After many years, almost 30, here I was driving again with the most
precious possession of my life, my spiritual guide and Master , friend and
confidant, the one who turned my life around in 1979! Jaya Pataka
Swami!
Driving a new red Toyota from Mayapur to Haridaspur, Benapole border to
Bangladesh, we started at around 11 am, following us is the Temple traveler,
were many devotees, the luggage, wheelchair etc. We reached Haridaspur at 1
pm where our temple is situated, 2 Km from the border. A crowd of about 200
devotees received us with kirtan, flower throwing and ululating ladies etc.
“Our hero has come back home!” The feeling of love could be sensed in the
air, some ladies were crying, overcome with emotion upon looking at the face
of our beloved Gurudeva HH Jayapataka Swami. I controlled myself as we
unloaded the wheelchair, our car could only go so far, in fact on the last
portion of the road approaching the temple, the chassis of the car scraped
the mud floor!
Our Gurudeva was transferred to the wheelchair and continued, joined by
myself Ruchi Pr,and the other Devotees accompanying us on this adventurous
trip to the land of intense emotions!
Prasadam is ready and we have difficulty controlling the enthusiasm of the
fortunate souls gathered, children, old ladies, young men etc. Guru
maharaja gives blessings to all, touching people’s heads, it reminds me of
the Pope in Rome at the sunday messa. From the wheelchair, GM has to climb
the stairs to his allotted room on the first floor, he walks nicely
accompanied by us hand in hand as we block the crowd for some privacy!
After entering the room I go and park the new red Innova properly.
On the road coming to this place many flashes of memory came back, like
watching a film. It was 1981 and I was driving a Mercedes Benz Bus
Rearranged as a caravan to accomodate His Holiness traveling to remote
Areas. At that time we did not have many temples around and we were the
pioneers in spreading Lord Chaitanya’s message! It was 2 pm when Gurudeva
had just retired to the inside portion of the bus to have a nap when it
started raining. I always drove carefully, but the funny thing was that
this bus was left hand drive and had a rear engine. Padasevana Pr, at that
time just a Gurukul kid 10 years of age was accompanying us and all of a
sudden, a red petrol tanker came speeding from the the opposite direction, I
slowed down, shifted gears, pushed the brake lightly and flashed the
headlight but the red monster was not going to stop and was coming at full
speed. The road was only wide enough for one of us, so at the last moment I
made the crucial decision to let the brake go and steer to my right to avoid
the impact, which would have resulted in certain death in a fiery inferno.
We plunged down the embankment to the side of a small lake on the side of
the road. The bus slowly tilted on the right and the front touched the
water. I screamed and heard a thud, we stopped unharmed? I was confused,
surprised and fearful for the life of that most wonderful passenger of mine!
I opened the interconnecting door and saw GM and Padasevana picking
themselves up from the chaos. I enquired if there was any damage and
unlocked the driver’s door, which by then was a hatch on the top of the
vehicle. We all jumped out of the bus. I was trembling with fear at what the
reaction of GM would be. I explained what had happened and asked, “Why? Why
is this happening?” I felt puzzled, lost for an answer. Guru Maharaja looked
straight into my eyes for more than a minute, which appeared to me to be an
eternity, he finally sent Padasevana to fetch his brief case inside the bus
and asked me, “What did you think when this accident happened ?” “I screamed
for Krsna’s help,” I replied. Again he looked deeply into my eyes and said,
“You passed the test today, do not feel bad.” Padasevana came with his brief
case and just then a local bus appeared continuing in the same direction,
“I’ll have to continue for the program,” said Guru Maharaja. They
disappeared onto the crowded bus.
I was alone, it all happened so fast. By this time a crowd of about 130 had
surrounded me, a saffron robed Brahmacari from Mayapur. I did not speak
Bengali and the people around me were equally bewildered as if a spaceship
had just landed in their courtyard or village!
Luckily within the next half hour, two local devotees came to my rescue,
they comforted me and promised to call a crane to retrieve the vehicle, in
fact two cranes had to be called to rescue the blue elephant drinking water
in the pukur. Not only that but I had to open the head of the engine in
order to start it again, since the tilting had mixed the oil and water.
I had learned some new lessons from Guru Maharaja, 1) His determination to
continue preaching against all odds and 2) To always remember Krsna and
never forget Him, as the great acharyas have instructed us.
After prasadam I changed into civilian dress, white linen pants, a Hawaian
shirt and a cap to cover my sikha, not wanting to cause a disturbance at the
border as we were going to Bangladesh, a Muslim country. We packed and
continued, for the last 2 Km to the border. To my surprise, the devotees
were already waiting for us on the other side of the border with kirtan,
garlands etc. Our formalities were taken care of and our car was allowed to
come very close to the border before we had to leave it and enter no-man’s
land were another car was awaiting us. Guru Maharaja distributed prasadam
before a white Toyota took us onward on our adventure, driven very carefully
by a young devotee determined to serve.
Bangladesh is lush and green, covered with coconut trees, mango, papaya and
plenty of bananas growing wild everywhere. We were now almost 2 hours away
from our destination, Jessore! I noticed many 3 wheel electric rickshaws
from china as we travelled. They cost one lakh Bangladesh currency and they
can run 120Km on one charge. They have 5 batteries and look nice and sleek.
Carrying up to 6 people is no problem at 40 Km p/h. My immediate thought ;
“we need a couple of those in mayapur city!”
Jessore is a small business hub township and has a small airport. We reached
our destination in the middle of a rice field where a big, beautiful, 3
domed temple has been erected for the pleasure of our previous acharyas with
3 beautiful spacious altars. The predominating Deities are Sri Sri Radha
Damodhara ,next to them are Jagannatha, Subhadra and Baladeva and on the
left is Gaura Nitai and Sri Sri Rupa and Sanatan Goswami, who had such a
great influence on preaching in this areas under the guidance of Sri
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. A few Km away is an ancient tree where the two
brothers used to chant their japa absorbed in meditation, a small hall has
been established there by local people for their rememberance.
The reception at the Temple is delirious with more than 8000 people awaiting
The arrival of GM. Volunteers and security have a tough time restricting the
Devotees from diving into the earth, trying to get the dust of our revered
Gurudeva. We finally make it to our rooms on the first floor, the place is
packed with devotees and lots of activities are going on, cooking for 10000
people and accommodating them in this 3 day, grand festival is not a joke
and the devotees are very dedicated and committed.
Ours is a transit room, anyone wishing to enter Guru Maharaja’s room has to
go through our rooms , which sometimes makes it difficult for privacy .
HG Charuchandra Prabhu, the President of this Temple, has done a lot of work
and is very sincere. They even built a small swimming pool for Guru
Maharaja’s daily exercises and doctor Achyutananda Prabhu and myself were
allocated beds.
A devotee from the Namahatta department, Sarvodaya Prabu, has been working
tirelessly for the last month on the initiation candidates. He has an office
with 5 laptops, one printer and a lot of paper work and will be renamed the
acharya of Initiation. He truly did a great job and they even developed
some software for this particular application. I’m amazed at the amount of
organization and the devotion of all the people involved. Indeed these four
days have left an indelible impression on my heart and mind about the work
of Devotion.
Vasudeva has arranged a traveling kitchen on the veranda of the next room.
while cooking he can observe the green rice fields surrounding us. He
is responsible, with the help of other dedicated devotees, to supply all
necessary meals for our Gurudeva, who has a very special diet.
For the rest of us there is a wonderful devotee named Mahabandu Prabu, who
from 4 am till 10 pm is making arrangements for us. He is an astonishingly
versatile cook with a mission to care off us. Breakfast is oats, fruit or
chapati and subjis , followed by lunch with local types of shak Greens with
rice, chapatis and many other delicious combination subjis, topped by a
tasty sweet!
Mahavaraha Prabhu is our co-ordinator, cool, stable, sober and never loses
his temper. He is a very balanced Bramhacari from Malaysia who has been
traveling with GM for the last few years now, rendering all kinds of sincere
services, my appreciation for this devotee knows no limit!
Madavakanta Prabhu and others have resumed their shift, they have 3 shifts,
days and night. He is also a talkative and sincere soul, very helpful and
resourceful. The initiations begin at 11 am in a military style, all are
seated with a code number and their old name printed on a small piece of
paper. As they come, they bow their heads and accept their beads chanted
upon by HH Jaya Pataka Swami.
In just 45 minutes we counted 600 candidates and they all go back to their
original seats to wait for the yajna. Before our arrival at the ceremony,
HH Bhaktipurushottama Swami and HH Gauranga prema Maharaja explained the 10
offences and the regualative principles. GM emphasises the need to be
sincere and give up fish eating and any business connected with it.
The candidates are from all walks of life, simple house wives, students and
even Children. This is their BIG day and from today life will be different
for all of them they have accepted an ancient, traditional practice, which
if followed will take them back to the Spiritual world!
Afternoon is the time for the second initiations. Every day they number
around 130, they assemble in a hall with all the windows closed so the
Gayatri mantra can only be heard by them. Guru Maharaja explains about the
procedures and we check if the candidates can count properly on their
fingers, then we have them remove their upper cloth, usually a chadar, and
they come to put on the Bramhin thread for chanting the Gayatri 3 times a
day.
Jokingly I point out to Guru Maharaja the Brahmin factory he has set up,
creating new arians, the invincible brahmins! He laughs softly.
In the evening there is a lecture delivered by Guru Maharaja. There is
absolute silence as all the devotees very eagerly listen to the ancient
message of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. I sit just behind in case Guru
Maharaja needs anything.
The days are intense but sweet and are fully engaged in the Temple’s
activities, there is so much joy in the association of Vaishnavas, specially
with Guru Maharaja as our General.
The last day most of the crowd has gone and in the morning it reminds me of
a spiritual Woodstock festival. While devotees are making arrangements to
clean up the place, Guru Maharaja invites everyone to jump into the swimming
pool and the water increases the happiness in their hearts.
We have a meeting with the leaders and organizers of this festival and GM
congratulates them for the excellent job they have done !
Our time is up and on our way back to the border we stop in Jessore town,
where some patron members would like to donate a Temple of Durga and a piece
of land to ISKCON. They are wealthy business people and they assure Guru
Maharaja that they will make all the necessary arrangements for the
construction ect. Guru Maharaja emphasizes the fact that we will not allow
the slaughter of animals in our Temple, they reassure him that this will not
happen.
The border draws near as we travel through the lush green belt of rice
fields. Upon reaching the border we do the reverse, checking passport,
change of car etc. Guru Maharaja sends his blessings to all the Bangladesh
Devotees and we are in India again, on our way back to Mayapur we stop for
lunch and some rest in Haridaspur!
These four days will remain imprinted in my heart for a long time!
Jaya, All glories to Sri Sri Guru and Gauranga!!
Your servant,
Ganga Das