During Day three in Vrindaban we bowed down to Goverdhan Hill and began our Parikrama. Today Tara and Palu joined us. They have become increasingly devotional and made the commitment to go all the way around Goverdhan. We started out at Kusum Sarovar and met HG Nityanada prabhu who cares for Kusum Sarovar and Bana Bihari temple. Kusum Sarovar is like new. They have placed new floors in the ghat and have removed the forest behind between the castle and Udhava kund. They are in plans of planting beautiful flowers as previously. Now that the forest is gone the monkey population has also dispersed. We started and ended here.
After a few hours Tara and Palu rented a Riksha and had the driver meet us later in the day. Tara peddled the riksha and his wife rode on the back and carried our bags and water. It was an intelligent move. After half of the parikrama, because of my flat feet and two days of intense barefooted walking, my ankles swelled up and brought great pain to every step. I was grateful because it made the parikrama a true endeavor and forced me to intensify my prayer. For two weeks after my feet remained swollen and I was still praying.
Mid way near Surabhikunj as we were dying in the heat of Goverdhan a most pleasant and innovative cloud of mercy approached. Puffing big black smoke behind it, a sugar cane walla drove up next to us. He had converted his sugar cane engine into a car slash sugar cane press. After three four cups we went on our way. There is nothing like a ten cent cup of fresh sugar cane juice. We finished by after noon and headed back to Iskcon.
As I exited our taxi I saw a sannyasi enter Prabhupadas quarters followed by a group of twenty people. I thought it was Dhanudhar maharaja but i couldnt tell so i followed them in. To my great pleasure it was HH Tripurari maharaja. Chaitanya, Blake and I spent Janmastami with him at his ranch in california. We took great inspiration from him and for the past two months I have been reading his Gita edition. His Gita has revolutionized my appreciaton for and has clarified so many questions i have had. I have become inspired in my devotional life by his most expert endeavor. After an hour long class i had the opportunity to thank him. I was beat but being our last day in the dhama I had to take advantage of Radha Shyama and Aindras Kirtan. I bought many garlands and a box of sanpapari(sp?) from Goverdhan and offered them to Radhe Shyama on behalf of various devotees and friends.
After Kirtan i was standing around and I saw Nisha from DC. Soon after Manish, and Vinay showed up and we went to dinner at MVT. It was my first time. Thanks guys. I had the veggie burger and half a pizza and a lime soda. All my austerieties became fruitful. It was so nice to see them in the dhama. Seeing such good friends in Vrindaban only increased our love for eachother. As we exited the restaurant we met HG Baladeva Vidya Bushan prabhu. For the next two hours we lounged in the hall way sharing many stories of our teachers and service to them. He's a great guy and a little wild. I mentioned I was going to Puri the next day and he became eager to get me a copy of Satsvarup Maharaj's book about Puri. As we walked out of MVT. I got attacked by a six and a half foot devotee. He wrestled me to the ground and Baladeva grabbed me in tagg team and they forced me to yell and scream as they molested my feet. I cant believe it. It was Gaura vani Prabhu. After the hearing so much of his past months adventures in India I was happy to see him at 11pm in Vrindaban. Baladeva coaxed him into roaming with us like mad men in search of that Puri book. First we headed to Aindras room. No one had it there and He was busy with his computer and writing his book. His preaching book is to come out soon! we roamed the alley ways for an hour or more and after waking up many deovtees in such a quest we left with as baladeva calls it" a Satsvarup knock off" it was Mahanidhi's Puri book. It was nice nonethe less to obtain a book, but the best was finishing off the trip in the wild companionship of Gaura Vani Prabhu and my new friend Baladeva Prabhu. I sold my alarm clock to GV went back to my room. Krsna's mercy i foooled aroud for enough time for the pizza to digest!I fell asleep at 1:30am and woke up at 2:30am to catch our Qualis to Dheli. 3 am is the best time to drive. No one is up yet and the roads are clear. Fill your cabbie up with chai and hell drive anywhere you have to go. We caught our plane and flew to Bhubenesvar.
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