JPS Diary by Maha Varaha Das

20/12/15 , exactly a year ago…..

Our flight from Singapore QF72 arrived at 12.10 am in Perth. It was a small 737-800 aircraft. Immigration and customs clearance was very quick and smooth. When Gurumaharaj emerged out from the terminal building into the waiting area, more than 30 local devotees with beaming smiles on their faces immediately offered their obeisances. Many of them were senior disciples of Gurumaharaj. Though it was almost 1am, they looked fresh and energetic. They welcomed Gurumaharaj and the servants with garlands and mild kirtan.

Gurumaharaj was arranged to stay in the house of Punya Sloka Krsna Prabhu and his good wife Rupavati Radharani dd at Wattle Grove. We reached the house around 1.30am. The room meant for Gurumaharaj was very well arranged as per his requirements. Gurumaharaj had some milk and then we prepared him to go to bed as it was already very late. At around 1.45am we managed to put him on the bed. Unfortunately, the newly purchased mattress was too soft and Gurumaharaj kept sinking in it. It was extremely uncomfortable. We tried many positions yet he kept sinking. We then tried putting him on the ‘Left Side Down’ position with the support of more than 10 pillows but sadly nothing worked out.

There were 7-8 of us at the scene. Each one of us were suggesting different ideas and tried out different ways to solve the issue, yet it was unsuccessful.

The health crisis that Gurumaharaj went through in May 2015 was mainly due to a lung infection. Since then Gurumaharaj was advised by the doctors to sleep in a position angled between 35-45°. Generally we make the angle using a combination of some hard and soft pillows. But this time and for the first time the new mattress was way too soft. Punya Sloka Prabhu, the host, was very disheartened because the new bed that he bought was not serving the purpose. Every one of us were seriously engaged in solving this bed issue. Another 1 hour went by but still nothing was achieved.

Gaurnam and Sitaram Prabhus then suggested that they could go to the temple and bring the mattress from there. However that might take another 30-45 mins. I was not happy with that idea as it will further delay Gurumaharaj’s bed time. Then Gaurnam Prabhu came up with an idea of bringing a whole set of bed from the next room which seemed to be more suitable and practical. We tried out the mattress from the next room. Three of us lied down on the mattress simultaneously, rolling to the left and to the right to check its suitablity. It felt much more firmer. We proceeded and took out the new bed set from Gurumaharaj’s room and stored it temporarily in the garage. Then we set up the bed from the next room for Gurumaharaj.

By now, it was 3.30am. Gurumaharaj was seated on the wheelchair and was patiently observing this ‘bed’ drama that was going on in the wee hours of the morning.

All of us were exhausted but were happy and relieved after sorting out this bed problem for Gurumaharaj. While we were in the process of transferring Gurumaharaj from his wheelchair to the new bed, with his legs still in the bended position, Gurumaharaj started narrating the ‘Beda Kirtan’ pastimes of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu from the Madhya Lila of Caitanya Caritamrta. Satananda prabhu who was standing there told Gurumaharaj that it is already too late for anything now so its better to go to bed immediately.

Gurumaharaj seriously responded, “For the last two hours you people were just talking about bed, bed and bed! All about bed! I do not want to sleep in bed consciousness. I want to sleep in Krishna Consciousness. So I want to elevate my consciousness again from bed to Caitanya consciousness. For this reason, I want to narrate a pastime of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu before going to sleep.” Gurumaharaj smiled widely before going on with the narration. And there we were, hearing Beda Kirtan pastimes of Lord Caitanya till 4 am in the morning.

Your servant

Maha varaha das


For more reference:

Madhya 11: The Beḍā-kīrtana Pastimes of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu
http://www.vedabase.com/en/cc/madhya/11

Verse 224 specifically mentions the word Beda.