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The Mayapur Temple of Vedic Planetarium (TOVP), under construction, recently opened an office in the ISKCON Juhu temple, at Hare Krishna Land in Mumbai. In honor of the occasion, and to further the cause, I thought to share an excerpt adapted from my article “Memories of Sridhar Swami” in my book Many Moons.
In November 2003, Srila Prabhupada’s staunch disciple Sridhar Swami phoned me from Bombay and told me that he was planning to go to Vancouver in April for four to six months. Soon thereafter, however, he sent an e-mail saying that he had been diagnosed with liver cancer and was going to Vancouver immediately to see if he could get a liver transplant, which was his “only hope.”
There the tests revealed that his cancer had spread beyond the limit allowed for transplants, and so his “only hope” was dashed, and it seemed like he was soon to leave his body.
I phoned Maharaja from Santa Barbara and eventually got him on his cell phone. “Where are you?” I asked. “I’m shopping,” he answered. He seemed so jolly—like always. But then he confirmed my worst fears: “The doctor says that I could go at any time. Phone me back later. We have to talk.”
After that, we would speak every day, usually twice a day. And we had wonderful talks. Then the question arose whether he should go to Mayapur—and when. He decided he would go to Mayapur and concluded that he should go as soon as possible.
He had three desires, he said: “I just want to survive until I reach Mayapur. Then, if possible, I want to live to see the Panca-tattva installed. And then, if possible, I want to live until Gaura-purnima. And then—whatever.” (He meant, of course, “And then—whatever Krishna wants.”) No one knew how much travel Maharaja’s weakened body could bear, but with these three desires in his heart, he flew to London and then to Kolkata, and eventually he arrived in Mayapur.
I wanted to phone Maharaja every day, but the way it worked out with the time difference and all the difficulties in just getting through to Mayapur, we only managed to speak every third day or so. The last time, two days before he left, he was having a good day. The previous day had been a bad one, but the night before, they had given him some additional medication. So when I spoke with him that last time, he was having a good day, and we had one of the best talks I have ever had with anyone in my entire life. We spoke mainly about the Mayapur project and Srila Prabhupada’s mission. It’s really something that I’ll cherish for my whole life—the experience of it and the lessons it contained.
That was Thursday, March 11. The next day, Friday, we installed beautiful brass Deities of Gaura-Nitai in our Carpinteria ashram. They had come from Vrindavan, originally commissioned by Mother Kirtida for Tamal Krishna Goswami. I felt that Their coming was also part of Sridhar Swami’s mercy, because he so fervently desired that the glories of the Panca-tattva be spread and that we build the great temple for Them in Mayapur. So, two representatives of the Panca-tattva had come, and I felt that Their arrival was his desire.
On Thursday I had told Maharaja, “I don’t know if I will be able to phone you again before then, but the Deities have come and we will install Them Friday evening, and by your mercy we’ll try to serve Them and Their dhama.” And now, whenever I look at Their beautiful forms and appealing faces, I feel that we have to do something for Them—we have to build Their wonderful temple, as Sridhar Swami always reminded me.
I think this may have been Maharaja’s main contribution in recent years, at least to me in my service: He impressed upon me—and upon our entire movement—the importance of the Mayapur project, of the “wonderful temple” (adbhuta mandira) that Nityananda Prabhu had desired for the service of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and that Bhaktivinoda Thakura had envisioned. (One day, when Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura was chanting japa on the balcony of his house in Godruma-dvipa, he looked across the Jalangi River to Mayapur and had a vision of a transcendental city with a magnificent temple rising like a mountain in its midst.) Maharaja’s whole life was dedicated to Srila Prabhupada, and I think he felt that this was one of Srila Prabhupada’s main desires left to be fulfilled. And he felt that we had to do it—and that we had to do it; it would benefit the whole society, and the whole world. He would quote Ambarisa Prabhu: “This will be the tide that will make all the boats rise.” So, although Sridhar Maharaja left so many wonderful legacies for us in terms of his personal qualities and activities, I think one legacy that may serve to unite the movement and fulfill one of Srila Prabhupada’s main desires is his inspiration to push on the construction of the great temple in Mayapur.
When I was a new devotee, maybe less than two years in the movement, I approached Srila Prabhupada one day while he was getting his massage on the veranda of the Calcutta temple. “Srila Prabhupada,” I said, “I have been thinking about what pleases you most.” Srila Prabhupada was so pure he took every word into his heart. He replied, “Yes.” I said, “The two things that seem to please you the most are distributing your books and building the big temple in Mayapur.” Srila Prabhupada smiled with great appreciation and said, “Thank you very much.”
So, those were Srila Prabhupada’s two main strategies for spreading Krishna consciousness, and Sridhar Swami helped him in both. In his early days, Sridhar Swami was instrumental in developing book distribution in North America. And in his later years, he was very involved with the Mayapur project, planning and raising funds for the great temple. And by Maharaja’s mercy, on Gaura-purnima, standing in front of the Panca-tattva Deities in Laguna Beach, I got the inspiration: “Now it’s time for Mayapur. Sridhar Swami understood that long ago. Now it’s time for you [me] to join the effort, too.” And that was important for me in other ways as well—to let go of the past: “Forgive and forget. Now let’s all work together for Mayapur, for Sridhar Swami, for Srila Prabhupada, to build the wonderful temple.”
When I asked Sridhar Swami how I could help, he requested me to speak about my experiences of Srila Prabhupada related to Mayapur. So, in 1973, when Srila Prabhupada came to Calcutta from England, he was very excited and enthusiastic about Mayapur. Tamal Krishna Goswami had gotten the first land, we had observed the first Gaura-purnima festival there, and now Srila Prabhupada had come with the plans for the first building. There was a detailed discussion, and at the end Srila Prabhupada said, “If you build this temple, then Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura will personally come and take you all back to Godhead.”
Now I think, “That might be my only hope, so I’d better get to work. We’d better build the Mayapur project, because I don’t know how else I will ever get back to Godhead.”
His Holiness Sridhar Swami has given me a lifetime of work in service to Srila Prabhupada. Although jivo va maro va, to live or die is the same for a devotee—and certainly that was true of Maharaja—my own feelings are mixed. I think, “He has left so much service for me, given me so many instructions. So I must stay and execute his mission.” I think the same about Tamal Krishna Goswami. Even though part of me misses them terribly and wants to be with them, mainly I think, “They left me so many instructions. I have so much service to do for them here.”
Of course, how long we have to do what they have asked—what they would want—all depends on Krishna. Therefore, whatever time we do have left we should use in the best possible way—in Krishna consciousness.
Hare Krishna.
Giriraj Swami
Mumbai being the largest metropolises of india Srila Prabhupada endeavoured enthusiastically and established a large centre in Juhu beach of the city. ISKCON Mumbai temple has influenced the preaching of ISKCON in india greatly Srila Prabhupada Vision was that the congregation and life members of mumbai can very easily establish the city of Mayapur by building the TOVP temple and therefore he said " Mumbai is my Office, Vrindavan is my Home and Maypur is my place of worship".
For last one year the TOVP fundraising team as diligently worked and made presentations to the ISKCON India leaders and in return is receiving enthusiastic feedback and commitment from the Indian Yatra to participate in the fundraising endeavours. Mumbai temple president H.G. Braja Hari Prabhu , Zonal Secretary H.G.Devakinandan Prabhu, Sriman Bhima Prabhu and the local GBC H.H.Gopal Krsna Maharaj have all together blessed the TOVP fundraising activities by providing a very nice office on the Juhu Temple property.
The office is located above the life membership office and its Grand Opening was celebrated by their presence with a Guru puja to Srila Prabhupada and enthusiastic kirtan of hundreds of resident devotees. This auspicious celebration commenced on sunday morning 27th of April 2014. We thank the leaders of Mumbai yatra for their devotion to the TOVP project and hope to accomplish many fundraising events in the near future in Mumbai.
Read more about Jahnu Saptami on www.harekrishnacalendar.com
Read more about Srimati Jahnava Devi on www.gaudiyahistory.com
Lecture on Four Reason for the Lords Appearance by HG Chaitanya Charan Prabhu
(His Grace Caitanya Charan Prabhu is a monk and spiritual teacher in the time honored tradition of bhakti yoga. He is a editor of Back to Godhead, which is the official international magazine of the Hare Krishna movement.)
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Lecture on Dhongi Guruo ke Bich Vastavik Guru ka Chayan by HH Bhakti Vikasa Swami on 13 Mar 2014 at Baroda
(His Holiness Bhakti Vikasa Swami appeared in this world in 1957 in England. He joined the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in London in 1975 and was initiated in that year with the name Ilapati dasa by ISKCON's founder-acarya, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.)
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Srimad Bhagavatam Class (02.09.17) by HH Bhakti Rasamrita Swami
(His Holiness Bhakti Rasamrita Swami completed his B.E. from M.S University Baroda, MBA from Bombay University & worked for some time in a multinational Bank. Inspired by the teachings of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder acharya of The International Society for Krishna Consciousness.)
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Bhavnagar is one of the large cities of Gujarat, located in the Southeastern side of the Saurashtra peninsula. Named after it's founder, Raja (King) Bhavsinhji Gohil, it was founded in 1724.
Presently Bhavnagar is the sixth largest city in Gujarat, after Ahmedabad, Surat, Baroda (Vadodara), Rajkot and Jamnagar. The population of Bhavnagar is six lakhs (6,00,000) , but unofficially it is probably more.
Mainly due to economic and climatic conditions over the past fifty years, large segments of the population of Bhavnagar district have migrated to both Bombay and Surat.
The history of ISKCON at Bombay is a long one, beginning with it's establishment during 1971 by ISKCON Founder-Acharya Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Part of this history is that a number of persons from the Bhavnagar town and district over the years came in contact with and joined ISKCON. These devotees have played a pivotal role in the establishment of ISKCON at Bhavnagar.
Sriman Kundal Krishna Das is one of the natives of Bhavnagar who came in touch with ISKCON at Mira Road, one of the prominent suburbs of Bombay, where one of four ISKCON centers has been established in the Bombay metropolitan area. He took spiritual initiation from senior ISKCON devotee and disciple of Srila Prabhupada, Sripad Radha Govinda Swami, some years ago.
The ISKCON Mira Road temple, now under construction, has a sizeable number of Bhavnagar natives living in the nearby surrounding areas, as a result of the massive expansion of Bombay over the past twenty-five years.
Kundal Krishna Prabhu [seen in this picture: http://tinyurl.com/kxkaw97 ] has become a keen Gujarati lecturer, especially expert in describing the stories of Lord Krishna in the “dashama skanda” - the tenth canto.
Kundal Krishna Prabhu was inspired to establish an ISKCON center at Bhavnagar. Taking permission from and working with Jasomatinandan Das, ISKCON zonal secretary for Gujarat, he returned to Bhavnagar three years back. Today ISKCON Bhavnagar operates a small temporary temple, in a rented premises.
Today there are around four hundred grihasta (householder) congregational devotees living at Bhavnagar, who regularly participate in ISKCON's various programs.
Inspired by Kundal Krishna Prabhu, a very generous donor made possible the purchase of a property at Bhavnagar, that is more than three quarters of an acre, on a main road in a developing area, on the outskirts - but not outside -- of the town. The property was registered in the name of ISKCON in January of this year.
For the very first time, Kundal Krishna Prabhu and his team organized a Jagannath Rathayatra (Festival of the Chariot of the Lord of the Universe), on Sunday, April 27, 2014. The festival began at three in the afternoon, and moved through many of the main roads of Bhavnagar. The vernacular press covered the festival here: http://tinyurl.com/mk4r5rp.
The Rathayatra procession was joined by a larger group of three thousand local residents including the regular ISKCON congregational devotees. A “Bhagavat saptah” (narration of the story of Srimad Bhagavatam, one of the ancient histories of India) preceded the Rathayatra, and enthusiasm for the Rathayatra was generated amongst the wider group of participants of the saptah program.
Deities of Lord Jagannath, the form of Lord Krishna that has been worshipped in the grand temple at Puri, Orissa, in Eastern India, along with his elder brother Baladev, sister Subhadradevi, and principle weapon, the Sudarshan chakra, were placed on the Rath (Chariot), and nicely decorated.
The Grand Rath where the Deities were placed on for the procession was constructed at Bombay and transported to Bhavangar for the festival. It will remain as a permanent fixture at ISKCON Bhavnagar. The special feature of this Rath, besides it's massive size, is that it has a retractable canopy. The Rath was decorated profusely with flower garlands, and a banner was draped over the back of the Rath. “Hare Krishna” appeared in massive letters in English on the side of the Rath, and “Hare Rama” on the side of the Rath.
The starting point of the Rathayatra, where the saptah was held, was Vijayrajnagar. From there the Rathayatra procession went to Dairy Road, Nilambagh, Jail Road, Kalanala Circle, Vaghavadi Road, Water Tank, Ram Mantar Mandir, to Dukhishyam Bapa Circle, then Sardar Road, and then to ISKCON's new land near the Lila Circle, where the procession concluded.
The Deities were removed from the Rath onto a stage at the festival, offered a grand feast, and arati, as per ancient tradition.
One of the highlights of the festival was the participation of Sriman Deena Bandhu Das, a senior disciple of ISKCON Founder-acharya Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who has been residing at the ISKCON Krishna Balaram temple at Vrindavan, the holy town that was the site of many of Lord Krishna's pastimes, for the past thirty years.
Deena Bandhu Prabhu led kirtan during the Rathayatra procession and spoke on a stage erected on ISKCON's land at the conclusion of the Rathayatra [Seen here: http://tinyurl.com/knz6y8m ]
Deena Bandhu Prabhu addressed the assembled devotees in Hindi language after the Rathayatra procession concluded. [Seen here: http://tinyurl.com/leld56z ]. Basu Ghosh Das, temple president of ISKCON Baroda, a native of Chicago, who has been residing in Gujarat since 1979 also spoke, addressing the assembly in Gujarati, the language of Gujarat. [pictured here: http://tinyurl.com/l32guec ].
ISKCON Mira Road Bombay temple president Sriman Kamala Lochan Das, accompanied by several brahmacharis from the Mira Road temple, such as Chanda Kopi Das were also there. A group of twenty devotees from Anklav Village in Anand District, led by Sriman Bhakta Avatar Das (who has been connected with ISKCON at New York City for more than 35 years) also joined the festival.
Sriman Murtiman Das, who spearheads a number of preaching programs amongst the large population of Bhavnagar and Saurashtra natives settled at Surat, also participated in the Rathayatra along with a group of ninety devotees.
Sriman Vishnunam Prabhu, ISKCON Ahmedabad vice president, along with his wife, and ISKCON Baroda IYF preachers Vamsidhari Das, Bhakta Das, Ram Gopal Das and Shravananda Das, also joined the festival.
At the conclusion of the Rathayatra, prasad (full bhojan/evening meals) were served to around seven thousand participants of the festival. [Picture here: http://tinyurl.com/lm6mj35 .]
Photos by Vaman Das and Shravanananda Das
Pictures of the festival can be seen here: http://tinyurl.com/lrpdqpp
18 April 2018 - 8 May 2018
Aksaya Tritya – Chandana Yatra Starts
Chandana yatra starts on the third lunar day of the waxing moon of Vaisakha month, and continues for twenty days. Lord Jagannatha gave direct instructions to King Indradyumna to perform this festival at this time. Smearing the body of the Lord with ointments is an act of devotion, and the best of ointments is sandalwood paste. Since the month of Vaisakha is very hot in India, the cooling effect of the sandalwood is very pleasing to the body of the Lord.
Read more about Sri Sankaracharya on www.harekrishnacalendar.com
Listen Bhajans by Sri Sankaracharya on www.vaishnavsongs.com
Love and Detachment by HH Romapada Swami on April 2014 At Potomac
(His devotional career began with management, first as president of the Manhattan temple (1977-78), then as regional secretary for New England (1979-82), and then again as president of the Brooklyn temple (1982-83). From 1996 up to 2008, he served continuously as a member of the North American Executive Committee (NA EC), and he was the chairman of the GBC EC in 2009-2010.)
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Lecture on Japa Talk - When Does Real Faith Develops in the Holy Name by HG Radhe Shyam Prabhu on 27 Sep 2012
(President of the Pune branch of ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) that has over 600 centres worldwide Director of Vedic Oasis for Inspiration, Culture & Education (VOICE) Holds an M.Tech from IIT-Bombay)
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Param Bhokta Param Isvara Param Mitra aur Param Santi by HH Bhakti Vikas Swami on 12 March 2011 At ISKCON Baroda
(From 1977 to 1979 His Holiness was based in India, mostly traveling in West Bengal preaching Krishna consciousness and distributing Srila Prabhupada's books. He then spent the following ten years helping to pioneer ISKCON's preaching in Bangladesh, Burma, Thailand, and Malaysia.)
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Lecture on Sunday Feast, Independence by HH Devamrita Swami on 27 April 2014 At Los Angeles
(The mother, a connoisseur of all Protestant faiths, began to attend Presbyterian churches, and there the future swami, at the age of thirteen, delivered his first Sunday sermon. Noting her son’s boredom and lack of challenge at school, his mother pushed for his acquiring a full scholarship plus living expenses to private boarding schools in New Hampshire, where he attended Exeter Academy during the summer and Holderness School for Boys during the regular school year)
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Lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam Class (03.16.19) Obtaining the Lord%27s Favor by Niranjana Swami on 26 April 2014 At Minsk
(The management and spiritual leadership experience Niranjana Swami gained during his tenure as president of ISKCON Boston from 1979 to 1983, and his service as regional secretary of New England in 1984, readied him for his GBC appointment in 1987. As a GBC member)
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Lecture on Sunday Feast, Formula for Peace by HG Jivananda Prabhu on 27 May 2012 At Dallas
(The mother, a connoisseur of all Protestant faiths, began to attend Presbyterian churches, and there the future swami, at the age of thirteen, delivered his first Sunday sermon. Noting her son’s boredom and lack of challenge at school, his mother pushed for his acquiring a full scholarship plus living expenses to private boarding schools in New Hampshire, where he attended Exeter Academy during the summer and Holderness School for Boys during the regular school year.)
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Lecture on Appearance Day of Sri Srivasa Pandit by Bhakti Vijnana Goswami on 24 March 2014 at ISKCON Vrindavan
(Since 1997 Bhakti Vijnana Goswami has acted as a member of ISKCON’s Governing Body Commission and since 2005 has served as one of the initiating gurus of ISKCON.)
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Lecture on Suddha Bhakta Aiswarya se Anasakta hoke Aiswaryavan Hote hai by Bhakti Vikasa Swami on 11 March 2011 at Surat
(From 1977 to 1979 His Holiness was based in India, mostly traveling in West Bengal preaching Krishna consciousness and distributing Srila Prabhupada's books. He then spent the following ten years helping to pioneer ISKCON's preaching in Bangladesh, Burma, Thailand, and Malaysia.)
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Voting In Elections Is The Social Responsibility Of Devotees - Chaitanya Charan Das
Whom Should You Vote For- Kamal Lochan Das
Watch Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLXIcuoBHu8
Is voting in the election a social responsibility of devotees? - Bhakti Vikas Swami
Watch Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6Dqi-yXEyU
