This morning Srila Gurudeva gave initiations in a very special ceremony. The remaining three uninitiated Chinese devotees here all decided to take connection of Srila Gurudeva and Krishna consciousness. By the loving association of the devotees here and classes and encouragement from Sripad Goswami Maharaj and Sripad Srutasrava Prabhu, they all decided to take this opportunity for connection with Srila Gurudeva. First of all Yadu Krishna's daughter took initiation. He is in Russia at present but will return after a few days to Thailand. Afterwards, first was Ona who became Anindita devi dasi. Then Victoria became Balanuja devi dasi. While they were being initiated the final Chinese newcomer became inspired through this divine tranmission and also requested connection. Srila Gurudeva happily gave her connection and the name Indrani devi dasi.
Afterwards, Sripad Goswami Maharaj gave a beautiful class answering further questions and giving inspiration for the new initiates to continue their spiritual journey happily. Yudhamanyu Prabhu was particularly overwhelmed and pleased with this result having taken so much time and care to bring these Chinese newcomers to see Srila Gurudeva. Now there is just one day remaining before Srila Gurudeva leaves Thailand to continue his world tour.

With the all-auspicious blessings of Srila Gurudeva, Paramananda Prabhu arranged for Public Sankirttan for the devotees this morning in one of the large parks here in central Bangkok. Twelve devotees including the five Chinese visitors came together to sing the Lord's names at Lumpini Park and inaugurate what we hope to be many more sankirttan endeavours in this new preaching ground. Tarit Krishna Prabhu from Australia who joined the tour here in Thailand led some sweet kirttan as we sat near the entrance and everyone arrived. After that Divya Shakti dd led a procession chant, through the grounds, around the lakes and over the little bridges and walkways of the beautifully manicured gardens. Look out for the pics on the Math website! It was remarkable to be in sankirttan with the Chinese, who were very happy to participate in this totally new activity. Afterwards we visited Chatuchak Market where Paramananda Prabhu and Krishna Priya dd have a shopfront before returning to the temple mid-afternoon. We hope to be able to go again tomorrow morning.

This afternoon Srila Gurudeva spent 3-4 hours with the devotees giving his merciful affectionate glance. He went outside for his first scooter ride mid-afternoon, seeing many of the people in the area and riding past each of the houses where the devotees are staying, near to our centre. He stopped several times to see the neighborhood dogs and to listen to the different bird calls. There was also a tree just like a banyan with aerial roots extending from all of its branches. After perhaps an hour of fresh air, he returned to the ashram, and group photos were taken out the front. Once inside he sat in his darshan room and spoke at length about how sweet Thailand is. He glorified the Thai people and also made some comments about China and our preaching there. He sees a very bright future for Thailand, China and also Japan where our Thailand leader Paramananda Prabhu has a place which he has already offered to Srila Gurudeva. Gurudeva expressed his enthusiasm to return again soon to Thailand and about the possibility of visiting Japan and expanding the preaching in these two new areas. Perhaps there are only a few members at this stage but with humility and appropriate presentation it will certainly grow. He also mentioned that in China the government recently granted large amounts of land for religious purpose. This is quite a big change from the past and in future more developments like this may happen.

Srila Gurudeva has safely arrived at our Thailand centre to begin the first leg of his 24th World Tour. He was fine for the travel, just a little tired. He sat briefly with the devotees and was again overjoyed to see the visiting Chinese devotees brought by Yudhamanyu Prabhu. After some cold water he was up again to climb the stairs and settle in to his quarters here. It is late afternoon and the evening preparations are now in full swing, with arrangements for accomodation and prasadam.

Once again our beloved Gurudeva, Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj is preparing to leave India and travel to the western world to uplift the devotees and sincere seekers. This time he will grace Thailand, Malaysia and Mauritius with his presence. The main reason for this tour is to install the deities in our Mauritius centre, with the other two countries stopovers along the way. Yesterday Gurudeva was well and spoke in darshan before all the devotees, inspired with the prospect of his next trip overseas.
Here in Thailand Paramananda Prabhu and Krishna Priya dd are making all the preparations for Gurudeva's arrival. There is also a large team of able servitors here including Srutasrava Prabhu, Vrinda dd and others. Yudhamanyu Prabhu has again come from China accompanied by 5 chinese devotees seeking nourishment and devotional association. Madhumita dd and Radhika dd are here on their way back to the USA and are very happy to have the chance to catch up with the Chinese devotees again after their stay there over the Vyasa Puja festival.
Gurudeva is only planning to be out of India for a short time and plans to be back in Nabadwip well in time for the upcoming Gaura Purnima celebrations which are set to be the largest ever. Last year was the biggest Gaura Purnima so far with 260 western devotees visiting from all parts of the world. This year will almost certainly be larger with groups planned from Russia and Venezuela among other places.
Thailand is a very warm change from the winter of Bengal where it has been particularly cold over the last 6 weeks since the end of the last tour. Today the Air conditioners were cleaned and checked and all other important services discussed. This afternoon looks to be a decoration focus in time for the arrival of the main tour party.

So it's been a very busy couple of weeks back in India for all the devotees. Nabadwip was really asking for all hands on deck to clean all the rooms and buildings in preparation for the Sri Vyasa Puja festival. Throughout last week a handful of devotees spent several days cleaning including four or five days on Gurudeva's veranda alone. Everything was scrubbed, all the old cloth replaced and both gas heaters were overhauled for the winter season. Once Gurudeva arrived he expressed several times his amazement at how homely and comfortable his veranda had become.
Srila Gurudeva came to Nabadwip the week before and was welcomed by all the happy Nabadwip residents who had spent more than six months in separation. He arrived in the evening and early next morning was eager to take a scooter ride around the Math to see everything. Every morning up to the festival he had been taking morning scooter rides around 9am, and also in the afternoon before 4pm.
About 60 western devotees made the pilgrimmage to Nabadwip for the festival from America, Russia, Australia, Brazil, Europe, Malaysia and other countries. There are somewhat less westerners here due to the recent World Tour of Srila Gurudeva. Also many Indian devotees came for the festival including Sripad Giri Maharaj. Srila Gurudeva came to the Nat mandir at around 9:30 and proceeded to speak for almost an hour in Bengali. He spoke snippets of stories and instructions, again emphasizing trinad api sunichena, taror iva sahisnuna, amanina manadena, kirttaniyah sada harih. Afterwards he invited Sripad Goswami Maharaj to speak, followed by Sripad Avadhut Maharaj. Sripad Acharya Maharaj spoke as well and then pushpanjali and puja was performed as all the devotees were given a chance to offer various gifts to Srila Gurudeva.
The feast followed the arati, and included mistidoy, rasagullas, cake and jalebis. Thousands of people were served prasadam over the following hours well into the afternoon.

The next day, buses were arranged to take all the devotees on pilgrimmage to Bamunpara. Most of the western devotees travelled throughout the day on the roof of the bus. Despite the cold weather it was a lot more legroom and fresh air than could be had inside. It was once again a beautiful festival and concluded with a stop in Denur where Srila Vrindavan Das Thakur stayed and wrote the Sri Chaitanya Bhagavat. An ecstatic kirttan ensued there that could have gone on for hours and hours. After some discussion and glorification of Srila Vrindavan Das and his mother Narayani Devi, we returned to the Math in the late afternoon.

This year the festival to commemmorate the disappearance of our grand and great grand Gurudeva Bhagavan Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur was held in a sombre mood here in Nabadwip. Srila Gurudeva's health was not permitting him to come to the Nat Mandir, with this day also being the designated day for initiations. From 8 o'clock many sincere seekers were given connection to Harinam, and had the divine seed of the the Holy Name planted in their hearts. Many sweet songs were sung and the sannyasis all took turns to speak some glorification of Srila Saraswati Thakur. Puspanjali was offered followed by arati and the feast.


A few days ago Srila Gurudeva took a day trip out to Bamunpara taking with him the devotees who did not make it on the festival a few days before. By 8 o'clock Mahananda was weaving Gurudeva's white corolla through the back streets of Tegharipara, on the way out to the Nabadwip Rail Gate, into Burdwan district and out through Nadanghat to Bamunpara. The trip there takes about 40 minutes to an hour depending upon how full the road is with cows, geese, ducks, rickshaws, broken down trucks, false road blocks by locals for so-called road taxes.... the list goes on and on. Upon arriving at the temple Srila Gurudeva payed obeisance to the deity and sat in the Nat Mandir. He sang 'gopinath, mama nivedana suno' and then spoke a little about his family and some history from Bamunpara. He wasn't feeling so well, so from there he took a walk around the temple for a while and then went up to his quarters on the first floor of the adjacent building. Particularly he spent much time investigating the new pond which the Math owns there. Now there are hundreds of banana trees, mango trees and other trees planted. Digging of the pond was halted by the rainy season a few months ago, and the preparation will be continued and completed in the coming dryer months towards and through the summer.
The devotees sat and sang songs for a few hours and then sang the arati to Sri Sri Guru-Gauranga-Radha-Gopinathjiu, before honouring a delicious feast prepared mainly by Gopal Prabhu, Srila Gurudeva's servant. Srila Gurudeva rested a while before taking his car round to his birthplace to have a look, and also he drove around the other side of the temple to see the road going out in the other direction further into the villages. The return trip was smooth in the mid-afternoon with most people taking the bengali siesta, leaving the roads clear.