Di a Ry O F a Traveling Preacher
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D IARY OF A TRAVELING P REACHER VOLUME 8 I N D RA D YUMNA S WAMI TORCHLIGHT PUBLISHING, INC. shifting the paradigm Copyright © 2008 Indradyumna Swami All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any means, including mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written consent of the publisher. First Printing 2008 Printed in the United States of America Cover design by Jal Keli dasa, Bluefuse Design Cover photo by Jayatam Jayasila dasa Text design & formatting by Mayapriya dasi, Bookwrights Design Published simultaneously in the United States of America and Canada by Torchlight Publishing For information contact the Publisher PO Box 52, Badger, CA 93603 Phone (559) 337-2200 • Fax: (559) 337-2354 [email protected] • www.torchlight.com DE dication To Earl “Chinna” Smith and Inna “Kiddus 1” Deyand Icons in the world of Reggae music, you proved yourselves humble servants of the Lord by sweetly singing His holy names with thousands of kids at Woodstock. C ON T EN ts Foreword .....................................................................vii Acknowledgments ......................................................ix 1. An Unsung Hero ............................................................3 2. An Old Friend .............................................................16 3. The Duty of a Mendicant .........................................25 4. A Second Chance ........................................................34 5. The Sunshine of His Mercy .........................................43 6. A Flood of Happiness and Joy ....................................54 7. One Love ......................................................................63 8. Self-evident Truths ....................................................75 9. Prepared for Peace – Ready forWar .......................83 10. Vyasa-puja Offering.....................................................94 11. Farewell .......................................................................99 12. Feelings of Separation ............................................... 104 13. Just Wander ............................................................... 112 14. No Worries Mate ......................................................128 15. Troopers .................................................................... 140 About the Author .................................................... 155 F OREWOR D When I received a phone call from my dear friend Indradyumna Swami asking me for a favor, I was eager to satisfy him. But when he asked me to write the foreword for the current volume of his Diary of a Traveling Preacher, I was a bit hesitant. I’m no writer by any means, neither am I a great scholar. Yet I do have a small qualification: I have personally witnessed many of the remarkable pastimes and adventures of Indradyumna Swami in his service of spreading Krsna consciousness for Lord Caitanya. In the life of Narada Muni, we see the travels of a great preacher who covers every corner of the universe. He encoun- ters adventure, intrigue, danger, challenges, and achieves great successes. His ability to be so successful is due only to his at- tachment to the Supreme Lord and his desire to act as an order carrier of His teachings. As we read the pages of Diary of a Traveling Preacher, we cannot help but think of the similari- ties. Indradyumna Swami leaves no corner of the globe un- touched as he travels in service to Srila Prabhupada, spreading the mission of Lord Caitanya. Whether he is floating down the Amazon River, speaking to leaders of gypsy villages, unlocking for his disciples the treasures of the holy dhamas, or spreading the holy name to hundreds of thousands of kids at the Polish Woodstock festival, his message is the same: take this holy name and chant. This comes at no small price. He has sacrificed a peaceful life of contentedly living in one place, and put the very health of the body he uses in the Lord’s service at peril. Yet it can be said that there is no greater satisfaction for a preacher than to give everything in the battle for the sankirtan movement of Lord Caitanya. And, yes, he has received satisfaction, for the Lord has seen fit to reciprocate with him for his service. Many times he has been blessed with gifts of rare and exotic Deities of the Lord from ancient and forgotten tirthas. A reader seeks to be entertained when reading – to feel the emotions of the character of the book, to observe the character’s development, to share with the character the daily challenges of his or her life. Indradyumna Swami is not afraid to open up and reveal himself. He shows us his strengths and weaknesses and how he develops and grows on the path of devotional ser- vice. He shows himself to be like you and me, yet by doing so he shows himself to be much different than you and me. He shows himself to be what we want to be, what we desire to be, but what we know we are not: a traveling preacher. What greater happiness can there be in this life? Please now put aside these insignificant words of mine and plunge into the real world of bliss and excitement that is shared with all of us for our encouragement and advancement in the service to guru and Gauranga. Dive deep into Diary of a Traveling Preacher, Volume 8. Chaturatma dasa New Raman Reti Dhama January 16, 2008 A CKNOWLE D GMEN ts First I would like to thank Advaita Candra dasa for kindly printing my diaries each year. He spends many hours to prepare these books for publication, although they bring him little (if any) profit. I am grateful to him for his selfless contribution. I am also indebted to my editors, Ken White and Umapati Swami, who make sense of what I write and who give clarity to my thoughts and realizations. A big thank you goes to Jal Keli dasa for his cover design, to Sri Thakur Mahasaya dasa for file and photo preparation, and to Mayapriya dasi for the design and layout of the book. And last, but not least, I thank the readers of my diaries who inspire me to share with them my experiences in preach- ing Krsna consciousness throughout the world. Indradyumna Swami D IARY OF A TRAVELING P REACHER VOLUME 8 1 A N U N S UNG H ERO | J anuary 1 - 15, 2007 | After my preaching tour in South America, I flew to Africa. As I handed my ticket and passport to the woman behind the check-in counter at Johannesburg Airport, she looked up and asked where I was going. “Nairobi, Kenya,” I said with a smile. “Business or pleasure?” she asked curiously. “For the mission,” I said enthusiastically. Glancing up, she said, “You like your work, don’t you?” “Yes, I do, ma’am, very much.” “How many bags are you checking in, sir?” she continued. “No bags,” I replied. “No bags?” she said in surprise. “Then how much carry-on luggage do you have?” “Just this Buddha bag,” I said, showing her the small red bag I had slung over my shoulder. 3 Diary of a Traveling Preacher “That’s all?” she said. “Yes,” I said proudly. It was my New Year’s resolution to cut down on my pos- sessions and travel with only the essentials. It hadn’t been easy. But I was determined. Once Tamal Krishna Goswami met Srila Prabhupada at New York’s Kennedy Airport for a flight to London. Maharaja was beginning his tenure as Prabhupada’s secretary. When Srila Prabhupada saw that Maharaja had only one small carry-on bag, he said, “Thank you very much,” indi- cating he was pleased with Maharaja’s renunciation. During the flight I read from the Lonely Planet series about Kenya. A country of thirty million, it was once dubbed by the British “The Jewel of East Africa” because of its scenic beauty and abundant natural resources. But like most countries, it has had its days of despair, most notably during the time of the slave trade in the late nineteenth century and during a bitter struggle for independence from the British in the early 1950s. But no less ugly, I read, has been the reign of Kenya’s own poli- ticians since independence. Corruption, arrests of dissidents, censorship, and economic woes have all stifled Kenya’s demo- cratic growth. Of course, for devotees of Lord Krishna the most signifi- cant part of Kenya’s history began when Brahmananda Swami introduced Krishna consciousness to the country in 1971. Like all missionaries before him, Brahmananda faced a daunting task in pioneering a spiritual movement on the dark conti- nent. In appreciation of that service, Srila Prabhupada once shed tears reading of Brahmananda’s efforts to preach to the Africans. And in recognition of his disciple’s austerities, Srila Prabhupada himself visited Kenya twice. 4 An Unsung Hero I was visiting the country to see a group of young boys from the ISKCON temple in Kisumu. I was considering bringing them to our festival tour in Poland this year. Little Go Kool is a group of ten-year-olds who sing Krishna conscious rap songs with choreographed dance. They are part of an orphanage run by devotees in Kisumu. The group would be performing at a festival in Nairobi organized by Mahavisnu Swami and Giridhari dasa from England. When I arrived in Nairobi, Govinda Prema Dasa, a young man in his twenties, greeted me. “Welcome to Kirata-suddhi,” he said warmly. “It’s the name Srila Prabhupada gave our temple. It means the place where the Kiratas, the people of this land, are purified.” “Judging from the friendliness of the immigration and cus- toms officials,” I said, “it seems they like us here.” “Oh, yes,” he replied. “We’ve been chanting, dancing, and distributing prasadam for more than thirty-five years in Nairobi. “In general, Kenyans are quite accommodating people,” Govinda Prema continued as we drove into the city. “There are more than seventy tribes in the country, but there is rarely any violence between them. For the most part they have accepted us as well. “Just over there are some Maasai warriors,” he said, point- ing to a group of ten men in traditional tribal dress walking along the road.