You can count on me: Monday, April 14th 2014, with Gurumaharaj in Berlin/Germany

You can count on me - can definitely be for sure the headline for today.

In the very early morning Gurudeva left with a few Devotees to visit his mother Nele Harlan in North Germany, which is about three to four hours away from Berlin. As a little speculated comment I think that Nele Harlan was and is definitely a mother on whom one could count on. So Gurudeva brought us this beautiful and lovely souvenir from his home town: You can count on me.

In the late afternoon Devotees gathered to sing the Gaura Arati and Bhajans. Beautiful singings by South American, Berlin and Swedish Yatras bridged the waiting time for Gurudeva. Uh, and how enthusiastic it got when it came closer and closer to Gurudeva´s arrival! More and more people sat down in the temple room and cheered up with Karartalas, their voices, Mrdanga, hands or whatever they got for enriching the Bhajans and now already Kirtans! Gurudeva, ki jay!

And there he came - with his sweet smile he entered the room

.

"I offer my respectful obeisances to his Holiness Srila Bhakti Aloka Paramadvaiti Swami Maharaja who, as a sannyas, travelings around the world delivering divine love to devotees who belong to the line descending from Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati, through Srila Prabhupada and Srila Sridhar Maharaja, rendered in the form of a sannyasi."

The lecture was about good and conscious education of children, ourselves and the society. Gurudeva was so enthusiastic about the topic that he immediately proposed a lecture after the lecture plus a movie about conscious education. Due to our material boundaries and also duties of some parents the lecture was postponed to tomorrow. So the evening ended with prasadam, talks and sharing among the Devotees and also with Gurudeva. - Simply expressed in the way of You can count on me.

Gurudeva reminded us in his lecture about the song "You can count on me" by David Newman (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0p2Dx9TsKX8).

And here are some other reminders  and inspirations we got in today´s lecture by Gurumaharaj:

• "A marriage is nothing for yourself. It is something for the others: your wife, your husband, your children. A marriage should encourage, protect and help the others."
• "Gurukulas are such a powerful thing. The children going there look like angels. They are so happy and tolerant. A Gurukula has such wide-spread effects. Our future duty is creating and maintaining Gurukulas."
• "God gives abilities and everyone has to accept them. Some people are better in this others in that. We have to accept that, and also that there is a higher power above us."
• "That what school means, what parenthood means, what husband/wife means, what being a farmer means: You can count on me."
• "The spiritual form of cooperation means encouraging (and second correcting but only with further encouragement)."
• "With the help of Devotees the impossible get possible."

Srila Bhakti Aloka Paramadvaiti, ki jay!