Lilamayi Subhadra

Today we celebrated the appearance day of my spiritual master, HH Jayapataka Swami. The actual day for this, according to the Vedic calendar, was on Thursday the 29th of March, but it was not practical to celebrate it on that day, so I observed the fast and celebrated today.

The feast consisted of spiced rice, yellow moong dahl with fennel, cumin and ginger, spinach with curd cheese, a South-Indian style vegetable dish with greenbeans, zucchini and potato cooked in ghee with spices, coconut and sesame seeds, South Indian carrot salad, Dokla, Camphor and Pure Rose sweet rice, a beautifully decorated pecan and date cake, burfi and also some smaller preps - rich butternut soup and several savoury dishes as well as coconut fudge. The drink was a refreshing berry and whey combination.

It was non-stop activity from early morning till just now about 10:30pm. Somehow everything came together nicely. I felt so happy to be engaged the whole day solely in the service of my spiritual master. Everything was for him and I realized - this is how it always is, or should be - whatever I do, whenever, is a direct service to him. I was organizing the whole event (I’m one of only 2 disciples here in Cape Town, and the only one in the centre) so I had to run around co-ordinating things, making sure everyone had what they needed and was happy and comfortable in their service and also doing my share of the cooking, serving, singing, dancing, feasting and cleaning. It was pretty intense, but in a very nice way. I felt completely content and peaceful and very very happy. Serving the spiritual master is the highest type of bliss. Somehow, I was not concerned with myself so much, rather the mood was to serve and to facilitate others in their service. After everyone was satisfied I had some Prasadam and started washing up and scrubbing a mountain of pots, it was getting late, but it felt like this was part of the offering; wrapping everything up and making it complete. Somehow, by the mercy of my spiritual master, I was able to engage in his service in a joyful mood, forgetting myself for a rare few hours and experiencing some very nice realizations. I pray that I may be able to taste this kind of experience again, cultivate this mood and eventually function like this daily. Actually, being selfless gives much higher pleasure than attempting to arrange things for one’s own comfort and enjoyment.

Pretty soon we’ll be visitng Durban for the annual Ratha Yatra festival there. This is perhaps one of the biggest Ratha Yatra festivals in the world and the highlight of the year for the South African devotees. During this time we get to connect again with our very dear friends from other temples in the country. We also get to relish the association of about 10 to 15 Sanyassis, see the beautiful Sri Sri Jagganatha, Baladeva and Subhadra Maharani in Their chariot procession accompanied by the ecstatic singing and dancing of hundreds of devotees along the Durban beachfront. Morning program in Sri Sri Radha Radhanath Temple of Understanding (words can’t describe this place). Best of all - I’ll be seeing my spiritual master again, after a year of service in seperation.