner Prasadam feast! We reached back to the Ramnath temple at around 2230.

(above : Heart warming meeting with devotees in H. G. Baladev Anand Prabhu's home)

The next day was December 04. The wedding day! We got up early and chanted our rounds in the main temple hall. One can feel strong spiritual vibrations in that temple and they were strengthened by the early morning time. When I was on my 16th round, we saw H. G. Vishnulok Prabhu! He had just arrived from Sawantawadi (a small town around 55 km from Goa). When Shubham Prabhu had gone to invite Jai Narsimha Prabhu to his wedding, Jai Narsimha Prabhu had suggested that Shubham Prabhu should request Vishnulok Prabhu to be the priest for his wedding. And after a little hesitation, Shubham Prabhu accepted this. And let me tell you, it might turn out to be the most important decision in his life! To have ones wedding conducted by a Vaishnava is not an ordinary thing. Thus, here is one more reason why Shubham Prabhu would be so grateful towards H. G. Jai Narsimha Prabhu.

(above : LtoR : H. G. Amol Katkar Prabhu, H. G. Vishnalok Prabhu, H. G. Adbhuta Krishna Prabhu)

H. G. Vishnulok Prabhu (resident of Belgaum) is a disciple of H. H. Radhanath Swami Maharaj. He had come with H. G. Adbhuta Krishna Prabhu (resident of Sawantawadi), a disciple of H. H. Lokanath Swami Maharaj. Vishnulok Prabhu’s occupation is to be a Brahmin priest. That’s all he does as an occupation and makes a modest living out of it. Not only that, he also does a lot of printing work for ISKCON (fyi : he doesn’t own a press). Recently he has started printing a fortnightly newspaper named “Hare Krishna World”! Its yearly subscription fee is Rs. 70. The issues will contain news from all over the ISKCON world. I request the reader to kindly subscribe to this newspaper and help spread the glories of Lord Chaitanya’s mission all over the world. For any enquiries regarding this, please mail me at (toleyabhijit [at] yahoo [dot] com). Vishnulok Prabhu lives on a farm in Belgaum and travels all over India to conduct samskaras like weddings in a purely Vaishnava fashion. Earlier he used to do karma-kanda ceremonies but since he has come into Krishna Consciousness, he has stopped all that and now only does purely Vaishnava ceremonies. He is very busy with all the printing work and his other appointments. Let us all help him in whatever way we can to spread the mission Lord Gauranga.

(above : The first issue of the fortnightly newspaper - Hare Krishna World!)

(above : The Yajnya)

As soon as Vishnulok Prabhu entered the wedding scene, he was the center of all attraction. He quietly and expertly and without any fuss set up the yajnya. When he started speaking in the mike, everyone’s attention was riveted to what he was saying… especially after he once explicitly requested everybody to maintain shanti (peace). During the course of the ceremony, he recited the Brahma Samhita, some verses from the Bhagavatam, some verses from Sri Chaitanya Shikshashtakam, and so on. During the intervals in which he was not reciting anything, he asked us devotees to do kirtans! After the end of the ceremony we received appreciation from a lot of guests. I was very happy that the magic of Krishna Consciousness once again enchanted everyone present. I was happy that somehow or other I was part of the show and in an insignificant way helped propagate Srila Prabhupada’s mission.

(above : H. G. Jai Narsimha Prabhu managed to sell almost all of these books!)

After the ceremony, lunch was served. And there Jai Narsimha Prabhu set up a table with Srila Prabhupada’s books! Vishnulok Prabhu also setup a table with the books he had brought. By this time we had won over the hearts of so many guests that the book stalls were not at all out of place. In fact, most of the books got sold! H. G. Jai Narsimha Prabhu ki Jai! Srila Prabhupada Transcendental Book Distribution ki Jai!

Before ending this narrative let me also mention that Jai Narsimha Prabhu only eats fruits and boiled vegetables and other such things most of the year! And even with this diet, he is the most energetic of all, young or old. It is quite amazing. Also, he does so much himself that when I am around him I feel inspired and energized to do something for Srila Prabhupada! I am very glad that he has kindly accepted me as one of his counselees. Later while coming back, he sold two more Prabhupada books to one of the co-passengers in the bus :-)

As I lied down in the bus (sleeper bus) alongside Srinivas Prabhu, I reflected on the beautiful experience we had in the previous two days. We started glorifying H. G. Jai Narsimha Prabhu, Srila Prabhupada, Lord Chaitanya! We felt so grateful that we were part of the most special movement ever. And ultimately we agreed that all what we were saying, was but the glorification of His Divine Grace Srila Abhay Charanarvinda BhaktiVedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada!

All Glories All Glories All Glories to His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada!

Yours in the service of Krishna,
Abhijit.