Paramahamsa Arrives

...Minus his luggage

Premasindhu Prabhu is getting ready to drive Goswami Maharaj and me to the airport to meet Sripad Bhakti Amal Paramahamsa Maharaj who is due to arrive at ten o' clock this morning on an Air France flight, when we get an email from Devashis Prabhu in London saying that Paramahamsa Maharaj's flight is delayed due to "industrial action" in Paris.

Paramahamsa Maharaj is returning from Venezuela where he, along with Sripad Bhakti Pavan Janardan Maharaj and Sripad Bhakti Kusum Ashram Maharaj, successfully installed the deities Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurachandra on June 14th, at the Sri Chaitanya Sridhar Govinda Seva Ashram in Caracas.

Later we get word that Paramahamsa Maharaj will arrive at 7:00 p.m. Premasindhu Prabhu and I drive to the airport to meet him; Goswami Maharaj stays behind to give his final evening class before he leaves for India tomorrow.

We meet a tired, jet lagged Paramahamsa Maharaj who has traveled from Caracas to Calcutta, to Delhi, to London, to Paris, and now to Johannesburg in the last two days. He arrives without his luggage, lost somewhere along the way...

He is given an enthusiastic reception back at the Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Ashram in Lenasia, and enlivens us all with his description of the deity installation in Venezuela.