Part A:
Visited Saranagati Village Friday, Saturday July 10-11 - Nestled in the mountain ranges of western Canada this was the site of our japa meditation retreat. Got there on Thursday night, july 9th. at about 11:50 pm. I happened to stay 2 nights at a drab nondescript place which went by the country-western sounding name of "Tumbleweed" motel about 30 mins. east of Saranagati called Cache Creek - one would not for a moment confuse this with an upscale property like a Hilton for example - but the threadbare rooms were clean and after driving for 6 plus hours all I cared for was a cot to sleep. A Mr. Kimchi (not his real name) greeted us in the reception area of the Tumbleweed. A old lazy dog half-heartedly barked to give Mr. Kimchi an advance notice of our arrival. He was this old man with a leathery weatherbeaten face that greeted us - a Korean gentleman who had probably used this motel to get his children through college. The Lord is very kind, he gives the means to all of us to fulfil our desires. We let our friend Srinivas.D. who had his whole family with him go first and get himself sorted out and then we walked up to the counter. In fact we had decided to drive in a convoy fashion - my car and S.D's cars sort of weaving a thread along the narrow winding Hwy 1, through the Canadian rockies (or I hope it is the rockies).
Mr. Kimchi was really curious to find out if there was more than the two of us in the room. He was intent on interrogating about a person in our party V.A. that was originally listed in our block booking list but whom he didn't see with us. At 11:50 pm at night I was fast losing my patience. I remembered a recent lecture of Gurudev in St. Louis where he had asked us to let the Lord disclose himself to us. I took pause - We assured him that Mr. V.A was not yet there and certainly wasn't hiding in our trunk or something, and if he arrived we would send him to Mr. Kimchi for the additional revenue that Mr. Kimchi was probably eager to collect. Even a person at an advanced age finds it hard to let go of the crippling lure of wealth.
Saranagati itself was very picturesque. My friend S.D had gone the year before and had described it to me in very glowing terms. I wouldn't call it the best scenery I have seen, there are a few other places I would rank higher; the area around Lake Tahoe as an example, so I wasn't quite wowed. But we had come for a meditation retreat, so that was OK. Saranagati village was mostly comprised of members who had chosen the simple life. They were extremely gracious hosts.
On the first day, Gurudev started us off with Mangal Aarti ceremony in the main Saranagati temple room. He set the tone for the retreat by asking us to rate our japa, and what we would like to shoot for as a goal, and what priority did japa had in our lives. Any successful seminar or retreat should be conducted this way, where participants know exactly what they are trying to get out of it and what their current blocks are. The whole day was fantastic. The breakfast, lunch and dinner prasadam was simple yet delectable. It was good to see diversity in the gathering. Sometimes our local congregation needs more diversity; that has bothered me somewhat. As someone who likes to cut across boundaries, this was good - I tried to reach out and talk to some of the people although I wasn't one of the lucky members that actually got to stay in someone's house. I wasn't sure how to get on that list - next time I have to ask A.D. how he comes up with the breakdown, so I actually get to stay with somebody - would like to chat a bit more with the Saranagati natives - I found them quite pleasant to talk to - relationships, that is the key. After going to school in the US, and generally having friends across various ethnicities, I always find myself seeking to reach out and enjoy talking to people that come from different cultures but connected by the common bond of devotion to the Lord.
The session after breakfast was really good. We were given some very good nuggets of japa wisdom by Gurudev - how to be present while saying the mantras, how to say it with feeling and in the mood of surrender and humility and how to get our heart involved in the process. It was all quite uplifting - I had heard the lectures from the previous retreat in 2008 but experiencing it first hand was definitely worth it. We got a little chance to put those nuggets into practice in preparation for our japa marathon the next day. He also invited a couple of other senior female members of the Saranagati congregation to speak on their experiences with japa, and specifically with a sequence of prayers they said before starting their rounds - they did so with great feeling from the heart and affectionately reminisced about their personal encounters with Srila Prabhupada around the theme of japa. It was evident that they were very sincere and loving in their thoughts about the Lord, and it was all very uplifting. Loving in its pure form when directed towards the Lord has great power to make us happy, and they were definitely an epitome of that - living in an austere way in this rustic community with a positive attitude, revolving their lives around devotional service and in the association of each other - the serene contentment that this community experienced was quite evident in their expressions and their generous behavior towards us.
The second day was the marathon Japa day - you had a choice of doing 32 or 64 rounds of japa. I opted for 32 but I managed to get to 44 rounds which was a personal best for me; and better than the number, I found the quality of those rounds were very good for me personally - there were moments I really felt a relationship with the Lord and a sense of getting quite close to him via the japa. It was like a divine transporter that got me albeit temporarily in a place that was definitely in the spiritual realm. The key takeaway was how by constant practice one could keep that feeling for increasing longer periods of time. Again the breakfast and lunch were terrific - on day 2, the dishes that were served to us was a mix of traditional south asian dishes, fresh salad and baked tarts for dessert.
The second day was really great. It gave us a lot of confidence that we could hold that standard when we went back. At around 2:30pm, I paid my obeisances to Gurudev and had a small chat with him partly to inform him of my early departure. I had to get home back to Seattle for some personal work I needed to finish on Sunday before the work week started.
The ride home with S.P., my company on the journey up there and I had some very animated discussion. Before leaving he had asked him some questions about our yearning for reciprocation from the Lord and how it can come from the heart. He also gave me some examples of devotees in India who had given up well paying professional careers for a higher cause sometimes under direct instructions from Gurudev. I was actually surprised at how much he knew about Gurudev's activities in India and especially in the state of Andhra Pradesh. He also told me that in India it is difficult for someone to penetrate the cordon of senior devotees who guard Gurudev's quarters and get to speak to him so he was extremely thrilled at having got the chance. It gave me a chance to reflect on my good fortune as well.