Kumbha Mela

[Guest guest]

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 Bandhu dasa

[Guest guest]

My Dear Deena Bandhu Prabhu,

 

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glory to Srila Prabhupada!

 

Thank you so very much for your wonderful news reports from the Kumbha Mela. By

my misfortune I have been unable to attend this year; hopefully in the year

2013. But, in spirit I have been with you, and have envisioned being part of

the kirtan and prasad distribution.

 

You have done a glorious service.

 

Your humble servant,

 

Bhakta dasa