This was one of our last days for our Saranagati session, and so we decided to do the bhajans at Imli Tala. Prabhupada's sister's closest friend was living there for many years, and she was now in her last days, she also knew Yamuna and was asking about her many times, so we wanted to sing for her a little. We got there with our usual group, except for Dina who was still feeling quite sick, and spent sometime just offering our obeisances, prayers, and absorbing the serene atmosphere of the place. To be honest it was a little difficult for me to fully appreciate and absorb this holy place at first because there was a lot of construction going on, buildings/scaffolding everywhere, and the tree itself had passed away, with only its one main trunk encased in a metal sheath to protect it. They had planted another tree, and the beautiful murti of Lord Caitanya was still sitting under it. Once we offered our respects we went to see Pishima (as they call her), who was staying in a room right beside the Imli Tala tree. Although she could hardly talk, and was so tiny and frail, she still had an incredible presence and potency, you could feel her devotion and steadfastness to Krsna Concsiousness. I felt so grateful and blessed to have this rare opportunity to pay my respects to such an advanced devotee, especially as her time was coming soon. We set ourselves up right outside her door, which was propped open, and started doing our kirtans. She was sitting in a chair in front of us for most of the time. Once we started doing the kirtans, I felt the amazing spiritual energy of the place start to penetrate through my thick covering. We were chanting Radha and Krsna's names at the exact same place where Lord Caitanya chanted, where Radha and Krsna chanted! It was too incredible, too overwhelming for my mind. Then it didn't matter if there was metal, cement, and everything else covering it, because it was still there! It was still the exact same place! I could still touch the same tree! How could I possibly understand what incredible good fortune it was too be there, what to speak of have kirtan there? The kirtans were incredible too! There is something so mystical and sweet about performing kirtan at these sacred and holy places. When you first start you realize that you are doing exactly the same thing that has been done there for hundreds of years, by so many wonderful personalities, and then you feel so intimately connected with them. You can feel their personal presence and blessings on you, and with that comes an intense overwhelming gratitude, for everything, the opportunity, the devotees who you are with, and for the incredible mercy flowing through. With this feeling of gratitude, everything you sing becomes so much sweeter, so much more meaningful then ever before, and you really don't want to stop, sometimes not even to start the next bhajan! This was a little of how it felt to be doing kirtan at Imli Tala, with Yamuna Prabhu, for Pishima. I cannot even fathom how rare of an opportunity that is, and how lucky I am to have been there for it. I just hope and pray that I may never forget that feeling.
We sang for about 2 1/2 hours, and then went into the temple for the noon artik. Beautiful deities there, and amazing 3D reliefs of all these pastimes of Lord Caitanya on the walls. It was a very beautiful temple, and after the kirtan a devotee gave us a big bag of maha sweets and papaya. It was some of the best papaya I have ever eaten! We went back to the MVT, and then almost immediately had to go to a local devotee's house for prasadam. They were an Indian couple who were very attached and appreciative of Yamuna and Dina Prabhus, and very very sweet devotees. The way they served us and received us was quite embarrassing and overwhelming, especially for us who have no culture in the slightest sense. They had us sit on the couch, with tables in front of us, and then brought our plates down on the tables. They had given us each a garland before that too.They had so much love and respect for Yamuna prabhu, that I was in totally bliss just watching the way they served her, it was such an incredible lesson in Vaisnava etiquette. I realized what a buffoon I am, after that. Then they served Yamuna Devi first and then the rest of us, and they didn't sit down to eat after, they just stood there waiting till we were completely finished, watching us eat. It was super good prasadam too. We had corn parathas, and curd/cauliflower parathas, sak, carrot halavah, yogurt, amla chutney, and maha prasad sweet rice. Then after they gave us these spicy dried amla fruits. No paratha that I had ever eaten before compared to one of those parathas, they were perfect, and so good! We were completely full after that, and more then ever satisfied. Then they started giving us all these presents, like boxes of dried bal fruit, bead bags, pictures. Anything that you said you appreciated they were ready to give to you, you had to be so careful about what you said. You wanted to tell them how much you liked it and appreciated it, but you didn't want them to give you everything either! I had no idea what to say. After we left, we were all feeling pretty overwhelmed and blown away by such hospitality and genuine service attitude, when Yamuna Prabhu said, " This is just a glimpse of what Chowpatty is like, be prepared." I started feeling very nervous and apprehensive after hearing that! I wasn't sure I could take a whole week of feeling like the biggest buffoon.
After lunch Kar and I went on our usual trip to Loi Bazaar looking for all the wonderful things we wanted to buy for Krsna and Balaram and having a really hard time finding them! But every time we returned it was with excitement over the fun new things we could offer Them. Unfortunately because Dina was still sick and because we were leaving for Jaipur early the next morning we did not have any evening kirtans. But we were so excited about going to Jaipur that it was hard to get to sleep any earlier.
