On the 8^th of June we set out for Siliguri. Upon our arrival, we were met by Yashodanandana Prabhu, our godbrother, who joined us for the rest of the tour. After a good nights rest, we proceeded towards Joretang in the state of Sikkim. On the way we picked up Damodari didi, our godsister from Mall Bazzar. After reaching Joretang, we settled into the Pushpanjali hotel. The owner, Pradeep Gurung, was very favorable to us. He helped us in many ways, and promised to assist us in arranging a Bhagavat saptah for Bhaktivedanta Sridhara Maharaja this coming winter. He introduced us to the secretary of the Marvadi society of Joretang and afterwards spoke with the members of the local Marvadi community to inquire about their interest in inviting senior Vaisnavas to Joretang. Marvadi’s are situated on the highest level of the vaisya caste, are worshipers of Sri Sri Radha Krsna, and are pure vegetarians.

The people of Joretang are generally very relaxed and have a great love of kirtana. We were very successful in preaching, book distribution and especially in kirtana. Everywhere they saw us the people would ask us to sing for them. The response was amazing. We distributed some books to a boy called Deepak from a village near Darjeeling. He said that he would help us when arrived in Darjeeling in a few days.

We left Joretang on the 14^th and made our way to Tansering, a village in the mountains. It took us about two hours to get there from Joretang. It’s a very beautiful place surrounded by mountains and waterfalls. The vegetation is spectacular, with wild flowers like orchids and roses and all kinds of fruit trees. In Tansering there is a community who worship Sri Sri Radha Krsna. Their sampradaya is called Sri Krsna Pranami dharma or Nityananda Sampradaya. The founder is called Sri Devachandra Maharaj (1581-1655). He was born in Sindh province in Umarkot village in a Kayasth family. Sri Devachandra Maharaja left home at a young age and met with his guru who taught him the Srimad Bhagavatam for fourteen years. The story goes that he had darsana of Krsna, who gave him the tartam mantra. Thereafter he started preaching the message of Pranami dharma. Later he was succeeded by his main disciple, Mahamati Prannathji (1618-1694) who travelled to all the holy places and later composed 18,758 verses which were recorded in 14 separate books known as Tartam Sagar, the main grantha of Sri Krsna Pranami dharma. This group is simply known as the Pranamis, and they greet each other with the word “Pranama”.

Sulata didi met Mani Lal Sharma, a Pranami member, when he bought a book from her at our stall in the Margi Mela 2009. Since that time he had been inviting us to come and do a program in his village, but somehow there was always an obstacle that prevented us from doing so.

When we arrived there, we were warmly welcomed by Mani Lal Sharma and his family. In the evening we sang many kirtanas and gave a lecture. The Pranami devotees were very interested to hear about Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and had many questions about His message and appearance. All were happy with our kirtana and lecture and invited us back for Krsna Janmastami.

On the 15^th, very early in the morning, we departed for Darjeeling. In Darjeeling it was raining most of the time because the monsoon season had just started. Deepak, who we met in Joretang, came to meet us and distributed many books for the first time. He saw our tilak and asked Bakula didi to apply it on his forehead also. Deepak is nineteen years old and lives with his parents in a village where all the residents worship Sri Sri Radha Krsna. He invited us to come to his village to do a program, but this time it wasn’t possible so we promised to return in the winter. We also met with Rajendra, the owner of a hardware store. He came to us and asked many questions regarding Radharani and Krsna and bhakti-yoga. We invited him to come to our evening program in a small, one hundred and fifty year old, Radha Krsna Temple in town. We had been invited to perform kirtan by the family who owned the temple. When we arrived, the whole family was waiting for us. Rajendra also came. Later on that evening, the temple became crowded with people who were attracted to the sound of the maha-mantra. The owner of the temple and his family, who had joined us so enthusiastically in out kirtana, invited us to come back the next day to do another program, which we did.

On the 17^th morning, we left for a place called Kalimpong. The story goes that once the son of a villager, called Kali, ran towards the main street. His mother called out, “Kali dong!” meaning “Kali you will fall.” In time “Dong” became “Pong” and in this way the village became known as Kalimpong. We heard this story from a nineteen year old Christian boy who travelled with us in the jeep to Darjeeling. He was on his way to becoming a catholic priest. We explained jiva-tattva and the me eat, eat me tattva during the journey.

In Kalimpong there is a large beautiful Pranami temple. Because of the recommendation of Mani Lal Sharma, we were able to stay there for two days. Inside the compound they have established an school and ashram for orphans girls or girls whose parent are unable to take care of them. Some of the girls entered the ashram as babies and others at the age of 7-9 years old. The girls had such sweet natures and were very good at singing and dancing the pastimes of Radharani and Krsna. We all did kirtana together in the temple room, and talked about Krsna’s sweet pastimes. They expressed a strong desire to come to Vrindavan to visit all His pastime places. In the temple they perform dramas about Krsna’s pastimes like rasa-lila etc. They don’t worship Dieties, but rather the crowns of Radharani and Krsna.

In the temple there were diaramas showing the founder of the Pranami religion listening to harikatha from his guru. We were surprised to see that the murti of Sri Devachandra Maharaja’s guru was adorned with the Vaisnava tilaka of our sampradaya. We asked how they worship Radharani and Krsna and they said that they gave preference to the worship of Srimati Radhika.

We did kirtana in town but the villagers were reluctant to approach us. Instead they stood at a distance and listened to the kirtana. However the book distribution was very successful.

On the 19^th we left Kalimpong and made our way to Damodari’s village, Mall Bazaar. On the train we met with a Muslim boy called Wasim. He asked what we were chanting on our mala. After explaining to him that we chant the Hare Krsna maha-mantra, he told us that he was an atheist and a follower of the big bang theory, yet he invited us to his home the next day where we met with his family and friends. They were very nice to us and asked many questions about the path of bhakti-yoga and how we came to Krsna consciousness.

During our book distribution in Mal Bazaar, we met a policeman, Dhiraj Chetri. He invited us to come to his home. We told him that we could only come for one hour because we had to pack our bags and catch a train to our next destination. Dhiraj’s father had passed away a few months back so the family were still grieving. We did some kirtana and spoke some harikatha about the nature of the soul. They listened very attentively and were very happy with our program and kirtan. We have been invited back to their home in December.

That same day, we went to the village of Yashodanandana Prabhu in Hamilton ganja. We arrived there at 10.30pm because our train was delayed by eight hours due to heavy rainfall. The next day we visited a catholic church and spoke with the friendly and humble head sister Vidya didi. We chatted with her and some of the other nuns about the similarities between Sanatana dharma and Christianity. Later she sent jackfruit and pineapple to Yashodanandana’s home for us.

In the evening a local politician came to see us. We spoke to him for some time about Sanatana dharma. He had been hoping to meet with Srila Gurudeva for some time and became very morose when we told him that Srila Gurudeva had entered nitya-lila. His intention had been to donate a piece of land to Srila Gurudeva. We also met with a local school teacher. He told us he only had fifteen minutes to speak with us but ended up staying for our evening program and prasadam which ended at 11.30pm. About fifty people attended the program at Yashodanandana Prabhu’s home. Many people had questions and one boy became inspired to take initiation. We advised him to come for Kartika. Yashodanandan Prabhu’s parents very kindly arranged kichari and tomato chutney prasadam for all those who came for the program.

The next day in the early morning, we departed for Shilong. We left Hamilton ganja at about 6am and arrived in Assam, Guwahati at about 8.30pm due to our train being delayed. Sripad Anadi Krsna Bramacari, who had invited us to Shilong, was waiting for us at the station. From the station, we took a jeep to Shilong and arrived at the home of Laksmi devi at 3am. On arrival she gave us prasadam, we slept for about 3 hours, chanted and at about 8am we left with Sripad Anadi Krsna Prabhu for house programs. That day we visited eleven homes, performed kirtan and gave short lectures. Sripad Anadi Krsna Prabhu’s joyful kirtanas made us all feel like we were in Sri Navadvipa dhama.

The next day starting at 7am, we did two house programs and returned to Laksmi devi’s house at 1pm where we quickly took prasadam and then left on a bus to Guwahati. We stayed in Srila Bhaktivallabha Tirtha Maharaja’s matha in Guwahati for one night, then the following morning we took the train back to Vrindavan. When we were on the train, Yashodanandana Prabhu called to tell us that those who had attended the program had come to his home in the early morning to express their happiness. They said that usually those who come to their village to perform kirtana, smoke, chew pan and most of the time only perform kirtana for money. They were very touched and happy to see that we had not adopted these same habits. The villagers honored the remaining kichari prasadam, then left for their own homes.

This trip was very wonderful and inspiring for all of us who participated. We are hoping to return to all the places again in the winter.

Jaya Gurudeva!

Savitri devi dasi

PS – you can see more pics on the facebook page of Sulata dasi. The album is called “Every town and village” – https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150310710698453.386897.740938452