Damodara lila special

One of the important legends associated with Diwali is Damodara lila, a pastime in which mother Yashoda tried to tie Krishna with a rope. The rope turned out to be two fingers short. So she tied more rope, but, no matter how many ropes she tied together, the combined rope remained two fingers short.

This pastime signifies that no matter how much we try, we will always fall short in our attempts to understand God with our intelligence. Modern science is finding the same about the universe too, which, the Vedic literatures state, is a product of God’s superintelligence. Centuries of cosmological research has increased scientific information, but not scientific understanding, because of “two” unexpected trends:

1. The more scientists know, the more they realize how little they know –

Science “conquered” space – and realized how little it knew about space. To the uninformed, space missions proved human greatness. To the well informed, they showed human smallness. Space research reveals that there are more stars in the universe than all the grains of sand on all the beaches of earth, and our sun is just one of these cosmic grains. No wonder former President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Kenneth R Boulding admitted, “Cosmology… is likely to be very insecure because it studies a very large universe with a small and biased sample.”

2. The more scientists know, the more they realize what they previously “knew” was wrong –

Newton’ laws were considered bedrock truths of physics till they were found inapplicable in the microscopic and the macroscopic realms. Quantum physics was developed to explain the atomic world, and relativistic physics for the cosmic. But then both of them turned out to be violently contradictory. As both have to coexist at the origin of the universe – when both the microscopic and the macroscopic were one, science had the formidable challenge of devising with a Theory of Everything (ToE) to unify these irreconcilable pillars of science. Let’s review the history of the development of the ToE:

Initial vain roar: Physicist Leon Lederman, former president of the American Physical Society, “we hope to explain the entire universe in a single, simple formula that you can wear on your T-shirt.”

Subsequent exasperated grunt: Astrophysicist Steven Weinberg, a Nobel laureate in physics, “As we make progress understanding the expanding universe, the problem itself expands, so that the solution always seems to recede from us,”

Final concealed whimper: Theoretical physicist John Wheeler of Princeton University, “Never run after a bus or woman or cosmological theory, because there’ll always be another one in a few minutes.”

Going back to the pastime, the rope Mother Yashoda was trying to tie around Krishna was only two fingers short. But the rope of ToE that science has been trying to tie around the universe is not only short, but also broken, as Stephen Hawking confessed, “The theories (in physics) we have so far are both inconsistent and incomplete.”

Mother Yashoda did eventually succeed in tying Krishna – but only after when Krishna, by His own grace, let Himself be bound. Similarly science can understand the universe, especially our place and purpose within it – but only when it harmonizes with super intelligence by researching and applying the verifiable spiritual science delineated in BG, thus paving the way for spiritual revelation.

That’s not as unscientific as it may sound. A scientist no lesser than founder of quantum physics Nobel Laureate Max Planck stated, ” For religion, God is at the beginning; for science, God is at the end.” And science has started reaching that end by its discovery of “fine tuning” of the universe – micro-precise adjustment of the values and inter-relationships of at least 80 parameters essential for life. Obviously fine-tuning needs a fine tuner. Of course, diehard devotees of atheism have proposed chance and multiple universe theories, but these are all intrinsically unproven and unprovable. They fit better the realm of science-fiction than science.

When scientists accept the verdict of their own evidence, they will remove the obstacle in a long-overdue spiritual leap of science. Lest they hesitate or falter in this bold step, renowned physicist Micheal Faraday’s reminder can urge them on, “We ought to value the privilege of knowing God’s truth far beyond anything we can have in this world.”

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Source:http://www.dandavats.com/?p=1891

From Back to Godhead

A time filled with love, devotion, and gratitude.

After going through the intense summer and a humid monsoon, we in India perceive sarat, or autumn, as one of the most beautiful seasons of the year. According to the vedic calendar, Sarat falls during the months of Asvin and Karttika, of which Karttika carries special significance because it is favored by Lord Krishna.

Everyone loves certain foods, drinks, clothes, and music, and Lord Krishna is no exception. In fact, we have our likes because we are parts of Krishna, who has His own personal likes. Krishna loves butter, yellow clothing, peacock feathers, cows, flutes, and the land of vrindavan. Similarly, of all months, He loves Karttika the best.

A Month of Love

Devotional service can be performed at any time, in any place, yet devotees know well that devotional service performed during Karttika is especially pleasing to the Lord. Therefore they perform additional austerities and devotional practices during this month. Although the vedic scriptures describe in detail material benefits one may derive by performing devotional service during Karttika, pure devotees of Lord Krishna have no interest in these. rather, they are interested only in pleasing the Lord. every year, ISKCON devotees eagerly await the arrival of Karttika, when they daily sing the Damodarastakam prayers and offer heartfelt love and devotion as they circle ghee lamps before the Lord. Throughout the month they are so immersed in the childhood pastimes of Krishna as damodara that you can hear them constantly sing about them.

The Damodarastakam prayers, composed by Satyavrata muni, beautifully describe the damodara pastime, in which Yasoda binds mischievous Krishna to a grinding mortar. The prayers also give information about God, His devotees, and the science of devotional service. The essential lessons we learn from the pastime and the Damodarastakam prayers is that the all-pervading, allpowerful Lord is easily conquered by the love of His devotee and that the love-saturated devotees desire nothing except to constantly hear and glorify His pastimes.

O Lord damodara, although You are able to give all kinds of benedictions, I do not pray to You for the boon of impersonal liberation, nor for the highest liberation of eternal life in vaikuntha, nor for any other, similar boon. o Lord, I simply wish that this form of Yours as baby Gopala in vrindavana may ever be manifest in my heart, for what is the use to me of any other boon besides thisn Your supremely enchanting face, encircled by shining locks of dark-blue curling hair, resembles the fully blossomed lotus tinged with a reddish luster due to its being kissed again and again by mother Yasoda. may this vision of Your lotus face, with lips as red as a bimba fruit, remain forever in my heart. millions of other benedictions are of no benefit to me. Damodarastakam 4–5

This prayer reveals the mood of pure devotional service and the life of pure devotees the essence and the sweetness of the month of Karttika.

The Damodara Pastime

According to Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, Lord Krishna enacted the damodara-lila on the day of dipavali (diwali). In this pastime, which is described in the Tenth canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, Krishna angered His mother, Yasoda, by breaking a pot of butter. He then ran away when He saw a furious Yasoda chasing Him. After a great struggle, Yasoda caught baby Krishna and tried to bind Him with rope to a grinding mortar. but surprisingly, she found the rope she was using was two inches too short. Although she added more rope, every time she tried to bind Krishna she found the rope was short by exactly two inches. Finally, Krishna, appreciating His mother’s hard endeavor, agreed to be bound. devotees then began to call Him damodara, “one whose udara (belly) is bound by dama (ropes).” Srila Prabhupada writes:

Yogis, mystics, want to catch Krishna as Paramatma, and with great austerities and penances they try to approach Him, yet they cannot. Here we see, however, that Krishna is going to be caught by Yasoda and is running away in fear. This illustrates the difference between the bhakta and the yogi. Yogis cannot reach Krishna, but for pure devotees like mother Yasoda, Krishna is already caught. Krishna was even afraid of mother Yasoda’s stick. . . . Krishna is afraid of mother Yasoda, and yogis are afraid of Krishna. Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.9.9, Purport

When devotees see the master of the entire universe bound by the love of His devotee, their hearts are filled with extreme gratitude. Attracted by Krishna’s divine qualities, their hearts are uncontrollably pulled toward Him. Although devotees do not wish to subdue the Lord, He takes extra pleasure in being ordered and controlled by His devotees. each tries to be controlled by the other, because where love is present, happiness lies not in winning but in being won over. Srila Prabhupada writes in his purport to Srimad-Bhagavatam (6.16.34), “The Lord and the devotees both conquer. The Lord is conquered by the devotees, and the devotees are conquered by the Lord. because of being conquered by one another, they both derive transcendental bliss from their relationship.”

After immersing their minds in this wonderful pastime for an entire month, devotees feel much more closely connected to their Lord. You can also try this immersion. If possible, visit an ISKCON temple and take part in the Damodar- astakam prayers throughout Karttika, offering your own devotion to Lord damodara with your lamp. If you cannot visit an ISKCON temple, please arrange to sing these prayers and offer lamps at home.

Other Events in Karttika

After killing the demon ravana, Lord ramacandra entered Ayodhya on dipavali. To celebrate this event the residents of Ayodhya used lamps to illuminate the city, which in the Lord’s fourteen-year absence had come to resemble a city haunted by ghosts.
Damodarashtakam – Back To Godhead
Ayodhya is like our heart, and Sita-rama are the life-force within that heart. Ayodhya was once a wealthy city, but when Sita and rama left it, the residents felt they had lost their hearts and behaved like moving corpses. It is impossible to describe the mental agony these people suffered in separation from their beloved Lord. They performed their daily duties only as a formality and maintained their lives only in the hope that one day they would again see Lord rama. caitanya mahaprabhu expressed His own feelings of separation in His Siksastaka (7): sunyayitam jagat sarvam govinda-virahena me. “In Your absence, I feel that the entire universe is a dreary void.”

When Lord rama returned to Ayodhya, the city’s residents regained their life and their distressed hearts lit up with joy. This light became manifest in the form of lighted lamps.

Govardhana Puja also falls in the month of Karttika. When Krishna convinced nanda maharaja to stop the family’s traditional Indra Puja, an infuriated Indra sent a heavy downpour of rain over vrindavan. but because Krishna protected vrindavan, Indra could not destroy even a particle of dust of this holy land. With the little finger of His left hand, Krishna effortlessly lifted Govardhana Hill and crushed Indra’s pride, thus protecting the devotees of vrindavan.

This pastime, too, proves Krishna’s unlimited love for His devotees. In the Bhagavad-gita (18.66) Krishna assures us that if we abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender to Him, He will protect us in all situations. by lifting Govardhana Hill, Krishna showed how He will go to any extent to protect His loving devotees. by meditating on this pastime, devotees feel extremely grateful and are ready to give up everything and surrender to Krishna.

Finally, for devotees of ISKCON the month of Karttika holds another importance: ISKCON’s founder-acarya, His divine Grace A. c. bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, left this world during this month and rejoined Lord Krishna in His eternal pastimes in the spiritual world. everyone, especially devotees in ISKCON, will remain eternally indebted to Srila Prabhupada, without whose guidance we would have never understood the significance of damodara-lila, dipavali, Govardhana Puja, or Karttika, nor would we have appreciated the inconceivable love between the Lord and His devotee.

Glories of the Month of Karttika

From Gopala Bhatta Gosvami’s Sri Hari-bhakti-vilasa, Sixteenth Vilasa, Volume One

In The Skanda Purana it is said: “The pious result obtained by bathing in all holy places and giving all charities is not equal to one ten-millionth part of the result obtained by following the vow of Karttika.”

In the Padma Purana it is said: “of the twelve months, Karttika is the most dear to Lord Krishna. To anyone who even slightly worships Lord visnu during its time, the month of Karttika gives residence in Lord visnu’s transcendental abode.”

“Lord Krishna is pleased by the offering of a single lamp during the month of Karttika. Lord Krishna glorifies anyone who lights a lamp for someone else to offer.”

“O tiger of sages, a person who during the month of Karttika hears the topics of Lord Hari becomes free from the sufferings of hundreds and millions of births.”

“They who during the month of Karttika bathe, keep an allnight vigil, offer lamps, and protect a tulasi forest attain spiritual forms like Lord vishnu’s.”

Source:http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20910

Authorities and Lawyers (2:10:51)

Any question that is put forward may be answered by quoting the authority, and that satisfies the saner section. That is the system even in the law court. The best lawyer gives evidence from the past judgement of the court without taking much trouble to establish his case. This is called the parampara system and learned authorities follow it without manufacturing rubbish interpretations.

Activities (Material and Spiritual) & Milk Preparations (4:30:19)

Material activities for sense gratification are the cause of material bondage, whereas the very same activities for the satisfaction of Krsna are the cause of liberation. How the same activity can be the cause of bondage and liberation can be explained as follows. One may get indigestion due to eating too many milk preparations condensed milk, sweet rice, and so on. But even though there is indigestion or diarrhea, another milk preparation yogurt mixed with black pepper and salt will immediately cure these maladies. In other words, one milk preparation can cause indigestion and diarrhea, and anoher milk preparation can cure them.

Atheists and Criminals

When there is too much lawlessness and there are too many criminals, the state becomes overburdened and disturbed, and the state administrator are puzzled about what to do. Similarly, when the world is overrun by demons and atheists, they create a burden, and the demigods, the pious administrators of the universe, become perplexed. When the people of a state abide by the laws, administration is easy, but if people are criminals they overburden the state administrators. A similar situation sometimes upsets the balance of the cosmic affairs of this material world. Both he demons and the demigods always exist, but when the demoniac power increases, the world is overburdened. It is the system that the demigods approach Lord Brahma for assistance.

Body and Fortress (3:14:20)

Of the four orders of human society, the householder is on the safe side. The bodily senses are considered plunderers of the fort of the body. The wife is supposed to be the commander of the fort, and therefore whenever there is an attack on the body by the senses, it is the wife who protects the body from being smashed. The sex demand is inevitable for everyone, but one who has a fixed wife is saved from the onslaught of the sense enemies.

Bodies and Firewood (3:28:43)

As fire is exhibited in different forms of wood, so, under diferent conditions of the modes of material nature, the pure spirit soul manifests itself in diferent bodies.

Body’s Occupant and Apartment’s Tenant (TQK, P.158)

Although one may claim that the body is his, he does not even know how it is working. A tenant in an apartment may pay rent and somehow or other occupy the apartment and enjoy its utilities, although he may not actually know how the heat and tap water are working. Similarly, although we do not know the details of how the body works, we are using this body, which actually belongs not to us but to Krsna.

Body in Krsna Consciousness and Iron in Fire (POP p.4)

The spiritual body is developed through the practice of Krsna consciousness. This material body is spiritualized by this bhakti yoga process. If you place an iron within fire, the iron becomes so hot that it also becomes fiery. When the iron is red hot, it aquires all the qualities of fire. If you touch something with that iron, that iron will act as fire. Similarly, although this body is material, it can become spiritualized through Krsna consciousness and act as spirit.

Creation and Goat’s Neck Bags (1:3:2)

We should not expect milk from the fleshy bags on the neck of a goat, although they look like breastly nipples. Similarly, we should not expect any creative power from the material ingredients; we must believe in the power of the purusha who impregnates prakrti, or nature.

Creation and Dreams (2:1:39)

Being an emanation from the glancing potency of Narayana, the whole material creation is nondiferent from Him. But because it is the effect of His external energy (bahiranga maya) and is aloof from the internal potency (atma maya), the whole material creation is different from Him at the same time. The example given in this verse very nicely is that of the dreaming man. The dreaming man creates many things in his dream, and thus he himself becomes the entangled seer of the dream and is also affected by the consequences. This material creation is also exactly a dreamlike creation of the Lord, but He, being the transcendental Supersoul, is neither entangled nor affected by the reactions of such a dreamlike creation. He is always in His transcendental position, but essentially He is everything, and nothing is apart from Him.

Creation and Seasons (4:31:15)

During the rainy season, water is generated from the sun, and in due course of time, during the summer season, the very same water is again absorbed by he sun. Similarly, all living entities, moving and inert, are generated from the earth, and again, after some time, they all return to the earth as dust. Similarly, everything emanates from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and in due course of time everything enters into Him again.

Creation and Marriage (TLK p.202)

One may ask why Narayana has created us, why it is we are part and parcel of Narayana. Eko Bahu shyam. Why has Narayana become many? He has created us for enjoyment. Anandamayo ‘bhyasat. He has created us in the same way a gentleman accepts a wife. If one takes on a wifw, he will beget children. A man takes on the responsibility of maintaining a wife and children because he thinks that through them he will enjoy life. In the material world we see that during the evening a man tries to enjoy life with his wife, children and friends. Therefore he takes on so many responsibilities. This is supposed to be ananda, bliss, but because it takes place in the material world, the ananda is converted into something distasteful. However, we can enjoy this ananda when we are with our Supreme Father, Krsna.

Cosmic Dissolution and Sleep (3:5:24)

The cosmic manifestation gives the conditioned souls a chance to go back home, back to Godhead, and that is its main purpose. The Lord is so kind that in the absence of such a manifestation He feels something wanting, and thus the creation takes place. Although the creation of the internal potency was manifested, the other potency appeared to be sleeping, and the Lord wanted to awaken her to activity, just as a husband wants to awaken his wife from the sleeping state for enjoyment.

Conditioned Soul and Diseased Man (3:28:44)

After Brahman realization, one can engage in the activities of Brahman. As long as one is not self realized, he engages in activities based on false identification with the body. When one is situated in his real self, then the activities of Brahman realization begin. The Mayavadi philosophers say that after Brahman realization, all the activities stop, but that is not actually so. If the soul is so active in its abnormal condition, existing under the covering of matter, how one can deny its activity when free? An example may be cited here. If a man in a diseased condition is very active, how can one imagine that when he is free from the disease he will be inactive? Naturally the conclusion is that when one is free from all desease his activities are pure. It may be said that the activities of Brahman realization are different from those of ocnditional life, but that does not stop activity.

Coverings of Lust and Smoke, Fire and Embryo (BG 3:38)

As fire is covered by smoke, as a mirror is covered by dust, or as the embryo is covered by the womb, the living entity is similarly covered by different degrees of lust.

PURPORT:Ther are three degrees of covering of the living entity by which his pure consciousness is obscured. This covering is but lust under different manifestations like smoke in the fire, dust on the mirrror, and the womb about the embryo. When lust is compared to smoke, it is understood that the fire of the living spark can be a little perceived. In others words, when the living entity exhibits his Krsna consciousness slightly, he may be likened to the fire covered by smoke. Although fire is necessary where there is smoke, there is no covert manifestation of fire in the aearly stage. This stage is like the beginning of Krsna consciousness. The dust on the mirror refers to a cleansing process of the mirrror of the mind by so many spirirtual methods. The best process is to chant the holy names of the Lord. The embryo covered by the womb is an analogy illustrating a helpless position, for the child in the womb is so helpless that he cannot even move. This stage of living condition can be comapred to that of the trees. The covered mirror is compared to the birds and beasts, and the smoke covered fire is compared to the human being.

Devotees of the Lord, Karmis, King’s Son and Orphans (1:5:19)

A karmi suffers the result of his own fruitive reactions, whereas a devotee is reformed by chastisement directed by the Lord Himself. The suffering of an orphan and the suffering of a beloved child of a king are not one and the same. An orphan is really poor because he has no one to take care of him, but a beloved son of a rich man, although he appears to be on the same level as the orphan, is always under the vigilance of his capable father.

Devotee and Magnate’s Son ((2:6:6)

The parts and parcels of the Lord are endowed with specific powers for rendering service unto the Lord, just as a big business magnate’s son is empowered with specific powers of administration. The obedient son of the father never goes against the will of the father and therefore passes life very peacefully in concurrence with the head of the family, the father. Similarly, the Lord being the father, all living beings should fully and satisfactorily discharge the duty and will of the father, as faithful sons. This very mentality will at once bring prosperity to human society.

Devotee of the Lord and Father’s Child (4:20:31)

It is the duty of the son to depend upon his father without asking anything from him. The good son has faith that the father knows best how to benefit him. Similarly, a pure devotee does not ask anything for spiritual benefit. The pure devotee is fully surrendered unto the lotus feet of the Lord, and the Lord takes charge of him, as stated in Bhagavad Gita (18.66): aham tvam sarva papebhyo moksayisyami. The father knows the necessities of the son and supplies them, and the Supreme Lord knows the necessities of the living entities and supplies the sumptuously. Therefore the Isopanisad states that everything in this material world is complete (purnam idam). The difficulty is that due to forgetfulness the living entities create unnecessary demands and entangle themselves in material activities, life after life.

Devotee and the Married Man (3:5:47)

The devotees derive more transcendental pleasure while engaged continously in the service of the Lord than when they have no such engagement. In the family combination of a man and a woman there is much labor and responsability for both of them, yet when they are single they feel more trouble for want of their united activities.

Devotee and the Calf (4:9:17)

The Lord is so merciful that not only does He fulfill the desires of a devotee who is driven by ignorance and desires for material benefit, but He also gives such a devotee all protection, just as a cow gives milk to a newly born calf.

Devotee Serving and Coconut Drying (4:12:18)

When a devotee completely forgets his bodily existence, he should be understood to be liberated. He is no longer encaged in the body. The example is given that when a coconut becomes completely dry, the coconut pulp within the coconut shell separates from the bondage of the shell and the outer covering is no longer attached to the shell or to the covering. Similarly, when one is fully absorbed in devotional service, he is completely disconnected from the two material coverings, the subtle and the gross bodies.

Devotee and Millionaire (9:5:27)

When one is very eager for more and more money, he is not satisfied even when he is a millionaire or a multimillonaire, but wants to earn more and more money by any means, the same mentality is present in a devotee. The devotee is never satisfied, thinking, “This is the limit of my devotional service.” The more he engages in the service of the Lord, the more service he wants to give.

Devotee and Rich Man’s Son (9:4:64)

Although the Supreme Lord is full in six opulences, He does not feel transcedental bliss without His devotees. An example that may be cited in this regard is that if a very rich man does not have sons in a family he does not feel happiness. Indeed, sometimes a rich man adopts a son to complete his happiness. The science of transcendental bliss is known to the pure devotee. Therefore the pure devotee is always engaged in increasing the transcedental happiness of the Lord.

Devotee and Cat’s Kitten (9:13:9)

For a devotee there is no pain, pleasure or material perfection. One may argue that at the time of death a devotee also suffers because of giving up his material body. But in this connection the example may be given that a cat carries a mouse in its mouth and also carries a kitten in its mouth. Both the mouse and the kitten are carried in the same mouth, but the perception of the mouse is different from that of the kitten. When a devotee gives up his body tyaktva deham, he is ready to go back home, back to Godhead. Thus his perception is certainly different from that of a person being taken away by Yamaraja for punishment.

Devotee and King’s Coterie (TQK p. 151)

A king gives protection to every one of his citizens, for that is his duty, but he especially protects his own circle of men. This is not unnatural. If one directly engages in the service of the President, when one is in some difficulty he is especially protected. Although the president gives protection to all the citizens, those who personally associate with him, giving his service, receive special consideration. That is not actually partiality. that is natural. When a gentleman loves all children but has a special love for his own children, no one will say, “Oh, why are you loving your own children more than others?” No, that is natural. Similarly, Krsna says in Bhagavad gita, samo ‘ham

sarva bhutesu: “I am equal to everyone.” Krsna, being god, loves everyone because everyone is part of Him. Nonetheless, He takes special care of His devotees.

Devotee and Housewife (TLK p.220)

One may engage in many activities, but in all cases, one’s mind must be fully absorbed in Krsna. Although a haousewife is always busy working around the house, she always takes care that her hair is nicely combed. Regardless of her engagements, she never forgets to arrange her hair in an attractive way. Similarly, a devotee engages in many activities, but he never forgets Krsna’s transcedental form. This is the meaning of perfection.

Devotee and Schoolboy (TLK p.117)

Because we are not expert in approaching the Supreme Lord, we have to follow the principles of bhakti yoga enunciated by the acaryas. When a boy goes to school, he has to follow the rules and regulations, but after a while he becomes accustomed to them and does not have to be taught. In other words, he learns automatically to come to school at a certain time, take his seat and study nicely. Similarly, in this Krsna consciousness movement, we have certain rules and regulations. We must rise early in the morning for mangala arati, chant sixteen rounds of Hare Krsna daily, and execute all the functions of bhakti yoga. In this way we become practiced in the science. When we attain this stage, we immediately become self realized.

Death and Sleep (2:1:15)

After death one forgets everything about the present bodily relations; we have a little experience of this at night when we go to sleep. While sleeping, we forget everything about this body and bodily relations, although this forgetfulness is a temporary situation for only a few hours. Death is nothing but sleeping for a few months in order to develop another term of bodily encagement, which we are awarded by the law of nature according to our aspiration.

Demigod Worship and Travel Ticket (2:3:9)

One should not desire any sort of material enjoyment, being sensible enough to worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The leaders of nonsensical persons are still more nonsensical because they preach openly and foolishly that one can worship any form of demigod and get the same result. This sort of preaching is not only against the teachings of the Bhagavad gita, or those of Srimad Bhagavatam, but is also foolish, just as it is foolish to claim that with the purchase of any travel ticket one may reach the same destination. No one can reach Bombay from Delhi by purchasing a ticket for Baroda.

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Kurma dasa: Our Australian Godbrother and disciple of Srila Prabhupada Sriman Yugatita Dasa passed away today Sunday 23 October at 3:40pm in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.
Condolences for his family, especially to Yuga Avatar (Jingara Hart) and Suniti.
To pass away in the Holy Month of Kartik is a very great blessing.
Yugatita Prabhu ki Jaya! We deeply appreciate your many years of feisty, larger-than-life, prabhu-of-all-trades, sometimes grumpy, but always endearing, enthusiastic service to Srila Prabhupada.
We love you and thank you. Safe journey old friend.
Hare Krishna!

Source:http://www.dandavats.com/?p=32619

Chapati means hot!
Sravanananda das: While in Madras we had a nice facility for Srila Prabhupada to stay at in a life member’s home at night. But during the day he would come to the temple.

One day I was asked if I would cook for him. I said that I had never cooked for Prabhupada before, so Harikesh said, “I’ll cook.” We made a little sitting area for Srila Prabhupada and when I brought him his plate, he touched the chapati and said, “Chapati means hot.”

I ran back to Harikesh and told him what Prabhupada said. He said, “Okay, I’ll cook the chapati and you run it into his room.” The floors were made of marble so I was literally sliding to give it to Srila Prabhupada.

Prabhupada again tapped the chapati, and again he said, “Chapati means hot.”

Again I ran back to Harikesh and said, “Prabhupada is not eating the chapatis! He said, ‘Chapati means hot!’” So he puffed up a chapati the next time like a puri. I ran and slid to Prabhupada, putting it on his plate.

He poked the chapati that was puffed up and this time steam came out. Prabhupada said, “Ahhh, that is chapati.” I’ve always remembered that cooking instruction.

Source:http://www.dandavats.com/?p=32625

Bahulastami or appearance day of Radha-kunda comes in the month of Kartik. In this month of Kartik the presiding deity of the month is Srimati Radhika and in the same month is also the appearance day of the lake which is the embodiment of the Love of Radharani. In Front of Radha Madhava Asta Sakhi altar a Radha kunda and Shyam Kunda was made for the pleasure of the divine couple. Following is the description of Radha Kunda in Navadvipa Dham by Sri Nityananda Prabhu, Bhakti vinoda thakura and Sri Chaitanya Mahabrabhu.

In the island of Rtudvipa, in the village known as Ratupura, Lord Nityananda along with Dvija Vaninatha and many devotees arrived. Lord Nityananda became entranced and called out, “Bring My sringa (horn) immediately! All the calves have gone far away from here. Kanai is still sleeping in the house. He is so childish that He has not come here yet. Where are Subala and Sridama? I, Balarama, am alone here. I cannot go alone to fetch the cows.” The most powerful Lord Nityananda shouted, “Kanai! Kanai!” and started leaping in the air. By seeing Lord Nityananda in this mood, the devotees immediately approached Him and said, “O, Lord Nityananda! Your brother is Gauracandra. Now He is not here. Gaurahari has taken sannyasa and gone to Nilacala, leaving us beggars behind.” When Lord Nityananda heard that Gaurahari was not there, He felt great distress and started crying and rolling on the ground, feeling separation from His Gaura. Lord Nityananda addressed Gauranga as Kanai, “O, My brother Kanai! For what reason have You taken sannyasa and left us behind here to go to Nilacala? I will not maintain this life anymore. I will jump into the water of the River Yamuna!” Having spoken these words, Lord Nityananda fainted. The devotees started harinama- sankirtana realizing that Lord Nityananda had developed mahabhava. Four dandas (one danda equals twenty four minutes) of the day had passed, but Lord Nityananda had not come back to His external senses. Then the devotees started to chant gaura-gita (songs about Gaura). When Lord Nityananda heard the name of Gauranga He immediately got up and said, “This place is Radhakunda. Here Lord Gaurahari along with His devotees would perform Nama Sankirtana every afternoon. Just see the beauty of Syama-kunda, attracting the minds of the whole universe. Just see the kunjas of the different sakhis. Here Gauracandra would come with his sankirtana party and please everyone by distributing love of Godhead.

O My brothers, there is no place equal to this in the three worlds. This is the best spot for devotees to perform bhajana. Whoever resides here will get love of Godhead and his heart will be pacified.” That day all the devotees along with Lord Nityananda stayed there chanting the holy name of Gauranga, immersed in love. The next day they proceeded to Vidyanagara.

Radha Kunda in Ratupura
In the Navadvipa Bhava Taranga Srila Bhakti Vinoda Thakura writes the mood and activities of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as he came to Rtudvipa.

Ritudvipam tato gatva
drishtva sobham vanasya ca
radha-kundadikam smritva
ruroda saci-nandanah

“Arriving at Ritudvipa and seeing the beauty of the forest, Saci-nandana started crying while remembering Radha-kunda and other sacred places.” right Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura (Navadvipa-dhama-mahatmya, Pramana-khanda 4.44)

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s meditation – When will I wander about the island of Ritu-dvipa, seeing the beauty of the forest and remembering these pastimes of the Lord? Suddenly I will catch a glimpse of the pastimes being performed at Radha Kunda and become completely stunned by such a wonderful vision. Here on the bank of the Manasa Ganga river, Balarama and Krsna along with Their cowherd boyfriends named Dama, Bala, and Mahabala head countless calves to secluded forests. While sporting numerous pastimes and playing tricks, all the boys sing the glories of Krsna.

The cowherd boys then sit down and engage in various types of funny conversations. Meanwhile, the calves keep grazing and grazing until they wander off to distant woods. Losing sight of them, all the boys become alarmed, but at the sound of Krsna’s flute the calves immediately come running back. While I am watching and watching this pastime with full attention, suddenly the scene vanishes and I will fall to the ground unconscious…

Radha Kunda in Chaitanya Math
Chaitanya Math is the house of Chandrashekhar Acharya, the maternal uncle of Mahaprabhu and also the headquarters of Gaudiya Maths established by Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur. In this temple Sri Radha Kunda, Shyama Kunda and Giri Govardhan, Keli Kadamba and Tamal Vriksha are present. Sri Navadvip Dhama is non-different from Vrindavana and called as Gupta Vrindavana or hidden Vrindavana. These Kundas and Govardhana were made by Bhakti Siddhanta Sarawsati Thakur in memory of these holy places in Vrindavan. They are also known as Smriti Radha Kunda and Smriti Shyama Kunda.

Source:http://www.dandavats.com/?p=32629

Shri Radhakund on Bahulashtami Night

Source:http://www.dandavats.com/?p=32631

My first striking encounter with Srinathji Prabhu highlighted his extraordinary attention to specifics. About a decade ago, when I was a fledgling author, I would feel encouraged whenever anyone appreciated my writings. Once after a Pune yatra, while everyone was taking prasadam and preparing to depart, I happened to meet Srinathji Prabhu. And he spontaneously started appreciating my writings; he mentioned several articles by their titles and went into specific details of an article that had described how I came to Krishna consciousness. I was doubly astounded firstly because I was a little-known brahmachari and secondly because that story had appeared in BTG at least two years ago. And yet here he was, immediately remembering its specifics in just a chance encounter with me. 

Over the years and my several encounters with Srinathji Prabhu, one image of him that has crystalized within me is that of an intellectual patron of intellectuals. He supported several of our movement’s authors, enabling them to focus on research and writing without having to worry about pecuniary considerations. 

But he was not just a patron of intellectuals – he was an intellectual himself; he read widely and took intellectual responsibility for the tradition he had chosen to practice. He noticed that the version of the Hare Krishna mahamantra we chanted was different from its version chanted in the broader Hindu culture, which began with Hare Rama, not Hare Krishna. So, he embarked on an extensive research into manuscripts to support our tradition’s rendition of the mahamantra. After much searching, he finally found in a remote, little-known library the manuscript of the Kali-Santarana Upanishad that contained the mahamantra starting with Hare Krishna – and he published a book with that manuscript. His meticulous attention to detail during this manuscript research paralleled, if not superseded, that of a careful scholar.

He was a patron for not just intellectuals but also for many of our movement’s most important projects. And yet he wasn’t patronizing towards anyone – he maintained a humility that was inspiring and disarming.

His significance extends far beyond his lifetime. Over the last decade, I have been studying and contemplating ISKCON history. And I feel that Srinathji Prabhu represented the rich flowering of the bhakti tradition in modern India and particularly in ISKCON India. 

He embodied the dream success chart for most Indians. He achieved extraordinary academic success, earning degrees from both England – which was the cherished educational destination for pre-Independence Indians – and from the USA, which is the cherished educational destination for post-Independence Indians. And he went on to achieve remarkable success not just as a white collar executive but also as a business magnate, pioneering several technological innovations in India in his companies. 

Through all this dazzling success, he maintained his piety and bhakti, which he had acquired from his parents, both of whom were Vaishnavas – his mother from the Vallabha sampradaya and father from the Ramanuja sampradaya. 

Even after having this combination of material prosperity and religious piety, it’s telling that he found spiritual fulfillment in the teachings of bhakti as expounded by Srila Prabhupada. 

When Srila Prabhupada was present in his manifest form with us, a remarkable number of wealthy and influential Indians purity and potency. And several of them became important supporters of our movement. But somehow after Srila Prabhupada’s departure, many of them couldn’t take the step forward from being patrons to becoming practitioners. 

Srinathji Prabhu was prominent among the very few who took that step forward – and he could do so primarily because he was able to see Srila Prabhupada’s enduring presence in his dedicated disciples. He treasured the personal association of Srila Prabhupada that he had got. But he also saw that Srila Prabhupada lived on through his followers; and he committed himself to serving His Divine Grace through them and with them. 

For most of us, second-generation devotees in ISKCON, who have never had the personal association of Srila Prabhupada, our ability to appreciate him depends largely on our ability to see him in his dedicated followers. In this, Srinathji Prabhu set an example for all of us. 

Through him, the bhakti culture flourished within its Indian motherland. And through remembering him, I pray that bhakti may flourish in my heart too. 

While this letter was being read, I snapped two pictures of Prabhupada. He was smiling the biggest smile I had ever seen!  He was so overjoyed to hear her reply!  To him, this was the beginning of the conquest of the demonic atheism that had invaded the land of the rishis, Rishiya.

The Glories Of Damodara Masa
Whatever one does for Krishna – at any time, at any place, under any circumstance – is to one’s eternal benefit
Such is the benefit of devotional service in general. However, during certain times of year–such as appearance anniversaries of Lord Krishna and His devotees–the benefits of one’s service are compounded.

During the month of Damodar, or Kārttika (October/November), rewards for service to Krishna are greater than at any other time of year. For instance, Krishna always likes tulasi leaves, so it’s always a good time to offer tulasi leaves to Krishna. However, in the Hari-bhakti-vilas of Sanatan Goswami, we find these statements:

“The result one obtains by giving ten thousand cows in charity can be obtained by offering only one tulasi leaf to the Supreme Lord during the month of Kārttika.” (7.335) and…

“Those who worship Lord Hari with an offering of one hundred thousand tulasi leaves during the month of Kārttika certainly advance on the path of pure devotional service, which includes liberation, with each leaf offered. (7.336)”

“Kārttika could be thought of as the ultimate “buy one, get a-whole-lot-more free” sale, or the equivalent of a “super, multi-triple word score” in the game of Scrabble.”
It is also recommended to offer malati (very fragrant white jasmine-like flowers) to Krishna, and here’s what Hari-bhakti-vilasa says about malati offerings during Kārttika:

“It is better to offer malati flowers to Lord Kesava in the month of Kārttika than to donate gold, cows, or land to worthy recipients.“
Malati flowers are pleasing to Lord Kesava (Krishna) in whatever month they are offered. In the month of Kārttika, the offering of malati flowers awards one the merit of performing a horse sacrifice.

It would take some research to find exactly what the merit of performing a horse sacrifice is.

It is easy to understand the importance of the following statement, though, considering that Yamaraja is the universal superintendent in charge of meting out punishment to those who transgress karmic law:

“For a devotee who worships Lord Vishnu with offerings of malati flowers in the month of Kārttika, Yamaraja orders the removal of all his sinful reactions from the account book.” (7.90-92)
Not bad. And the list goes on. Whatever you offer–tulasi, malati, ghee lamps, time, energy, attention–takes on greater significance this month.

Kārttika could be thought of as the ultimate “buy one, get a-whole-lot-more free” sale, or the equivalent of a “super, multi-triple word score” in the game of Scrabble. For a limited time only, whoever is lucky (or greedy, or intelligent) enough to do some service for Krishna during this special month gets a uniquely huge return on their investment. The ultimate return: one becomes more Krishna conscious.

It was during Kārttika that Krishna allowed Himself to be bound with ropes by His mother, Yasoda. Out of loving anger at her transcendentally naughty child, she tied him (dama) around the abdomen (udara) with ropes. Thus the month of Kārttika is also known as the month of Damodara, “He Who was bound around the abdomen”.

Srila Prabhupada discusses this at some length in Nectar of Devotion (quoting Padma Purana):

“During this month, in Vrndavana it is the regulative principle to pray daily to Lord Krishna in His Damodara form. The Damodara form refers to Krishna in His childhood when He was tied up with rope by His mother, Yasoda. Dama means ‘ropes,’ and udara means ‘the abdomen.’ So mother Yasoda, being very disturbed by naughty Krsna, bound Him round the abdomen with a rope, and thus Krishna is named Damodara.” (Chapter 5, page 42)

He elaborates on this in the section “Performing Devotional Service in Kārttika:” “… in the month of Kārttika (October-November); especially in Vrndavana, there is a specific program for temple worship of the Lord in His Dāmodara form. “Dāmodara” refers to Krishna’s being bound with rope by His mother, Yaśodā. It is said that just as Lord Dāmodara is very dear to His devotees, so the month known as Dāmodara or Kārttika is also very dear to them.

The execution of devotional service during Ūrja-vrata in the month of Kārttika is especially recommended to be performed at Mathurā. This system is still followed by many devotees. They go to Mathurā or Vrndavana and stay there during the month of Kārttika specifically to perform devotional services during this period.”

Prabhupada makes a point to say it is “especially recommended” to perform devotional service during Kārttika in Mathura, or Vrindavana. This is not to say that Kārttika’s benefits are exclusively available there, but devotees who are able to go make the trip if at all possible.

“Urja-vrata” refers to the acceptance of special vows during Kārttika. Devotees often take vows to increase their hearing, chanting, worship, or to observe restrictions in their eating. Making and keeping such vows during the month of Damodara guarantees compounded benefits.
Prabhupada ends Nectar of Devotion’s section on Kārttika with an interesting commentary from Padma Purana:

“…the Lord does not award devotional service to ordinary persons who are not serious about it. But even such unserious persons who execute devotional service according to the regulative principles during the month of Kārttika, and within the jurisdiction of Mathurā in India, are very easily awarded the Lord’s personal service.” (N.O.D., Chapter 12)
If even an “unserious” person can attain Krishna’s personal service, simply by “executing devotional service according to the regulative principles during the month of Kārttika”–wouldn’t it then also be a seriously good time to get serious?

Damodara Masa ki Jai!

Source:http://www.dandavats.com/?p=32478

It is with great shock and sorrow that we have learnt of Sri Nathji’s passing away. His Grace Sri Nathji was a very dear and dedicated servant of Srila Prabhupada. He personally served Srila Prabhupada and his devotees in glorious ways since their first meeting in 1971. He was a Vaisnava who exemplified the perfect balance, leading a fully dedicated Vaisnava life along with his career as a very successful leading industrialist in India.

Due to his exemplary example, Back to Godhead magazine published an article on him in the May 1981 issue. With his strong business mind and very gentle Vaisnava heart, he never missed an opportunity to help any individual soul or project that needed his expert guidance and financial support. He strongly believed in helping anyone who sincerely expressed a desire to serve Krishna and fulfill Srila Prabhupada’s mission.

In that mood he stepped forward to help and ensure financial stability when Back to Godhead in Mumbai began printing in 1995.

Sri Nathji and his family have always been imbued with a humble but very high standard of respect and service toward the Vaisnava community. Sri Nathji’s dedication and service mood will always remain very inspirational to our Global BTG team and especially the BTG team in India.

We offer our respects and heartfelt condolences to his wife Maithili Priya, sons Keshava das and Chaitanya Chandra das, daughter Vrinda Priya, and daughters-in-law Namarita and Jinisha.

–Prema Manjari devi dasi, on behalf of the Global BTG Team and BTG India Team.

N. D. Desai—Industrialist with a Mission

A successful Bombay engineer seeks to inspire purity
in his daily world of business and finance

by Yogesvara dasa

Every evening at 6:00 Narendra Desai leaves his office in downtown Bombay. His chauffeur drives him home through streets crowded with cars, trucks, ox-carts, rickshas, eight million people, and an occasional elephant. They pull up at a seven-story building overlooking parks, swimming pools, and the Arabian Sea. Upstairs, Dr. Desai bathes, changes into white silk robes, applies two lines of sacred clay to his forehead, and enters the marble temple in his apartment. He places three drops of water in his right hand, then three drops in the left, lights three sticks of incense, and begins reciting Sanskrit verses of prayer.

Soon his wife and three children join him. Tiny burning wicks of clarified butter throw soft light on the devotional paintings and tapestries. Everyone’s attention is focused on the smiling Deities of Lord Krsna and His consort Radha. After the last prayer has been recited and the last flower offered, parents and children bow to the floor in submission to the Deities and then prepare for a dinner of vegetarian dishes first offered to the Lord.

The Desai family repeats the procedure each morning and evening, seven days a week, 365 a year. Brought up by pious, well-to-do parents, Dr. Desai has known the significance of the arati ceremony since childhood. In fact, so have most Hindus. The same elaborate offering to the Deity takes place in millions of homes across the subcontinent and around the world. Krsna, the ceremony proclaims, is the Supreme Lord and enjoyer of all works and sacrifices. He is the real master of the home, and His pleasure is the true goal of one’s daily activities.

For Dr. Desai, however, the ceremony does not end with the last ablution. As an initiated devotee of ISKCON, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, he has dedicated his words, wealth, intelligence, and life to spreading the teachings of Lord Krsna. His spiritual name, Nathji dasa, means “servant of Lord Krsna, who is the master of all creation.”

An ordinary day for Nathji begins at 4:00 A.M. After morning duties he takes a brisk walk around Seaface Park while chanting Hare Krsna on prayer beads and then joins his family in their temple room by 6:30 for ceremonies and a reading from Bhagavad-gita. At breakfast, father and children trade stories from the epic histories Ramayana and Mahabharata. At 8:00 Nathji brings his children to school and continues on to his office, where duties may include reviewing company accounts, evaluating new equipment, calling the minister of finance in Delhi about a new export factory, or visiting the refinery in Trombay, a Bombay suburb. Nathji returns home by 7:00 for evening temple ceremonies, an offering of foods to the Deity, and then dinner with his family. Before retiring at 10:00 he may read from scriptures or prepare notes for his Sunday lecture at ISKCON’s Bombay temple and cultural center.

Nathji is the chairman of the board and managing director of several private companies, whose total combined sales exceed $40 million annually. Among his factories are India’s largest producer of light bulbs, fluorescent tubes, and other lighting supplies and the country’s second largest supplier of active electronic components. Despite the importance of his various enterprises, Nathji’s real attention remains focused on his projects for spreading Krsna consciousness. In addition to providing financial backing for temples, cow protection centers (go-salas) like the one at the ISKCON asrama in Hyderabad, and the printing of Vaisnava literature, he has designed a traveling temple, built on a large Tata company truck chassis that will broadcast Bhagavad-gita to villages all over India. He sponsors gatherings as well—sometimes in tents holding fifteen thousand people, sometimes in the privacy of his own apartment—to teach bhakti (devotional service to Lord Krsna) and encourage membership in ISKCON. Nathji also serves as General Secretary to Bombay’s Bhaktivedanta Institute, a branch of ISKCON dedicated to presenting Vedic scriptural conclusions in scientific terms.

At age twenty-one Nathji graduated with a masters’ in engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. That same year he secured a contract from Sunoco to open a nonfuel oil refinery outside Bombay. and soon thereafter he finished his Ph.D. One evening in 1971 he met devotees for the first time at his parents’ house. His father, a member of Indian Parliament and president of several Bombay factories, often received religious people at his home. He greatly appreciated Srila Prabhupada’s purity and world preaching efforts and invited him to come with disciples for chanting and a lecture. That evening Nathji’s father became one of ISKCON’s first Life Members, but Nathji remained skeptical. He had read several editions of Bhagavad-gita commented upon by impersonalistic scholars, and the nondevotional, monistic school appealed to him more than the idea of a personal God.

Still, Nathji began to visit Srila Prabhupada whenever Prabhupada came to Bombay. “I would argue that the Vedas describe every living entity as brahman, spiritual energy, and that Krsna is just one expression of that spiritual energy. Srila Prabhupada would correct me immediately. ‘You may bebrahman, but Krsna is the Supreme Brahman. He is the source of everything, including the brahmanenergy. You are a tiny particle of brahman, and He is the complete whole. Where have you picked up this nonsense impersonalistic idea? You are God? Did you create the universe? What is your authority to speak? Krsna spoke Bhagavad-gita. Can you speak such wisdom?’ In this way he would defeat me.”

Despite philosophical differences with Srila Prabhupada, Nathji was attracted by his explanations and broad vision of theological matters. Studying the books of Krsna consciousness and attending classes at the Bombay temple led Nathji to adopt the chanting of Hare Krsna as a daily meditation. Eventually he even relinquished his impersonal conceptions of truth in favor of the Vaisnava explanation that the soul retains individuality eternally in loving service to the Supreme Person.

Just when Narendra Desai was feeling ready to take initiation into Krsna consciousness, Srila Prabhupada left this material world. Dr. Desai approached Giriraja Swami, the president of ISKCON Bombay, and asked where he was to find a bona fide spiritual master now that Srila Prabhupada was gone. Giriraja Swami handed him some cassette recordings of Srila Kirtanananda Swami, one of the disciples Srila Prabhupada had entrusted with the duty of initiating new devotees. Nathji listened and found Kirtanananda Swami’s explanations nondifferent from those of Srila Prabhupada. Each point was clearly and authoritatively presented.

“That was when I knew I had found my guru. Just as the Ganges water is the same at Devaprayag, Hrsikesa, and Hardwar, so the teachings coming down in disciplic succession from Lord Krsna are the same, whether delivered by Srila Prabhupada or his faithful representative. I know that by hearing from Srila Kirtanananda Swami I receive the same wisdom passed down through the entire history of Vaisnava spiritual masters.

Relatives and acquaintances looked askance at the idea of a highborn Hindu taking initiation from an American. “I told them there was nothing American left in him, that he had completely dedicated himself to Krsna’s transcendental loving service. But many of them remained socially offended. I had been in Bombay five years, accumulating ‘friends’ like sins, and after my initiation many of them at first shunned me.”

The notion that only born Hindus can accept spiritual initiation or perform the initiatory rites is widespread in India yet erroneous. According to Vaisnava scriptures, offering initiation into spiritual life is the prerogative of anyone fully conversant with the science of Krsna consciousness, and any sincere person can be a candidate for initiation. Nonetheless, social custom has made guruship and discipleship the privileges of those born in brahmana, or high-caste, families. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who promulgated the Krsna consciousness movement in Bengal five hundred years ago. defied this artificial restriction and, on the authority of scripture, accepted disciples from middle-class, low-class, and even outcaste families. The spiritual masters in succession from Him have followed His example.

Nathji was not disturbed by the criticism (“I didn’t become a devotee to win friends,” he says), and he continued his devotional practices openly. Paintings of Lord Krsna and His many incarnations adorned the walls of his office and home. Holiday gifts to clients included posters of the Deities at New Vrindaban, his spiritual master’s rural community in West Virginia. Many photos of Srila Prabhupada and Kirtanananda Swami graced the tops of his desks, tables, and dressers. Nathji even printed a special pocket edition of Bhagavad-gita, just to have on hand for visitors and friends.

Not long after Nathji’s initiation, a young Communist union leader instigated a strike at one of Nathji’s factories. Nathji rejected the strike leader’s ambitious demands and instead handed him a copy of Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita.

“This has nothing to do with religion,” the union organizer said. “We are talking worker-management relations.”

“Then consult the real owner of the factory,” Nathji replied. “My workers know I am a devotee of Lord Krsna. They know I manage this place on His behalf. They also know I try to encourage them by setting an example of fairness and concern for their well-being. These are qualities Lord Krsna praises in theGita. But your demands are unreasonable by any standards except your own. If you want to negotiate successfully with me, I suggest you take this book home and read it.”

Nathji noted that the workers were impressed by hearing him speak so strongly about the Gita’steachings, and after a few meetings they signed an agreement. Nathji later learned that the union leader, like many of his contemporaries, had received training in Bhagavad-gita as a boy and that the negotiations had rekindled his appreciation for its teachings. After the strike the union leader even commented that work, after all, “wasn’t everything.” Eventually he quit the Party and took to regularly studying the sacred text.

“I had never heard of a strike being argued in quite that way,” Nathji says, “but one must have the strength of his convictions. Especially in business, where corruption is so widespread, Bhagavad-gitahas been for me an important guiding force for knowing how to act in the right way.”

Acting “in the right way” is a lesson Nathji imparts gently to his children, whom he feels have been “entrusted” to him. “Lord Krsna describes in the Gita that unsuccessful yogis take their birth in affluent or devotee families, a position from which they may easily complete their course of self-realization. By Krsna’s arrangement, I am able to offer my children a favorable situation for becoming Krsna conscious, and I therefore take it that they are very elevated souls.

“When I talk to them about the eternality of the soul and our loving relationship with Krsna, they take it seriously. It’s not that I impose the Gita’s teachings on them; they actually understand and follow. Of course I still play the role of father, but they know that in a higher sense Krsna is their real Father and I am more like a guardian.”

Nathji also teaches his children not to fall for what he calls “sweet talk, “—that is, the allurement of materialism—without carefully considering the consequences. “A classmate may invite them to smoke or drink or indulge in some other distraction, so we have an agreement. Before accepting any proposal they are not sure is truly beneficial, we discuss: What do the scriptures say? What will the effect be? What is the authority behind the suggestion, its motive? Naturally, the main thing is for them to see good examples in their father and mother. Children are so perceptive, they see even the slightest flaw. In that way they are forcing us to become Krsna conscious.”

Nathji’s mother, an elderly woman who has done much social service and received several requests to run for public office, was at first suspicious that such a large organization as ISKCON might have been infiltrated by the C.I.A. Her suspicions were allayed when Giriraja Swami reassured her that any agent capable of chanting Hare Krsna on beads for the two prescribed hours daily, following the rules of a devotee—no illicit sex, no meat-eating, no intoxicants (including coffee, tea, and cigarettes), and no gambling—would be a true agent of intelligence and a most welcome member of the community. Mrs. Desai has been a well-wisher of ISKCON ever since.

“Srila Prabhupada’s message to the world was not one of artificial renunciation,” Nathji says, “but of devotion. Whatever you may be—family man, businessman, professional—add Krsna to your life and be happy. Business, after all, is an essential element of society. But if you work for Krsna, your life becomes sublime.”

Source:http://www.dandavats.com/?p=32493

By the GBC Executive Committee

His Grace Sri Nathji Prabhu was a Vaisnava of rare caliber indeed, teaching by example the true meaning of selfless devotional service.

From his youth, he was in search of a genuine guru. His mother encouraged his interest by bringing him to the feet of the perfect spiritual teacher: His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

Although, as Sri Nathji Prabhu himself described, he would utilize his time with Srila Prabhupada to argue in favor of Mayavada philosophy, eventually, he was convinced by Srila Prabhupada’s infallible logic that the highest path of worship is to engage in the service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krsna.

From that day forward, Sri Nathji Prabhu dedicated mind, body, words, family, wealth, intelligence–everything in his possession–to the service of the Lord and his devotees. It is practically impossible to list the many contributions he has made to ISKCON.

Certainly one of his most wonderful contributions is the creation of Sri Sri Radha-Gopinath temple in Mumbai, which has become a beacon of bhakti for tens of thousands of souls. Sri Nathji Prabhu not only gave the land upon which the temple was started, but served as a founding member and provided spiritual, managerial, and financial support throughout the decades.

At the same time, he maintained a level of material success that is rarely achieved, from his many degrees to his management of some of India’s most successful business ventures. For Sri Nathji Prabhu, this success only meant that he and his family had more to offer in the service of the Vaisnavas. He gave financial support, advice, and encouragement to projects and devotees worldwide without the slightest desire for recognition.

In fact, Sri Nathji Prabhu could easily be seen giving Bhagavatam class in the morning, brokering a high profile business deal in the afternoon, and chopping vegetables in the temple kitchen in the evening, such was his humility!

Contemplating the glorious life of Sri Nathji Prabhu, the mind naturally reflects on the parallels to exemplary devotees described in sastra. In particular, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s statement to Ramananda Raya comes to mind. Caitanya Mahaprabhu compares him, a wealthy governor and grhastha, to Sanatana Goswami saying, “[His] renunication of material connections is just like yours. Humility, renunciation and excellent learning exist in him simultaneously.” (Cc. Antya 1.201)

Like Ramananda Raya, Sri Nathji Prabhu managed his material engagements and wealth in the service of the Lord, the real test of renunciation, and exhibited the utmost humility and excellent learning through his ideal behavior.

We pray at the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada and Sri Sri Radha Gopinath that They continue to engage Sri Nathji Prabhu in Their eternal service and empower us to always draw inspiration from his glorious example. We also pray to Their Lordships to shower Their mercy upon Sri Nathji Prabhu’s family, particularly, his esteemed wife, Maithili Priya Devi.

Source:http://www.dandavats.com/?p=32496

Balabhadra Bhattacarya Dasa: This is a really sweet lady that we met on Harinam last week. She stood in front of the Kirtan party and on her own, by looking at the On Chanting pamphlet, learned the Maha Mantra and started chanting with us. Just as she was preparing to leave she went over to our book table and purchased a few books. Please pray for her further advancement in krsna consciousness.

Source:http://www.dandavats.com/?p=32499

April 6, 2003

Gargamuni: The background was very interesting because Prabhupada for some reason, I don’t know why, he made me treasurer. I guess he saw that I had business abilities. I used to keep my little office, which consisted of cashier’s books and vouchers, and I used to keep my little office in his room where he lived and translated. So while he was working, he would want me to sit there and do my accounting work. And if I had any questions I should ask him because it was very important that as the institution grew, which in those days wasn’t very much, he wanted everything to the penny accounted for. Even when he would go on the subway or on a bus, he would ask me for twenty-five cents and reluctantly I would have him sign a voucher. But he would say, “Very good,” because that was important, and he would sign “ACB.” This is at 26 Second Avenue, 1966. Of course, I would do this work. But then I felt that Prabhupada was doing more for us than we were doing for him, especially myself, because me and Brahmananda moved right into the temple. Of course, Brahmananda had a job, but I was hanging around all day and I wanted to do stuff. And I didn’t really want to do typing like Striyadisa and some of the nuts were doing because then that would put me in the category of nuts.

Jayadvaita Swami: The nuts were doing the typing?

Gargamuni: They were doing the typing because Satsvarupa had a job, he couldn’t type. Hayagriva would do some typing, but generally it was Striyadisa and anybody else who was around the temple to do the typing.

These were people who were more lost but saw hope in Prabhupada, and Prabhupada was very kind upon them and didn’t discriminate against them at all. And there were the crazies like Striyadisa, who was a mental case. But Prabhupada was so merciful with him also, gave him lots of chapatis and always telling him to get up and dance. He was always the first one to dance, and dance in that Lord Caitanya style in a circle. We used to dance in a circle in front of Prabhupada, and he used to watch us dancing. And so those first…Prabhupada was merciful upon us all.

Then later on, Prabhupada wanted to start the Back to Godhead. That was the next thing.

I used to get this paper, where old things were for sale. It was only three or four pages long, and I remember on the back of it it said “A.B. Dick Machines.” I had looked at other places, but they were so small they were no good. But this looked like they were big machines, two of them. They wanted $150 each, that’s it. Prabhupada ended up paying two for $150. So we all went out there. It was on Long Island someplace. We looked at them. Of course, they looked like they were from the forties. They were real old with the big huge drums, but it was perfect for what we needed to print a magazine. They were big enough.

Prabhupada was already talking about printing the magazine, he wanted to re-establish it. He was saying, “I had my magazine in India, and now I want to start it here.” He wanted it every two weeks. We had it every two weeks in the beginning, fortnightly. And I think that’s how it was in India, fortnightly. I remember that word because I’d never heard of that word, fortnightly, a real British term. So he wanted it fortnightly.

So we got the machines, and Prabhupada paid half [price]. We had to clean them up because they were full of oil and so bad. I had to get new pads for the drums, and we got the stencils. And Rayarama, he did the stencil typing on Hayagriva’s big typewriter. That was the best typewriter, that big white one. I think it was white or tan. Neal used to use that also. That was the only nice typewriter. Brahmananda had given Prabhupada the typewriter he used to use while he was typing, but that was like a portable. That wasn’t sufficient for doing the stencils. So I remember Rayarama would type the stencils, and then I would…

I had a helper, Rancor, also. He used to help in the beginning, but then he went with Prabhupada to be his servant to San Francisco in January of ’67.

The machines were set up in the back of the temple. That temple was very small, and to fit them … there was like an alcove as you walked in. I had them against the wall there where you put your shoes. So even when they weren’t used, I used to put them up against the wall and people would leave their shoes right around there and throw their coats on top of them when they weren’t used. It became a place for the coats because we had no coat hangers in those days, and then I would pull them out so that we could use them.

The hardest part was to print on both machines at one time, because then you could do two pages at a time. And I had to coordinate it because those things would always go… Sometimes they’d be flipping out the pages on one or they get jammed on another because the machines were old, and your hands got all dirty and everything. So finally it was quite a trick to get them to work properly.

The first Back to Godhead was printed on legal paper cut in half so we could print two. We’d get two copies, but Prabhupada didn’t like that. He wanted a full page Back to Godhead. So the first one, of course, was that half legal page. It was a legal size, but we could fit two if we cut it in half. It was our way of saving money, but Prabhupada didn’t like it. He wanted the eight-and-a-half by eleven.

So starting with issue two, it became eight-and-a-half by eleven. And Hayagriva, he did articles. Rayarama, he did most of the editing and setup. He was the main editor. He was writing comic book strips for big name companies, and he would make money. That’s how he paid his rent. He had a way of writing. I used to go to his house and read these scripts. I said, “Wow!” He would get into it and create stories in his brain, and he’d get paid for that. So he was very unique in that way, and he was very good with words. He was also a very good speaker. I always enjoyed his lectures. Next to Prabhupada, he was my best speaker. Because he would explain it so simply and so nicely, and he had a very angelic look. He looked to me like Jesus. And there’s some photos with his eyes up and dancing, and he looked very angelic. Of all the devotees there, I respected him the most.

So all of them were to me literary giants. They knew editing. They all engaged in either writing for Back to Godhead or editing it, Hayagriva and Rayarama, and then later on Satsvarupa. Satsvarupa didn’t have much time, but then he started to pull back on his job. And then I think he became…his job was to interview people to get welfare, and his job became more simplified so he could give more time. Then he also started working at night.

So Back to Godhead was going on. One thing that I remember is that sometimes in the afternoons when nobody was around I’d be printing. I was the only one in the temple. Prabhupada would come down with his beads chanting, and he would sit on the bench and watch me printing. But if you remember, the benches were alongside the opposite wall, so my back then was towards Prabhupada. So I felt very embarrassed that I had to turn my back, and Prabhupada was watching me print the magazine. But Prabhupada, I remember I used to watch his leg, and he would keep beat to the machines and he’d be chanting. So it’s like he was chanting to the beat of the machines because I see his leg going like this. It was like he was following…he was watching and hearing those machines and how I stacked them up page by page.

In a Back to Godhead we’d have twenty to thirty pages in those days, which means if we printed 500 copies, which was the normal run, we’d print 500 copies, I’d have to spread out twenty to thirty pages of 500 copies. When it was all printed, then I would have to collate them by hand and then stack them up and then put on the cover, which was a color offset. We’d use every month or every two weeks, every month, a different color – yellow, green, blue, like that – to show that it was a different issue. Then we’d have the cover offsetted, and then Rayarama would make a special stencil to print on top of that. And then we would print something special on the mimeograph…on the stencil, what articles were inside and what the date was, the date of the magazine. So, therefore, we could keep using the… We only had four colors – yellow, green, and blue, and used them every other…so we’d have different color issues. I can remember the first one was blue, the second was yellow, and the third was green. Then we went back again to blue, yellow, and green.

The third issue, that was the best issue. We printed a thousand. It was Allen Ginsberg, and he was also speaking at the East Fillmore. So I used to go in front.

So first I would collate them, staple them, and then the very first copy I would do, I’d run up to Prabhupada and say, “Here’s the first copy.” And Prabhupada would smile and say, “Very good.” I’d say, “Well, tonight, Prabhupada, I’m going to go out…” I was excited because I wanted to go out and sell them. There was nobody else to sell them anyway, so I used to also go out then and sell them.

I would go to the East Fillmore and say, “Get your program, get your program.” People would line up for tickets, and they would take them for fifteen cents. We sold them for fifteen cents. Or I would go to the Washington Square Park. I would go wherever there was groups of people. So not only was I the first printer, I was the first Back to Godhead seller. And then the next morning Prabhupada would ask me, “So how many?” I’d say, “I sold fifty” or “twenty.” He said, “Oh, very good.” So then I started also wholesaling them for ten cents to the stores, the hippie shops, and they used to sell them for fifteen cents. They would make five cents. I’d put them next to the Berkeley Barb or the EVO. I put them next to the EVO, and people would buy them. “Back to Godhead” was becoming a local term in the East Village.

We did some really stupid things of trying to interview rock stars. That was Purusottam’s idea, in 1968 or so. We went to the Beach Boys. After that I didn’t want to go because these people weren’t interested, and Purusottam would switch things around to make them look like they were Krishna conscious when they didn’t really give a damn. So that didn’t last. That idea was no good.

But we were trying to present Back to Godhead as mainstream, taking current events of the day and putting Krishna conscious. Hayagriva would do like Krishna consciousness in American poetry and things like that, and Rayarama would try and write articles also. Prabhupada wanted us to write articles, not just him. I remember he would say, “Write your realizations.” I was not a literary person.

I was just a worker and a businessman and made money. So I left the writing up to my godbrothers who were better, the intellectuals, which we had a core of them. There was Satsvarupa, Hayagriva, and Rayarama. They were the core of intellectuals, I would say, of our movement who did the writing. Kirtanananda didn’t do writing in the beginning.

So then we started the first distribution. So printing, distribution.

Then we started to do essays, Krsna, the Reservoir of Pleasure, which was a lecture that Prabhupada did and we transcribed it. It was Prabhupada’s idea to make a book of that. And Who Is Crazy. That’s when he met my mother. He gave a lecture, and then he wanted us to… We did three booklets actually – Who Is Crazy, Krsna the Reservoir of Pleasure, and The Peace Formula, which is the most popular. We used to sell tons of those. It was short, but it was great.

And there was one called Two Essays. Maybe Who Is Crazy was one of those two essays. We combined them into one, Krsna Reservoir and Who Is Crazy.

And then, I didn’t stop there. I had an idea on Saturdays and Sundays of having a book table. Something gave me the idea to walk all the way up…I took the bus up to 45th Street to the garment district. Was that 3rd Avenue? I think 3rd Avenue or maybe 8th Avenue, I don’t know. But they wheel around these big huge things with cloth hanging, and they’re on wheels. These big carts, they were six feet long. I had an idea of stealing one and making a table on top and putting up a back because it had these poles, and putting all of our propaganda and everything on the back, I would staple gun it. Having the table, putting a cloth, and putting all of Prabhupada’s books, which was nothing – Easy Journey to Other Planets, Bhagwatam, and all the magazines and essays. We didn’t have Gita then. And then incense and stuff, and going to Washington Square Park and bringing it there. And then I would bring it back and chain it up to the sign in front of the…you know that sign that’s still there, that No Parking sign because of the hydrant? I would chain it up to that. I painted it blue. Prabhupada called it Krishna’s chariot, and he loved that book table. It lasted a month, and then somebody stole it.

I think it was the Puerto Rican kids, who became a problem as we got bigger because we were competing with them in kirtan. Oh, they would have loud kirtans. On the other side of the gas station, they had their storefront and they would be singing their songs. And then we’d have our songs, so it was like a competition. Anyway, that’s the early days of book distribution.

Like  said, we had a core of intellectuals, and that was, of course, Rayarama, who was doing the main editing because Hayagriva didn’t…he was a schoolteacher. He was an instructor, so he wasn’t always there. He was doing some editing, but he was also writing. He did a lot of essays for Back to Godhead. And then Satsvarupa was limited also because of his job. So I felt that it was Rayarama who was doing all the editing…

Prabhupada would brag at his lectures that “These boys are not simply street boys.” I didn’t understand that too much until I saw this book about Bhaktisiddhanta. And I looked at some of the old photographs, and to me education was a very important thing in Bhaktisiddhanta’s movement. Because most of the people that I saw in those photos looked like adivasis, like village people. Prabhupada…there are some pictures of Prabhupada, he really stood out. And I can understand now when Prabhupada says that “I was Calcutta man, and Guru Maharaja was very pleased with that because that meant education.” Because Prabhupada went to the top schools where all the leaders went, and you could see that in the old photos. And now when I look back, Prabhupada would sometimes brag how we have professors and M.A.s and educated people, that this was very important because generally the educated people aren’t interested in these things, that only the poor people and villagers and sentimentalists and adivasis join. And I saw that…like I saw Bhaktisiddhanta’s sankirtan party. They were all like…only three people had shaved head, and they looked like adivasis. I said, “Wow, this is like village people. No wonder Bhaktisiddhanta was upset that none of the educated people were coming forward.” So Prabhupada was groomed. You could see, he was being groomed to carry on this movement for the educated masses, and so Prabhupada was very indebted to Hayagriva. To me, he was one of the most favorite sons of Prabhupada in this movement because of Hayagriva’s stature.

So it was Karlapati and…nobody knows much about him. I wish we could find out because he has an interesting history. But it seems Prabhupada attracted some very intelligent people in the beginning. Karlapati, Ph.D. Karlapati was a Ph.D. from Harvard, and Prabhupada stayed with him for a short time. He was a meat-eater, though. I think that’s how Prabhupada got introduced to Hari dasa, and then he moved to the loft, that loft on the Bowery, through Karlapati.

There was an inner circle of intellectuals and artists, like beatniks. Later on they became hippies. They transcended themselves into hippies. But before they were beatniks, and they were all educated people. And Prabhupada got…he met these people. So even Kirtanananda, wasn’t he a Wilson Scholar? There’s only two a year, so even that. Very educated people. Prabhupada did not attract the sentimentalists. He attracted educated people.

I must have been 19. That was ’67. 18, 19. So we just got consumed in our work, in our preaching. Do Back to Godhead and maintain the temple and try to carry on. Rayarama did an excellent job of giving the classes, and they would rotate. But even Achyutananda would lecture. People had different… Brahmananda would lecture. But Rayarama would do the morning classes, which were the most important, and then we’d rotate in the evening. Even Dwarakadisa would get a chance to speak because he was a good orator.

Prabhupada’s ultimate aim was to have our own ISKCON Press. That was very important. Then later on when he saw the opportunity to go to Dai Nippon and print hundreds and thousands, which he knew we couldn’t do, he went that way. Prabhupada was very flexible according to the time, place, and circumstance. So after we got the mimeograph, then the next thing was to do offset. That became the big thing in those days, offset printing.

I had shifted to Los Angeles to start the Spiritual Sky. I had started it in New York but I didn’t have facility or space, whereas Tamal gave me space at the La Cienega temple to make as much incense as I wanted, and that helped the temple to get money.

There weren’t any problems with printing, but there was a hell of a problem with binding. We had a problem with the binding machine, nobody could operate it properly. I remember in the West Coast when Prabhupada got the Nectar of Devotion, he opened it up and it cracked right in his hand. And a lot of those chapters of the Bhagavatam also, the pages just flew right out. You could rip them like a pad. So there were problems, and it was a growing up stage of getting rid of those problems. We didn’t have expert men. But from the printing side, everything came out nice. There wasn’t a problem with printing. And even in the color, matching up the colors and stuff, they came out very well. It was just in the binding area, which was always a problem in India.

Source:http://www.dandavats.com/?p=32504

October 23, 2016

Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the First Publication of Back to Godhead Magazine in the West

On this day in 1966, Srila Prabhupada’s Diary records: “Back to Godhead published again today.” On the same day, it records that Gargamuni Dasa was initiated.

Gargamuni Prabhu’s account of the beginning of the magazine at 26 Second Avenue is presented in this week’s keynote article. His story is a unique personal glimpse into the mood and happenings of the time. Click here to read it: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=32504

For an insight into writing for Back to Godhead, we are presenting an article by Chaitanya Carana Prabhu entitled “Writing for Krishna,” which first appeared in the January/February 2014 issue of Back to Godhead. Click here to read itL http://www.dandavats.com/?p=14022

We would also like to draw attention to “The Back to Godhead Handbook,” which can be found in the Bhaktivedanta VedaBase. Written in 1985 by the staff of the magazine, it gives a clear account of Srila Prabhupada’s instructions regarding the standards required for the magazine. In the years since, the devotees of Back to Godhead magazine have endeavored to remain true to the vision of Srila Prabhupada. Here are his words to one of the editors:

February 1, 1977
I am glad to hear you are enlivened at becoming editor of Back to Godhead magazine. This magazine must be edited very carefully. Nothing irresponsible should be printed, because in the future the articles in Back to Godhead will be taken as Vedic evidence. I am asking the GBC members to also concern themselves with the content of the magazine to assure that it meets the standards I am describing.
— Letter to Sri Govinda

Oh, and please subscribe and keep your subscription up to date. For details log on to Krishna.com, scroll down and click on the Back to Godhead link. Thank you. – Ranjita Dasa

Source:http://www.dandavats.com/?p=32501

Indradyumna Swami: Talavan is one of the 12 sacred forests of Sri Vrindavan Dham in India. Even today, it retains much of the beauty it had 5,000 years ago during the appearance of Lord Sri Krsna. Our parikrama party sat and discussed Krsna and Balarama’s pastimes in that transcendental abode and relished the sweet chanting of Krsna’s holy names for many hours.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/mNiUJx

Source:http://www.dandavats.com/?p=32518

Dear Respected Devotees,

Hare Krishna, 

Please accept our humble obeisance. All glories to Shrila Prabhupada and Guru Gauranga.  

ISKCON Vrindavan has organized GoKrishi Convention and Global farm community Mega Event from 6th Nov to 8th Nov 2016 in the Temple Premises. India’s agriculture minister Shri Radha Mohan Singh will be the chief guest for the event. Our primary purpose for this event is as below 

1)      To help Goshala with cow based natural sustainable farming activities so they become self-sustainable. 

2)      To help farmers with cow based natural sustainable farming techniques so they start keeping cow and thus abandon cow situation will improve. 

3)      To arrange cow grazing land ( gochar bhumi ) in villages so cow can graze freely. 

4)      To visit villages to perform Sankirtan Yagna and to arrange spiritual programs.  

5)      To support and establish self-sustainable farm communities all around the globe. 

Your most humble unqualified aspiring servant, 

Please blessed the program with your presence.

Indraneelmani Das

+91 8006080019

Bliss Department, Krishna Balaram Temple, ISKCON  Vrindavan

Since its construction, Srila Prabhupada’s Palace has been the heart and soul of the New Vrindaban community in West Virginia. A sacred Smriti Samadhi, it is the greatest memorial to ISKCON’s Founder-Acharya in the Western World.

What’s more, it was beloved by Prabhupada himself, who wanted to retire to it to translate his books, and repeatedly asked when it would be completed.

“When my palace will be ready I shall go there and stay,” he wrote in 1974. “I like very much that place, very calm and quiet.”

So it is inspirational for many that this year has seen renewed energy and attention at Prabhupada’s Palace, as devotees work to again increase the international recognition it receives.

An important step was enlisting a qualified person to facilitate the effort. Enter new Palace Manager Vrajadhama Das from Toronto, who has been a devotee for twenty years and worked as an office manager and sales trainer before joining Prabhupada’s Palace this March.

“Serving Srila Prabhupada nicely is our priority,” he says. “If we’re not doing that, it doesn’t really matter what other improvements we’re making.”

To that end, a priority for Vrajadhama was to renovate a room in the Palace for a pujari, Srinama Das, to live in so that he can attend to Srila Prabhupada’s care full-time.

Devotees are also renovating the Palace kitchen, so that Srinama can prepare Prabhupada’s meal offerings onsite rather than transporting them up the hill from the temple.

The next priority is, of course, making sure that the devotees serving Prabhupada are happy.

“One way I try to do that is by recognizing and appreciating the devotees for the hard work that they’ve been doing here for so many years,” Vrajadhama says. “I walk the grounds of the Palace every morning, and stop and talk to everyone to see if they need anything and if they’re satisfied in their service. I also try to make sure that people are engaged in activities that suit their personal abilities, which was Srila Prabhupada’s philosophy of management.”

These efforts have resulted in increased staff enthusiasm and numbers, with four local people and twenty-one devotees engaged in various capacities, up considerably from previous years.

With the staff numerous and active, Prabhupada’s Palace is also seeing increased attendance at several unique programs that utilize its atmosphere of personal association with Srila Prabhupada.

One of these is the monthly Prabhupada Sangam, started in Spring 2013 by husband and wife Kripamaya Das and Krsna Bhavi Dasi, both Prabhupada disciples, and maintained today by Vrajadhama and his wife Nityananda Dasi.

“The evening starts off with grand disciples or second generation devotees talking about what Prabhupada means to them,” says Vrajadhama. “We then have Prabhupada disciples speak about their personal experiences with him – both local disciples as well as visiting devotees like Nanda Kumar Prabhu or Srutakirti Prabhu, who had lots of one-on-one time with him. It’s very sweet.”

The Sangams are an attempt to bring Prabhupada’s Palace to life. “I really wanted to bring the New Vrindaban community members back to the Palace,” says Vrajadhama. “To let them know, this is not just a place for tourists, but this is Prabhupada’s home – he’s here, and he wants you to come and visit.”

Each event is filmed and archived on the New Vrindaban Youtube page, and the last one was livestreamed on Facebook, an exciting new step in utilizing modern technology.

Meanwhile, as a way of reaching out to the public Kirtan Experience events are held on the First Friday of every month. Introduced in April this year, they are advertised locally in Wheeling and surrounding areas as a way to “enliven, unite and inspire through transcendental music.”

Between 30 and 50 people usually attend these programs, many of them general public who appreciate the sweet and informal vibe. Devotees from different ISKCON New Vrindaban departments take turns leading each time, starting off with slow bhajans and building until everyone is jumping up and down, spinning in circles, and having an all round great time.

Sharing that joy of Krishna consciousness with a much larger public audience was this year’s fifth annual Festival of Colors on September 17th, held on the Palace grounds. Drawing nearly three thousand local people despite rainy weather, it saw families and students chanting the Hare Krishna mantra, dancing, throwing colors and taking tours of Prabhupada’s Palace.

Feedback has been very positive, and weather providing in future years Vrajadhama feels the Festival can again hit previous heights of 4,500 and beyond.

It’s a reasonable expectation: this year, overall tourism at Prabhupada’s Palace already increased from 20,000 annually to approximately 30,000. Vrajadhama attributes this to stronger social media presence, as well as an increasing interest from TV, radio and print media.

“It’s really about getting ourselves out there,” says Vrajadhama. “Because we have so much to offer. People are becoming aware that we’re doing a lot of work here, and that we’re ready to reintroduce ourselves to the world. They’re excited about that, and they want to come and see what we’re up to.”

Besides Srila Prabhupada, the regular events and Palace tours, there’s a lot to see these days, with many physical improvements being made too.

A new Smoothie Shack opened at the Palace on Memorial Day in May, with devotees repurposing and renovating an unused gazebo. Painting it the Palace Wall’s signature salmon pink, they added four matching bistro-style tables with umbrellas, and began serving fresh fruit smoothies, freshly squeezed organic lemonade, and ice cream.

In the future, there are plans to add a grill to offer sandwiches and other hot snacks. More benches will also be added in shaded areas to make the Palace grounds more welcoming.

“It’s an added service for guests who’ve come a long way,” Vrajadhama says. “Now they can sit down and look out over our lotus pond with a refreshing Strawberry Bananarama or Mango smoothie, and just take time to absorb the serene atmosphere. This is a place of pilgrimage, so we really want people to slow down, and see Krishna everywhere in the natural beauty of New Vrindaban.”

Meanwhile, Prabhupada’s Palace itself is undergoing a major restoration project, with beautiful new rose and black granite steps, and a new drainage system to protect against water damage. The outer wall is being stabilized with rebar and concrete, and given a new durable stucco finish, a saffron topping with lotus designs, and ornate black window frames in Jaipur-style arches.

As the construction team does this work, Vrajadhama is overseeing painters who have repainted the Palace’s ornate black and gold exterior, its railings, and its chattras, or lookout towers, giving a fresh new appearance.

Next, the Palace roof, which has been leaking and causing internal damage for years, will be stripped and rebuilt, along with a new heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system.

Whatever work devotees do, Vrajadhama feels, it will be successful as long as they keep Srila Prabhupada in the center and remember that he is always present at his Palace. As he told devotees in 1974, “I am already living here and always will be.”

“And that’s evident to both devotees and guests,” says Vrajadhama. “One woman took the tour this summer after she saw the Palace in a commercial. During the tour, she was listening very intently, really absorbing all the information. Then, when we turned the corner, entered Srila Prabhupada’s study, and saw him behind his desk writing in his murti form, she began to cry. Tears were running down her face, and she was overwhelmed with emotion. The others on the tour felt it too. And at that moment I knew that Srila Prabhupada is here – and that although he might physically appear to be absent, he will always be in his Palace.”

“This,” concludes Vrajadhama, “Is what makes Prabhupada’s Palace such an important place, and why it’s so important for us to continue improving and caring for it. Not only for us, but also for our children, and their children, and for the people of America – to be able to come and experience its gifts far into the future.”

Source:http://www.dandavats.com/?p=32406