On the 27th of January I traveled together with Nityananda Prabhu to Nepal to conduct a Holy Name Retreat.
I had invited him to join us since it is always inspiring for the Nepali devotees to have another visitor coming to lead the evening kirtans. He is a disciple of BB Govinda Swami and from Russia, and he goes regularly on preaching programs with the local brahmacaris in Mayapur and leads the kirtans.

We took a domestic flight from Calcutta to Bagdogra, which is near the Nepali border. Keshav Gopal Prabhu received us at the airport, and we drove across the border to Lahan.
Reaching Lahan in the evening, the local devotees welcomed us with an enthusiastic kirtan and prasadam. 
It was unexpectedly cold here compared to Mayapur, and I was glad I had brought warm clothes with me.In this Southern part of Nepal people seem more simple, humble and open towards Krsna consciousness, and the excitement to receive a foreigner was great, since not so many visitors come to this part of Nepal.

On the 6th of January 2014 we embarked on the three week course "Exploring the Roots of Spiritual Culture". The first unit has the topic of "Giving and Accepting Shelter - the Foundation to Vaisnava Relationships and Devotee Care", followed by "Women in Spiritual Culture", and concluding with "Marriage in Spiritual Culture".

A nice group of ladies from all around the world had registered to participate in this transformational journey - ladies from Germany, America, Russia, South Africa, New Zealand, Ghana, Malaysia and Eastern Europe. We were between 15 and 25 ladies - a good group which allowed personal interaction within a trusting atmosphere to enhance the learning experience.

We met five days a week for three hours every morning. The three units are very systematically unfolding various topics of spiritual culture and give deep insights, empowering the participants to make a conscious choice, how much of which culture they would like to have within their life. Spiritual culture has universal underlying principles, which are opposite to the principles of materialistic life and its culture. As Krsna expresses in BG 2.69. the two cultures are like day and night since they are based on entirely opposite world views, ideologies and philosophies.