GETTING IN AND OUT IN GEORGETOWN

Friday, January 23rd, 2026

Georgetown, Guyana

At 5 AM, the temple and study centre practices begin with a one hour japa meditation session. Resident monks and a few folks living outside attend, lined up in lotus position, uttering the maha mantra for self purification. This is followed by kirtan chanting and darshan, viewing of the deities named Parama Karuna Nitai Gaurachandra. Musical instruments are used here. It is joyful. Subsequently, the class, Bhagavatam, has us sitting again to hear the inner teachings. This time of Canto 5 and a description of the subterranean heavenly planets. The details are less about the geography of the cosmology and more about the great (yet subtle) avatar, Vamana, and the very charitable Bali Maharaj – a god and a mortal, and there is fine interaction.

It is wonderful, and so, too, is the Padayatra, a four-day walking festival happening through the communities near Georgetown. The event entails a musical procession of mantras and the passing out of fudge sweets and literature regarding the practices and beliefs within the bhakti yogis. During the procession we witness the merging of passions and ignorance of a fast-paced life based on oil discovery with a few real live lotus flowers popping up through the road cracks and canals. The stage presentation, like last night, was informative. I would like to see the bhajan music group get off the floor and physically move with some choreographic gestures. That would be a nice blend of entertainment and enlightenment.

MAY THE SOURCE BE WITH YOU

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