Brindavan Hare Ram

Hare Ram Hare Ram, Rama Rama Hare Hare 
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare 

Brindavan is the town in India most closely associated with the lilas of Krishna’s youth, which he passed among the village people as a cowherd. It was the sweetest of times. It was here that Krishna romanced the Gopis (the cowherd girls), the gods who had incarnated to “sport” with the Lord in this form. There is a shimmering peace in the air of Brindavan and an atmosphere of vast love and quiet ecstasy. Between 1970 and 1973 we spent much time with Maharaj-ji at his temple in Brindavan. I can close my eyes right now and see the beauty of the scene. Often at night we would sit with him in the courtyard for long hours in silence, with only the sound of peacocks calling to each other across the fields and the other sounds of the night…

Every evening a man and his young daughter came to the temple to sing the night shift of Hare Krishna. He played harmonium and she pounded on the drum. Their voices would come through the loudspeakers and waft over us as we sat in silence. The father became well known locally but died at a young age. His daughter, who was eight at the time I knew her, married and had two children, but like her father, she also died very young. They both live in the longing and poignancy of this melody.

A special gift at the end…
From a tape made on an old Indian tape recorder by a devotee in Naini Tal, the voice of Maharaj-ji chanting Shri Rama..