Damodara World Launch Diary 1, Part 5
Posted by iskconklnews on November 3, 2008
Day 18: Sun, Durban & Phoenix: Dis day of Narottama das Thakur and
Appearance anniversary of Sri Sri Radha-Radhanatha deities.
Mangala arati 0430.
Being a Sunday more than 60 people attended the MA. The Sunday Feast starts at 4.00pm. Nevertheless some devotees choose to come in the morning.
Today I was requested to speak on the pastimes of Narottama dasa Thakur, one of my favourite katha. I didn’t have much resources to refer. But i could recall some pastimes.
Today is also a very special day for ISKCON Durban – the installation anniversary of Sri Sri Radha-Radhanatha. The deities were in Their new purple outfits. They were simple out-of-world.
I was inspired to speak a little on deity pastimes and Srila Prabhupada’s deity installation lectures. I quoted from Srila Prabhupada’s lectures in LA. Mayapur and Vrindavan on this subject matter.
Using an existing slide presentation on Guru Parampara that I had in my notebook, I spoke on Narrottama dasa Thakur’s glorious lila for 1-hour plus.
It was past 9.00am and I asked the TP was it OK to continue and he nodded. I did not knwo what the culture is here. In some ISKCON temples, the management is very strcit with class timings.
The subject matter on Vaisnavas pastimes are very dear to me and I felt the congregation devotees were also very deeply moved by the pastimes of Narottama dasa Thakur Mahasaya.
After that I was fortunate to be invited to do the Guru Puja for Narrotama dasa Mahasaya. w have never done this in our temple. They had a picture of Narottama dasa on a simhasana.
A congregation devotee couple celebrated the birthday of their one-year old son in the temple. They also sponsored the morning breakfast morning breakfast. It was such a delicious feast.
There was a cake-cutting ceremony and we all sang the standard ISKCON birthday song.
I was feeling more and more at home here. The devotees were generally very friendly and hospitable. I made many friends quickly.
This afternoon another istagosthi was arranged with Nama Hatta leaders. I had to do the Damodara presentation once again. Immediately the devotees cooked up some little plans on what to do next. On Nov 1st, the temple isholding a big Govardhan Puja festival in a large hall in town. They expect abt 4000 people to attend. So a Damodara booth will be added to the event!
It is a good start.
Form here I had to rush to Phoenix temple for the Sunday Feast. Phoenix is a neighbouring township where many Indians reside. There is a new temple built here by the local congregation.
It is a huge temple with Lord Jagannatha-Baladeva-Subhadra. The TP is HG Prabhanhu pr who arranged my SA programme.
The temple sits perched on top of a small hill surrounded by thousands of houses, mostly Indians.
I spoke on the 180-odd devotees on Narottama’s pastimes. Immediately after that the Tp organized for a meeting with the leaders where I had the chance to do the Damodara promotion.
Phoenix temple is amazing for one thing. There are no full-time devotees here. The entire Deity seva is managed by congregation devotees. (60 of them are in the roster!)
On the other hand, when I had a chat with the TP, i could sense the struggle he (they) are undergoing to upgrade and maintain the temple.
Over the years, after seeing the struggle of BIG temples in ISKCON, I am happy that we have a small, chic temple in KL. This helps us to focus our energy on preaching and other seva. Large temples were not in Srila Prabhupada’s priority list, unless a yatra in large enought to sustain it.
In KL, we are growing based on our needs not wants. Now we are caught in a happy problem – too many activites with insufficient infrastructure. So it is time to expand our building….similar to ISKCON Chowpatty which has not seen a day without renovation and extension work going on all these years.
This is one good lesson for SJMKL to learn.
Immediately after the presentation, I headed back to Durban temple just in time for he 8.30pm Sayana Arati.
My last full day in SA and the last leg in my tour.
Day 19: Mon, Durban – Mauritius – Chennai
Mangala arati. My chanting has been very good. Great spiritual feeling.
Performed Srila Prabhupada Guru Puja (farewell gift, I suppose). This morning’s class was a recorded Srila Prabhupada’s class. It was an interesting class on BG by HDG.
My time in SA is running out. The TP was keen to hear abt the Spiritual Counsellor System and the mechanics. He had been enthused after hearing from HH Bhakti Caitanya Swami abt the ’success’ in KL.
After traveling far and wide in ISKCON world, I have become more convinced that the best panacea to revive the spiritual atmosphere our temples is the devotee care programme. One may call it in any other name, but the principle of training, caring and guiding devotees may prove to be the missing puzzle in our society.
I shared with the TP and VP, my realizations and experience. He was happy and is geared to implement it in Durban.
Though my mission is to promote the Damodara programme, the SCS promotion was a bonus. I speak about it whenever I can in my travels.
My car leaves at noon to the airport. One mataji from Mauritius is also traveling with me. She is a very senior mataji (a disciple of HH Bhakti Caru Swami). She disembarks in Mauritius. I transit in Mauritius for 1.5 hr and continue to Chennai (6.5 hrs flight).
The total journey takes abt 15 hrs to reach Chennai.
The devotees were kind enough to pack lunch prasadam.
After 3 wonderful days in Durban, it is quite sad to leave. But my mission is over and Chanakya Pandit says, a guest should not stay more than 3 days in a place.
A few devotees came to the airport to send me and the mataji off.
Safe the best for the last as they say…similarly SA was the best of the tour and promising as well for Damodara programme to take off.
Flight was delayed fro almost an hour. I was concerned coz my connecting flight was at 11.30pm in Mauritius to Chennai.
Anyway i left it to Krishna to take care.
Just before the landing, the cabin crew invited me to the front seat so that I can disemabrk early.
To my surprise, the same plane is scheduled to leave for Chennai!
So the departure time was also delayed due to late arrival. So we hade some2 hrs in Mauritius airport before leaving for Chennai
I spent much time today in the plane and airport. Such a bore. Only company, the Holy Name…
