Mayapur - Day one
1. Raghav Pandit's Home:
We cannot directly approach the rasasthali and other important places of Mahaprabhu's pastimes with His associates. We must first take blessings of His pure devotees who can reveal the mahima of those important places to us. So it was arranged that upon entering Mayapura mandala we would visit Raghav Pandit's home.
I have never seen mango trees with such short trunks! The mangoes on the tree were hanging down from cord like stems so low that one could simply ask a child to go fetch all the mangoes from the tree. The trees were shaped like large umbrellas, the whole grove was filled with chirping birds and cool breeze. The scene was quite captivating. One would get the feeling of complete peace and satisfaction simply by walking around amongst those humble trees stooping low and offering so many fruits at the feet of devotees.
The house itself was very peaceful. The frontal portion was the mandir for the Deities. The building at the back consisted of a wonderful large hall for serving prasadam and upstairs was a retiring room and small terrace. The backyard had a nice dunky - a common sight in Mayapur. The water was cool and clean. I stood for sometime yanking the long handle to pump out water. The precious water flows out so fast that one feels guilty of waste.
The prasad was served in the way close personal associates are served. With love, care and warmth. The sweet dish was yum. All of the food had so many different tastes and textures that I was completely taken in by the food. Prasad obviously has its own magic, and people who eat food without offering to Krishna, or who have never eaten food grown, cooked, offered and served by devotees, will never understand what I am talking about. I took special care to fill my belly as much as possible, realising that this was mercy.
We then moved on from there, noticing that no one plucked mangoes from the trees although they were so accessible. The mangoes are all Lord Chaitanya's and we understood that one should not indiscriminately pluck them. Human nature is so selfish. Any city breed would simply look around and snatch a few mangoes even if he wasn't hungry. Just because they're free. City folks don't understand that we actually do and can use everything for free, if we simply understand that it belongs to God and not to anyone else.
We cannot directly approach the rasasthali and other important places of Mahaprabhu's pastimes with His associates. We must first take blessings of His pure devotees who can reveal the mahima of those important places to us. So it was arranged that upon entering Mayapura mandala we would visit Raghav Pandit's home.
I have never seen mango trees with such short trunks! The mangoes on the tree were hanging down from cord like stems so low that one could simply ask a child to go fetch all the mangoes from the tree. The trees were shaped like large umbrellas, the whole grove was filled with chirping birds and cool breeze. The scene was quite captivating. One would get the feeling of complete peace and satisfaction simply by walking around amongst those humble trees stooping low and offering so many fruits at the feet of devotees.
The house itself was very peaceful. The frontal portion was the mandir for the Deities. The building at the back consisted of a wonderful large hall for serving prasadam and upstairs was a retiring room and small terrace. The backyard had a nice dunky - a common sight in Mayapur. The water was cool and clean. I stood for sometime yanking the long handle to pump out water. The precious water flows out so fast that one feels guilty of waste.
The prasad was served in the way close personal associates are served. With love, care and warmth. The sweet dish was yum. All of the food had so many different tastes and textures that I was completely taken in by the food. Prasad obviously has its own magic, and people who eat food without offering to Krishna, or who have never eaten food grown, cooked, offered and served by devotees, will never understand what I am talking about. I took special care to fill my belly as much as possible, realising that this was mercy.
We then moved on from there, noticing that no one plucked mangoes from the trees although they were so accessible. The mangoes are all Lord Chaitanya's and we understood that one should not indiscriminately pluck them. Human nature is so selfish. Any city breed would simply look around and snatch a few mangoes even if he wasn't hungry. Just because they're free. City folks don't understand that we actually do and can use everything for free, if we simply understand that it belongs to God and not to anyone else.
posted by Lotus at 5/24/2007 05:13:00 AM
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