Timeline of His Holiness Jayapataka Swami's Life - 2001-2010
2010 November 07 - Secretary Diary. 20101107 Balarāmadeśa. Balarāmadeśa
Report of Balaramdesh visit 2010
Hare Krishna!
Sri Sri Radha Bahraineeshwar ki… Jai!
Sri Sri Krishna Balaram ki… Jai!
Sri Sri Radha Gopalakrishna ki…Jai!
Devotees here in Balaramdesh were beaming with happiness & bliss on hearing the news of the arrival of our beloved Guru Maharaj, whom we last saw 27th May 2009.
Although it may have been one year since we had our GM’s association, it felt like a life time. So without misusing even a minute every one began making preparations for GM’s most anticipated visit…
So here is a brief entry on the glorious 4days & 4nights we Balaramdesh devotees experienced…
Day 1: 7th Nov (Sun)
A couple of the temple officials went to collect GM & His accompanying disciples Mahavaraha Prabhu, Madhava Kanth Prabhu, Dharesh Prabhu & Deva Gauranga Prabhu. GM was to stay in one of his disciple’s house (a brand new house which the devotee was glad his GM house warmed)…
GM was met by a couple of his little aspiring disciples who sang Kirtan & offered flowers at his lotus feet, after which he honored prasadam, addressed each & every assembled devotee (say around 10-15) and then distributed some prasadam.
The stroke that affected our GM was surely a huge blow to us. But as we say “Every cloud has a silver lining!” And in our context, the huge blow surely did help us become more mature and less self centered… There was no huge crowd in the apartment (which would not have been the case in the pre-stoke times), all the devotees stuck to timetable and did not bend or break any rules to have another peek of their beloved GM. It surely took a lot of endurance, but still they did it.
Finally at 10:45 he went & had rest.
Day 2: 8th Nov (Mon)
As usual GM woke up at 6am and then later at around 7.30am had his face therapy, after which he honored the breakfast prasadam while some devotees sang soft Kirtan.
GM then proceeded to a pool to do his regular therapy. An accompanying devotee said that, while doing His walking in the water therapy (one of the pool therapies) with every step he took he used to chant the Hare Krishna Mahamantra & this really inspired the local devotees. Then from there he left to the apartment where he had lunch prasadam and then had some rest. At around 5pm GM began doing his physiotherapy, after which he met HG Sudevi mathaji who flew from Shyamadesh along with her Prabhu to serve GM.
GM then honored the dinner prasadam & finally set off to have darshan of Sri Sri Radha Bahraineeshwar & Krishna Balaram (the presiding deities of ISKCON Balaramdesh). As a sign of warm welcome little girls & boys, headed by mathajis, sang a wonderful bhajan dedicated to Gurumaharaj. GM was really impressed.
He then gave a short discourse on Lord Giridhari’s activities, as the previous day was Govardhana puja day… and the temple had a beautiful model of Lord Giridari lifting the Govardhana hill! GM was so impressed by this that He asked all assembled devotees to circumambulate Govardhana, as Govardhana is none other than Krishna.
And to have a darshan of this beautiful scene & HH Jayapataka Swami devotees came in flocks, in spite it being just another week day.
Mahavaraha Prabhu said that since they didn’t want to overstress GM, the schedule was to have, one programme per day. But he said that tomorrow would have to be an exception as tomorrow was the disappearance day of Srila Prabhupada.
Day 3: 9th (Tue)
Srila Prabhupada ki… Jai! To the legacy he set before us, ki… Jai!
GM woke up as usual at 6am, had His face therapy. Today the physiotherapist came at around 8am in the morning as GM had “a full programme packed day” in front of Him.
A heart touching incident occurred today. While a disciple was helping GM stand on his feet, he sort of lost his balance and banged his head against GM’s… For a moment the whole scene froze & the said disciple was dumbstruck.
GM was the first to break the silence. He asked the disciple.. “Did your head hurt when it hit mine?”..
When I heard this, the first thing that came to my mind was the incident of Brighu Muni being asked by Lord Vishnu, whether his foot hurt when he kicked His chest…
Before heading out to the temple, GM went to the gym owned by a devotee’s brother (therefore it could be arranged for the whole gym to be evacuated when GM wanted to use it). Whilst doing His regular exercise therapy (under the guidance of a trainer), the employees of the gym along with its owner came to seek GM’s blessings and as soon as they finished offering their obeisances, GM quickly asked his servant devotees to hand him some dry prasadam, so that he could distribute it..
Then exactly at twelve GM arrived at Iskcon Balaramdesh (and was met by a wonderful kirtan, along with little bhaktas & bhaktins offering flowers. GM did Abhishekam to Srila Prabhupada followed by Guru Arti. Devotees were both enthralled and delighted to actually witness their GM do Abhisekam & Arti (with the help of Dev Gauranga Prabhu and the Pujari Prabhu). All the assembled devotees then offered Puspanjali to Srila Prabhupad under GM’s lead.
The afternoon programme was thus concluded with GM offering ghee lamp to Lord Damodar while devotees gleefully recited the Damodarastaka. GM remained in the temple after that & had His lunch prasadam and then had some rest.
Early in the evening itself He left for Radha Gopala Krishna temple. And there, he was received by a typical Kerala style grand welcome ceremony called the “Chendda Mela” along with devotee children standing either side to offer flowers at His Lotus Feet.
This grand welcome ceremony was followed by GM giving his homage to Srila Prabhupad by pushpanjali. He then sang the first lines of Sri Sri Guru Astaka & then performed Srila Prabhupada’s arti by placing his right hand on each and every paraphernalia before the Pujari performed the arti.
GM then addressed the assembled devotees and gave a discourse on the greatness of Srila Prabhupad & about the value of the legacy he left behind Him… During the discourse he mentioned some of the special moments he had with Prabhupad during His final pastimes. He said that on an auspicious day he was very fortunate to place his head on the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupad… While he said this he had this special glitter on His eyes! Just like how we actually feel elevated when our GM blesses us, even by a mere glance, similarly he too had that happiness shown all over his face when he recollected this reminiscence.
Day 4: 10th (Wed)
As usual GM woke up at 6am, had prasadam by 8am & left to the swimming pool at around 10am… An interesting incident that occurred today was that, an LIC agent lady happened to come by the plaza were GM’s gym was located & had the good fortune to meet Him. The local devotees already knew this lady, as they had gone over to her house for Damodara Yatra (a big house to house preaching season in the month of Kartik, back here in Balaramdesh) & had invited her to the temple so many times that they lost count.. So after chatting with this lady GM asked her to come over to the temple where the initiation ceremony would be conducted, &, the only thing the local devotees could think about was, poor GM is wasting his breath.
So one can imagine how astound these devotees were when they saw this lady in the temple that evening offering grains into the yajna. This was yet another eye opener for the local devotees, who realized what a touchstone their GM is…
GM reached the temple at around 8pm, for the initiation Ceremony. The Ceremony started with SB class and very elaborate explanation of the ceremony, 10 aparadhas, taking of vows by each and every candidate. There were some 15 candidates for 1st initiation and 5 for 2nd initiation. The interviews and other formalities were all over & done with. The aspiring initiates personally received their respective beads from GM’s hands, whilst their respective initiated names were being announced & the 2nd initiates received the gayatri mantra.
Some devotees came all the way from Balaramdesh’s closest neighboring country… & GM was very pleased.
Hence this auspicious day ended with a good note.
Day 5: 11th (Thu)
Thus came the day which all the devotees dreaded. The day they had to wave their GM goodbye, not knowing for certain when they would have the good fortune to have His association.
One of the local devotees mentioned that, in spite it being the last day, it was a fun day!
GM had his routine therapies as usual.
There were a lot of snaps being taken by devotees, who wanted to cherish these pastimes they had with their GM.
GM blessed his physiotherapist and trainer today. He also gave spiritual gifts to the devotees in whose house he stayed.
In spite it being a working day prabhus bunked office & children, school to be with our beloved GM.
The local devotees also had a nice association with GM’s accompanying disciples.
GM left at around 2pm in the afternoon to Mathuradesh… leaving the Balaramdesh devotees earnestly begging the presiding deities to speed up GM’s next visit!
YHS
Pooja Murthimohandas
Credits: Kirthan Priya Prabhu
& Kirthanesa Krishna Prabhu for keeping me updated
