Morelia

Preaching Center in Morelia

Yesterday, I had the good fortune to visit the Chaitanya Saraswat Math preaching center in Morelia. We drove from San Miguel de Allende to Morelia, about 4 hours by car. Our intrepid guitar man sang a few songs bossa nova style

Dayal Nitai

While Sharanagati Devi Dasi, a disciple of Shridhar Maharaja, drove. She knew the way. Morelia has a small preaching center where Ashrama Maharaja and Janardana Maharaja often visit.

I recently met Sharanagati and her partner Pundarika Lochan and we caught up on old times. Pundarika remembered me from back in San Jose, California. We were going to Morelia to honor the disappearance day of Govinda Maharaja. 

We talked about the great contributions that Govinda Maharaja made to our line and his swanlike character as we wended our way through the hills and mountainous country of Michoacan, Mexico.

Mexico is not all cactus and desert. The area around Michoacan is green. The elevation is above 6,000 feet and there are plenty of trees and forest, lakes, and wild areas.

The Zapotec and Purepecha Indians were never subjugated by the Spanish Conquistadores. They hid in the hills and continued their traditions. Many of the most ancient traditions of Mexico and the indigenous peoples of Meso-America may be found in this hills.

It was a beautiful day with few clouds, a welcome break from the recent cold snap.

Dayal Nita played us another song

As we drove past the Laguna of Cuitzeo.

Morelia has a picturesque old colonial historical center which dates back to the times of the old Viceroy of Spain, El Virrey Mendoza.

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We parked and walked around the center a bit, looking for a place that had organic orange juice.

We finally settled on the corner ice cream store which served a fine fresh-squeezed OJ.

I'm watching my sugar now, so I had a fresh glass of papaya juice. After the break, we continued on to the Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math preaching center in downtown Morelia.  The Math is close to the center of town and is frequented by a lot of young people. 

Chaitanya Saraswat Math Preaching Center, Morelia Michoacan, Mexico

Inside the ladies were busy putting up decorations for the festival.

Preparing Prasadam for the guests.

After a while we got started. Bhagavan Prabhu led the faithful in some old Bengali bhajans...

Narottama Das Thakura, Bhaktivinoda

Ladies made garlands of flowers...

 We sang and had a nice remembrance of Govinda Maharja...

I spoke a bit about Govinda Maharaja, prasadam was served, and we took a few photos to remember the occasion. 

The party was finished around 9:00 and it was time for the long drive back to San Miguel de Allende.

San Miguel de Allende