Damodara World Launch Diary 1, Part 3

By Uttama Chaitanya Das

 

Day 8: Thursday, Vadodara – Mumbai – Ramacandra Vijayotsava

Today is Dussera. A grand festival in Gujarat. A public holiday I was told.

The tradition is to buy lots of sweet especially jalebi. The temple is doing
brisk business selling so many different kinds of sweetmeat.

Gujarat’s speciality is its sweets, just as Bengal. Nartaka Gauranga pr and
Damodara Caitanya pr sent me to the airport.

Morning flight 1130hrs to Mumbai. 50 minutes.

My Indian tour is coming to an end. Tomorrow Mauritius.

Rested in Upendra pr’s house.

Day 9: Friday, Mumbai – Mauritius

Early morning flight to Mauritius. 0415hrs.

Arrived in Mauritius 0900 local time. Six hours.

Picked up in the airport by HG Sundarlal pr, one of two brahmacaris serving
here.

Mauritius is a small island populated by 1.2m. Indians are the majority and
the balance Africans and mixed races. The Indians are mainly from Bihar,
Maharastra, Andra and Tamil Nadu. Nevertheless, hardly any speak their
mother tongue. Many Indian may understand Hindi because they learn it in
school.

The spoken language is Creole. It is a corrupted version of French. Everyone
speaks Creole.

Though the official language is English, many are not proficient in it.

The nation’s economy largely depends on two commodities – sugarcane and
tobacco. Tourism is currently another major contributor.

The Indians are well-connected to India and the Hindus are still preserving
their culture to some degree like in Malaysia. They are many Hindu temples
and organizations. Mahasivatri and Thaipusam are two most popular Hindu
festivals.

There are more temples per capita here than Malaysia.

There are only 5 towns in Mauritius. The capital is Port Louis. Most of the
people stay in the 70-odd villages. (villages does not look like villages,
rather little townships).

The weather was wet today. It is the beginning of summer. It is cool, windy
and drizzling. Normally it is sunny.

The temple is located in Phoenix. There is another temple, Sri
Krishna-Balarama Mandir located in a village.

The temple commander is a vanaprastha, HG Tamal Krishna pr, who was very
kind in bringing so much of mahaprasadam (enough for 5 persons)!

The presiding deities are Sri Sri Radha-Golokananda. They are so gorgeous.

Interestingly, the daily pujaris here are all matajis. Four older matajis
stay in the temple and does daily seva. There is one brahmacari who does the
seva on Sunday.

There is a Govinda’s restaurant in the same temple building.

The temple sits is an idyllic location (6-acres) in Phoenix. Most part of
the land is undeveloped. There is nice open field, suitable for festivals.

The GBC is HH Bhakti Bhrnga Govinda Maharaja.

The visiting sadhus include HH Jayapataka Swami, HH Lokanatha Swami, HH
Bhakti Caru Swami, HH Gopal Krishna Swami, HH Bhakti Caitanya Swami, etc.

It is by the mercy of HH Bhakti Caitanya Swami that I could come here.
Maharaja connected me to the local leaders.

This evening I was invited for a home programme by HG Harimohan pr (a
disciple of HH Bhakti Caru Swami). He holds Friday sat-sangs for his family
members and neighbours.

I spoke on Damodara lila since they were all eager to hear about it.

After 45-minutes, I was taken to a nearby Durga temple (Tamil temple). The
temple looks like a typical South Indian temple with a pujari and two
musicians (all from India).

It was a Friday puja and I was given chance to speak in front of some 60-odd
people. I could see they were primarily Tamils but hardly one could speak or
understand the language. So I spoke in English and was translated into
Creole.

The president was very happy that we came and he invited us to come back.

That is my first contact with the locals in Mauritius.

For some years I have been dreaming of visiting Mauritius and South Africa.
My Guru Maharaja once told me to about the preaching opportunities to Tamil
community is Mauritius.

By the mercy of Their Lordships and Vaisnavas, I am here.

Day 10: Sat, Mauritius – Disapperance day of Srila Raghunatha das, Srila
Raghunatha Bhatta, Srila Krishnadas Kaviraj Gosvami. EKADASI

Mangala arati 0430.

Some 15 devotees were present including congregation members.

I was scheduled to give class for today and tomorrow.

Though the sloka was on SB10.1.2, I opted to speak on Srila Raghunatha das
Gosvami. It went on for almost 2 hrs. It is my disease that I cannot stop.
They were happy to hear the nectarine pastimes of Das Gosvami.

Since today is Ekadasi, it was nice to do some extra vrata of hearing and
speaking.

One mataji invited me to speak to her husband hoping I could inspire him to
become KC. He is supportive of ISKCON but he does not want to take up KC. He
is quite wealthy and very much attached. He was a nice man but he wants some
more time to become KC.

I praised him for his sincerity and appreciated that he has some desire to
take up bhakti yoga.

After breakfast a nice gentleman came to my room to get my acquaintance. He
was the 3rd ranking officer in Fire Dept of Mauritius. A very humble person,
Sriman Krishnadutt asked me some basic questions of fasting, ekadasi, etc.
He is quite renounced and has been coming to temple for some 12 yrs.

He was very happy to have met me and offered to show me around.  The weather
was still cool with drizzle and strong wind. Mauritius is always windy.

He drove me first to his house to meet his wife and son and then to Port
Louis ‘city’. It was a town with a few high-rise buildings. But is
a beautiful town. The main attraction is the waterfront. It was so
panoramic. Cafes, hotels, malls, boats, private yachts, etc. The water was
so blue and looked clean.

It is a popular hang-out for young couples.

Then we went round the town and drove all the way, some 20kms to Ganga
Talao, the most popular place of pilgrimage. It is a large lake in a little
jungle area. In fact there are hardly any jungles in this country. There are
also no snakes or ferocious animals.

A 108-feet deity of Lord Shiva stands at the entrance of this place. It was
foggy, windy and cool. I couldn’t get a clear shot of the Deity nor the
temples around.

There are a few temples and shrines of devas around. All the deities are
white marble deities. Hosts of murtis are there – Laxmi-Narayana, Ganesha,
Hanuman, Durga, Sarasvati, etc.

This place attracts thousands of people for Mahashivatri and Thaipusam.
Devouts walk 20-30kms to this place during these festivals.

Mahashivatri is the most important Hindu festival in Mauritius.

This place is very scenic and has the feel of divine sanctuary.

From here we went to few other places. Then I was back at the temple by
3.00pm.

This evening I had a programme in a Hindu temple (they called it kovil
because it visited by Tamils primarily). There is an overnight programme
going on for a festival known as Govinda. It must be very popular.  A few
hundreds on visitors are streaming in and out of the temple.

As  I entered into large temple ground, I saw about three stalls selling
CDs, food, etc. Then an amazing thing happened. I heard the Tulasi album
song – Jaya Govinda, Jaya Gopala being played. I was thinking to myself,
Wow! This song has come all the way to Mauritius. I was told that it is
quite popular here. Malaysia’s little contribution….

Then the most embarrassing thing happened. The temple arranged for a grand
welcome for me thinking I am some important sadhu. It was complete with
purna kumbha with the accompaniment of musicians all the way to the altar of
Lord Krishna. There I was awarded the prasadam of the deity. It was quite a
scene with people around wondering who is this ‘personality.’

Continuous stage bhajans were going on and we were up next. Sundarlal pr
first sang for 10 minutes and then I spoke to the 200-odd people about the
glories of Damodara lila in English and was translated in Creole.

I was eager to say a few words in Tamil and I asked the permission of the
host and they encouraged me. Then very quickly I wrapped up our 30-minute
slot with a brief story of Diwali and glories of offering ghee lamps.

I don’t know how many understood but there were some smiling faces in the
audience.

I pray at least one person would have benefited from the talk.

Day 11: Sun, Mauritius

SB class on 10.1.2. A beautiful chapter unfolds. I am most unworthy to
speak. Another 1.5 hr session. The devotees were eager to hear more but it
was time to break-fast for Ekadasi vrata.

After breakfast Krishnadutt pr again took me on a whirlwind tour of East and
South-east part of the island.

This time we visited the Sri Sri Krishna Balarama Mandir in the village.

The deities resemble Krishna-Balarama of Vrindavana. Beautiful temple with
amazing paintings on the walls and ceilings. It has a long hall with curved
ceiling.

Some devotees stay around this temple. From here we went to have a look at
the cinematic beach. Weekend like this attracts families who come here for
picnic. Not many were seen swimming. Blue beach with white sand.

Then we headed off to Mahebourgh passing through long stretches of beaches
dotted with fishing villages. Mahebourgh is another popular town with a nice
waterfront.

In November the devotees are planning to come here for a sea festival that
includes boat festival for the Deities and 50 other boats for devotees. This
will be followed by  a pandal programme. They held it last year as well. It
seems this is the largest festival in this quite enclave.

I was back at the temple by 2pm. I had to take some rest to ease the
botheration of my sinusitis.

It is a 3-day festival complete with Ratha Yatra and major stage events.

The Sunday programme begins at 2.30pm and goes on till 5.00pm.

The feast is cooked by different families on rotation basis. The programme
attracts some 200-300 devotees.

I was given freehand to choose the topic by the vice-president, HG Harideva
pr. He requested me to touch material predicaments and turmoil.

I spoke from 8th Canto, the deliverance of Gajendra. It is a wonderful
episode on suffering and surrender to Krishna. About 150 devotees were in
the hall.

After the prasadam, at 6.30pm I presented our seminar on both Damodara
programme and Sraddha Kutir.

The leaders were present with about 50 devotees. They were all very
impressed and were ready to do Damodara Harinama this year.

Every Tuesday, the devotees from this temple take part in Nagar Sankirtan
with Gaura-Nitai deities. This time for a change, Damodara puja will be
added.

The Damodara programme has very good potential here, may be even better than
Malaysia. The Hindus seem more pious here.

The Nama Hatta leader gladly accepted the Sraddha Kutis programme and plans
to implement it.

Overall it was a successful effort. I would say the most hopeful of all the
places visited thus far.

After the presentation, devotees approached to ask some questions and
clarify matters. Somehow the topic swayed into the Spiritual Counsellor
System. I referred to the success of ISKCON Chowpatty and how we are trying
to emulate the same in our temple in KL. I strongly encouraged them to
somehow implement this.

Sadly the situation here is the same with many other temples worldwide. Lack
of guidance and nurturing of devotees exists here as well and I could sense
it in the course of the conversation. Devotees were lamenting and voicing
their inadequacies.

They saw the need for it but didn’t know how to go about starting it.

The day was full with conversations with devotees. It was very enriching.

Hare Krishna…

Day 12: Mon, Mauritius

Once again was requested to speak on SB10.1.3.

Today, another mataji requested me to speak to her husband who was not so
supportive of her devotional life. He came to the temple at about 9.30am. He
works as a casino manager and corporate trainer. I was briefed by the wife
earlier about him. I know I can’t do much. I decided just to be friendly
with him and praise him for his ’support’ of his wife’s KC.

He comes every day to the temple during Damodara month. He is a little pious
but not very favourable to his wife becoming very serious.

He has a wall of ego around him. Nevertheless, I gave him the Damodara altar
and he was pleased.

There were a few other matajis who hoped I could also speak to their
husbands the next time around?!

The devotees wanted me to visit Mauritius again for a month! I was
embarrassed by their request.

Overall the devotees here are simple and friendly. It is easy to get to know
the devotees.

Today I have a simple home programme to attend in a village. 5-6 families
came and I spoke on Damodara lila.

Tomorrow is the first day of Damodara month. The devotees here are very
eager for the festival. This is their tradition. Many devotees come every
evening to the temple for the prayer.

By mercy of Guru and Krishna, my Mauritius tour is partly successful. More
than promoting the Damodara programme, I was able to build friendship with
many devotees here. I got to learn the local culture and mood. I have
another place to visit next year besides India.

Tomorrow, South Africa. Another adventure.

Hare Krishna….