GM woke up in the morning around 5.15am.I did my morning seva for
GuruMaharaj and then took shower by 6.30am.Today is the parikrama Adivasa
day. Around 5000 devotees are taking part in parikrama this year.
The 7-day pilgrimage to the Navadvipa Mandala and the pastime places of Sri
Caitanya Mahaprabhu by walk, in the association of Vaisnavas is a
spiritually enriching experience. Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur initiated the
Parikrama, Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Sarawati Thakur developed it and Srila
Prabhupad made this vision of acharyas into a reality. The devotees
participating in the parikrama are constantly increasing every year. Four
parikrama parties, an international group, a Bengali group, Russian Group
and Hindi group of devotees go in Parikrama and on the last day of the
parikrama, there will be a Mahamilan of all the four parties at the Yogapith
with ecstatic kirtan .All the four groups walked to Yoga Pitha in a kirtan
procession led by HH Lokanath Swami, Maha Vishnu Swami and others around 6am
and GuruMaharaj reached there at 8 am. As soon as Guru Maharaj made his
appearance on the stage, HH Lokanath Swami said “Here comes the
spirit of the parikrama. If He (Jayapataka Swami) can go on parikrama, then
we all should go and no excuse should be given. Maharaj, you are an
inspiration and your presence alone is enough.” GuruMaharaj took darshan of
all deities.
Then around 9.15am we left Yoga Pitha back to Iskcon Mayapur by car
following the kirtan party.GuruMaharaj had his breakfast in the car. As soon
as we reached ISKCON Mayapur,GuruMaharaj visited the registration booth and
got himself tagged on his wrist with parikrama wrist band. Then he commented
that we should have the welcome sign in all the languages.
Then we went to prasadam hall. He inquired some of the devotees who were
honouring prasadam,”How is the prasadam”? They all said “superb”.HH Bhakti
Marg Swami said he likes this prasadam so much while holding a deep fried
pakora in his hand. He said,” I hardly takes deep fried food but this one is
amazing.” After visiting the devotees at the Gada prasadam hall he entered
the kitchen and inspired the cooks with chanting of Hari Bol!
From the kitchen we wheeled Guru Maharaj down to Caitanya Bhavan to do his
regular exercise. After doing 1 hour of exercises, at 12.15noon we left to
Samadhi Audiotorium for Bhakti Vrksha seminar. GUru Maharaj spoke for almost
30 mins about the role of grihastas in developing Bhakti Vrksha. Around 1.15
pm we left the Samadhi Auditorium and reached GuruMaharaj’s resident for
lunch. GuruMaharaj had 45 mins nap followed with Nustep exercise. Around
6.45pm we went to the temple hall for darshan. From there, to the main stage
to receive His sankirtan award for being the top book distributor in the
world among Srila Prabhupada’s disciples for the year of 2010.
Then we went to Namahatta Bhavan for parikrama adivas ceremony in the new
building which is still under construction. About 2500 devotees eagerly
waited to see GM and as soon as he entered into the hall a loud ulu dwani
filled up the hall. It was 9pm and we came to know that the program on main
stage was coming to an end. Still GuruMaharaj insisted He wants to go inside
to see what is happening in there. Before we left 300 devotees were around
in the main stage and upon our return from Nama Hatta there were only 30
devotees. Still he spoke for 10 mins. Then left the stage to go to His
quarters and took His dinner there. After having his dinner three senior
gurukul boys came to meet GuruMaharaj in his room. They came asking GM to
sponsor their parikrama fees. He told them that he will sponsor all the
senior boys but with one condition. Gurudeva told that all the children
should write a feedback of the parikrama, atleast a page. Boys agreed with
big smiles on their face. Ho! Ho! it is 11pm now, time to take rest.
Tommorow it is going to be a long day.
Your Humble Servant,
Maha Varaha Das