Millions of Drops
Georgetown, Guyana
I did not yet see the Guyanese sun on this trip, but
that’s okay, the sun shines with those pursuing spiritual life.
At the Nimai Pandit training center, the Sunday gathering
of determined souls who braved the torrential rain were brightly lit in the
shower of the holy name. Under the
shelter of a strong tin roof was their leader Prabhupada Deva, also a local bhakti instructor. With his usual smile he expressed to me that
he has an ongoing crew dumping buckets of water from the site. Otherwise we would all be sitting in
water. Being under sea level has its
challenges for a place like Guyana. When
the Dutch came here they implemented what they’ve been known for - building
dykes and seawalls.
I spoke to an attentive crowd on the topic of the real
meaning of Mahatma according to the Gita, as rain kept slapping against the
roof surface.
Prabhupada Deva teamed up with me at the Crane ISKCON
Center where he conducted a fire ceremony to assist the formal initiation of
three men, Radha Nathabhar, Dhronacharya and Jaya Gaura, are the new names
given to the initiates, a fantastic trio.
I emphasized in my talk that accompanied the ceremony that the world is
in need of genuine spiritual leadership.
“Prepare yourselves for this through the study of our
books. Try to impress the world with
your good behavior as well as the message you will repeat from the line of
information handed down by the sages.
Echo the truth and distinguish it from the false promises of mundane
pleasure.”
What followed was an explosive kirtan chanting session.
After spending hours on this day with people delivering three classes
and just as many or more chanting sessions, I felt an urge to have a short time
to myself as people were rushing in for the Sunday Feast, served on lotus
pads. Down the road my feet carried me
as I sported an umbrella overhead in the wake of millions of descending
raindrops and the sound of millions of frogs as the days closure came into
fruition.
3 Km
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