Difficult circumstances hindered regular updates on the blog. Not only did I not report on Maharaja’s travels for three weeks but was unable to post daily darshan of Giriraja as well. However, things have now changed and regular blogging will continue once again. We have included a slide-show depicting Maharaja’s travels from Vrndavan to Mayapur and then on to South Africa.
Maharaja’s stay in Vrndavan concluded with a Bhagavad-gita class that he gave at Prabhupada’s house. On his way to Mayapur, he stopped-over at Delhi temple to take darshan of the beautiful Sri Sri Radha Parthasarathi and also gave an evening class in Hindi.
Upon arrival in Mayapur, he rested for a few days in preparation for the kirtan mela that was to follow. This grand event, organized by Sacinandana Maharaja, brought together the top kirtaniyas of ISKCON like Lokanatha Maharaja, BB Govinda Maharaja and Madhava Prabhu; just to name a few. Kadamba Kanana Maharaja led three rocking kirtans during the course of the festival and was supported by Gopal Prabhu’s splendid mrdanga-playing skills.
Maharaja commented that one of the main features of the kirtan mela, apart from the enormous number of visitors, was certainly the stunning darshan of Sri Sri Panca Tattva, Mayapur’s marvelous life-size deities of Lord Caitanya and his associates. In this way, the kirtan mela festival provided a truly transcendental atmosphere and accentuated the one thing that Mayapur dham represents: harinama sankirtan.
Maharaja also presented one morning class during the kirtan mela festival. On the fifth and final day of the mela (15 March), he left Mayapur, to travel to South Africa. He landed in Johannesburg, where he rested for a few days, just giving one class at the Sunday feast at the nearby Pretoria temple.
Currently, Maharaja is visiting Cape Town where he is giving daily Srimad Bhagavatam classes as well as doing various other programs. We will report about those soon.
If you cannot view the slide-show, just visit flickr!
