My Stay At The Lotus Feet Of Sri Sri Radha Parisiswara

I received an opportunity to visit Paris in October for two weeks for official meetings and training along with one of my colleague Mayank Gupta.

In July I was told that the company is going to book my accommodation in Paris.  There was Hotel L'imperial which was very near to office. Olivier (My Paris colleague) who came India last year and spent few moments in Iskcon Delhi became favorable and started greeting me by saying Hare Krishna all the time. Even on the Official calls sometimes we start greeting each other with Hare Krishna. He even attended my marriage ceremony with his wife. Now he knows myself in more details like the path I follow and the kind of life style I live. he asked me what all arrangements I want him to make for me when I would be in Paris.

Usually I do not like giving troubles to others so I said you just book the hotel where I can have kitchen and I said somehow I would manage. Though I do not how to cook but I was trying to be more dependent upon Krishna. Even he proposed me to use his kitchen but that would have off-course be creating big trouble for Olivier's Family for complete two weeks.

Few days later I met one french devotee HG Sri Niwas Acharya Prabhu who was staying in Noida iskcon temple.He advised me to book my stay in Iskcon Paris. I was little hesitant asking my Indian colleague If i can book my stay in Iskcon. Initially we planned that we will stay together and he agreed to give me his full support arranging my food etc. I never wanted to spoil his plans for enjoying these two weeks. By the mercy of Krishna  I have such wonderful and pious people around me and when I shared my desire, everyone agreed allowing me to stay in Iskcon. My manager in India agreed that i can stay in guest house if its not too far. His support was really unusual for me. The little hope I saw and at last said yes to book my two weeks stay in Iskcon Paris guest house.

Unforgettable The stay at the lotus feet of Sri Sri radha Parisishwara. I remember in 2010 when I was learning French I used to have desire for serving them and having their darshan. That desire was somewhere faded in last few years but Krishna fulfilled that desire now. If you look at them krishna has broad eyes and cheeks are decorated with big flowers. There is one video where Srila Prabhupada is bathing them with milk and honey. Also Srila Prabhupada morning walk near the Eiffel tower.

I was eager for seeing these deities more than seeing material beauty of Paris. Other side Mayank had plan to visit every corner of Paris. Geographically temple was located in one of the suburbs of Paris called Sarcelle which was quite far from the center of Paris. My office and Mayank's Hotel was in center of Paris.

Olivier dropped me at guest house on the night of my arrival. Very first thing I noticed was that temple is located at the secluded place.  Somewhere within my heart the question arised that how will I commute everyday to Office. I was tensed that how will I manage travelling all alone everyday for next two weeks. Mayank proposed me to stay with him if I face any difficulty here. Anyways we reached to the temple premises and we entered in the temple and saw two devotees having prasadam. We asked them for guest house and one of the devotee left his food took us to the guest house.Olivier and Mayank left me with my luggage and continued their journey to Paris.

After the flight of 11 hours I was literally tired and hungry. I went to the kitchen and start searching for something to eat. It was 11pm and could not find anything there. Suddenly One devotee woke up and came to Kitchen. I just told him Prabhu Ji I am very hungry and want something to eat. He was french and did not know much English. Then I told him Prabhu J'ai faim beaucoup. Immediately He took me to the temple and gave me big plate of maha prasadam. I finished whole plate quickly and went to bed.m That was the first great welcome by Sri Radha Parisiswara and his devotees.

I was very excited to attend my first Mangla Aarti at Iskcon Paris. Due to jet lag I could not wake up for Mangla and finally reached temple around 6 : 30am. I felt very angry upon me for getting up late and soon reached at the door of Sri Radha Parisishwara.

I opened the door and heard japa vibration coming out of the temple hall. there were three devotees sitting around Tulasi Maharani and doing Japa. They welcomed me and I also sat at one corner and start doing my japa. After Japa session they started preparing for Guru Puja and darsana Aarti. They gave me an opportunity to lead the aarti and I paid my obiesances to complete guru parampara for giving me such wonderful shelter in Paris. After Guru Puja aarti, darshan opened and I saw Sri Radha Parisishwara, Sri Jagannath Baladeva Subhadra & Sri Gaura Nitai. I made my eyes bigger to capture the complete altar. The nitai saci suta were very close that even you can hug them. I was very ecstatic seeing them and did loud kirtan that day. The excitement got over when one devotee came down and asked me to play kartal slowly.

The complete two weeks I enjoyed Krishna prasad and devotees association. Few days later one devotee asked me if I can join them for harinam sankirtan on Saturday in Paris. I was amazed that Krishna wants me to attend sankirtan in Paris. I said yes and somehow convinced Mayank that i wont join him that day for touring Paris city.

On Saturday I woke up and got ready for harinam sankirtan wearing Dhoti Kurta and decorating my forehead with beautiful tilak. I went to the temple courtyard and was waiting for devotees to come. In Delhi whenever we are invited for harinam sankirtan It is understood that there will be mike and speaker, lot of devotees, something to be distributed as prasad, specific route etc. Overall, we do several arrangements before going for harinam sankirtan. But.....

While waiting for devotees for going out I saw two devotees came out of the temple with Mridanga and there bead bags. they came to me and said "Let's Go" !!!!

I asked them prji are we gonna meet devotees in Paris or they will come later. He replied,"Only we three are going, Any problem". I said no, and we continued our journey to the center of Paris. We reached La Chapelle metro station and started Kirtan standing at one corner of the road. I realized that how different it is from Delhi. These two brahmchari's were totally focused on the sound vibration of Holy name but I was looking at the people around me. I prayed to Lordship that when will i have such faith and love for holy name. We had no mike and speaker but still the sound of harinam was going deeper into the heart of people around us. Few people were seeing us with surprise and few were dancing. We did around 4 or 5 hours kirtan and whole day was blissful. We came back and enjoyed the feast.

One day I got late and left around 9pm from office. I went to the railway station where I was waiting for train. Few minutes later there was announcement that due to some accident on the railway track there will be a short delay in train arrival. There was one Asian who advises me to take another train  to St. Denis and then another train to Sarcelle. I agreed with him I boarded another train and reached St. Denis. When I came to the platform for taking another train I saw there was not even a single person waiting for train. It was dark scary as the station was surrounded with forest. I was nervous and kept doing my japa. After few minutes one black man came and sat on the desk listening music in his headphones. I was literally nervous going to him asking if I am waiting for the right train at the right station or not. I prayed to lord Narsimha Deva and approached him. I asked him in French about my train to Sarcelle . He said yes but in night there is very less frequency of trains so it will be late.To my surprise, He asked me If I am hindu. I said yes. He immediately replied that He is very fond of Indian Food. I felt relaxed and got an opportunity to speak to him for a while. I appreciated that he likes Indian cuisine. I smiled and asked what you like most and his immediate reply was "Butter Chicken". I smiled and asked do you also like some Indian sweets  ?  He said he never tried. Krishna gave me intelligence and I asked him that if he does not mind if I would offer him some sweets I had in my bag. Every morning temple Brahmchari HG Srinam prabhu used to give me Mangala aarti sweet prasad in my Lunch. Coincidentally that day I did  not finish it and kept two pieces to have them later on. He said yes, I can try. I immediately gave him one brown peda. He ate it and liked it very much. He appreciated. I explained him that I am vegetarian and associated with Iskcon. He had no Idea about our society so I just gave him some clue explaining that we are the practitioners of spirituality. He shared that he is working as Financial Advisory Manager in one mortgage firm. He appreciated that I am vegetarian and practicing the same in Paris. It was really nice experience and realized that krishna spread his causeless mercy  to all Jivas without caste and creed.

My two weeks were over and soon the day came of leaving the shelter of Sri Radha Parisisvara. What can I offer as my gratitude to Krishna for his causeless mercy during my stay there ?

I decided to offer one small flower plant to Sri Radha Parisiswara and requested Pujari to keep it near the Lotus feet of Sri Sri Radha parisiswara everyday. Again the mercy of vaisghnavas that he agreed my little offering and very same moment the flowers were offered to krishna.

All Glories to Srila Prabhupada who gave us Sri Vrindavan Dham at every corner of this material world.

Your Servant
Narsimhavatara Das