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Sunday July 6
Baltimore is only 45 mins. drive from the WDC temple. The temple in DC had already booked Sri Nandanandan from Vrindavan to do kirtan and speak on Sunday afternoon, so the devotees from Baltimore asked me to come here.
The temple is the same one that Srila Prabhupada visited on July 7 1976 when he came to see Sri Sri Gaura Nitai. I didn’t recognize the building though because all the nice gardens it used to have are all gone, and the house has been painted very garishly in bright red, blue and yellow.
Apparently one devotee thought that since Lord Jagannath, Baladeva and Subhadra live here (They are the old NY Deities), They should live in a house that looks like a ratha cart. Its awful. It looks like an old hippy house, or a doll’s house or something. I don’t normally like to criticize when I am just a visitor but I did mention it to the temple president here Jaya Gaurasundara prabhu that I thought he should restore the house to the way it was when Srila Prabhupada visited. He wants to, but it takes that elusive element, money.Despite the exterior, the Deities are gorgeous, just as beautiful as when Srila Prabhupada saw Them.
The devotees had a hard time here for a while, the former president ran the place into the ground and nearly bankrupted them. Now Jay Gaurasundara prabhu, a retired Indian devotee, is in charge and things are slowly improving.
I gave the Sunday feast talk, with a brief recollection of Srila Prabhupada’s visit and then the topic of Association from The Living Bhagavatam series. There was a good attendance and I was happy to discover that there were several newcomers, attending for the first time. The talk was well received and I sold off my last remaining stock of four books.
Tomorrow evening I fly out from DC to London. So this is it, the last stop on my American tour and the half way stage of my world tour.
Its actually gone better than I thought it would. I sold all the books I had shipped to the various temples, about 235 books total; participated in three Rathayatras, visited 12 centers, given about 53 hours of talks, met numerous old friends and many more new ones, and generally had a great time. And its all due to Srila Prabhupada.
July 7
Due to fly out tonight. I thought I would give myself a treat. I read on Kurma’s blog (if you haven’t seen it, do so, its a delight!) how he had set off on the train for some obscure place to teach a cooking class so he settled in with his MP3 player and his Bose noise-reduction headphones. I had seen some Bose headphones in NY and was tempted, but they were expensive so I decided not to. But after reading Kurma’s entry I didn’t feel so bad.
They have three kinds: over-ear, on-ear and in-ear. I got the on-ear because they fold up which is useful for traveling. I am really glad I got them. I have had two previous sets of noise-reduction headphones. Both require batteries and neither fully satisfied me. In fact, the last set I got by Panasonic hurt my ears like anything after an hour.
But the Bose are a revelation. Beautiful sound, crystal clear and much, much better than anything else I have tried. I was surprised. I hadn’t realized there was so much difference. I can wear them for a few hours without discomfort, and they don’t require batteries either. You get what you pay for…
Update from Sitala in Poland:
July 7 from Sitala in Poland:
“Sorry we haven’t written. The schedule is just so intense that there is hardly any free time, and when there is, I just want to rest. “Everything is going wonderfully. It is a real challenge to keep up with the program, but it is very ecstatic. I feel like a born-again Hare Krsna. The devotees here are just so dedicated, hard working and enthusiastic, it is humbling to be around. I go on Harinam as much as possible, but sometimes they go for up to four hours non-stop, which is way to much for me so I have to go to the bus.“During the festivals I do the Questions and Answers tent for between 1-3 hours. I feel like a total neophyte most of the time–I can hardly even remember how to preach–but Maharaja is determined to engage me in this way so I’m doing my best. I also have to give classes frequently, which is also a challenge. So I’m definitely getting out of the comfort zone and into the stretch zone. It is all really hard on my body, but certainly good for the soul.“We had some amazing festivals for the last three days. I guess this particular place is about the biggest festival they have on the tour. It is right on the beach in the best spot you could possibly get. It was one of those IDS miracles how we were able to get the spot–and on top of it we had perfect weather–while the rest of Poland was experiencing rain.
“The Indian Ambassador came and gave a very nice lecture on the stage–quoting Bhagavad gita and being very supportive of what we are trying to do. He sat and answered questions in the question and answer tent for over an hour. So Maharaja was very happy about that.”
Flew out to London at 10 PM.
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