We are so fortunate

St. Petersburg, Russia – 7-14.10.2006

Many years later our leader Ramaray Prabhu, together with his 5 disciples, goes to Russia to see his guru Srila Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj in St. Petersburg.

After a three and a half hour flight from İstanbul to St Petersburg, Satya Prabhu and Radha Raman meet us at the airport. Getting into the cars we go to the ashram so as to see Gurudev. We learn that at 21.30 Gurudev is available for us to present him our dandavats. As it is their first time to meet with Gurudev, Satya Priya d.d. and Fulya are very excited and full of joy. The smile on their faces are not easy to describe. We listen to every word of Gurudev with a great care sharing the same excitement and joy with our two friends Satya Priya d.d. and Fulya. Since there is no room for us to stay in the ashram we go to stay in a hotel nearby.

The next day we choose the gifts among the others to present them to Gurudev. Ramaray does not want to present all of them at once. His is a different style. Instead of giving all at the same time he wants to present it one by one. When you think these are all as for the gifts,he presents the other gifts on the other day or a different time.

During our stay we see Ramaray Prabhu giving chocolates and candies not only to Gurudev but also to all the devotees. While doing this his joy makes Ramaray look as if he was flying around. He takes great pleasure to serve the other devotees there as much as he can.

As we could only give one week break to the training programme in Ankara we have a very limited time there. But still we want to do a lot of things and give some help to the devotes there within this limited time. We take permission to cook. What are we going to cook and where are we gong to get the ingridients from? Due to the Russian labels and writings on the packets we can not be sure what exactly we are buying. Radha Raman Prabhu is trying to help us despite his limited Engish. We can communicate by using mimics and gestures. These are all unforgettable moments for us. To do some service for Gurudev fills us with energy.

Actually we have a lot of experiences to share with you such as the warm talks and laughters we have with Janardan Maharaj, sincere approach of Avudhut Maharaj, the chat we have with Siddhanti Maharaj and the warm and friendly approach of all the devotees. Time seems as if it is not passing there. It has stopped. Mind has stopped working. Unfortunately our last day of visit is coming. We say good bye to Gurudev and the other devotees there but Ramaray is thinking one thing ... He wants to be together with the devotees one day again. This thought decreases the level of our blue mood. In future in a different place and time we know that we have a chance to share the same feelings because we are a big family under the wings of Gurudev. And to our big family a new member,Fulya, joins by taking her harinam initiation and the name Phulamani d.d.. By this way she has taken her first step into the spiritual world. We congradulate her and our three other friends Sudha Bhakti d.d. ,Satya Priya d.d. and Sulalita d.d., as well.

Dear Gurudev we miss you already and we thank you for your invaluable gift and please accept again our danadavat pranams!

Jaya Srila Gurudev, ki jaya!