On Vraja Journal - Backlog and so forth

As you may have noticed, there's a bit of a backlog there... Not the least due to the recently fried transformer here at Radha-kunda that left us without electricity for two days. Plus, I've been keeping real busy with everyone coming and going, taking diksha and so forth, and preparing all sorts of papers and explaining things and so forth. Now it should cool down a bit.

Tomorrow I'll try and catch up a couple of days. Today's entry, on the diksha-day of Braja and Rasaraja, got a bit long, I cut it in two parts.

Any thoughts on the contents, do you need more philosophy, is the current level good? I would rather not turn them into essays to keep them lightly readable, yet I also wish to throw in a bit of something to chew on now and then to give more meaning to the events taking place.

Any other thoughts, comments, anything?

If you'd like to help us out with making Vraja Journal more available, copy and paste the following to your website:


It'll produce the following:

I also seem to have amassed a good deal of backlog in correspondence, both PMs and e-mails. I'll try to clear out much of it tomorrow. Thanks for everyone's patience.

I myself am finding your Vraja Journals totaly sublime! I am especially fond of the pics you take...those birds! everything.... I tend to shy away from long wordy entries of anykind, so for me the short descripts with a dash of philosophy or a meaningful verse here and there is nectar.

Being that I have not yet travelled to India, I find it just fascinating and am indebted to you for your commitment in this regard. I loved the videos, but sadly could only get two to play, the rest I only get that annoying "Ambience" visual psychedellia that windows media player throws at you. Did I miss something? is there something I need to download?

Who am I to suggest, I am fortunate to catch any glimpse or read any descript you have to offer...

Just a note to let everyone know that all of my PMs are now replied to. (There were only four pages of messages to be sorted into folders...) If you didn't get a reply yet, please resend. And now, to the e-mails... A couple of days of Vraja Journal coming up sometime tonight.

So we were blacked out again since yesterday 7 PM, and the show goes on. I have a little bit of battery to check in now and post a couple of posts, I'm hoping to have proper electricity sometime later today to get back to Vraja Journal.

from Vraja Journal:


They were perhaps the most beautiful Thakurjis I have ever seen a pic of! I feel undeserving even to have caught a glimpse of Them

Thank you Madhava for helping bring such nectar into my workplace everyday!

By the way....my wife is watching the newest video you uploaded.... she asked,

"where are the western people?"

"who's the guy with the garlands who is talking very candidly with those seated about him?...He's leading everyone in a bhajan now..."

"I hear peacocks" ...what are they doing? washing clothes in the Radhakund? Their beating em up with a stick!"

"Not too many people in saffron, are there?"

"wow, a transcendental traffic jam..."

"wow, that was really cool!"

( Q:'s from Wendy )

Short replies for Wendy:

The Western people are in the West. Now is the cold season, and not all that many people stay around. There were perhaps a dozen Westerners attending the festival, and quite a few more Indians, so that's why they don't show up.

The person talking and leading a bhajan is a famous kirtaniya from Radha-kunda. The name escapes me right now.

Yes, the ladies there are wasing clothes in Surya-kunda. Not Radha-kunda. The local style is to beat the clothes with sticks, rocks and what not until they are neat and clean. Needless to say, the clothes become a bit worn out pretty soon with this method.

No, there aren't many people in saffron. However you'll find that a god majority of those who don't wear a dhoti, but rather a sismple cloth a bit like the sannyasi's, white and often a bit shorter, are vairagis.

Radhe Radhe!

sorry, my dear friend Madhava.
there is a little mistake:

i didnt send Babaji Maharaja some fifty letters...
maybe funny man Yugalji made a joke...

it had been around 10-11 or something...

loving regards
Tarunji the blissful

again enjoying the journal, now with a somewhat different perspective...

I wonder why this is. Didnt Swami A.C. Prabhupada spend a good deal of time there or am I mistaken?

I will add this to my own Blog for you

Surya-kunda? No, not that I'd know of.

Now that you mention the saffron-wallahs again, I remember that the Surya-deva temple on the other shore of Surya-kunda from Siddha Madhusudan Das Baba's samadhi is currently taken care of by any one branch of Gaudiya Math, I forget whether they are Shrauti Maharaja's followers, or whose. The temple used to be under Mauni Baba's supervision, but was handed over under the care of this Gaudiya Math after his departure. They are also friendly people there, seem to come along fine with the people on the opposite shore.

So, in theory you should have good chances of seeing some more saffron-clad people there than in your average mahotsava. However, please note that the customary Gaudiya Math renunciates do not dress in the bright orange robes that we often see in ISKCON, but rather (for the most part) dress in light peach color clothes.

Just about perfect. Personally, I really go for the personal experiences more than the dashes of philosophy, but that probably highlights my weaknesses... not that the philosophy drags it down at all, but I would like to see more personal impressions, esp. on parikrama of the various spots. I love entries like today's; Going half-Govardhan.

I also wish you could have about four times as many pictures

No I ment radha Kunda, sorry.



Right, and how about your lineage? I have only seen white. For that matter are there any full time monks at the temple where your BabaJi holds top chair?

I personally perfer my blue jeans and a Kurta

peace,
b

Mostly it's just white. Some Goswamis in the temples of Vrindavan and elsewhere are into yellow. Many of the ascetic babas had once white clothes that are gray since a long time, colored by the dust of Vraja. I recall hearing Tinkudi Goswami used to dress in a piece of sack cloth.

But blue jeans aren't mentioned in the Hari-bhakti-vilasa.

* * *

DharmaChakra, pictures - you mean amidst the texts, or in the views-section? I am thinking, once we get this electricity issue resolved properly and the backlog of journals out of the way, I could post series of pics on various themes right here at GD, next to Nabadip's excellent collections. Would that be interesting?

Indeed it would.
Back to monks, are there any in your Baba`s temple?

Any and all I really like the inline pics, as they tend to be a little more informal & on topic as it were... I wish you could enlarge them however. I do know there are bandwidth issues.

Of course it would be interesting to see series of pics.. hint, hint, I love samadhi pics

Monks? As in the ISKCON-equivalent of brahmachari and sannyasi? Yes, there are vairagis there in the ashram. In fact, I don't think there are any others there. Householders are holding on to their own houses.

There aren't really bandwidth issues as such. However there are time issues and electricity issues... (As you see, I am already a week behind here...) If there are any particular pics of which you'd like to get larger versions, feel free to ask. For example, in this thread.

But now, bed-time.

Wendy sez:

Thanks!

such interesting inhabitants, what a wonder and marvel it must be to be a Vrajabasi/Brijbasi or local as they say in California

At the beginning of that video, it looked like there were rows and rows of...? was all of that a bhoga offering, so that everyone gets maha-prasadam? or what?

I heard a story that Krsna made Radha kund by stomping his foot and his footprint filled up... (i don't know if that is correct or not) so I am wondering if there is a story behind Surya kunds manifestation?

That was called Causathi Mahant bhoga, or a bhoga-offering to all sixty-four associates of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. There might have been a good many more of the plates there, but that's what it's called anyway.

That story you mention is related with Radha-kunda and Shyama-kunda.

There is an account of the appearance of Sri Radha-kunda at the MVT website which says that Krishna struck his heel into the ground to create the kunda, plus there are links (at top of the page) to some other topics such as Mahaprabhu's rediscovery of Radha-kunda and Shyama-kunda, and a description of the "Sangam" or meeting place of the two kundas known as Ratna-vedi, which means jeweled altar.

Also there are some nice photos and a description of "Ma Jahnava's Sitting Place" and her meeting with Srila Raghunatha dasa Goswami from Bhakti-ratnakara, which I had not come across before.

Very inspiring Vraja topics!

Jaya! Thank you Kamala for sharing that..... I always enjoy learning about the Holy Dham

Out of electricity since three days now. Battery just now finished. Will try to log in tomorrow.

Dont worry, we are still here

It must be very frustrating...after getting all your gear together, formulating a update system and then the lines go down for days at a time.

I just want you to know that what you are doing is still very much appreciated on this end of the line

Garlands,
Brajamani

Dear Madhava,

Take care and i wish you more electricity!

Well, we got it back now a couple of hours ago. However now it's off again, the obligatory daily outage. This is just nuts!

Radhe! Thanks for the sweetest day of all: "He will speak to you." Certainly was worth the wait, for me.

I am still writing my official autobiographical diksa memories--apologies to all who have asked for me to say something...anything. It's been hard adjusting to life back in the US and I tend to think too much when trying to put something together.

A small addition: when Baba picked Giridhari up, he looked at him with a wonderful expression--part concern and evaluation, part admiration and affection--then stroked his face, almost as if he were preening him.

I cooked a large feast for Giridhari this past weekend so I'm expecting some words from him any time now. I mean, he can't really require that much feeding can he?

Well, he is sort of a world-record holder. I think he's got Lord Jagannath beat, at least on one day a year.

Greetings from the sunny and ever so fragrant Delhi. We just stopped near Nehru place, Yugal is picking up some books and I'm logging in on the road for some work mails, and also checking in at GD.

I'll try and get a couple of days of Vraja Journal out of the way tonight. Yesterday it seems that all these interesting topics at GD stole all my time and concentration.

Madhavaji, while you're there you could try asking Sri Ananta dasji about the significance of Sad-bhuja worship for Gaudiyas, as per an earlier topic in this forum?

Would be great if everybody understood that since the 10th when electricity returned, I am not exactly in "full speed" yet. I have 10 days worth backlog in a couple of coding projects I was supposed to complete ages ago, practically all correspondence is unanswered as of yet, Vraja Journal is unacceptably late, and I am finding it hard to find energy for taking care of all that asap, given that particularly while in the dham, I am also trying to do some sort of bhajan daily, and for that I need some energy also, I cannot just drain myself wholesale as I have sometimes done back in Finland. The days have been packed enough without the backlog, and with it they're really very packed.

So please bear with me. And please don't think I am neglecting your letters or whatever. I'm just one small person with a heck of a lot of things to do. Somehow I've managed to post something to GD lately, thank god for that.

Good for you! Do your bhajan. You'll be in Finland again before you know it and wondering why you did not take more advantage of the chance you had to do a little intense bhajan. Keep your priorities right.

Just keep a few notes so that you can post something from time to time and give a fuller account of what happened when you get back.

And I hope folks don't expect me to have too much of a presence over the next month either...

I second that wholeheartedly!

Yes.. you are definately no good to us wiped out Do the needful. Vrajajournal is a nice thing to have, but why neglect your time in the dham for it? It will always be there, but you will not always be there. (oh what beautifully ugly english...)

I agree. Madhavaji, don't worry, and take your spiritual inspiration from Vraja and bring some back for us.

Dear friend Madhava,

sorry for any inconvenience...

please please take your time for spiritual things.

you do a most WONDERFUL seva to all the devotees here and THERE!

my heartfelt dandavats
with deep respect

Tarunji

Dear Madhava,

Don't catch the bear..... just joking...hahahahaha...

Take Your time, take rest and thank you for everything.....
best wishes from:
Tamal, Rati Manjari and Krishna Caitanya to you and your wife....

Madhavaji,
You are one of those amazing jivas that get 10~fold more done than most. On top of doing your daily bhajan... whew!
Next time you could bring a secretary along.... and what do you know about that? I am available!

And on all those PMs... until tomorrow.

I'm seriously considering the purchase of a battery here. This electricity is too erratic and too disruptive to my daily routine. Imagine digging up your laptop whenever there was electricity, and being worried over when it'll be over.

I know the feeling.....especially when you can't cook amiya.....

Radhe Radhe all!

Now that we have electricity (unlike the other half of Radha Kund, their transformer fried the day before yesterday), the smart Reliance Infocom people figured it is a good idea to shut down their entire local network for a week as they set up a new tower somewhere around here. We've made alternative arrangements for a connection from Hutch to get online, right now I'm at an internet cafe at Govardhan.

Jagat arrived here safe and sound, and we've been having good time here. Yesterday we went to Govardhan for the full parikrama. I'll fill you in with the rest later.

Wow. What a phrase. What an intersection of the ancient and the modern, what an indication that is of how much the internet has spread and become intertwined with our lives.

Perhaps it simply struck me because I have never been to India, so I often think of holy places as they were represented in Scripture. Somehow the internet is not a part of my picture of them at all. I've certainly heard stories about internet access in remote areas, but did not connect that in my mind with holy sites from Scriptures until I read that line.

I am so happy Jagat arrived safely and is enjoying himself.

I didn't mention their PC had a bluetooth connection to the N-Gage they used for internet access.

Is that Internet Cafe next to NM's place in Govardhan finally up and running or is this another place, maybe in the Boro Bazar?

Yes, that's the one and only.

I'm now back at Radhakund and the network is still down. I'm getting a battery today, thanks to a kind contributor, and will have my working facilities improved somewhat. Now, if only this damn network started working, too...

And a shared note to everyone who's asking: No I am not upset with anyone, no I am not uncomfortable answering anyone's messages, and no there is no other reason related to you for my not replying yet. My phone just doesn't have any network at all, I cannot even use the phone for calling anyone. If this doesn't get fixed by Monday, I'm going to do something about it; that means having to waste some money to get things working.

And I'd like to say it one more time.

I DO NOT HAVE INTERNET CONNECTION AT THE MOMENT. I will announce in this thread as soon as I get a connection. I am now at an internet cafe at Govardhan, but I cannot really handle most of my mails here since I can't hook up my laptop with the network here.

Please don't expect replies to your PMs or letters until the situation normalizes. And please don't send me messages asking why I haven't replied, unless there is something more to the message as well. I really can't reply to anyone until I get my connection fixed up again.

And for repetition's sake, I will announce in this thread when things return to normal again. Thanks for everyone for understanding.

So, we finally have -- after five phones with two providers -- one god-sent phone that works, that we're swapping with Yugal. I'm hoping to get my phone back online sometime soon.

The guys on top of the tower they just built seem pretty serious about it.

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I'll try to send messages to everyone who's waiting for one sometime tomorrow or the day after. Thanks for the patience!

So so...

The network returned. To others. My phone was incidentally broken as well and had to be sent to Agra for repairs. All the while, Yugal's phone was going on and off due to his antenna damage. Once I finally got my phone back, my laptop's adapter fried due to a voltage overload (yes, even through my APC UPS, go figure), and that had to be sent to Delhi for repairs. By the time I got everything up and running, I had about a week of the journey left.

Murphy would envy me.

Anyhow, we have careful notes of everything. Malati has several notebooks filled in. As soon as we settle down a bit, we'll continue with the journal.

We also have about two dozen hours of video footage, of which select clips will be available online, and the rest on DVDs in the course of the next two or so months to come.

Can I just ask if any more of Baba's books are due to be printed. Like the last time Madhava went he got three books printed. Any plans for any more any time soon?

I have a manuscript with Madhurya-kadambini with a huge quantity of corrections here and there. I need to enter that in, and then have Braja check that against his own corrections, and then review that, and then start the layout.