namahatta.org - Congregational Development Ministry

by Prema Padmini dd & Vijay Venugopala das

Caru Candra and Prana Govinda Prabhus arranged our tour from Cox's Bazar on the Bay of Bengal in the south of Bangladesh all the way to Sylhet in the north, close to the border with Assam in India.

Tuesday, 14 April: Cox's Bazar

Cox's Bazar boasts one of the longest beaches in the world. It is lined with many hotels and Bangladeshis flock there during all holidays. The temple is in the poorer part of town where most Hindus live. Here the roads are lined with open drains, narrow and dirty. The temple is built on a small plot of land with another building and shops in front. There is a big temple room with huge and beautiful deities of Sri Sri Jagannath, Baladeva, and Subhadra, donated by Ramani Manohar Prabhu, who became a devotee in Mathuradesh.

In our ongoing publication of the Bhakti-vriksha Diaries we are jumping to the current year; earlier entries will be published later.

Katwa, Sitahatti, and Bangladesh Tours (April 2009)

Vijay Venugopal das
and Prema Padmini dd

On 8 April we were taken in a Tata Sumo to Nirmala Krishna Prabhu's house, accompanied by Sumadhur Krishna Prabhu, his wife, two daughters, and two sons. The daughters Vrinda and Sumitra now speak excellent English, studying at the Bhaktivedanta School in Mayapur, and the sons, Sudama and Subal Sakha, are very mischievous. The girls are closer to us due to our association in Mathuradesh, and we had many loving exchanges with them throughout the trip.

Also with us was Sita Ram Lakshman Prabhu, temple president of Perth, Australia, whom we have known since he accompanied Guru Maharaja to Mathuradesh years earlier; with him we discussed preaching in Australia.

Report by Dr. D. Das:

"We started the new Bhakti-vriksha Program, following the approach and standards used in Kolkata, India. We have twentytwo fresh groups in Chittagong’s urban area. The regular activities in the group meetings are: khushol binimoy (introduction, invocation), kirtan/bhajan, icebreaker, japa,discussion on Bhagavad-gita, prasadam. Every Sangha Das (group servant-leader) sends a weekly report to Prabartak ISKCON Sri Krishna Mandir, Bhakit-vriksha Head Office. We also started Bhakti-vriksha preaching among the students, especially medical, engineering, and post-graduates; we call it Bhakti-vriksha Chatra Sangha. We have established Bhakti-vriksha Library for temple devotees and students."