His Observance of Ratha-yātrā in San Francisco, 2002

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The following is a remembrance of when Guru Mahārāj observed Rathayātrā in the US in August of 2002. This is an edited excerpt from a report by Hemant Agrawal (Hariprasād Das) that was originally published on Vaiṣṇava News Network.

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Śrīla Gurudev Bhakti Ballabh Tīrtha Gosvami Mahārāj has just finished his Bay Area preaching tour. All of us who were fortunate enough to have gotten the opportunity to associate with Śrīla Guru Mahārāj are still floating in bliss.

On Saturday, August 10th, there was an ecstatic program in San Rafael. Śrīla Guru Mahārāj was invited by Śrīpād Svāmī B.V. Tripurāri to Audārya, his beautiful monastery in the California Redwoods. Other invitees included members of several Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava branches, including ISKCON's Jayadwaita Svāmī, Rādhānātha Svāmī , Mālati Devī, Nārasiṃha Caitanya Math's B.B.Visnu Mahārāja, and B.V. Damodar Mahārāj, a sannyās disciple of Svāmī Tripurāri Mahārāj. Around eighty devotees attended the program, which culminated in ISKCON's San Francisco (New Jagannātha Puri) Rathayātrā.

Śrīla Guru Mahārāj reached Audārya at 12 PM. After Śrīla Gurudev's talk in the afternoon, Anantarām Das Brahmacārī and Bhūtabhāvana Prabhu engaged the devotees in hours of beautiful bhajan. In the evening program after Rādhānātha Svāmī narrated the Rathayātrā-līlā of Mahāprabhu, Śrīla Gurudev explained how the Vrajavasis entered the yajna (sacrifice) at Kuruksetra during the solar eclipse on the occasion of the original Rathayātrā in kṛṣṇa-līlā.

At the end of the program, Śrīla Guru Mahārāja himself led an ecstatic kirtan. Everyone was filled with bliss by the powerful kirtan of Śrīla Gurudev.

Early Sunday morning, August 11th, everyone proceeded to New Jagannātha Puri. Śrīla Tīrtha Mahārāja and Svāmī Tripurāri were asked to sweep the street for Lord Jagannātha and the procession began with Agnideva Prabhu's leading the kirtan for Jagannātha Svāmī, who eagerly rushed to meet the devotees of Vraja-dhama, who had been intensely suffering the pangs of love in separation for many years. Śrīla Guru Mahārāj walked in front of Lord Jagannāth's cart. 

After the procession, devotees placed the Śrīla Guru Mahārāj's seat in the middle of the festival site. Devotees from all directions surrounded Śrīla Guru Mahārāj. There was a continuous flow of devotees coming to Śrīla Guru Mahārāj asking several questions, taking his blessings, and requesting him to sign his books.

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Revati Dasi's account of this event, excerpted from an earlier post: 

One day Śrīla Rādhānāth Mahārāj came for San Francisco Ratha-yatra and Guru Mahārāj also went, and on one evening program Śrīla Rādhānāth Mahārāj came to Ramdas Prabhu's house and he spoke on Chaitanya Charitamrita and Mahāprabhu’s kirtans and perhaps Ratha-yatra and it was very nice, very inspiring, but I had no idea what I was about to witness. 

Basically, after Śrīla Rādhānāth Mahārāj's hari-kathā, Guru Mahārāj spoke, and then he started performing kirtan. Guru Mahārāj was in the center and his associates surrounded him. Ramdas Prabhu has these very high ceilings in his house and it was just one of those kirtans that were out of this world! I don’t even know how I was jumping, I wasn’t jumping from my own muscles, my body was just lifting up in the air by itself. I was oblivious to everything going on. I personally can’t explain it in words. It was my first taste of transcendence in the presence of Śrīla Guru Mahārāj. 

At one point I remember being in the air and a little consciousness came back and I was thinking what is going on? Is everyone around me going through the same thing? I opened my eyes and looked around the room and the whole room was spinning and everyone was jumping. The material elements were even coming to life. And Guru Mahārāj was just in the middle of it all, this sweet person with his two little fingers going like this and singing, “Jai Dao, Jai Dao!” And everyone was going completely crazy and that was absolutely amazing! 








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