by Vrinda-devi dasi

Sri Sri Guru & Gauranga jayatah!

By the mercy and blessings of Srila Gurudeva and the Vaisnavas, Uma didi has completed the first six weeks of her current tour visiting Malaysia, Hong Kong, China and Bali. She has given harikatha in Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Hong Kong, Hangzhou, Xi’an, Chendu and Denpasar.
Wherever Uma didi has travelled devotees were very inspired by her presence and became enchanted by the delicious prasadam she cooked for all. The mood was always so harmonious and sweet.

Uma didi arrived in Kuala Lumpur on November 18^th and stayed at the Sri Sri Radha Govinda Gaudiya Matha showering the devotees twice daily with katha about the importance of sadhu-sanga, Guru-tattva, the importance of chanting harinam and the glories of Sri Vraja Mandala parikrama. Laxman prabhu, with the help of Premalata didi and Srinidhi prabhu took care of all the cooking together with the devotees from Johor Bahru who came to hear and relish the lectures and cooking excellent dosas every morning for breakfast and many other dishes for lunch.

After a few days Laxman prabhu drove us to Penang where we were welcomed by Dr. Parameshvar and his good wife Malati and daughter Vrinda. We stayed in their house on the beach which they purchased especially for Srila Gurudeva’s writing retreat. Srila Gurudeva loved to stay there while writing and resting after parikrama. He was very happy with the services of Dr. Param, Malati and Vijay Krsna prabhu, who were always on call for any service.  During our stay in Penang we held programs in the Maha-mantra temple, which has been maintained for the last 15 years by Bala prabhu and his wife. They are are cooking for and feeding 300 hungry people daily. We also held a program at the house of Krsna dasi and her husband, who are very active in publishing Srila Gurudeva’s books in the Malaysian language.

On November 26^th, after returning to Kuala Lumpur for a few days, we flew on to Hong Kong where Nandanandan prabhu and Madhavi didi hosted us to their best of their ability in their  rather small apartment next to Sri Sri Radha Vinoda bihari Gaudiya Math. Space is always at a premium in Hong Kong which has the highest real estate values in the world. To our great happiness BV Vaisnava Maharaj was also present there and daily he and Uma didi explained the teachings of Madhurya Kadambini and the basics of bhakti. New devotees came daily to hear harikatha and many became inspired.  In the mornings she emphasized the deep meanings of our Rupanuga Gaudiya acaryas songs compiled in the Sri Gaudiya Gita Guccha songbook. Uma didi stressed that while singing these songs, we should try to understand the moods in these prayers so that the deep spiritual sentiments imbued in them by our acaryas may one day manifest in our hearts.

From Hong Kong we flew to Hangzhou, China, where we were welcomed by Yamuna didi and all the wonderful devotees in that area. Uma didi spoke about Guru tattva and elaborated on Sri Manah Siksa and Rupa Siksa. One of our god sisters, also named Uma didi, was the head cook and she prepared many interesting Chinese dishes for the pleasure for all the visiting devotees. The last day we celebrated Annakuta mahotsava. Sri Giriraja Govardhan was bathed by all the devotees present and was offered many varieties of dishes cooked by Uma didi, Ranga didi and Vrinda didi. Sri Giriraja’s remnants were honored by all with great delight. After that jubilant last day in Hangzhou we travelled to Xi’an, which is situated in the middle of China. We were hosted by Gauranga prabhu and his good wife Laxmikanta dasi who took very nice care of us. In Xi’an Uma didi explained in some detail different aspects of Sri Siksastakam and the meaning the verse “anybhilasita sunyam”. The atmosphere was very sweet and homely, although the weather outside was pretty cold.

Yamuna didi accompanied us for the entire three weeks. She made all the arrangements for travelling, translated the lectures, lead the kirtans and spent a lot of time with the devotees discussing guru tattva and specific local matters. Yasoda didi and Lalita didi also stayed with us for three weeks, helping with the cooking and the cleaning. Lalita was particularly expert in encouraging everyone to happily dance and sing in kirtan which was a good warm up for class.

Our last stop in China was in Jiang Yo, the province of Sichuan near Chendu. It was pretty cold out there and we covered up with as many clothes as we could wear. We were hosted by Umarani didi in her brand-new house. Many devotees who were living in the area stayed with us the whole day from mangala aratika until late evening, doing kirtan, respecting noodle soup prasadam and hearing harikatha. As our Sri Navadvipa dham mandal parikrama is approaching, Uma didi discussed the glories of Sri Navadvipa dham, reading from Sri Caitanya Caritamrta and explaining Srila Gurudeva’s lectures on this subject from her old notebooks.

We celebrated Christmas in the airports of Guangzhou and Kuala Lumpur and arrived Bali in the late evening of Boxing Day. Gokuldas prabhu (from Perth) was waiting for us in the airport with the local devotees to bring us to Sri Sri Radha Radhakanta Gaudiya Math. Ananta Krsna prabhu, his wife Rangavati didi and their children arranged our lodging in an amazingly beautiful home, constructed in traditional Balinese style and surrounded with a beautiful tropical garden.

Next day we took great pleasure in the darshan of the beautiful Sri Sri Radha Radhakanta and Sri Sri Radha Vinod biharijiu (also visiting from Perth). They are served very devotedly and expertly by all the children in Their beautiful mandira. Observing the maturity of the devotees, Uma didi became inspired to speak from Gopi Gita. We happily shed our winter clothes as December is the hot and rainy season. We were fed delicious Balinese maha-prasad cooked by Rangavati and Anupama didis. We ended 2011 with with a massive fireworks display lit up by the children and on New Years Day Giri Maharaj was again surprised with an elaborate Annukuta Maha-mahotsava. All the devotees respected maha-prasadam until they could not walk and blissfully retired for the afternoon.

We have been very fortunate to have the continued association of Uma didi throughout this Asian tour. We hope that she will continue to travel despite her advanced age, and instruct us how to advance in bhakti.

Our thanks go especially to Srila Gurudeva for his blessings, which in one form manifest as his empowered preachers that he sends to help the devotees and non-devotees in all corners of the world.

Our heartfelt thanks to all devotees who attended the festivals and especially to those devotees who hosted us and helped in so many ways to make our preaching successful.

The tour will continue as follows: