Notes on an italian tour - Sri Gaura-purnima 2007
Diary of Sripda Bhakti Swarup Tridandi Maharaj's recent tour of Italy. March 2006
Myself and Indupati Prabhu arrived at Perugia Airport at 11am on Ryanair Flight 4952 from London Stansted. After being selected by the Immigration staff for a random (!) baggage (not body) search -- a lovely surprise -- I joined Indupati outside who had already been greeted by Mohita Krsna Prabhu.
The journey to Mohita Krsna Prabhu's house at Montone was only 40 minutes; Perugia Airport was only recently opened for commercial flights and it is conveniently much closer than Forli. The weather was lovely, like spring; damp and grey indeed it had been in London and it was refreshing to drive through the beautiful rolling Umbrian hills (the place of pastimes of St Francis) in the company of my old friend (old in the sense of a long time, that is) and talk about the days ahead.
Arriving home, we met Mohita Krsna Prabhu's wife Lilasara dd., and she had prepared - wait for it - yes, pasta Prasad! It was delicious of course. Also Devaki dd, their daughter, had kindly awaited our arrival and took lunch with us before departing for Villa Vrindavan, the big ISKCON Temple near
Florence where she was going for seva for Gaura-purnima (she is a disciple of Spd Jayapataka Maharaj) Naturally we were tired from the journey, having started from my London flat at 3am, so we rested a while and in the evening did some Kirtan in the living room downstairs with the family, and also Vijay Gauranga Prabhu and his daughter Sundari dd who joined us from their home in the nearest town called Citta di Castello. The big rooms upstairs were only going to be opened for the main programmes as the house is large and no doubt very expensive to heat etc; the family can live comfortably in the apartments downstairs. In fact much of the house is undergoing renovation into flats for holiday rental accommodation.
Sat 24 Feb
Because in Italy as many Mediterranean countries, siesta-time cuts the day in two, effectively the preaching time if you are doing towns is 9am to 1pm (In Italy I have found the morning more expedient than the evening; a personal preference no doubt. (In Malaysia the evenings were prime-time collection and distribution). Today I went to Citta di Castello and reconnected with the jiva souls there; it has been a year since I was here (last Gaur-purnima).
In the evening we had a house programme again, this time attended by a dozen or so devotees as invited by Mohita Krsna Prabhu and the class went on for some time on the theme of sambandha, abhideya and prayojana, which is after all the very trinity through which our soul can attain its success. Of course krpa-siddhi is there but even in the sadhana-siddha case, there is no question of success without that vital ingredient of the mercy of the Lord and/or the Lord's devotee.
I say 'and/or' because they are mutually inclusive; that is so say, the mercy of the devotee is the mercy of the Lord, none other, but distilled and focused in a special way as to be more helpful for the devotee at his particular stage. Just as, the sun is huge and powerful in heat and light, such that if you are standing near it you are finished, but, because it is 'far away' (yes the Lord is in the heart, nearer than the nearest, but in terms of how the fallen soul has unfortunately distanced itself from Him), it can be more effective when focused through a lens (the devotee) so that it can make the straw burn whereas the sun's ray alone would not. (Of course, the Lord can do anything, we are explaining the general case here that is, again, by the Lord’s Own arrangement and desire (acarya mam vijaniyat)
This theme of the threefold process relation, means and need was to
surface repeatedly during our different meetings with devotees. We are going to "Practice Krsna consciousness, or cultivate, whichever word you
prefer” but practice (i.e. abhideya, the means to the end,) based on
what? An understanding or at least general proper conception of the
'Organic Whole' as Srila Guru Maharaj describes the Absolute, in other words
the Whole and Its parts, that is, Krsna and His energies, is the
essential foundation of a spiritual life. Yes, we want to practice, to go from
here to there, but what is a here to there? Practice cannot
go on in a vacuum. Without this foundation, which Srila Kaviraj Goswami tells us
is essential for the aspiring devotee of Krsna, then despite assiduous
practices of all sorts, when the real tests come, when Maya Devi comes
to test the mettle of the soul, fall is inevitable. (Bear in mind,
again, that the mercy of the Lord can cover all things, all
deficiencies, but we are describing the general case. Always we will
find the special or different case, not just here but in every aspect
of spiritual life. For example, Srila Guru Maharaj describes how in the
gradation of rasas, the dasa of Garuda when he is directly serving Lord
Krsna is above that of Hanuman to Ramacandra in the sense that Lord
Krsna in Dwaraka is in His more original position that Ramacandra, but
Hanuman's intensity and quality of service is such that on a
particular occasion he clearly defeated Garuda, or rather that Garuda became
powerless to defeat him, and Hanuman went to Krsna Himself (carrying
Garuda under his arm, as well as placing the Sudarsan cakra, which came
to obstruct him, on his finger like a ring, and the 108 blue lotuses
which Garuda was supposed to collect for the Lords service!) and at
that time, Lord Krsna was impelled to show himself as Sri Rama to
Hanuman). And I remember (in a very different context) how Krsna dasa
even while travelling in the personal association of Lord Caitanya,
Mercy Incarnate, was still apparently caught by Maya and went to join
the Bhattathari gypsies. That would sound discouraging indeed until we
realise that Krsna das was not allowing the mercy of the Lord to
embrace him, otherwise, how this could happen? Especially as this is
Mahaprabhu's lila and Krsna das is a parsada devotee? Or again, such
an incident happened as an example for posterity of how we should be
always keeping ourself 'sticking to the Lord', like the lotus whose
face always follows the sun, or the monkey cub who holds onto the
Mothers back (as opposed to the kitten that does nothing, is
totally passive-- but which may be the way of the soul in the very higher case)
Sun 25 Feb
In the morning I went to a spring water spa in the hills near C di Castello called Fontecchio Terme to rejuvenate, and after lunch we set off for Rimini, the famous coastal resort on the east coast about 150 km from Montone over the Appenine mountains. After a brief but refreshing darsan of the ocean (actually the Adriatic sea, part of Mediterranean) we drove up into the hills to the house of Arjunapati Prabhu and Suci dd. Here we met several devotees (and their parents) we had not seen for a long time, and some new ones also. Our good friend Paolo translated the teachings of our Guru-varga as we explained them to the assembled devotees and a huge feast was served at the end. The hosting devotee keeps a 3 metre long python in a small room filled with straw and tree stumps and various other animals, reptiles etc. He is as part of his work helping in a Society that supports endangered animals. So we had a small tour of the menagerie also. He also has the most beautiful Gaur-Nita Deities that we had to photograph and send to Srila Govinda Maharaj.
Mon 26 Feb
Still tired after the Rimini excursion we dragged ourself to Perugia via the train only to find the town mainly closed, as they are on Monday mornings here, but I had forgotten. Still, some places like alimentariâ (food shops), Trattoria and some tourist places and bookshops were open so I was able to see some people. Perugia is the capital of Umbria region and houses the Council Offices, Museum, etc but there are two separate parts to the town, alto and sotto, or the upper town which is very well-to-do, on the top of a mountain basically, and the lower part which is 'popular'as they say. The huge Bishop's Palace here is where San Francesco at the beginning of his conversion was dragged by his father after he (Francesco) had maniacally distributed all his fathers valuable stock of cloth to the poor. In front of Bishop Guido, Francesco stripped off all his clothes signifying his renunciation of material values and his complete dependence on the mercy of God, and the good Bishop had to take the opulent cloak from his back to cover the boy in front of the wailing father and the scandalised and laughing mob. Or soothe legend goes. After lunch we set off for Rome. Roma, ah Roma. When you are there, it really does feel in some way that all roads lead there! The heart of the Empire. And the Vatican! Power fairly oozes from the place. The corridors of power in the secret Vatican city from where the profound truths of Christendom emanate, and which yet have played host to some of the most shocking corruptions in history. We met Syamasundara Prabhu at a lay-by next to a local train station on the edge of the city at 7.30pm and from there in the two cars went to the big supermarket near his apartment to stock upon provisions for the next couple of days (Jaya Sri dd and their baby Tanu Sri had gone to Nabadwip Dham for the Gaura-purnima Festival). Arriving home I prepared kichuri, ratatouille and salad that I was happy to offer to their deities Jagannath, Baladeva and Subhadrajiu. Jagannath Prasad in Rome! Afterwards we made some simple kirtans with clapping and table tapping (our instruments had been left at home, not realising they only have a bell! Syamasundara Prabhu works hard at his job as a Manager at the Ford Car Plant in Rome and somehow maintains his new family in their very small apartment) After dinner we were led out on a quite long evening walk to Saint Peters' Basilica and on to Castello San Angelo and over the Tiber on a circuitous route back to the van and then home. There were three of us in one small room while Syamasundara slept in the corridor. Even two of us had to share the only bed. Some snoring problems were there.
Tues 27Feb
Today is Ekadasi. We went downtown by bus to the last stop, Termini. The first thing was to get a new sim card for my mobile phone to keep in touch with the boys as I don't know the city and we were doing different things. (My current one had expired as I hadn't used it for nearly a year) This done, I had some fruit while Indupati went to meet his friend Gopal Krsna Prabhu, a disciple of Spd BM Ban Maharaj. Meanwhile, Mohita Krsna Prabhu left to go shopping and then go home early as he was tired from all the driving the last few days. Later on I met up with Indupati Prabhu and we went to the Internet Cafe and I did some shopping around bookshops etc. I got a dvd called ‘Luther’ at
St Paul’s the Catholic bookshop in Via Conciliatione which runs directly from (or to) San Pietro which I had been looking for some time. It is a drama film but shows the origin of the Protestant Reform movement within the Church. As I was sitting in a doorway just after dark digging around in my food box for some nuts and dates I noticed a French couple struggling to make a call to their family in France at a phone box nearby, apparently their pin card wouldn't work so I lent them mine. I then called Syamasundara Prabhu to ask was there any chance he could pick me up on his way home from work as I would have to get back to Termini from the Vatican first, to get the direct bus, and I was tired by now. He said fine, he would meet me at such and such at 7.30pm. In the meantime I tried to contact Indupati who had gone in search of some item of shopping to another part of town, but his phone was off. In the end when Syamasundara Prabhu met me, we both went and picked him up, and all went home. Phew! Are you following all this? Don't worry, the philosophy part is coming in a minute!
Arriving at the apartment we found that Mohita Krsna Prabhu had made some Ekadasi Prasad that was very welcome. We read from Srila Guru Maharaja's lectures and chanted a few Kirtans in the fashion of the night before, then Syama and Mohita took rest while I stayed up with Indupati to watch Luther on Syamasundara Prabhu's PC.
Wed 28 Feb
The morning was 'short' because we had to leave for a programme in Terni, an industrial town north of Rome. So, I went out locally, to the shops of Casa Mattei, the suburb where Syamasundara Prabhu's flat is located. In one food shop I met Mohita Krsna Prabhu who was shopping for lunch: 'Oh, Signor Sacchi, buongiorno' Very funny. The lunch was lasagne by the way which is lovely but I have been on a new almost vegan, no wheat etc diet for a few months to great effect so had to pass (obviously I honoured a little of the extravaganza).
About 3pm we had packed up and it was arriverderci Roma as we left for Terni. Arriving at the house of
Atula Krsna Prabhu and Lasamayi dd we had darsan of their glorious Deities Sri Sri Guru Gauranga and took some tisane and biscuits. They apologised for not being able to host us a few days due to work
pressure, also their daughter Tulasi dd had been quite sick. About 5pm we all left for the programme destination 5 miles outside town in the hills. Up high the roads become gravelled (not tarmac) and as we were in the big van we had to drive very carefully, especially as darkness fell, because of the steep slopes. Soon we came to the beautiful house of Ramananda Raya Prabhu and Sanatani dd. He had designed and built it entirely himself so naturally there was a well-designed Temple Room, kitchen. Feng Shui paradise! I assumed the programme would be in the little Temple Room next to the kitchen upstairs and I was wondering if there were any other guests etc, when Ramananda said, "No, the actual
programme is in the Main Temple Room, downstairs"?, so down we went, and lo! About 30 people in this huge room with a massive PA system and everything set up. The Kritans continued for a long time and then for the class I read from Srila Guru Maharaja's descriptions of how Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati started the Gaudiya Math from the very beginning and how he (S. Guru Maharaj) came in its' connection which I am sure many or most of the devotees had not heard. Sometimes it is good to hear this to understand the 'roots' of our Mission. This developed into a more general question and answers with the subject 'sambandha-abhideya-prayojana'coming up again. Citraketu Prabhu my friend from the last visit who first put me on the path of better health by his strong but true words translated. All this was followed by the big feast that took a long time because everything had to be brought down from the kitchen upstairs and there were many preparations. I took a little to honour the prasadam, and then went upstairs to sit and talk with Ramananda Prabhu about the Italian preaching. Feeling quite exhausted we left finally around 10.30pm and arrived at the Villa around 1am. Even then I had to have some 'minestrina', a kind of very light pasta they call angel
pasta.
Thurs 1 March
After breakfast Mohita Krsna Prabhu gave me a lift to Umbertide, the local small town nearest to his village where I collected and distributed leaflets he had printed advertising our Gaur-purnima Festival in two days time. This was a single sheet sporting a picture of Sri Sri Gaur-Nitai on the front taken from the new book of Srila Govinda Maharaj, 'Religion of the Heart'. (This book is fabulous by the way, it has marvellous original paintings by dd and is the brainchild of Spd Siddhanti Maharaj. That it finally saw the light of day is testament to Siddhanti Maharaja's determination; he started the project years ago and when I was in Calcutta I helped him by arranging the material which was piled up all over his room into some semblance of order. Finally the book was published from Brazil with the help of Bhuvana Mohan Prabhu. The main theme is the four qualities of Sri Krsna that are unique to Him, not possessed even by Lord Narayana. Highly recommended.) Strangely (or not so strangely) I have always found this little town Umbertide to be very favourable to Krsna consciousness, I mean in general comparison with other towns even in the immediate area. I can only put this down to the fact that Mohita Krsna Prabhu and his family have been living here for some time, going into town for shopping, etc etc, just being around, and this has rubbed off on the people.
Mohita Krsna and Indupati Prabhus met me at the train station at 1pm and we set off for the house of
Satyavrata Prabhu and his wife Madhurya-rasa way up in the hills (nearly 800m) above Umbertide. When we arrived lunch was ready and to my delight the Prasad was entirely biologic and organic. They started with chapattis made with spelt flour and a salad of some kind of spinach from their garden. It was very bitter (yes, that's good) being full of minerals that the stuff you get in the supermarket has been almost entirely leached of due to over exploited soil and pesticides, artificial fertilisers, etc. I mean with most supermarket salad you are just eating cellulose, chemicalised cellulose at that. The taste is entirely different which you wouldn't realise until you had salad as it is supposed to be. (OK, I'm not on a health crusade here, I know, prasad is Prasad, etc etc, just sharing this with you) This was followed by wild organic rice and a bean subji with tofu. Mmmm! Time for a change!
After lunch we chanted together a few kirtans including the wonderful 'Gopinath' by Bhaktivinode Thakur that I had been longing to chant all week, but had not I felt seemed specifically appropriate in the public programmes we had attended. Satyavrata Prabhu then led us on a walk down the mountain to the river, pointing out various natural features as we went. The hillsides are covered in natural oak forest here interspersed with birch, beech and ash; it was a delight to see that because in Western Europe, or in the UK and Ireland at least, the oak forests are totally depleted or gone, having been exploited for building the ships over the last centuries. (Ireland for example has only 11% tree-cover; the European average is 22%) Oak was sacred to the Druids, the priests of the ancient Celts also; in Wales there are still some oak woods where Druidic culture survived longer. We saw the tracks of deer and places where wild boar had been digging for truffles (though no live versions) and wolves still roam the remote forests (again, the last recorded sighting of a wolf in the UK was in Scotland, I think, in the 1790s!) The family here draws their water up directly from the river; previously there was a pump for this but the local officials came up and dismantled it as being illegal (this being National Trust land, you understand). The daughter of this peaceful couple, Sruti dd, teaches hatha-yoga in Umbertide, so after lunch she had left for work. After some tea and chat we departed and arrived home about 8pm. Thinking about the day, I reflected that personally I would not find living in such remoteness suitable (apart from as an occasional retreat place) as 'preaching is our life' and you have to go where that is. I would very quickly simply become bored. (Too much rajas of course!) Srila Bhaktisidhanta Saraswatipad famously answered the admonition that it was better he stayed in a secluded place than in the city (Calcutta) which was after all the very abode of the demon of this Age, Kali: "I prefer to preach in the most contaminated place!"?
Fri 2 March
Today I felt a bit down; (I realised later that this was partly that I was suffering from mental and physical exhaustion and depletion also due to the intensity of the programme, me being a sensitive soul and all). Still, I went out by train to Perugia and things picked up (apart from the service aspect, the preaching work I find highly therapeutic emotionally also) After lunch I rested and caught up on my reading, and chanted (japa) through the afternoon. We had a small house programme in the evening at which we heard Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur's letters to disciples, his instructions to householders devotees, and his speech on the day that his sannyas-disciples left India on the ship to the West.
Sat 3 March
Today is Gaura-purnima, and fasting. About 11am we went into Perugia to do nagar-sankirtan. We met Syamasundara and Madhuryananda Prabhus in town - they had driven up early, from Rome) and together we set the town ablaze - well at least we tried humbly to deliver the Holy Names to the people. We were just out for about an hour or so but to my knowledge it was the first Harinam done by SCSMath
here.
Returning home it was building up to the evening programme and the altar was being decorated, garlands made, food cooked (grain-free, or course) and all the other preparations. About 5pm devotees started arriving and the programme got underway about 5.30 with kirtans, then class. We read from Chaitanya-Charitamrita about Lord Mahaprabhu's Appearance, and then from Srila Sridhar Maharaja's book 'The Golden Volcano of Divine Love' about Himself as the Yuga-Avatar, and, in this day of Brahma, the complete incarnation of Radha-Krsna, His Siksastakam teachings, and about our great fortune in having any connection with Him and His devotees.
An amazing Ekadasi feast had been offered at moonrise and that was now honoured by the twenty or so persons present. At bedtime we talked a little about plans to return to Italy later in the year. And it's goodnight, tomorrow we fly to London God willing!