The Conclusion of the Adventure

The conclusion of the adventure is somewhat anti-climactic. I didn't faint in ecstasy upon seeing Govardhan.

Maybe you thought I haven't posted anything for the past few days because once I got to Vrindavan I became mad with love of God and have just been wandering around all the various holy places chanting constantly, crying in ecstasy, and completely forgetting about everything of this world. I wish, but actually it is has just been really hard to get internet access here at Govardhan.

One minor miracle is that I did manage to chant over fifty rounds on the day I arrived in Vrindavan. For those that know how much I've struggled with tendinitis for the past six years this is actually quite miraculous.

After a nineteen hour train ride I made it to Mathura and it was a short car ride from there to Vrindavan Krishna Balaram Mandir. I attened the evening kirtan with Aindra prabhu and the morning program the next day, and then it was off to Govardhan.

I made the twenty kilometer journey by auto rickshaw, and after wandering around for a while I eventually found the Srimad Bhagavata Vidyapitham, it is just a hundred yards from Dhana Gati, the center of the Govardhan town, but it is a little hard to find because it is nestled in an alley, from the road you can just barely see the sign.

I've been here for two days now, just trying to get adjusted to a new life, a new environment and a new service. And trying to get caught up on memorizing the 36 sutras that they covered in the first week of class that I missed.

Now that I'm here the reality of the situation has set in, the first day it was a little depressing. Nothing worthwhile is easy to attain. Learning the sanskrt and all the books of the goswami's is a herculean task.

And purifying the heart will require thousands of times more effort. Once I saw the list of one thousand sutras that we are supposed to memorized I realized how lazy I am.

I can only prostrate myself at the feet of the six goswamis, and all of their followers and beg for their mercy in accomplishing this task.

All glories to Sri Rupa Gosvami, Sanatana Gosvami, Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami, Sri Jiva Gosvami, Gopala Bhatta Gosvami, and Raghunatha dasa Gosvami.

I offer my obeisances to the feet of these six Gosvamis. By offering them my obeisances all obstacles to devotion are destroyed and all spiritual desires are fulfilled.

I am the servant of that person who is a servant of these six Gosvamis. The dust of their holy feet is my five kinds of foodstuffs.

This is my desire, that birth after birth I may live with those devotees who serve the lotus feet of these six Gosvamis.