31 January 2004
(by Yasomatinandana das)

Today Guru Mahraraja finally came to Russia. It was all up in the air till 12 hours before his departure from Delhi. You know first he was going to go to USA and Canada but then it got cancelled because of some problems in Delhi. And he kept on delaying his coming to Moscow. Even that was not sure. Only in the afternoon on 30th he confirmed that he was coming.

The weather here is unusally warm - above zero (in February!!!). The snow is melting and there is a complete mess on the roads. Wet snow is falling. My blood pressure is jumping so I pray to KRishna I will be able to travel with Guru Maharaja on this trip... (please pray for me also)

02 February 2004
(by Yasomatinandana das)

Yesterday Guru Maharaja gave a SB class in the morning - from the 7th Canto on avadhuta-brahmana instructing Prahlada Maharaja. Then there were darsanas, then he went to  meet local congregation businessmen to encourage them to work hard together and get the new MOscow project realized. We need to collect $10,000,000 in few years and build the project - a herculean task. Guru Maharaja especially came here to help the new project. Otherwise he would have stayed behind as he has a lot of important work in Delhi and all devotees there were requesting him to stay. But he feels it is his duty to Srila Prabhupada who requested him to help in Russia.

03 February 2004
(by Yasomatinandana das)

Yesterday morning Guru Maharaja gave a SB class - the contuniation of the 13th Chapter, 7 Canto. There the brahmana tells Prahlada Maharaja that a foolish living being is searching for bodily happiness without realizing that the real happiness lies within his soul. Just like a foolish deer is searching for water everywhere without realizing that it is standing next to a well which is covered by grass.

04 February 2004
(by Yasomatinandana das)

Today is Lord Nityananda's Appearance day. Guru Maharaja woke up early and performed Mangala Arati at 4:15. Then he quickly finished his puja and we left Vladimir for NIzhni Novgorod at 6:50 am. THe temperature dropped even more and it was -24 C. The road was empty and we made our 230 kms quite fast. We arrived to the Niznhi Novgorod Temple at 9:30 am. We changed cars and now Ekanath Prabhu was driving Guru Maharaja in his jeep.