Thursday 8 March 2012

Thursday, March 1st, 2012

Maha-sringha

Mayapura, West Bengal

Maha-sringha is a Polish-born devotee of Krishna who really makes the difference. Since the inception over four decades, the project at Mayapura has received a luke-warm to cool to violent reception from locals. It has been a struggle to get established in this land of Chaitanya, the master of mantra meditation. Locals love Maha-sringha.

You can imagine, you have all these foreigners coming to settle and build in the area. Many of the residents are Muslims and not Vaishnavas. Most of the area has been communist supporters as the state of Bengal has been under that regime. And you have these beautiful brown people, 100%, then suddenly these whites come into town. Of course, there was some fascination there.

Why is Maha-sringha making a difference when villagers may have felt an imposition by us? Well, he mingles with them. He feeds them (a delicious local favourite - kichari - rice, dahl, veggies and spices). He speaks their language. And finally he brings kirtan  to the villagers. In closing the gap he organizes chanting processions which pulls everything out of the woodwork.

This we saw this very night. Myself and a couple of dozen foreigners/pilgrims along with Maha-sringha's presence and direction engaged in kirtan. The sound was pulling the people out of their humble homes to come with stretched out smiles and observe and engage in what their ancestors have done for centuries. This group chanting is in the blood of the people. They fully relate to it.

And now with the participants from abroad (hey, even a few of us Canadians were included) this chanting is becoming a universal reality. It's Maha-sringha who has taken the initiative since he moved to India years ago to make friends with the people. That means more to them than a large place of worship going up.

As I said before, "They love him." This is what bhakti  is about. It's about loving relations.

7 Km

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