Best days of your life
– By His Holiness Śrīla Indradyumna Swami
Baḍa-Hari Prabhu ki—Jaya!
Mathurā Dhām ki—Jaya!e
Śrī-Śrī Rādhā Govinda ki—Jaya!
Lord Varāha-Deva ki—Jaya!
Kārtik Parikramā ki—Jaya!
Gaur Premanande! – Haribol!
Jaya-Jaya Śrī Rādhe………….. Śyāma!
Did you enjoy your pilgrimage Parikramā to the great city of Mathurā? [Applause, Haribol!]
Did you learn a lot of things about this transcendental abode? [Applause, Haribol!]
Has it left a deep impression in your hearts? [Applause, Haribol!]
Did you like the pastime how Kṛṣṇa appeared as Varāha to the cowherd boys? [Applause, Haribol!]
And wasn’t it amazing the Darśana of the Deities? [Applause, Haribol!]
Tomorrow we’re going to walk to the first established temple in Vṛndāvan, Śrī-Śrī Rādhā–Madana-Mohan. That temple was established of course by Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī. And we’ll also be visiting his Samādhi Mandir, the Samādhi Mandir of Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī. It’s actually one of my favorite places in Vṛndāvan, his Samādhi. It’s his full Samādhi, means his transcendental body was placed in the dust of Vṛndāvan there and they built a beautiful Samādhi. And in that area there is also what’s called the Grantha Samādhi—grantha means scripture; so there is a scripture Samādhi. All the books that were written by the six Gosvāmīs were placed inside that Samādhi for preservation. It’s about this big; it’s in the corner of the courtyard. And the instructions are to never open that Samādhi, because some of the books that were written by the Gosvāmīs are just too deep, too esoteric, too elevated for aspiring devotees to read or to hear.
The atmosphere in that area is very much like old Braja. In the early years we used to go and visit there, 72-73. We would go there and we would have long Kirtans and lots of Kathā, so it created a very deep impression in my heart as a young devotee and I always like to go back there and seek guidance and inspiration from Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī. We’ll sit at the foot of the Madana-Mohan temple. There’s a small little courtyard there. We’ll all fit there and tomorrow’s class will be given by His Grace Caturātmā Prabhu. He’s in shock so give him some applause. [Applause: Haribol!]. He is very famous for speaking about the lives and the teachings of great Vaiṣṇava personalities. And Kirtans will be performed by Mādhava Prabhu, Baḍa-Hari Prabhu, and me. [Applause, Haribol!]
I just love to sing and dance in front of Sanātana Gosvāmī’s Samādhi. So we’re going to leave at seven in the morning. You can assemble on the road, the Parikramā Mārga outside my house there at Rāma Reti near Balarāma Bābā’s place, near my house, or [the] houses of BB Govinda Mahārāja, Girirāja Swami. You can all assemble there at seven o’clock. It means you can go to Maṅgala Āratī at Kṛṣṇa–Balarāma Mandir.
In that cool morning air of Vṛndāvan, we’ll all walk down to the Madana-Mohan temple, takes about 45 minutes. It’s a very nice walk, part of the Vṛndāvan Parikramā walk. Tomorrow we’ll give you time to have breakfast there. But there won’t be any lunch served tomorrow, because when we do the Vṛndāvan temples, you can come back and take Prasādam where you’re staying or you can take Prasādam at the temple, so we won’t serve lunch tomorrow. Okay, so remember we’re leaving a little later: seven o’clock, and if you’re late you can just come down to the Madana-Mohan temple and you’ll catch us there.
One point I know, I’m looking around, and devotees are quite sleepy. Remember I told you: in India it’s good to go to bed early. Actually, in Vedic culture, in village life, people would go to sleep when the sun went down, and they would wake when the sun got up. India has a very intense climate. You might not be able to see it or perceive it but the climate, the weather, everything is very intense here and you can’t move as quick and get as many things done as you can in the West. You may have started to experience that.
You can’t do everything. But you should do the main thing, which is come on the Parikramās. We’ve organized these Parikramās. We’ve invited these illustrious personalities, older devotees to accompany us, so you can get a real Vṛndāvan experience over the next month. So go to bed early. You need the rest. You need the rest more here than you do in the West. It also helps to take a nap in the afternoon. This is not deep philosophy, this is just how to live in India, how to survive the Parikramā. When you get back, don’t run down to Loi Bazaar to go shopping. There’ll be plenty of beautiful Sāris at the end of Kārtika, as well. When you get back, take a nap, take a nap. And get up and chant some extra japa, read a little bit.
At most, you can go to the temple to offer your lamp and then go home and take rest. Don’t talk and chat till one—and then you get tired and you won’t be able to hear the Kathā or dance in the Kirtans and so this is good advice. You should be in bed by 8:30, nine o’clock. What? Yes! The early morning’s the best part of Braja. When you get up, it’s dark. You can chant Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa. These Parikramās are intense—walking, singing, in India. But these are some of the best days of your life. When you’re older you’ll look back and remember these Parikramās, and you’ll remember, “Wow, that was really amazing.”
Okay, early to bed and drink lots of water. We’re told to drink two liters, you know. In India you can drink four liters. It helps keep you hydrated. So tomorrow at Madana-Mohan temple up on that beautiful hill, I don’t want to see any of this [mimics sleeping]. You’re sleeping!
Okay, and before you leave today, please leave our pūjārī friend a nice donation. This pūjārī’s doing very Pakka Sevā and the Deities are very beautiful. They’re shining, there’s lots of Bhakti Bhāva. So this is setting such a nice example for the whole world taking very good care of Kṛṣṇa, so if you have some lakṣmī, please give it to the pūjārī. He has a beautiful long, long hair there—big Śikhā. So please give him a very nice donation. I’m just making a personal request because everything will go to the Sevā of Rādhā–Govindaji.
Ananta Vṛndāvan produced a beautiful video last night about the first days in Vṛndāvan. It’s called “Entering the Dhām.” It’s on Facebook, my Facebook page. It’s three minutes long, beautiful song by Jahnavi, “Like the river flows to the sea”. So if you can get online, watch that video. He is posting photos, you can see yourself, “There I am in Mathurā!” Go online if you can and see the beautiful work of Ananta Vṛndāvan—the whole world’s enjoying it. All of ISKCON is relishing his artistic abilities.
We would love to share this with the whole world and inspire them to come to Vṛndāvan! [Applause, Haribol!] We’ll try to get a big screen maybe and show you as we produce them every day. Also everything’s going live on the internet, Vrindavan.tv. You can tell all your friends, your family members, they can see you, see the Parikramās and benefit from the Kārtik experience here on Vrindavan.tv live every day, the whole Parikramā. Okay, seven o’clock tomorrow morning outside my house. Madana-Mohan and Sanātana Gosvāmī lecture by Caturātmā Prabhu.
Mathurā Dhām ki—Jaya!
Mathurā Maṇḍala Dhām ki—Jaya!
Śrī Vṛndāvan Dhām ki—Jaya!
Lord Varāha – Deva ki—Jaya!
Śrī-Śrī Rādhā Govinda-Deva ki—Jaya!
Vṛndāvanesvari Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī ki—Jaya!
Gaura Bhakta Vṛndā ki—Jaya!
Kārtik Parikramā 2015 ki—Jaya!
Jaya-Jaya Śrī Rādhe…Śyāma!
I really hope Prasādam is here?. Prasādam is here, Wow! Rasikā Śiromani Devī Dāsī ki—Jaya! Govinda Carana ki—Jaya! She would like to make some announcements. “Announcements Dāsī!”
[Announcement by Rasikā Śiromani Devī Dāsī]
Śrīla Gurudeva leads the devotees Prasādam prayers…
Hare-Kṛṣṇa-Hare-Kṛṣṇa-Kṛṣṇa-Kṛṣṇa-Hare-Hare
Hare-Rāma-Hare-Rāma-Rāma-Rāma-Hare-Hare
Hare-Kṛṣṇa-Hare-Kṛṣṇa-Kṛṣṇa-Kṛṣṇa-Hare-Hare
Hare-Rāma-Hare-Rāma-Rāma-Rāma-Hare-Hare
Hare-Kṛṣṇa-Hare-Kṛṣṇa-Kṛṣṇa-Kṛṣṇa-Hare-Hare
Hare-Rāma-Hare-Rāma-Rāma-Rāma-Hare-Hare
Śrī-Śrī Bhagavat Prasādam ki –Jay,
Mathurā Dhām ki—Jaya!
Rādhā Govinda-Deva ki—Jaya!
Lord Varāha-Deva ki—Jaya!
Kārtik Parikramā ki—Jaya!
Śrī-Śrī Rādhā Madana-Mohan Temple ki—Jaya!
Sanātana Gosvāmī ki—Jaya!
Gaur Premanande —- Hari Haribol!