On my arrival in Chittagong on the 29th of November we made plans to arrange for some special evening prasadam for the 1st of December - my birthday. I had a team of boys who were helping me to feed around 150 devotees, and we decided for a nice pasta subji with paneer, vanilla custard and mango sauce. All these preparations are a little exotic for our Bangla devotees - sometimes the senses like some different taste for a change....!
On the 24th of November I took a domestic flight from Dhaka to Chittagong.
The devotees received me at the small airport and took me straight to Pundarik Dham - a two-hours' drive.
The devotees received me at the small airport and took me straight to Pundarik Dham - a two-hours' drive.
On my arrival in Dhaka/Bangladesh on the 15th of November I spent one day getting ready for a little tour to various ISKCON temples around the country. The devotees had arranged for two Holy Name Retreats and one seminar, and other smaller programs - I had a busy time ahead of me....
In this part of the world people are so naturally eager to participate in spiritual events - no need for big advertisement.
In this part of the world people are so naturally eager to participate in spiritual events - no need for big advertisement.
I arrived in Bangalore on the 3rd of November - just in time to join Srila Prabhupada's disappearance celebration on the next day.....
I had visited Tirupati/South India once before four years ago when taking part in the GBC meetings as a member of the Devotee Care Committee. Already then Revati Raman Prabhu, the Temple President of this yatra and Chairman of the Devotee Care Committee had invited me to visit again in order to offer a seminar to the ladies, and finally now the time had come where I had the opportunity to do so.
Since I had been very busy in Koeln up to the last minute of my departure I only gradually realized the fact that I was on my way to India.....
On the 30th of September I arrived in Harinama Desh near Wiesbaden, which is Dina Sharana Mataji's home base, who serves as the GBC for Germany, Switzerland and Austria. She had many times invited me to visit, and now I had finally found an opportunity to accept her invitation. Some years ago ISKCON had purchased this property in the country side, and due to Dina Sharana Mataji's dedication and sharp intelligence she managed to conceive of a strategy how to gradually pay it off, without ISKCON losing lots of money. Now there are several families living in the building, and a couple of brahmacaris. So there are only a handful devotees here.
After arriving in Berlin on the 20th of September I applied for my Indian visa and took a train to Leipzig to visit the devotees for five days. Leipzig is a small yatra with nice and sincere devotees, and they rent a little store front, where they regularly meet.
This was my first visit to the Spanish yatra. In my childhood I had sometimes spent my school holidays here with my family. In those days Spain was a rather poor country, and people lived very simple and off the land. Now, 45 years later economic development had brought along so many changes - just like everywhere else in Europe...
I left the Ukrainian Bhakti Sangam Festival on the 5th of September and flew to Riga/Latvia to pick up my new passport at the German Embassy. I was scheduled to stay only for one night, but unfortunately my luggage did not arrive. So I decided to cancel my onward flight to Germany and stay one extra night to wait for my suitcase to arrive. I didn't want to take the risk of being without luggage for the next two weeks or so, always moving ahead of the delivery service and having it sent to the next place.
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