A Little History

 Caitanya Prabhu then went ahead and began looking for a place for us to stay. He had one week time to figure out where we would stay before we would get there. In between, myself and Bv Nemi Maharaja took off to Delhi and Pune for some preaching and we were to meet up with the rest about 2 weeks later. Meanwhile the rest of the party left Vrndavana, chanting 'Haribol! Jaya Srila Gurudeva! Jaya Srila Prabhupada!', eager to go spread Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s movement and please Srila Gurudeva.

 When the group arrived in Bangalore they where welcomed with sweet words and flower garlands by Caitanya Prabhu, who then took them to a place called 'Ananta Svami Ashram', the place where they would stay for the next 3-4 months. This place was an old ashram in the middle of the city but yet still in a somewhat secluded and quite spot. It was the Samadhi place of a Sri Sampradaya Vaisnava but was now being run by a Sannyasi of the Sankara Sampradaya. There one room was taken that had a divider in it making it two small size rooms just big enough for six people to sleep and keep their luggage. All our books were kept in another room used for storage and all our cooking stuff was kept in a locked trunk down in the local kitchen. Bathrooms where in a separate location of the Ashrama and in front of the Samadhi there was a small hall where we would conduct our Sunday programs. Overall it was pretty nice.

 Then everyday we began doing Nagar-sankirtana with a portable loud speaker and doing book distribution. Flyers were printed and we began running into interested people and many already devotees, from Iskcon. In this way our presence became known and our humble Sunday program began to increase. A press conference was held to let the public know why we had come to Bangalore and we also began doing house programs at local devotees houses, like Candrashekar Prabhu, Umashankar prabhu just to name a few. Many devotees had adopted the false Rtvik system of initiation and Jnana das Prabhu, Janardana Prabhu etc. had fun pointing out the defects in this system and showing them the auspicious path of 'real' Gurupada-asraya, surrendering unto the lotus feet of a living bona fide spiritual master--our Srila Gurudeva. Furthermore during this time, a program was held at Bangalore University and also weekly Sabji-bhiksa, or begging at local wholesale vegetable market was done, accompanied by Sankirtana, Performing Sankirtana there had a wonderful effect on the local farmers, so much so, that they would give us more Sabji then we could carry home. 

 In this way quickly three months passed and we happily returned to Vrndavana for Gaura-purnima. That year (2004) Srila Gurudevas long lasting desire to perform Navadvipa-dhama Parikrama in Vrndavana was fulfilled. Also, we were to soon find out that another long lasting desire of Srila Gurudeva was fulfilled. When we returned and spoke to Srila Gurudeva, he became very pleased and said, “Actually it has been my desire for more than 30 years to preach and establish a Matha in South India. This preaching there is my Mano-bhista.’ Hearing these words all the devotees were struck with wonder and felt great satisfaction that there humble attempt to serve Sri Guru and Vaisnavas had been acknowledged by Srila Gurudeva. Before Srila Gurudeva had been calm and quite about our idea of preaching in the South but now that he had actually seen effort from our side he revealed his heart to us.

 That Gaura purnima, being so pleased with the whole hearted surrender of Sripad  Janardana Prabhu and Sripad Jnana das Prabhu, just like they had done to their Gurudeva Srila Prabhupada, Srila Gurudeva bestowed the Sannyasa order to them, who then became Sripad BV Vaikhanas Maharaja and BV Nemi Maharaja respectively.

 Since that time the preaching has been going on nicely with Bv Vaikhanas Maharaja in-charge of the South India Pracar. After Gaura-purnima 2004, three Brahmacaris joined full time, Srinidhi prabhu Madan Mohan Prabhu and Venu-gopal prabhu and have been serving here ever since. Some local Brahmacaris were cultivated and made, like Vasanta Prabhu who are serving full time. Many have also come and gone. One Math has been established outside the city on a farm named Sri Ranganatha Gaudiya Matha, headed by Bv Dandi Maharaja, and Bv Visnu-daivata Maharaja, who were invited down to join the preaching in 2004. Preaching in the city is going on nicely with the aim of establishing a temple here too. Srila Gurudeva has visited a total three times, 2005, 2007, and 2009 and more then 400 people have taken initiation from Srila Gurudeva in Bangalore and South India. Many preaching trips all over south India have been done from Bangalore and we are hoping in the future many more people from all over South India will take to Krsna Bhakti. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu personally visited the South and planted the seeds of devotion everywhere. Now it is our duty to cultivate that fertile land and have the creepers of devotion grow and produce the fruit of unalloyed devotion to Sri Sr Radha and Krsna.

We welcome anyone to please come and join our humble attempts to please Guru and Gauranga.

Gaurapremanande Hari Haribol!

Aspiring for the uninterrupted service of Sri Guru and Vaisnavas,

Giridhari das