by S. Joshi, Clovis, California, Age 13
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This trip to some temple in Texas would be my first time out of California that was not to visit family. Or at least, that's what I thought. This trip was going to help me find my real family.
On October 23, 2005 at about 1:45 Colorado time, I was supposed to be boarding a flight to Austin Texas. My mom and I were from California, and our watches were 1 hour behind, so we thought we still had another hour till our flight left. I thought I heard my mom's name on the loudspeaker, but it was in Spanish and we're Indians, so i thought, "Why would someone call us in Spanish?" and ignored it. An hour later, we went to the gate and learned that our flight had left an hour ago! We then had to wait for another 2 and a half hours before we could get on another flight. I now look back and think, "Wow! That time in the car, and the planes, and the airport were all worth it!"
I was in the second grade when Diwakari Didi [a sanyasi teacher from Barsana Dham] first came to the small city of Clovis California. My mom took us up to our mandir to meet her. I didn’t know then how or why, but this was the first time I had heard a speaker and listened. I know now why. That first trip to Barsana Dham was what got me to this path. I have heard many stories of devotees having to come again and again before they become devotees, but that was my first time there, and I was hooked! It was the 10th Rath Yatra, and so Swamiji was there. I remember, even though I was so small, I remember thinking that he was so cute and that he just had this radiance around him that made me feel happy. Back then, I was afraid of the dark. I couldn’t bring my night-lights with me, but I didn’t mind. I felt safer than I ever had there, and I still do. I have heard many times that people can't change. It takes years and years to change. It’s not true. I had changed more than a person could have imagined in those short four days, and I continue to change.
I just got back about 2 weeks ago from the Barsana Dham winter family camp of 2009/2010. Maharaji's grandsons were over and OH MY GOD! They are amazing! If I even saw them from across the room, not even up close, I felt amazing all over. It was like that when I met Swamiji and Maharaj ji and His family too. When you first enter Barsana Dham, I say it's like entering a divine bubble. You get every bad thought, every worldly feeling, every emotion washed out of your body. You are only left with the love and longing for our supreme divine beloved, Radha Krishn.
Barsana Dham has become my real home. Not my second home, not my vacation home, but my one and only real home. We have turned our home into the Fresno Centre, and Swamiji came to our house for 3 days, Feb 12, 13, 14. Those were the best days at this "house". If there is every a time where we have vacation, we always ask to go there. My birthday is coming up, and that’s where I asked to go. Unfortunately we live in California and it’s the middle of the school week and we are having finals, so I can’t go. But if I had any choice as to where I could go, Barsana Dham is my number 1 for everything! JAI SHREE RADHEY!!!!
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