By: HG Vishnurata das
On August 06, 2019, HH Bhakti Raghava Swami Maharaj and his SAFARI INDONESIA team members arrived at Vaishnava village project, Gita Nagari Baru at TulangBawang, Lampung, Sumatera. We received a very warm welcome from all the residents of GNB. The Gurukula boys were running beside the car, very happy to see Maharaj inside the car while the youth rendered a very ecstatic Hare Krishna Maha-Mantra Kirtan.
I will be writing another separate article on Gita Nagari Baru itself.
The next day, i.e. August 07, 2019, we had a ceremony of opening a new Goshala in one devotee, Sunanda prabhu’s house. The ceremony started with Go-Puja performed by Maharaj, accompanied by Hare Krishna kirtan lead by Vishnurata das. After the Go-Puja, Maharaj gave Surabhi Katha – Glorification of Mother Surabhi for about an hour. Maharaj was encouraging that every grihastha should have a Goshala in their house premises and make cows as a part of their family.
Presently we have three householders who are having their own Goshalas at home, these devotees are Jatayu prabhu, Krishna Prema prabhu and Sunanda prabhu. Since they take very good care of mother cows, Maharaj tried to support and encourage those who have Goshalas in their houses and take good care of cows. On the last day of our visit,, these three devotees received the award from Maharaj for their hard effort to nicely maintain their cows, and this support will be given every year. And the same support and encouragement will be given to any householder at GNB who would build a Goshala and keep cows in their houses. So, Maharaj hopes to see more Goshalas and cows in GNB in his next visit.
This idea came up because we want to fill up our village with many happy cows, like in Bhauma Vrindavan 5,000 years ago. We want the boys to be engaged in taking care of the cows during the day and then come back in the evening to their respective houses along with their cows.
During the Katha, Maharaj was explaining the sattvic guna and the gentleness of the cows. “… cows are very friendly, they like to make friendship with us, they can sense the good or bad intention of someone. (two calves were approaching). Don’t be afraid, don’t run away, just scratch their necks you will conquer them. Krishna is playing with the cows everyday…” said Maharaj. Upon hearing this all the kids who had assembled there started scratching the calves and these two calves enjoyed, spreading themselves nicely on the ground and then also fell asleep on a kid’s lap. “… You see..!!” Maharaj exclaimed while pointing his finger towards the scene.