Mayapura,
West Bengal
Soon To Close the Gate
Today
was our last full day in Mayapura. It is
wrap-up time, in terms of getting my luggage together, the last day of voting
amongst the Governing Body members, and there was one last piece of business to
deal with.
A
young man from Trinidad, Omkara, has been faithfully following the regimen of
Krishna Consciousness for two years. Now
it was time to award him diksha initiation. For all his studying endeavours, and sticking to a monk’s
principles, this morning he sat by the ceremonial fire, accepted new neck
beads, new japa meditation beads, and
also a new Sanskrit name, Umpati.
A
small group of us were stationed at the bhajan
kutir, the straw hut inhabited by our guru, Srila Prabhupada, in the early
seventies. Mantras were recited, seeds and spices were offered to a fire
fuelled by ghee. I asked Medhavi, a
godbrother originally from Tennessee (now South Africa), to say a few words in
addition to mine.
As is
the usual case, I spoke about the importance of communicating with the Divine
and in the purest way possible. The
culprit to all pure chanting is when contempt or jealousy sets in. It is referred to as the first aparadh or offence.
I
also stressed the importance of seeing the founder of our mission as everyone’s
guide.
Being
Saturday, the place gets packed.
Pilgrims come from all around. The elephants, highly decorated, draw the
multitudes, and the procession with resounding drum beats, keeps everyone
riveted,
May
the Source be with you!
4 km
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