Assistant tour manager, His Grace Narasimha Prabhu, has shared the following moving account of his experiences on the US tour this month:
This tour was exceptionally impactful to me. Each stop had a particular flavor and theme yet I felt the overarching experience was carried by the first stop: Waves of Siddhanta.
When we arrived in New Braj (Badger, California), I was curious what the response would be or how the classes would go. From the first class on Akshaya Tritiya, it became clear that the overwhelming sweetness of remembrance of Srila Gurudeva was activated in full force, and I found myself in eager anticipation for the weekend. Being with you throughout the 4-day festival, as you brought us along a journey through the glories of Nama Tattva, Guru Tattva, and into the Esoteric realm of Rasa Tattva, gave me such inspiration. Every devotee there had a unanimous feeling of overwhelming love and affection coming from your Hari Katha, which was deeply saturated with the moods of Srila Gurudeva. Finally, we had the "New Braj Parikrama" where the devotees showed you all the beautiful developments of the property and more sweet realizations coming from Srila Gurudeva were overflowing left and right as we walked with you. There in Nanda Gopal Prabhu's house, the astounding topic of PREMA VEGA was raised when you saw Sri Nath ji! Thank you for washing all our hearts with this wave of siddhanta.
After New Braj, we came to Miami with you and on the first night had a thorough analysis of Nama Tattva and the fallacies of impersonalist philosophy. Going into the weekend, the glories of Prahlad Narasimha unfolded and the notes after the drama were especially pertinent to me. You mentioned how the negative side (Hiranyakasipu in this case) did a great service to spread the glories of Lord Narasimhadeva. You told us to not be afraid of preaching if any opposition comes, because "this opposition has only come to make the glories more glorious." The final day in Miami you somehow managed to glorify Srinivas Acarya, Madhavendra Puripada, and Radha Raman Lal in a single class, ending with pure sweetness. As our Srila Gurudeva would say, madhuryena samarpayet.
The middle of the tour continued the sweet wave as we heard the unparalleled nectar of the Ramananda Samvad in honor of Raya Ramananda's tirobhava. Taking us through the verses and explaining the specialty of this conversation, you illuminated how important and impactful this stop was on Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's journey. How can Sri Krsna hope to understand Srimati Radhika unless He is trained by someone like Vishakha Sakhi? Quoting Srila Rupa Gosvami, you mentioned "Lalita-sakhi guna ramita vishakhe" - explaining that Lalita Sakhi here means the friend of Lalita, who is Srimati Radhika, has Her qualities reflected in Vishakha. As such, nobody was more qualified to nourish and fulfil Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's three internal desires for His descent than Raya Ramananda! Just like the ocean nourishes the clouds and then the clouds rain water on the ocean, in this special meeting the ocean like Prema of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's nourished and stimulated the cloud of bhava's in the heart of Raya Ramananda and the rain of his Hari Katha in this conversation gave rise to new pearls of realizations in Chaitanya Mahaprabhu! Bah! Such a sweet first day in New York City.
Then we went from Queens to Manhattan to have an unparalleled experience of the Glories of Srila Rupa Gosvami. As you mentioned, the pearls of new realizations and heights of Prema that sprouted up in that conversation were manifest later in the heart of Mahaprabhu's dear Rupa. Knowing and fulfilling the inner-most heart's desire of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was his specialty, and we are all Rupanuga. You explained many things from the bhajan Sri Rupa Manjari Pada and also mentioned how if we want to really dive into the moods specific to him that we must study what he revealed of his own heart in books like Stava Mala.
Actually, even though there were only two classes in NYC, the programs were so nectarean I felt extremely nourished and appreciative like it was a full 5-day festival. After challenging obstacles in arriving there, they turned out to be the sweetest. You mentioned to me that when serious obstacles come this means something great is coming soon after. This was on display again in upstate NY as we put together a beautiful weekend festival of 6 classes in a new environment.
Devotees young and old, senior and junior, came from all over the USA, as well as from Canada and Europe, to "Experience Bhakti Yoga" - and they were *not* disappointed! What an experience, from the thorough historical analysis of the different atheistic and theistic progressions over the centuries of previous philosophers, to the culmination of traditional odissi dancing to verses from Gita Govinda, this was a thorough experience of Bhakti from ecumenical to esoteric. I especially loved seeing the enthusiasm that grew in the hearts of many newer devotees who took shelter and began their spiritual journey to becoming disciples. Several of them even joined us at our next and final stop as we came down to North Carolina.
What can be said about the retreat in NC? It's such a unique experience here to return to the base of your USA preaching. There's such a rich history of devotees here having strong affectionate appreciation for your merciful support of their spiritual journeys.
I particularly loved the final class on Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur and his bhajans, as I have experienced how impactful the remembrance of these songs can be. The moods of the Acarya's are really imbued in their kavya, and to sing in a krama (sequence) with a sincere and surrendered mood, we get access to them in a special way. The final kirtan was also particularly sweet, ending with the Madhyana Arati bhajan Yasomati Nandana was the cherry on top of this tour!
Throughout the tour, I found one question burning in my heart and coming up at various stops in multiple classes: what have I done to deserve this? I can't believe this is my life now.
I pray to remain sheltered in your association, to continue to feel Srila Gurudeva's mercy through you, and to be of service to the mission of Mahaprabhu as you see fit. I am eagerly looking forward to the Europe tour!!! 🥰
Aspiring to serve Sri Hari, Guru, and the Vaishnava's,
Narasimha das
