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

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"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!

Awakening in the morning and thinking: Jay, another day with Gurudeva in Berlin!

What is better than any alarm clock in the whole world? - Knowing that Gurudeva is right at the next door and getting ready for Mangal Arati! Jay! Speeding with getting dressed, chanting and smiling are the bodily effects of that alarm clock personified.

At eight o´clock the lecture by Gurumaharaj was about cleaning ceremonies, pregnancy, and giving birth from the Vedic point of view. Gurumaharaj was reading out of the Srimad Bhagavatam. It was a very touching and enthusiastic lecture which gave us common aspects of life to rethink about.

New day, new start, new life: after the lecture a mataji from Bulgaria took initiation. Our new Godsister got the beautiful name Rasa Sthali. Jay!

Taking breakfast with all the other Devotees is the best way to energize physically for a new day in Krsna Consciousness. Meanwhile Gurudeva was more or less the entire day busy in the office of Prabhu Mandali the Devotees gathered, shared and had a nice spring day in Vrinda Kunja Berlin.

Around lunch time Gurudeva was calling all the children to talk a little bit about  Krsna and His Gopis and Gopas. It was so nice to see all the children together getting bigger and bigger glancing eyes while listening the beautiful Lilas of Krsna and Radharani. We, as adults, should look upon those children who take all the Lilas 100% as granted. It is more than for sure that those stories are 100% granted but the adults doubts are sometimes building unnecessary walls in front of them. How lucky we are that Gurudeva is always remembering us about the lilas and their truthfulness. What a mercy we have and  get through Gurudeva! Jay!

Today we had also two birthday children: Prema Kishor das - our major "priest" in Berlin already for many years. And, Ganga Sagar, who always enlightens the day with is bright smile. Happy Birthday!

At four o´clock the Sunday Love Festival started. A beautiful Bhajan, then a touching lecture followed by a lively Kirtan and having prasad under the sky. Wow, what a nice day! Many guests came, the temple room was packed and Gurudeva touched every single heart. Moreover he led the Kirtan with his charango which made our hearts dance and legs jump.

Gurudeva, ki jay!!!

Impressions from the lecture:

·         "Every Devotee has the ability and power to create new places of Vrindavan throughout the whole world. One has to spread and give the love of Krsna to the people coming to those places of Vrindavan."

·         "Do your loving seva and everything else will get fantastic."

·         "I wish and pray that the Berlin Temple gets a guiding example and power giving place to all the people coming here and also for the other temples."

·         "The top most important are the lovely relationships among the Devotees."

·         "Love means also understanding."

·         "Don´t judge the failures of others. Look for their reasons and their needs why they acted in such a faulty way."

·         "Gambling means games of lucks with which you put your money on a risk and with which you lose your time. I would consider playing golf as gambling."

Gurudeva, ki jay!

April 12th 2014, A Day of Seminars, Workshops, a big Catering and most of all: Gurumaharaj is with us!

Eight o´clock in the morning: Devotees are all ready and looking forward to a new day full of sweet nectar, association and beautiful moments with Gurumaharaj. A great start in the day have been the inspiring words of Gurudeva. How to struggle with daily issues. How to give and to share the love we got. How to never forget and always pray to the Lord.

Gaura Gandharvika Govinda Sundaram Mandir, ki jay!

After the class the Devotees took breakfast to energize themselves for the workshops, seminars and also a big catering we had for a big office in Berlin. - Having still the words of Gurumaharaj in our ears: "Whatever we do our power and strength never belongs to us. It is always the energy supply of Mother Nature, means Krsna."

The program of the workshop day:

8:00 - 9:30           World Conscious Pact Meeting

11:00                     Yoga

2:00                       Children Program

3:00                       Ayurveda for every Day

5:15                       Mantra Meditation

6:00                       Arati

6:30                       Lecture

... meanwhile cooking for about 150 people for the Catering.

Finally we made it! We got new impressions, new horizons of Ayurveda in our daily life opened up and we felt the not exchangeable Shakti of the association of the Devotees.

The Arati in the evening was presenting us an enthusiastic one-hour-Kirtan of happiest Devotees. Jay! What a power! Yes, that are definitely Krsna´s energy potentials in us!

The lecture of Gurumaharaj was about the importance of the Chusky Fests throughout the world.

Here are some impressions:

·         "Always what you do: do it with love and as a lovely offer to God."

·         "God has given ability to each and everyone."

·         "Chaski Fests are the Conscious Art Expression. They are the cry of Mother Nature for all her children, manifested in human beings, animals, flowers, waters etc."

·         "Mother Nature calls for the divine way of life."

·         "Chaski Festivals are there to shake people in a lovely way to wake them up for a conscious way of living. You have really to shake them. But if they don´t get awake you don´t stop to shake!."

·         "Chaskis are full of power. It´s not their power, it´s the power of Mother Nature, of God."

·         "Every single problem in that world is caused by the lack of faith."

·         "I can be a DJ here right now. There are so many Devotees with potentials. Singers, writers, poems, musicians... They all can organize a Chaski fest right away."

·         "We have not the right to demand the results of our Chaski activities."

·         "Let´s bombard the world with ancient wisdoms. It can be in the form of OKIs, flyers, events etc."

·         "The Chaski Fests: We don´t want to make them as a service of gain. It is a service of devotion."

·         "If you don´t feel committed to Mother Nature your spirituality is very questionable."

·         "All the austerities you do in life do them with love for Krsna."

·         "Healing means to become the healer of others while healing yourself."

·         "You want to be part of the solution or you just think how to save your own ass?"

·         "We can be so grateful to be here to heal others."

·         "You can be silent and shy with yo

ur own problems, but you should not be shy and silent with the problems of others in the meaning to help them to get out of them."

·         "Be thankful and get into action!"

·         "Vandana Shiva suggested the creation of a citizenship for people who are aware of Mother Nature."

·         "The best what you can make with gold is to boycott it. Gold is like yellow stool - they say in India."

·         "If whatever man or woman doesn´t make one´s children proud of them [the father or the mother] is not compassionate."

·         "That´s what we need today: Simple living high thinking."

Jay! Gurudeva´s wish was to make us happy today. And yes, he really made us happy! After class there was time for prasadam and personal talks to Gurudeva.

April, 11th 2014, 02:14pm: Gurumaharaj arrives in Berlin!

Jaya Gurudeva, jaya Gurudeva, jaya Gurudeva!!!!

Eight month of waiting, eight month of struggling through this material world, eight month of making the Guru Puja to the beautiful picture of Gurumaharaj.

- But now we are rewarded with mercy: Gurumaharaj stays with us for 10 days in Germany!

On Friday, April 11th, he arrived at the airport and was welcomed by many Devotees from Berlin, Sweden, Switzerland and South America. Unbelievable that he is here but real.

Gurudeva arrived in the temple Vrinda Kunja which in the last month changed a lot. On August 10th 2013 the Berlin Deities moved there and since then there was a lot of constructions, changes and renovations done. Sweat, tears but most of all love was included in all the works and activities.

Also, the Sankirtan mood was increased since the moving so that many Devotees go out with sweets, books and flyers every single day. Of course, this was one of Gurumaharaj´s first questions when he arrived in Berlin-Reinickendorf which is in North Berlin.

The day passed by and in the evening all the Devotees were waiting for the Welcome-Class. What an excitement. The Bhajan was at its peak when Gurumaharaj stepped in the Temple room.

Jay! Gurumaharaj is really in Berlin, at Gaura-Gandharvika-Sundaram Mandir.

Some impressions from the class:

"Responsibility means doing things which neither harm you nor others."

"Responsibility and Education means taking the tasks upon oneself and with solving them to inspire others."

"Devotion has to become You or it is not there. You can´t copy or impose devotion."

"The fruit of responsibility is love. You cannot get love if there is no freedom. You cannot get freedom if there is no responsibility."

"You are a dependant and you have dependence."

Germany celebrates the blooming season

What makes winter survivable and acceptable? - Definitely the indescribable feeling one has when the trees, bushes, flowers and the blades of grass pop out, grow and develop the most beautiful colors of nature - so  shiny, so varicolored, so bright and so magnificent. Wow! That is really mercy! All the flowers are here so smile at us. To show us the beauty of life!

In Vrinda Kunja Temple the blooming season arrived inside and outside. Our Tulasi gives us mercy in an exciting extent. And also the garden gets greener and greener.

With the same blooming power the Marathon before Gurudeva´s visit is running. The last things are built, fixed, repaired, improved and so on. On April, 11th 2014 Gurudeva will come! What a mercy! What a beauty of life!