Yugal saw me on the roof of the building spotting some birds with my camera, and asked whether I'd like to join him as he was on his way to Govardhan. He's always on the move, and Baba has been telling him to get a bike since a couple of years. A couple of months back he got around to getting one. His name is Jagannath Das, and he renders good service, I am told. The text on the seat of the bike says, "Hero Honda - Ambition Standard". Typically Indian.

I grab a video camera along with me, and we drive to Govardhan town and back, filming the tour around. Expect to see excerpts of that in the media-section sometime soon, tomorrow if the government workers don't pull the plug again. This trip was a test drive. We plan to make video-parikramas on bike around Govardhan, Vrindavan town and Varshana for the pleasure of all who can't make it to Vraja in person. I'll go around by foot to the same places with Malati later on to film some more details of the locations. Most of the content we shoot will be available from this site compressed to a size suitable for downloading, high quality versions will become available on VCD and DVD later on. We are not running out of things to do anytime soon.

I'm not posting a picture of Yugal this time, on his request. He is bored at looking at pictures of Yugal Kishor Das, and would rather hear of the manjari within and see pictures of her. He would rather not be reminded of his external persona. As I mentioned in an earlier entry, he had some interesting ideas with regards to tangible methods for the development of our siddha-deha to gain entrance into the realm of the lila. Much of the content for the realm of smarana is out there, but the methodology is not all that thoroughly documented. We plan to remedy the situation, to an extent anyway, preparing manuals that will help the Western mind in particular to get a better grasp of our inner identity, much as it is different from its Bengali counterpart. So our projects also deal with matters of bhajana, we aren't just busy running around. Since this is a public media, I will obviously not be documenting this all that much online. For further inquiries, come knocking on our door.

While I was gone with Yugal, some old school friends of Bul Bul's wife came over for a visit at their place. They were also eager to see the upstairs guests. We hear they've never seen foreigners before and do not know at all what to expect. They also don't know a word of English, that isn't a part of the regular curriculum, but rather is reserved for those aiming for high-end occupations. As they came in the door, they made pranams to Giridhari and Nitai-Gaura, and were astonished at seeing foreigners worshiping as they do.

Bul Bul told how they also have Giridhari in their home, but they keep him like a son, just bringing the food on the altar and telling, "Giridhari, eat now!", while we (regular sadhakas) have varieties of procedures to follow. For Vrajavasis, the relationship is one of natural affection. You'll find Giridhari in just about every house around here. Bul Bul also told them the story of how the room we lived in was built. Yugal, who had no prior experience in construction, had devised a 3D-model on his PC, which was then shown as the model for the workers. It turned out to be one of the neatest rooms in the neighbourhood.

We bump into Advaitadas downstairs, he's come over to meet Yugal. Together we leave towards the direction of Radha-kunda. On the way, we meet two devotees from the US who are on their way to meet us. We all go together to meet Baba, but he is taking a bath as we reach the ashram. We sit on the roof, and wait for him to come over. Dina Das and two other babas are cleaning the roof, they'll be constructing new rooms there for some of the residents of the ashram. Many of them are currently living under the stairs or on the banks of the kunda.

We introduce to Baba one of the devotees we'd met on the way from Gaura Dham. One of them inquires about the possibility of receiving diksha sometime soon. We also film an invitation for Jagadananda to come over to Vraja for a visit. Baba asks, "How will Jagadananda get this?"

— Baba, by computer I will send it, just press a button and in just one minute he will get it.
— He will also hear then?
— Yes Baba, also hear and also see.
— Also see? [laughs]

Baba is always amazed at the advances of technology we introduce to him.

The doctor has come over for a visit, and Baba has to go downstairs. We meet Amiya and Subhangada on the way, and head home through the sabji-market.