south africa - Blog - ISKCON Desire Tree | IDT2024-03-29T15:44:31Zhttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/south+africaNamacarya Prabhu (GBC Deputy from South Africa), passed away on March 22, 2024https://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/namacarya-prabhu-gbc-deputy-from-south-africa-passed-away-on-marc2024-03-22T13:22:30.000Z2024-03-22T13:22:30.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><div>
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<div>Sending Prayers and Condolences for Namacarya Prabhu (GBC Deputy from South Africa), who passed away on March 22, 2024.</div>
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<div>Namacarya Prabhu was a loving and committed disciple of HHBhakti Caitanya Swami and a dedicated grand-disciple of ISKCON’s founder acarya, His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. He appeared in South Africa on 15th February 1957. He has great love and attachment to Srila Prabhupada’s lotus feet.</div>
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<div>He has been a member of ISKCON since 1988 where he first came into contact with the devotees and was inspired by HH Krishna Das Maharaj at that time.</div>
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<div>He received first initiation on Rama Navami day in 1997 and second initiation on 1998.</div>
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<div>He has served Srila Prabhupada’s ISKCON selflessly and did anything for Srila Prabhupada’s service without hesitation.</div>
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<div>Over the many years, Namacarya Prabhu served with dedication by (amongst others):</div>
<div>-book distribution,</div>
<div>-supporting harinamas,</div>
<div>-his enthusiastic classes,</div>
<div>-cooking and doing aratis for Their Lordships Sri Sri Nitai Gaurahari,</div>
<div>-raising funds for the temple,</div>
<div>-being temple president in ISKCON Lenasia, -being regional secretary for ISKCON in South Africa,</div>
<div>-being a deputy GBC,</div>
<div>-being a mentor to disciples of Bhakti Caitanya Swami,</div>
<div>-being a Bhakti Shastri mentor/teacher,</div>
<div>-inviting and serving the devotees lovingly at his family home.</div>
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<div>His love for Srila Prabhupada has always been and remains prominent and he always stood up to support Srila Prabhupada’s standards. He read Srila Prabhupada’s books daily and is attached to the Holy Name.</div>
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<div>Namacarya Prabhu is a most beloved husband of Kaishori devi dasi and most beloved father to Yogesvari devi dasi, Syama Kishor das, Dhira Gauranga das and Gandharvika Sundari dasi. He is also a beloved Gandfather to Tarini Gaurangi. He is known for his exemplary fatherly love, care, wisdom and guidance to his family and to the devotees. The devotees love him for his gentle heartedness and sweet sense of humour.</div>
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<div>Namacarya Prabhu, was transferred from Mayapur to the ICU at Apollo Hospital in Kolkata in second week of March 2024 as he was suffering from bronchitis and renal failure. He left his body in the hospital on the morning of 22 March 2024.</div>
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<div>- Issued by GBC Communications<br /> <br /> <strong>Source: </strong><a href="https://dandavats108.blogspot.com/2024/03/namacarya-prabhu-gbc-deputy-from-south.html">https://dandavats108.blogspot.com/2024/03/namacarya-prabhu-gbc-deputy-from-south.html</a></div>
</div></div>ISKCON Hammanskraal Temple Suffers Fire Damagehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/iskcon-hammanskraal-temple-suffers-fire-damage2024-03-20T12:03:23.000Z2024-03-20T12:03:23.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><strong><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}12402784297,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="500" alt="12402784297?profile=RESIZE_584x" /></strong></p>
<p><strong>By Atma Tattva Das</strong></p>
<p>On March 14, 2024, the ISKCON Hammanskraal temple, located in a township in northern Pretoria, South Africa’s capital city, experienced a fire incident that caused significant damage to its front entrance.</p>
<p>In an interview with Co-Temple President Jai Nitai Das, ISKCON News learned that the conflagration was caused by an uncontrolled field fire that spread from neighboring grounds, particularly from a nearby church property.</p>
<p>According to Jai Nitai, the overgrown and unkempt grass on the church’s premises has led to frustration among locals. One individual, seemingly from the nearby informal settlement, took matters into their own hands and set fire to the grass. Unfortunately, the fire spread towards the ISKCON Hammanskraal temple, igniting the thatched entrance structure. This regrettable event serves as a reminder of the importance of maintaining fire safety measures and communal cooperation in safeguarding shared spaces.<br /> <br /> <strong>Read more: </strong><a href="https://iskconnews.org/iskcon-hammanskraal-temple-suffers-fire-damage/">https://iskconnews.org/iskcon-hammanskraal-temple-suffers-fire-damage/</a></p></div>Food For Life and Harinam Take to the Streets of South Africa’s Informal Settlementhttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/food-for-life-and-harinam-take-to-the-streets-of-south-africa-s-i2023-10-11T15:02:45.000Z2023-10-11T15:02:45.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}12253760270,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="500" alt="12253760270?profile=RESIZE_584x" /></p>
<p>On Saturday, 7 October, His Holiness Indradyumna Swami visited the informal Bottlebrush settlement in Chatsworth, south of Durban. Residents were treated to a taste of the spiritual world through a vibrant and colourful harinam party and delicious prasadam distribution.</p>
<p>This location is home to thousands of residents of Durban who live in impoverished conditions. In this area, the residents create small make-shift shelters with minimal living space, no tar roads, or proper sanitation facilities. Tin, plastic, and other durable materials are used to construct the shelters, often shared between a few families.</p>
<p>Devotees engaged with the residents through chanting and dancing in these areas. The harinam party invited everyone to join – creating a synergy of spirit and a mood of happiness. Little children loved being the centre of attention within the kirtan circle, clapping their hands and being cheered on by devotees. They do not often receive this kind of attention and, therefore, were very excited to have the devotees invite them to be part of the singing and dancing. Although it was a hot and humid Spring day, there was no holding back in participation as the maha-mantra resounded through the streets.<br /> <br /> <strong>Read more: </strong><a href="https://iskconnews.org/food-for-life-and-harinam-take-to-the-streets-of-south-africas-informal-settlement/">https://iskconnews.org/food-for-life-and-harinam-take-to-the-streets-of-south-africas-informal-settlement/</a></p></div>Devotee Care South Africa’s End-Of-Life Seminar Offers Valuable Insightshttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/devotee-care-south-africa-s-end-of-life-seminar-offers-valuable-i2023-09-25T13:14:50.000Z2023-09-25T13:14:50.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><strong><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}12232260891,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="500" alt="12232260891?profile=RESIZE_584x" /></strong></p>
<p><strong>By Atma Tattva Das</strong></p>
<p>Devotee Care South Africa (DCSA), an integral part of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in South Africa, recently hosted a highly relevant End-of-Life Seminar at the Sri Sri Radha Radhanath Temple in Durban during the last week of August 2023. The seminar, held in collaboration with the Bhaktivedanta Medical Association (BMA), provided invaluable insights into the delicate subject of end-of-life care.</p>
<p>The seminar addressed the profound questions and concerns surrounding end-of-life care within the context of practicing spiritual life. Attendees were offered a wealth of information and practical guidance on navigating the challenges of this critical phase of life. The event was graced by Sukanti Radha Dasi, a vital member of the BMA and a disciple of HH Jayapataka Swami. Her expertise and compassionate approach deeply impacted the audience.</p>
<p>The seminar began by exploring different viewpoints on death and dying, setting the stage for a prescriptive discussion. Attendees were engaged in a thought-provoking dialogue as they contemplated the spiritual dimension of this universal experience. One participant shared, “This was very informative. I understand a lot more about death and dying now.”<br /> <br /> <strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://iskconnews.org/devotee-care-south-africas-end-of-life-seminar-offers-valuable-insights/">https://iskconnews.org/devotee-care-south-africas-end-of-life-seminar-offers-valuable-insights/</a></p></div>Krishna Consciousness Successfully Spreading in ISKCON East London, South Africahttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/krishna-consciousness-successfully-spreading-in-iskcon-east-londo2023-05-21T11:34:43.000Z2023-05-21T11:34:43.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}11134013884,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="500" alt="11134013884?profile=RESIZE_584x" /></p>
<p>The ISKCON East London community has been actively spreading the teachings of Lord Krishna in South Africa’s Eastern Cape region since 2013. The project began when devotees traveling to Grahamstown for the annual National Arts Festival stopped in East London and arranged for a small, spontaneous Ratha Yatra procession in Braelyn. After the event, Nimai Das, Acyuta Keshava Das, and Vrajabasi Das mutually agreed to initiate programs in East London.</p>
<p>Vrajabasi Das established the preaching program in East London and set up a prasadam stall at one of the malls that September. The project continued with weekly nama-hatta programs hosted at different devotee homes every Tuesday night. They read Bhagavad Gita As It Is, the Ramayana, and sang bhajans.</p>
<p>After some time, the devotees decided to rent a facility to establish a more permanent centre in Amalinda. This small centre hosted its first Ram Navmi festival, and many Food for Life programs were coordinated from that new location. The devotees moved to their second centre in the affluent suburb of Selborne in 2016, where they introduced the Sunday Love Feast, Hatha Yoga programs, and various fundraising initiatives such as prasada stalls and book distribution. They also had a booth at the local Diwali Fair hosted by the East London Hindu Society.<br /> <br /> <strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://iskconnews.org/krishna-consciousness-successfully-spreading-in-iskcon-east-london-south-africa/">https://iskconnews.org/krishna-consciousness-successfully-spreading-in-iskcon-east-london-south-africa/</a></p></div>Final moments in South Africa by Bhaktimarga Swamihttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/final-moments-in-south-africa-by-bhaktimarga-swami2023-04-26T10:23:28.000Z2023-04-26T10:23:28.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}11036394082,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="300" alt="11036394082?profile=RESIZE_400x" /></p>
<p id="viewer-7rpbb">Patita Pavana and I did several revolutions around the Radha Radhanath temple in Chatsworth before taking a few restful moments for our feet on a provided bench. As usual, the myna birds were extremely noisy perched in several trees on the grounds. The sun was just about to make its appearance, when suddenly there was a power outage. The sounds of the birds just very spontaneously ceased with not a beat missing. Gradually the serenading picked up again. When the power came back on, so did a burst of bird calls. It was astounding to us how nature demonstrates this special connectivity.</p>
<p id="viewer-a6k9e">In any event, the two of us carried on with our utterings of the <em>maha mantra</em>.</p>
<p id="viewer-cqtat">Two hours later, I was handed some fish food to distribute to the koi fish in the moat. My God! They were so ravenous with their appetite. Fun to watch their eagerness.</p>
<p id="viewer-dbbep">It was with enthusiasm that so many congregants turned out at the New Jagannatha Puri temple in Phoenix. On this last day of the Easter weekend that the four monks (<em>swamis</em>) in the area were to deliver talks on the topic of “The Ultimate Goal.” I was one of the four speakers and took the floor to say that to get to the ultimate goal we need to address the immediate goal. I stressed the importance of the three ‘S’s once again – <em>sadhana </em>(regulated bhakti yoga practices),<em> shastra</em> (a regular read of scripture), and <em>sangha </em>(association with pious and saintly people.</p>
<p id="viewer-bad40">My first fine moment with people was an hour or more with our thespian team. I’m going to miss them.<br /> <br /> <strong>Source: </strong><a href="https://www.thewalkingmonk.net/post/final-moments-in-south-africa">https://www.thewalkingmonk.net/post/final-moments-in-south-africa</a></p></div>Durban Ratha Yatra welcomes thousands in South Africahttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/durban-ratha-yatra-welcomes-thousands-in-south-africa2023-04-17T11:53:49.000Z2023-04-17T11:53:49.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><strong><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}11029194474,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="500" alt="11029194474?profile=RESIZE_584x" /></strong></p>
<p><strong>By Atma Tattva Das</strong></p>
<p>The Durban Festival of Chariots, one of the largest Ratha Yatra festivals outside of India, returned to the Durban North Beach Front this year for a second time after COVID restrictions in 2020. The festival, which has been running for almost forty years, allows devotees to come together and celebrate the glory of Lord Jagannath.</p>
<p>Organized through the cooperative efforts of many devotees, the festival is also a significant financial undertaking, costing over 2.5 million rands to create. Yet, despite the cost, the festival is a labor of love for the devotees who come together to make it happen.</p>
<p><strong>Read more: </strong><a href="https://iskconnews.org/durban-ratha-yatra-welcomes-thousands-in-south-africa/">https://iskconnews.org/durban-ratha-yatra-welcomes-thousands-in-south-africa/</a></p></div>Food For Life New Jagannath Puri, South Africa Cooks 108 Pots of Prasadam on Women’s Dayhttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/food-for-life-new-jagannath-puri-south-africa-cooks-108-pots-of-p2021-08-15T13:38:49.000Z2021-08-15T13:38:49.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p> <img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9428187296,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="500" alt="9428187296?profile=RESIZE_584x" /></p>
<p><strong>By Madhava Smullen </strong></p>
<p>The Food For Life branch in New Jagannath Puri at ISKCON of Phoenix, South Africa – a suburb of Durban – relaunched on August 9th by preparing 108 pots of Biryani, a rice dish with vegetables. As the sun rose in the early morning, the impressive operation saw devotees cooking outside over multiple rows of wood fires against the backdrop of the New Jagannath Puri temple.</p>
<p>Food For Life’s distribution partner network of religious organizations of all faiths then distributed an incredible 21,600 meals to the needy in the local community. The effort took place on the occasion of National Women’s Day, an annual public holiday in South Africa.</p>
<p>“We had pre-packed all the food ingredients the day before, on Sunday, so that it would be a much smoother exercise on Monday morning,” says ISKCON Phoenix temple president Prabhanu Das. “We had ten pots allocated to a group of devotees, and all they had to do was put the ingredients given to them in the pots, and make sure that everything was properly cooked. We started at 4:30 in the morning, and finished cooking at around 10:00am.”</p>
<p>Various faith partners and non-profit organizations then distributed the meals to the needy in communities some 40 kilometers to the South of the temple, as well as 25 kilometers to the North. In addition, three to four thousand meals were distributed at the temple itself. Covid precautions such as masks and sanitization were used throughout the preparation and distribution efforts.</p>
<p><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://iskconnews.org/food-for-life-new-jagannath-puri-south-africa-cooks-108-pots-of-prasadam-on-womens-day,7954/">https://iskconnews.org/food-for-life-new-jagannath-puri-south-africa-cooks-108-pots-of-prasadam-on-womens-day,7954/</a></p></div>ISKCON South Africa’s Leaders Begin Inclusion and Belonging Traininghttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/iskcon-south-africa-s-leaders-begin-inclusion-and-belonging-train2021-03-07T12:49:58.000Z2021-03-07T12:49:58.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><div>
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<p><em>The program's goal is the "creation of an ISKCON culture and leadership that celebrates and protects diversity and inclusion, making all devotees feel at home"</em></p>
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<p>South Africa’s diverse ethnic, cultural, and religious backgrounds offers unique opportunities to demonstrate the genuine efficacy and universal relevance of Krishna consciousness. </p>
<p>Due to our conditioned nature and influenced by our different racial, cultural, socio-economic backgrounds and genders, we sometimes fall short in our expression of Krishna consciousness, especially in our dealings with and acceptance of others. It is with this context that ISKCON South Africa’s Inclusion and Belonging Program officially commenced in February 2021. The program provides formal training on diversity, inclusion and belonging; for the purpose of better identifying personal and institutional shortcomings and take appropriate corrective action. </p>
<p>Developed over some months, the program is led by an adjunct faculty of the prestigious Henley Business School. Both facilitators, Sharon Shakung and Louise Claassen are leading experts in this field having done extensive work with many of South Africa’s leading organizations and with blue chip companies, governments and NGOs across the African continent. <br /> <br /> <strong>Read more: </strong><a href="https://iskconnews.org/iskcon-south-africas-leaders-begin-inclusion-and-belonging-training,7712/">https://iskconnews.org/iskcon-south-africas-leaders-begin-inclusion-and-belonging-training,7712/</a></p>
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<p> </p></div>ISKCON South Africa Stands Against Racism and Discriminationhttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/iskcon-south-africa-stands-against-racism-and-discrimination2020-06-18T11:33:46.000Z2020-06-18T11:33:46.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><div id="article_image" style="text-align:center;"><img class="align-center" src="https://iskconnews.org/media/img_versions/2020/06-Jun/cubasi1_slideshow.png?profile=RESIZE_584x" width="500" alt="cubasi1_slideshow.png?profile=RESIZE_584x" /></div>
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<p>South Africa has a painful history. So many people have suffered transgressions, so many have endured racial policies based on discrimination and deliberate marginalization. This history and its ongoing ramifications should never be trivialized, and any callousness should be met with a concerted effort to deepen our collective understanding of past and present pain. </p>
<p>Human dignity is the bedrock of our country’s constitution, which enshrines equality, human rights, freedom, non-racialism, and non-sexism. Those very same principles are also expressed in the constitution of ISKCON’s South African National Council (SANC), and each and every SANC member is committed to fully realizing those principles.</p>
<p>The Bhagavad-gita teaches that as eternal, infinitesimal spiritual beings, we are all equal as brothers and sisters, with Krishna as our common father. All of us must strive to fully assimilate this core teaching, and we must all recognize that example is more important than precept. Let us be cautious not to mistake our own perceived reality as everyone’s reality, and let us always observe true Vaishnava decorum and compassion, no matter what. <br /> <br /> <strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://iskconnews.org/iskcon-south-africa-stands-against-racism-and-discrimination,7392/">https://iskconnews.org/iskcon-south-africa-stands-against-racism-and-discrimination,7392/</a></p>
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