Padmanabha, the richest – a few random thoughts…..

Lord Ananthapadmanabhaswamy has always evoked a sense of awe and reverence in me ever since my first darshan many years ago. In the beginning, it probably had to do with the gigantic size of the Lord in His deity form. Later, as I read Srila Prabhupada’s books, I gained more understanding about Lord Vishnu and His variegated energies and how the Lord goes about the business of material creation. Padmanabha lying down in all His Majesty is indeed a sight to behold. Every year, when I came to India on vacation, I tried to make it at least once to take His darshan. He has always been extremely merciful to me and given His darshan countless times.

Years rolled by and two years ago, my wife and children came to stay in Thiruvananthapuram, the city named after Ananthapadmanabha. Since then, our frequency of visits have increased and several times our children have got mahaprasadam bouquets taken directly from the deity and given by the pujaris. Padmanabha continues to cast His merciful glance upon His city and the rest of the world from His anantasayana pose ! I consider it a great privilege to be staying just 15 minutes away from His majestic presence here in Thiruvananthapuram.

Now it has been revealed that He is the richest deity in the world with treasure troves lying under His temple being opened and listed ! It came as no surprise to me, because, as far as I am concerned, the lakhs of crores that these people count is nothing compared to even an iota of the aiswarya of Lord Padmanabha. Also, it is standing testimony of how pious kshathriya kings served the Lord with all pomp and festivity, and notably the Marthandavarma family who have surrendered themselves completely at the Lotus feet of Lord Padmanabha.

We have read in sastra that the great saintly kings used to worship the Supreme Lord in a way that was befitting their position. I can only feel pity at those ‘experts’ who have a poor fund of knowledge and commenting upon this issue. They speak utter nonsense like “the treasures found under Lord Padmanabha’s temple is the loot from wars and money usurped from common man”. These people have neither knowledge of sastra, nor any knowledge about sastra. It is utterly laughable, but then this is Kali yuga, so….

Eventually, politicians and other unscrupulous people may get involved and manage to loot Padmanabha’s wealth as well ! However, as they will find out to their own detriment, the reaction of misusing the Lord’s wealth will not be a pleasant experience. An atheist commented on “Padmanabha’s indadequacy” to roll out welfare schemes to the public, but little does he know that he himself will meet Padmanabha at the exact time of leaving his body, but the only problem is that he will meet the Lord in His most fearful form…..that of death !!!

All said and done, rest assured that Padmanabha’s smile on His face shall not be disturbed under any circumstance, but the atheists, politicians and all similar ilk, beware ! Your smiles will be wiped out – of that you can be sure – as sure as death ! Hare Krishna !

Hare Krishna's voice in God's own country !!!! Bhagavad Darshsanam release in Trivandrum

Finally, after waiting for 66 years, the magazine of the Hare Krishna Movement has come to Kerala. Titled Bhagavad Darshanam, the magazine hopes to act as the voice of the Hare Krishna Movement in Kerala. We hope that this venture will please Srila Prabhupada, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Sri Krishna ! With help from the devotees and well wishers we hope to use this magazine to spread Krishna Consciousness in God's Own Country ! ! !

All glories to Aindra Prabhu !!!

As I heard of the disappearance of His Grace Aindra Prabhu, so many thoughts flooded through my mind. Reading through the offerings of his various godbrotheers, was so touching and reiterated my own thoughts about Aindra Prabhu !

Ever since the first time I heard Vrindavan mellows, Aindra prabhu's style has defined kirtan for me, although I did realize that there was no scope for me to sing like him - neither by way of singing ability, nor by way of bhakthi. However, he has continued to inspire me over the years and the 7 days I spent in Vrindavan and listening to his kirtan everyday will forever remain etched in my memory.

Aindra prabhu has influenced people around the world with his wonderful kirtan. I remember the good old days when myself, Padmanabh Nitai, Pradyumna Krsna, Debarshi Gauranga and others sitting in the ashram deity room with our harmonium, kartal and mrdanga and singing Aindra prabhu's tunes for hours together. Most of my kirtan memories are connected with Aindra Prabhu one way or the other. Prabhu has left, but his kirtan remains !!! So many more will hear him and continue to drive inspiration....

Aindra prabhu ki jai !!!

Panihati festival in Guruvayur

As the program was decided about a month ago that Panihati chida dahi festival will be celebrated somewhere close to Guruvayur on 27 June, everyone was looking forward to it very eagerly. I had to leave Guruvayur couple of days before on some urgent personal business and the hartal on 26th didn’t help matters much. Somehow, I had made up my mind to attend this festival, as I have very sweet memories of Panihati festival in Krishna Katha Desh. My bus was speeding towards Guruvayur and the rain was coming down hard. All my hopes were almost gone , with the sky completely dark with pregnant clouds showering non-stop and heavily, too. I said a silent prayer to Guruvayrappan asking the Lord to intervene and tell Indra to stop his army of clouds from showering over Guruvayur temporarily. My bus reached East Nada, and bang !!! , the rain stopped.

As I reached the ISKCON Complex, devotees were milling around busily getting things ready. The program was to be held at Panchavadi beach, about 6 km from Guruvayur. Devotees were transported in four trips to the beach as the bus was small and there were too many devotees. The bathing festival at the beach started at around 11.30 a.m., with Ram Govinda Prabhu and Rasanidhi prabhu bathing their Lordships Gauranga and Nitai, accompanied by the thunderous kirtan of Vichitra Chaitanya Das. The nearby local temple, the Thiruvathra Karthyayani temple was to be venue for the rest of the program. The sankirtan party from the beach went in a procession to the temple, loudly chanting the holy names, immersing the whole area in the heavy rain of hari-nama !

The temple held a surprise for many as there was a big crowd of local people in the temple hall, eagerly waiting for our program. This was due to the efforts of the temple priest who is a well-wisher of ISKCON and attends many of our programs. There are 500 houses around this temple and he had printed and distributed notices to all the local people informing them about our festival. Lord Gauranga and Nityananda was exhibiting their mercy in their customary way !!! The program included abhishekam, maha arati, bhog offering and a short lecture followed by mahaprasadam. The program was very well received by the local people, who were very happy to be introduced to Lord Chaitanya, the golden avatar and the Hare Krishna Mahamantra. Sukrthi Prabhu from Mathuradesh spoke on the significance of the festival. Ram Govinda Prabhu enlightened the audience about Srila Prabhupada and his worldwide movement. Matajis and prabhus had gotten together and prepared many varieties of chida to be offered to the deities. 23 items were offered in all ! The festival which began as a celebration for ISKCON devotees became a huge outreach preaching program, I guess it was Lord Chaitanya’s plan, after all !

Indra and his team stayed away, just until the festival got over. In fact, they started right after that !!! Of course, we do understand that Guruvayurappan is the Supreme Controller, whether its rain or sunshine !!! Once again, the Lord showed who is the Boss…

It also afforded me the opportunity to meet Radhakanta prabhu, the sweet and gentle devotee from Ayalur. I was also meeting Rasanidhi prabhu after sometime. The only thing everyone missed was the association of H.H. Bhakti Vinoda Maharaja.
Nityananda Prabhu showed mercy on Raghunatha Dasa Goswami at Panihati and ordered him to hold the chida-dahi festival. The Lord also brought Mahaprabhu to the festival by meditating on Him. So many years later, Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu continue to shower mercy on patitas through the same festival. The ways of the Lord are so wonderful and beyond our comprehension !
Saci mata prana dhana Gauranga Mahaprabhu ki jai !

Nityananda Rai ki jai !

The durlabha darsan of Lord Guruvayurappan on Pandava Nirjala Ekadasi day !!!

It was Pandava Nirjala Ekadasi on 22 June. As is my normal routine, I went to the temple in the morning. Entering through the West Nada, I circumambulated and reached the front entrance. From the kodi maram (flagpole) nothing much was visible. I peeped through the main outer entrance and found a looooooooong line, again, as usual. I was a bit disappointed that I couldn’t take darsan, but consoled myself with my usual motto – even if I cannot see Guruvayurappan, He can see me, so I present myself in front of the kodi maram every single day I am in Guruvayur.

Being Ekadasi day, I went again in the evening at around 6:15. The deepaaraadhana (arati) is normally at around 6:30 and will attract a huge crowd normally. As I reached the front entrance, lo and behold !!! No crowd, they are allowing persons to enter the queue from inside only !!! I seized the opportunity without delay and jumped into the queue. The queue normally moves in two files. Interestingly, the line that I got into was moving was moving at a snail’s pace. I was chanting my rounds and waiting patiently even as the other line kept moving. It took me a few minutes to understand that some smart devotee was slowing things up front to be able to watch the arati, but it didn’t last too long. The temple staff pushed us ahead and practically pushed me in front. Just as I got there, the doors closed for worship !!! It meant only one thing… I was going to watch the arati !!! Somehow the Lord had arranged for me to have His darshan…. It was a blissful few minutes as I watched the Lord being worshipped by ghee lamp and camphor lamp. One more instance of sweet reciprocation from the Lord. Sree Guruvayurappan ki jai !!!

All glories to Krishna Katha Desh Bhakta Vrnda !

On Nrsingha Caturdasi day, Gaura Nitai deities in Trivandrum wore the dress stitched by HG Rasanidhi Krsna Dasa and cloth sponsored by HG Parama Karuna Krsna Dasa and Rasesvara Gopala Dasa. Thank you, dear Vaisnavas ! All glories to you !!!

Upanayanam

We performed Upanayanam for Gauranga last week . As smarthas, we do upanayanam for sons at a young age. Gauranga is 6+ and therefore we thought it ideal to conduct his upanayanam now.

Upanayanam means to look upwards - the process where the vatu is introduced formally to knowledge of Brahman. The boy is given yajnopaveetam (yajna-upaveetam) and is expected to enter brahmacaryashram !!! Upanayanam is supposed to be starting point for learning brahma jnana.

brahmano hi pratisthaham amrtasyavyayasya ca

sasvatasya ca dharmasya sukhasyaikantikasya ca

"I am the source of Brahman which is immortal, does not perish, eternal and is the constitutional position of ultimate happiness.", says Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita.