Karttika in Vrndavana (a report by Sripada B.S. Madhava Maharaja)
On October 26th, Srila Narasingha Maharaja, accompanied by Haridasa Babaji Maharaja and a few other devotees arrived in Sri Vrndavana-dhama. The next eighteen days were spent in a most wonderful way:
There was no better way than beginning everyday with Mangala-arati of Their Lordships Sri Sri Lalita Radha-Damodara, Sri Radha-Vrndavana-candra, Sri Radha- Cala-cikkana, Sri Sri Radha-Madhava and following it with sankirtana-parikrama of the temple and samadhis of Srila Rupa Gosvami, Srila Jiva Gosvami and Srila Prabhupada’s rooms.
Srila Narasingha Maharaja and devotees spent the rest of the first few days absorbed from early morning until late evening painting the newly renovated rooms on the second story of the Radha Damodara Temple complex. In the weeks prior to their arrival, granite flooring was laid, and wooden shutters and new doors were installed. These rooms on the second story have a very special history, as they are where Srila Prabhupada stayed before moving into his rooms below in the Deities courtyard. These rooms overlook the samadhi and bhajana-kutira of Srila Rupa Gosvami and look into the courtyard of the Deities as well. By the especially kind arrangement of Sri Nirmala-candra Gosvami and family, these rooms are now the living quarters of Srila Narasingha Maharaja and devotees at Sri Sri Radha-Damodara Mandira.
Below in the courtyard of Srila Rupa Gosvami’s samadhi, the bhajana-kutira is under renovation. The structure is made of pure pink Rajasthani sandstone and has no brick/plaster work on it. It is being carved to resemble the original structure, erected hundreds of years ago and is just a couple of weeks away from completion. See the Srila Rupa Goswami Samadhi Renovation and Radha Damodar Mandir Websites for more information and pictures.
To improve the quality of sound for the pleasure of Their Lordships, Srila Narasingha Maharaja and devotees selected a new sound system from Delhi and installed it with new speakers replacing the old ones. This was a huge boost in audio quality and all the devotees appreciated it greatly. Inspired, the devotees sang and continue to sing for their Lordhips day and night.
A week after Srila Narasingha Maharaja’s arrival, Svami B.S. Madhava and another 10 devotees arrived to join the party. There were parikramas and darsanas in the mornings and evenings. Srila Narasingha Maharaja talked on the incredibly special fortune of being able to be a part of the service for Srila Rupa and Srila Jiva Gosvamis. This created a deep sense of mercy surrounding and capturing us all.
Two days prior to Sri Govardhana Puja, Srila Narasingha Maharaja brought the devotees to Govardhana Hill. There they all had darsana, did parikrama and heard about the topmost places of pilgrimage - Sri Radha-kunda, Sri Syama-kunda and the special places of bhajana of our most worshipable Lordships and Sri Guru-varga. Along the way to Sri Govinda-kunda, Maharaja brought the devotees to the base of Sri Giri Govardhana-parvata and blessed his brahmana disciples to select silas for their worship at home. Maharaja guided the devotees in their search and gave them blessings as they found their silas one-by-one. Out of the group, six devotees went back that day as the recipients of great mercy from Giriraja Maharaja and their spiritual master.
The Annakuta Mahotsava and Sri Govardhana Puja was celebrated on November 10th. In the morning at 8 am, the doors of the Radha-Damodara Mandir were closed to the public and our group of devotees spent the next five hours doing a maha-clean-up of the entire temple. Srila Narasingha Maharaja diligently cleaned Srila Prabhupada’s room, kitchen and veranda as some devotees assisted. The other devotees cleaned the walls of the temple, tulasi-stambas, verandas, stairs, samadhi grounds, the samadhis themselves, using huge amounts of water along with brushes, brooms, cloths and more. It was most definitley an ecstatic experience. At 1:30 pm we returned to our rooms to get ourselves cleaned-up and prepare for the evening celebrations.
At 2 p.m. the doors opened to the public, who were now able to have full darsana of the beautifully dressed Sri Sri Lalita-Radha-Damodara, Sri Radha-Vrndavana-candra, Sri Radha-Cala-cikkana. Also on special darsana was Srila Sanatana Gosvami’s Govardhana-sila that has the actual footprint of Lord Govinda’s lotus foot, the impression mark of the Lord’s cowherding staff and one of the Lords own cows’ hoof-prints. In front of Giriraja was a huge offering of hundereds of wonderful preparations in honor of the festival worshiping Giriraja and Gopalaji, the Deity found by Sri Madhavendra Puri, also regarded as the first Deity of our Gaudiya sampradaya.
Being requested by the Gosvamis of Sri Radha-Damodara Mandira, Srila Narasingha Maharaja led the devotees in an ecstatic kirtana, which lasted three hours and which eventually was also led by some of the other sannyasis and disciples. Srila Narasingha Maharaja and devotees were honored with flower garlands and candana maha-prasad during the kirtana. The crowds chanted and danced to the Holy Names for hours that day. It was indeed an overwhelmingly wonderful experience. Later Sri Nirmala-candra Gosvami and his sons mentioned how special it was to have Maharaja’s kirtana on that day, as it reminded them so much of Srila Prabhupada chanting.
At 5 p.m. our group assisted the Gosvamis in the prasadam distribution service to the thousands of devotees flocking to have the darsana of Their Lordships and honor His maha-prasadam on that special day. We ourselves, later feasted on the many sumptuous savory and sweet preparations made for the special occasion. The kirtanas lasted into the late night until the sayana-arati at 9:30 p.m., where a group of devotees sang in a whisper the Damodarastakam for The Divine Couple who were now in their beautiful night dress.
During Srila Narasingha Maharaja’s entire stay in Vrndavana, Sri Nirmala-candra Gosvami and his sons discussed with Maharaja and devotees many wonderful plans for the improvement of the facilties at Radha-Damodara as well as the various services to be organized as the renovation/construction progresses. Sri Nirmala-candra Gosvami requested Srila Narasingha Maharaja to remain permanently at Sri Sri Radha-Damodara Mandira and Maharaja said he would surely consider it in the future, after attending to many other services that await him at present. In the meantime, Sripada Haridasa Babaji Maharaja is staying at Radha-Damodara Temple on behalf of Srila Narasingha Maharaja.
The relationship of Sri Nirmala-candra Gosvami and family with Srila Narasingha Maharaja and devotees has become more and more like a truly harmonious marriage – one family integrating with the other over a common cause (the divine service of Sri Sri Radha-Damodara, Srila Rupa Gosvami, Srila Jiva Gosvami, Srila Prabhupada, Sri Vrndavana-dhama, Lord Gauranga, our illustrious Guru-varga and all the Vaisnavas on the planet). Their family’s care towards us was very touching. The abundant prasadam they served daily with such care and attention went to show their genuine appreciation of Srila Narasingha Maharaja coming forward, taking it to be nothing less than the arrangement of Srila Prabhupada.