Dearest Devotees of Gita Nagari!
Please accept my humble obeisances. All Glories to Srila Prabhupada. I pray that you and your families are well since we last communicated.
I have had a wonderful time, especially having had the personal opportunity to attend a few enlivening programs. I was grateful that devotees kindly assisted in covering our services while I attended the Disciples Meeting with HH Radhanath Swami in New Jersey, which was followed by more nectarean association at Kuvera Prabhu's Program in Washington DC. And more was to come, we stayed at the friendly home of Puspavan Prabhu and Mother Nandi - wonderful and sweet exemplary devotees from whom I learned a lot in our short stay, especially pertaining to perspectives on Gita Nagari and relationships with devotees. Being at all of these Programs was a special and important time for me to connect with various devotees on both a social and service related level as so many have either a genuine interest in Gita Nagari or have been previous residents of Gita Nagari.
And even more followed with the visit of HG Ravindra Swarup Prabhu: deep, relishable classes and spiritual and practical guidance regarding the Farm. Caitanya Jivan prabhu accompanied him which was even more special - a humble yet active devotee on the subject of outreach into niche preaching arenas. Puspavan Prabhu also joined us for our traditional Wood Cutting Program around the same time, which Trey pr and others assisted in.
The cows are doing nicely in the winter - there may be some adjustments I have to make regarding their feeding points and "exercise" areas. We are still waiting for the babies to arrive - the Vet said December 2009...
I have had the USDA visit us here at the Farm and they are in the process of drawing up a Conservation Plan for us - their visit was very educational for me and I am looking forward to their input.
Keeping the buildings heated means feeding the boiler - Nandakishore pr and the children are assisting in this process - the standing joke is about our high maintenance "Bhakta Boiler" (note NOT BhaktIN). We are low on our wood supply and this will remain the focus for winter - gathering wood from our forest. I also had to ensure that the cabin is heated and so installed a working wood stove that we had lying around.
With the cold weather and some outdoor services that had to be completed running up to the snow fall, I developed a cold that stayed with me for 4 weeks. Many devotees kindly nursed and chastised me into better health for which I am grateful.
I did sadly miss the celebration of IOHU's 6th Anniversary and 3rd Anniversary of Sri Sri Radha Sarad-Vihari, although devotees from Gita Nagari represented me. The Harrisburg team are selflessly and tirelessly growing the Program and preaching.
The rains also brought about the basement situation - we have about 3 inches of water in the Temple Building basement each time we have a heavy rain - which has been frequent in the last while. This means hours of cleaning and pumping the water out. We are assessing the various engineering solutions and will revert with a plan - which as you know - will be a large expense. We are appealing to devotees to also appeal to others you may know to offer some assistance to fund this remediation so our Temple Building does not have to be at risk.
Christmas Day was awesome - deep reflections and sharing at the welcoming and cozy home of Mother Yasodamayi followed by a great feast and more good fun.
And as if that was not enough for her to offer, she and Mother Cintamani put on a remarkable and inspiring Music of the Heart Festival. They coordinated the participants, decorated the venue and cooked a delicious feast. Our other great cooks were Mother Sri Vrindavan, Madhava Prabhu, Mother Lilakatha and Mother Astanga. This was held on New Year's Eve followed by 4 funny and entertaining skits presented by talented Damodara Rati, Jaganatha Kripa, Vrindarani and Muni. The entire evening was filled with talented and endowed devotees: Mother Taruni and her beautiful poetry; Ian, Mukunda, Kalakanthi and Mother Cintamani with Devaki and Jana on the piano and later on guitar; Rohan on guitar; Acarya Prabhu and Vraja Krsna on harmonium and tabla and mrdanga; Mother Sridevi all the way from Mississippi with Krsna Carols; Little Bhima and his Hungarian recitation; Akincana on guitar; and Hladini on violin. We watched inspiring DVDs and had an ecstatic kirtan building up to midnight arati to Sri Sri Radha Damodara. Our scheduled Fire Sacrifice did not take place as the devotee who was meant to officiate it was not available.
And just before New Year's, we had the rare association (these days) of Mother Kaulini - it is always awesome to have her back home in Gita Nagari. She stayed a few days. She was accompanied by Saci Suta prabhu and his 3 wonderful children, Kaulini, Subhadra and Laksman. I spent time with Saci Suta prabhu as he has a great and active interest in Gita Nagari having been a sincere servant here many years ago - I was grateful for his insights and recommendations.
Mother Harakanta and her son Bala - more dedicated servants of Gita Nagari visited us. We also had guests popping in and staying over - spontaneously. It was very satisfying serving all of them and ensuring that they had a wonderful time here.
All other services continue with loving dedication and commitment by the respective devotees - they are tireless and selfless and I will always remain grateful for and inspired by their steadiness.
Your servant Dhruva Maharaj das
Gita Nagari Farm
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