Dear Devotees,

As I sit in the Atlanta airport waiting for my delayed flight back to North Carolina I have the time to reflect on the past week at the Sivananda Ashram in Paradise Island with H.D. Goswami. I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to to assist with his Mahabharata Katha program.

I arrived on April 24th in the Bahamas. In order to get to the island where the ashram is you have to take a small boat across the water. The property is very tropical and has ocean front. I arrived at dinner time and found H.D. Goswami engaged in a lively conversation with the resident staff and friends. He has given talks last year on the Srimad-Bhagavatam and everyone was waiting for his return. Many people had also come to hear the classes again this year.

There are two resident sannyasis Swami Brahmananda and Swami Swaroopananda. They treated him like family and were very enlivened to have his association and hear from him. Everyone is always amazed at his depth of knowledge and great humor. I could see that he also was very relaxed and happy to share with them. He was given a wonderful suite overlooking the ocean front. In fact they wanted him to stay there and write be he explained that he need to go into seclusion. It is so important to see how he is able to bring the different traditions together to speak philosophy and have a mood of sharing and learning. Good example for us all when spreading Krishna Consciousness.

Vishvambhara, Vrinda, Jaya Sita and Sri Syama were the kirtana group. Karnamrta was held up for days with trying to get out of South Africa after the earthquake. One night they did a song on Vrindavan and Vrinda danced transporting the whole room to the holy dhama. H.D. Goswami was so pleased. It is amazing to see the transformation which took place with everyone present. There were over a hundred people present in the temple room.

H.D. Goswami was giving class every morning and evening. He began with an Introduction to the Mahabharata and explained that he was going to focus on bringing out the emotions and character of those great devotees so that we see them as real people. He also explained that over time the text had become corrupted and so that he was also going to choose what he thought was the important essence based on the Srimad-Bhagavatam as a scriptural check and balance. These classes will be posted and I encourage everyone to listen again and again. They are so inspiring. He makes them exciting and captivating for the audience while teaching us about dharma and the important lessons that come forward in this great work. He explained how these pastimes are meant to attract the conditioned souls and at the same time we can see that by all the difficulties Krishna associates face that this world is not our real home and we should plan to go back to the spiritual world. He spoke with such deep realization on Krishna and the Pandavas that he naturally brings people to relate to the Lord as a person. The whole room was chanting and listening attentively. I was getting such incredible feedback where ever I walked. People were so appreciative of the presentation and loving the association of the Hare Krishnas. The bhajan group before the talk brought every one in the right mood to hear nicely. Those who were dong the months teacher training said this was the highlight of their visit. The staff was begging him to come next year. But as you know he is not taking any invitations at this point. Let us all pray that he can work on his books. Just think what a wide audience he can reach and to have it all in writing to be read. These talks were just a little introduction to what is ahead.

One morning one Indian gentleman came and had a conversation with H.D. Goswami about the Bhagavad-gita. H.D. Goswami kept quoting to him what Krishna himself was saying . The talk went on for a few hours and the man had a major change in his impersonal outlook. He thanked me for the introduction and will keep contact. Many people are interested in listening to his class on the website.

Karnamrta came at the end of the week and the final night H.D. Goswami joined the music group for singing the beautiful song H.D. Goswami had written many years ago, "Hari Hari." I will post the words and song here. It was so amazing. The whole ashram was absorbed and singing with all their hearts and devotion. We can see how the devotees can uplift the whole atmosphere and Krishna manifests his sweet, sweet presence.

The day after H.D. Goswami left things felt quiet and still and I could understand the mood of separation. How special are the devotees of the Lord who have given their life. Where ever H.D. Goswami goes he gives Krishna to all he meets.

I am sorry if I am not able to explain these days to share all with you. I will post pictures for a picture is better then a thousand words. H.D. Goswami also had time to swim and walk on the beach. Now he is in Cuba and then Mexico and after that he will begin his seclusion.

All glories to H.D. Goswami! All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

Your servant,

Krishna-priya devi dasi

May 4, 2010