Hare Krishna … Association Everywhere !!!
With the mercy of my Guru Maharaj and his loving divine grace Srila Prabhupad, I got an opportunity to get an association of ISKCON devotees in north England.
I arrived in the Leeds city in the month of August’2011, prior to this there was continuous association of devotees from our Chowpatty temple in. I was used to attend our weekly programme in Hanuman Temple, Vrindavan society, Thane. The program was being conducted by HG Dayalchandra Prabhu and his family. There was an every attempt not to miss this Tuesday programme.
After coming in the UK I was searching for some weekly program in order to have an association of devotees. I just searched on Google and found address of the program being held at the hall named Cardigan Centre on the Cardigan Road, Leeds. Internet technology also helped me to reach at the place with all details about how much time I will need to reach to the bus stop from my office. What all the bus numbers available to reach the destination, their time tables, the commuting time required to reach there. Got the directions about how should I walk after getting down from the bus and reach the centre. Website mentioned the details about the programme like times and subject. The subject mentioned as ‘Seminar on Peace of Mind’. I was more interested in the ISKCON satsang program rather that the subject mentioned on the web site. However program subject reminded me of the programs conducted here like ‘Prerana’ and ‘Chetana’. I noted down all the details like bus stand number, bus numbers, walking directions from office to bus stand and also after getting down upto the programme venue.
As per all the information noted, I started from the office on Tuesday evening around 6.00 and reached the program venue well before the time around 6.45 PM. As the programme time was at 7.00 PM, I had to wait for devotees to arrive. All the regular devotees arrived exactly on time i.e. at 7.00 PM. There were only three regular devotees, One of the Mataji made the alter another Prabhuji arrancged the chairs. Then we all offered our obeisances to his Lordships. Seeing the new attendee (myself) in the programme they introduced themselves to me. The mataji who made an alter was her grace Premanjali DD and seating arrangement was done by Prabhuji named Raj. Premanjali was the only initiated devotee who attended the program on that day. I was welcomed warmly by the devotees, just the way our close relative would do. The devotees were very pleased to hear that I am attached to Sri Sri Radhagopinath Mandir. It was very nice gesture from all of them and it gave me a feeling of attachment to the devotees. They requested me to lead the Sankirtan, I had never done this in the past but in order to honour their request I started singing “Nama om Vishnu Paday…..” After a small Sankirtan, Raj prabhu gave a small class about 45 minutes and explained the meaning of Mahamantra. This was followed by a stand up kirtan for 15 minutes and then it was time for Prasadam. The program got over exactly at 8.30 as planned. This was very much enlightening and had a nice experience of getting association in different country. Since then the programme became regular part of my life. Made many devotee friends and had a nice association. During the conversation with the devotees, I enquired about the topic mentioned on the website as ‘Seminar on Peace of Mind’. There was no definite answer, however the purpose for the same is to attract more people as most of the people seek peace of mind, eventually they would get the same here over a period of time.
This all is possible just because of our beloved Acharya Srila Prabhupad, who sowed the seeds of Krishna Consciousness around the world. His disciples and all ISKCON followers nurtured these seeds and grew them into beautiful plants and trees. I am very much fortunate to take shelter under one such tree at Leeds city in the United Kingdom. I still miss my Tuesday program at Thane-Mumbai, but the program at Leeds satisfies the need to an extent.
Hare Krishna..
Images : Nagar SanKirtan at Leeds City Centre.....
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