by Vijay Venugopal das and Prema Padmini dd

With Sasthivara and Gandhari

Sasthivara makes a living by selling paintings. He told us a bit about Russian history. Russian people, by nature, prefer a strong leader and are not interested in conquering other countries. In fact, the various nationalities in the Russian federation are from small countries which joined Russia to get the protection of a strong king.

Russians are so simple and obedient that, when Harikesa Swami, the previous GBC, told them to rise in the morning, shower, and chant for two hours, some of them misunderstood and actually stood in a cold shower for two hours while chanting japa!

by Gauragopala das

Indian Hindus are populating ISKCON Temples in the West in a way never seen before over the last forty-two years. This is happening all over the world at a massive rate and is not a phenomenon, as some suggest. The fact is, as India becomes a wealthier nation, we can only expect more and more students to leave India and attend Western educational institutions as well as many more arriving from India to become citizens of other countries.

by Kauntya das

The days started early, by waking up spontaneously (if you don't include the Vayasaki bhajan CD playing loudly in the nearby temple room) at 3:15 am. It always helps to chant a few rounds before mangala-arati...

Mangala-arati was the most attended I ever saw here: young and senior devotees alike filled up the temple. For the occasion we sang Vibhavari Sesa instead of the customary Guruvastaka prayers.

by Gauragopala das

In April 1972, the Melbourne City Council in Australia began a campaign to try and move the Hare Krishna devotees away from the city streets. This struggle with the Council would continue on for another three years.

Not only were we now continuously harassed on the streets by the Council, we were also harassed in our own Temple with middle of the night Police raids looking for devotees who had never paid their fines for chanting on the streets, distributing books, and performing drama plays in the City square.

Photo: Kurma Prabhu being dragged away to jail for chanting Hare Krishna on the streets of Melbourne, Australia in the early seventies.

The Telegraph reports that the Catholic Church in Italy is planning to follow the summer exodus of it's flock to the country's beaches by setting up a hundred foot long inflatable church at Molise on the Adriatic coast:

The 100-foot-long church will be set up on Saturday and is to be manned by a team of priests waiting to hear confession, give mass and sing holy music.

"There will be four or five people singing, with music about God," said Chiara Facci from the Catholic group Sentinelli del Mattino, which is putting up the blow-up church.

Kripamoya Prabhu explains history and development of book distribution follow-up strategies in the UK. This online-book contains the following articles:

• Book Distribution Follow Up Strategies: The Mail Order Miracle
• Book Distribution Follow Up Strategies: Meet the Monks!
• Book Distribution Follow Up Strategies: Market Place Festivals

The articles have been posted originally on his blog, The Vaishnava Voice. If and when Kripamoya Prabhu writes more on this subject, I'll include it here.

You can download the whole series as a pdf-file, too.

by Anuttama das

On June 20, 2008, Paramount Pictures releases The Love Guru nationwide. The film tells the story of Guru Pitka (Mike Myers), a westerner raised at an Indian ashram, who grows up to be a high-profile and eccentric holy man come west.

While the level of humor contained in the film is crass, the comedy has drawn significant attention even before its official opening—both pro and con—and from Hindu-Americans concerned that it violates appropriate boundaries in dealing with a religious subject.

On behalf of the North American chapters of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), a Vaishnava, or devotional Hindu organization with an ethnically diverse membership, we understand that many Hindus are concerned that the film may mock their faith. At the same time, having seen the film in its entirety, we find it to be a typical satire that does not intend to hurt religious sentiments.

by Vijay Venugopal dasa and Prema Padmini dd

Everyone got their turn to pour different coloured ingredients on their Lordships: milk, ghee, curds, and all sorts of juices. Then, as They were being dried and dressed, my husband narrated the story of the pastimes at Panihati, which everyone heard with great enthusiasm and joy, resolving to think of the lake as the river Ganga, hoping Their Lordships would bless them.

Once dressed, Caitanya Avatari and I in turn led a rousing kirtana, going round and round the deities with the devotees. Offerings were made, and we finally enjoyed the delicious mahaprasadam—chipped rice separately, and all the other items mixed together. The other visitors to the lake, as well as some locals, also got their share.

by Bhakta Mike, posted May 13, 2008

In response to a law suit citing obstruction of religious practice, the Arizona attorney general has requested the Tucson ISKCON temple and Govinda's Natural Foods Restaurant to provide three meals a day for inmate Jeff Walls, a Hare Krishna devotee in Federal Prison. Walls told the state that eating the prison food violated his religious practice of only eating sanctified food prepared in a clean, meat free kitchen by a brahmana with spiritual consciousness. The attorney generals office is negotiating with temple president Sandamini Mataji to provide those meals.

Mumbai–Friday, 25 May 2007

by Vijaya Venugopala das and Prema Padmini dd

On our way to Russia we stopped at the Juhu temple. We met Braja Hari Prabhu, Mukunda Madhava Prabhu, and other senior devotees. We were happy and excited to learn that they had heard from other Indian temples, during a Regional Governing Body meeting at Ujjain, about the great impact Bhakti-vriksha preaching had on their activities. Among others, the temples in New Delhi, Hyderabad, Tirupati, and Kolkata where mentioned–places where we had conducted seminars earlier and where Bhakti-vriksha groups were developing nicely.

One temple president had described how book distribution tripled within one year after starting Bhakti-vriksha preaching! At Juhu temple it was decided to involve the congregation to a larger extent than had been done in the past. We had explained how to do this by structuring all activities around Bhakti-vriksha. Convinced, they requested us to visit on our return from Russia, so we could meet the most active congregation and Youth Forum members.

Many, many moons ago—way back in the last century—when the ISKCON movement was just becoming established as "a confederation of centers, farms, schools, and restaurants" and anybody who was anybody lived in a temple, the temple president was the natural person to care for the spiritual lives of the devotees.

The president was the appointed head of the community, the spiritual supervisor of standards of worship and practice, and often also the chief inspiration behind the preaching. It was a very responsible position—and still is. Along with the "temple commander," the president engaged the members of local ISKCON in all the activities necessary to support a spiritual community and to prosper in their own spiritual lives.

by Vijaya Venugopal dasa and Prema Padmini dd

My husband explained that Bhakti-vriksha groups were the base units of the Vaisnava community we are trying to create according to Srila Prabhupada's vision. This is Lord Caitanya's Golden Age, and the creation of such communities all over the world has to take place as predicted. All activities of a yatra are part of the Bhakti-vriksha program—not just the weekly sessions, but also study classes, Bhakti-sastri courses, Sunday programs, deity worship, outreach programs, festivals, book distribution, and temple construction. Only if there is a complete set of activities to engage all devotees will the Vaishnava community really be alive. Srila Prabhupada said everything was already there, and that only time was separating us from this perfect situation.

We have an eight-petalled lotus symbol for this year's theme, as it neatly fits as an emblem for the eight projects comprising the campaign. OK, so lotuses have many more petals than eight—but by the end of the year so will we.

It started many months ago when I interviewed all the long-serving leaders of both London temples as to what the words "congregational development" means to them. We all have visions of what an expanded and improved Krishna consciousness movement looks like—based upon Srila Prabhupada’s criteria—and it does no harm, and perhaps a lot of good, to sometimes use our long-distance imagination.

Here's a blog post of a devotee's first-hand experience at one of the new megachurches, Planet Shakers in Melbourne, Australia.

Wikipedia: Planetshakers City Church (formerly Melbourne City Church) is a Pentecostal Christian church affiliated with Australian Christian Churches, the Assemblies of God in Australia. The church started when the Planetshakers band and ministry moved to Melbourne in 2004, and currently meets in hired auditoriums throughout Central Melbourne. The church is pastored by Russell and Sam Evans and has attendance nearing 3000, ...

by Akarsini Radhika dd

Inspired by the congregational preaching programs in India under the auspicies of HH Jayapataka Maharaja, and seeing vast opportunity for similar preaching in Rome, Kancanarupa Mataji, assisted by Sarvakanti Rai Mataji, has revitalized Nama-hatta in Rome. Many devotees, including HH Jayapataka Maharaja, have given their blessings to Kancanarupa and Sarvakanti Rai, who thus decided to dedicate their energies to this venture.

Although both have many duties to perform at the temple, desiring to further the spreading of Krishna consciousness Kancanarupa and Sarvakanti Rai created within the temple a Nama-hatta office, which was inaugurated by HH Jayapataka Maharaja on 7 September 2007.

by Rasika Murari das

The month-long Damodara-utsava here in Kuala Lumpur started with a bang, introducing many new approaches. Our congregation worked tirelessly to encourage more and more souls to be touched by the ever-sweet Lord Damodara. This year the festival was launched at one of the biggest Deepavali Carnival sales: "KL Sentral." HH Bhanu Maharaja was present and more than two thousand people participated.

by Radha Sundari devi dasi

Recognizing the need to increase the spiritual care and training of the growing North American congregation, a group of devotees have begun creating a network of support for congregational preachers. As a preliminary step, we are connecting with devotees across Canada and the US involved in congregational preaching. The result of this outreach, even in its beginning stage, has resulted in wonderful cooperation in the service of Srila Prabhupada.

Hearing that HH Jayapataka Maharaja, our guru-maharaja, had arrived, we rushed out and saw him getting out of a car, being greeted by Angira Muni Prabhu. Seeing us, he beckoned, and asked how we found the weather compared to the Arabian Gulf (a sweltering 45 degrees Celsius). We told him about the Russian devotees' enthusiastic response to our Bhakti-vriksha seminars, and when he went for prasadam—he had not eaten the whole day—we returned to the hall.

Now was a play about Chand Kazi and Nrsimhadeva appearing in his dream. The costumes were excellent, as was the acting. Soon HH Jayapataka Maharaja entered and spoke about his recent travels, including seventy-five initiations in Mathuradesh and the Nrsimha-caturdasi festival in Mayapur. He also spoke about Bhakti-vriksha and our visit to Russia.

On 25 October, the day before Kartika started, we again went to do a preaching program in the Gwalior Central Jail. During his lecture HH Subhaga Maharaja convinced the Jail Superintendent to first offer all food to the Lord and then serve prasadam to the prisoners. In his thank-you speech, the Jail Superintendent announced to the three thousand prisoners that from now on they would be served prasadam.

Dear Maharajas, Prabhus and Matajis,

Hare Krsna. Please accept my respectful obeisances. All glories to Srila Prbhupada.

ISKCON Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, launched the Damodara Month Festival at the Kuala Lumpur "Deepavali Carnival" at Central Station on 26 October, 2007.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Datuk Kayveas, and HH Bhanu Maharaj launched the festival in front of some 1,500 people.

ISKCON Kuala Lumpur reported that already more than 6,000 guests have offered ghee lamps at our Damodara lamp booth, set up at the carnival. All other centres in Malaysia also take advantage of the auspicious Damodara month by increasing the number of home programs.

For a short video please follow this link:

• videos.thestar.com.my/default.aspx?vid=573

Your servant, Simhesvara dasa

[You can see last years festival report here.
This article ends here.]

Centro Studi Bhaktivedanta

Academy of Indian Traditional Sciences

A dialogue between Eastern and Western experiences and cultures

Centro Studi Bhaktivedanta (CSB)  has been founded by Matsya Avatara das (Marco Ferrini) in 1995. It's an Academy committed to the study and teaching of Vedic-Vaishnava Tradition. It is a non-profit society recognized by the Italian Government. Its Academic Department of Traditional Indian Sciences works in several Universities and collaborates with Institutes, Colleges and researchers worldwide.

Ancient Indian culture, rich in values that have perennially inspired civilizations, and specifically scholars, nowadays continues to be of great relevance to all of humanity. Traditional ancient Indian philosophy, psychology, Ayurvedic medicine and Yoga disciplines merge with modern scientific discoveries to surpass the divisive boundaries of knowledge.

Today, after another round of kirtana and dance, Angira Muni Prabhu asked me to give Srimad-Bhagavatam class, on the verse wherein Prahlada Maharaja glorifies preachers, saying that Krishna loves them—an inspiring verse for Bhakti-vriksha preachers!

Then we visited the school again. The program began with a seminar for grihasthas, followed by questions about Bhakti-vriksha.

During the grihastha seminar, married couples had to write down five good qualities of their spouse. Most were young couples, and it was amazing how much they praised each other and how happy they felt to express their feelings! Jaya Madhava Prabhu and Angira Muni Prabhu also participated, and asked my husband and I to join as well.

Every year for Janmastami we have a big program in Agra Central Jail with very enthusiastic participation from the prisoners who make Krishna Lila dioramas. Unfortunately this year there was civil unrest in Agra do to rioting by a certain community and there was curfew. But several days later after things were peaceful, the superintendent of the Jail invited us for doing a wonderful program.

Another casualty in the "war on terror": the US Bureau of Prisons got some experts to compile a list of religious books that will be allowed in prison libraries. Neither the list of experts nor the list of books have been published yet, but prison chaplains are already busy sorting out unwanted literature across the country's jails.

The stated reason is that prisons should avoid becoming recruiting grounds for militant Islamic and other religious groups. To not allow inflammatory books calling for jihad against the infidels makes sense, of course, but to remove everything but 150 or so books that have been vetted by some obscure experts is a different thing altogether.

“It’s swatting a fly with a sledgehammer,” said Mark Earley, president of Prison Fellowship, a Christian group. “There’s no need to get rid of literally hundreds of thousands of books that are fine simply because you have a problem with an isolated book or piece of literature that presents extremism.”

Several prisoners have filed class-action lawsuits, claiming the bureau’s actions violate their rights to the free exercise of religion as guaranteed by the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. I don't know about these lawsuits' chances to succeed in the present political climate, and neither do I know if Srila Prabhupada's books are included in the list of sanctioned literatures. If not, we (the IPM) should make some urgent endeavors in this direction.

your servant, phanisvara das

(Read on for a blog-article by Rory Litwin,
LibraryJuicePress.com)