Annual
Preaching and Bhoga Collection Programmes led
by
Sripad Acharyya Maharaj
Malini
Devi Dasi from Malta gains some insight to what goes on behind the scenes
leading up to the celebration of Gaura Purnima festival, and shares the
experience of travelling through Bengali villages on such preaching and
collection programmes.
Pg
01 Background
| Pg 02 Jaymulla | Pg
03 Beraberi |
Pg 04 Bajumelia
Pg 05 Tisha-Nizampur-Begumpur-Janai Chikrandi|
Pg 06 Chandradwip
Finally
we reach Chandradwip, not far from Tisha where we had breakfast and met
Karttik Prabhu. Again, we have a long way to walk to the house of Karttik
Prabhu, who is the youngest of many sons. Sripad Acharyya Maharaj makes
a few stops along the way. We make our way along a winding road through
narrow streets, across a bridge and finally into a large courtyard.
Maharaj
is led to sit down to accept offerings from the many guests that have
been waiting. Along one side of the courtyard is the house, the front
of which has an elevated veranda, at the customary height of just two
steps from the ground. At the end of this veranda, an altar is set up
with pictures of the deities of Nabadwip and Srila Gurudev beneath a canopy
decorated with what Westerners would refer to as Christmas decorations.
At the end of the courtyard, just beside the altar, is a beautiful Tulasi
tree growing within a specially-made area.
On
the left side, an open kitchen is busy. Bipul Krishna Prabhu had left
our preaching party after lunch prasadam to come and cook the feast for
this gathering. All the open kitchens I have seen are built of the cow-dung
and mud mixture that results in a very smooth, clean and solid material
when dry. Cooking areas have holes with elevated sides in which open fires
burn. A special technique of how to place the wood inside the hole and
use of sand determines how big the flame will be for cooking.
It
is not long before arati begins, followed by the rest of the programme.
The bhajans go on for a very long time and are particularly lively. Maharaj,
Sudev Prabhu and Bipul Prabhu take turns at leading. Many of the people
present know the songs. Conch shells can be heard every now and then.
The atmosphere is wonderful.
The
gathered crowd grows bigger and bigger, and stays to hear the lecture
delivered by Sripad Acharyya Maharaj, who with his method of inserting
a few verses from different songs here and there, keeps the atmosphere
lively and the audience very interested.
Finally
the projector is set up to play the Gaura Purnima 2006 DVD, and the 150
or so people remain attentive till the very end of the show. Everybody
seems very happy and satisfied, and the people who have no flyer by the
end of the evening are asking for one. Certainly a very successful programme,
expertly organised by the dedicated hosts.
Prasadam
is served at around 10pm and by 11pm we are on the bus back to Nabadwip.
It had been planned to stay the night and travel in the early morning,
but Sripad Acharyya Maharaj's commitments are such that he needs to be
in Nabadwip first thing in the morning. We are so tired from three days'
travelling and preaching that the bus only carries sleeping people on
the way back. The journey appears to pass in a jiffy.
Surprisingly,
everybody seems to stir just as we arrive in Nabadwip, so that we are
all happy to welcome the majestic buildings of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat
Math coming within our vision. We all look forward to some rest, so that
we can continue our service jobs the next day. And it is only a few days
before a team will go forth again on a similar mission!
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