The Birthplace
I was asked to deliver a class to a group of monks in yet
another location. A five-minute walk
from the actual birthplace of our guru, Srila Prabhupada, is a second ashram
for men. We reflected on the power of
prayer as emanating from the sincere heart and lips of saint Prahlad. “Streams of excellent words” are expressed to
invoke the attention of the Supreme-- words that are compiled by yogis such as
Brahma and the Kumaras, yet it seems that such appeals are not always
instantaneously responded to.
Prahlad’s mood was “what effect can my prayers then have
coming from the humble quarters like myself?”
Even more unworthy, he expressed himself as being born in a family of
trouble-makers, therefore how may the Creator give attention to what he had to
pray for? Prahlad spoke from a meek
platform.
It was with a prayerful mood that the group of us, our
Canadian contingent, Ekalavya, and the dozen or more local brahmacharis,
gingerly made our way through about three city blocks to arrive at the
birthplace. According to Prabhupada’s
nephew, Sankarshan, our guru was born in this middle-class home, shaded by a
fairly young jackfruit tree. The house,
secured by the Iskcon Society, is still intact. This was where he was born in
1896 and where he grew up. Here we sang
the guru song called “Guru Vandanam.” I
suggested to the monks that perhaps they can look into some tasteful cosmetics
to give the place a face-lift.
Visitors to Kolkata mark it as a spiritual pilgrimage to
take advantage of.
May the Source be with you!
5 Km
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