Volume 4 - Chapter 19

[Guest guest]

Diary of a Traveling Preacher

 

Volume 4, Chapter 19

 

June 14-27, 2002

 

 

The punch sent me reeling and knocked me senseless. When I came to, my US

Marine Corp drill instructor was straddling me, angry as a hornet. He had

caught me relaxing in my foxhole as a rival platoon over-ran our position in

the hills of Camp Pendleton, California, during an exercise in 1968. He

yelled at me, "Never, and I repeat, never assume the enemy is sleeping.

While you are taking a break here in your foxhole, the enemy has attacked

your flank and over-run you."

 

Last week, his instructions rang true. I was discussing with several

devotees the success of the festival in Chelmza and how it appeared our

oppostion was sleeping, when my cell phone rang. It was Radha Sakhi Vrinda

dasi. She said, "Srila Gurudeva, we have a serious problem. We're receiving

reports that a group of priests are traveling along the Baltic Sea coast

campaigning against us among town officials and school administrators. We're

afraid we may lose the school facility in Swierzno, the only one we've been

able to rent as a base this summer."

 

As she spoke, I remembered how last year another group of priests had made a

similar move, convincing all but that one school not to cooperate with our

tour. "They'll be in Swierzno soon," Radha Sakhi Vrinda said. "We fear the

worst. What should we do?"

 

"Never, I repeat never, assume the enemy is sleeping," I said, more to

myself than to anyone else.

 

"What was that, Srila Gurudeva?" Radha Sakhi Vrinda asked.

 

"Oh, nothing," I said, "but as for losing the school in Swierzno, I would

say that you should go there and be frank with the director. Explain our

apprehensions to him. He knows us very well."

 

While reflecting on the matter later that day, I realized it is only a

question of time before the school in Swierzno will succumb to the pressure

of the Church and our annual tour will be jeopardised. Without using a

school as a base we will have to resort to hotels, which will be too

expensive. We had to come up with another solution.

 

I took a walk past a dam that a colony of beavers have built on a lake near

our base, a spot in the forest I have frequented during the past few weeks.

As pressure mounts on the tour, sometimes I need time to peacefully reflect

on the situation. I sat on a rock near the dam and considered the priests'

strategy. They know very well how dependent we are on using the schools for

a base. But hard as I tried, I couldn't figure how we could stop them

stirring up trouble again. Negotiating with them was not an option as every

time we approach the Church they refuse to speak to us. I thought of

contacting the few priests who are our friends, but realized they would be

ineffective in this situation. Recalling Srila Prabhupada's instructions to

his disciples in Vrindavan in 1975 to pray to Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai - and that

They would do the needful - I bowed my head and folded my hands. I then

prayed as Prabhupada advised, beginning with the words, "Sirs, this is the

problem ..."

 

A while later I walked over to the dam. Upon inspection, I saw it was a

formidable protection for the beavers' little homes within. By this time the

sun had set, and they were starting to swim around the lake under cover of

the descending darkness. As I was thus able to move even closer to the dam,

I realized that to build it the beavers would have had to fell many trees

with their sharp teeth. Only the previous day, I had overheard some local

people refer to them as a menace because of the damage they inflict on the

environment. I laughed to myself and thought, "Nevertheless, no one can

remove them now. They're here to stay - and their home is so interesting

that even the locals come to marvel!"

 

Stopping suddenly, I wheeled around. "That's it," I cried out loud.

 

That evening at a tour managament meeting, I offered a solution to the

problem of a base for the summer tour: purchase our own property somewhere

along the Baltic as a permanent base for our festival. "If we have our own

land," I said , "no one can remove us, and if we gradually develop the

project as an attractive extension of the tour, even our opposition will

come to marvel."

 

Given the reality that next year there may not be an alternative, we all

decided in favor of the proposition. Nandini and Radha Sakhi Vrinda

immediately departed for Swierzno to speak to the school director - and to

look for land.

 

Two days later we did a festival in Swiecie. In recognition of a

psychologist friend who had worked hard to get permission for us to be in

the town, we asked her to open the event. In front of a large audience, she

thanked us for sharing the culture of India. Addressing the concerns of

those who dissented from our appearance in Swiecie, she said that "with

Poland on the verge of joining the European Union, we need exposure to other

cultures to prepare to integrate. Therefore, we are indebted to these

people."

 

The next day we did harinam to advertise the festival in Czluchow, where the

councilors had insisted on meeting me and hearing what I would say in my

festival lecture before they would agree to us staging the event. Czluchow

is an ancient town, with the ramparts of a castle built more than 1000 years

ago featuring as a major tourist attraction. Occupied at various times by

the Crusaders, Swedes, Austrians, Germans and Poles, the castle was the

scene of many battles. At the entrance is an inscription stating that the

castle was so formidable that upon seeing it, many armies would simply

decline to lay siege.

 

Czluchow was preparing to celebrate its City Days, a tradition in Poland

where for one week each year every city honors its history with a festival.

By Krsna's arrangement, the authorities had planned our festival to coincide

with their own. Our colorful festival posters hung alongside those of the

town announcing the week's events. Workers were busy hanging banners and

streamers throughout the streets.

 

In the celebratory mood, people eagerly took our invitations. I told Sri

Prahlad that we wouldn't have to worry about people coming to our festival -

we had distributed 10,000 invitations in a town with a population of 21,000!

 

But disaster almost struck before our festival began. Just as we arrived

back at our base, the lady in charge of cultural affairs in Czluchow called

Vara-nayaka das. She said, "I'm sorry, but you are no longer welcome in our

town. The mayor has officially canceled your festival."

 

Having to deal constantly with such situations, Vara-nayaka remained calm

and replied, "What possible reason could there be for canceling?"

 

She said, "The priest has just informed the mayor that you are spreading

religious propaganda in the town. He said your leaflets encourage people to

leave their religion and join yours."

 

Vara-nayaka replied, "That is simply not true. The only thing we distributed

today was the invitation to our festival - the very same invitation we

showed you when we first discussed the idea of the event months ago."

 

"Really?" the lady said. "If that's so, I'm going to contact the priest and

the mayor. I'll call you back in half an hour."

 

We all waited anxiously for her reply. Once again I folded my hands and

prayed to Gaura-Nitai, "Sirs, this is the problem . . ."

 

Thirty minutes later Vara-nayaka's cell phone rang. After a few moments he

began smiling. He told us, "The lady from the Culture House apologized and

the mayor has invited us to be official participants in the town parade

tomorrow."

 

Gaura-Nitai had, indeed, done the needful.

 

The next morning myself and nearly 100 devotees left early to join the town

parade. I wasn't sure what to expect, but when we arrived I was amazed at

the opportunity the Lord was providing. There were more than 400 people

(including many children) dressed as medieval kings and queens, soldiers in

armor, jesters and jugglers, and musicians and dancers. Their costumes were

so real, it was as we had been transported back through time. The parade

organizers were a little surprised when they saw us, but greeted us warmly

and directed us to our position in the parade. When I asked if we could play

our instruments and chant and dance during the parade, they happily agreed.

 

When the parade started we began a soft kirtan, which grew louder and more

enthusiastic as we proceeded through the streets. We were the only

participants who had amplification, and soon our kirtan engulfed the entire

parade. No one complained, in fact after a while many of the parade members

were dancing along with the devotees. People lining the streets and watching

from their apartment windows loved it, and many were clapping in time with

the mrdangas and karatalas. At one point, I left the parade and joined the

spectators lining the street. To my astonishment, it appeared the parade was

one gigantic harinam party winding through the streets of the town. All one

could hear were the holy names and every movement seemed to coincide with

the kirtan - and the devotees continued moving through the crowd giving out

invitations to our festival. I imagined that whoever didn't receive an

invitation the previous day must have surely received one during the parade.

 

When the parade reached the center square our kirtan was rebounding off the

old walls of the town. I couldn't distinguish between the kirtan and its

echo. The holy names were crisscrossing the square in all directions and the

devotees were twirling and dancing around. Everyone loved it, and when the

parade came to a halt in front of a large platform full of dignitaries the

organizers told us to keep chanting! And so we did - as the entire town

looked on. For a few moments I stood watching in amazement, enchanted by the

incredible mercy of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

 

tri bhuvana kamaniye gaura chandre vatirne

patita yavana murkhah sarvatha sphotayantah

iha jagati samasta nama sankirtanarta

vayam api ca krtarthah krsna namasrayad bhoh

 

"When Lord Gauracandra, the most attractive personality within the three

worlds, advented in this universe, many fallen souls began to wave their

arms in the air, excited by the chanting of the holy names. We also were

completely fulfilled because of our taking shelter of those same names of

Krsna. O my Lord!"

 

[sarvabhauma Bhattacarya: Susloka-Satakam, Verse 44]

 

When we finished our kirtan there was a roar of applause from the parade

participants and the huge crowd in the square. The medieval soldiers then

blew on long trumpets, as the crowd surged forward to see the Mayor of

Czluchow ascend the stage and take his seat. In the fashion of the Middle

Ages, a town crier then stepped up and eulogized the town's history from a

parchment - the founding of the town, those who were members of the first

town council, construction of the town hall and the first church, battles

fought, etc. When he concluded with the current festival day, I thought he

should have mentioned the most significant event: the day Lord Caitanya's

sankirtan party inundated Czluchow with the holy names.

 

Groups of school children were then called forward to offer praise to the

town and the mayor. Each group would sing or dance or recite poetry before

the stage, as the mayor, the city councilors and the citizens watched. We

stood patiently for well over an hour until, to my surprise, an official

called, "The Festival of India will address the mayor!"

 

Thinking quickly, I assembled 10 devotees and we walked on to the dais in

front of the mayor and councilors. Within moments, Sri Prahlad was leading a

kirtan while the devotees danced enthusiastically. I then had our two indian

dancers from South African perform a Kathak classical dance. Throughout the

dance the crowd roared with approval and the mayor smiled broadly. With the

help of a translator I then addressed the mayor and councilors through the

public address system:

 

"Your Worship the mayor, members of the town council and respected citizens

of Czluchow, it is with the greatest pleasure that we, members of the

Festival of India, take part in the festivities honoring your great town. We

are so happy to be able to share with you this culture of India, in

particular this chanting of God's holy names, which has given so much

pleasure to the citizens of this town. We look forward to your participation

in our part of the festivities tomorrow in the central park, where we will

continue to share with you this colorful culture of singing, dancing and

feasting. We extend a special invitation to the Lord Mayor to dine with us

in our vegetarian restaurant in the afternoon. May God bless your beautiful

city. Hare Krsna!"

 

With that, the town crier blew his trumpet and announced the parade was

officially ended. As we turned to leave, people surrounded the devotees with

numerous questions. It was with great effort that we eventually returned to

our bus.

 

The next day 20,000 people attended our festival - a number of whom sang and

danced alongside us late into the night. Perhaps historians will mark the

day in the annals of Vaisnava history. For myself, that practically the

entire town of Czluchow came and received the mercy of Lord Caitanya was a

source of great astonishment and wonder.

 

gaurangah prema murtir jagati yad avadhi prema danam karoti

papi tapi surapi nikhila jana dhanasyapahari krta ghnah

sarvan dharman svakiyan visam iva visayam sampartiyajna krsnam

gayanty uccaih pramattas tad avadhi vikalah prema sindhau nimagnah

 

"From the time that Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu, the sacred form of love for

Krsna, gave out His gifts of love, the sinner, the ascetic, the drunkard,

the dacoit, the rogue and the thief, all very grateful to Him, completely

abandoned their materialistic ways as if they were deadly poison, and then

very intoxicated loudly sang the holy names of Krsna until they sank

exhausted into the ocean of Krsna-prema."

 

[susloka-Satakam, Verse 4 ]