We arrived in Vrindavan on the 15th of March - one day before Gaur Purnima. The Holi Festival was in full swing, and the last couple of days are usually intense and can almost become violent, so I mainly remained at our ISKCON temple or in the Kirtan Ashram.

I still had not completely recovered from my nasty cough, and my voice had also not returned to full strength. Especially as a preacher the voice is our main weapon, and I was concerned to give it a good rest - the foremost way to heal the voice. Devotees had warned me not to over-strain my vocal cords since this can lead to permanent damage. So I decided to give my body a good break and cancel the seminar, which I was scheduled to give here in Vrindavan: an introduction into the topic of spiritual culture.

My time in Mayaur had been very intense, with two Holy Name Retreats in Ekachakra, one Retreat in Nepal, three weeks of teaching followed by the inauguration of the Institute for Spiritual Culture, while attending the Kirtan Mela and the Maha Abhishek. It had been a blissful marathon.

The first time I met Abhyarci Mataji was in 1990 or 1991 - I can't exactly remember. I was married at the time, and by Krsna's arrangement we were establishing the temple in Riga/Latvia, which was in those days part of the Soviet Union. HH Niranjana Swami had sent some girls from Ukraine to us to receive some training, and Abhyarci was one of them. She stayed for around six months with us, and already then I noticed her as a very enthusiastic and sincere devotee, always eager to serve the devotees and distribute books.

Then, for some years, our paths didn't cross. I met her again regularly from the year 2000 onwards, when I started preaching in Ukraine and Moldova, and also came to Mayapur every year. I always appreciated her as a simple and straight forward devotee - sincere and like minded, and I have always liked to associate with her.

Some years ago, when Bhaja Govinda Prabhu from Kiev/Ukraine left his body in Mayapur, we took care of him, together with her husband Govinda Datta Prabhu. I then bought the Krsna Art Book with the nice paintings to help Bhaja Govinda absorb his mind while looking at the beautiful pictures. And I pointed at the paintings which she should show me when my turn would come to prepare for death..... Little did we know that she would leave first....

The 5th of March marked the long awaited day when we inaugurated the Institute for Spiritual Culture at the Mayapur Goshala....

Ironically, exactly that morning I woke up having almost lost my voice! For the past few days I had been fighting a cold with a nasty cough sitting deep within my lungs. And exactly on this day of the inauguration I could hardly speak....! Krsna forced me to be a little quieter, which would maybe make the program more auspicious....!

Nevertheless, I was determined to simply make the best out of the situation.
I had a good team of matajis and a group of brahmacaris and students from Bangladesh who were eager to help me with all the necessary preparations.

We returned from Ekachakra to Mayapur on the 28th of February - the first day of the Kirtan Mela...
Our Holy Name Retreat at Nityananda's birth place had been an excellent preparation of our consciousness and heart to more deeply absorb ourselves in chanting the holy name during the upcoming Kirtan Mela.

Every day I joined the kirtans performed by my favorite kirtaniyas - mainly HH Niranjana Swami, Madhava Prabhu and others. The temple room in front of Pancha Tattva was wonderfully decorated and transformed into a sublime kirtan arena. And it was marvellous, seeing thousands of devotees from all around the world coming together to congregationally chant the Holy Name here in Mayapur. Coming from the secluded Ekachakra it was almost a little overwhelming. Bhaktivinoda Thakur's prediction was certainly coming more and more true...

Upon my return to Mayapur on the 15th of February I immediately began preparing for the Inauguration Program of the Institute for Spiritual Culture.
Drdha Vrata Prabhu had arranged for three big banners announcing the program in various prominent spots of the Mayapur Campus.
The plaque was also ready and looks very nice - hand made, with a certain flair of individuality and creative devotion.

The brochure giving information about the Institute turned out really well, with a nice color combination and a clear outline, and above all: good quality paper with a great finish. Infact, it looked really stylish and classy! And I had printed three thousand of them - to be distributed over the next couple of years, in various parts of the world.....

On Friday, the 7th of February I had the good fortune to receive HH Bhakti Vijnana Maharaja and his servant at the Dhaka airport. It was his first visit to Bangladesh, and I was eager to make it a memorable experience for him....

The main purpose of his visit was to attend the Bangladeshi Bhakti Sangam Festival (which we call here Hare Krishna Convention), scheduled from the 12th to the 15th of February at Rup Sanatan Tirtha. I had suggested to Maharaja to come a few days earlier in order to visit some other places in Bangladesh. And he had kindly agreed to do so.

On the 27th of January I traveled together with Nityananda Prabhu to Nepal to conduct a Holy Name Retreat.
I had invited him to join us since it is always inspiring for the Nepali devotees to have another visitor coming to lead the evening kirtans. He is a disciple of BB Govinda Swami and from Russia, and he goes regularly on preaching programs with the local brahmacaris in Mayapur and leads the kirtans.

We took a domestic flight from Calcutta to Bagdogra, which is near the Nepali border. Keshav Gopal Prabhu received us at the airport, and we drove across the border to Lahan.
Reaching Lahan in the evening, the local devotees welcomed us with an enthusiastic kirtan and prasadam. 
It was unexpectedly cold here compared to Mayapur, and I was glad I had brought warm clothes with me.

On the 6th of January 2014 we embarked on the three week course "Exploring the Roots of Spiritual Culture". The first unit has the topic of "Giving and Accepting Shelter - the Foundation to Vaisnava Relationships and Devotee Care", followed by "Women in Spiritual Culture", and concluding with "Marriage in Spiritual Culture".

A nice group of ladies from all around the world had registered to participate in this transformational journey - ladies from Germany, America, Russia, South Africa, New Zealand, Ghana, Malaysia and Eastern Europe. We were between 15 and 25 ladies - a good group which allowed personal interaction within a trusting atmosphere to enhance the learning experience.

We met five days a week for three hours every morning. The three units are very systematically unfolding various topics of spiritual culture and give deep insights, empowering the participants to make a conscious choice, how much of which culture they would like to have within their life.
Spiritual culture has universal underlying principles, which are opposite to the principles of materialistic life and its culture. As Krsna expresses in BG 2.69. the two cultures are like day and night since they are based on entirely opposite world views, ideologies and philosophies.

Upon my arrival in Calcutta on the 19th of December I spent one night in a little Hotel near the airport. On the next morning I received four ladies at the airport - Dominique and Damodara-priya Matajis from Germany, Tatjana from Austria and Anna from Russia. All the arriving flights were according to schedule - something rare during the cold season with its foggy mornings and common delays..... And we traveled out to Mayapur together...

Anna and Dominique had come to assist me for the next two and half months in Mayapur. And upon our arrival there was lots to do: my ashram needed a thorough clean in order for us to settle in and feel at home. And we had only a few \ days in order to prepare for the Holy Name Retreat at Ekachakra, which would take place from the 27th to the 31st of December. This retreat would be for ladies only.

It was wonderful to be back in Mayapur, and to greet all the well known faces during the morning program. Some devotees had read my article on dandavats about the topic of Female Diksa Guru, and they expressed their appreciation for it. And I enjoyed being back in my ashram and regularly taking darshan of the cows from my veranda....

I arrived in Chittagong on the 30th of November - just in time to prepare for my birthday feast on the evening of the 1st of December....

Since there was a strike on my arrival, the devotees met me at the airport with an ambulance. Once again it was a mad drive through town - as if it was a life-death situation......
In this part of the world the ambulances are very basic: simply a clapped out van with a stretcher in the back and a flashing light on the top with a siren. No other equipment whatsoever.
And during times of strikes it is certainly a good business to have an ambulance - they are in demand and can thus ask for a horrendous price.

It was nice to be back in Chittagong temple, and devotees were greeting me with happy smiles.
And I could immediately see that the temple construction was nicely progressing. Some marble workers had come all the way from India to work on the inside and put the marble on the floor, the walls and the columns. Most of them were Muslims. They would live with the devotees for one year, take prasadam and hear kirtan or lectures while they eat....! What great mercy they were receiving, apart from the opportunity to engage in service and build a nice temple.