Tattva-viveka
Portland & N. Carolina Programs
Gopakumara Das - October 18, 2010 2:41 am
Dear Gurumaharaja, Vrindaranya or whoever attended the programs in Portland and N. Carolina...can someone please give us a detailed account of what the tone was like, attendance, any surprise guests, after discussions, insights, reflections, etc...? I have heard portions of the talks... but would love to hear a bit about the context of the talks...
PLEASE?
Hari Bhakti - October 18, 2010 4:52 am
In Portland we had two programs, the first was at my house on a Thrusday evening. About 25 people came to that program, a mix of local devotees and yoga students and interested friends. Many people have heard from Guru Maharaja, since he has been visiting Portland fairly consistently for the past 3 years, there were a few first-timers as well. The response to GM's talk was great, he had the whole rooms rapt attention. After the talk most everyone stayed for a while chatting and having tea and treats.
The second program was the next night (Friday) at The Bhaktishop (a yoga studio owned by a student of GM's) this was a public event with a requested donation of $5 - $10. It is hard to say exactly how many people where there but our 1,000 sq. ft. studio was packed front to back & side to side with people...I would guess somewhere between 75 - 100+.The majority of the people in attendance were yoga students of the shop, many of the people from the previous nights program attended, as well as many of the local portland/eugene devotees. Guru Maharaja just lit up the whole room! He had the whole place chanting as he led kirtan and the crowd hanging on his every word throughout his talk. You could literally look around the room and see lightbulb moments happening for people as he spoke to them. It was beautiful. In the days following I have received many emails full of gratitude for the time spent at the programs. It is safe to say Portland loves Guru Maharaja and can't wait for his return!
Madan Gopal Das - October 18, 2010 2:40 pm
NC has been great!!! GM and Abhaya arrived last Tues. evening, despite the inconvenience I created for them by making them have to leave Audarya at 1 or 2 a.m. Atmananda picked them up and brought them to my house where GM chatted with us for a little before having some evening prasad. Prema-bhakti arrived from NY earlier the same day and has been a huge help throughout the visit. I think she has that giggle ecstatic symptom, because she just starts laughing spontaneously and it makes everyone else a little giddy too!
For the next three or four days in-between the programs GM would speak with our core little crew (atmananda, prema, abhaya, gaurangi and myself) about what seems like a short-term goal of manifesting branches of SCS in NY and NC. Several times a day we would talk about where we were moving to, how it would happen and how AWESOME it is going to be. The general feeling is that we are right on the edge of some big things happening for GM's mission. GM said one day that he feels "like a time-bomb; there is a lot of siksa I've given out, sooner or later it effects people" and things start to manifest. There is a lot to be said about the future in NC and NY (via Prema ), but as we were wildly churning ideas for several days, GM wisely advised us that there is a time to stop thinking and see how things develop.
Wed the 13th we went up to Prabhupada Village for GM's programs at Karnamrta and Arcana-siddhi's home. PV has a history of some influence by ritviks, some opposition/skepticism towards GM. Despite the weekday schedule, the house was pretty full and GM gave two Q&A sessions which he tends to gear towards the crowd there. Arcana/Karnam were wonderful hosts and people seemed quite enlivened. I'd say 25 people?
Thursday evening we drove down to Winston-salem for a more "preaching program" run by Dulal-chandra and Arci. They always have a great crowd and GM spoke on the topic "I'm not religious, I'm spiritual." GM took it all the way from the basic distinction between religion and spirituality, to describing the raga-marga in a way that was understandable to people who may not practice our path. Arci made a SUPER-FEAST like it was a temple festival!
GM was at our home for Fri, Sat, Sun and this morning (mon.). GM started a seminar Fri night, speaking on the topic of saranagati. Before each class we would chant Thakur Bhaktivinoda's introductory song to Saranagati: sri krsna caitanya prabhu, jive doya kori... The seminar was three classes. Class one was an intro to the topic, GM sourced the concept of 6-limbed saranagati; vaisnava-tantra, bhakti-rasamrta sindu (anukulyasya sankalpa...), bhakti-sandarba, and BVT's elaboration on the concept. GM explained how saranagati is viewed in the Ramanuja-sampradaya and how we relate to it. Class two was a lot of detail about the glory of BVT and some elaboration on some of the 6 "limbs" of saranagati. Class three was a final elaboration on the rest of the limbs, with references to stories and personalities from sastra which exemplify the concept. These classes MUST be listened to!! We had about 40 devotees the first class, and the number kept growing. Saturday night we had over 50 and there was standing room only! After that class the crowd was so impressed they spontaneously burst into practically standing ovation for GM (embarrassing him a little). We live a mile down the road from the iskcon temple, and I would say that our crowd was at least 50% regular temple attendees. GM has been coming here for many many years and the time-bombs are going off! So many people who we've been thinking might be "ripe" really blossomed at these classes.
Saturday morning GM let us watch Sraddha, Shyamala's bull calf being born via skype!! That was fun being part of the family event. GM was so happy!
The core SCS-NC devotees met with GM Sun morning to discuss plans for an NC project. Details are developing, but lets just leave it at this - something is happening here, probably within the next year.
Sun night GM answered questions, and despite it being the "sunday feast" and Bir-krsna Maharaj speaking down the road, we had a great turnout, again around 40 or 50 people.
It has been a real high serving and seeing so many happy enlivened devotees and being able to facilitate their hearing from GM. We had so much help from Dulal/Arci, Arcana/Karnam, Drsta/Rudrani, Gauravani/Dana, Atmananda, Krsna-Caitanya, Prema Bhakti and Abhaya and many other friends. GM has been very kind to give us a lot of personal sanga and seva. I just can't get enough!
Tonight is the final program in Cary at Drsta/Rudrani's home. I will ask GM then if we can bring him back in 6 months or so...
Gaura hari bolo, gaura hari bol!
p.s. Forgot to mention that Thurs afternoon we went to Shyam-lal and Nama-cintamani's beautiful abode in Winston. They are very gracious hosts with impressive taste. GM also spoke with them about future ideas and about Madhuvan and Costa Rica.
another p.s. I'm sure I'm forgetting lots of detail, but others can fill in. I also have little details that are all my own that I will never forget. 
Madan Gopal Das - October 18, 2010 3:01 pm
Atmananda's entire Atma (body, mind, soul) is so full of ANANDA!
Gopakumara Das - October 18, 2010 5:29 pm
That was great!!! Just what I wanted. I love seeing devotees appreciate what they are given and take advantage of that sanga!! I hope that is contagious!! Let us all know what needs to be done to manifest something out there....
MORE MORE MORE!!!!
Syamasundara - October 18, 2010 7:35 pm
Thanks!
Atmananda Dasa - October 21, 2010 4:31 pm
After the Thursday night talk at Dulal's I was being a fly on the wall and just listening to the conversations in the room. It was amazing that everyone was talking about the talk. Some were very excited using animated gestures to try to express the realizations that they had experienced.
As Madan was saying, some of our friends had a blossoming of faith and appreciation for Swami during this visit. Just today I spoke with someone on the phone and they asked if I had any mp3's of Swami's talks to put on their ipod. There is also talk amongst their families about moving to wherever the new temple comes up. One just mentioned to me today that they're ready to pioneer. As you can imagine we are all excited about the prospect for the future seva.
I'll just say that the day cannot come soon enough that we can all dive deep into this new seva.
Babhru Das - October 21, 2010 7:33 pm
Like
Babhru Das - October 21, 2010 7:38 pm
All that's necessary is hearing from him with an open heart, spending a little time with him. That's what happened with me in '99.
I've spoken with Yogamaya and Vrindavana dasi, both Swami's disciples, a couple of times over the last couple of weeks. They want to invite him to Ocala, where Yogamaya lives, and have programs for him there. It's close enough that devotees who live in Gainesville and Alachua will be able to attend. Like so many of us, they both feel very strongly a need to draw closer to GM, at least in service.
Gopakumara Das - October 21, 2010 10:55 pm
All that's necessary is hearing from him with an open heart, spending a little time with him. That's what happened with me in '99.
I've spoken with Yogamaya and Vrindavana dasi, both Swami's disciples, a couple of times over the last couple of weeks. They want to invite him to Ocala, where Yogamaya lives, and have programs for him there. It's close enough that devotees who live in Gainesville and Alachua will be able to attend. Like so many of us, they both feel very strongly a need to draw closer to GM, at least in service.
Tell them that I will help get the word our in that area to make sure the programs are well attended.