The peacocks woke us up in the morning. The keaa-keaa concert was followed by a host of smaller birds chirping out loud — a concert that doesn't end until the late evening. Only now we realize the natural beauty of the place we are living in. It must have been like this at the center of Radha-kunda in the early days when the place was largely untouched by urban civilization.

We were a bit short on paraphernalia, but anyhow I managed to do some kind of puja for our thakurjis in the morning. After a small breakfast, we left to meet Baba. He was sitting upstairs, chanting. We had some letters from devotees we had printed out that we delivered to him. Baba told that many devotees who had come to Radha-kunda had met me. He had asked, "Have you met Madhavananda in person?", and everyone had answered, "No, by computer we know him." He then noted, "Computer is a very powerful medium. In only one second, you can go all over world. Otherwise, not possible."

One of the letters was from Revati Dasi, Hari Saran's wife. Baba told how in the past, Hari Saran was calling every month, but "Now not calling." Hari, I think Baba would be happy to hear from you. I told of the second East Coast Gathering that Hari Saran and Revati had organized, and how I was very happy that the devotees in the US had started coming together for kirtan and hari-katha, and that Jagadananda had been giving patha there, too. "Yes, Jagadananda, all over West Bengal he would give good patha."

Speaking of Jagadananda, we mentioned the work on Madhurya Kadambini, regretting that we had not had the time to get it completed before our arrival to show him. Baba said that it is no problem, and that as we are publishing for a wide audience all over the world, it is important that everything is of a good quality, that we shouldn't rush on the cost of the quality of the publication.

In another context, Baba spoke of the grave danger of Vaishnava-aparadha. Speaking of computers, I mentioned how this has sometimes been a problem, but that we are doing our best to avoid talks involving Vaishnava-aparadha. In the context of ISKCON and Gaudiya Matha, I noted, this had been particularly problematic. Baba then told that in the West, so many people are stuck in the well of materialism, and that through ISKCON mandir they are taking an interest in the teachings of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and in our bhajan-path, adding that in ISKCON mandir they are also bhaktas and should thus be respected. Baba added that in ISKCON, they are serving half of the package only, as there is no thorough education in the matter of the works of the Goswamis and the bhajan-path they have taught. Nevertheless, he said, they are Vaishnavas and should be honored, as Vaishnava-aparadha is very dangerous for spiritual life.

After the darshan with Baba, we headed for Radharani Seva Center at Nuton Ghera, where Advaitadas lives. We sat down and chatted for a while on a variety of topics. We also closed a deal on purchasing some of the Grantha Ratna Panchakams, a collection of five titles by Srila Visvanatha, he had translated a couple of years back, that were sitting in storage at Radha-kunda. (Expect to see them at LoiBazaar.Com sometime in the near future.) He then opened the room of Anuradha, where we had left some of our stuff from the previous visit. It looks like we might have left a bit over the allowance, an incredible quantity of stuff there! Anuradha, if you're reading this — sorry...

Handling stuff that has been sitting in storage for eighteen months in Vraja is much akin to handling radio-active waste. As I lifted one of the boxes off the shelf near the roof, I had the pleasant experience of having a load of rat-stool slide right inside my jacket. Advaita — the living Hari-bhakti-vilasa of our times — recommended wearing woolen cloth in such undertakings. And yes, there was also a small rat there that sprinted off when the daylight hit his eyes. Judging by the sound, I think Malati jumped pretty high when the rat made his way out.

We then loaded the boxes on a rickshaw and brought them to our house at Gaura Dham colony, a fifteen minute walk away from the center of Radha-kunda. We set up a platform of bricks outside the yard and started unpacking the old stuff, equipped with a big bucketful of water and soap, and rubber gloves. Fortunately it was mostly only sand inside, spiced with a couple of small bugs, but no bigger animals. Advaita had warned us of the possible presence of some red entities that look like the cross-breeding of a caterpillar and a dragon, with sticky feet. He even gave us instructions on how to remove them, should we meet any. I am still not quite sure whether he was just pulling our leg or whether such things really exist.