\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Nitai Gaurachandra damaged during a violent earthquake<\/strong><\/p>\n A virgin girl had a dream that Sri Sri Nitai Gaurachandra, the presiding Deities at our Christchurch[1]<\/a> \u00a0temple, had a desire to go out on harinam sankirtana<\/em>. The very next day, February 22nd<\/sup> 2011, there was a violent earthquake, and the whole city shook to its knees. The temple collapsed, the sringasana[2]<\/a> tumbled, the marble altar jolted askew and the most beautiful Lordships, Nitai Gaurachandra, were suddenly thrown into the hard reality of fractured parts.\u00a0 The outstretched hands of Nitai were broken and scattered like dice across the floor.\u00a0 We always said that with His back arched and His head tilted towards the sky that Avadhuta Nityananda looked like He was out of this world.\u00a0 We thought that one day He would leave the altar and escape in His madness to preach.\u00a0 One has to die to live.<\/p>\n I was in Sri Dhama Mayapur at the time and though I wasn\u2019t in Christchurch to experience the catastrophe the earthquake caused, those divine searching hands touched my heart. It was the month of k<\/em>artik<\/em> on the bank of the Ganges where I explained in detail to the brahmana shilpy<\/em> (deity sculptor), Nimai Bhagavan Dasa, how I would like some Gaura Nitai murtis<\/em> carved for the p<\/em>adayatra<\/em> I was planning in New Zealand.\u00a0 We selected the neem wood and I stipulated that these deities should be fashioned in the mood of those most beautiful Christchurch temple deities.\u00a0 I gave him details about Nitai\u2019s unusual posture and how it culminated in His eyes being ecstatically tilted and rolled back, as if He were about to fly.\u00a0 He said normally the tradition was to have the eyes of the deity addressing the jivas<\/em> who took darsan<\/em>a<\/em>.\u00a0 I said, \u201cNever mind [that] just do it.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Lords\u2019 desire to go outside in the world<\/strong><\/p>\n When the typically hand crafted Indian tin trunk arrived in New Zealand, the distinctive \u2018Indian-English\u2019 phrase \u201cGod Idols Inside\u201d caught my attention.\u00a0 I reflected on the Lord\u2019s desire to be outside in the world.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t wait to free them so they could fulfill their dream as Golden Avataras.\u00a0 In no time we were caught up in a whirlwind impulse to take them out on kirtan<\/em>a<\/em>, on a cart, in a boat \u2013anything to satisfy their desire.\u00a0 I felt that I was being pushed by a strong force that had a hypnotic power over me. First, we had a small but significant inauguration ceremony. I saw their eyes open for the first time[3]<\/a> right in front of Sri Sri Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadra (caksunmilan<\/em>).\u00a0 The ceremony was held at a significant historic site in New Zealand, called Waitangi, where a very important treaty was signed.\u00a0 The treaty stated that the black man (the indigenous people of New Zealand called the \u2018Maoris\u2019) and the white man both had ownership and sovereignty over the native lands of the country.\u00a0 On that sacred \u2018marae\u2019 or Maori temple I became obsessed with wanting to take Nitai Gaurachandra all over New Zealand. \u00a0This was how the \u201cG.O. \u2013 God\u2019s Own New Zealand, from Down Under to Up Above\u201d initiative took root as a steadfast desire.\u00a0 Immediately thereafter, in the summer of 2014, we launched a p<\/em>adayatra<\/em> in the far north region of New Zealand.\u00a0 Several of us met at a very special place called Spirits Bay on the northern most tip of the country setting out on an incredible, spontaneous pilgrimage of 200 kilometers. After this \u201cspirits\u201d ran high and our party became intoxicated on chanting, dancing and feasting out on the road together.\u00a0 We could all feel the wild and driving push of Nityananda to reach all souls. Lokanath Swami once told me, \u201cPadayatra<\/em> is actually Nityananda\u2019s programme.\u201d<\/p>\n Sonow the die was cast and the whole of Aoteoroa (the Moari word for New Zealand) lay at our feet. I became overtaken with an idealistic and impractical vision of doing 108 p<\/em>adayatras<\/em> in New Zealand alone.\u00a0 I felt like the fisherman who had touched Lord Gauranga while he was floating in a sea of ecstasy in Puri.\u00a0 The devotees were quick to bring me back to the reality that I was the only one enlivened with such madness.\u00a0 So it came to be my personal grandiose dream and \u201cpie in the sky\u201d p<\/em>adayatra<\/em> amongst other devotees. It became a humble \u201cpancake on the earth\u201d offering to simply please my Guru Maharaja.\u00a0 I was humbled, and yet with my feet firmly on the ground.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Spirit South padayatra with Rasaraja the horse<\/strong><\/p>\n The inauguration held was like the launching of a new ship.\u00a0 We smashed coconuts like champagne, squashed lemons under the iron wheels, initiated a big horse whose name transformed from Samson to Rasaraja, and called the beginning \u201cThe Kick Off\u201d.\u00a0 It was my 60th<\/sup> birthday, and I had begged of my wife to consent to my walkabout for a complete year; thankfully she understood.\u00a0 We called the padayatra,<\/em> \u2018<\/em>Spirit South\u2019 because that was the direction I was heading and the inner meaning also struck.\u00a0 I was a struggling sadhaka<\/em> dealing with the onslaught of the lower modes but wanting to make a shift.\u00a0 Pilgrimage is a great way to make a shift \u2013it means letting go of the unwanted and moving forward with that which is only absolutely essential.\u00a0 One has to die to live.<\/p>\n Off I went with Rasaraja, a strong Irish gypsy horse, a rustically stylish 100 year old wooden cart through a mid-winter snow storm. I headed out alone, or should I say, Nitai Gaurachandra, Srila Prabhupada and I set the vessel\u2019s compass for that far distant southern-most tip of New Zealand; from down under to up above walking from the Bluff to the Cape.\u00a0 Just getting down to the Bluff, the starting point, was a 600-800 kilometer trek through many mountain ranges, vast tracks of almost uninhabited country, crossing hundreds of braided rivers, through sylvan glades of native forest and open farmlands scattered with thousands of dairy cows.\u00a0 I was well aware that the season would slowly change which is why mid winter was a good time to leave since spring would come next. One must die to live. Things could only get better, but as the equinox winds kicked in, they held over New Zealand and we rode storm after storm heading south.<\/p>\n On the cart I carried a few hundred pounds of gear: cast iron pots for cooking on the open fire, a rugged canvas swag for sleeping in the outdoors (temperatures reached -10 degrees Celsius at times), several layers of clothing (which in extreme cold were worn all at once) and a tin trunk with deity paraphernalia and Prabhupada\u2019s books for distribution.\u00a0 The solid iron wheels rattling along the road became a familiar hum like the strumming of a sarod[4]<\/a>, the clip clop of the hoof, as steady as a drum, and the tiny sweet bells dangling on the cart tinkled in the wind.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Krishna\u2019s unbelievable reciprocation<\/strong><\/p>\n I loved the spontaneity and excitement of the experience.\u00a0 I always felt that Radha and Krishna were alongside me and that Prabhupada was happy with my efforts.\u00a0 There were always people to help.\u00a0 I very quickly learned to see God within the hearts of all people. Krishna \u00a0responded with unbelievable generosity.\u00a0 It was an incredible challenge, filled with the mystery of the unknown, heightened with risk and yet surrounded in the security of knowing my Lords and Masters were always there.\u00a0 They stretched my limited, well-sized faith, into an ocean of conviction that God Himself is ever present. He is a hands-on \u201cSuperman\u201d Who works His magic into every moment.\u00a0 One gets addicted to the intoxication of witnessing the fix He injects into the bloodstream of His surrendered devotee.\u00a0 I felt far from fully surrendered, but whatever little steps I took He ran ahead and made all arrangements.\u00a0 All that way I just glanced at Them and would feel, \u201cYes, They are pacing it out, claiming Their detached ownership and sovereignty over New Zealand – the only real way to bring the black man, the white man and the yellow man together.\u201d<\/p>\n Every day there were so many people who heard the Hare Krsna maha-mantra<\/em>, saw the Lord, tasted Their prasadam<\/em>, chanted the holy names, took Srila Prabhupada\u2019s books or just wondered, \u201cWhat the hell are these guys doing?!\u201d\u00a0 Cities, towns and outback posts, tourists and locals, farmers and business merchants, priests and beggars, cats who ran, dogs who barked, birds who flew, beasts who bolted or danced alongside the r<\/em>ath<\/em>a<\/em>, all for the pleasure of Nitai Gaurachandra.\u00a0 I must have chanted \u201ch<\/em>e <\/em>g<\/em>ovinda, <\/em>h<\/em>e <\/em>g<\/em>opal<\/em>\u201d to thousands and thousands of cows who came right up to the cart for dars<\/em>ana<\/em>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Where did Nitai Gaurachandra go?<\/strong><\/p>\n Every journey has a beginning, middle and an end. What was the greatest jewel unearthed by turning over the hard dirt of so much tapasya<\/em>?\u00a0 A shock will come when I tell you.\u00a0 I had just completed a round trip of 1600 kilometers to the South and had gotten back to the starting point. It was a very quiet country setting where all that could be heard were birds and a lazy gentle stream chuckling; when in the early morning I realized that the most gorgeous coveted forms of Nitai Gaurachandra had disappeared from my sight and touch.\u00a0 As mysterious as their appearance, they just up and left me on a very lonely road bereft of their sweet, sweeter and sweetest association.\u00a0 After we had come what seemed like legions together, through thick and thin, storm and calm, mountain and sea, forest and desert, hardship and ease, amongst people or alone, and now, especially for my purification, they had gone \u2013 but that is another story to tell another time.\u00a0 Obvious from the external, the illusion appeared in the material, to be like an accident, with so many logical reasons why.\u00a0 But the real jewel was the inner spiritual vision that such a loss affords.\u00a0 When the lover of Krishna has been captivated by his most beautiful form in a private grove, Krishna suddenly disappeared just to increase her hankering and to intensify the mellow.\u00a0 This is the topmost point in g<\/em>audiya <\/em>v<\/em>aisnava siddhanta<\/em>.\u00a0 One must die to live.\u00a0 A very close friend of mine commented, \u201cThis is a sign that Nitai Gaurachandra will now return to Christchurch.\u201d\u00a0 Another friend consoled me with a positive viewpoint, \u201cOh, don\u2019t worry, they have just jumped into your heart.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A new beginning with \u2018<\/strong>Spirit South \u2013 Going North<\/strong>\u2019: less is more<\/strong><\/p>\n How could I continue on from here?\u00a0 The answer was very simple and pure. \u00a0When you lose the jewel, the setting of the ring has no meaning.\u00a0 There didn\u2019t seem to be any reason to take the horse and cart anymore.\u00a0 The horse transformed into a red b<\/em>alarama mrdanga<\/em> and the maha<\/em>–<\/em>mantra<\/em> itself became the living force.\u00a0 \u2018Spirit South\u2019 took on a new identity, \u2018Spirit South \u2013 Going North\u2019 with the catch phrase \u201cless is more\u201d.\u00a0 It was a new beginning to walk on alone with next to no possessions.\u00a0 \u201cOne robe, one bowl\u201d meant all I had to worry about, besides whatever little shelter and food was required to keep this simple pilgrim heading north. In retrospect, Krishna was kind.\u00a0 He took away everything, leaving only the bare essentials.\u00a0 It would have been too difficult to manage the horse and cart in the much more intensified traffic highways north of Christchurch.\u00a0 In fact, it would have been impossible.\u00a0 One has to die to live.<\/p>\n I found myself even being able to exercise the freedom of not having to ask for assistance.\u00a0 People throughout New Zealand seemed to recognize my complete dependence and they opened their hearts naturally. When you look like you can take care of yourself they leave you alone, but when you hang it out and leave room for Krishna to play a part, He seems to enjoy coming up with everything that is needed in very novel ways.<\/p>\n The media soon picked up on my story and followed me all the way, even though I was now without the grand presentation of a travelling temple.\u00a0 They seemed to welcome the simplicity and the uncomplicated message.\u00a0 After all, our deep tradition and philosophy holds in its essence the answer to all sociological, physiological, environmental and political problems.\u00a0 \u201cLess is more\u201d means less matter and more spirit.\u00a0 I found people everywhere merely overloaded with matter and screaming out to know about spirit.\u00a0 One has to die to live.\u00a0 There were 20-30 television interviews, newspaper and magazine articles reaching an estimate of 800,000 to 1 million people.\u00a0 More than a third of New Zealand\u2019s population came to hear Krishna\u2019s name and hear about Prabhupada\u2019s 50th<\/sup> anniversary.\u00a0 After all, this is our family business.\u00a0 It was evident to me there is simply not enough salesmen and saleswomen in the marketplace, since everyone wants our product.\u00a0 It was always such a simple exchange, they would give me shelter and food and I would trade with highly valued spiritual knowledge assuring my new found friends that it is the subtle that moves the gross.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Practicing humility by being alone and vulnerable<\/strong><\/p>\n Being alone and vulnerable meant I had to be very accepting of whatever situation Krishna put me in, and in a sense, the position of a transcendental beggar demands the practice of humility.\u00a0 It also enhances the ability to have a compassionate heart and to even be open to receive the gems of wisdom that others outside our faith are willing to share. After the subtle art of befriending my hosts with a genuine relationship, in a one-on-one loving exchange they could appreciate that this beggar, although free of possessions, had so much to give spiritually.\u00a0 I could feel the benediction of Sanatana Goswami giving me the mercy to share Krishna consciousness with the common people in an ordinary way and yet injecting some highly potent spiritual medicine.<\/p>\n In the last 45 years New Zealand\u2019s family of devotees has grown significantly and has spread out throughout the country. There are now devotees everywhere, so I was able to take shelter in their homes, ashrams<\/em> and small temples.\u00a0 They also seemed to benefit by having some fresh blood pass through.\u00a0\u00a0 With those of the \u2018outer\u2019 family I would only stay \u201cas long as it takes to milk a cow\u201d and those of the inner family of devotees, 2 or 3 nights were enough to share and move on with good will.\u00a0 Their homes became like small sheltered ports for my small boat that was mostly out there roughing it out on high seas.<\/p>\n At my age, when this old body seems rightly fit to be taxiing on the runway of vanaprastha<\/em> life, it is definitely good practice to take test flights to see if the wings will hold out for the big flight.\u00a0 We all have to move on alone, fully dependent on the winds of our faith.\u00a0 For many of us the ultimate flight for transcendence, the sannyasa<\/em> ashram<\/em> or the mood of exclusive dedication to Radha Krsna, seems to be still parked in the hangar.\u00a0 But some day, could be any day after 50. We may have to bring it out and wind up the motors if we are going to cross to the other world \u2013the ultimate p<\/em>adayatra<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u2018Spirit South \u2013 Going North\u2019 continued on its destined path for another 1500 kilometers right up into the top end of the North Island.\u00a0 \u2018Spirit South \u2013 Going North\u2019 secondary meaning is the moving of the force from the lower chakras up to the higher chakras of the heart and consciousness.\u00a0 One has to die to live.<\/p>\n A significant element of change was the ethnic diversity as the currents converged into Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand.\u00a0 In particular, the influence and cultural significance of the indigenous people of New Zealand, the Maoris, has been dominated and materially eclipsed by encroaching Western material influence.\u00a0 On the open road there was a lot of time for deep introspective thoughts and copious amounts of harinama sankirtan<\/em>a<\/em>.\u00a0 Playing the red drum, putting up a beat good for walking and the constant steady repetition of the maha mantra <\/em>played on the heartstrings. After 5 to 6 hours of chanting kirtan<\/em>a<\/em> each day the soul was soaring and the body puffing like a steam train trying to catch up.\u00a0 It all came to an end too early. I could go on doing this forever.\u00a0 However, I was looking for a significant sign of auspiciousness that Krishna would indicate He was pleased.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Radha Kr<\/strong>i<\/strong>s<\/strong>h<\/strong>na\u2019s smile on the last day of my \u201chikoi\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n It came on the final peninsula of land jutting out into the vastu\u2019s<\/em>[5]<\/a> northeast extremity.\u00a0 There, on the last day, I met two very interesting travelers who asked me what I was doing.\u00a0 After telling them that this was the completion of my hikoi (Maori for walk) of the length of New Zealand, they exclaimed that on that very day they were just planning a similar walk; and had come here to get the spirit to begin.\u00a0 Coincidentally enough, one of them went on to say that in the summer of 2014 they had seen a Krishna party at this very same spot and that back then they were just completing a full hikoi of New Zealand.\u00a0 I stood up excited and said, \u201cThat was us!\u201d\u00a0 Yes, we had now linked up with the journey we had begun in 2014.\u00a0 What an amazing situation to have occurred in such an isolated and spiritually revered location.\u00a0 I felt that this was Radha Krishna\u2019s smile.<\/p>\n Now the amazing trek was over.\u00a0 Nitai Gaurachandra had claimed \u2018God\u2019s Own from Down Under to Up Above\u2019 with harinama<\/em> all the way, Their desire had been fulfilled.\u00a0 On the return trip back south it was not by chance that we had been called upon to be the vehicle carrying the new marble deity forms of Nitai Gaurachandra, back down to the city of Christchurch.\u00a0 By some unbelievable mystical arrangement Nitai Gaurachandra were now returning to a brand new mandir<\/em>.\u00a0 It will be a new temple with new Deities carved by the same shilpy<\/em>, waiting to take up Their rightful position as the presiding Lordships with supreme ownership and sovereignty over the whole of New Zealand and more.\u00a0 I felt They Themselves had walked the distance taking us from \u2018Down Under to Up Above\u2019 and they had shown the ultimate realization by personal exchange.\u00a0 One has to die to live.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Acknowledgements<\/strong><\/p>\n I would like to acknowledge the assistance of the following people who helped me on this journey:<\/p>\n My wife, Ramila dasi, who made it all possible by giving me her full support in so many different ways which enabled me to go out on p<\/em>adayatra<\/em> for an entire year<\/p>\n Bhaka Brendan Dallimore, a particularly supportive devotee, who travelled with me for 2 to 3 months.<\/p>\n My daughter, Radha Bhavani, who spent many hours doing all the graphic design work to promote the p<\/em>adayatra<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n Lastly all the devotees and sponsors who generously gifted their well-wishing prayers, bhoga<\/em>, shelter, finances and various other resources.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Refers to the New Zealand ISKCON centre, \u2018Hare Krishna Cultural Centre Christchurch\u2019.<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Altar where the deities reside<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> During the installation of deities the second step is the opening of the eyes or netra unmilinam.<\/em><\/p>\n [4]<\/a> a lute used in classical North Indian music, with four main strings<\/p>\n
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