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An appeal from Vrindavan Institute for Higher Education
Shri Vrindavan Dham

Dear devotees,
Please accept our humble obeisances.  All glories to Shrila Prabhupada.

The Vrindavan Institute for Higher Education (VIHE) was established to
fulfill Srila Prabhupada's desire for an educational institute in
Vrindavana. Located on the ISKCON Goshala land in Ramana Reti, the
VIHE provides an ideal facility and atmosphere conducive for serious
sadhana, deep study, development of devotional qualities, association
with senior devotees and training in practical skills relevant to
management and preaching. The VIHE is conducting a four-level
systematic study of Srila Prabhupada's books envisioned by Srila
Prabhupada, i.e. Bhakti-sastri, Bhakti-vaibhava, Bhakti-vedanta and
Bhakti-sarvabhauma (to begin soon). Beside that, we yearly organize a
number of courses and retreats to help devotees from around the world
to strengthen devotional life and enhance their preaching with an
unforgettable experience of kirtan and Krishna katha in the Holy
Dhama.

The VIHE functions as a brahminical entity. Although we do request
students to contribute to the administrative cost of running the
courses, we depend on well-wishers for most of our expenses. We would
like to request your support in taking the VIHE a little forward. It
has been a few years now that we have been struggling to operate from
our current setup, which has simply become too small. Our activities
have been expanding. Last year we were unable to admit all the
devotees who applied for the Bhakti Shastri course because they would
not have fit in the classroom. For Bhakti Vaibhava has also been
steadily increasing; we have plenty of requests for the Hindi Bhakti
Shastri, which we are only able to facilitate once every two or three
years, and we have recently started a Sanskrit grammar course.
Applications for the 2015 semesters have already started to come in
and we would like to be able to respond adequately. Besides the
shortage of classroom space we are also tight with office and storage
space, and the accommodation of teachers is often problematic.

While we would like to develop the institute as a new full-fledged
project, complete with 7 classrooms, a comprehensive library, staff
and student quarters, temple hall, kitchen, expended offices and
gardens, - at this stage however we have decided to only take a small
leap forward and set our determination on constructing new rooms atop
the present building. Our plan is for two additional classrooms, two
rooms with attached bath for teachers, one office and a staircase
below which storage space will be accommodated. The work will also
include renovation of the washrooms and sewage system.

Please give some support toward this important educational endeavor.
We are in need of contributions in order to accommodate more and more
devotees eager to study Srila Prabhupada’s books. It is our hope that
we will be able to gather sufficient funds quickly so the classrooms
may be ready in time for the new academic year. We would be very
grateful for and encouraged by your assistance.

To send your donations, please contact Damodarashtaka dasa:
damodar.vihe@gmail.com

To see the photos of the present VIHE construction work, please go to
https://picasaweb.google.com/108723086666292087250/2015VIHERenovationConstruction

I hope this meets you well and in blissful spirit.

Your servant
Prashanta Devi Dasi.
Director, VIHE.