Damodara World Launch Diary 1, Part 4

By Uttama Chaitanya Das

 

Day 13: Tuesday, Mauritius – South Africa. Durban – Johannesburg – Damodara
month 1st day, Krishna Saradiya Rasayatra

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Hare Krishna.

My first ushering of Damodara festival outside of Malaysia since 1995.

Left for airport at 0630 to catch the plane at 0930 to Durban. From Durban need to board another plane to Johannesburg.

After 4hrs, I landed at Durban International Airport. Someone was supposed to be waiting for me at the airport to handover the ticket to Johannesburg. Unfortunately no one was there.

I paced the entire airport up and down a few times frantically coz my connecting flight is at 1300. It was past 1200 by now. I had no coins to make to call to Prabhanu pr. I had no choice but to change 10 Eurodollar and make desperate calls to Prabhanu pr. He told me he had e-mailed the details of the flight. He didn’t suspect that I was off-line for two weeks. My seat was pre-booked so I had only to produce my passport at the counter to get the boarding pass. I was almost the last one to board a hot and stuffy plane.

It was merely a one-hour flight to Johannesburg – the richest city in South Africa or even the whole of Africa. Sprawling city of 6 million people.

The temple is located on the very far outskirts of the city. Some 45min drive from the airport. It was formally an Indian enclave under the apartheid regime.

Formally, the temple was in the city centre but after the collapse of the apartheid regime, the area became non-conducive for preaching coz influx of many black people.

They had to sell the 6-storey building for a very low price and move to this Indian enclave. The temple building was formally a 2-storey flat that was renovated many times to bring about the present shape and size.

The presiding deities are Sri Sri Nitai Gaurahari. Enchanting Brothers

The temple hall in on the 1st floor – about the size of our temple hall.

There are no local brahmacaris here. Three Ukraine devotees and a few local devotees  are doing full-time seva.

The president is a householder who visits the temple probably weekly once.

The two other vice-presidents are also grihastas.

I met the temples devotees and quickly got to know them.

The weather in Johannesburg is quite cool and breezy. It is the beginning of summer. In winter, I was told, it can reach 0 degrees. It is mainly due to the high altitude of Johannesburg – 1000m above sea level.

This evening I was scheduled to speak on Damodara lila since today is the first day. It is an important event here I was told.

The Damodara ghee lamp offering continued from the Sandhya Arati. The crowd gradually swelled to about 200 by 8.00pm.

I spoke for about 1.5 hrs, more than the stipulated time. The audience loved to hear abt Vrindavan pastimes. Next I showed the video on Damodara promotion.

I met one the VPs, HG Vrsabhanu pr, and convinced him about the effectiveness of the programme and he agreed to start off here.

The problem in this temple is there is hardly any proper departmentalization. So it is difficult to get the management team to meet when they are not very organized in areas of preaching.

There is good scope in SA for Damodara programme, though.

Day 14: Wed,  Johannesburg-Pretoria

Mangala arati 0430. Three devotees.

Darsan arati and Guru Puja, two devotees attended including myself. Don’t know what happened to rest of the in-house devotees.

This evening I have a programme in Pretoria, abt 70kms away. I will stay overnight here.

Pretoria is the capital city. It was not in my original itinerary.

The drive took some 1 hr almost. We were running late for the programme because the pick-up was late. The TP of Pretoria, HG Vraja Vallabha pr, a young African devotee, had to come all the way from Pretoria to pick me up. He thought the Johannesburg devotees would send me there. Little
miscommunication.

So we were speeding all the way and reached the nice, chic preaching centre at 7.30pm.

It is a little single-storey bungalow house. They have no deities here, only pictures. I think it is only practical to keep the worship simple and to increase preaching seva.

All the in-house devotees are Africans. It was a good change from the other temples where only Indian devotees dominate.

There were only 15 devotees in the programme, being a weekday. I spoke for 1hr abt Damodara lila and also showed the video on Damodara preaching. They were happy to hear the pastimes of Damodara as though hearing for the first time….

Two matajis were interested to try out the Damodara programme. For a start they were willing to do in a school.

The TP was also willing to give it a try.

Day 15: Thurs, Pretoria – Johannesburg

Pretoria. Mangala arati 0430. Better participation and mood than Johannesburg. I humbly requested to be sent to Johannesburg temple after mangala arati to avoid the morning traffic chaos.

One Maharaja (African descent) led the kirtan. He was HH Bhakti Narasimha Maharaja, a disciple of HH Giriraja Maharaja.

South Africa is a rich country. The infrastructure in the city and buildings are like in Europe. Too many cars on the streets and expensive ones too. The country is materially more prosperous than Malaysia. Nevertheless, poverty and crime exist side-by-side here. The black are the downtrodded communtiy
and most of the major crimes are committed by them.

The whites are the richest community but you don’t see them much outside unless in the exclusive areas and business areas of the cities.

Interestingly, many shops are run by Indians in the place we live in Johannesburg. The area is called Lenasia.

One devotee was kind enough to drive me back to Johannesburg. We reached at 0630hrs.

The temple was closed yesterday for public visit due to overflowing sewer water that was seeping out of the manhole. The front lawn was cover with water including the entrance. The stench was bad. The problem has not been solved till now. The neighbours are faced with the same woes.

I have a programme today at the youth gathering this evening in Randburg. They are called Krishna-Balarama Youths. The gathering was being held in a home Prahladini mtj, my godsister.

The Johanessburg TP, VP, HG Namacarya pr, was telling me how once he and his wife were hijacked in their home by 4 gunmnen. He called out to Lord Narasimhadeva crying for protection. He then told the gumnen that Lord Krishna will protect him. he then pointed to the picture of Lord Krishna to
the gunmen. amazingly, he said, the very next moment they left without harming anyone! This story became a sensation amongst devotees in SA.

I started with bhajans at 8pm the youth gathering and then did a little ice-breaker to get to know them better with them. There were some 40 boys and girls. I spoke briefly on Damodara pastimes. At the end I showed the 11-min Damodara 2007 preaching report video. They were impressed with the
results.

Day 16: Fri, Johannesburg – Durban

Mangala arati 0430hrs. Two devotees.

The most senior devotee staying in the temple here is HG Jaya Radhika dd. She has been serving the deities for 30 years. She is a disciple of HH Giriraja Maharaja.

Like many temples around the world, they have pujari crisis as well here. She asked for my assistance.

She also requested me whether I would like to become the TP here in Johannesburg. This is the second temple that has offered me the seva after Mauritius. I had to politely decline.

My flight to Durban today is at 1340hrs. A mere 50-minute flight.

I will be staying at the famous Sri Sri Radha-Radhanatha temple at Chatsworth.

I was picked up at the airport by two devotees. I was eagerly anticipating to have darsan of the famous Sri Sri Radha-Radhanatha deities.

It was mid-afternoon, so no darsan for now. I was given a room in Srila Prabhupada’s quarters. An opulent room by ISKCON standards. I was embarrassed to be given a VIP treatment. A brahmacari came later on to offer some help. I was requested to give an evening class today since some 100-200
people come every evening for Damodara prayers.

The initial hospitality I received in this temple is by far the best compared to all the previous temples.

At 5pm I was taken to the Govinda’s restaurant for prasadam.

Sandhya arati – 7pm, followed by Damodara Puja.

I spoke on Damodara lila with slide presentation.

This temple, true to its reputation, is one of the most gorgeous temples in ISKCON. Though inaugurated in 1994, the temple still is in good shape. It is very exquisitely done inside.

More than that are the most outstandingly captivating Sri Sri Radha-Radhanatha and Sri Gaurahari. To do justice, one must refer to the DARSAN book. Words are useless to describe their captivating beauty. They have a new altar – cream and gold. The whole thing is a feast to the eyes.

I can see why the devotees are so attached to the Deities.

The TP is a young grhasta who stays in the temple campus. He serves full-time. So do many other volunteers – families, elderly matajis, etc. There are a few brahmacaris here. The temple land is vast. the temple is octagonal in shape and sits in the middle of moat.

Day 17: Sat, Durban

Mangala arati 0430.

Morning SB class in SP quarters. Twenty devotees. SB 10 canto. Prayer of Vedas Personified.

Met The VP, HG Vibhu Caitanya pr,  and later on greeted kindly the TP, HG Svarupa Damodara pr.

Meeting with Nama Hatta leaders at 2.00pm in SP quarters. Presented the Damodara programme. They were keen to try it out.

One family kindly invited me to have prasadam with them in the Govindas and after that I was taken for a little ride around Durban.

Durban is less hectic compared to Johannesburg. I was taken to see the waterfront place where the annual Durban Ratha Yatra ends. It was windy and chilly.

The Ratha Yatra festival is a mega event in Durban. The festival attracts about 100,000 over 3-4 days. Someitmes 6-8 sannyasis attend this festival. I was told, the size of the festival is only increasing. They serve out abt 100,000 plates of prasadam during this event!

There is a vast field where pandals are erected close to the beach. The beach is a popular hangout for the locals. Very interesting and inspiring.

Back at the temple, I was requested to again to do a presentation in the temple after Damodara prayers. Did a presentation on Govardhana pastimes.

A full-filling day of meeting and associating with so many devotees.

to be continued……