KM Nectar

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>Vrinda (AT) aol (DOT) com >Vrinda (AT) aol (DOT) com >KM Nectar >Mon, 5 Feb

2001 08:26:36 EST > >Now that the Vasant Panchami Snan is over, it is pretty

quiet here. Many camps >have packed up and gone and most of the akharas are

leaving. Our Food for Life >program is now barely one quarter what it was

before. Rupa Raghunatha took >most >of the cooks back to Vrindavan. We still

take out our Harer Nama Party with >Nitai Gaursundara but there are not crowds

like before. > >One thing I forgot to mention when I was telling about Jaya

Vijay decorating >all the pathways. The main road into the residential camp had

a very nice >decorated gate. I had seen that many camps called themselves as

Nimbarka Nagar >or Ramanuja Nagar with big signs in front of their camps. When

I saw the >beautiful main road that he made, then I had our sign painter,

Niskalanka, >make >a sign in big bright letters saying "Prabhupada Marg". That

was the entrance >to >our camp and following Prabhupada's marg is our entrance

into the spiritual >sky. > >Sura Dasa brought a drama troupe of about 22 young

men and 2 women from Bhakti >Kalaksetra from Bombay. It was quite a shock for

them at first, but finally >they adjusted to living between the sand, sky, and

the sun. They put on house >packed dramas almost every night. Gradually they

went through some changes and >learned that austerity can be fun. For almost a

whole month they were here and >the audiences really appreciated them. They

also developed many relationships >with the devotees. Now they have also left

back to Bombay. > >Two days ago, Sri Mahesh Narayan Shukla, retired Chief

Justice of the >Allahabad >High Court, came to see us. He has been here many

times and is a great admirer >of Srila Prabhupada and ISKCON. He even showed us

a complete full page article >he wrote about Srila Prabhupada on his centenial.

He admires how on almost >every page Prabhupada smashes the advaitins. He's a

tall elegant fellow from >another era, almost 80 years old. Today he told us

that all his friends have >told him that the best camp in the Kumbha Mela was

the ISKCON camp. That's the >verdict of the Chief Justice! > >Hema Malini paid

a surprise visit, causing quite a stir. It was always her >dream to come to

Kumbha Mela, but she was always afraid. But she has faith in >ISKCON, so she

came here on Vasant Panchami night and under cover of night, >she >went to the

Sangam and took her bath. She was very greatful to ISKCON that she >could

fulfill her dream. The next day she sat with the devotees and took >prasad, and

then distributed prasad in Food for Life. She also distributed >blankets to the

poor pilgrims and then left. There were police everywhere and >they even put up

a metal dectector like in the airport at our front gate. >Patri >got an

interview with her for Allahabad TV and Jaya Vijay presented her his >book on

Ganga, which inspired her that she decided to make a dance >presentation >on

Ganga. > >Yesterday we got a surprise visit of His Holiness Jayapataka Swami,

who spent >the night with us in the camp. He gave an enlivening class and went

to the >Sangam for bath and then left for opening of Coimbature Mandir. His

Holiness >Prabha Vishnu Maharaj, co-GBC for Allahabad also made a brief

appearance. > >Today, Jayadvaita Swami and Bhakti Purushottama Swami came this

morning. They >went with us on Harer Nama. Today since there are few people we

went down the >smaller streets where the kalpavasis stay. Kalpavasis are those

who make a >vow, >kalpa, to live, vasa, for one month in the Mela. They all

rushed from their >small tents and camps to get darshan of Sri Sri Nitai

Gaurasundara and the >foreign devotees. We sold lots of books. > >Other

Prabhupada Disciples who visited were Radha Kund Das who helped decorate >the

dioramas. Hunkara rendered lots of services around the camp for more than >2

>weeks. Old BTG photographer, Bhargava showed up and stayed for quite some

>time. >He very much appreciated the old-time Krishna Conscious mood of the

camp. > >Now that all the akharas are gone, there is no Sadhu Procession for

the Magh >Purnima Snana, so we made application yesterday to the Police to

allow us to >take the Deity Rath with Prabhupada and Nitai Gaursundara to the

Sangam. As I >write this` the Inspector Ram Kripal Bharti from Mahamandaleshwar

Thana, our >local police station, just came and told us our application is

accepted. We >will go by the same route as the Sadhus after Guru Puja and 7:30

am and go to >the Sangam with a huge Kirtan Party. Come and Join us for the

grand finale of >Kumbha Mela! > >In service to Sri Sri Krishna Balaram, >Deena

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