Melbourne, May 2015

Written by Michael

Travelling from Brisbane, after a seamlessly smooth landing into the then-expected arctic Melbourne, the temperature didn’t actually seem too bad; a little fresh, as the Europeans call it. To keep things short and sweet, below I will convey some highlights of the stay here, before our departure to Canberra tomorrow (20 May).

On Wednesday, 13 May, Maharaja was invited to an Urban Yoga event entitled “Mindfulness and Meditation”, where he addressed the value and importance of connecting with the Divine, to a group of mainly university students and budding yoga practitioners.

The evening of the day after was definitely my highlight of the week. Maharaja was invited to lead a mantra session at Mantra Lounge, Grattan St. As always, the kirtan was incredible, however at a certain point, Maharaja slowed down his melodious transitions, and spoke to the again ‘university student filled’ room. Eyes closed, he took us on a journey from where we were situated and ascended up towards the spiritual realms, past the Sapta Rsi’s, past Janaloka, past Brahmaloka, gradually penetrating the eight coverings of the universal shell and beyond. I won’t give the conclusion away but the recording is right below.

Friday evening was packed with a maha-harinama. A large number of devotees and distinguished guests were invited, such as HG Hari Sauri Prabhu (ACBSP) and Melbourne’s temple president, HG Aniruddha das. Maharaja led the harinama through the high streets outside the Town Hall. We went into an enclosed space and the kirtan sound waves rattled the nearby windows! Another kirtan which was as powerful as harinama that reached heights extremely close to Kingsday last month, was for the 40^th Anniversary Celebration for ISKCON Melbourne on Sunday (17 May). My word, that was serious! For three hours, the whole temple room was jumping up and down, and if for whatever reason somebody had not been satisfied with the kirtans before, they definitely would’ve been left satisfied with that! Maharaja was invited to give the Sunday Feast lecture, in which you could say, he gave a cannonball of a talk. Hear it below.

Canberra and Sydney, here we come…

Photos

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