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Did you think I had forgotten? Oh! NO!

Get ready for one more of Sol’s adventures.

First of all I have to explain why I didn’t post this before. Everything started when the last day I spent in Italy, one mataji asked me to give her my pictures.
It’s well known that when you have some special pictures on your camera somehow another you will lose them… and that is exactly what happened to me. I gave her the memory card and Vualá! they went, without leaving a note…nothing!

Fortunately I have a brother that is always there to fix all my mistakes and after a few days he recovered them… gracias Eze…again!

Then I entangled in my cake making episode and I couldn’t find time till now. In fact my brother had to push me, so I heard to him and I said to myself “I have to be faithful to my friends”… I hope you enjoy it!

Everything started with one email. My friend Adbhuta Datri wrote me telling that His Holiness Radhanath Swami Maharaja was going to Italy for a few days and she was going to be there too, so I didn’t need any more excuses. Let’s get the plane tickets!!! It was a little bit risky cause we didn’t have the arrival date of them so we surrendered and got whatever we could.

29th August - Departure to Venice via Madrid (click here to check the itinerary)

We took the plane at 8:00am so I just slept 2 or 3 hours… I was tired but excited!

This is my brother Eze arriving to the new Madrid airport…

In about 4 hours we arrived to Venice but we had to take a bus to Padova where Trai Prabhu would pick us up.

Everything was very auspicious!!! All the buses are like this in Venice!!!
I was remembering all my Sita-friends hehehe…

We went through Venice… see the typical Italian on a Vespa He saw me taking the picture and he run away!

And after 4 more hours we arrived to… Prabhupada desh!!! Yes, Trai Prabhu was waiting for us and was in a hurry cause Radhanath Maharaja was taking lunch at his home. At that time we realized that by Krsna’s arrangement we were on time to greet him!!! We were just at the door of the temple and then Trai Prabhu said… I leave you here and I see you later cause I think Maharaja is in the car behind us… I turned my face and there He was… Haribol!.
He was on the way to his home so we had time to get ready for welcoming him

While I was getting ready I got the second…well, the third good news. HH Candramauli Swami Maharaja was also coming! (the second was that Adbhuta Datri’s name was written on the door of my room. We were going to stay together!!!).

By the time I had my sari and tilak on I coudn’t stop moving. I was very nervous just to know that I was going to meet Radhanath Maharaja in a few minutes. I met Him in Mumbai, where I stayed a little more than one year. He has been source of inspiration for my brother and I from the very first day and we really missed his association. After six months in Spain, we were going to meet him out of India for the first time

All the matajis started to make a circle while chanting and dancing (this was a hint of what was about to come…the most amazing and ecstatic kirtans ever!!!)

Candramauli Maharaja arrived first and then… Radhanath Maharaja!!!

…and all the devotees chanted the Holy Names…

…then we followed him to the temple…

…and he offered respects to Srila Prabhupada…

…then he went for darshan of Sri Sri Gaura Nitai…

…and then we had KIRTAN!!! while Maharaja looked at us smiling

We had a looooooooooong kirtan but Maharaja went to take some rest, but we continued with the kirtan This was a very auspicious beginning!!!

Then Maharaja was going to speak a few words after some time so I decided to meet some devotees. Here I’m talking with Nirmala Bhakti Mataji, who takes notes from Maharaja’s lectures, then she writes them very nicely and distributes amongst the devotees as a gift. She is really nice. Thank you

Candramauli Maharaja then came. He is with Trai Prabhu…

I was sitting in the temple and my brother called me and he said “look who is there”…
Adbhuta Datriiiiii yes my friend and sister Can you feel my happiness??? I couldn’t smile more!!!

The sun was setting when Maharaja came…

He expressed his gratitude for being there and he appreciated the curtain of the altar very much. He said there was a lot of suspense when the altar opened and a lot of time to relish the last darhan when it closed; he called it “a curtain in the mood of goodness” (it was reaaally slow hehehe)… we were in a very sweet and familiar mood…

…and then we had more kirtaaaan… I don’t have more pictures cause I was dancing

The next day we attended mangala arati…

…then japa meditation and guru puja…

…and then more kirtan!!

!

After the program Adbhuta Datri gave me her darshan and after a few hours we were quite satisfied and ready for lunch prasadam!

Radhanath Maharaja and Candramauli Maharaja came to the garden for prasadam too. It was very nice to see them together

Do you know what? I got one more surprise… Kurma Prabhu, the famous vegetarian cook came to Prabhupada desh for a few hours. Oh! This was too much!!! Finally I was going to meet him in person!!! I got that good fortune. I introduced myself and he remembered my letters (sometimes I write to him asking for coockery advice).

He gave an inspiring lecture on Srila Prabhupada in Australia from one of his books entitled “The Great Transcendental Adventure”.
He just stayed for a few hours but it was such a great gift for me to be on his presence!…

Days went very fast… Radhastami’s Festival was going to be the last celebration for most of the devotees. Here we are dressed in pink and starting to feel the separation… also Jay Gopi was there…

…but there was a Festival to celebrate!!! Srimati Radharani kiii jaya!

Here Their Lordships are ready for the abhiseka…

Candramauli Maharaja gave a wonderful lecture on Srimati Radharani’s transcendental qualities and Radhanath Maharaja read his notes. Very sweet scene

This is Krsnaloka Mataji praying full of devotion…

The festival went on very nicely. Of course we had lot of kirtan.

Now we had to get ready to say goodbye and meanwhile a devotee made us a “reading” that resulted very interesting. I won’t tell you what he told me, hehehe…

And time arrived… yes… Maharaja was leaving us…

…and following Maharaja… Adbhuta Datri!!!

Tears, tears and more tears…

The afternoon was quiet. I went for a walk with Eze…
…my name means sun in Spanish and my last name means sunflower in Italian so there I am… Spanish Sun with Italian Sunflower

Krsnaloka Mataji saw us and she called us from the window. Her neighbours invited us for cake…

…and after that she invited us to take the “Real Italian Ravioli” made by Citrarupini Mataji (bathing Their Lordships on the right), by some known as “Raviolesvari Mataji”.

Time to say goodbye to Maharaja, to the devotees, to Prabhupada-desh… and thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Devotees are my shelter. The association of the devotees is my only hope. Thank you

…and time to say hello to Venice!!! Coming soon…

technorati tags:prabhupadadesh, radhanathmaharaja, candramaulimaharaja, kurma, venice, italy, radhastami, harekrishna

Before his near-death experience, Rev. Howard Storm, a Professor of
Art at Northern Kentucky University, was not a very pleasant man. He
was an avowed atheist and was hostile to every form of religion and
those who practiced it. He often would use rage to control everyone
around him and he didn’t find joy in anything. Anything that wasn’t
seen, touched, or felt, he had no faith in. He knew with certainty
that the material world was the full extent of everything that was. He
considered all belief systems associated with religion to be fantasies
for people to deceive themselves with. Beyond what science said, there
was nothing else.”

“On June 1, 1985, at the age of 38, Howard Storm had a near-death
experience due to a perforation of the stomach and his life was
forever changed. His near-death experience is one of the most
profound, if not the most profound, afterlife experience I have ever
documented. His life was so immensely changed after his near-death
experience that he resigned as a professor and devoted his time to
attending the United Theological Seminary to become a United Church of
Christ minister. The following is the account of Pastor Howard Storm’s
near-death experience, which is an excerpt from his book, My Descent
Into Death”

Long but worth reading: Near death experiences

My friends Soheil and Sara got married few months back. They had a very beautiful vedic ceremony in the Hare Krsna Temple of Malaga (click here for the report). They were going to make another ceremony for the rest of the family and friends who weren’t able to attend the first one so they asked me to prepare the cake… I’m not a “cake maker” but I wanted to please them and also help in the Holly mission of prasadam distribution (food offered to Krsna) so I accepted the challenge.

I had to decide which kind of cake would be the best for such an special occasion. I took advantage of the mango season and I chose a Mango and Saffron cake. I got all the ingredients (very basic ingredients cause there is not much variety in Spain for cake making) and I made my planning.

One day before the wedding I woke up full of enthusiasm, I took a strong breakfast to get ready for a long day of work and I went to the temple. I was supposed to bake the cake there but when I arrived…you won’t believe me… there was NO KITCHEN!. They were making a very nice new kitchen for the pleasure of Sri Sri Gaura Nitai. In one hand it was a good new but… where could I make the cake then??? My first though was “This is very auspicious. Krsna always arranges whatever is the best, so I must surrender…”

I called Soheil and gave him the new… He told me they had arranged a temporary kitchen outside the temple. It was right there but I didn’t realize that that was the “new” kitchen”…

…so I made the cake here

At the end everything went well. I was all alone, just hearing lectures and concentrating in my work… There was a very sweet atmosphere that reminded me to India.

I made a couple like this and then somebody came to pick the cake up to bring it to the restaurant where I would build it up.

Then I arrived to the second new kitchen of the day. This one was also ok, but not that sweet

I made the mango filling and the vanilla buttercream…

And then I started to build the cake…first the mango cream filling…

Then the buttercream…

…and after this it was very late (23:30) and the cake needed refrigeration so I decided to come back the next day.

15th of September…my brother’s birthday, Haribol!!! I wanted to make a big feast for him but I had to finish the cake so I told him at least he would have a very big cake for his birthday
I came back and the buttercream was perfect so I whipped the cream and covered the cake with it… I enjoyed this step very much

…and then I made the decoration. I needed more flowers, more yellow buttercream and more time (I had enough raspberries) but I managed with whatever was there and this was the result…an Avadhuta Mango and Saffron Wedding Cake, only for Krsna’s pleasure.

I got the good fortune of helping the bride on her dressing, flower decoration and gopi dots painting. She was gorgeous!!!

Then the East meets West ceremony took place. Sara’s sister band played a song in between the poetical ceremony and there were even fireworks!!!… you can see Eze filming the event…

After that we took dinner; one of the plates was arranged by Uttara Mataji and Jagannath Nrisimha Prabhu. Here she is…

There was also a flamenco show and a concert and fiiinaaally they called the bride and the groom to cut the cake.

Here they are, with their Laxmi garlands very happily.

By Krsna’s grace, it was very tasty and everybody was very satisfied.

As I said, I’m not a “cake maker” but I did it with all my love and by Radharani’s mercy I was able to please the devotees, those who already are and those who will become.

Cooking for Krsna is transcendental. It’s such a simple thing but it brings full satisfaction to my heart.

Thank you Soheil and Sara for giving us a chance to serve you.

ys, Sol

Sri Bhagavat-prasada ki jaya!

technorati tags:wedding, cake, buttercream, mango, hare, krishna, ceremony, celebration

Haribol!

I met my dear friend Adbhuta Datri in Italy and she gave me a wonderful and easy ice-cream recipe.

Here it is:

1 liter or cream

1/2 kg of milk powder

1/2 kg of sugar (I put brown sugar)

1/2 liter of water
________________

1. Whip the cream.

2. Put the rest of the ingredients together and mix with the cream.

3. Add nuts/ fruits/ carob…

4. Freeze it.

5. Offer it to Gopinath…very important step and enjoy!!!

I suggest to prepare different flavors to make a Banana Split : ice-cream with fruits (bananas, strawberries, peaches, pineapple…) lot of cream, hot carob cream on the top and nuts… and maybe some biscuits too… Sounds good!!!

Make your choice!!!

Thank you for the inspiration my friend!!!

Note: ice-cream is “suitable” for people who have predominantly Pitta body type… but I don’t think Ayurveda recommends this Banana Split. It’s a big challenge for digestion!…What do you think???…

ys, Sol

technorati tags:icecream, recipe, dessert, sweets, vegetarianism

I’m back in Spain and I will tell you everything about my trip very soon… or almost everything

ys, Sol

technorati tags:venice, italy, hare, krishna, prabhupadadesh