We woke up super early and super excited to go to mangal artik with Dina Prabhu. A little too early because the gates where still locked as we got there. Apparently they don't open them till 3:30 in the morning, so yeah we were awake pretty early, we got there around 3:00. But it was alright, we chanted outside the walls for little bit, then Dina came and they finally let us in. We went straight to Srila Prabhupada's samadhi and chanted on the top floor again. It was so nice to be back there in the early morning, chanting with Srila Prabhupada and sharing it with Kar. Its like you don't want time to move, yet you are really excited about the next thing coming up. Soon enough it was time for mangal artik, and so we went down to see Srila Prabhupada, then into the temple to see Sri Sri Krsna Balaram, Radha Syamasundar, and Gaura Nitai. As usual it was a little chaotic in the temple room during the mangal artik, but still the deities are so beautiful, you soon become unaware of anything else.
After mangal artik we went back to our rooms to take a nap. Poor Kar still had a hard time sleeping because of his asthma. As he explained, it was hard for him to get rid of because of the bedding but also because he was too excited to calm down enough to let it get better. We finally got him a good foam mattress, and the sheets were clean and he had a clean pillow so he was finally able to sleep well, after the mangal artik.
When we woke from our nap and had breakfast, we went over to see Dina, and she took us to one of our favorite places in the world, the "Care for Cows" goshala. It was the perfect introduction to Vrindavan for Kar, so peaceful and beautiful, and full of Krsna's cows. We loved it there! When we got there the devotees told us that a new baby calf had just been born, so we inside to see it and pet it. I was a little worried when Kar was petting the calf because the mama cow came right over to him, I thought she was annoyed and was going to butt Kar away, but she started licking his head instead! I have never met such loving and affectionate cows in my life. Then we looked at two little rascally calves who were running around all over the place. They were so cute too! I managed to get some of their tail hairs to make a small brush for Krsna and Balaram. I got some white tail hairs from the white calf, and some black tail hairs from the little blackish calf. I think that is the best thing I got for Krsna and Balaram from Vrindavan. Then we got to see all the cows come home for lunch. It is such an amazing sight to see, hundreds of cows all coming down the road, with the dust billowing around in the air, picking up speed as they get nearer to the goshala, and finally all breaking off into their own groups to go and eat in their own spots! They all knew exactly where to go, what group they were in, and what time to come home! It was like right out of the Krsna book! Such a beautiful sight, you could almost see Krsna and Balaram playing Their flutes and coming home with the cows.
We spent most of the morning there, and then went back for a late lunch, and just relaxed and walked around the temple area for the rest of the day. We had to prepare to go to Govardhan the next morning, so we arranged a taxi, and went to bed early to get an early start. I can't remember if we had evening kirtans at Yamuna and Dina Prabhus' place. All in all, it was one of the nicest, most relaxed times of my life. I would be totally happy and satisfied if my whole experience of Vrindavan was just that little goshala.
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