South India Preaching Report, Part 2
BY: SUSHEN KRSNA DASA
Srila Gurudev His Divine Grace Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj
Jun 13, ORISSA, INDIA (SUN) — After attending the Mangal Arotik and taking the blessings of Gurudev, Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj, and five devotees under the auspicious leadership of HH Bhakti Prapanna Tirtha Maharaj, we started from Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math on 6th May (Dwadasi) 2006, towards South India. The other four devotees who attended were HG Jagadananda Prabhu from USA, Sripad Anandavardhan Prabhu from Hungary, HG Ram See Prabhu from West Bengal, and Sushen Krsna das from Orissa. For the pleasure of Gurudev, Sripad Anandavardhan Prabhu took all the photos and videos of this South India preaching seva.
Srila Gurudev His Divine Grace Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Swami (Sripad Maharaj)
Sripad Bhakti Madhava Puri Maharaj
Sripad Bhakti Prapanna Tirtha Maharaj
HH Bhakti Madhava Puri Maharaj has great appreciation for HH Bhakti Prapanna Tirtha Maharaj, who is a senior disciple of Srila Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, and has taken sannyasa from Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj. He has been serving Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj for many years, and Gurudev also has a lot of appreciation for his sincere services to the Gaudiya Guru Parampara. HH Bhakti Prapanna Tirtha Maharaj is born and brought up from Assam, the neighboring state of Manipur, which is the birth place of our dear Gurudev, Srila Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Swami Maharaj. His ancestors are originally from East Bengal, which is at present in Sri Hata district of Bangladesh.
The train started from Kolkata Railway station at 7:10AM in the morning, and the devotees reached Kharagpur station at 9AM. Devotees met our dear godbrother, HG Purushottama Jagannatha Prabhu on the train. Taking the darshan of a very dear disciple of Srila Gurudev, Sripad Maharaj, devotees were certain that the yatra would be a great success.
The train reached Bhubaneswar station around 2PM, where our very dear godbother Sripad Trustiman Prabhu from IYF, Bhubaneswar, mercifully arranged maha prasadam for all the devotees on the train. Devotees felt this was special mercy and the blessings of Srila Sripad Maharaja. All these auspicious events on the way gave the devotees an abundance of spiritual happiness.
Family members (mother, grand mother, younger sister and aunt)
of Sushen Krsna das taking blessing from Sripad Bhakti Prapanna Tirtha Maharaj
The train reached Berhampur station in Orissa at 5PM. Sushen Krsna das' family members, along with his mother, younger sister, grandmother, uncle, aunt and their daughter; received the blessings from Sripad Bhakti Prapanna Tirtha Maharaj. Maharaja gave a lot of spiritual nourishment by delivering Krsna Katha at the Berhampur station. They also arranged evening maha prasadam for devotees on the train.
The devotees reached their first destination station, Vijayawada in South Indian, around 3AM on 7th May, 2009. At the station, our dear godbrothers, Sripad Nama Sankirtan Prabhu, Sripad Braja Gopal Prabhu, Sripad Krsna Prema Pada Prabhu, Sripad Venkata Krsna Prabhu and Sripad Vaisanava Das Prabhu from Vijayawada met the devotees and offered prasadi mala (offered garlands to deities and Guru varga) to Sripad Bhakti Prapanna Tirtha Maharaj and devotees.
Sripad Nama Sankirtan Prabhu
Sripad Nama Sankirtan Prabhu is a senior-most disciple of Gurudev and is the first devotee who helped Srila Sripad Maharaj start the preaching program in Vijayawada. By Sripad Nama Sankirtan Prabhu's sincere and dedicated service to Srila Sripad Maharaj, he brought many sincere souls to Gurudev. He has successfully preached both outside and inside his family. Sometimes, we find that it is easy to preach outside, but very difficult to preach inside the family. Due to his sincerity and dedication to Srila Sripad Maharaj, Sripad Nama Sankirtan Prabhu got special empowerment from Srila Gurudev. He inspired many devotees to seriously take up Krsna consciousness under the shelter of sadhus, Gurudev and the Vaisnavas. Devotees felt very fortunate to have the association of such a wonderful servant of Srila Gurudev and his big devotee family. Devotees also were very happy to see the special motor cycle of Sripad Nama Sankirtan Prabhu. The Hare Krsna kirtan of Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Narasimha kirtan and many more auspicious kirtans start playing automatically when Sripad Nama Sankirtan Prabhu's motor cycle starts running. He has been preaching throughout Vijayawada for many years on this special vehicle.
Sripad Nama Sankirtan Prabhu and Sripad Krsna Prema Pada Prabhu
Sripad Nama Sankirtan Prabhu arranged for stay of devotees in the house of Sripad Krsna Prema Pada Prabhu. Devotees were very inspired to see the service attitude of Sripad Nama Sankirtan Prabhu and the devotees of Vijayawada. Sripad Krsna Prema Pada Prabhu arranged for a special air conditioning in the room of his house for the stay of Sripad Bhakti Prapanna Tirtha Maharaj, as it was the hot Indian summer.
Harinam Maha Sankirtan on 7th May 2009 in Vijayawada
