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.

Musings about an air crash

Yesterday, on 22 May 2010, an Air India Express flight from Dubai to Mangalore crashed on landing at the Bajpe Airport in Mangalore. A tragic incident which led to news channels hovering over like vultures at the site and "creating" news alongside reporting it. While this circus goes on in news channels, the relatives of the departed ones find it difficult to mourn the departure of their loved ones in peace. Thanks to information revolution.....

The flight had 166 travellers including passengers and crew. The captain had supposedly flown more than 10,000 hours and the co-pilot 3650 hours. By no means were they lacking in experience. Moreover, the same pilot had landed in this runway many many times - safely. One mistake was all it took.

Reports say that 159 perished, most bodies charred beyond recognition, forcing authorities to conduct DNA tests to identify people.

7 people escaped - miraculously. They live to tell the story ! All of them - say the same thing - Thanks to God !!!

Which brings me to the sobering thought:

'rakhe krishna maare ki
maare krishna rakhe ki'

If the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna wants to protect someone, nobody can kill him and if Krishna wants someone to perish, no one can protect him.

Some simple truths are easier to understand in the face of tragedies like yesterday's air crash.

Coimbatore Rathayatra

The 17th ratha yatra of Sri Sri Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadramayi was on 11th and 12th of January 2009. I had reached Guruvayur the previous day and was joining a group of 50 devotees to travel together to Coimbatore. It was indeed a blissful trip. Kirtan resounded throughout the trip and when we got tired of singing (it took a great shouting effort to sing above the sound of a roaring bus speeding through the highway !)we listened to the blissful singing of HH Lokanatha Maharaja. We finally reached Coimbatore at around 12.30 noon time. We first went to unload our luggages at a kalyana mandapam which was booked for our night stay. Then we proceeded to the ratha yatra location. After some wonderful and heavy prasadam, we went to the Venugopala Perumal temple where the deities where residing before being taken to the chariot. When we reached there we were welcomed by the melodious singing of none other than HG Vayasaki Prabhu, a disciple of Srila Prabhupada and one of the leading kirtaniyas of ISKCON ! Hearing him sing made me realize what a poor singer I really am !!! The ratha yatra was inagurated by the Mayor and was attended by HH Jayadvaita Maharaja and HH Bhanu Maharaja ! The deities were carried on palanquins to the ratha which was parked some distance away. On the way, I had some time to take precious association of HH Jayadvaita Maharaja - he was his usual self, only travelling a little more than before. I pointed it out to him and he smiled sweetly, he said "a little more, but not too much".

The ratha yatra solely missed the presence of HH Jayapataka Maharaja, who was present for all the 16 previous ratha yatras ! But Sarvaisvarya Prabhu mentioned in his speech that he spoke to Maharaja and Maharaja said that he was present in spirit even though absent physically.

It was a blissful three hours of non-stop chanting, giving mercy and prasadam of Jagannatha to everyone on the way. It was also opportunity to meet old friends like Swayam Nitai Dasa who was in KKD before and now in Hosur. He was his usual dancing self !!! I also met HG Jagat Sakshi and Sathyamedha Prabhus from Thiruvananthapuram, Anantha Sri Krishna Dasa from Cochin and many others. Myself, Vijayendra Krsna and Rasanidhi were travelling together alongwith Prana Sakha and others from Guruvayur. I also finally got to meet HG Sarvaisvarya Prabhu in front of the Ratha after he came down from the chariot and he led a dynamic kirtan even with a malfunctioning sound system. His kirtan roared even without a microphone. All together it was an unforgettable experience !

Back in the hall after the ratha yatra there were lectures by both the Maharajas and tthe next day, there were two really deep and high-tech presentations by HH Bhanu Maharaja. It was very fantastic for many intelligent devotees, but I could hardly understand it all with my dull brain. Anyway, 2 days passed like 2 minutes and we were back in the bus goiing back to Kerala.

One thing I was able to appreciate very much was the organisational side of things. All glories to HG Sarvaisvarya Prabhu and his team for putting together such a wonderful festival. Everything was fantastic -- the personal care, the prasadam, the hospitality and all the arrangements. It definitely took many many hours, days and weeks of careful planning and organization to put together such a fantastic festival.

I am now looking forward to the next festival !!!

On my way to Coimbatore rath yatra.......

Last week has been one of hectic travelling for me. After coming back from Guruvayur on Sunday, we went to take darshan at a temple called Thiru maandhaan kunnu - in Malappuuram district of Kerala. My wife had performed a mangalya puja there before marriage - to get married ! Anyone who does this puja is suupposed to visit the temple with their husbands. So, we finally made it after 5 years and 2 kids !! How is that for delaying your vows ! Anyway, this temple has Siva-parvati deities, Bhadra-kali and Ganesha. Ironically enough, the mangalya puja is performed in front of Ganesha who is famous as a bachelor !Its a big temple and very crowded. Obivously its crowded with lots and lots of unmarried girls. It was a 4 hour drive from my place and we returned late in the afternoon after a tiring but rewarding trip. Both Gauranga and Madhava were down after the long journey. The great devotee of Lord Guruvayurappan named Poonthaanam Nampoothiri also lived near this temple and there is small temple nearby where he has established a Guruvayurappan deity. Unfortunately, we got there late and the temple was closed. I plan to make it up the next time I visit there.

In my town, we have a big Mahadeva temple and it was utsavam there for 10 days. Lord Mahadeva is very merciful and attracts lots of people. Krishna deity is there in the same temple compound but in a smaller outer temple. I visit there everyday because its just 5 minutes away from my house. On Friday,there was "pooram"there. Pooram is a festival where the Lord sits atop an elephant and is accompanied by other elephants. Then, there will be vaadhyam in front of the Lord for His pleasure. This year there was a total of 11 elephants with the Lord being carried by one of the biggest elephants in Kerala. I was told that the elephant is rented for 200,000 rupees per day !!! This does not include his food and transport charges !!! Anyways, it was wonderful to see a team of more than 80 performers with "panchari melam" performing in front of the utsava murthy. The function started at 3.30 in the afternoon and was going on till about 7 in the evening.

I took all the family and went to see the celebration. Gauranga and Madhava thoroughly enjoyed it and Madhava was troubling me so much that he wanted to touch the elephant and sit on top !!!

I left by 5.30 because I had to take a bus to Guruvayur. I arrived at Guruvayur by 10 in the night and went for darshan at around 2.30 a.m. I got darshan by 5 a.m. due to heavy rush. This is Sabarimala season in Kerala now and every temple is crowded. Guruvayurappan already attracts millions, but during this month he attracts more people. Many people come to see Him on their way to see Ayyappa at Sabarimala. Anyway, the darshan, though short, was very sweet. The Lord had His usual sweet smile. There wasnt much time to submit too many prayers in front of Him, so II just prayed, "please do what is in my ultimate bbenefit". I guess that covers everything.

The bus to Coimbatore leaves at 7 in the morning and I am ready by 6.30. On to Coimbatore.....where Lord Jagannatha is preparing to shower His mercy on thousands of Coimbatorians !!!!