We woke up early for mangal aritk, although not as early as before. After mangal artik Kar and I stayed in the temple area and chanted our rounds. We weren't sure what our plans were going to be for that day, so we thought it would be best to get our rounds done as soon as possible. Of course that meant no nap after mangal artik. Then it was Deity greeting, and then Sacinandan Swami led an incredible guru puja kirtan! I wanted so much to just get absorb in the kirtan but no matter where I was standing I was in the way of something. When I tried to stand by the pillars, I was in the way of people coming to see the deities, when I stood in the corner by the deities I was in the way of the procession with the Srila Prabhupada murti! It was a little choatic for me, but the kirtan was really good, totally wild! We went around the temple three times, then into Srila Prabhupada's samadhi, and finally back into the temple room. After the kirtan Sacinanadan Swami gave a great Bhagavatam class. It was the perfect class for that place and time, I wish I could remember it now. I wish I took notes again. At the time you are always so sure you would be able to remember it later.
After the class, Kar and I talked to Gaura Hari for a little bit, trying to find out what Sacinandan Swami's schedule was going to be and if there was any possibilities of spending more time with him, and if there was any service we could do. Of course, being the incredible and compassionate person that he is, Gaura Hari said he would try and see if we could spend some time with Sacinandan Swami the next day, and then he gave us some of Maharaja's kurtas to wash! I don't know how he does it, we must be like the 100th person who asks him for service to do for Maharaja, yet he always tries to give us something, or arrange something for us. He is truly our kind well-wisher and best friend and we are so indebted to him!
By then it was getting late, so we rushed over to Yamuna's and Dina's to see what their plans were. When we got there guests were coming already, and Yamuna had to leave right away with Bala to do the deity shopping. We told her we would meet her later in Loi Bazaar, but when we got back to our place to eat, we decided not to try to do so much. We were both really tired and still feeling a little sick, and Sunday was always such a crazy day everywhere. So I just did Maharaja's laundry, took a nap, then we ate lunch and walked around the temple shops, and finished chanting our rounds. It was a good thing we took that break too, because we found out later that day that there was going to be a special candlelit darshan at RadhaRaman temple that evening! We had thought we were going to do kirtan with Yamuna and Dina again, but then we decided to all go over there instead. It was around 6:30-7:00 in the evening when we left. The streets where packed but when we got there it was surprisingly not as crowded as we thought.
What an incredible darshan that was!!! I will never forget it, it was the most mystical and magical thing I have ever experienced! They had this huge cloth canopy on the ceiling and tea light candles everywhere, with this huge candle chandilier in the middle. And Radha Raman was so amazingly beautiful!! We could not take our eyes off of him, it was just so indescribable. Then at that magical place we saw Sacinandan Swami there all alone. He was going to do kirtan there for that darshan, but GauraHari wasn't with him, so he asked Kar to be his harmonium player during the kirtan. What an experience!! It was beyond anything we could have ever hoped for, beyond anything we had could have ever deserved. To be sitting there doing kirtan for Radha Ramanji at that super special evening darshan, with Yamuna and Dina there too!!!! It was completely unreal. I so badly wanted it to go on forever, but it somehow went by way to quickly, and it was over, time to go home. It was so hard to drag ourselves away from RadhaRaman's beautiful face! By the time we left it was quite late and we were planning on going to Mangal artik with Sacinandan Swami, and then go with him to other places the next day. But we were buzzing so much from that experience, we did not feel tired at all! It's a strange sort of feeling, to be wanting to say so much yet still be in so much awe and bliss that you can't really say anything at all! We finally went to be much later then we had hoped, but with huge blissful smiles on our faces. I fervently pray and hope that I will never forget that beautiful image of RadhaRaman smiling and shining in the candlelight.
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