Lokanath Swami


25th November. We are leaving our beloved Vrindavana. It has been a wonderful month here in Vraja with so many sweet impressions on the heart. I can only say that it is hard to leave but by the mercy of Sri Sri Gaura Nitai I can see the necessity to distribute the sweetness of Sri Sri Radha Sundar to every soul in the universe. We are 33 devotees setting out from Vrindavana on this bright sunny day. Spirit is high as we pray to Nrsimhadeva for protection on our journey. We have 14 days of austerities ahead of us, but as sastra says “Austerities are the wealth of the Brahmanas” and for sure these austerities will make our lives and the lives of all that we meet sweeter. So Chalo. Lets go! We are blessed on this tour to not only have the association of H.H.Lokanath Swami Maharaja but also of H.G. Akihladhara Prabhu who is one of Srila Prabhupadas most cherished book distributors and veteran preachers. He and I spend 200,- US$ on purchasing books in Hindi and English so the weapons are ready. We reach Mathura Station with out problems and are now dancing and jumping in kirtana on platform 1 amidst a crowd of smiling and interested Indians. We bring out the books and they fly out like hot cakes. 20 books in half and hour. The kirtana is intensifying and we dance around the 26th November. 2.23 am. I am awake and go for quick refreshment at the small train zink. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, there is still some time for japa before our arrival in Nagpur at 4.00 am. More devotees are waking up and the compartment resounds softly with the Holy name. We are becoming purified. Getting on and off an Indian train is always a farout and memorable experience. The trains stay only a few minutes at each station so everybody is trying to get on and off the train at the same time. Quite a sight!. We have experienced devotees with us so they organize a goon squad to keep everyone away from the exitdoor until all our devotees and there luggage are safely brought to the platform. This time it is working nicely. A big group of devotees from Nagpur is receiving us with a roughing kirtana and all our devotees a warmly welcomed with beautiful and fragrant flower garlands and sweet words. Today we are going for preaching in four places southeast of Nagpur so immediately after getting set up in our asramas we depart for preaching. H.H.Lokanath Maharaja is leading our group today and a sweet and expanding kirtana is carrying us down the streets of Brahma Puri our first stop of the day. Brahma Puri has its name from all the lotuses that grow here. As you might know Lord Brahma appeared in the whorl of a lotus so the local people are sure that this is the place of Lord Brahma. Lokanath Maharaja is speaking on the power of the holy name. The Holy name is able to attract souls from all over the planet from all cultures and walks of life. We are all a proof of that and the local people are amazed to see all of us white folks here in the middle of India chanting Hare Krishna. They welcome us very nicely. We are now back in the bus heading for our ISKCON Charmosi farm community. They have Sri Sri Radha Shyamsundar deities there so we are right back in Vrindavana. A big crowd receives us with kirtana and flower garlands. We are walking from the main road up to the farmhouses and the small temple. It is very beautiful, pure and simple. The village life of India is definitely the most beautiful and pure way of life and perfect for Krishna consciousness. I wish to stay here and just chant with the cows and just absorb the atmosphere of this serene place. But time waits for no man so back on the road. The afternoon is coming to and end as we enter into a big forest. The road becomes very narrow and curvy and dense forest encroaches upon us from all sides. This is the first forest I am experiencing here in India and my thoughts immediately go to Sri Narada Muni who in his previous life passed through dense dark forests with wild animals and many dangers. This place is like that. Now it makes sense to me why Prabhupada is not recommending us to go to the forest. We would not last a day. But it is very interesting to see from our safe position in our bus and the whole experience takes on a complete transcendental dimension as Radha Govind Prabhu is commencing a beautiful Gaura aratik. The timing is perfect. As we are reaching a crescendo in the aratik kirtana we are arriving to the last town of our preaching tour. A big crowd is receiving us and joining the kirtana. When everyone is completely absorbed in the kirtana H.H.lokanath Swami arrives to make people even more enthusiastic. The evening programs flows nicely with Lokanath Maharaja speaking to 300 hundred attentive towns folks. We sold around 20 kirtana cd’s and many books also which is quite extraordinary in a poor Indian town. A long night ride in the bus awaits us and everyone are packing them selves in chadars and blankets. Indian busses are normally as cool or as hot as the outside temperature. To bring us through the last purification we also encountered a tirepuncture on our way back, so Nittin the busboy and the driver had to bring all the heavy tool out and change the back wheel. Finally at 2 am. We arrived back in Nagpur and immediately fell into deep sleep. Wow what a day. 27th November. I am getting back to consciousness at 8.00 am. It was a long night last night and we reached our asrama quite late. Today we are going for the big yearly Rathayatra in Nagpur. Advertisements for the event has been running on the local TV-stations for days and the whole city is decorated with posters of Jagannath Baladeva, Subhadra, Srila Prabhupada and Lokanath Swami Maharaja. When we arrive at the starting point hundreds of devotees and spectators are already there and several TV-stations and newspapers are shooting photage of the cart and ISKCON devotees. We white elephants are a rare sight here in India so we are getting a lot of attention from the press. The Raja of Nagpur is here and several VIPs speak on the happy occasion of Jagannath Rathayatra. H.H.Lokanath Swami Maharaja speaks last and officially opens the Rathayatra. It is a hugh cart maybe 15 meters high and 7 meters wide. The ropes to pull the Lord’s cart is really long and every inch is occupied with eager vaisnavas longing to pull Jagannath back to Radharani in Vrindavana. It is said in sastra that there is no higer rasa or tast than love in separation. But actually the rasa that Srimate radharani experienced at Kuruksetra is said to be higher. Krishna was in his kingly pastimes when he came to Kuruksetra. He had all his queens and his whole entourage with him. Radharani said that “You are still the same Krishna as in Vraja and I am the same Radhe” but there on Kuruksetra she could not have her intimate pastimes with the lord of her heart because of all the royal oppulence. So it is something like having the biggest ice cream right in front of your eyes but not beingable to eat it. So she so much wanted to bring Krishna back to Vrindavana so that she could enjoy with Him. So therefore there is no one who gets more mercy from Srimate Radharani than the devotees who helps her to pull Jagannath Sri Krishna back to Vrindavana. With this in Mind we all Chanted and danced our way back to Vrindavana together with Jagannath Baladeva and Subhadra Srimate Radharani and all her devotees. Wonderful. Nagpur is blessed with some good powerful kirtaneers and at the later stages H.H.Lokanath Swami took the microphone and lead the Kirtana. No commends required. The day ended at the pandal where H.G. Ekalavya Prabhu, H.G.AkiladharaPrabhu, H.H.Bhaktibrajendanandan Swami Maharaja and H.H.Lokanath Swami Maharaja all gave very nice points and understanding on the importance of chanting the holy name and how the whole world is coming together in chanting. Devotees from many countries is here in Nagpur so this point is certantly proven. Last everyone took Prasadam. Jagannath , Baladeva and Subhadra Ki Jaya. 28th November. In the morning we see three frontpage articles on the three main newspapers of Nagpur. Full descriptions of the Rathayatra festival and ISKCON is there. The festival has made strong impact. Very good. Today we are going to one of my favorit places in Maharashtra, Ramtek. This ancient place is the asrama of agastya muni who lived here during Treat yuga, or some one million years ago. Ramtek is located right in the middle of the Danyakaranya forest where Lord Rama spend his 14 years of exile. After having left Titracut which is north of Ramtek he came here. The asrama is situated on a small mountain and is more like a fort than an asrama. Strong walls and huge watch towers surrounds the dham and normally a large group of Hanumans monkey soldiers reside here. They are almost man tall and very intelligent and cultured. On our way to Ramtek we stopped in village near Ramtek and went on Street Kirtana. 50 devotees from our camp and several more from the village of Ramtek. Very nice. Many of the children are shy but when we chant just a few minutes outside their house they start to melt and smile and chant Hare Krishna and Jay Ram with us. The Krishna consciousness is right there under the skin. The whole afternoon we dive deeply into the nectarian vibration of this wonderful holy place. In the evening we where invited to one of the resorts nearby for Prasadam. Nice feast. The day ended close to Nagpur at a place called Ram Dham. Here, one of the congregational devotees of Nagpur has established an interesting place where Ram lila, Krishna lila, Siva lila and Ganesh lilas are exhibited. He is doing it in a very amusing way with mountains you have to climb and tunnels you have to enter. The world’s biggest Aum sign is constructed here and it was a very nice and amusing way of presenting Krishna consciousness. We ended the visit at Ram dham with a pandal program chanting Hare Krishna and speaking spiritual knowledge to all the visitors. Ram Dham has 300.000 visitors per year. A very sweet and inspiring day with Krishnas devotees. Jay Ram. 29th of November. We are moving on. Next stop is Star Key Point resort 3 hours outside Nagpur. Today is a resting day for our group so we move slowly. We are soon leaving the northern part of Maharashtra and are heading for some of the holy places in the south, so a little rest is needed before the long train ride. We meet in the evening for Sadhu Sanga and many nice stories from Book distribution adventures are shared and Sakshi Shaym Prabhu and Radha Govinda Prabhu perform a nice mime on the power of book distribution. Early to bed for a change. Hare Krishna. 30th November Today we are departing from Key Star Point Resort. It is 7.00 am and we are on the move. Ekalavya Pra bhu is leading the Guruvastaka Prayers and the whole bus is absorbed in transcendental energies. The day is just beginning and the morning air is very fresh and cool. It is a very beautiful morning. Our first destination is Kaundinyapur dham. This is the place where Sri Krishna kidnapped Rukmini devi right infront of Sisupal her future husband, Rukmi her brother and all the King who had come for the wedding. It is a quite small Dham and ISKCON is now building a small beautiful temple. We arrived at 11.00 am and the devotees there had a steaong hot and nice Prasadam feast ready for us. We are eating nice puris, Sabjis, pacoras and kir. Very nice start on our pilgrimage. After the feast we went to the amba temple. Rukmini devi came here to worship the goddess before her marriage to Sisupal but as a lion Krishna came to this place and took Rukmini infront of all the Jakals present. It is a very powerful place and we had a nice kirtana there. After we went to the Vitthala Rukmini temple where Ekalavya Prabhu gave a nice class on Rukmini devi. The visit ended with a nice holy bath in the Varada river. We are now going towards Amravati for evening preaching. H.H.Lokanath Swami will meet us there and we will perform a big program in Saint Dyneshwar Cultural Hall. We have a very nice bookstall right infront of the main entrance and many people are looking at the books and cd and we sell a lot of transcendence. H.H.Lokanath Swami gives a nice opening bhajan and he is speaking on Gita Jayanti or the appearance of Bhagavad gita. How it came, who spoke it and why. A very interesting class with so much useful information. I must admit that I snug out at 9.00 pm and went back to the asrama, but many of the prabhus came back laughing and talk around midnight. It was a very nice program where we sold many gitas and made many new contacts. Hare Krishna. 1st December. I want to make it for the morning program so I am getting up at 3.30 am. I go to the bathroom just to discover that there is no water in the pipes. Hmm. I can hear that some young boys are laughing and joking in on of the nearby rooms so I knock on their door. The peek out from a small opening in the door and look quite surprised to see me standing there in my ghamsas. But they tell me to go to the temple for my morning bath. So here we go, barefooted in my gamshas and with my toilet bag under the arm. Quite a strange site, but I want to make it for the morning program. 4.30, I made it together with a few of the other from the tour. Sri Sri Rukmini Dwarkadish look so beautiful and the atmosphere is so soft and mystical. More of our devotees join the japa chanting as the brahmamuhurta sets in. After Dharsana Aratik and Gurupuja H.H.Lokanath Swami Maharaja gives the morning lecture and he is again focusing on the appearance of Bhagavad gita. Srila Prabhupadas book marathon has already started in Lokanath maharajas zone because we stop earlier due to his Bhagavad saptaha in Pune in the end of December. We are now trying to survive a very spice morning Prasadam. Some of the preparations are like eating fire so we simply have to leave them. It is an ongoing struggle to get the “NO CHILLI” message across. The five Tata Sumos are pulling up outside the temple and are preparing to load all our luggage and devotees in for the ride to Badnera train station. From there we will continue to Pune where several big preaching programs are being arranged. We have a really special entrance into the train. We are on the platform distributing books and have been informed that the train will arrive in 20 minutes. There is no electricity at Badnera at this particular time so the information signs are not working. “Hey Prabhu that is out train!” “What?” “That is out train, come one get in!” “Oh my God this is compartments S3 and we have our seats in S8. Hurry everyone just get on the train”. “Don’t try to make it to S8 just get on the train right here!”. We all make it but all of our luggage is in S3 and we have to move it to S8. Great India, it is just so special in all regards. It is actually so wonderful and humorous when you come to think of it. It is certainly not borring. After this little hurtle all the devotees and now happy and relaxed and a nice Gaura aratik ends the day. Harinam Sankirtana Ki Jaya. 2nd December We arrive at Pune train station 4.50 am and a big group from ISKCON Pune is there to receive us with ab full power kirtana. It is such a mental help to hear these saints perform kirtana after a long smelly and dirty night in the Indian train. I give us the energy we need to finish the journey and look forward toward the coming days preaching. All glories to the Pune Bhakta Vrindas. We rest for most of the day and go for Harinam Sankirtana at 4.30 pm. At least 500 devotees where there. H.G.Radha Shyam Prabhu is leading us along the shopping streets of Pune. It is clear to see that the western money makers are playing it big here. Shopping malls and big advertisement boards everywhere. Many of the young Indians are buying it raw. They stand along the roads with their fancy western clothes and empty eyes. Such a bad bargain. They stare at us with utter disbelieve. We dance along and the kirtana really takes off. It has been a long time since I was blessed with taking part in such a kirtana. Now we are back in the temple and H.H. Lokanath Swami is arriving for the evening program. The temple hall is packed and they enthusiastically shout Hari Bol everytime we from the stage introduce a new member of the Maharashtra tour group. H..H.Lokanath Swami starts his famous bhajans and the whole hall is moving. After his nice lecture we head back to the temple. As we arrive back to our quarters we the whole neighbourhood is in the middle of a wedding party so every available speaker is on full overload and thay are not playing bhajans. We try to get to sleep around 22.00 pm. Blissful and tired with the worst type of Hindi pop and techno blasting from all sides. Certainly not boring. 3rd December We are suppose to get our bus at 6 am, but as you can maybe guess it did not really happen. Instead we are now sitting in ISKCON Punes Tata Sumos on our way to Darshan Aratik, Gurupuja and morning lecture by H.H.Lokanath swami. The Pune devotees are just so kind and attentive to our needs that this feeling of shame is popping up in my heart again. I should improve my self so that we don’t have to draw so much on the service of these wonderful souls. I must become better at making the necessary arrangements for our group so that we can leave these great souls to do their japa instead of transporting us around. We enter the temple room while the japa is still going on. H.G.Radheshyam Prabhu sits in deep meditation with closed eyes and the room is filled with chanting devotees and the sound is just so bussing and sweet like hundreds of bumble bees humming. I can just manage a few rounds before Darshan Aratik. H.H.Lokanath Swami is leading the Gurupuja and wow, this is wild, and nothing stands still in the room. It is like an ocean of dancing and jumping devotees, and Maharaja is really singing from the heart. Today we are heading for Dehu where the great Maharastrian saint Tukarama lived. He lived right after Caitanya Mahaprabhu and continued the Harinama sankirtana in Maharashtra. He wrote 4300 songs in Marathi which are known as the abhangas. He was picked up by a Vaikuntha airplane and departed for the spiritual world in his mortal body. There is a tree at the place from where he left which is still there and every year on the anniversary day of Saint Tukarama Maharaja departure it trembles in ecstasy. We are fully relishing this wonderful place and the cold holy river Indriani. Our Kirtana party is making a big impact on all the other pilgrims there and many are approaching us to ask where we are coming from. The Local devotees are erecting a beautiful white temple for the worship of Tukarama maharaja and his Abhangas. They will write all the abhangas on the temple walls. The construction is going on nicely and should be finished quite soon. So Dehu is a must for any devotee who goes on pilgrimage in Maharashtra. 4th December As you can imagine is it quite difficult to get moving today. We got to bed at 5.00 am and now it is 8.00 am so it is pretty much on auto pilot. We are on our way to a temple opening in Solapur. The new temple is located in the poor part of Solapur on a grass square 100 meter by 100 meters surrounded by small houses on all sites. The new temple is fore Sri Sri Vitthal Rukmini. The people here maintain them selves by rolling beedies or leaf cigarettes. H.H.Lokanath maharaja opens the ceremony and welcome the deities with abhisekha and Aratik. The former Major of Solapur is attending the function and about 150 local devotees are also here. Our Maharashtra tour devotees lead the kirtana. It is a very sweet little temple and the deities are beautiful. Srila Prabhupada is not barring out anybody from Krishna consciousness. After the function we can rest for 3 hour and then we are going for Nagar Kirtana or street kirtana. Prasadam in Solapur is always very ecstatic and also now as one more transcendental preparation after the other is reaching our plates. Just what I need to keep the balance on a heavy day like today. We form two lines and H.G. Istadeva Prabhu leads us out on the kirtana. The sound system is surprisingly good for India and the kirtana takes of from the start. All of a sudden we are in the middle of huge wedding party with people on horses and fire crakers going of left and right and brass band music. They look equally surprised but we are just keeping the chanting going and the two parties, one going back to Godhead and the other going God know where, gradually part again. H.H. Lokanath Swami joins the kirtan party and with full power we enter the hall where the evening program is to be conducted. We are dancing and chanting and it is so nice. All the people who have come for the evening program are enthused by our mood and the holy name. We are welcomed by the devotees of Solapur. H.G. Akhiladhara Prabhu address the audience and later H.G. Druvananda Prabhu (Also a Prabhupada disciple) speaks. Now the scene is really set and H.H.Lokanath Swami Maharaja starts Bhajan and Katha. I can only pray that you can have the chance to experience these nice evening as soon as possible. Sakshi Shaym Prabhu is ending the evening with his mime about the power of book distribution. 5th December We got a good nights rest and are ready for the day. Today Istadeva Prabhu is taking us to the newly purchased land in Solapur. We are going to conduct Bhumi Puja. ISKCON Solapur just purchased 4 acres of very nice land for the new temple. One Brahman is here and he is going through all the mantras to mother earth and to Ganapati etc. I can’t follow all of it but it is very nice. The wind here is cool and soft and it is a very pure and nice piece of land. H.H.Lokanath Swami is taking part in the ceremony with the Brahman and we also help with the ground breaking and the pose for the press and TV gathered there. H.H.Lokanath Swami speaks on how ISKCON Solapur has fought for this land for many years and now finally we got it so that we can offer it back to Gopal, The owner of everything. Istadeva Prabhu tells a funny story about the previous owner of the land. This man had big plans for this land and once invited H.H.Lokanath Swami to please come and see the land and to bless this project that he wanted to do. So Maharaja went and put his foot down and now some time later the previous owner gave up his project and solod the land to ISKCON. Hmm something mystical looks to have happened. Jay Gopal. We are again eating nice Ekadasi Prasadam and are now heading for Sri Pandharpur dham. The bus driver is really pushi. The time is 1 pm and he need to drop us and get back to Solapur at 2.30 pm. Just not possible, but anyway he is pushing. Honking his horn and speeding up the engine. We have to point the finger at him and threaten him a little to make him relax. We are now in Pandharpur. I have been on the road for the last month so it is so nice to be back home. We are taking Prasadam and relax in this sweet holy Dham. There is no more programs for the day so I get a little time to organize the return tickets for the tour devotees and other managerial matters. I to get back on top. 6.30 pm Gaura Aratik followed by Deeparatik. It is ekadasi so we lit all the ghee wigs that we can find and make a festival of lights. (Deep). Nice meditation for the night. Hare Krishna 6th December. 2 am, my alarm goes of and I quickly get out of the sleeping bag. We are going for Kakra aratik on the other side of the river at the Vitthala Mandir. This aratik is unique in the whole world since we are allowed to sit right next to Lord Vitthala while he is having his morning bath and is doing all his morning rituals. Krishna left Dvaraka to look for his queen Rukmini who out of jealousy and hurt feeling had left their palace in Dvaraka and came here to Dindirvana where she was performing austerities in lamentation. Krishna came after her but could not pacify her and therefore went to visit on of his dear devotees Pundalik. Pundalik was engaged in serving his elderly parents so he asked Krishna to wait and gave Him a brick to stand on. Somehow Krishna chose to stay here and transformed his body into the deity that to this day thousand of years later is still here and is still worshipped by devotees. So it is not a self manifested deity by the Lord himself who chose to change form into Lord Vitthala. His darshana is most wonderful and we are all in ecstasy to be here with our Lord. Today we are going to Acluse which is a town around 40 kilometers from Pandharpur but before going there is so many thing that needs to be done since we have not been here in pandharpur for more than a month so many things needs to be taken care of. So I am finding my self running around taking care of this and that. To be coordinator is definitely a quite austere service, but it is said that austerities is the wealth of the Brahmanas so maybe it is good for something. I am driving Gurudeva to Acluse. It is something that I always look forward to because I get to sit next to him for extensive amount of time. Sometimes he puts his lotus feet up on the set and while operating the gear shift I accidentally come to touch his feet or his knee. HMM nice. Also to hear him chant and to see his praying mood is so nice. Just to be near him is like nothing else. So this service is something very special to me. H.H.Lokanath Swami is calling me to his room. He is checking if the tour is going on nicely and everything is ready for departure for Acluse. He is also disclosing his plans for expanding the Maharashtra tour to 6 weeks. He wants to change the present concept and make the tour into travelling performance tour where the core group knows music, drama, dance and other performance arts. In this way we can really make a powerful impact on the people of India. He is instructing me of his desires and wants me to present a project description as soon as possible. Hmm, this also sound really nectarian because our Mantra rock band could then do some serious transcendental noise pollution in the modernized minds of the youth of India. At 5 pm we are leaving Pandharpur heading for Acluse. It is a rough drive because the roads on the western side of Pandharpur is really bad. Some part is relatively good but then within seconds it changes into big craters and uneven asphalt and I really have to step on the break to avoid everyone in the car from hiding the roof. We make it somehow by Krishnas grace. After H.H.Lokanath Swami has entered the ocean of devotees who have come to receive him in Acluse I turn the seat down and take rest. I have to drive him back and it will most likely be very late if I know these programs right. So better be prepared. H.G.Akiladhara das and H.H. Lokanath Swami is conducting a nice evening program for aroung 200 people and the Maharashtra tour devotees is nicely received. I made a short appearance there before going back to sleep. At around 22.00 Gurudevas come out and we have a good hour of driving in the Indian night with all its beautiful sounds and smells. Hari Hari 7th December. We are going to Arawade with H.H. Lokanath Swami early and I again get the great mercy of driving my Gurudeva. Thank you Krishna. The southern parts of Maharashtra is very beautiful with mountains and big plains. A very monumental nature which is so attractive to watch. Do drive in the mountains with their special curves and terrain is something that I really like. I hope that the tour devotee will manage on their own today. I should be there to help them but now I was instructed to do this service so we left the tour devotees in the qualified hands of Damodar Krishna Prabhu and Chin Mayi Mataji. They are coming by bus some hours later. We are half way and Devarsi Narada Prabhu from Croatia who is the personal servant of H.H.Lokanath Swami asks me if he should drive. He wants to learn the deadly art of driving in India and he has chosen this particular time for his first test drive. Gurumaharaja agrees, so I get out of the drivers seat and crawl behind to act as co-driver in this most interesting adventure. Oh my God please protect Gurumaharaja and us. Everything goes fine and we make it safely to Aravade. 19.15, the phone rings. It is Chin Mayi Mataji in a quite disturbed frame of mind. It seems that the bus that we where supposed to have from ISKCON Pandharpur was not only for us. The Pandharpur management wanted to save a few hundred Rupees so they did not book a whole bus for our devotees but only 40 seat in a government bus. This had quite heavy impact on many of the devotees. The tour devotees had to share their bus with minimum 50 other souls. An Indian government bus I normally build for 53 sitting persons and 15 standing passengers. But this was the last ride to Aravade that night so it was filled beyond anything even the Indian devotees had ever seen before and many of them was drunk because it was Saturday. So when they finally arrived in Aravade they looked really smashed and discouraged. I was trying to get them to bed as soon as possible but that also showed out to be quite a challenge because there is no electricity in Aravede at this time. So just because we sometimes think of money before people we make such a mess of things. So for me this was yet another reminder that we should always put the welfare of the devotees first and then let Krishna take care of the budget. Anyway, done is done and the show is moving on. We will survive because we are eternal servant souls of Sri Krishna Bhagavan. 8th December H.H.Lokanath Swami is today taking part in a quite different preaching program. Some of his old school mates are arranging a reunion after 40 years. So Maharaja is going to Sangli and the Maharashtra tour is coming with him. The Venue is one of the most clean and nice places I have seen in India. Many nice furniture’s and decorations and even a small temple. This is not like an ordinary class mate reunion. H.H.Lokanath Swamis school mates are performing guru Puja as he arrives with aratik plate, lamps and a foot bath. Most amazing to see their understanding of who maharaja is. To them he is not just and old school mate but a pure bonafide representative of Sri Krishna Bhagavan. The treat him with the greatest respect. His teachers and different of his class mates gives speeches or some small musical performance and honour him in different way and then they all sit down and give the asana to maharaja. Perfect. Lokanath Swami starts his speech in marathi and showers his eternal mercy upon these fortunate soules. The scene has changed from school mates reunion to a usual preaching session where maharaja is speaking completely free from any bodily designations to deliver conditioned souls from illusion. He is using the opportunity in the most fantastic way, and they are all sitting and listening attentively. Yukta vairagya. The Maharashtra tour devotees are also introduced and used as an example of the all attractive nature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. After the speech by Lokanath Maharaja he signs Bhagavad gitas and distributes them to everyone present. We are now honouring nice Prasadam, and will then go the 40 kilometers back to Aravade to take rest before the big festival day tomorrow with its 108 fire yajnas. 9th December. Since we got back quite late last night, the first thing that I now hear is Dharmaraja Prabhus worried voice saying: OH prabhus what is this. Please come to the festival ground immediately we are having the intensive course for all devotees who will act a yajna brahmanas during the fire sacrifice. Hurry hurry. The time is 6.30am and I crawl out of my sleeping back and head for a nice fresh bucket shower at the water taps out side the dormitory hall. Now, one hour later I am at the festival grounds infront of the nice new temple and so many fire yajnas have been prepared. I have been choosen to be a yajna brahmana so I have to learn this noble art in something like 20 minutes. Vraja Bhakti Vilas Prabhu is going through the motions and we are trying to grasp the basics. One small detail that I kind of knew but had pushed back in far ends of my mind was that you are supposed to observe a fast until the yajna is performed. Just great. Anyway it is most likely healthy for a big eater like me. After the crash course I am now going down to the cows to chant my rounds. Here in Aravade everything is so clean and pure and the goshala (cow sheed) is such a nice place to chant the Hare Krishna mantra especially if you are the tour manager and you got up late. Perfect sweet hiding place. The fire yajna starts at 11.00 am and wow what a sight. So many brahmans chanting mantras and so much fire. At my fire Yajna I am trying to keep up with the main priest and do all the prayers and aratiks right and in proper sequence. I have been crying for most of the ceremony because the wind is bringing all the smoke from the fire right into my eyes, but I am not stopping my service. Next to me is my friend Devarsi Narada Prabhu struggling with keeping the fires going and keeping his eyes from shutting due to the smoke. This is the first time that we are trying this service and it is really powerful but also quite austere. I had not expected that. We have now emptied all the different items onto the tongue of Visnu and all the special guests are circumambulating the fire, all the Maharashtra tour devotees are called to the stage for the next part of the festival program. We get a big reception and several of the tour devotees speak their heart in front of thousand of villagers from the whole region. H.H.Lokanath Swami takes over the stage with his wonderful bhajan and everything goes into a different dimension. When Maharaja starts to speak I simply have to go and take some Prasadam. My stomach is rebelling and my tongue are screaming for water. Devarsi Narada Prabhu and myself sneak off to the Prasadam venue to eat a full feast. I am finding my self in my sleeping bag two hours after I finished my Prasadam. Hmm. I am facing my last test of this year’s tour. The return tickets for all the devotees have to be organized because they are supposed to leave tomorrow. The situation is that we ordered the tickets one month back but we could only get waiting list tickets. As I during the tour could see that these tickets where not going to get confirmed I contacted one devotee in Nagpur and asked him if he could get me confirmed return tickets for all the devotees. He said yes so my problems are over. I cancelled my waiting list tickets and up to now I am waiting for his tickets to arrive by courier from Nagpur. I received these tickets just before I passed out after our Prasadam feast and now I just need to distribute them to the devotees and job over, finished, no more worries, test passed, down hill, vacation time coming and so on. But to my great horror my eyes look over the tickets and met the letters WL. WL means “waiting list”. So I just got 20 waiting list tickets one day before the devotees are leaving for their home destinations. OH No. Krishna. Several hours follows where I am just running around to solve this problem. The tour devotee are approaching me asking for their tickets. What can I tell them? “Yes yes Prabhu I will give them to you in a short time don’t worry”. The whole situation ends in a total emergency scenario where we tomorrow morning at 6.45am have to go to Sangli 1 hour away ( the only train station around) and cancel these tickets and try to get emergency tickets for everyone. At the same time I am informed that I have to drive Gurudeva to Pune at 9.00 am. Krishna is playing one last joke on me. Damodar Krishna becomes the saviour of my life. He agrees to go to Sangli and deal with the tickets and I just have to inform the devotees about the situation. Just is maybe an understatement. We agree that tomorrow morning Damodar Krishna goes to try and get the tickets and if he gets them by 8.30 am, half an hour before I have to drive Maharaja out of here I can inform the devotees that we got the tickets ready. I he does not get them at 8.30am then I will have to inform them that we might not have tickets for them and that I have to go with Maharaja in Half an hour and somehow we will try to get the tickets. Not such a nice situation to face as I try to go to sleep. Hare Krishna 10th December Damodar Krishna Prabhu and I wake up at 4.30am. We quickly get through the morning rutines and head for the temple. “Hey Prabhu have you seen the devotees who is supposed to ake Damodar to the train station?” “Over there?” “Okay, thank you prabhuji”. We are preparing to get Damodar out the door and into Sangli and motor cycle. What a show. Now he is heading out and I will try to chant some rounds because there will be no time later today since I am driving Lokanath Swami to Pune and then coming back to Pandharpur. 10 hours of driving. 8.30am I have gathered all the devotees and am beginning to thank them for taking part in the tour this year. I beg forgiveness for all my offences and my lack of abilities to take proper care of them and the phone is not ringing. Damodar prabhu is not calling me on the tickets situation. I finally tell them the situation and the air completely goes out of them. Some of them have international flights out of Delhi in a few days and getting stuck in south Maharashtra is the last thing they need. I try to explain the different options and tell them that Damodar is at the train station right now, booking emergency tickets. I tell them that the only thing we can do is to wait for his call. As you can imagine the next half hour is all but peaceful. The phone rings. It is Damodar Krishna Prabhu. “So did you get the tickets?” “Did you get the tickets Prabhu?” Some long moments of silence and then he says: “Yes, I got confirm tickets for everyone”. “My God thank you Damodar” “thank you Krishna”. I get up and run out to the devotees: “We got them, we got them” they all cheer and shout Hari bol Hari bol. Dear devotees I will end my account of the Maharashtra tour 2007 here. It was an intense tour with many challenges and many beautiful experiences as well. We visited many holy places and distributed around 300 books for Srila Prabhupada and had many preaching sessions and so much nice association. Thank you for your time. All the best Hare Krishna Your servant Gaura Krishna das