Yamuna remembers: Sankirtan in Surat

Yamuna remembers: Sankirtan in Surat.
“So there was one nagar sankirtan in Surat that struck me in the heart just like lightning. It was the culmination and fulfillment of Srila Prabhupada’s words. Our group of sankirtan members had been informed that the next morning our nagar sankirtan would begin at 4:00 a.m. and proceed through some of the main streets of the town as it was awakening. We had gathered and were all walking through the streets chanting very ecstatically. Hansadutta das led kirtan for an hour or so, and then I led. Also Revatinandana das led for awhile. It was very wonderful, and after about two hours we were all decorated externally with many garlands of flowers and internally with the glorious chanting of the Holy Names. Sometime between 6:30 and 7:00 a.m., all of the people were out building their morning fires, and a haze of smoke stretched lazily across the early morning sky. The sun was just beginning to peek above the horizon on the long dirt road we were traveling on. By now a good-sized crowd of people were following behind us. And as we continued down this dirt road, it took a slightly upward slope that then crossed a river.

As the road became a bridge, we began moving toward the center, and just as we reached the crest of the bridge, the sun rose across the trees, and Srila Prabhupada was standing in the dead center of the road with this light illuminating from all sides of him, just as if he were the rising sunlight itself. That picture is burned in my memory. It is still very emotional to think about this—there he was, with his hands raised and his robes draping on the ground, and he looked just like descriptions of Lord Chaitanya, he was so powerful and so beautiful. I remember all of the devotees simply went mad with ecstasy—first having this wonderful nagar sankirtan, and then seeing Srila Prabhupada in this surreal way. It was unbelievable.

And then His Divine Grace personally walked through the streets with us and chanted on nagar sankirtan until about 8:30 a.m. Walking behind Srila Prabhupada, actually following in his footsteps as the party wound its way through the streets of Surat, was the promise, the fulfillment, the highlight and the perfection.