On Saturday 15th May, maharaj flew in from Sweden and landed at Heathrow airport. A long car journey through the London traffic took us to the heart of the city to Soho temple. Maharaj went straight into the evening Bhagavad-gita class. He talked about the different levels of faith, all the way from the faith of the materialists, to the pure topmost faith of the gopi’s. After the enlivening talk, we went straight into the world famous London Saturday night harinam. Around 50 devotees danced and chanted through the bustling evening crowds (see video) as maharaj led a powerful kirtan. Sunday morning he gave the Caitanya Caritamrta class at Soho temple and explained the intricacies and dangers of mayavada philosophy. There was a really good Q&A session which got everyone thinking on a deeper level about what mayavada really is and how it actually relates to us.
After a one hour rest (!) we drove to Leicester where he arrived just in time for the Sunday program. Maharaj gave another great class, this time on the 6 enemies (lust, anger, greed, envy, illusion, madness) and how we rid ourselves of them through surrender to Krishna. By this time maharaj was feeling quite exhausted but nevertheless led an ecstatic Gaura Arati kirtan. Maharaj then met many of the Leicester devotees after the program, and they requested he return again very soon!
Monday morning maharaj left for Oxford to spend some time with Gopinathacarya prabhu and the devotees there. He stayed there for 3 days. I went on Thursday morning to pick maharaj up and take him to the manor, and he told me about the last few days. He explained about how he spent time reading and chanting, and flicking through different books that were at the house. He was reading about different kinds of monks and as we came down to London, maharaj was reflecting on how we have to create a spiritual space within our lives to go deep into our sacred teachings. We are so engaged in multitasking and different activities that we often neglect to make quality time for spiritual contemplation and deep study. This all came out in the morning class at the manor where maharaj talked about the ‘Hiranyakasipou civilisation’ we are living in, and how even devotees can become entangled in that. Hari Sauri prabhu was there and mentioned some Prabhupada pastimes relating to the class, and also thanked maharaj for making very interesting and important points. Maharaj then went to meet Jayadvaita Swami who had also just arrived in the UK.
On Friday morning Kadamba Kanana maharaj left for Germany – another round of ratha yatra’s and festivals…