Springtime Visitors

It was the day of Akshaya tritiya, the third day of the bright fortnight, in the month of Vishaka, our already crowded home was having a splurge of transcendental visitors. First it was Gaura Nitai, Gopal, and Little Jagannath Baladev Subhadra, and on Akshaya Tritiya, Radha Vrindavan Chandra, 2 Laddu Gopals and Nitai Gaurasundara came for a visit. Its always a pleasure to have guests at home timely or untimely and this was the best blessing that one could ask for and that too on such an auspicious day. The guest altar was brought out and room was made for the distinguished guests. Observing the Lords in various ages, spanning from kaumara, through yauvana, i was awestruck by His beauty and smile. The Nectar of Devotion provides a beautiful account of exactly this sweetness possesed by Krishna. For the three days that the festival of Inspiration was happening in New Vrindavan, West Virginia, we were having a spiritual retreat of our own. It is said in the scriptures that one should invite limited number of guests so that we can serve them nicely, instead of having a large gathering where we cannot take care of any of the guests in a proper manner. So, on one hand i was plagued with thoughts of seva aparadha and on the other hand i just could not push away this opportunity for seva. Posted below are some pictures of the visitors...As i looked throught the lens of my Nikon, i was imagining how the King who later became a disciple of Sri Ramanuja and acquired the name of Dhanurdasa must've felt on being granted Divya Caksu to see the beautiful eyes of Lord Ranganatha....As a result, i ended up taking numerous  pictures of the deities. Though one might think that the pictures are the same, they are spread over  4 days and have subtle variations. Its a visit that I will always treasure!