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Prelude to Gau-Gram Yatra

Prelude to Gau-Gram Yatra

By HG Rasamandal Das & HG Vrndavanlila Devi dasi

What appeared to be a small village preaching program in a sleepy village near Bodhan, small place in the state of Telengana and the border of Maharashtra turned to be a day full of activities, immersed in kirtan, Krsna katha and devotee association.

Bodhan is said to be the treasury of Pandavas, no wonder it still retains some of its old splendor. As one keeps moving through its streets one can see number of beautiful and healthy desi cows strolling happily along with their calves. Unfortunately with the progress in kaliyuga the place has witnessed rise in the number of conversions and thus erosion in its old cultural values. Despite that traditional richness still thrives.

Incidentally the day happened to be little Kaushik’s birthday who wished for Harinam Sankirtan to mark the celebration after seeing one at Govardhan.

The day (July 3, 2015) was a working day but devotees don’t let go off such preaching opportunities. Initially the number was small but as the word spread, the number swelled. Very soon there was a group of about 25 devotees from Govardhan congregation ready to leave on the day including HG Gour Gopal prabhu, HG Vrndavanlila dd, Bhaktin Radhika, HG Rasamandal prabhu, Bhakta Varun, HG Shyam Sundar prabhu, HG Nityatripta dd, Bhaktin Ananya Bhakti, HG Ramasharan prabhu, HG Jananivas prabhu, HG Satya Madhava prabhu, HG Haridas prabhu, Bhakta Shiva Prasad prabhu, their mother, followed by Bhaktin Divya, Bhaktin Swapna, Bhakta Ekchakra, Bhaktin Karnika, Bhakta Deepak, Bhaktin Swati, Bhaktin Aishwarya, Bhaktin Devaki, Bhaktin Lata, and Bhakta Ashish. Packing themselves in four cars everybody left in the early morning hours round 6 from Secunderabad. They were to be later joined by Nizamabad devotees, especially HG Shambhu prabhu who had happily arranged for everybody’s morning prasadam.

On the way, near Janakampet, everybody paid their obeisances to Lord Narsimha dev. Situated in hilly ambience, the temple has an octagonal pond where from the original deities of the Lord had appeared and a small temple of Lord Shiva as the kshetrapal. After breakfast prasadam, everybody proceeded to Basar to take a dip in holy Godavari, also known as dakshin Ganga – wonderful development in Purushottam adhika mas.

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Finally the group arrived at the venue in Kodgir, Bodhan exhausted after a long journey from Hyderabad. But the vibration of the ancient temple with self-manifested deities of Lord Vitthal and Rukmani and presence of so many devotees–Varkaris and the locals–charged the whole atmosphere. The temple had been organizing non-stop programs right from the beginning of Adhika mas. We were drawn to the presence of devotees known as Varkaris in large number completely absorbed in devotional service.

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The program started with a brief introduction followed by kirtan led by HG Gour Gopal prabhu. At about 1400 hrs the men were led to the temple prasadam hall leaving women behind. In the meantime, little Bhaktin Radhika (daughter of HG Gour Gopal prabhu), Bhaktin Lata and another local devotee led the Harinam and kirtans glorifying the lord.

The local pin organizers of the program, Bhakta Vitthala and Bhaktin Vaishali had arranged for a sumptuous hot prasadam of puran puli with hot milk combined withrotissabji, rice, sambar, curd etc. served in typical Maharashtrian style. Their dedication was applaudable. There was free flow of ghee and milk, reminding one of Vrindavan.

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Prasadam was followed by the second important part of the preaching program, the pravachan in Telugu by HG Jananivas prabhu. He spoke eloquently on the significance of chanting the holy name – Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare // Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram Ram Hare Hare. He then proceeded to connect the village environment as an important component in increasing the sattvaguna leading to pure chanting of the holy name. He also spoke on cow protection and emphasized how the cow serves us till the last primarily through the cowdung; and also how our culture and cow are integrally related to each other. Locals present in good number listened to it in rapt attention.

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We had a book distribution and cow products counter. The table proved a big attraction and the local devotees were curious to know about the cow products on display. Lot of the cow products were distributed and also Srila Prabhupada’s books. This served as an encouraging beginning to the HH Bhakti Raghava Swami’s dream-initiative of Go-gram yatra, organized by the ISKCON Daiva Varnasrama Ministry connecting villages, Cows and Lord Krsna, centered around the holy name.

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Then we had a brief birthday celebration with the elders blessing Kaushik. What ensued was the finale of the whole day’s program – the ecstatic singing of Harinam and dancing to the accompaniment of wonderful music! The villagers exclaimed that this was the first time that they had experienced something like this and wished that the sankirtan went on and on. However, due to paucity of time we had to call off the day with an assurance to the assembled devotees that we would come back for a longer sankirtan program.

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Govardhan congregation is thankful to little Kaushik who desired to have sankirtan on his birthday and his parents (Bhakta Vitthala and Bhaktin Vaishali) who arranged for the program and even donated heartfully for the cause of OM Sri Surabhi campaign on the occasion.

We appreciate and thank the opportunity afforded to us by the ISKCON-Daiva Varnasrama Ministry to experience the ambience of an agrarian-based environment where the holy name is chanted purely which is evidenced by the hospitality and humility shown by the local devotees.

Harinam sankirtant ki jai. Srila Prabhupada ki jai.

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All you ever wanted to know about the Bhaktivedanta Research Centre

By Govardhana Seva dasa

Recently we were privileged to have Hari Sauri visiting New Govardhana and sharing his knowledge with us.

After spending many years as Srila Prabhupada’s personal secretary, Hari Sauri became motivated to start a research centre and preserve everything possible pertaining to the Gaudiya Vaishnava past.

In 2008, an Indian devotee named Sharma Suka donated a run-down six unit apartment block in Calcutta and this was the beginning of the Bhaktivedanta Research Centre (BRC). Shortly afterwards Hari Sauri met Pranava Prabhu, who had a PhD, spoke seven languages and could read ten. He told Hari Sauri that he had 4000 books and handwritten documents, written in Bengali, which he was going to export to Oxford University Museum and Library, because he didn’t know of anywhere in Calcutta where he could safely store them.

Hari Sauri persuaded him to use the books and documents to start the library in the BRC. Hari Sauri immediately began to refurbish one of the apartment units to act as a library. He completed this in six months and installed the 4000 books and other publications. After the opening of the library he met several interested people including Acyutananda, Sudaputa (Richard Thompson), and Sundaranda Vidyabhinode, who between them donated a further 11,000 books, publications and handwritten documents. These included many rare handwritten documents, among them some from Srila Prabhupada, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur and even some from Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur. Now the BRC Library was truly established.

The Library has recently purchased a specialised scanner, which is designed not to damage sensitive old documents. They have now begun the painstaking task of scanning every page of every book, document and handwritten items in the Library. This will ensure that there is an electronic record of every page.

The other five units in the apartment block have now been converted in self-contained units, where students and visitors can stay while studying subjects in the Library such as the Vedas, Vedic Astrology, Vaishnavism and many others.

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An Eternal Relationship: Prabhupada’s Fourth Visit to New Vrindaban

By Madhava Smullen

Archival Research by Chaitanya Mangala. 

June 21st, 1976 was a normal day at the Pittsburgh International airport until a group of Krishna devotees from New Vrindaban, dressed in an odd combination of dhotis or saris with large rubber farm boots, appeared. Commuters stared open-mouthed as the fifty-strong crew exploded into a cacophonous burst of chanting, mridanga drums, and gongs in front of the arrival gate.

They were there, of course, to greet their beloved guru Srila Prabhupada, who appeared presently, effulgent and regal with his silver-topped cane and bright orange sweater. Diving to the floor to offer their respects, the devotees piled flower garlands about his neck and fanned him vigorously with peacock feathers.

Some ninety minutes later, Prabhupada’s car entered the New Vrindaban community limits. He was deeply attached to his first farm project — in late 1975, he had written to disciples: “I am always praying to Krishna that the New Vrindaban attempt will be more and more successful and ideal for your country. That is my only prayer.”

Now, he could see progress being made. The devotees riding with him pointed out new buildings, including one under construction next to the existing temple that would house workshops and a large capacity hall for festivals. There was also a new barn, and a silo for grain storage. Prabhupada smiled. “Oh, much improvement,” he said.

As he entered Sri Sri Radha-Vrindabanchandra’s temple at Bahulaban, Prabhupada was welcomed by over a hundred devotees, many of them families with children. After folding his hands before the Deities, he led a lively kirtan from his vyasasana. As it ended, he looked fondly over his disciples. 

“So after two years I think, I have got the opportunity of seeing you and your Radha-Vrindabanchandra Who is so kind upon you,” he said. “So real happiness is here. Radha-Vrindabanchandra is staying here, and He’s pleased with your service. This is the perfection of life.”

Then, as kirtan rang out once more, he departed for the house of Vahna Das and Hladini Dasi in Madhuban, where he would reside throughout his eleven-day stay until July 2nd.

Prabhupada’s health proved troublesome during his visit — he suffered from heart palpitations and often had to miss morning walks. But his leadership was as strong as ever, as he emphasized the five primary things he wanted New Vrindaban to be known for: cow protection, simple-living, holy pilgrimage, spiritual education, and above all, loving Krishna.

Prabhupada Reunited With ISKCON’s Original Cow Kaliya – New Vrindaban 1976

To highlight the importance of cow protection during his stay, Prabhupada visited the cows and calves at the Bahulaban barn, which had been completed a year earlier. Four new calves had just been born, and he let one lick his hand as devotees told him how they were turning the cows’ milk into ghee, cheese and buttermilk. Prabhupada enjoyed the visit, and gave his solution for a better life: “Simply expand this idea: krsi-go-raksya-vanijyam [protect the cows].”

Prabhupada’s care for cows wasn’t just theoretical. Once during his stay, he was walking with disciples when he passed a herd grazing on a hill. Among them was New Vrindaban’s first cow, a black Jersey named Kaliya whom he had met back in May 1969. To the devotees’ amazement, she broke away from the other cows as soon as she saw him and made her way down the steep bank to him. “Ah,” Prabhupada said. “My dear old friend Kaliya.”

Close to cow protection, of course, is simple living. Prabhupada often extolled the virtues of New Vrindaban’s simple living and high thinking in contrast to all the endeavor modern man puts into gaining sense gratification, thus forgetting the real purpose of life. He visited the community’s different gardens, appreciated how Sri Sri Radha-Vrindabanchandra were bedecked with fresh wild flowers, and was delighted to receive wildflower garlands himself.

While taking his morning walk with disciples in the “forest” of Talaban, Prabhupada encouraged devotees to buy as many of the neighboring parcels of land as possible to cultivate. And he appreciated when they showed him that they were growing their own hay for the cows, cutting their own lumber, and growing some of their own vegetables.

Prabhupada further encouraged devotees by enjoying “The Spiritual Frontier,” a film about New Vrindaban, so much that he watched it twice. Produced by Yadubara and Visakha, it was vividly colorful and beautifully shot. It showed the “Brijabasis” living a Krishna conscious life while harvesting crops, picking fruit from the trees, and preparing natural milk products.

Energized by the film, Prabhupada used it as an opportunity to talk more about simple living. “Make this ideal life here,’ he said. “America has got good potency. We have got so much land here. We can have hundreds of New Vrindabans or farms like that. And people will be happy. And invite all the world, ‘Please come and live with us. Why you are suffering congestion, overpopulation? Welcome here. Chant Hare Krsna.’ Make that.”

Prabhupada Sharing Cookies With Gurukula Boys – New Vrindaban 1976

It was clear that Srila Prabhupada wanted others to visit New Vrindaban as a holy pilgrimage site, and he treated it as such himself. During his stay he visited not only the main Deities of Radha Vrindabanchandra in their temple, but also the other Deities worshipped in different parts of the community, just as one would during a pilgrimage of the original Vrindavana in India.

He was most eager to see Sri Sri Radha Vrindaban Nath, the Deities at the original farmhouse where he had stayed during his first visit in 1969. The farmhouse was now a brahmachari ashram, and when they heard Prabhupada was coming, the men there burst into a frenzy of activity, trying their best to clean it up for him. As he walked up to the house, the atmosphere was electric, with many devotees including gurukula children lining the pathway to greet him.

Prabhupada was happy to be back. With folded hands, he took darshan of the small but beautiful Radha Vrindaban Nath while the Govindam prayers played, then gave the morning Bhagavatam class from a rustic-looking vyasasana.

He also visited the site of a future place of pilgrimage – the Palace his disciples were building for him. It was his second visit (his first had been in 1974), and now most of the concrete work was done, and the finishing work started.

The devotees showed him the central hall, Deity room, beautiful marble inlay work, decorative arches and ornate furniture. He particularly liked his hand-carved desk topped with a solid slab of onyx, commenting, “Nowhere else in the world do I have such a desk.”

He was very appreciative and impressed that the devotees had done all the work themselves, especially since most were not professionals but had learned on the job. Prabhupada remarked that they were working with the special inspiration of God.

Prabhupada Visiting Radha Vrindaban Nath at the Original Farmhouse – New Vrindaban 1976

“If one is sincere to serve the Lord, [who is] situated in everyone’s heart, He’ll give him, ‘Do like this,’” he said. To the devotees’ delight, he compared their efforts to his own. “I came to your country for preaching this, I had no idea how to do it.” He laughed. “But people are surprised how within so many short years this world movement has sprung.”

Prabhupada added that the Palace, a combination of Eastern and Western architectural ideas, was unique in North America and that people would therefore come from all over to see it.

Another thing Prabhupada focused on while in New Vrindaban, as he did everywhere, was imparting spiritual education to his young students. He did it all the time, whether he was giving the morning Bhagavatam class or receiving a massage outside in the noonday sun. His disciples’ most cherished times with him, however, were his intimate evening darshans in the garden at the back of his house, during which his congenial mood deepend their love and affection for him.

On those idyllic summer evenings, the devotees gathered in a semicircle on the grass before Prabhupada, the sun’s golden rays filtering through the trees and casting a dappled pattern on his yellow satin vyasasana with its lion armrests.

Prabhupada would be reluctant to take his own seat until he saw that all the devotees also had mats to sit on. Once he did, he would instigate debate on challenging issues, with them taking on the role of materialists and Prabhupada arguing from the Krishna conscious point of view.

At other times, he had Sanskrit scholar Pradyumna read from the Bhagavad-gita, stopping occasionally to ask if there were any questions and then supplying his insights. One topic that often came up was how modern developments had spoiled the world. “What is this nonsense, all skyscraper building, no air, no light,” Prabhupada said. “The mind becomes crippled, the health becomes deteriorated, children cannot see even the sky, everything is spoiled.”

Prabhupada’s Evening Darshan With Devotees On Yellow Satin Vyasasan at Madhuban Farm – New Vrindaban 1976

Then, looking around at the beautiful garden he was sitting in, he cited New Vrindaban as an alternative. “Now we see the sky, the sun, how nice it is. Green, down and up, clear sky, sun. This is life.”

Prabhupada also supported New Vrindaban’s own efforts at spiritual education by visiting its gurukula. There he received guru-puja in a packed temple room, with the young saffron-clad boys crowding in front of him. It was another incredibly sweet experience, with Prabhupada playing his gong and throwing flowers over the devotees as they jumped and shouted excitedly.

Throughout his entire visit, Prabhupada showed his disciples how to love Krishna – the connecting thread of his five-part vision for New Vrindaban — by everything he did and said.

It was in the way he looked at and spoke about Radha Vrindabanchandra, completely convinced that full happiness would come through serving Them. It was in the way he cared for Krishna’s devotees, making sure they were comfortable and warm during his evening meetings. And it was in the way he saw Krishna everywhere – once he compared young “Brijabasi” boys running alongside his car to Krishna and Balarama racing with the birds in the fields.

Love of Krishna was even the last message he gave New Vrindaban devotees face to face, imploring them during his final class on July 2nd to become servants of Krishna instead of servants of their senses. By doing that, he said, their lives would be successful.

After his class, the devotees held one last rousing kirtan. The little gurukula boys danced enthusiastically, then clamored about his vyasasana, shyly holding out their hands as Prabhupada passed out cookies to them.

That afternoon, everyone gathered outside the temple to bid farewell, presenting him with a cake and a donation. Then, as his car pulled out onto the road, they showered it with flowers, calling out “Jaya Srila Prabhupada!” at the top of their lungs as it faded away into the distance.

It would be the last time New Vrindaban devotees saw Prabhupada physically present in their community. But they had implicit faith he would be with them forever through his instructions, firmly imprinted in their hearts, as they continued working together cooperatively to realize his grand vision for ISKCON’s first farm community and holy place of pilgrimage.

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Madhuvan and Talavan Visit by HG Deenabandhu Prabhu on July 6, 2015

The weather cooled down a bit, so we went on relishable parikrama to Madhuvan and Talavan. Pic thanks to Vittalrukmini Das!
At Talavan, it started raining and for half hour we watched the local boys enjoying themselves in Sankarshan Kunda in the rain!
To View Photo gallery click here https://goo.gl/Z1RDN1
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About We Get Do Excited

Sunday Feast Lecture on About we get do excited by HH Rtadhvaja Swami on 28 Jun 2015 at ISKCON Alachua

(HH Rtadhvaja Swami Maharaja was born and raised in a rural farming community in North Dakota, U.S.A. His first encounter with the devotees was in 1972. It was a few years later, in 1975, that he first came upon Srila Prabhupada's books, started chanting, visited a temple.)

To Listen and Download - click here

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Lecture on Real Service Gives Permanent Satisfaction by HH Giriraj Swami on 06 Jun 2015 at Towaco

(Giriraj Swami was born Glenn Phillip Teton in the home of a respected Chicago lawyer. He met His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, founder-acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.)

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Lecture on Difference between Humans and Animals-Christian Scientific and Bhagavatam Understandings by HG Chaitanya Charan Prabhu on Jun 2015

(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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Hindu School In Croydon

Special Invitation:

When: Thursday 9th July 2015.
Where: Archbishop Lanfranc Academy.
Mitcham Rd. Croydon
Time: 7.30 pm

Dear Friends As you may have heard, Krishna Avanti Primary School Croydon was finally approved to open in September 2016 by the Department for Education. With the support of the DfE and Croydon Council, the project is now well and truly underway and now we need your full support more than ever to see the school through to opening and many years beyond for the children of our community.

We would like to invite you to come and meet representatives from the Avanti Schools Trust, as well as those of us who are playing an active role in promoting the school so that we may tell you more about the plans and how you and your communities can be involved in this exciting new project.

If you have children or grand children ready to start school in 2016 or if you know of friends who might, tell them to come!

Best wishes
Nitin Mehta

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On Saturday, June 20th, we left Delaware after breakfast at the home of Krishna Mohan and Amala Sundari prabhus for the nearby Philadelphia Temple (where we had previously visited in March) for the Bhumi puja yajna of the new temple on the property.

By the grace of Lord Nityananda, only three weeks after we had visited for the TOVP fundraising presentation, they raised almost $900,000, enough to complete their entire project! The Padukas and Sitari were served with attention, and Radha Jivana and Jananivas prabhus spoke. From there we left for Baltimore, Maryland a few hours away.

All glories to Lord Nityananda Rama. All glories to the devotees of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

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On Friday, June 19th, after arriving at the home of Temple President Krishna Kirtan and his wife Shyamala and their children Gauranga and Vasudeva, we made our way over to the temple of this small but dedicated and growing community of devotees for the TOVP presentation. 

During arati the Padukas and Sitari received Their abhisheka and puspanjali from the hands of all the devotees. Our presentation took place outside in a grassy area on the temple grounds and was attended by about 60 devotees and congregation members. Radha Jivana and Jananivas prabhus spoke to the attentive audience and when the fundraising was over we received almost $130,000 from this wonderful devotee community. Prasadam was then served to all the Vaishnavas. 

All glories to Lord Nityananda Rama. All glories to the devotees of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

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New York Rathayatra New York is considered the most important city in the world. Therefore, it’s not surprising that it was the first city where Srila Prabhupada preached and established his first center. It was also in New York that he incorporated ISKCON, that the first Harinama samkirtana went out, that Back to Godhead magazine started, that the BBT (originally ISKCON Press) was established, and much, much more. Sri Sri Radha Govinda, the presiding Deities, were installed in 1972.

On Saturday, June 13th, the 40th annual Rathayatra went rolling down 5th Avenue, the most well-known street in the world. And Lord Nityananda’s Padukas and Lord Nrsimhadeva’s Sitari were there also, traveling on Lord Balarama’s cart. Forty New York city blocks away, at the other end of the procession ast the Festival of India site in Washington Square Park, we had set up a tent for darshan of the Padukas and Sitari and to hand out TOVP information. Thousands of devotees from all around the world attend this Rathayatra and when Lord Jagannath, Lord Balarama and Lady Subhadra finally arrived at the festival site our tent was flooded with devotees offering flower petals to the Padukas and receiving the Sitari on their heads from the hand of Jananivas prabhu. We handed out almost 2000 packets of TOVP information by the end of the festival.

TOVP Presentation
The Sunday program at the New York temple on the day after Rathayatra is a famous event, packed with devotees. Kirtans by well-known kirtan leaders, dramas, dances, and a world-class prasadam feast are the attractive features of this festival. The TOVP presentation was also scheduled for this evening. About 500 devotees were present and the program began with the Padukas and Sitari receiving Their abhisheka during a kirtan by Agnideva prabhu. Ramabhadra prabhu, the Temple President, then introduced the TOVP Team. Amabrisa and Svaha prabhus were also present, and along with Radha Jivana and Jananivas prabhus they all inspired the devotees with the importance of the TOVP project. The fundraising finished with $315,000 in pledges and, after a drama and Bharatnatyam performance, a wonderful feast was served.

All glories to Lord Nityananda Rama. All glories to the devotees of Lord Caitanya.

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We spent the following four days in Toronto visiting different devotees’ homes and other nearby temples and devotee communities:

Monday, June
1 Brunch at the home of Shasank and Satyabhama prabhus in Toronto Travel to Muskoka for a TOVP presentation to 50 devotees and Indian congregation members organized by Jaya Gopal and Vyasacarya prabhus: $34,000 pledged

Night spent in Muskoka

Tuesday, June 2
Return to Toronto for lunch at the home of Rupa and Sanatan prabhus Evening sanga with Jananivas at the Toronto temple

Wednesday, June 3
Morning program at the Bhakti Lounge in Toronto Trip to Niagara Falls Evening program at the home of Jagannatha Misra prabhu in Burlington

Thursday, June 4
Visits to these devotee homes: Vidya Nidhi Krishna prabhu and family Vicky prabhu and family Tushti Mohan prabhu and family Keshava prabhu and family Minakshi mataji and family

The day ended with the final TOVP program at the Scarborough, Canada temple. The temple devotees, though a small group without a temple of their own yet, and lead by Ananda Gauranga prabhu, pledged an astounding $215,000, bringing the total Greater Toronto Area visit pledges up to $1.4 million!

All glories to Lord Nityananda Rama. All glories to all the devotees of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

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We had to take an extremely early flight on Saturday morning, May 30th, from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to get to Toronto, Canada. We were picked up by Subha Vilas prabhu (his wife’s name is Ashalata), a disciple of Srila Prabhupada and father of one of the TOVP Canada Team, Indresh prabhu, in whose home we were staying for two nights. As a young child he had the extreme good fortune of sitting in Srila Prabhupada’s lap and offering his piggy bank of coins to him.

That evening Indresh and his wife Kishori (their children are named Brinda, Gopika and Hari) hosted a pre-TOVP program in the very large temple room of their new mansion-like home. The Padukas and Sitari received an abhisheka and puspanjali during kirtan as the room filled with more than 200 devotees. Ambarisa and Svaha had also joined us for the next two days and he, Radha Jivana, Jananivas and Svaha spoke about the TOVP project. It was not meant to be a fundraiser as the local temple in Toronto was scheduled for the next day. A feast was served and devotees left inspired for the next day’s presentation.

All glories to Lord Nityananda Rama. All glories to the devotees of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

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We departed from Toronto, Canada and arrived in Atlanta, Georgia on Friday, June 5th for the weekend of the Rathayatra and Panihati Festival. The Atlanta Yatra is also one of the original temples opened during Srila Prabhupada’s physical presence, and he visited a number of times, exhibiting various pastimes, including going into a deep trance of devotional love for several minutes before the main Deities, Gaur Nitai.

We initially intended on doing the TOVP presentation on Sunday, but felt the time was not appropriate for a focused TOVP program. We rescheduled for August 15th, although Jananivas prabhu and the Padukas and Sitari will not be present. The following descriptions and photos are from our 7 day stay in which we also visited the homes of many local devotees:

Friday, June 5
Arrival in Atlanta, New Panihati Dhama, the home of Sri Sri Gaura Nitai, Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadra and Sri Sri Radha Madan Mohan. We stayed at the temple during the entire stay. Jananivas gave morning Bhagavatam classes during this time.

Saturday, June 6
Atlanta Rathayatra

Sunday, June 7
Abhisheka of the Padukas and the Panihati Festival

Monday, June 8
Breakfast at the home of Lakshman Ram prabhu and family Lunch at the home of Vrshabhanu and Shyam Bihari prabhus Dinner at the home of Gita prabhu and family

Tuesday, June 9
Breakfast at the home of Adi Gadadhar prabhu and family Lunch at the home of Ramachandra prabhu and family Evening program at the temple with Jananivas prabhu

Wednesday, June 10
Breakfast at the home of Temple President, Vedasara prabhu and family Lunch at the home of Saci Prana Gaura Hari prabhu and family

Thursday, June 11
Stopover at Govinda’s Café for lunch before departing for New York All glories to Lord Nityananda Rama. All glories to the devotees of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

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ISKCON Brampton is a suburb in the Toronto area that has a small temple and congregation of devotees. On Sunday, May 31st we made our way there for a special mid-day Sunday Feast TOVP program which was also attended by His Holiness Bhaktimarg Swami who had come especially for the TOVP presentations in Brampton and Toronto that day. 

After an abhisheka of the Padukas and Sitari, puspanjali and kirtan, Bhaktimarg Swami, Radha Jivan and Jananivas all spoke and inspired the devotees with the greatness and importance of the TOVP project. Pledges started coming in and in the end $243,000 was pledged. Prasadam was then served. 

From Brampton we went to the Toronto temple, one of the original temples opened during Srila Prabhupada’s physical presence. He very much liked this large, old church building and would often comment in a joking manner how ISKCON was buying old churches throughout North America because the Christians could no longer attract people to them. Srila Prabhupada called the temple New Remuna Dhama on account of naming the presiding Deities Sri Sri Radha Ksira-Chora Gopinath after the same Deities in India who are fond of receiving an offering of Ksira daily. He instructed the devotees to do the same. 

The temple was almost filled to capacity with 3-400 devotees eagerly awaiting to hear from the TOVP team which now consisted of His Holiness Bhaktimarg Swami, Ambarisa, Jananivas, Radha Jivana and Svaha prabhus. Every devotee became inspired by the presentation and the pledges soon started to roll in. By the program’s end $930,000 had been pledged. A puspanjali ceremony took place, Jananivas placed the Sitari on everyone’s head, and the program came to a close with a wonderful feast. 

All glories to Lord Nityananda Rama. All glories to the devotees of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

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Auckland New Zealand: Friday night harinam (Album with photos) Srila Prabhupada: In the material world everyone is envious of his fellow man. Animalistic envy exists in human society as long as there is no performance of sankirtana-yajna, the chanting of the holy names – Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 4.30.35 Purport) See them here: https://goo.gl/eAAMBN

Auckland New Zealand: Friday night harinam (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: In the material world everyone is envious of his fellow man. Animalistic envy exists in human society as long as there is no performance of sankirtana-yajna, the chanting of the holy names – Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 4.30.35 Purport)
See them here: https://goo.gl/eAAMBN

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Kirtanparty.com Launches Drive to Increase Street Chanting

By: Madhava Smullen ISKCON News on Jan. 30, 2015

Harinam party in Los Angeles, California

If you’ve been reading ISKCON News regularly, you’ll know that there’s been a very successful effort in North America over the past three years to keep increasing distribution of ISKCON Founder Srila Prabhupada’s books.

And now, the same innovator behind that idea has a plan to give the same boost to street chanting of Krishna’s Holy Names, another spiritual practice Prabhupada placed a lot of importance in. “The religious practice for the Age of Kali [yuga-dharma] is to broadcast the glories of the Holy Name,” states his translation of the Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita. And in a 1974 letter he wrote, “It is this sankirtana which is the life and soul of our movement.”

At the  North American GBC and Temple Presidents’ Meetings from January 20th to 25th in Dallas, Texas, book distribution strategist Vaisesika Das launched a new program along with an accompanying e-newsletter and website, kirtanparty.com, to assist and inspire communities to increase their public kirtan programs.

Vaisesika is inviting ISKCON community leaders and members all over North America to join the Kirtan Party Google group through www.kirtanparty.com and begin reporting every two weeks on how many times they’ve sent kirtan parties out to chant publicly. The results will then get published on kirtanparty.com.

“What gets measured gets improved,” says Vaisesika, quoting leadership expert Robin S. Sharma. “Just by becoming aware of how many times they’re doing it, and how many times others are doing it, devotees will naturally become encouraged to do it more.”

New York City

He refers to the history of the World Sankirtan Newsletter (www.sankirtannewsletter.com), which began tracking the book distribution results of just a few temples way back in 1974, and inspired centers the world over to increase their efforts as more and more started reporting.

The Kirtan Party program isn’t just interested in increasing the quantity of kirtan parties going out, however. It’s also interested in upping the quality.

“The first point is that it should be pure,” Vaisesika says. “The devotees who are singing should be very much dedicated to a life of devotional service. And they should be taking shelter of the Holy Names as they’re singing, knowing that they’re simply broadcasting, but that it’s the power of the Holy Name that’s attractive to people.”

Of course, there are also aesthetic considerations. Back in the 16th century, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu meticulously organized His kirtan parties, carefully choosing singers, musicians, dancers, the number of each instrument used, and so on.

More recently, Srila Prabhupada wanted his disciples to be smartly dressed especially when presenting themselves to the public, saying, “Dress, then address.”

According to Vaisesika, there are also other considerations in presenting kirtan parties to the public in ways that are likely to elicit more appreciative responses, such as not causing inconvenience to pedestrians, and not overamplifying in a way that agitates local business owners.

Toronto

Kirtanparty.com has just been launched and is still under construction now, but in time it will include many of these kinds of authoritative guidelines on street chanting from Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s biographies and the teachings of Srila Prabhupada.

“We hope these will help devotees incrementally improve the quality of their presentation in public, as per the instructions of sastra and guru,” says Vaisesika.

Kirtanparty.com will also share best practices from successful kirtan parties and tips on how to organize. And it will include a wealth of videos, photographs and straight-from-the-scene reports showcasing exemplary kirtan parties across North America.

Already, there are inspiring cases: devotees from New York City’s Harinam Ashram chant publicly on the streets of the Big Apple 365 days a year. Washington D.C. devotees have 200 public kirtan performances a year. And there are many more.

Now is the time for a public kirtan explosion, Vaisesika feels, for several reasons. Devotees will be enlivened by it. The public have been waiting for it. (One of the most frequent comments devotees get when they’re out in public is “Where have you guys been?”) And increased kirtan parties mean increased book distribution. As Srila Prabhupada wrote, “Sankirtana and book distribution should go on together side by side.”

Most of all, Vaisesika says, “The world needs it. The only way to solve the problems of the world is to increase the vibration of the Hare Krishna mantra. This [According to Vaishnava scriptures] is the main religious practice for this age. And so it should go on regularly in all cities around the world.”

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To join the Kirtan Party Google Group and report your community’s public kirtans, please send an email to: kirtanparty@googlegroups.com.

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In order to fill a long felt lacuna for those who wish to start reading Samskritam, a new edition of theMula-ramayana has just been released by Bhakta Demian Martins, an ISKCON brahmacari who holds a Ph.D. in Samskrita from the Benares Hindu University. Bhakta Demian joined ISKCON at Brazil, and spent ten years studying Samskritam at Benares. He now resides at Vrindavan, where he has undertaken research into the works of the great Gaudiya Vaishnav scholar, Baladev Vidyabhushana. His aim is obtain, translate, and publish all of Baladev’s thirty or so compositions.

The Mula-ramayana is Bhakta Demian’s first publication. The publication, neatly done up with attractive four color cover picture of beautiful South Indian “ashtadhatu” Deities of Sita, Rama, Lakshmana, and Hanuman, contains the original Samskrita verses both in Devanagari and Roman transliteration, prose order, word-for-word meaning, English and Hindi translations, and a detailed grammatical analysis for each word.

Once upon a time, while the sage Valmiki was performing austerities on the bank of the river Tamasa, Narada Muni appeared before him and narrated a summary of the Ramayana, called the “Mula-ramayana” or the Original Ramayana.

This Mula-ramayana is indeed the very first chapter in the Bala-kanda of Valmiki’s Ramayana and it consists of the main episodes of Sri Rama’s pastimes summarized in one hundred verses.

The text itself suggests that the meeting of the sages took place some time after Sri Rama had defeated Ravana and before He became the king of Ayodhya. After hearing the Mula-ramayana, the sage Valmiki composed thousands of Samskrita verses to elaborately narrate all the incidents in this great epic. The Valmiki Ramayana consists of twenty four thousand shlokas in total.

Accepted as avatars of Lord Visnu and Lord Siva respectively, Sri Rama and Hanuman are some of the most beloved among the divinities in Hinduism and are worshipped in thousands of temples all over the world.

For many centuries, Valmiki has been known as the adi-kavi, the first poet, and his Ramayana is considered by many as the most ancient poem, so famous in the Indian subcontinent that its story line is known in nearly every house.

After the Mahabharata, Valmiki’s Ramayana is considered the second greatest Samskrita epic and it has influenced the philosophy, religion, and culture of India for centuries. Remarkably it has influenced the later Samskrita poetry, drama and literature, and inspired many poets to write their own versions of the epic, among which some of the most notable are Kalidasa’s Samskrita mahakavya “Raghu-vamsa,” written in the 5th century C.E., and Tulasidasa’s “Rama-carita-manasa,” written in Avadhi in the 16th century, which became so popular in North India.

The “Mula-ramayana” has been used as a text book in innumerable colleges and schools all over India. This bilingual translation was prepared intending to fulfil the needs of both ISKCON devotees, as well as a broad range of students. The grammatical analysis furnished by the author presents the basic morphological classification of the vocabulary and some elements of the syntax.

The word-for-word meaning was done with the help of three traditional Samskrita commentaries: Govinda-raja’s Ramayana-bhusana, Nagoji Bhatta’s Ramayana-tilaka and Siva-sahaya’s Ramayana-siromani. The prose order (anvaya) of the Samskrita texts was done according to the way the verses were interpreted and translated. For didactic purposes, the English and Hindi translations are mostly literal. This edition is an ideal companion for those who are being introduced to the Samskrita language.

Those who wish to order this book may write to bkdemian@hotmail.com

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