By Kadamba Kanana Das
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Bali is a world-famous Indonesian tropical island paradise famed for its sandy, picturesque beaches, blue oceans, volcanic mountains, paddy fields and lush tropical greenery. Bali is also known as the “Island of the Gods”. Each home is adorned with temples of various sizes and one can perceive the omnipresence of Balinese Hinduism in their everyday life
Inspired by HH Subhag Swami Maharaj, the devotees in ISKCON Singaraja, Bali organised a weekend Shravanam Retreat. HG Sudhama Gopal Das (President of ISKCON Singarajah) worked tirelessly to organise the retreat and HG Rati Manjari Devi Dasi from Singarajah graciously offered to host the retreat at a resort she owns – The Kiraba Tembok Resort – located in the northern region of Bali. HH Subhag Swami Maharaj personally graced the occasion as a special Guest of honour. Other guests included HG Sundarananda Das and HG Prema Manjari Devi Dasi, senior members of ISKCON Indonesia.
The retreat commenced with devotees celebrating the Cida Dai Mahotsav by the beach. The program started with taking Their Lordships Sri Sri Gaura Nitai on a palanquin to the sea where the devotees enjoyed bathing Their Lordships. This was followed by a special abhiseka. At this juncture, HG Rati Manjari Devi Dasi gave an opening speech welcoming everyone and thanking HH Subhag Swami Maharaj for his presence and the valuable teachings she had gained from hearing his discourses.
HH Subhag Swami Maharaj gave a special discourse on the Cida Dahi Utsava pastime. He explained detailed descriptions of this festival as given by Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami in Chaitanya Caritamrita. Maharaj emphasized that one can only receive the mercy of Lord Chaitanya by the mercy of Lord Nityananda and His representative, the spiritual master.
Following the lecture, HH Subhag Swami Maharaj took part in the mixing of the Cida Dahi preparations which were then offered to Their Lordships. A group of young devotees performed a captivating drama on the Cida Dahi festival for the pleasure of Sri Sri Guara Nitai and the devotees.
The Cida Dahi Utsav ended with arati of Their Lordships and distribution of the nectarean chipped rice prasadham! The devotees were drowning in bliss by the end of this festival.
In the evening HH Subhag Swami Maharaj continued to speak on Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s pastimes and devotees took part in melodious kirtan.
The following morning Maharaj led an interactive discussion on the pastimes of Narada Muni from the 1st Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam. Maharaj reminded us that one can attain the highest perfection of life by attentively hearing Krishna katha from pure devotees just as Narada muni heard attentively from the bhakti-vedantas. This gave the perfect conclusion for the Shravanam retreat.
Sumptuous prasadham was distributed throughout the weekend by a team of devotees headed by HG Sanjaya Das. Devotees both young and old could be seen relishing prasadham to their hearts content!
When time came for devotees to leave, they couldn’t believe that the weekend had flown by so quickly. Their hearts were filled with bliss from the 2 days of Sadhu sanga, ecstatic kirtan and nectarean prasadham. HH Subhag Swami Maharaj asked the devotees if they would like have this retreat on an annual basis and the answer was a resounding “Yes Maharaj!”.
We would like to offer our respectful obeisances and gratitude to HH Ramai Swami and HH Kavichandra swami, GBCs for Indonesia, for their continued support and encouragement in our humble attempts to please Srila Prabhupada. We would also like to express our sincere gratitude to HH Subhag Swami Maharaj for giving us his association during this retreat and for his continued guidance and inspiration in pushing forward the mission of Srila Prabhupada.
Jaya Srila Raghunath Das Goswami ki…Jaya!
Jaya Sri Sri Gaura Nitai ki…Jaya!
Jaya Srila Prabhupada ki…Jaya!
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