namahatta.org - Congregational Development Ministry

by Vijay Venugopal das and Prema Padmini dd

In the car we spoke about their life in New Jersey, sadhana, preaching, and other topics. At the doorstep we were met by their charming and vivacious six year old daughter Vrinda. She had been waiting for us and started to converse with me so effortlessly without any shyness!

His good wife Naveena Mataji (both initiated disciples of HH Bhakti Tirtha Maharaja), took us into their house. Sri Vrindavan was busy performing long puja to Sri Sri Salagram and Govardhan-sila and other deities. Vrinda kept showing us her photos and taking photos of us with her father’s mobile phone. She got flowers from her "deity" dolls of Radha Krishna and Jagannath, Baladev, Subadra and offered them to us.

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 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.

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.

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)

The Houston temple is maintained by Grihastha congregation members alone. It’s a living example of how congregation members can serve co-operatively in Srila Prabhupada’s mission. The Houston community has disciples of many Gurus serving together. This temple was established by HH Tamal Krishna Goswami Maharaja in the 1980s. HH Giridhari Maharaja is the local GBC and many sannyasis visit all throughout the year. Now, it is a thriving community of disciples of many Gurus.

By Phanisvara das
Photos: www.nirantara.com

For the past 13 years Nirantara Prabhu, disciple of Srila Prabhupada and director of ISKCON LA's Nama-hatta program, has been cultivating congregational devotees in southern California. Every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 52 weeks every year, Nirantara prabhu holds programs in the homes of mostly Indian-born devotees, lecturing from Srila Prabhupada's books:

1. Krishna Book
2. Teachings of Lord Chaitanya
3. Caitanya-caritamrita
4. Bhagavad-gita
5. Nectar of Devotion
6. Prabhupada-lilamrita
7. Childrens' Krishna-lila

Once or twice every year he visits Panama and Chile, where he holds Nama-hatta seminars. The dates and topics of his lectures are available on the internet at www.nirantara.com, where you also find photos from various preaching engagements and festivals, audio- & video-files of his lectures, and can participate in an online course of Srila Prabhupada's Krishna Book. Currently a DVD with all 700 slokas of Bhagavad-gita As It Is, chanted by Nirantara prabhu in English, with short explanations to every verse, is being promoted.

This article was published on Jayadvaita Maharaja's personal web site, www.jswami.info, at this location. I have re-published it here to provide a sadhu's and scholar's opinion for our discussion of political issues.

When it all happened on 9/11, I was away from the United States - in the Middle East, to be more precise. I didn't watch the catastrophe on television; I didn't have one. (I almost never watch tv, and rarely read newspapers.) And I can tell you that from my detached and distant vantage point the events looked very different than to my friends in America.

So different, in fact, that I ought to begin by telling you that what I write here does not represent the official views of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, nor even the unofficial views of more than perhaps a scattered handful of its members. And with that disclaimer I can now say whatever I want, however strange and radical it might appear.

This then is an account of how 9/11 - and events that followed - can be seen from one Krishna conscious point of view.

Hare Krsna!

Next Tuesday, July 11th, the Court of Appeals in Houston, Texas will be hearing a case brought forth by a devotee inmate, Jana Janmade dasa. The state of Texas has discriminated against the Hare Krsna movement and has not allowed Jana to have a proper vegetian diet, his japa beads or more than a couple of books (two or three) even though they are religious.

With a little help from our friends ...

A few days ago two articles appeared on the web site of ISKCON Spanish Fork, Utah: 150+ volunteers from the Brigham Young University were coming to take part in a service-project at the ISKCON-temple. The first article shows the enthusiastic confirmation of Warner Woodworth, who organized the project from the BYU-side, while the second article (see below) describes the grand success of the event.

ISKCON Spanish Fork (Utah Krishnas) has been criticized because of their celebration of Hindu-festivals like Sivaratri and Diwali, which are normally ignored by ISKCON temples. Utah has a growing community of Americans of Indian origin - I'm talking about Bharat-varsha, not Apache or Cherokee -

Deity of Lord Siva,
Vaisnava-sambhu, at Spanish Fork

and many of them are attached to their traditional ways, i.e., worship of a host of devatas for temporary, material gain. They readily support a temple that accomodates their traditional worship, and apart from the obvious fund-raising benefits, it's a good way to draw them into our ISKCON community and educate them about the devata's real position as devotees and servants of Lord Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Utah is also the center of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often called the Mormons, and Caru prabhu, President of ISKCON Spanish Fork, has been maintaining good relations with Mormon groups since he first came in contact with them (see Utah's Krishna Pioneers). The community service project described in this article is an outcome of these good relations and shows that ISKCON Spanish Fork is not interested in Hindu-donations alone, but developing whatever local communities are ready to be approached.