19960826 Reception Address with Bengali Translation

Lecture Code: 19960826

Occasion: Reception Address

Date: 26-Aug-1996

Place: Sridham Māyāpur

 

Transcribed By: Nidhivana Radhika DD

Transcribed On: 6-Nov-2020

 

First Level Proofer: Medhavini Sakhi DD

First Level Proofed On: 11-Nov-2020

 

Editorial Changes (non voice): Usha

Date:20-Jan-2021

 

STATUS: Completed

 

 

Source:

 

https://archives.jayapatakaswami.com/courses/306577/lectures/5016115

 

Title:

 

When I went, I was supposed to fly nonstop to Abu Dhabi and direct connection to Johannesburg. We reached at 9.30 and we were supposed to leave at 12 and at 11.30 they came and told us flight cancelled.

 

What is the solution?

 

Flight cancelled. You stay here three days enjoy. Laughter. I said but I can’t stay here three days. I have to go; I have some function. I have to go to give some training seminar.

 

So finally, after a lot of discussion they agreed to put me on the next morning flight from Ḍubāi which is a one and half hour drive from Abu Dhabi over the desert.  So, I asked them to transfer me in the afternoon so that I can go out from there and visit the devotees in Ḍubāi. So, I said please let me out from here. I want to go out and then I can see some friends here. I have some friends in Abu Dhabi. They said you stay here for three days and for the next flight we will let you out. But if you want to go out through another flight, you will lose whole money. We can’t let you out. I said why do you think like that. You canceled the flight.  I did not choose.  My choice is to go with the same airline. You canceled the flight. I have to keep my appointment.  Sorry. Nothing we can do. So I was the prisoner till 11.40 at night. So, from inside the lounge, I gave a class and they had speaker phone and they were listening in one house, 50 devotees. Question and answer session.

 

If you publish any of these don’t mention the names and the places.  Just say Middle East because this all-underground stuff going on. Anyway, that night at 11.40 we drove across the desert to Ḍubāi and then I met some devotees at the airport because when I reached Ḍubāi airport, they were waiting for me and then I met them and then they brought me some hot milk and little prasādam.

 

So then at 3.40 we were ready to go and then they told that 3.40 flight delayed. Aircraft broke. Next departure at 9 am. By that time, I collapsed at the lounge and slept on the seat. Then finally at the airport, we got a place to shower and took the shower and that day there was also Ekādaśī.  We left here on Thursday afternoon that was Ekādaśī. Never again never. I said I want to go one day before from here and stay there one day at Middle East and Marīci said “No no, Thursday afternoon very good time”. I have made a plan and that’s perfect. Thursday afternoon Ekadashi you can learn from this. I don’t know if Marīci learnt but I learnt. 5 o clock we reached Johannesburg in south Africa...

 

Jai Bhakti Vrajendranandanswami maharaj!!

 

Kīrtan glorifying Bhakti Vrajendranandan swami maharaj

 

Haribol!!!

 

Not clear

So, all the devotees had a big reception there and we had Gaur Nitāi darshan and after taking bath we gave a seminar on congressional preaching bhakti program.  May be 100 or 150 or more devotees were there in the prasādam hall of Johannesburg temple. Then in the morning after Bhāgavatam class we went to Jorbagh. Very tight program.  7.30 to 8.30 morning class, rush after that to airport. Quickly check in. Rush rush hurry up. Pushing us somehow, we got on another flight and we get flight reaching Ḍubāi at 10.30 and in the flight, we get some breakfast.

 

So, then we reach there at 10.30 and there the devotee have arranged the reception at Johannesburg temple. In Johannesburg there are many swamiji’s.

 

Jayādvaita Swami was there and also there was Bhakti Chaitanya then there is Parthasarathi prabhu who is also a gurudev. Then there was 3-4 of them They all came out to the airport and they are all very kind. Then I gave reception class. Then after some quick prasad, we went straight away to give seminar and there were about 100 people. Training seminar for congregational preaching, then at night we had Sunday feast program in the temple. After the Sunday feast program, we collapsed. Then there was cold there. There it was very cold.  It was zero degrees.  No heat in the room. It was going between-5/0//5/10. It was changing very quickly.

 

Sometimes was very nice. Even outside it was 5, sometimes 20. So, 10 sometimes outside 20. Sometime it was 5 drizzling. Lot of changes, weather was changing. Sometimes it was very nice but at night it was very cold.

 

So then, next day gave Bhāgavatam class, then we gave another training seminar for only the temple devotees and temple president. After that training program, we went to another program Namahatta.  In fact, this Namahatta was near Phoenix and there 3-4 Namahatta came together.  So, I told them also about Māyāpur project displayed. After the Sunday feast they showed the Māyāpur project. Namahatta people were very nice, enthusiastic.

So, every time they meet in the school where government gave a law that various religion and religious community can meet in schools.

Next morning tight morning class, rush off to the airport, and then fly again back to Johannesburg. There was supposed to be a seminar but it wasn’t possible. So then, in the evening we had a Namahatta program at another school.

 

Bhakti Chaitanya swami was there and we showed about Māyāpur. We had all reached the airport but we had left the ticket, brought the ticket at 10.30 but the flight was 10.15. We reached 10 to 10. They said flight closed sorry.

 

After requesting a lot, they opened the flight and took two of us. Somehow, we got on the flight.  Then afterwards then we flew that night 10.15 and we reached in the morning at Muscat. There was 2 days function there in the house, at the temple and a hall and we gave presentations about worldwide preaching program and bhakti branch program in short and a short introduction.   Then at night we got midnight 1 o clock flight to Madras. At Madras we gave program on the next day, reached at 6 in the morning, gave a class and something in the night.

 

Then Kaunteya, he handed over the bags to Marīci das and Kaunteya came back to Māyāpur.  Then Marīci das took over as assistant, like team relay match.  Then we had flight at midnight and flight was delayed up till 2 o’clock. Then we reached at 9 am in Kuala Lumpur. We went to Telukintan Rathyatra festival and that was very good turn over this year for the centennial rath yatra and it was 25th anniversary of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s visit to Telukintan.

 

It was 10th year Rathayātrā and 25th year of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s visit to Telukintan.  Then we reached the hall and everyone was saying, where is Bhakti Vrajendranandan swami maharaj? (Not clear) But he was not there so they were crying. No one can do ārti the way he does so nice. This was not complete because every time I go with him, he will straighten everybody out.

 

Jai Bhaktivrajendranandan maharaj ki jaya!

 

So, from Telukintan, the next morning, gave morning class. Then again something happened. What happened. Initiation ceremony.

 

Guess what?

 

It was slightly delayed because of few unexpected things. So, once we got all the interviews and everything and got everything together.  Then we went to Telukintan center and there were 4- 5 brahmacārīs taking Brahmin initiation and one house holder and then there were 4- 5 other new devotees taking harinām. So that time all brahmacārī who taking 2nd and others had gone ahead since we were supposed to reach by 2 pm and now it was already 4 pm.

(Not clear)

 

So then because Bhakti Vrajendranandàn maharaj is not here so what can we do.  Without you there was much difference. Then someone chanted for yajña. So, Maharaj did kīrtan.  So, then we reached and gave Bhagavad Gītā class and it was Sunday night and it was packed up audience. They had arranged a big ...they made a pandal outside of tin but it rained heavily.  So, they couldn’t sit outside so they all squeezed inside.  So, then we had nice program.  Next morning, we had initiation ceremony. I was working on my computer and they said you have to come to Taiping and I said I am typing.  Taiping is a place that Bhakti brajendranandan maharaj likes to go there and stay at one house, one Yuvuraj or something.  He has the sanction authority to stay there. So, then we went to Taiping and there everyone was waiting.

 

It was at a big hall. It was YHWA..YHMA..young hindu men's association . YMHA young men's hindu association. Like the YMCA it was YMHA. So, they had a good turnout and we had a big program and again everyone was asking where is Bhakti Vrajendranandan swami maharaj. then we went typing and then we went to this devotee’s house and all of them chanting some 8 yrs..5 yrs..3 yrs. not even one person is initiated.  So, nobody told us about dīkṣā, we don’t know anything. we are just chanting. It was kept a secret. So now few have taken shelter from different gurus and maybe in future they will be taking. Next morning, we had Bhāgavatam class at Yuburajdas's house and then we took off for Penang and we reached Penang in the middle of the day and got some prasādam. That night after 6 o’clock ‘we were scheduled to have a seminar in a municipal auditorium in an air-conditioned auditorium. There we had training seminar.  Many leaders from north about 150 came from north Malaysia. Very nice air-conditioned hall and all government given with 350 seat capacity. We got about 150- 200 devotees maybe 150 were there. Nice seats and good big screen and podium and stage everything professional seminar giving place. They gave 75% discount for society. There we were only slightly late. maybe 6 and we started 7-7.15. Then we took break for 5 min. Everyone had a 5 min break and everyone went out. Once they went out, they all had prasādam. So, we came for a break. Then we continued from 10 to 11. Last hour people were getting sleepy. But they said they learnt a lot and going to apply these things and they are fired up to do Namahatta within the city.

 

Then we went back to the Penang center and gave morning class and a Chinese devotee Layping took Harinām and initiated name was Preetijanani.

 

She wanted a name of Rādhārāṇī and didn’t want a name that did sound hindu so that they can fake on Chinese when they heard it and they would think its a universal name. They didn’t want something like Lakṣmī, that was too common. They wanted something little. So, we had to find a perfect name, not too common, easy to pronounce, not too many r’s. So, we found Preetijanani.

 

From there we went to Bukit Mertajam center where devotees were waiting and again, they were asking where is Bhakti Vrajendranandan maharaj. I said saw him and in Europe we were together and in Croatia.

 

When he is coming back?

They were all hankering for his association. They had very big crowd. So, we gave evening class. This time no initiation, very simple program. Evening class, morning class and then discuss some management meetings and then from there we had to go to a place called Sunggaipatani.

 

Sunghaipatani, place where many brahmacārīs come.

So then there they had ratha yātrā. So, from Ganesh temple they went round the town ending up at Murugan temple.  The chairman of MIC Malaysian Indian Congress was the chief guest and he was the state minister for PWD. So, we also showed around the temples round the world on slides. The state chief.  So Sunggaipatani, we stayed overnight and we came back to the center. Nobody could get the door open but Marīci could get the door open by mantra.

 

So, then we went to, next morning the plan was to give morning class at Alosta border. So, we had gone from the South driven all the way upto the Tai border practically from Kuala Lumpur driving, driving and we really missed maharaj. So Alosta was my second visit. Last time I was with maharaj for rathyatra. 75-100 maybe 125 people. We listened to bhagvat path and again question answer.  Then we had to rush off to catch flight at 2.30, flight to KL reaching 3.30.

 

We quickly reached Lakṣmī Narayan temple, slightly delayed.  When we reached maharaj was there. There at Lakṣmī Narayan temple I gave audio visual class on the ātmā. So, they all liked it. They never saw this kind of computerized class before.  There was a very good turnout, 300- 400 came, packed. This was organized by Govinda ‘s restaurant Namahatta.  Everyone was asking me where is maharaj.  Then next day we had morning class and then whole day we had to deal with different devotees’ interviews, different things for which so far, we had no time. We went in the afternoon to Serumbun for another rath yatra. Lakṣmī Narayan temple, back to KL temple and then morning class and then we went to Serumbun. Serumbun is actually Śrī Rampur but in the English, they call it Serumbun. Its Śrī Rampur like Śrī Vṛndāvan, Śrī Rampur. It’s like they say Perambur but actually its Brahmapur. Varahanagar is Warangal. Kṛṣṇanagar. Thanks to the English everything becomes crushed. They had an INCO member.  What is INCO. Maybe I am not saying right.  ESCO. ESCO member. What is ESCO, state minister.  Chinese man. He did ārti, he swept the road. We gave him Bhagavad gītā.  He was paying respect. He was very cooperative.  He got lot of blessings from Jagannath. At sirambin we had 5-6 hours rathyatra. It started at 6 and went till around 10.30 and then it went into a housing.  Every house wanted to make an offering.  I went to the shower and this going house to house, rath. Door to door ratha.

 

So that evening that was last night only, no night before last, Saturday night.  Then we gave lecture and everyone was asking where is maharaj.  Because always he goes to Serumbun. He wasn’t there to do the ārti, so I had to do the ārti. Then we took prasādam and we headed back to KL and next morning we had Bhagwatam class and we had guru pūjā where they had maharaj’s picture and I was sitting and offering flowers to maharaj. Bhakti Vrajendranandanmaharaj ki jai!

 

So, there was very tight program and then we raced off to the airport and then flew to Bangkok and changed plane and flew to Calcutta. Last night we saw Radhagovinda, Rādhā Gopīnāth Jhulan yatra.

 

Then I met Lokanāth maharaj, then he said Bhakti vrajendranandanmahraj is in Māyāpur, why he didn’t come. I didn’t know he was here. Any questions. I don’t know. I will be here for Rādhāṣṭamī for sure.

 

Hare Kṛṣṇa.