Sri Mayapura Dham ki jaya!

I was reading my journal from our last trip to India and I came across this passage, "I realized at this time that you really got to want to go to the Dham (holy place of pilgrimage).  You can't just whimsically say, sure--why not.  It takes a lot of austerity".

This rings true to this experience as well.  There are 2 roads leading into Mayapur, both long and arduous...however, last time, riding on big buses, we took one way--this time, riding in a vehicle from the temple taxi service, we took quite the other way..."bumpy" doesn't even begin to describe it!  One devotee from London that traveled that same direction said, "Oh!  It shook my bones to the core!"

It was so bad that Nitai threw up all his applesauce he'd consumed during the first part of the journey...we creeped/zoomed along village roads that had more potholes (more like craters) than road...

Anyways, we arrived in Mayapur (yay!) in the evening and had difficulty getting our room (took about 1 1/2 hrs. to figure things out)...but at last, we climbed up to the 3rd floor with all our luggage and found our room to be quite tiny--not ideal for a family living there for an extended period of time...

That night, Brad and I were awakened by a "WHAP!....THUMP."  What was that??????  Go back to sleep...then Brad says, "Something just crawled over me!!"  What was that?????  Then again, "WHAP!...THUMP."  "Something landed on me (Gaurangi Rasa/Dena)!"
Lights on and I found a little bat next to me, dead from being hit by the high speed ceiling fan...then I noticed one more live little one crawling on the screen door...it took a few minutes, but we managed to shoo it out the front door...then we found another dead one (the first whap/thump) on the floor...we got rid of both of the little bodies, then simply fell back asleep, too tired to think about it anymore.
First night in Mayapura :)

the Eco Village!!

I wish all of you could come to this place...it's amazing!!!  It's located about 2 hrs. outside Mumbai, amidst a picturesque Indian jungle setting.  So far, the farm owns 70 acres and they are living the dream of unity with nature.  Check out these pictures:

view from our room (papaya tree) 

additional view from our room w/banana grove

amazing goshala--the cows are really in focus here--they are SO loved and cared for in such a personal manner, as simply part of the family  

the cows are also very lovable

we got to brush the calves and they LOVE it!!  actually, it's recommended for the bramacharis (monks) to spend at least 1 hr. per day brushing the cows...indeed, it is a wonderful experience!  such a beautiful, loving exchange!  there's no way someone could continue eating cows after having an experience like this.

they just love you right back...licks and nuzzles and happy energy

they really like getting rubbled on the underside of their soft necks...

view from the temple room 

temple room facing Srila Prabhupada

merciful Gaura-Nitai deities

all the walls have been made from elements of the surrounding earth--paintings in the alter space

view of temple room facing the Deities

amazing prasadam (food that's been blessed)--first class all the way!  this is the family we came out here with--Astasaki mataji is a Prabhupada disciple from the Manor, her son Baladeva and his wife Joyce

more beautiful art in the alter space

rice fields (they practice sustainable agriculture)

products that they grow, harvest and use/sell (rice, i think mung dal, peanuts, another type of rice)
they grow a specific type of rice that is used in sweet rice and it is oh so good!!!

doesn't look so pretty, but is where they mix all their own organic fertilizers...

one of the agricultural fields--they employ some of the local villagers to help--there's a lot of work to be done!!

another field, most of the plants here are done and they are letting them go to seed in order to save the seeds for the next crop.  they also use raised beds...

There used to be a boys orphanage in the current location of the temple in Mumbai.  The devotees moved the orphanage to another spot, then out to the Eco Village where they've turned it into an amazing gurukula (school).

This is the boy's exercise arena--totally set up for your typical boy!  It has all kinds of fun ways to play/exercise using simple equipment and games. 

This is the official wrestling arena!  The ground is made up of all kinds of good antiseptic things--spices, clay, cow dung, etc...there is a rope swing that nitai immediately ran to...that's him getting ready to swing from the wall...

here's part of the school/classrooms

there are also girls in the school, just they live at home 

sweet kids

they gave us these gorgeous bouquets when we arrived at the school--nitai is holding up tumeric flowers--break the green part a bit and you smell the tumeric!

these lovely smelling bouquets are what we were given

notice the detailed designs over the classroom door--there is so much attention paid to every details in the farm, Gopal's Fun School, Hospital and Radha-Gopinatha mandir--it's incredible! 

Cow dung is collected in these large containers, then the gas that it gives off is filtered through these pipes which lead directly to the kitchen--all the stoves are fueled in this way! 

This is a beautiful shot of their nursery--it's huge!  It's gotten so successful that they are able to sell many of their plants to outside buyers.

They also process their own sewage using this ingenious filtration system designed by one of the Radha-Gopinatha devotees.   The water is piped into the top, which is covered with plants.  It travels through the roots and eventually out a rock base.  The clean water is then used to irrigate the agriculture fields.

The top of the sewage treatment space.  It hardly smelled!

This is a room the devotees are building for HH Radhanatha Swami.

A spacious and beautiful open-air patio where we would take our delicious meals.

All the buildings are made from a cob-like structure using surrounding material.  All the bricks are mixed and hand-pressed on site.  The building on the right is where we stayed.

Everyone should visit the Eco Village!!

Gopal's Fun School & Bhaktivedanta Hospital

These 2 projects originated from the master-minds @ Radha-Gopinatha (Chowpatty ISKCON temple) and continue to grow and flourish daily.  The kindness and compassion that flows out of these places is the kind that is tangible--something you can grasp and feel even when walking through the doors.

Gopal's Fun School is filled with smiling, bright faces and joyful hearts--both students and teachers alike!  By the time we got there, the kids were just leaving--they were all waiving to us shouting, "Hare Krsna!" as they left in their cars and school buses...

The philosophy there is simply to love the children and make learning and Krsna consciousness fun--no pressure or demands.

Bhaktivedanta Hospital also follows the same beliefs of unmotivated compassion and love.  They care for all who come into their doors, both physically, mentally and spiritually.

this is the art room where they have all sorts of textiles available to play with

the school Deities, the kids put on all kinds of festivals for Them

close up

school's Ratha Yatra cart

Deities @ Bhaktivedanta Hospital--They go on parade throughout the hospital everyday!

journey to eco village continued...

here are a couple of shots while driving through the streets of Mumbai for those of you who are curious...

these vehicles are called auto rickshaws...we were in an air-conditioned SUV thing (clean burning though--ran on natural gas)

a lot of women ride side-saddle on the backs of these motorcycles (zooming though traffic hell)...helmets are rare--even when people do wear them, they aren't fastened...the younger generation of women are usually seen in pants (jeans) and ride straddle seat.

despite the poverty of these homes, they all have satellite dishes...note the skyscrapers right behind...poverty and wealth living side-by-side

let's back up a bit...

yay!  we made it to Mayapur!!  but i'll get there...there's some more we'd like to share with you before we arrived...

So we had a couple days left in Mumbai and really weren't sure how we were going to spend it-- it isn't the kind of city you'd like to take a relaxing stroll in, or take your kid to the nearby park...what to do?

During morning darshan, our spiritual teacher (guru) invited several of us visiting devotees into speak with him.  He wanted to make sure we were being well cared for and asked if there was anything we'd like to do.  We mentioned to him that we'd like to visit the Eco Village.
He then arranged a car for our family and one for the other family present to visit the farm (eco village) as well as tour some other amazing places on the way!


First stop...Juhu Beach Temple, the home of Sri Sri Radha Rasbihari!

courtyard @ Juhu Beach ISKCON temple
(reminds me of Krsna-Balaram mandir in Vrindavan)

Prabhupada (no pics of the Deities allowed, so we snapped a few of the temple room)

looking down on the temple room from Prabhupada's rooms

Prabupada's study (GBC meetings were going on,  so we couldn't explore inside...)

sorry, but it's late (over here) and uploading pics on this blog takes a long time (internet is s-l-o-w over here)...so i'll continue with our journey to the Eco Village tomorrow...love to you all!