Day 15 ProFest
Day 15
Today I rode a scooter from Dan's place and arrived around 9.
Bhakta Regan who's banned from every temple in NZ and AUS gave class. He's a sincere young man finding his feet in bhakti and sometimes gets admitted to mental hospitals. Here he's not only allowed to come to our centre but is encouraged to take responsibility. He is completely unrecognizable in his dhoti and nam chaddar top cloth leading kirtans for hours.
When I arrived one young boy was leading kirtan.
Later his mother came up to me while I was leading mid mantra and beaming with eyes wide open and a smile I'll never forget, she exclaimed "my son chants this in his sleep"
I said "yeah he isn't ordinary"
During that kirtan the tough maori woman with the blond hair and big shark tooth looking necklace grabs the mrdanga and starts pounding the ISKCON smasher beat. I look at her and match her fierceness. Everyone is present to this woman's perfectly timed and powerful playing and they all cheer.
I go into some mrdanga fill frenzy I've never done and I'm in ecstacy.
I interview a French girl with a plate of Prasad. She said last night she saw men fixing a toilet and everytime they got closer to their goal the chanted Hare Kṛṣṇa and when they finished the job they walked off chanting.
I asked Mike the security guard if he'd like to say anything for our instagram and he said "kiaora I'm security and I also chant a bit of Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hold the line and be happy because that's what Krishna wants. Peace"
I stood in the 1 hour Prasad line and talked to Shani about the Bhagavad Gita. She has Gita and pitches my reading group project for me. She said "I have the book but I could only get so far". From there I only needed to say a few words. Bella Jones turned up right at that moment.
I introduced them to each other and asked if she'd like to support Shani reading a verse a day. She happily agreed and I suggested Martini to be in the group as an apprentice so she can support others soon too. She later told me she couldn't wait to come back here after reading my posts about what was happening.
Shani told me she woke up with the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra in her head. She said she's either chanting it or singing it in her head and she saw people on the waterfront chanting it too. She also said she'd been reading the Perfection of Yoga earlier this morning.
Cameron asked me if there were Hare Kṛṣṇa people in Palmerston North. I told him to come back to me later.
On my japa walk I see him about to leave with his parents as they have work tomorrow. Krsna obviously led me to him. I fist bump him and say Hare Kṛṣṇa. He says wait, did you find out the answer to my question. I remembered Shani saying Daniverk was on the other side a mountain where Palmerston is so I told to visit Nurturing Soul on Saturdays for kirtan.
He whispered to me that his mum loves us and loves Hinduism. She tells me she loves Hare Kṛṣṇa and the father says "you are beautiful people. My dad told me I should never become one of you and thats what we had to believe but that all changed when I met you with my wife"
The mum holds up Chant and be Happy and in a caring tone says "son, just read this book and learn. You'll find inner peace"
Around 4pm we're requested to do harinam at the border so we run down there and chant. Kids form half the response. The other half is people who came with us and the people holding the line. People 50 meters away have there arms up chanting.
Someone official comes up to us requesting us to stop because 20 police are marching towards us. Sitapati takes a moment before responding and then says no and starts roaring the mantra louder than I've ever heard anyone chant.
His face has turned ferocious and he's literally taking this guy's request as a demoniac attack like the Chand Kazi who banned kirtan. I notice our new devotee friends are enjoying the whole thing and continue to chant.
Someone unplugs my mic. I don't notice till 5 minutes later and plug it back in. Protesters want us to stop. One said to me "people aren't understanding it"
I am simply being the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and nothing else. Its just 2 men telling us to stop out of all these other people and what they're saying doesn't correlate with my observation at all. Everything was fine and everyone was happy. We go on chanting. We stop for a maori lady to do a speech in te reo. It's sacred. Afterwards they explain to Sitapati what they were saying and I notice him being agreeable now.
I bring the kirtan behind some vehicles and pass the mic to Bhakta Dion. I notice Sitapati and that guy go off separately like they were going to fight. one lady goes and chants near them playing karatallas. She winks at me as if to acknowledge my concern and say don't worry, I'm chanting near them. Nothing will happen.
2 minutes later the man and Sitapati are hugging.
A maori lady says "thank you for what you do. It's working and it's wairua. Don't listen to people who tell you to stop. Just do your thing"
We go back chanting and those men invite us to chant in their village area. We chant for 10 minutes in a harinam circle and all their friends join. One of the guys is doing a live and has his arm around me talking. He says "I'm not becoming a fanatical religious person" I say yes you are, let's chant one together and we chant.
All my needs are arranged for by Krishna. I was thinking about dinner and Sunshine hands me a plate of hot Prasad. I was thinking I wanted some juice and Cam offers me some juice. I had no plan for accommodation and Tane is right behind me telling Prahlad their neighbors moved out and we can use their room. I needed my clothes dried and Tane just comes and offers to do it. I needed a sleeping mat and despite admin at the village being technically closed they gave me a new foam mat and right now I'm on a king size mattress. I needed a mic and Mark gives me $50 for one. Chaitanya Vihar just wrote to me offering $100 to sponsor 10 Gitas.
Hare Kṛṣṇa
Todays offering