namahatta.org - Congregational Development Ministry

by Vijay Venugopal dasa and Prema Padmini dd

We felt so much at home with the Russian devotees that we consider Russia our second homeland now! This festival was especially for grihastas, who are the base asrama on which the other three, brahmacari, vanaprastha, and sannyasa, depend. Therefore grihastas must be solid devotees, motivated to build a strong Vaisnava community in each village, town, and city, to help the Golden Age of Lord Caitanya to blossom.

It appears that India and Russia might occupy leading positions in this revolution, considering the number of serious devotees in these two countries, and their book distribution scores. I said we would describe how grihastas could lead their lives in such a way that they were strong and happy while preaching. We have counseled hundreds of devotees in leading a happy married life.

Yoga is becoming a controversial topic these days. Devotees practice it for health reasons and as a means to reach out to an audience increasingly aware of and open to health and new age trends.

Now the Malaysian National Fatwa Council has banned Muslims in that country from practicing yoga, according to this BBC News article:

Millions of people in Malaysia have been banned from doing yoga because of fears it could corrupt Muslims.

The Islamic authorities have issued a ruling, known as a fatwa, instructing the country's Muslims to avoid yoga because of its Hindu roots.

by Jeyanthy Pillai

After a steady progress since the the launch of the Damodara Program,the momentum from the devotees took a dive when news about the health toll that had fallen on HH Jayapataka Swami swept across the world. Devotees were crying, feeling down and could hardly carry on with their regular chores. As days went by, they all realized the one thing they could do for HH Jayapataka that he would definitely be proud of was to carry on preaching and saving every soul on earth.

There has been a question regarding iPhone versions of Srila Prabhupada's books, in a comment to our article Cell Phones and Bhagavad-Gita. When the question was posted I was travelling without regular internet access and couldn't find the answer, which has been posted on the Google group World Sankirtan some time ago: KC books on iPhone 3G (version 2) by Candidasa Prabhu (personal blog). Here is the forum post with download links:

Srila Prabhupada is giving us the key to success for community development: it is this Vaikuntha atmosphere which we have to cultivate.

However, many times we only concentrate on the opulences of the spiritual world, thinking: if we make our temple very beautiful and attractive, then it will be just like Vaikuntha. We concentrate on the structure and form, and we forget the substance.

Of course, any project needs the development of both, substance as well as form and structure. Substance without form and structure becomes inefficient, and a structure without substance becomes like a hollow frame.

by Vasu Murti das

In your book "They Shall Not Hurt Or Destroy” you say a few years ago Norm Phelps came to the conclusion, such as I myself have, that the animal rights movement will never succeed until we 'convert' the churches, mosques and synagogues to our cause. Is this also your point of view?

Yes. I would like to see organized religion take up the struggle for animal rights. Religion has been wrong before. It has often been said that on issues such as women's rights and human slavery, religion has impeded social and moral progress. It was a Spanish Catholic priest, Bartolome de las Casas, who first proposed enslaving black Africans in place of the Native Americans who were dying off in great numbers.

The church of the past never considered human slavery to be a moral evil. The Protestant churches of Virginia, South Carolina, and other southern states here in the U.S. actually passed resolutions in favor of the human slave traffic.

by Deena Bandhu das,
sent to a PAMHO conference on 18 September 2008

An old classmate of mine sent me this:

Link: www.gethuman.com

When you're tired of wasting money, cell phone minutes, and, most importantly, your time due to phone systems that require you to press ten or more options in order to reach a real person and spending many minutes or even hours on hold, consult the GetHuman database of secret phone numbers and codes that immediately get an actual, live person on the line for customer service at nearly 1,000 major companies.

by Su-gita Vani dd

In the past our temple did book tables only in book fairs, local temple festivals and "Bhaagavath Saptaah(s)". But on Sunday, we did something different, we set up our table at a leading shopping complex here, in our area where we frequently shop. Because it is a commercial complex, they charged us a fee of Rs.500. The temple agreed to take this risk.

It was worth it because by the end of that day, our sales had crossed Rs. Six thousand. Two people even learned to chant.Seems people are looking for Krishna every where!

Within one hour I'm going to leave for South India, searching for an ayurvedic clinic or asram to take care of a variety of disorders that have developed in this body I've been carrying around for the last fifty-one years.

Generally South India has a better tech infrastructure than West Bengal, and I hope I will be able to continue looking after this website. Still, there may be some delay activating new user accounts and fixing imported articles that require manual attention (Google maps, embedded video or audio, or formatting irregularities).

by Ravindra Svarupa das

In the last two postings we have been considering a letter Srila Prabhupada wrote in 1972 concerning the nature of power. A devotee had written Prabhupada with misgivings about competition in activities of preaching. To this apparently simple and down-to-earth question, Prabhupada gave a reply that rose quickly to ultimate philosophical principles. Prabhupada's presentation is brilliantly compact; I have been unpacking it somewhat.

by Kripamoya das

When, for the first time, you've brought together your new people for a dinner party or small kirtan, discussion and prasadam, they'll probably want more. You can have a few regular meetings and give everyone time to settle down into being a member of something new. After some time there will be an important shift in the consciousness of the members. They will think more of themselves as a 'group of friends' and feel easy in each others company. The nervousness and over-politeness which governed proceedings earlier on will evaporate and the group will feel more comfortable in their new identity.

...This short film, made by a Christian group, illustrates some of the different unhelpful modes of behaviour that are prominent in small groups. Watch and try to translate it into small devotee group situations you may have been in yourself.—Watch Video

by Kripamoya das

Previously, I wrote about my experiences on the twelve week Alpha Course offered by the Christian Church. I explained what parts of my experience were helpful and which parts were disappointing. I wrote that as a short piece for some of my readers who are actively trying to bring spiritual seekers to Krishna, and who are therefore interested in hearing about any ideas that may make their task easier.

The Krishna consciousness movement is engaged in reaching out to others with its message. Part of the movement is engaged in "broadcasting," the wide dissemination of information; and part of the movement is engaged in "cultivation," when the seeds planted previously have sprouted and require further attention. The business of "preaching" must include both of these essential actions. Just as any intelligent farmer can"t reap a crop if he hasn"t both sown seed and cultivated, so there must be a series of stages in the matter of the cultivation of the soul.

Today I've noticed that many of our readers arrive at our site with browsers that have been infected with some nasty adware from FunWebProducts. This software offers smileys, cursors, and other fancy looking stuff for free—but you have to install their "search assistant" and browser toolbar in the process. This will change your homepage settings and generally take you to places you never intended to go.

HH Bhakti Raghava Maharaja sent a Position Paper on varnasrama development, passed by the Regional Governing Body (RGB) for India, to several PAMHO conferences:

"For everyone's information, this is the Position Paper passed by the Regional Governing Body (RGB) for India on varnasrama development. This came about as the result of recommendations presented by the Varnasrama Development Committee for India (of which I am a member) established in September, 2007 by the RGB India body. I believe this document is of relevance to all devotees around the world."

by Sita-pati das

In the Vedic conception of marriage, which is the social model used by ISKCON, marriage is not simply a commitment or contract between two people—it is a contract between two people and the community.

Especially when people are married in the temple in front of the Deities, the spiritual master, the sacred fire, and the devotional community.

Later on, if they decide to get divorced they are not simply breaking their commitment with each other, they are breaking their contract with the community—effectively they are excommunicating themselves from the community.

Whether you like it or not, Jehovah's Witnesses are always ready to do two things (1) Distribute books (2) Sit down and talk with you, and help you to understand. ISKCON has many book distributors, but we need more gurus.

After people have read one of Srila Prabhupada's books, and if they want to know more, their first question is often something like this: "How can I find out more about all this? Do you have any meetings in my town?" or "Are there any other Krishna people living near me?" That was my first eager question at the age of sixteen when I received a Back to Godhead magazine in the streets of Nottingham, England.

These resolutions I found looking through the published minutes of ISKCON's Governing Body Commission, mostly in Dandavats.com archives.

Originally I wanted to provide a reference of laws that exist in our society to deal with problems between rank-and-file devotees and their managers. Such procedures have been laid out by the GBC and I'll publish them here a little later (almost falling asleep, and will have to spend most of tomorrow at the lab's and my doc's waiting room).

I found the spirit of this Guideline from 1996 very inspiring, though, and wanted to bring it to your attention straight away. If everybody followed this, there'd be much less problems than we see today...

Were I to name the one human act most responsible for the wrongs in this world it would be, hands down, the abuse of power.

As far back as our history books can relate, the strong have exploited the weak. From time to time, the exploited, energized by resentment, rise up and overthrow their exploiters. In this way, the strong and the weak periodically exchange places. Even so, the principle of exploitation remains inviolate.

About eight years ago I attended a twelve-week 'Alpha Course'—a Christian outreach programme designed by the preacher Nicky Gumbel of the Holy Trinity Church in Brompton, London. There was lots of publicity at the time and there were courses springing up all over the place, as churches throughout Great Britain discovered that good results came from taking a new approach with an old message.

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 Kaunteya das

Actually the method doesn't even deserve the verb 'serving.'

The "system" is: someone brings breakfast prasadam (generally the morning maha plus something cooked in larger quantity and a drink) to the prasadam hall in plastic buckets of different sizes (often without enough spoons for serving); then people come and make their plates.

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.

[I received the following message this morning, which means it's already too late for some of the nectar; but those of you who can't attend any temple or community function tomorrow and after might want to look into this:]

Hare Krishna Dear Devotees,

Please accept my humble obeisances! All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

As you perhaps know, today's (21 August) evening lecture will be given by HH Radhanath Swami Maharaja at the Seattle temple (VCC), starting from 7.30pm. It is our humble attempt to broadcast the lectures (both voice and video) to the devotees who stay outside Seattle or cannot make it to the temple.

Please join us for this enlivening session via Live Meeting:

Hare Krishna, please accept my humble apologies.

I just noticed that our front page doesn't render properly in Internet Explorer 7, and perhaps other versions of that browser, too. Unfortunately most of our readers still are using it. (Did I mention that and are much better?)

I'm aware that most of you won't change your browsing habits because I say so, or to be able to see our front page in it's full glory; I'll have to fix whatever needs fixing to make it display properly in Microsoft browsers, too.

by Ravindra Svarupa das

In this essay, Ravindra Svarupa Prabhu describes his involvement in ISKCON's guru reform movement, instrumental in ending the "zonal acarya system," the dark ages into which ISKCON descendet soon after Srila Prabhupada's disappearance from this planet.

Analysing what went wrong with ISKCON at that time, Ravindra Svarupa Prabhu arrives at conclusions that are important to today's issues as well.

"The point is that the difficulties that precipitated the guru reform movement are intimately connected with psychological patterns and styles of relationships that began to establishing themselves from the beginning. These are grounded in the inability of many devotees to acknowledge and deal fruitfully with their own spiritual shortcomings and failures, or, in traditional vocabulary, their inability to execute the process of anartha-nivrtti (the eradication of "unwanted things" from the heart)."

And while the zonal acarya era is a thing of the past, ISKCON, the institution and we, it's members, would do well to apply the remedial measures he recommended at that time in our own lives and spheres of influence.

"...I concluded that the only way I could responsibly conduct research on such a loaded subject was to attempt to entrust myself to the guidance of Supersoul, the indwelling guide and director of intelligence. I feared more than anything else my own stupidity. I was the Straw Man, and I needed a brain. I decided to entrust myself to Prabhupada's instructions for attaining direction from Supersoul. Thus, as a remedial measure, I undertook to rigorously restore my sadhana to a strict level." ...

"At the beginning of the reform movement, I tried to show how within ISKCON concealment of failure leads to isolation. This principle holds as much for relations among communities as among individuals. Progress in spiritual life, individually and institutionally, depends first of all on the frank acknowledgement of shortcoming, errors, and mistakes. Without that, all "progress" is mere bluff."