Spending Extra Time – Absorbed in Devotional Service
– By His Holiness Śrīla Indradyumna Swami
It is getting a little warm out here now and we don’t want to get over-heated. The sun can be quite strong here, so we are going to conclude our Parikramā. Actually in the Samādhi Mandir, there’s some construction going on there and not many devotees can fit in that area at the moment. So if you have a strong desire to take Darśana of Sanātana Gosvāmī just go down the steps in front of the temple, then you turn right and turn right again. It is just on the side of here, you can go individually and take your Darśana.
We would like to thank Mādhava Prabhu for beginning our program today with such a beautiful Bhajan. We would like to thank Caturātmā Prabhu for giving us such an enlightened and scholarly discourse on the glories of Sanātana Gosvāmī and Madana-Mohan. We would like to thank Śrīla Prabhupāda for inviting us to Śrī Vṛndāvan Dhām. We will conclude our Parikramā here for the day.
Remember that tomorrow morning we are meeting outside Kṛṣṇa–Balarāma Mandir around 6 o’clock to start getting you off on the rickshaws down to Rādhā–Gokulānanda temple. Those of you who don’t show up in time, just take a rickshaw to Rādhā-Raman, and Gokulānanda is just down the street. Please spend the rest of your day in a very Kṛṣṇa conscious way. Spend extra time chanting japa. It is one of the best things to do here in Vṛndāvan. Just find a sanctified place, a clean place, a holy place and just chant extra rounds. Take the time to take a favorite scripture and just sit under one kalpa-vṛkṣa tree and absorb the deep philosophy of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If you can’t keep so still, you have to be a little busy, then go to the temple of some of your favorite Deities and just sit down in Their divine presence and beg for Their mercy. Prabhupāda said, “If you have got time, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa”; so we have lots of time here in Śrī Vṛndāvan Dhām for these essential spiritual activities. Thank you all very much for coming today. I hope that this experience has deepened your appreciation for Vṛndāvan, for Sanātana Gosvāmī, Śrīla Prabhupāda and for Śrī-Śrī Rādhā–Madana-Mohan.
I will take your leave now. I’m going to go back and walk up the Parikramā Mārga back to my house. I would like to leave you with a very nice invitation. I have a very dear God-brother; his name is Bhakti Bringa Govinda Swami Mahārāja. He is one of my Śikṣā Gurus; he’s the one who gave me this infection for Vṛndāvan. Bhakti Caitanya Swami said, “Bhakti Bringa Govinda Mahārāja, when he cooks, it is like gold; when Govinda Mahārāja speaks, it is like gold; and when Bhakti Bringa Govinda Mahārāja sings, it is like platinum.”
Bhakti Bringa Govinda Swami Mahārāja ki Jaya!
Mahārāja has a house; just one house down from my little house, right next to where you registered when you first came to Vṛndāvan. Every night from now on, well at least for another week, Mahārāja has his Kīrtanas, these Bhajans at his house and he wanted me to invite all of you to come this evening at 7:30. How’s that for an invitation? So that means you can offer your lamp to Gaur-Nitāī, Kṛṣṇa–Balarāma, and Rādhā-Śyāmasundara. Then you can walk over and come down past Balarām Bābā’s place on the way to my house and just on the left is Govinda Mahārāja’s house. We can all sit and there are different Kīrtaniyās who are singing, but hopefully Govinda Mahārāja will sing tonight and we can enjoy a nice Kīrtana. Every night you are invited to come for this Bhajan at his house.
He can fit about 300 people in his patio. Now, our Parikramā is of 300 people, so you just do the mathematics. There are lot of devotees who come for Mahārāja’s Bhajans. We have a saying in English: “First come, first served.” You know when Prasādam is being served, some smart devotees, they run to the front of the line and they get the nice hot sumptuous Prasāda; so I would recommend if you would like to come to the Bhajan, you try to come early to get a space because it gets pretty crowded. I am going to go see Mahārāja right now so I can report to him how many of you are coming, so raise your hand if you are coming. “Woahh!” It’s going to be a tsunami of our Kīrtana party. Okay, that is 7:30 pm at Mahārāja’s house and 7 o’clock tomorrow morning at Rādhā–Gokulānanda.
Śrīla Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākur ki Jaya!
Gaura Premanande Hari Haribol! Hare Kṛṣṇa!