Our first pilgrimage to Vrindavan was in the winter of 1986; we numbered 22, all novices, and Radhanath Swami was our transcendental tour guide. It was a three day tour. We visited temples on the first day, circumambulated Govardhan Hill on the second, and visited Barsana and Nandagaon on the third.
Radhanath Swami’s room in the Radhagopinath Ashram, on that day, felt like the hollow of a scanning machine. What was scanned?—my mind, which had been for a while bristling with innumerable misconceptions—some related to philosophy and others to temple management. Who was the doctor?—Radhanath Swami,
20 December 2010 to 1 January 2011. Radhanath Swami and some of his followers were on a pilgrimage to South India.
The management committee of the pilgrimage stood on ever-shifting sands. The decisions they took were in a constant state of flux, for the logistics of the tour were mind boggling.
In India, Vaishnavism, the path of devotional service to Lord Vishnu, is upheld by four authentic traditions—the Brahma Sampradaya, the Rudra Sampradaya, the Sri Sampradaya and the Kumara Sampradaya. Their teachings, though varied, overlap in essence. Whilst the neophyte spiritualists get distracted by the differences to the point of bigotry, the advanced spiritualists focus on the essence and consider the differences ‘the spice of spirituality.’
Recently, in December 2010, Radhanath Swami was in Sri Rangam, in South India.
I gazed inside the hall through the window. Were they monstrous serpents in there? They cleaved to the ceiling; they breathed cool air; and their huge bodies dwarfed the hall. Well, I knew what they were, but I was only stretching to imagine the thoughts of someone who didn’t know 😉
