Winter Tour 2009: Panama City Beach, FL

December 26th was yet another beginning... today would be the final thrust south, and the day we would start looking at self-realisation and flyering opportunities. But first, we needed to get to our destination of Panama City Beach - that meant getting everyone up, packed and ready to go as soon as possible. There were of course delays, but overall we did quite well, leaving Atlanta in the mid-morning.

Image credit: derived from MS Office clip art

After a journey of about 300 miles, we arrived at the service apartments we had rented for two nights. They were really nice and spacious, with an excellent view of the ocean. Upon unloading the vehicles and dumping all our bags in the relevant rooms, it was an almost unanimous decision to head down to the beach for some footsoaking, never mind that it was in the 40s F and the water was freezing!

Cooled down in more ways than one, we then returned to the apartment for dinner preparation while others went shopping for necessary items such as washing detergent, folding chairs and candles. We then had a sumptuous dinner (and chai!) followed by a much-needed Havan to prepare us for the following day.


the view from our rooms
The following day started with a peaceful early morning meditation followed by breakfast. We then divided ourselves into groups and headed out to check places for possible flyering/realization events. The weather was rather dreary, rainy and cold. We stopped at a pier where several people were relaxing and watching the beach. We gave 6-7 realizations, and the vibrations became extremely strong. We felt that the desire of these seekers brought us here.

After that, we headed to an open mall area and divided ourselves in groups of 3-4 people to flyer around. Here we felt a strong sense of love protecting and guiding us. We gave several ‘on-the-spot’ ‘two-minute’ realizations. Many people were very touched and overwhelmed when they felt Mother’s love.

After covering the mall we headed to an Indian restaurant for lunch. The owners fed us hospitably and lovingly. After lunch some of us gave them a brief meditation overview and we all meditated together. A few others went to gas stations/malls/local offices etc. to give realizations. We strongly felt that Param Chaitanya guided us to places where seekers were waiting to be connected. The response from the seekers was very loving and warm. They sensed a strong connection. It touched our hearts.


It is estimated that about 25 realisations were achieved and about 1100 flyers had been distributed during our time in Panama City and Panama City Beach, FL.

In the evening we all went for another collective foot soak at the beach! Later in the night we held a discussion on how the day had gone; our feelings about what went well, what should be done differently, etc. We then performed a small Puja to thank our Dear Mother for the wonders she had shown us that day, as always.


Then we merrily sang bhajans and danced with joy into the wee hours of the morning.

The next day, we packed and reloaded the vehicles: we were off to Mobile AL!

(Many thanks to Neetika for contributing to this write-up!)