Tag Archives: Gurgaon Devotees

HH Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaj visit Gurgaon

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Hare Krishna.

14th April, 2014 Gurgaon.

It was our good fortune that HH Bhakti Chraru Swami visited Gurgaon yesterday for a day.

We received Maharaj at the airport, he was accompanied by HG GangaNarayan Prabhuji and HG Vimal Krishna Prabhuji from Ujjain. After a brief exchange Maharaj went for some meetings in Gurgaon with Atma Prabhu and some other devotees.

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Maharaj had promised to give darshan to everyone in the evening. Around 50-60 devotees gathered at the home of HG Radheshyam Prabhu to welcome Maharaj. Everyone was waiting anxiously while listening to wonderful kirtan led by HG Brajamohan prabhu from U.K. HG Vidurpriya prabhuji came all the way from Sri Radhaparthasathi temple, Delhi, to officially welcome Maharaj on behalf of Gurgaon devotees.

Maharaj arrived around 8 pm. He apologised is his ever sweet voice for being half an hour late. Maharaj then introduced two devotees who accompanied him and taught us so many things in the short lecture.

Maharaj first glorified Subodh Prabhu and then Paramjit Prabhu, a sikh gentleman whom he met in Dubai, he then glorified their family, their business and then further glorified Sikshism itself. Maharaj shared with us the  root and purpose of sikhism in such detail that, leave aside us, I am sure even many sikhs themselves would not know today.

Like a true teacher, Maharaj showed with his own behaviour, how we should interact with non devotees, innocents and other religions and win them over with love and humbleness. Like some expert craftsman he then connected Sikhism to drive home the point what is religion, defining it as

dharmam tu sakshad bhagavat-pranitam

He then spoke about love, what is actual love, what do we get from love – reciprocation and finally Joy. And then he spoke about what is the purpose of all religions- to love God, and finally dovetailed everyone’s minds at the lotus feet of Krishna. The fluency, conviction and ease with which Maharaj spoke extempore can not be matched by any corporate professional speaker. It shows us how Krishna’s and Srila Prabhupada’s kripa shakti is flowing via Maharaj. It is  a pity that I do not even have enough sukriti to forever absorb such golden words coming out from senior sanyasis and devotees.

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After the lecture Maharaj led a short but a very melodious kirtan. Again like magic everything fell perfectly into place, the mridang, the kartal, the harmonium, the acoustics of the hall, to accompany his golden voice, they all strained to ensure they do justice to the honour of serving his melodious voice. It was as if a grandmaster is playing a great symphony in a concert hall for the the pleasure of the Lord.

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Within minutes it became difficult for me to chose  between closing my eyes and experience Krishna or to keep the eyes open and drink the nector of Maharaj’s presence.

CC Madhya 21.114: “O My dear friend, what severe austerities have the gopīs performed to drink His transcendental beauty and sweetness through their eyes in complete fulfillment? Thus they glorify their births, bodies and minds.

First time in my life I felt that Brahmaji has actually not designed this body very well. And for the first time I understood, though only a litlte bit, what gopis felt when they complained about the imperfect design of their body.

CC Madhya 21.133: “When the onlooker of Kṛṣṇa’s face becomes dissatisfied in this way, he thinks, ‘Why didn’t the creator give me thousands and millions of eyes? Why has he given me only two? Even these two eyes are disturbed by blinking, which keeps me from continuously seeing Kṛṣṇa’s face.’ Thus one accuses the creator of being dry and tasteless due to engaging in severe austerities. ‘The creator is only a dry manufacturer. He does not know how to create and set things in their proper places.

CC Madhya 21.134: “‘The creator says, “Let those who will see Kṛṣṇa’s beautiful face have two eyes.” Just see the lack of consideration exhibited by this person posing as a creator. If the creator took my advice, he would give millions of eyes to the person who intends to see Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s face. If the creator will accept this advice, then I would say that he is competent in his work.’

I felt so constrained- why I can not I experience both – Seeing Maharaj as well as experiencing Krishna. I actually felt pained with this unique experience of feeling separation from Maharaj and Krishna while being right there experiencing both with my senses ! It was inconceivable what I was experience last evening. For the lack of a good vocabulary let me say it was an incredible experience which will stay forever in my heart.

Later, Maharaj met almost all the local devotees and distributed his love and affection to everyone.

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Whenever I meet or even see senior sanyasis like HH Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaj, HH Giriraj swami Maharaj and so many others sanyasis and senior devotees in ISKCON I can’t help but pray and beg to six Goswamis and our Guru Paramapara to please give me an opportunity to serve such dedicated soldiers of Srila Prabhupada in some way.

All glories to HH Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaj.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

All glories to Sri Guru and Gauranga.

My lessons in serving the devotees in Gurgaon

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Hare Krishna

Quotes-by-Srila-Prabhupada

Before I started the Bhagavad Gita study group one of the best advice I got was from HG Asit Prabhuji. I had called him, anxious on what I was about to start. He gave few priceless gems which I am sharing

1. Do not think that people who come will stay for the deep philosophy they would hear. They will stay in the group if I serve them with genuine love and care.

2. Never ever feel superior to the newcomers, serve them will all my heart. Always remain humble from the heart, always in a serving mood.

3. Improve my own Sadhna Bhakti.

4. If I ever get to speak in any of the class then I should not speak a single word which I have not realised personally.

5.  Don’t ever think that I am responsible for bringing people in the group. It is all arranged by Srila Prabhupada and Krishna, we are just a via medium.

These instructions sank deep inside me and I pray at the lotus feet of Asit Prabhu that I never forget them and thank him from the bottom of my heart for guiding me so well.

By the mercy of Srila Prabhupada the new group started and as it progresses I can’t help myself  but remember a most humble and dedicated devotee, HG Radheshyam Prabhuji. His home, Radha Niwas, was nothing short of  temple for all the other devotees. He has now moved to Sri Vrindavan Dham. But he will always remain a benchmark for me in serving the devotees. He was never in the front, always at the back, serving and serving. At that time I could not appreciate it as, foolishly, my single point of agenda used to be the lecture and not so much devotees. I never saw him correcting anyone, requesting for a favour but we would all go to him requesting favours after favours and he would always help. There was always prasadam for every one at Radha Niwas, be it a short class at 6am or late class finishing at 10pm. There was music classes for devotees at his home. All visiting Sanyasi’s would be served at best, the list would go on.  I hope that one day I am able to serve 0.1% of what he did.  I wish I had touched the soil under his feet and rubbed on my forehead, I would for sure.

Then Achuyt Hari Prabhuji helped me when against general norms I wanted to set up a stall in my complex on Janamashtami evening, helping me kick start the group. With the help of  Pawan Bajaj Prabhuji I could gather enough courage to stand in the open and gather names of the group. Similarly Pooja Mataji, Arti Ganjoo Mataji, Vishal Kapil Prabhuji, Anand Prabhuji, Atma Prabhuji, Subir Prabhuji, Sumeet Gupta Prabhuji, and many many more devotees, they all inspire me to serve everyone with a clean consciousness. HG Vidur Priya Prabhuji agreed to conduct classes for the new group. He is a senior devotee and still agreed to help start the group where everyone is new to Krishna Consciousness. Later, as the classes had to be shifted to an evening time he then sacrificed his own personal time, or whatever is left of it, to serve Srila Prabhupada.

All these devotees, and many more,  teach me by example and I, like a small child, look at them with admiration as they cross what seems to me as unworkable, impractical and even unthinkable hurdles to serve the Lord and the mission of Srila Prabhupada.

All glories to all the wonderful devotees of Gurgaon.

All Glories to Srila Prabhupada.