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Manjari-baskets
25th of December, 2004 - 6:31
Meeting Govardhan
24th of December, 2004 - 16:27
Festival of Sri Kunjabihari Das Babaji Maharaja
23rd of December, 2004 - 17:36
Mokshada-ekadasi
22nd of December, 2004 - 20:08
A foggy day at Yamuna
21st of December, 2004 - 20:21
The garden of rasa
20th of December, 2004 - 17:25
Siddha Madhusudan Das Baba's festival at Surya-kunda
19th of December, 2004 - 18:38
The lake of Sri Chaitanya
18th of December, 2004 - 18:44
In Vrindavan
17th of December, 2004 - 16:58
At Radha-Roman's house
16th of December, 2004 - 16:09
Today Delhi going
15th of December, 2004 - 17:30
Inquiries on bhajana
14th of December, 2004 - 20:01
A crash and Radha-Krishna katha
13th of December, 2004 - 18:14
A fairly uneventful day
12th of December, 2004 - 19:31
Publicity in the whole universe
11th of December, 2004 - 18:05
On bad deeds and good character
10th of December, 2004 - 16:50
Disappearances and instructions
9th of December, 2004 - 16:59
Ekadasi
8th of December, 2004 - 17:49
Festival of Narahari Sarakara
7th of December, 2004 - 17:54
Back to Radha-kunda
6th of December, 2004 - 21:42
Visiting Vrindavan
6th of December, 2004 - 15:49
Half-way around Govardhan
5th of December, 2004 - 16:09
Electric outage
5th of December, 2004 - 15:04
Vrindavan Art
4th of December, 2004 - 17:17
Thoughts on our bhajana-marga
3rd of December, 2004 - 17:32
Meeting friends all day long
2nd of December, 2004 - 23:51
The second day in Vraja
2nd of December, 2004 - 17:39
Meeting Baba
2nd of December, 2004 - 0:20
From New Delhi to Vraja
1st of December, 2004 - 19:33
Giridhari's flute busted!
1st of December, 2004 - 7:30


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A foggy day at Yamuna
Posted: 21st of December, 2004 - 20:21

On the bank of Yamuna.
In the morning, we left for Vrindavan. The main objective was to find something nice for Rasaraja, Braja and their families. Not something you could just buy in the bazaar, something special, and of particular devotional significance. We figured we'd go around the temples and see if we might pick up something of particular interest on the way. We first headed for Radha Raman. However, there was no darshan at this time. About half an hour, we were told. It was already close to noon and most temples seemed to be closed down.

As we had a bit of spare time at our disposal, we figured we might go and see if we could find Shrivatsa Goswami somewhere in the neighbourhood. He had dropped me a mail a month or so back, asking me to give him a call when I come over to Vraja. Aside my getting a chance to enjoy sadhu-sanga, we would have a number of topics to cover regarding coordination of efforts in digitizing the Gaudiya canon in the context of Gaudiya Grantha Mandir, as well as some more general issues regarding Sri Chaitanya Foundation. Their website might also gain of my expertise in the realm of new media, he said. I suppose I can give it a shot, why not.

Madan Mohan Mandir.
For what I hear, Shrivatsa Goswami is very fluent in English, a scholar, an eloquent speaker and a friendly personality. Many academics seem to like to keep in touch with him. I have never met him in person.

We then headed for the darshan of Yamuna. We hadn't seen her yet during this visit. A bunch of boatmen tried to get us onboard, and the mynas played around with the pigs. A couple of cows grazed here and there. It was a foggy day, only the shape of the temple of Madan Mohan loomed in the horizon.

zIkarAbhimRSTa-jantu-durvipAka-mardinI
nanda-nandanAntaraGga-bhakti-pUra-vardhinI |
tIra-saGgamAbhilASi-maGgalAnubandhinI
mAM punAtu sarvadAravinda-bandhu-nandinI ||

"By the touch of a drop of whose water, the sins of people vanish;
Who incites a flood of antaranga-bhakti for the son of Nanda Maharaj;
And who is auspicious for those longing to reside on her banks —
May this daughter of the Sun always purify me!

From Yamuna, we headed for Loi Bazaar, and picked up something of interest on the way.

An unusual view of Loi Bazaar.
However I won't write of that until after tomorrow, we don't want to spoil the surprise.

Loi Bazaar was pretty messed up today. It was full of ditches, three meters deep. An excavator about as wide as the bazaar itself had torn the place apart. I have no idea what they might have been working on. I'm pretty sure this isn't the latest extension of the Delhi subway structure they're working on, nor do I believe they might actually be building a reasonable sewage system anytime soon. Somehow we managed to get past the ditches and moved on to Bankhandi Mahadev bazaar and our favorite cloth merchant. Giridhari wants new clothes...

Knowing that Baba's lecture was scheduled to begin in an hour, we rushed home and made it there just in time, sitting down in the middle of the mangalacharan. The same theme continues. gaurAGgo hRdaya udayan mAM madayati

Adhivas-kirtan in progress.
This vision of Sri Gauranga arising within the inner chamber of my heart, sank as he is in the deep rapture of Radha-bhava in Gambhira, maddens me!

After the evening aratik, the kirtaniyas started the adhivas-kirtan in commemoration of Sri Kunja Bihari Das Babaji Maharaja's upcoming tirobhava-tithi. And an amazing kirtan it was! Video clips to follow as soon as I capture them and edit them a bit. Keep an eye on the media-section. Some prasad was being served after the kirtan, but we politely avoided it, as eating local cooking that late at night could not possibly make you feel too good the next morning.
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