I have noticed that there hasn't been so much updates on the web lately of the tour goings on, so I thought I would post a photo of the beautiful deities here on their installation day in Mexico, Sri Sri Guru-Gauranga-Gandharvva-Nandanandanajiu.

This morning was the installation festival of the deities here in Veracruz. Many of the devotees were up all night making preparations, particularly the leader here, Madhuchanda Devi Dasi. The ceremony was completed as a grand success, and everything was very smoothly carried out. With all the necessary paraphernalia ready, Srila Gurudeva arrived with his entourage a little after 9am to oversee the installation. Sripad Janardan Maharaj led the worship of the day which included bathing (abhishek) as well as a fire sacrifice. After Gurudeva arrived Sripad Janardan Maharaj offered the Tulasi leaves to Gurudeva which would be used to put at the Deities' feet, marking the installation. Gurudeva called for water to purify them and he then made a mixture of the Tulasi leaves with some Sandalwood paste. Touching it to his head, he returned it to Janardan Maharaj to place on the Deities' feet. One by one, he placed this Tulasi at Mahaprabhu's feet, in Srimati Gandharvva's hand and then at Sri Nandanandan Krishna's feet, followed by the Guru parampara. By this time, Gurudeva was up out of his chair, peering behind the curtain as the Tulasi leaves were placed. Gurudeva then returned to his chair and the curtain was opened. All three deities here are made from brass, and they shone brightly on their simhasana, as the grand sankirttan continued. Jaya saparikara sri-sri-guru-gauranga-gandharvva-nanda-nandanajiu ki jay! as the conchshell blew....
The deities were then bathed with ghee, cow dung, urine, yoghurt, milk and other ingredients by way of a mirror, with the bathing performed on their reflection. Srila Gurudeva delivered a wonderful speech as the abhisek was performed. At the completion of the abhisek, the charanamrita was prepared and brought by Sripad Janardan Maharaj to Srila Gurudeva who was still midway through his lecture. Then the fire sacrifice began, and was carried out as Gurudeva explained how the chanting of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra is the process for this age and that no-one is qualified to properly perform such an activity. He completed his talk by singing some kirtans, incuding bhajahu re mana sri nanda-nandana abhaya charanaravinda re. Then the devotees proceeded with grand sankirtan and the fire sacrifice concluded.
The bhoga offering containing 140 preparations was offered, followed by Grand Midday Arati and opulent prasadam feast for everyone.
This evening the Governor of Veracruz, the highest Government official here, came to give his blessings and support to the project and to warmly receive Srila Gurudeva in Veracruz. He glorified happily the devotees activities and had a beautiful exchange with Gurudeva who was beaming from ear to ear. He invited the Governor to Nabadwip at his earliest possible convenience. The whole day was wonderful and beautiful and now Their Lordships are sleeping snugly in their temple here in Veracruz.

Yesterday afternoon the warnings were sounded that school would likely be off the next day. Looking across the sea to the East a large storm was brewing although everything seemed calm and peaceful in Veracruz. By 10pm in the night, fierce winds began to rip through this flat seaside town, and the howling breeze continued unabated all night. Windows were shaking constantly and by 3 or 4am the power went out. Winds reached 85 miles an hour as the storm was upgraded to a Hurricane. By morning the streets were strewn with trees and branches that lay all over the roads. Many branches, some a metre in diameter landed through the windscreens of vehicles parked on the roadside. Throughout the day Gurudeva and the devotees peacefully watched on from inside our guesthouse, as the coconut trees lining the road in front, bent over in the breeze. It only began to calm around 5pm this evening.
Veracruz hasn't seen this kind of weather for at least 2 years, and it was a little taste of the Hurricanes that regularly lash against all the coastlines in this area. It seems that Harinam Sankirtan through the streets will be postponed and that the devotee activites will be slightly adjusted, but everything should be back to normal in a day or two.

Yesterday afternoon, Srila Gurudeva with 12 devotees landed in Veracruz, Mexico after a long day's travel. Our first flight from Caracas to Mexico City was smooth enough until it came time to land in Mexico. With crosswinds and difficult conditions, the plane first landed on one wheel and with the wings swinging from one side to the other a few times, everyone's heartbeat quickened. But the pilot seemed to have much experience and soon the plane was on the tarmac racing along, slowly coming to a halt. Still it made me feel that any time you go up in a plane, it's not certain that you're coming down again. Srila Gurudeva was received by government officials immediately upon disembarking from the plane. Laksmirani dd had arranged a VIP arrival and escort, which took Gurudeva direct to his next flight. Here in Mexico, Madhuchanda dd met recently with the Federal Minister for Religion and he is keen to come and participate personally in the ceremony of installing the deities here in Veracruz, Sri Sri Guru-Gauranga-Gandharvva-Nandanandana.
At the airport in Veracruz the devotees did Harinam Sankirtan as a party outside the main exit for 2 hours before Srila Gurudeva actually arrived. Baggage claim and exit was swift because this was now a small domestic flight and there was no further immigration checking. Srila Gurudeva was whisked away with other principal devotees to his residence on the ocean, a beautiful hotel-style guesthouse, for him to stay with his entourage. Many devotees have come to have his darshan from USA, all over Mexico, and other parts of the world.

The last few days in Venezuela have been very hectic. Many initiations over a couple of days with Srila Gurudeva's impending departure and also Brahman initiation for twelve men followed by the fire sacrifice. Sripad Janardan Maharaj helped Srila Gurudeva with all the initiations and then carried out the fire sacrifice on the porch outside Purujit Prabhu's house. Yesterday afternoon was street sankirtan, this time walking from the temple with a party all the way to where we did it last time and then again proceeding along that same boulevard. Five mridangas in unison sounded wonderful and with maybe 70 devotees our presence was very strong. At one point we stopped to dance on a large chessboard in the city, a perfect stage for Mahaprabhu's sankirtan. Then upon returning to the temple, Srila Gurudeva arrived there only 10 minutes after us for the evening program. One by one his sannyasis spoke and then Gurudeva concluded with a short talk, expressing his encouragment to all, to go on with their Krishna consciousness practicing life with his full blessings as well as the blessings of Srila Guru Maharaj and Sri Sri Nitai Gaurachandra. He sang, parama karuna and other songs before taking prasadam at the temple. Once again a grand sankirttan before the deities while Gurudeva was upstairs honouring prasadam. This Venezuelan leg of the tour has been most memorable and wonderful. Particularly it gave a chance to the devotees of all parts of South America to come and see Srila Govinda Maharaj, when certainly they have no chance or capacity to make it to Nabadwip. For these devotees, to get to India can be a once in a lifetime possibility, so it was so wonderful to see Srila Gurudeva's merciful extension of grace, coming to shower his blessings upon all of these devotees.

Yesterday Srila Gurudeva came once again to the temple of Sri Sri Parama Karuna Nitai Gaurachandra for the Sunday Feast. Accompanied by his sannyasis, Srila Gurudeva lead a very wonderful program. Firstly Sripad Ashram Maharaj spoke, followed by a special talk by Sripad Siddhanti Maharaj; then Sripad Janardan Maharaj spoke followed by Sripad Goswami Maharaj. This was a beautiful build-up to Srila Gurudeva who then spoke so sweetly, glorifying extensively the devotees of Caracas, the sankirttan here and his astonishment at the wonderful manifestation of Krishna consciousness in Venezuela. Then Gurudeva sang 'ki jani ki bole' and 'emona durmati'. He followed this with an incredible mahamantra kirtan, singing 'Haribol' again and again to the delight and awe of the present devotees. The whole temple became inundated in waves of nectar by the grace of Srila Gurudeva and Nitai Gaurachandra. With arati already completed on this special Sunday program, Koladwip Prabhu began grand sankirttan as Gurudeva took his leave to honour prasadam upstairs. The sankirttan was extremely sweet, even more than before, I can't think of any words to describe it adequately, which leaves me with a text blog and no words. The only word that could come to mind and also what Gurudeva himself expressed, from the pages of Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita, 'chamatkara', which means complete astonishment.
This morning, Srila Gurudeva is giving initiations to several sincere seekers, eager to get connection of His Divine Grace and to begin their spiritual journey in his shelter.

Sankirttan, sankirttan and more sankirttan. That was the main focus all weekend here in Caracas. On Saturday the devotees gathered downtown for sankirttan on the streets. Perhaps 100 devotees huddled undercover as rain threatened to cancel the excursion. But the devotees were very persistant, setting out once the rain had eased just a little bit. Then they gathered in the entrance to a mall for a while as the rain became heavier. Koladwip Prabhu the main sankirttan leader here sang on and on 'Govinda Hare Gopala Hare' and the devotees danced and chanted. Again with the rain easing the devotees set out down the street with Sripad Ashram Maharaj singing a very sweet melody. Four mridangas resounded in synchronous rhythm filling the streets with their transcendental sound. At times jumping, at times running and always ready to break into dance at any moment, the sankirttan rolled on for over two hours. Afterwards all the devotees went directly to Sri Sri Parama Karuna Nitai Gaurachandra's temple for the evening program. A few seated kirtans were sung, and then it was time for Gaura Arati. After about an hour of ecstatic dancing kirttan for Arati and Tulasi Parikrama, Sripad Ashram Maharaj, Sripad Siddhanti Maharaj and Sripad Trivikram Maharaj lectured before the devotees for an hour. Then 'hari haraye' and another ecstatic kirttan with devotees jumping till they almost touched the ceiling. The Caracas temple hall is perhaps 6 metres wide and maybe 12 metres long and the roof is just over 2 metres high. And in this fairly small space, hundreds of devotees join in this world famous sankirttan. The sankirttan here is really remarkable and Gurudeva has mentioned this many times. Again you can find video taken by Nimai Chandra and posted on his site at www.vaisnavadarshan.com in the What's New section.

There were fabulous morning and evening programs on the first full day here in Caracas. Srila Gurudeva sang and spoke informally for half an hour in Purujit Prabhu's house in the morning. Then in the evening he went to Parama Karuna Nitai Gaurachandra Mandir to lead the evening program at four o'clock. He sang many songs starting with 'parama karuna pahun dui jana', then 'nitai pada kamala', 'gaurangera duti pada', and then 'radhe jaya jaya madhava dayite'. Hari Kirtan Prabhu, long time dedicated servitor of Gurudeva here in Caracas sang 'emona durmati'. Gurudeva spoke for some time particularly mentioning the renowned sankirtan style here in Venezuela. He then invited Sripad Janardan Maharaj to speak, and he gave a very lively, animated lecture with everyone present laughing every few minutes. Then Srila Gurudeva invited Sripad Ashram Maharaj to say something, followed by Sripad Goswami Maharaj. Goswami Maharaj particularly glorified Nityananda Prabhu as well as the history of Srila Guru Maharaj taking his shelter before establishing the Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math in Nabadwip Dham. Afterwards, Gurudeva sang two more songs, 'jaya radhe jaya krishna', and 'hari haraye'. He then left the temple as the arati began to the deities. Sankirttan lasted several hours from this point and there was no question the Caracas sankirttan lived up to it's reputation. Delicious prasadam was served to the devotees afterwards.
Yesterday morning, Srila Gurudeva took his first drive down Parama Karuna highway. At first, the road in Purujit's backyard down to the swimming pool seemed a little too steep for the journey. But with Hari Kirtan Prabhu, Aravinda Lochan Prabhu and others by his side, Gurudeva happily negotiated the turns around the pool and on the road, to the delight of the assembled devotees.

Srila Gurudeva and the devotees accompanying him on his 23rd World Tour have all landed safely in Caracas, Venezuela to begin the American leg of the tour. A reported 300 devotees were present at the airport with grand sankirttan to welcome Srila Gurudeva. Purujit Prabhu arranged for a VIP arrival for Gurudeva, who waited in the lounge amidst sankirttan as the passports were stamped. A winding drive through the city completed an arduous journey for all. Gurudeva was fine for the travel and happily took prasadam and rest in his quarters.

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur writes, 'bhakata seva parama siddhi prema latikara mula' stressing the importance of service to the Vaisnavas. So I felt the inspiration to particularly mention the dedicated service of some of the devotees on the Italy leg of the tour. Krishna Kanta dd and Munindra Mohan Prabhu were tireless in arranging all the various services and helping devotees with even the smallest arrangements. They themselves didn't even have time to come out on the sankirttan and other excursions. Chinmoydeva Prabhu from the USA was a constant example of full energetic service. He helped with the preparations beforehand which included paving the whole front courtyard, gravelling the side of the temple, and constructing a gazebo overlooking the valley below and the clocktower opposite. Malini dd from Malta took responsibility for arranging all the devotees accomodation throughout the tour, doing a tremendous job. Over 130 pilgrims came to see Srila Gurudeva from many different countries. Ashapurna dd was a constant servitor in the kitchen from before mangal arati, right up to the end of the night for the duration of the whole tour.
There are so many other devotees it's hard to mention everyone, Dayanidhi Prabhu's constant sankirttan, Nitai Prabhu's dedicated efforts to ensure prasadam was arranged nicely for everyone 3 times a day, the list goes on... Pranashis Prabhu's enthusiastic dancing in the kirtan hall. Every devotee's contribution made this festival in Italy most wonderful and memorable.

The sun has been shining all week, and the rain has moved away, much to the delight of the devotees camped in tents, dotted under the trees at the back of the ashram. Srila Gurudeva has been very happy and taking in fresh air every day on regular afternoon scooter rides. Followed by 50 or more devotees he rides up and around the road in both directions, while also circumambulating the Sri Giriraj Govardhan deity presiding over the Ashram. We are now preparing once again for the Sunday midday program after a busy weekend of events. Our sankirttan party of 30 devotees danced through Milan once again yesterday afternoon for several hours, flooding the busy streets with the chanting of the Lord's names. This time we had the opportunity to go further into the busier areas around the Duomo, and we stopped several times, surrounded by dozens of appreciative onlookers. Of particular note was our ladies section whose dancesteps were perfectly synchronous and whose happy enthusiastic mood was completely infectious to all the devotees and all the passersby. Rain brought our kirttan undercover, only to strengthen the reverberation and energy of the devotees as Sripad Siddhanti Maharaj rounded out an extremely ecstatic afternoon. With all flyers given out, and many books sold, we ducked for cover in the nearby Metro and made our way to the local train that brought us back to the gentle hilly slopes and our Villa Govinda Ashram.
This morning Srila Gurudeva spoke beautifully in his room before giving initiation to a sincere newcomer, now Sarojini devi dasi. Her name means she who was born or came out from the lotus, and it is a name of Srimati Radharani. Gurudeva spoke deeply on the four verses from Srimad Bhagavatam 11th Canto, Chapter 20, 27-30, beginning, "yato sraddha mat kathasu..." and culminating in "bhidyate hrdaya granthis..." The essence being that with full faith and firm conviction in our service life, we will cross over all the material obstacles and attain the Lord's lotus feet. He was in a very happy mood, showering his blessings on the Italian devotees and giving full nourishment and encouragement for their spiritual lives.

Yesterday afternoon, 32 devotees gathered for an expedition North to the town of Lecco, nestled in the foothills of the pre-Alps. Many of the London devotees visiting Italy came along on this sankirttan trip, which began with a half hour winding train ride. The scenery here is so picturesque with large hills towering over valleys with village after overgrown village every few kilometres. This whole area is covered in snow during wintertime and I can only imagine how beautiful it is at that time. Lecco is a fairly small town, with tight streets and many outdoor cafes. The mountains surrounding the city tower behind the churches and other large buildings creating a mystical atmosphere. After winding through a few sidestreets we came out to see the spectacular lake bordering the city. We chanted along the sidewalk by the lake's edge and stopped on a large pontoon for a while. The first hour of our kirttan was on fairly empty streets, but come 5 o'clock more and more people were milling around after work. The devotees stepped up the pace and we were all soon dancing ecstatically near to the main thoroughfares. We checked the train timetable and had more time to spend, so we set out for another lap of the city. With several books sold and a very happy receptive public, we felt extremely satisfied to have come out. We were just on time to catch our train and made our way back to Villa Govinda for evening prasadam.