Tattva-viveka

Celebrations at Audarya

Guru-nistha Das - March 30, 2005 4:27 am

The first guest, Nandatanuja, arrived at about 12 AM on Friday. He had just come from India and brought us some presents from there. He also brought a truckload of bhoga, which was very nice. What a generous guy! Unfortunately I didn't have really time to chat with him because the schedule was tight.

Vrindaranya had been in the kitchen since the day before Vyasa Puja already and I went there too to cook bathuras. We had a lively discussion going on and I spaced out and poured in wrong measures and was left behind from my schedule. I have a lot to learn about festival cooking!

Most of the guests arrived after three. Kirtan started at about four on the deck. There were a bit over 20 persons, including the Audarya crew. A nice intimate crowd. We had great luck with the weather. The report said that it would rain the whole weekend, but we didn't get a drop. It was pretty chilly, but even the sun showed up at times.

At about 4:30 Guru Maharaja came down and sat in his rocking chair. We sang Sri Guru carana padma and I was fixing my mind on thoughts of the fortune of having been able to find a real guru and living with him. It's too easy to take things for granted and these kinds of occasions help to stop and think what we have.

The Guru Puja was very sweet. I had never taken part of one before. We sang and offered flower petals to Guru Maharaja's feet.

Guru Maharaja began his talk by saying how Vyasa Puja is a memberance of the importance of Guru Parampara. He told how The real problems of life are birth, death, old age and disease and how the Guru parampara is the real solution to these problems, not material remedies. Guru Maharaja also emhasized the responsibility of the disciple, he made a strong point "Don't be just a dandavat disciple. Real spiritual life is about change". After that Guru Maharaja talked about the third verse of Sri Vishvanatha Cakravarti's song Sri Gurvastakam. He has taken up a tradition of explaining a verse or two og the song each year on Vyasa Puja. The third verse is about Deity worship and how the spiritual master engages his disciples in it. This was especially interesting to me because I was going to get my diksa initiation on the next day.

Guru Maharaja made a strong point against whimsical Deity worship, where people want to have them just because of a fashion or sentiment, without dedication. The Deity is a manifestation of one's Guru maharaja's heart and the worship of the Deity should go on generation after generation, forever. He continued by explaining how Deity worship helps us change our orientation from self-indulgence to indulgence of Krsna through the means that are already part of our everyday lives; shopping, singing, dancing, cooking, eating, sowing...

The Guru brings the Deity for his disciples' benefit. The realm of ritual is easier for us to approach in our present condition than to engage only in Harinama. The Deity worhip, although in the realm of vaidhibhakti, is essential for ragabhaktas to purify themselves to be able to take full advantage of Harinama.

After the lecture we packed ourselves to the templeroom and had a great kirtan. I had to leave in the middle because we set up for the prasadam. Vrindaranya had been cooking non-stop the whole day and the prasad was just amazing. We had:

Mata paneer (GM's favorite)

Sandesh

Gulab jamuns in maple syrup (we got a winner!)

Oh well, now I can't remember anymore what else we had but maybe Vrindaranya can post the rest of the menu.

People were appreciating the prasadam and the mood was very easy going and relaxed. I liked it that the group wasn't too big, it had more of a family feeling to it.

Ok, it's bedtime for me now but I'll continue tomorrow with Gaura Purnima. Stay tuned.

Nanda-tanuja Dasa - March 30, 2005 4:46 am

What a generous guy!

Not as generous as people who dedicated their life to staying close to the fire and teaching us by example. Audaryavasis Ki Jaya!

Bhrigu - April 12, 2005 6:42 am

Ok, it's bedtime for me now but I'll continue tomorrow with Gaura Purnima. Stay tuned.

Did you post that somewhere else? I'ld love to read about your diksa and everything else that happened during Gaura Purnima. I'm still tuned on, but there seems to be some problems with the transmission.

Babhru Das - April 12, 2005 4:55 pm

Yes, my signal seems to be breaking up, too. And are there pictures?

Babhru Das - April 21, 2005 4:46 am

Dear Audaryavasis, don't forget that we're still out here waiting to hear about the Vyasa-puja and Gaura-purnima celebrations, when you have some time. Who was there? What was especially cool? Won't you tease the CDs of the talks? Were there any pictures? And we've heard that Sridama got Harinama initiation, and the Guru-nistha and Vrindavan took diksa. Any realizations from those experiences?