Sometimes I feel like writing about my personal experiences with my Guru Maharaja can come across as being narcissistic or braggadocious. I have no intention of them sounding that way and I hope the readers will not interpret them in such a way. My sole reason for sharing these experiences is two fold: 1) it’s for my own remembrance/meditation/reflection and 2) for the pleasure of the devotees who may take something out of these memories for their own personal benefit.
I was thinking what would be the best way to present these memories. After all, there are so many that it becomes difficult to categorize them all. It also becomes very difficult to remember them in a chronological order, because the passing of time has blurred the exact details of when and where. So as I was thinking about it I thought that perhaps I would just write spontaneously and allow the memories to appear randomly in my stream of consciousness.
Then I thought I would like to maybe first remember some of the interactions with my Gurudeva where I received “the sauce” (those great moments of chastisement or embarrassment). These memories may seem of a negative nature at first glance, but upon deeper reflection they allow me to see how he was showing me “tough love” out of a genuine concern for my well-being and spiritual advancement. So without further ado, here are some of the memories that I will call “The Sauce Archives”:
A LOT TO LEARN
The year is 1995 or 1996 in Detroit, Michigan. Gurudeva is in town as the Detroit temple is one of the temples in the zones that he oversees. I don’t remember if I’m initiated yet or not at the point of this memory. He’s staying at someone’s house in the vicinity of the temple. I am there with him as his personal servant. We’re waiting for a car to come and pick him up to drive him to a devotee’s house (I think it may have been the house of our god sister Titiksa dasi and her husband, who’s name I can’t recall) for a disciples meeting. As we’re getting things prepared to leave he says to me, “Uh, make sure they have the things for guru-puja.” I acknowledge what he said. The devotee arrives to drive us.
As we’re driving, Gurudeva is in the front passenger seat and I am in the back. At some point he turns to me and inquires, “Do you have the instruments for kirtan?” I can’t remember what my full response was, but I tell him I forgot but that maybe we could borrow them from the temple. He then informs the driver to swing by the temple so we can pick up a mrdanga and kartals. I run in frantically, not wanting to make Gurudeva late. I come running back with instruments and get back into the car. Gurudeva was annoyed and said something like, “How did you forget the instruments? Was I supposed to just sit there and clap my hands?” I felt so incompetent and embarrassed! But wait, because this isn’t the worst part of this memory!
We arrive at the devotee’s house for the meeting and walk in to a kirtan. The devotees bow down as he enters and he sits down in a chair covered with a cloth. The kirtan goes on for a bit more with Gurudeva now playing kartals. As the end of the kirtan arrives and the premadhanavi prayers are recited there is then an awkward silence. There is a guru-puja tray set up and cookies to distribute, but no one is initiating the guru-puja! Everyone is kind of just standing around. Gurudeva then says something like, “So I guess we can just start the class”. I’m standing there confused, because I’m thinking, “Wait…didn’t Gurudeva tell me earlier that he wanted us to do guru-puja?” So I quickly blurt out, “Did you still want us to do guru-puja, Gurudeva?” Gurudeva quickly retorts in disbelief, “Do I want guru-puja?! I don’t want guru-puja!” (He puts the emphasis on the “I”. I can still to this day hear his voice in my head saying this!) Being such a neophyte I’m still confused and don’t fully understand what’s happening. Titiksa dasi steps in and says, “We want to OFFER you guru-puja, Gurudeva!” Gurudeva then replies, “That’s up to you, if you want to.” At that point someone steps up and begins the puja, while another devotee starts up a kirtan. It finally sinks in as I’m standing there like an idiot that the Guru doesn’t WANT guru-puja. It’s the offering of the disciples and what he wanted me to do was to oversee it and make sure it went smoothly (which I clearly totally botched!). After the program we were walking out back to the car. I remember it was cold and dark out and I still remember the way the porch light illuminated him and reflected off of his glasses and the hat he was wearing. I apologize to him for what happened with the guru-puja. He says very simply and directly, “You still have a lot to learn.”
THE SHAVEN HEAD
I don’t remember the year (maybe 1998), but I was with Gurudeva at Gita-nagari as his personal servant. We were going to leave to the Washington DC area (I believe) and his first engagement there was an interview at a radio station. Before we left I had this brilliant idea that I would shave my head clean so that I could look more externally like a devotee for the upcoming preaching programs. We were going to be leaving in a few hours and I came running up to the Institute House all proud of my clean shaven head. When I walked into Gurudeva’s room and paid obeisances he turned around and said, “Why did you shave your head?” I explained to him that I wanted to look more like a devotee for the preaching programs. He then explained to me that these programs would be better if I DIDN’T look so much like a devotee! He then said, “You really should have asked me before you did this.” I felt so ashamed and crushed. Then he asked, “Do you have a hat or baseball cap you could wear?” I replied, “I don’t think so Gurudeva.” He then said, “Well maybe you can run down to the temple and see if anyone has a hat.”
So I ran down the hill and through the woods behind the Institute House. I went in search of our god brother Nrsima-titha prabhu. I found him and asked if he had a hat I could borrow. He gave me one of those flat cap Kangol style newsboy caps. I thought it looked odd when I wore it with the bill facing forward, so I turned the bill to the back and wore it backwards. I came running back up to Gurudeva. I came into his room and paid obeisances. As I was sitting up he knocked the cap off of my head and said smiling, “What are you…trying to be cool? Wear it the other way around!” I sheepishly replied, “Yes Gurudeva.”
I have to be honest: I looked REALLY weird in that cap and I was a super skinny brahmacari with big, round frame glasses. So there I was wearing hand-me-down khaki pants that were too large for me as well as an oversized long sleeve shirt that made me look like I was being swallowed up. Combine that with my clean-shaven head and that style of cap over it (which you could still see I was very bald!) and I looked like some kind of sickly alien! I could tell Gurudeva was still annoyed when we walked into the radio station. I felt so uncomfortable and self-conscious the whole time. I learned from that experience that Gurudeva was beyond the external designations and that in the world of preaching we could adapt our external appearances in order to be more effective in delivering the message and principles of bhakti-yoga.
CARING FOR OTHERS
There was one incident once at Gita-nagari (probably also around 1998) that is still embarrassing and shameful for me to think about. One evening after a program Gurudeva had gone back up to the Institute House. The plan was for me to take prasadam and then to come up later for his bedtime routine. So on this particular evening I was getting a ride back up to the House from bhakti Derek. As we were driving along the main road and right before the driveway for the Institute House we saw in the headlights a god sister of mine walking along the side of the road. I remember thinking, “Hmm…that’s odd. What’s she doing walking out here late at night?” I figured maybe she was just going for a japa walk. Then I thought, “Well, no worries then. I have to get up to the House to serve Gurudeva! I don’t want to be late or I might get reprimanded!” So we head up the driveway and pull around back. I get out of the car and quickly head into the House. There I see Gurudeva talking on the phone. I hear him say something about this devotee who went missing and had walked off. “Oh Gurudeva!” I say. “I just saw her walking along the road.” He tells the devotee on the other end of the phone and then hangs up. I’m sitting there thinking that I just did an amazing thing by solving this mystery and helping out with this information, but my Gurudeva says to me with anger and disbelief, “Why didn’t you stop and ask if they needed help?!” I’m shocked and scared and then I quickly realize I made a huge mistake. “Were you thinking just because she’s in a female body you can’t stop and offer help?” I reply, “No, no, Gurudeva. I just knew you were waiting for me up here and…” He then cuts me off and says, “That doesn’t matter! I would have understood if you were late helping your god sister! You’re thinking you have to serve your Guru but you’re neglecting the devotees that are in need!” He was so upset with me. I felt so tiny and foolish. It was a powerful lesson for me and made me realize how neophyte my consciousness was. Service to the Guru doesn’t just mean direct, physical service to him. It means serving all of the Vaishnavas in a spirit of humility, compassion and care.
PRASADAM CONSCIOUSNESS
At some point in my fanatical brahmacari days at Gita-nagari I wouldn’t eat the cooking of certain female devotees. I didn’t advertise that I did this. It was just my personal quirk. When some of my other god brothers heard of this practice of mine, they decided to also take it up. Somehow this got back to Gurudeva. He never directly talked to me about it, but in a morning Bhagavatam class he brought the issue up during a Q&A session. He was saying that it’s not only the consciousness of the person cooking that can affect the quality of the prasadam, but it’s also the consciousness of the person who is offering it to the Deities. I realized at that moment he was talking to/about me. It made me realize that I should be more concerned about the quality of my own consciousness rather than worrying about the faults of others.
EMAILS AND WASPS
There was one time at Gita-nagari in the late 90’s where we were getting ready for an upcoming Ratha Yatra festival. It meant that the regular out reach sankirtan had to be put on hold, because they needed everyone on the farm to help get things ready. There was a lot of service to be done. At that time one of the devotees who would regularly go out on sankirtan was a little perturbed and upset that we couldn’t go out as usual. He implored me, as Gurudeva’s personal secretary, to do something about it or to stand up for the sankirtan devotees. For whatever reason I became influenced by this devotee’s persuasion and decided to take action. I had this brilliant idea to quote an email that Gurudeva had sent to some devotees in South Africa. I figured the best time to bring it up would be during an istha-gosthi gathering of devotees. As Gurudeva’s secretary I was dictating all of his email messages, so I had access to these correspondences. (Looking back at it now and even thinking about it is so embarrassing! Like what the hell was I thinking?!) I made sure that the email from Gurudeva that I selected didn’t mention any specific names, but that was more of a general support for sankirtan. The problem was of course that the email was intended for a particular place, at a particular time. So even though the email supported the supremacy of performing public sankirtan and preaching, it didn’t take into account the importance of serving and assisting the devotees over one’s own personal desires!
So anyway, at the end of this meeting, there was an opportunity to bring up any questions or concerns. “Ah-ha! Here’s my moment!” I thought. So I raise my hand and take out this folded up, printed email out of my kurta pocket. I then looked over at the devotee who had been imploring me to “save” our sankirtan preaching. I thought I was doing God’s work. I clear my throat and start reading Gurudeva’s email…the personal email…that was meant for someone else…in a different part of the world…in front of all the devotees…in a public forum. At the end of the letter I say something like, “So this is why we should still be allowed to go out and preach on sankirtan.” I see the face of the facilitator looking at me with a blank stare, like she can’t believe what I just did. She then went on to explain why this was highly inappropriate to be reading this email and why it wasn’t relevant in this case. At that moment the severity (and stupidity) of my actions started to sink in.
A couple of days later that devotee approached me and told me that Gurudeva was informed of what I did and they relayed a message from him to me. I don’t remember the specifics of what Gurudeva told me (I probably blocked it out of my mind!), but all I know is that he was upset, disappointed and irritated.
A couple of days after that we were all back into full swing of getting the temple and grounds ready for Ratha Yatra. I was standing up on a scaffolding outside of the old temple room building. I think I was doing some painting. As I’m standing there painting and reflecting on what an idiot I was, I feel this sharp pain on my hand. I look down and see a giant wasp stinging me! I swat it off and immediately I start to feel nauseous and dizzy. I climbed down from the scaffolding and laid down on the ground with my hand beginning to swell. Ekavira prabhu brought me some kind of plant to chew and place on the sting. As I was laying there on the ground I realized that this was a karmic reaction for what I had done. Needless to say I never read any of Gurudeva’s emails in public again, nor shared them with anyone else!
NEW VRINDAVAN LECTURE
I was once traveling with Gurudeva to New Vrindavan as his personal servant and secretary. It was probably around 1999. At this point I had been struggling with sex desire and wondering if I should really still be a brahmacari or not. I think this was also after I had ran away once from Gita-nagari (that’ll be a memory below). So I was in this really weird mental space while serving him. I was also kind of burnt out and exhausted mentally from being so close to him for so long (more on that below as well). I still have an email from him from this time that was sent to me shortly after the New Vrindavan trip. He said to me in that email that it was “interesting” that Krishna had arranged for myself and another brahmacari god brother to be there with him at the same time, because we were both “somewhat pretending” to be surrender brahmacaris.
I remember once being in Gurudeva’s room with him and dictating emails. I was so tired and hungry and I wasn’t doing a very good job of hiding my emotions. Gurudeva was naturally sensitive to other peoples’ energies anyway, so he could very easily sense that I was struggling. Out of nowhere he said to me, “…It’s like even right now, you’re just grudgingly doing this service.” I was like, “Woah, wait…what? Gurudeva just called me out for the thoughts I was having! In mid-sentence as he was dictating a message to someone else!” He was so irritated with me and I can’t blame him, because I was being so ungrateful and on the mental platform.
So later that day he said to me, “I want you to give the Bhagavatam class in the morning instead of me.” I started freaking out in my mind! “What?! Give the Bhagavatam class? In front of you? In front of HH Radhanatha Swami? In front of so many senior Prabhupada disciples?!” My anxiety was through the roof. I thought I was going to pass out and throw up at the same time. The whole next morning I was just silently freaking out in my mind and dreading the time for class to begin. Before I knew it there I was sitting on the vyasasana with my Gurudeva, HH Radhanatha Swami and the assembly of devotees starring at me. Now you have to remember, I’m already stressed about my service to my Guru Maharaja and I’m already feeling like a false renunciate/fake brahmacari, etc. and now there I am having to give a class to all of this senior Vaishnavas.
Unfortunately I don’t even remember what the verse was and I don’t even remember what I said. I do recall saying something about HDG Srila Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja and a quote from him. Other than that it’s all an anxiety blur. I think at the end Mother Malati chimed in and tried to rescue me by adding to the discussion about pure bhakti. I remember I was so quiet and insecure and scared and nervous. I felt like such a fraud sitting up on that vyasasana. And I can look back and see it as Gurudeva’s mercy to let me know that I wasn’t ready to be a vessel to deliver any type of transcendental message. It was like he was saying, “So you think you’re so pure and surrendered? Let’s see you in action!” And I failed. It was as if he held a mirror up and allowed me to see myself, to see my selfishness, to see my faults and to see my weaknesses. I’ll never forget that moment.
On a side note: I sometimes think back on this memory and wish I could go back in time knowing what I know now and deliver a different kind of discussion. Maybe one day I’ll write a blog entry entitled, “The Class I Should Have Given”.
ON THE RUN!
This memory is from 2001 and takes place at Gita-nagari. This is one of the most regretful, selfish things I did as Gurudeva’s personal servant. A lot of devotees probably don’t realize just how intense it was being so physically close to Gurudeva for such extended periods of time. A lot of devotees experiences with him were more like you see him at the temple, hear him give a class and then you go and take prasadam and go home and watch TV or relax with your family and friends or go on a relaxing japa walk, etc. My experience was more what I liken to that of a firefighter having to constantly be on call and waiting for the alarm to go off. There was always a constant, high level of anxiety, anticipation and attention. There was never any down time, never any time to relax. And that was just Gurudeva’s nature. He was intense in his service to Srila Prabhupada and the Vaishnavas. He never had an off-switch. He never contemplated his own sense-gratification. (One time I even heard him say, while serving him at the Institute House in DC, “Hmmm…I wonder why I’m not tired…I wonder what I didn’t do in my service to Srila Prabhupada.” which meant he couldn’t relax because he was in some transcendental anxiety feeling like he hadn’t done enough service that day! This is a symptom of someone experiencing the higher stages of devotional service.)
So anyway, my service as his secretary mainly consisted of dictating emails. And there were A LOT of emails. Sometimes we would spend HOURS replying to emails. And I would sit on the floor with crossed legs, hunched over while typing on his laptop, because many times we would be in his room and there was no table to sit at. This eventually lead to severe back pain and issues, but even when the back pain was intense I wouldn’t say anything. I would just work through it. (It was Brahma-muhurta prabhu that later realized you could just say to Gurudeva, “Is it okay if I sit at a table while we do this?”) So imagine sitting on the floor for hours, your back is having muscle spasms and burning, Gurudeva is asking you to repeat what he just said, not once, but twice or sometimes several times and you haven’t eaten anything all day and you only got 4 hours of sleep! And this isn’t just one day. It’s EVERY single day for sometimes two or three weeks at a time. And then you realize that after you’re finished with this service you have to run down to the temple and do an offering or arati and then quickly eat something and run back up to the Institute House up a steep hill through the dark woods to go and do more emails. It was a very unique and intense kind of seva! And it lead to a lot of my ungrateful attitude and struggles in my devotional service.
So at some point it just got to be too much for me to handle. I think there was one point where I had a fever and was falling ill. I hadn’t eaten or drank anything all day and was running on very little sleep. And Gurudeva was composing an important email to the GBC that he kept revising and having me read over and over and over. I thought I was going to lose my mind. At one point I had to tell him, “Gurudeva…I think I’m becoming sick. I have a really bad fever right now. Is there anyway I could go soon and go to bed?” He replied, “Uhh…sure. Let’s just finish up these emails.” So we spent another hour replying to them. I remember walking down that hill in the dark, feeling feverish and nauseous and thinking, “What even is my life? How is being selfless supposed to be blissful and yet here I am feeling so miserable?!” It was intense and it was the daily norm when he was physically there.
That was just a little backstory to what follows. So Gurudeva was away from Gita-nagari on a preaching tour. He was due to come back soon and I started having a panic attack, like a legitimate anxiety overload. I was freaking out. Then I had this brilliant idea: I’ll just leave! I’ll just get on a train and go back home to Michigan! For whatever reason that was the solution my panicked mind came up with: just run away! Of course in retrospect I can look at it and see that this wouldn’t solve anything, but at the time it was the only solution I could see. So I devised an entire plan about how I would tell a devotee who commuted to Harrisburg that I needed a ride to the train station because I was going home to visit, but I wouldn’t tell him the whole story. And so I did just that. I made some arrangements before hand to get a train ticket from my father that would be waiting for me at the station. And one morning this devotee drove me to Harrisburg as I slouched down in the passenger seat so no one would see me.
Looking back at this moment in my life is so embarrassing and regretful. I still don’t know why I did it. For some reason I had also used the writings of HH Satsvarupa Maharaja as justification for my actions. I had read that he had struggles in his service as a secretary to Srila Prabhupada to the point where he asked Srila Prabhupada if he could leave this service. (I later wrote to Maharaja about this and received a nice letter in response from him, which I still have.)
Anyway, I finally made it to Michigan and awaited the fall out and consequences of my actions. You can imagine that Gurudeva wasn’t happy with me. He sent me an email (which I also still have) basically calling me out for my selfish nature. The email is too personal and painful to really share the whole thing in public, but here is a small portion of it:
“So, it comes down to basically selfishness, dishonesty, and somewhat of a
hate of Krishna, or let us say distrust. So therefore there is always an
underlying frustration in your nature. You may only get out of this fully
by just changing into white, having your independence with a wife, and
having your sense-gratification, and at the same time doing devotional
service as it fits into your material desires.”
And well now…here I am! I try not to look back at this time with too much regret, but it’s definitely hard in retrospect, especially now that he’s physically gone. Of course at the time too I was much younger and much more immature. I was a kid when I joined and shortly afterwards got placed into this really intense service that probably would have cracked any mortal (at least I tell myself this to feel better about my choices). (There are some sweet memories that take place after this event, but I’ll save those for another blog entry.)
LITTLE DROPS OF SAUCE
1. One time I was dressing Gurudeva’s Deities. None of Their outfits matched and all of the clothes were mixed up. It was taking me a long time to dress Them, as I was spending so much time searching for things that would match. Gurudeva noticed this and inquired why it was taking me so long. When I explained my predicament he replied, “You can just use whatever is there.” Then after a short pause he added, “Sometimes we have to be creative like anything in the service of the Lord!”
2. One time after having just arrived to Gita-nagari late at night from the Detroit temple (that’s a long story!), Gurudeva said I should call my mother to let her know I was okay and that I had arrived safely. So I used the phone in the living room. As I was talking to her he was standing near me and listening. I must have sounded scared or nervous or something, because when I got off the phone with her he said to me, “You should try not to upset your mother so much.”
3. One time on a Nirjala ekadasi I decided to take prasadam instead of doing a full fast. When I went up to the Institute House later to serve Gurudeva, he asked me if I was strictly following Nirjala. When I replied that I had taken prasadam he was grave and quiet. Then he said, “Sometimes it’s good to do some fasting. It helps control the mind and senses.” I felt like such a turd!
4. One time in Gita-nagari while I was serving Gurudeva we were sitting in his room. I asked him, “Gurudeva…I wanted to ask you a question.” “Sure, what is it?” he replied. I then said, “I was wondering…why is it so hard to be truly selfless?” He quickly replied, “Do you realize that you ask the same question over and over? Maybe you need to take a look at that.” Then he added, “It’s just like I’ve said before, the more you only worry about yourself the more miserable you will be. You need to do your service in a loving mood, not just in a begrudging mood.” I don’t fully remember what the actual answer was that he gave me. At the time I was thrown off by his comment that I ask the same question over and over! I couldn’t understand what he meant. In later reflection I could understand that he meant I wasn’t really applying the answer he was giving me. I was just asking to ask, but I wasn’t really doing the work to be more selfless!
5. One time while massaging Gurudeva’s feet in the evening he said to me, “Right now you’re caught up in your mind, but one day you’ll look back at this service and be extremely grateful.” I was shocked and almost started crying. I was so selfish and ungrateful in my service to Gurudeva, but he was right: I now look back at those experiences with such gratitude and appreciation.
6. One time while serving Gurudeva in New Vrindavan, we were sharing a cabin. I would sleep up in a loft and he had the room on the main floor. As a brahamcari I was into the whole kaupin thing. So I would wash them in the evening and hang them up to dry over the railing in the loft. On one particular morning Gurudeva said I could go to mangal-aratik by myself, because he had some work to do. So I went to the morning program and when I came back Gurudeva was chanting his japa and pacing back and forth in the main room. I paid obeisances and when I stood up he said to me, “Uh, can you take those down?” as he pointed with his japa finger towards my kaupins hanging off the railing! He then added, “I don’t want to be looking at your underwear!”
7. One time also in New Vrindavan he asked me to wash and iron his clothes. For whatever reason I accidentally left the laundry in a different building, so when he woke up that morning for mangal-aratik he asked me where his clothes were. When I told him that I forgot to bring them back and that it wasn’t even ironed yet, he became very upset and annoyed. He then said, “Well I can’t NOT go to mangal-aratik. I guess I’ll wear the clothes I was wearing yesterday. Where are they?” I had them wrapped up to be washed later, so they were all wrinkled. He didn’t say a word, but I could tell he was so annoyed at my incompetence. He quickly got dressed and I followed behind him as we walked to the temple. I felt so terrible!
8. One time at a preaching program at a college in Pittsburgh I was in charge of Gurudeva’s metal briefcase. After he gave his lecture we were all standing around talking. It was then time for Gurudeva to leave, so we rushed out. As we were walking off the campus and towards the car Gurudeva stopped dead in his tracks and looked at me and said, “Do you have my briefcase?” My heart sank. I looked at my hands. There was no briefcase in my hands! “Oh no…I forgot it Gurudeva! I’ll run back and get it!” So I took off sprinting. About 20 feet later I see a brahmacari running towards me shouting, “Maharaja! Maharaja!” I see in his hand he’s holding the briefcase. “Maharaja, you forgot your briefcase!” He hands it over to Gurudeva. Then he says, “Thank you so much. At least someone here was thinking.” Ouch! I felt like such an idiot. It was like the current meme where people say, “You had one job!” All I had to do was keep an eye on that briefcase and take care of it, but I couldn’t even do that right. Gurudeva later told me in the car that I have to be more aware and careful and that his briefcase was very important because he kept a lot of his legal documents and passport in there.
9. One time I was out with Gurudeva at a greenhouse in Mifflintown, as he wanted to go shopping for plants. He was about to leave on a month long worldwide preaching tour, but at the time he was also dealing with some health issues. As we were walking back to the car I said to him, “Gurudeva, I don’t know how you do it!” in reference to his intense traveling schedule and despite his health issues. He smiled that wonderful, big, bright grin of his and said to me, “Jayadeva…you think about yourself too much!”
Institute for Spiritual Culture conducted their annual program expounding upon the virtues of ideal family life
On Friday we were in primary and secondary schools in Norwood, Clapham and Sanderstead, South London and made presentations about Sanatana Dharma. The children chanted the Hare Krishna mahamantra very nicely. A total of 175 Higher Taste were distributed to the children of the 3 schools.
Grand Celebration on the way...
By Niranjana and Jayapataka Swamis
By Giriraj Swami
Nitai Gauranga Rai Abhiseka on Gaura Purnima
Sri Sri Nitai Gauranga Rai, Temple of Devotion & Understanding
Good idea to let children have a feel of feeding cows
Kavi Nimai the dynamic full of energy Temple President of ISKCON Gelugor, Penang
Not to forget our ISKCON bramachari Hari Das Nitai serving prasadam at a food for life program at Santipur
HH Bhakti Mukunda Swami Vice President of ISKCON Malaysia delivering Krishna Katha at Seremban
Kalesa dasa Co-Temple President of TODU
Dvija Gauranga prabhu Temple President of Bhakti Mandir with a good harvest from Bhakti Mandir Gardens
ISKCON Sri Rama Vanam altar
Indian Knowledge System members with Vaisnavi
After Gopuja circumbulation 
Youths following examples of parents 
At Sri Sri Krishna Balaram Mandir, Kulim
Sri Sri Radha Krishna Kanhaiya, Temple of Devotion & Understanding
Gopuja at NEw Godruma Dhama farm