I spent a week in Mayapur. The international headquarters for the Internation Society for Krsna Consciousness (ISKCON - the group of people commonly known as the hare krsna's). This was quite an amazing experince in many ways. I was given a bike to ride for the time there and was free to do as i please in the small town which is vitually a single road.
Hospitality
Liam has visited Mayapur many times and is quite close to a couple of families who lives there. They are currently building a new temple and guesthouse for travelling pilgrims and he had organised for us to stay there. Never in my life have i experienced such a fantastic level of heartwarming hospitality. The family are strict vaishnavas (krsna devotees) who live simple lives that are rich with spirituality and love. The two families would both invite us for dinner and we'd inevitably have to either let one down or double up on meals. The latter proving almost impossible. The service mood that they express is so strong that when you are eating food the matajis (women) serving you will continually offer more, acceptance bringing giant smiles of hapiness to their faces until you feel the absolute need to stop eating before it becomes painful, even then there is a shadow of dissapointment in their expression, like somehow they've let you down.. if the food was just that little bit tastier then you would most certainly eat it forever. This is no polite token gesture or attempt to follow social custom. The mood of serving and genuinely wanting to please is a sincere emotion coming directly from the heart, a rare and extremely warming experience.
Two of the younger boys in the family who also shared this serving mood played the role of our servants for the time there. No matter how much I insisted they didnt need to, they catered for our every need, most of the time before we requested anything. For example the pedal on my bike broke and in 10 minutes it had gone to a repair guy and come back like new.
Most evenings concluded at around 9pm when Liam and I were invited to Mitali's family home (one of the girls closest to our age) where we enjoyed a glass of hot milk before bed. Getting up at before 4am makes going to bed at 9 very very enjoyable :)
The half built place we stayed in
ISKCON and Devotee Association
On the 2nd day I rode down to ISKCON to visit the temple there. It is an extremely big comlex. Full of western devotees there are school programs and many familys who live in the area send their children there. A giant bramachari asram full of learning bhakta's. As i was parking my bike in the rack, a devotee i recognised happened to be walking past. Adam, i'd met a few times at crossways and the temple in melbourne. Not ignoring the synchronicity of the event I ran up to say hello and spent the afternoon talking about the philosophy. Over the next week I ended up spending quite some time with Adam, attending his morning and evening classes at the gurukul, as well as joining him and the other devotees for mangalarti (4.30am morning worship of the deities) and chanting meditation sessions. The week was truly inspiring on a spiritual level.
Though I'm somewhat private about it, I've been reading the philosophy for many many years, and to an extent my faith in Krsna Consciousness has simply increased steadily throughout that time. But the week I spent in Mayapur took it up a few steps. Mayapur is special to devotees because Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, an incarnation of the Lord in the mood of a devotee of the Lord, was born there only 500 years ago. It is said that Chaitanya is the most merciful of all, and accepts even the most fallen souls. The advancement in realisation and the spiritual connection I felt in that place for the week I was there demonstrated that mercy to me. It is obviously not something I can explain particularly well so I'll just leave it at that. It was a magical time and I hope I never forget it.
During my time associating with the devotees there, I met one guy called Pundarikasha - A very enthusiastic soul. He was insitent on me experiencing the REAL india which he stated meant rural villages and traditional agriculture, etc. I definitely wanted to but it seemed impractical without someone to take you as in such areas no one speaks english. He mentioned he was heading home to his family village near Guwahati in Assam in a few days time but not for long and I had already planned and bought tickets to Darjeeling. Nonetheless I got his details.
Adam
Moving On
Liam and I explored the Dham on our bikes. Visiting a number of temples and a few small villages. One temple was under a giant Banyan tree and everywhere we went had a great vibe to it. Sat 12th I left Mayapur, it didnt feel great leaving but i was looking forward to Darjeeling and a chance at viewing the Himalayas.
Hospitality
Liam has visited Mayapur many times and is quite close to a couple of families who lives there. They are currently building a new temple and guesthouse for travelling pilgrims and he had organised for us to stay there. Never in my life have i experienced such a fantastic level of heartwarming hospitality. The family are strict vaishnavas (krsna devotees) who live simple lives that are rich with spirituality and love. The two families would both invite us for dinner and we'd inevitably have to either let one down or double up on meals. The latter proving almost impossible. The service mood that they express is so strong that when you are eating food the matajis (women) serving you will continually offer more, acceptance bringing giant smiles of hapiness to their faces until you feel the absolute need to stop eating before it becomes painful, even then there is a shadow of dissapointment in their expression, like somehow they've let you down.. if the food was just that little bit tastier then you would most certainly eat it forever. This is no polite token gesture or attempt to follow social custom. The mood of serving and genuinely wanting to please is a sincere emotion coming directly from the heart, a rare and extremely warming experience.
Two of the younger boys in the family who also shared this serving mood played the role of our servants for the time there. No matter how much I insisted they didnt need to, they catered for our every need, most of the time before we requested anything. For example the pedal on my bike broke and in 10 minutes it had gone to a repair guy and come back like new.
Most evenings concluded at around 9pm when Liam and I were invited to Mitali's family home (one of the girls closest to our age) where we enjoyed a glass of hot milk before bed. Getting up at before 4am makes going to bed at 9 very very enjoyable :)
The half built place we stayed in
ISKCON and Devotee Association
On the 2nd day I rode down to ISKCON to visit the temple there. It is an extremely big comlex. Full of western devotees there are school programs and many familys who live in the area send their children there. A giant bramachari asram full of learning bhakta's. As i was parking my bike in the rack, a devotee i recognised happened to be walking past. Adam, i'd met a few times at crossways and the temple in melbourne. Not ignoring the synchronicity of the event I ran up to say hello and spent the afternoon talking about the philosophy. Over the next week I ended up spending quite some time with Adam, attending his morning and evening classes at the gurukul, as well as joining him and the other devotees for mangalarti (4.30am morning worship of the deities) and chanting meditation sessions. The week was truly inspiring on a spiritual level.
Though I'm somewhat private about it, I've been reading the philosophy for many many years, and to an extent my faith in Krsna Consciousness has simply increased steadily throughout that time. But the week I spent in Mayapur took it up a few steps. Mayapur is special to devotees because Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, an incarnation of the Lord in the mood of a devotee of the Lord, was born there only 500 years ago. It is said that Chaitanya is the most merciful of all, and accepts even the most fallen souls. The advancement in realisation and the spiritual connection I felt in that place for the week I was there demonstrated that mercy to me. It is obviously not something I can explain particularly well so I'll just leave it at that. It was a magical time and I hope I never forget it.
During my time associating with the devotees there, I met one guy called Pundarikasha - A very enthusiastic soul. He was insitent on me experiencing the REAL india which he stated meant rural villages and traditional agriculture, etc. I definitely wanted to but it seemed impractical without someone to take you as in such areas no one speaks english. He mentioned he was heading home to his family village near Guwahati in Assam in a few days time but not for long and I had already planned and bought tickets to Darjeeling. Nonetheless I got his details.
Adam
Moving On
Liam and I explored the Dham on our bikes. Visiting a number of temples and a few small villages. One temple was under a giant Banyan tree and everywhere we went had a great vibe to it. Sat 12th I left Mayapur, it didnt feel great leaving but i was looking forward to Darjeeling and a chance at viewing the Himalayas.
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