A Glimpse of Village Programme Nectar of
HH Subhaga Swami Maharaja

BY: MADHAVENDU DAS (SSM)

HH Subhaga Swami Maharaja was carried by the villagers on a huge palanquin decorated with beautiful flowers

Dec 23, 2011 — VRINDAVAN, INDIA (SUN) —

Wonderful village programmes were organized by the devotees in the South India tour of HH Subhaga Swami Maharaja. More than a hundred devotees from different part of the world (Spain, Poland, Israel, China, Bali, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and from all over India) enthusiastically took part in ecstatic Harinam Kirtan, Prasadam and Book distribution.

As you all know, this is the month of Book Marathon, so every day book distribution is going on with wonderful result under the direct guidance of HH Subhaga Swami Maharaja; and all the devotees are so enthusiastic in the distribution of Srila Prabhupada's Books.

Maharaja shared very nice nectar from the early days with Srila Prabhupada, when Prabhupada enthused the devotees by telling them to double the number of books distributed and then triple it, and thus increased the book distribution. Devotees became fired up practically refusing to come back for prasadam, even upon being requested again and again. They came back around 7:30 in the evening as jubilant as peacocks dancing, and the devotees back in the temple happily received them with kirtan. First day of book distribution was 100 plus, 2nd day was 200 plus, 3rd day 300 plus and going on: Jaya Srila Prabhupada ki JAY!

17th Dec 2011, we first went to Godavari River, 65 km away from the place where we are staying. At Darpally village, near Nizamabad A.P., there is a beautiful farm house with Lord Nrisimhadeva and Sri Sri Gaura and few devotees full-time staying and serving Them nicely.

Chinese devotee Bhakta Tansen sharing his realization

After bathing in Godavari River we had lunch prasadam of Khichari and yogurt on the bank of the river, and His Holiness gave wonderful discourses on Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu meeting with Ramananda Raya before commencing the village programme.

At around 6:00 P.M. our buses and car reached a village called Talveda. And to our amazement, thousands of villagers were waiting outside the village for our arrival. They warmly welcomed devotees and especially HH Subhaga Swami Maharaja, who was carried by the villagers on a huge palanquin decorated with beautiful flowers. All villagers and devotees were chanting and dancing in the half-an-hour procession that led to a small Vishnu temple in the middle of the Talveda village. Shower of flower petals, Hare Krishna Kirtan with ecstatic dancing along with the many foreign devotees appeared as if we were in Vrindavan or Mayapur. It was unique and seemed like a Ratha Yatra procession. All the devotees were so happy seeing the enthusiastic spirit of the villagers.

Gurkuli Gopal das playing Mridanga

Later HH Subhag Swami gave a small lecture glorifying the Holy Name and Krsna, and led kirtan, with both the devotees and the locals relished dancing and chanting very happily. Some devotees shared their experiences with all the villagers in their Krsna consciousness. We saw this overwhelming response later during the book distribution and kirtan that went on simultaneously and ecstatically with a very nice participation by the public during the unexpected 2 hour program.

For more photos please click here.

HH Subhag Swami was signing every single book and praying for every single villager, and all of them thanked him and offered their obeisances. Later, all the devotees left late at night for the farm and celebrated the results in the next day mangalarti: 150 maha big books, 1 set Bhagavatam, 35 medium books, 210 small books.

From this experience we have seen how simple and pure the villagers are and how appreciative they are for sankirtan and book distribution. We would like to encourage all devotees to visit villages as much as possible and spread Krsna consciousness to every town and village.

paramvijayate srikrsna sankirtana ki jay! Srila Prabhupadaki jay!

Book marathon Ki Jay!