_{Sripad Sajjan Maharaja has written a report of the NZ/AU tour for the Gaudiya Courier: http://www.purebhakti.com/courier/gc016.shtml#ANZ}

_{Wednesday25Feb04: SO FAR, SO GOOD...}

_{Presently we are camped at the house of Mahaprabhu prabhu, and the team is going out to surrounding towns and cities every day. Although still in the formative stage, the group is very positive and we are looking forward to the next two months of travelling prior to meeting Srila Gurudeva in Sydney in late-April for a five day Festival there.}

_{Thursday26Feb03    UPDATE!!}

_{After a day's sankirtan in Coolangatta, the brahmacaris sat in their new accommodations and enjoyed a hearty dinner of delicious kitchari cooked by Bhisma. Apparently the harinam sankirtan was very nice and all the devotees were satisfied.}

_{This evening we will all go to the Temple to hear  Hari-katha from Vraja Vallabha Prabhu and perform the auspicious Gaura-arati worship with the assembled devotees. If you are in the area you are cordially invited to attend morning and/or evening programs at the Nullum Street Temple with us all!}

_{Friday27Feb04:}

<sub>Last nights class by Vraja Vallabha Prabhu was wonderful, with the main points being that Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's pastimes are such that every instant is transcendentally full of meaning and lessons for the devotees. Also that Sri Vrndavan Das Thakur has written in Caitanya Bhagavat a book that is full of the nectar of transcendental relationships that we can aspire to in our advancement in Krishna consciousness. All glories to him!

This morning's program was concluded with a class given by Sripad Bhaktisar Maharaja from Srimad Bhagavad-gita, the main points were 1) Due to the fact that Prema is defined as love that cannot be broken despite any and all reasons for it to being so, the idea that jivas have fallen from Vaikuntha is a ridiculous proposition because prema is certainly the prerequisite for being there in the first place. The other point was on Srila Jiva Goswami's "day dream/night dream" theme.</sub>

_{The book distribution continues.... Todays teams go to Surf(er)ers Paradise and Byron Bay.}

_{Sunday29Feb04}

_{Today was a bit tough...two teams went out to Burleigh Heads and Kerrara then Surfers' Paradise, but it seems the Sunday crowd is a bit preoccupied..... Well, tomorrow's another day!}

_{This evening there was a wonderful program at Vrajavallabha Prabhu's place, with talks by Prabhuji, BV Sajjan Maharaja, and BV Bhaktisar Maharaja. About 50 devotees and guests attended, and sumptuous prasadam was honoured by all afterwards.}

_{Vrajavallabha Prabhu's class centred around Srila Gurudeva's initial enquiry to the devotees both this Festival and last.."Why did I come here?" Prabhu spoke of the focused conception of our goal of Krishna consciousness given by Srila Gurudeva and the need for a culture of continuous  refinement of our individual conceptions of Love of God, lest we become spiritually stagnant and miss out on the benefits available with Srila Gurudeva's presence with us.!}

_{Sripad BV Sajjan Maharaja warned of the need to maintain good discrimination, and Sripad BV Bhaktisar Maharaja encouraged us to study Srila Gurudeva's books and learn the definitions upon which we are basing our lives. He told a salutary true story about a conversation with a devotee who was by no means stupid but who had been practicing Krishna consciousness for 15 years or more without a clear idea of his aim and object, not even knowing the actual meaning or definition of sadhana.}

_Monday1Mar04

_{Rest day. This mornings Bhagavad-gita class was given by Sripad BV Sajjan Maharaja. I left my notes there at the Temple and so will write report soon...}

_{Good news! ... some 1500 books have been distributed by this party in the last two weeks!!! Stay tuned....!}

_{Tuesday2Mar04}

_{In this morning's Bhagavad-gita class, Sripad BV Bahktisar Maharaja spoke on the distinction between the soul and body, and the insufficiencies in the methodology of modern mechanistic science. The Lord in Gita says that the soul is inestimably small and non-material, and this makes empirical analysis very problematic, since it is based on the measurability of matter.}

_{This evening's class, given by Sriman Vrajavallabha Prabhu, was another enlivening and enlightening reading from Sri Caitanya Bhagavat; the Lord's youthful pastimes as a scholar of renown in Navadvip, and His meeting with Sripad Isvara Puripada and subsequent awakening of ecstatic love of God.}

_{Wednesday3Mar04              ~SRI EKADASI~}

_{Today we have been focusing on our chanting and to this effect went to Cabarita for a great Harinam Sankirtan procession through the main street, and afterwards to the local beach for a short swim before returning to Murwillumbah.... Since the Festival we have been concentrating our main efforts on sadhana, i.e. rising early and attending managala-arati, chanting together, learning slokas (sanskrit verses) from Bhagavad-gita, and of course the wonderful evening worship (bhajanas, class, kirtan!) After Gaura-purnima we will begin to focus fully on incorporating book distribution into our daily activities in a serious way as well..... :)
Ekadasi-vrata ki Jaya!!}

_{Thursday4Mar04}

_{This morning's Bhagavad-gita class was given by Sripad BV Bhaktisar Maharaja on the Gita verses 3.36 & .37:
"Arjuna said: O descendent of Vrsni, what is it that forcibly impels a person to engage in sinful activities, although he is unwilling to do so?"
"Sri Bhagavan said: This desire to enjoy sense objects, which indeed transforms into wrath, is born of passion. It is all-devouring and extremely formidable. Know it to be the primary enemy of the jivas in this world." Whew!}
 

_{Friday5thMar04}

_{Today we stayed back at our respective bases in Murwillumabh due to heavy rain all day and wind warnings.
There is a four-man team in Brisbane, who are all doing very well with their book distribution, although no numbers are available. This evening despite the rain we went to the Temple for Sri Guara-arati and heard from Sri Caitanya Caritamrta. Devotes have started arriving in town for Sunday's Sri Gaura-purnima celebrations and so the Temple was quite crowded this evening despite the torrential rain. The (Tweed) River is not high so there is no danger of a full flood, just flash floods here and there. Our basement office here is getting some little streams through seepage, but nothing to worry about...
Today I have been training Sudhamukhi Didi to take over this website for the next few months as I will be travelling away immediately after Sri Guara-purnima...}

_{...SRI GAURA PURNIMA!!! was great!!!!!!!}

_{Tuesday9thMar04}

_{Today the four-man distribution team returned to Brisbane. A meeting was held to arrange the local book distribution setup under the banner of HumbleGifts.Org and BhaktiStore.Com}

_{Another team comprising of Sripad BV Sajjan Maharaja, Gaurasundara dasa Brahmacari, Vrindavan Chandra dasa Brahmacari and Subal Krishna dasa Brahmacari will begin traveling southwards towards Sydney tomorrow or Thursday where they will stay to distribute books and perform Harinam Sankirtan until late April when Srila Gurudeva will be there for a five-day festival.}

_{I'm hoping to be able to keep this diary updated from the road, since it has been difficult to find someone to maintain the site in Murwillumbah at the moment....everyone's so busy!!}

_{The Tour.....}

 _{Sripad Sajjan Maharaja's Tulasi plant in the back seat of our trusty old
Datsun station wagon. Photo taken by N. R. Litskas Didi}

_{Tour diary as I have it -}

_{Friday? Ready to go in two cars. Pratima Didi has gifted us with the use of her Subaru Station Wagon, and Baladev Prabhu and Lilavati Didi have donated an old Datsun stationwagon for he tour. Jaya!! Dustadura prabhu,  seeing the somewhat overloaded condition of both the, volunteered to carry some of the load, and Bhisma as well, as far as Cessnock. Jaya!!!}

_{We drive to Coffs Harbour that day but cannot find the free camping ground we were supposed to have the directions to, so we eventually stop at another camping ground. A party heads into Coffs for Harinam Sankirtan. We end up sleeping variously in cars, tents and rolled up in a tarpaulin on the ground. The next day we continue South.}

_{Saturday13thMarch? We drive to Cessnock, to Jugala Kishore prabhu's beautiful home. We somehow lost Dustadura prabhu on the way, but all's well, he arrives at Jugal Kishore prabhu's house, albeit a little late.}

_{Sunday14th? We have a morning program, and Dustadura prabhu and Bhisma leave to drive back to Murwillumbah. There is a wonderful Sunday Feast program at 12.30.}

_{On Monday15th? we drove to Sydney with various detours, and finally arrive. We get to Murali Mohan prabhu's flat in Neutral Bay. Sita Didi goes to stay at Manly with Radha Kund Didi.}

_{On Tuesday16th? we all meet and pack into one car (station wagon ;) and drive to Bondi Beach, where Harinam and book distribution are very nice, although the ladies have trouble breaking the ice... Actually this program of simultaneous Harinam sankirtan and Book distribution is really very nice. People hear the holy names and are generally less distracted when they then meet a devotee and see a book.}

_{(After this the diary becomes more and more brief, just listing places we went for distribution on particular days...Paramatta, Strathfield, Balmoral Beach, Paddington Market, Glebe, Newtown, Manly Beach, etc. etc.)}

_{After some time staying with Muralimohan prabhu in his inner-city falt, Gaurasundar and Vrindavan Chandra prabhus moved to Nitten prabhu's flat nearby to take the pressure off Murali Mohan prabhu (5 men in a two bedroom flat - magnificent  intent but the practical realities were ...uncomfortable...). We ended up taking prasad at Nitten's place each day,  but it turned out he had a tantric problem that was set off by the association of devotees, so things became a little funky towards the end of our stay in Neutral Bay... despite the best intentions of all concerned.}

_{For example, One morning somehow or other we were all locked out of Murali prabhu's flat. Actually, I was the last one out and didn't realise that Murali prabhu wasn't in the shower but had gone to the laundry room - anyhow we were all well and truly locked out of his flat- with Murali prabhu in a gamsha in the hallway quite desperate for his morning ablutions. After due consideration of the situation by all concerned I drove him to Nitten's flat while Sajjan Maharaja stayed behind and tried (unsuccessfully) to talk some local construction workers into lending us their ladder so that we climb up it and enter the flat via the 1st floor veranda. After calling a locksmith, Gaurasundar prabhu manifested his spidey-swarup and climbed up the outside of the building to let us all in. whew.  The pot of water I'd had boiling on the oven was down to the last centimetre.}

_{After that we miraculously (Thanks to Murali Mohan prabhu) were offered the use of an empty house in Minto belonging to Mr. & Mrs. Vinod and their son Deepak and his wife. This helped us so much. From that house we travelled throughout Sydney daily for distribution. Then, just as our four-man party started to become tied up in organising the Festival for Srila Gurudeva's visit to Sydney, the other "HumbleGifts" party (Vijay, Lalit Krishna, Kesava and Chandrasekhar Brahmacaris) arrived from a successful visit to Brisbane. They went out for enthusiastic distribution daily. And than Sadananda prabhu rejoined the party as well, and then later Jayanta Prabhu arrived too. Very soon Isa Prakash prabhu arrived from perth and we were in a packed brahamacari ashram!} 

_{During our stay there, Srimati Syamarani Didi, on a visit to Sydney, came to visit us at the house. Didi gave an inspiring class on book distribution and delivered some newly published books as well. We attended her programs at the Vinod's house and at Raghunath prabhu's house. Sripad BV Padmanabha Maharaja also visited us, with  Isa Prakash prabhu staying on after Maharaja travelled on to New Zealand. One night we went to the Sri Mandir for a program and met Jayadev Prabhu & his wife Maharani Didi.}
 

_{Near that house was a large fruit & vegetable shop, and the manager Frank, after meeting with Sajjan Maharaja, pledged to give us boxes of fruits whenever we went there. He also provided bhoga for the festival at very reasonable prices and donated more as well... What a gem!}
 

_{Srila Gurudeva's Festival was the perfect culmination of the tour, and a veritable crescendo of Krishna consciousness after the rousing symphony of two months' book distribution. The actual number of books distributed eludes me, but I will try to discover it and let you know.}

_{If you have any diary remembrances of the tour before and during Srila Gurudeva's program - please contact me via this convenient form and let me know!}

giriraja.org.au © 2003-5
This page was last updated on Friday, 29 July 2005 19:57:03