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Dear devotees,
Please accept my humble obeisances. After four weeks pilgrimage in South America together with Guru Maharaj, Guru Atulananda and many devotees, I am back home again, and now I would like to share with you some nice memories from my trip.
The final of this parikrama was Mela 2003 in Ecuador, a five days festival at Vrindavan Ecological Farm in Baños. It started with a harinam on the streets of Quito, a manifestation to give voice for those who cannot speak for themselves. A lot of music and dance and placards. After this big harinam, there was an evening conference in the municipal house of Quito, as opening of the Mela. I hope to share with you later some memorandums from that conference.
The following day, there were eight buses to take us to the skirts of the volcano Cotopaxi, where it was held a fire ceremony and five weddings. We were blessed with a nice weather; the rain began to fall only when the ceremonies were over.
We arrived to Baños late in the afternoon, fascinated by view of the volcano that spread its ashes high up in the air not far from the town. We spent the night in different hotels, and before dawn we went to have bath in the hot springs. An extra ordinary experience, to swim in hot water under the stars until the sun had risen.
The day continued with a morning class, and after prasadam was the departure towards Vrindavan, the ecological farm. We stopped on the way, to walk down into the rain forest to visit the waterfall "Pailon del Diablo". Quite impressing… Here, in this beautiful place, Guru Maharaj gave some initiations.
It was almost evening when we arrived the farm. Some of us were lodged in tents, others in rooms in the buildings, and some spent the nights on hotel in Baños. This farm is really like a paradise, a Vrindavan, a holy land, inundated by divine beauty with the presence of Lord Krishna in the Deities, the Yamuna river, our Gurudevas and so many devotees. Just pure nectar.
Around 500 devotees from different parts of the world had gathered for this event, and I pay a tribute to all those who made this mela possible, each one who contributed, in one way or the other, in the organization, from the beginning till the end.
There were classes, exhibitions and concerts, tours in the neighbourhood, and meetings of different kinds, and of course prasadam distributed in the big conference tent. The final day of the mela was the very special day of the 50th Vyasapuja of our beloved Guru Maharaj. There was a vigil with kirtan throughout the whole night to initiate this day. A serenade was planned, but due to the heavy rain, it had to be cancelled. When Guru Maharaj came to the tent in the morning, he brought some presents that he gave to the disciples he first met, a different but very beautiful gesture; giving presents on one's birthday...
Soon it was time for the offerings to Guru Maharaj, and for several hours Gurudeva was sitting receiving the offerings from the devotees. This day it was also a fire ceremony and initiation of two new sannyasis - Sripad Bhakti Vedanta Aranya Maharaj (former Bhagavatamrita prabhu from United Kingdom, now serving the farm in Baños, Ecuador) and Sripad Bhakti Vedanta Vaikanash Maharaj (former Kavi Das prabhu from Eco Truly Ashram, Peru).
Among the many gifts to Guru Maharaj, was Sri GuruVandana, a biography about the life and work of Guru Maharaj, a wonderful book which includes a music CD and a multimedia CD with nice contributions from many devotees in the Vrinda family. It was a limited edition, and soon all copies were sold. A giant cake was also made and distributed in the evening, and there was a big program with presentations of music, theatre, poetry, art and other performances during the night. The Colombian devotees had to go already this evening, and we took farewell of them. But the celebration continued on the farm; after midnight there was a concert, and there was ecstatic dance with Guru Maharaj and many devotees for a couple of hours.
After a short night, it was time for the devotees to break up from this nectarean stay at the Vrindavan Ecological farm; we packed our things and embarked the buses. Back in Quito I had to say goodbye to many new friends, with the hope to meet again sometime somewhere - it was time for me to return back to Sweden after one intensive month in South America.
I carry with me many sweet memories, and I am deeply grateful to Krishna and my dear Gurudeva for this wonderful opportunity that I had - to spend these weeks in association with my spiritual masters and so many nice matajis and prabhus. I feel so fortunate and so enriched, and I hope some day to be able to give some little service back for the great love and the causeless mercy I have been given.
Please clicke here if you want to see some photos from this Mela 2003.
Hare Krishna! All glories to Sri Sri Guru and Gauranga!
Aspiring to serve,
Manah Siksa Devi Dasi
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