Planet ISKCON

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"Titiksavah--the sadhu does not become disturbed. At the same time, karunikah. He is himself being disturbed, but he is merciful to others. "Just like Jesus Christ. He was being crucified, and still he was merciful: 'God, these people do not know what they are doing. Please excuse them.' This is sadhu. Personally, he is being disturbed by the demons, but still, he is merciful to the general people. They are suffering for want of Krsna consciousness. Even up to the point of death, he is trying to preach Krsna consciousness. 'Let the people be benefited. What is this material body? Even if I am killed, I am not killed; this body is killed, that's all.' This is sadhu. Titiksavah karunikah. On the one side he is tolerant, and on the other side, merciful. Continue reading "How Much Can You Tolerate?
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Is Mark Twain pleased with the devotees? (Album with photos)
Indradyumna Swami: Dunedin is the second largest city of New Zealand’s South Island. It has a population of 120,000, 10 per cent of whom are students studying in the town’s universities. After a visit to Dunedin in the mid-1890s, the American writer Mark Twain said: “The people here are Scots. They stopped here on their way to heaven, thinking they had already arrived.” Jahnava-mata dasi has developed a thriving temple in the town with a number of activities, including a daily lunch program that is very popular at a local university. During our short stay we held harinam, did both a radio and television program and finished with a very successful public festival. I think Mark Twain would be pleased to know that for a day and half, Dunedin was just like Vaikuntha!
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In this article Brother Aelred (Chaitanya Dasa) offers his observations on the effectiveness of ISKCON’s communication of its key messages. These are particularly valuable in view of Brother Aelred’s close association with ISKCON over the years and his unusual position of being both a practising Catholic monk and Vaishnava. He is frank and insightful,with a sincere desire to help devotees. As the Scottish poet Robbie Burns once said, ‘I pray to God the power to give us, to see ourselves as others see us’.

When I first made contact with ISKCON, Prabhupada was still alive. At that time ― 1977 ― I was already ‘falling in love’ with the devotees. No doubt a percentage of that was romanticism ― being attracted to the externals of exotic appearances, sounds and lifestyle. After all, the sixties ‘hippy’ movement was not so far back in time.

Out of this emerges the first serious observation I wish to make. A significant number of ISKCON devotees are still effectively living in that ‘exotic space’ of the past. I have asked ― as have others ― whether some devotees would survive without this identity, whose elements include at least some of the Bengali cultural artefacts, the cultivated sense of being ‘different’ from mainstream society, the conviction of living in a spiritually superior movement, and so on.

The objection may immediately be raised that ISKCON does indeed create and provide a ‘spiritually superior society”. My response would be that yes, in a variety of ways it does. This is beyond doubt. This is not the content to which I am referring: rather it is the uses that are made of ISKCON’s high standards of spiritual discipline. There are occasions when this lifestyle is used as a ‘tribal banner’, whose purpose is to enforce separation and distinctiveness. Where this is happening, spiritual pride may not be far away; a sectarian mood will certainly be very close. Effective communication with mainstream society will be seriously weakened in such an artificial and negative environment of ideas.

Even more seriously, there is the question of the extent to which various Vaishnava teachings (for example, on reincarnation or specific teachings of Prabhupada such as ‘the association of devotees is our only consolation’) are used to separate devotees ― at least to some degree unnecessarily ― from citizens in mainstream society.

This ‘us and them’ mentality interferes with the effective communication necessary for dynamic and convincing preaching. There are sufficient numbers of devotees holding this stance to undermine ISKCON’s credibility, at least in the eyes of observant members of the public and government. These tribal attitudes also distort the perceptions and expectations of young devotees who have recently entered the movement.

There is another serious outcome of this mentality: many former enthusiastic Christians have either been blocked in their attempts to reconcile their past with their Vaishnava present or have developed a great burden of personal guilt and ambivalence with respect to their ongoing devotional attachment to Jesus Christ. I am now speaking from personal experience in counselling such devotees.

This crisis of ‘Who am I? Where am I? What can I do with my continuing (secret) devotion to Jesus?’ can create very real distress. Sadly, such devotees usually report that they have gone for years without finding anyone within the temple with whom they can share their confusion and distress. Obviously, I am delighted that I can contribute to ‘setting the record straight’ by sharing with them the many wonderful things which Prabhupada said about devotion to Jesus Christ (though not about Christianity as it is so often practised) I can also share with them the story of one who has successfully ‘married’ the two traditions, Vaishnava and Roman Catholic – my own story. This has been a major reason for publishing my most recent book Prabhupada Speaks on Jesus Christ. Devotees have told me that they had no idea that Prabhupada said such wonderful things about Jesus, and about the significance of devotion to Him.

I have gradually come to the conclusion that many of the difficulties in the area of communication experienced by ISKCON ― both intra and inter ― have arisen from a relative lack of systematic application of Vaishnava and Bhaktivedanta teachings. In other words, there tends to be a naive view that it is sufficient to simply quote Srimad Bhagavatam, Caitanya-caritamrta or Prabhupada’s words , for a matter or issue to be resolved. This is what is happening ― at least sometimes ― when the call goes out in a particular temple that there should be ‘a return to Prabhupada and the basics’.

But this may not be enough in some situations, especially if they are complex or ambiguous. We might consider, for example, the role of ISKCON women in management and other forms of leadership. Very often there will need to be in-depth analysis where although what Prabhupada taught or said is the basic reference point, there may need to be an application of his instruction (or indeed an adaptation of it) rather than a simple repeating of it. This application may involve devotees entering areas of debate which Prabhupada himself did not envisage in his lifetime. I think that we may expect this to happen with increasing frequency as the Movement goes into the ternty-first century . and beyond. Social pressures, demands, developments and technologies are set to change on a massive scale, and I fear that our ‘born-again fundamentalists’ will be left behind.

The very nature of our time incurs a need for real ideas. We live in a rudderless age of transition and ideas are anchors, Pole Stars, that have always been there and are still, if only we might know how to recognise them. That recognition is to a great extent dependent on the language used to convey them. We need a manner of speaking that addresses our present condition and is echoed in our personal experience1.

I put it to my readers that ‘tribal mentality’ is a great enemy of ‘real ideas’ and ‘manner of speaking that addresses our present condition’. It also smothers the language of ‘personal experience’.

Yet having said all this, I am greatly encouraged to share with you some of the conclusions emerging from a Ph.D thesis written by an Australian Anglican priest who is a good friend of ISKCON. Fr. Ian Hunter’s thesis is entitled Some Aspects of the Religious, Social and Personal Lives of Hare Krishna Devotees Exploring the Social Integration of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness’. (1993)

I repeat what I said at the beginning, that what I have written is based on personal observation. My conclusions will be more or less valid according to which part of the ISKCON ‘landscape’ is being explored. For this reason it is enlightening to have access to this piece of sociological research, with whichwe move beyond the personal and anecdotal (whatever validity these may have) into conclusions based on disciplined scholarship. In quoting some of Ian Hunter’s conclusions, therefore, I hope that I am providing a reasonable perspective:

(1) . it is a tempting supposition that conversion to most other alternative religions would have occurred mainly in moments of crisis … My experience, and that of most clergy, leads to that supposition, and this factor alone accounts for the sometimes surprised reaction of most conventional religionists when they actually get to know ISKCON devotees.

It is quite plain that for the most part, their experiences of family of origin and circumstances of origin, is regarded as an important spiritual foundation for their lives in Krishna Consciousness.

… as having close mental and emotional ties with their families and circumstances of origin (including religion of origin) and through them, a strong sense of identification with the general society outside of ISKCON.

(2) . Generally speaking, the ISKCON devotees in Australia present as mature religionists who welcome and even attempt to initiate such changes (a process of maturing) … These changes can do nothing except forge more sympathetic connections with Australian Society generally and would certainly be the motive for devotees presenting themselves as constructive social beings and good citizens.

(3) … it is possible to make a cautious affirmation that the interviewees were more closely drawn into normal society as useful social beings because of the concept (personalist) of God they had adopted … like a key which unlocks their ability to make sense of the world because they can at last make sense o f God.

Without this, there would have been few points of contact for most of them (the ISKCON devotees) with ordinary social interaction and certainly no sympathetic interaction with anyone in ordinary secular society …

Yet, for those who possess it, the ‘personalism’ of ISKCON’s view of God, makes personal interaction with society at large possible for the devotees, where it might well have been problematic without it.

(4) … The comments of Balarama and Stoka Krishna illustrate that existential significance for them meant a definite closing of the gap between religion and the outside world with which they wished to relate more fully …

(5) … The enthusiasm of the convert is still with all of the group and yet each seemed determined to respect the world outside ISKCON, although they regarded it as being enmeshed in dangerous illusion (maya). So there is a definite sense of belonging to secular society, even if there is an intense desire to save that society from its own self-imposed destruction by preaching to it the tenets of Gaudiya Vaishnavism …

(6) In many cases, membership of ISKCON seems to have healed a perceived breach with Australian society experienced by the interviewees in that ISKCON devotees are certainly better functioning social entities than members of the ‘hippie’ culture or disillusioned social nihilists …

(7) … it cannot be denied that alternative religions can and do encourage a feeling of superiority in their members, and this can often blend with psychopathology of some converts …

There would be as many potentially dangerous psychopaths in ISKCON Australia as there are in any other alternative religion … (some individual devotees) are conspicuous by their scarcely-stifled anger at the outside world. It could be argued that these people would be much more dangerous in a religious system other than ISKCON which has powerful doctrinal and communal inhibitors which prevent that anger surfacing in anti-social ways …

ISKCON is a ‘new’ old movement ― in the West, that is. When I think of the history of ancient Christianity ― in particular the first five centuries ― I consider that ISKCON has done, and is doing, remarkably well. Vaishnavism in the West stands up well by comparison, but that is certainly no reason for smugness or complacency. The familiar dangers are always there.

One of the main dangers is the assumption that because ISKCON is Prabhupada’s movement and the modern extension of Lord Caitanya’s sankirtana movement, ‘ordinary’ fundamentals of social communication are ‘beneath notice’; that Krishna’s service is ‘over and above’ such mundane considerations.

1Houseden, Rodger. Fire in the Heart: Everyday Life as Spiritual Practice, Element Books, 1990, p .8.

Nyastadanda Jayanti 2016 - videos of our recent Annual Festival at Dandabhanga.
Srila Prabhupada: We should take any lila of Krishna as Supreme. The Vrindavan lila, Krishna’s lila with the gopis, is the most confidential lila. We should not entertain this confidential lila unless we are liberated. It is very difficult subject. And because they cannot understand what is Krishna’s lila, they imitate, they fall down. Vrindavan, August 11, 1974.
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Ratha Yatra - Durban, South Africa - 2016 (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: You expand the empire of Krishna consciousness. Krishna has given you the ability. Do it enthusiastically with the courage of an Englishman and the heart of a Bengali mother. Vrindavan, August 10, 1977.
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Hollywood Movie Filming At The Temple - Extras Needed!
Last month, the Toronto Hare Krishna Temple was contacted by a local production company that is working with Hollywood-based filmmakers for an upcoming big-budget movie set to be released in 2018. They were scouting locations for a film shoot and came upon our building and fell in love with it! They contacted the temple to see if they could shoot a major scene of the movie at the temple this spring.
We have been given permission to share that the movie is a futuristic zombie-apocalypse story and it has one key scene which takes place wherein the main characters take refuge in a temple only to find that it’s monks are also zombies! The movie producers want the scene to be shot at our temple!
Needless to say, the Toronto Hare Krishna Temple spent the last several weeks carefully combing through the script of the movie to ensure that there was nothing that would portray our faith in a negative light. Having given the green light, we are happy to announce that the production company has given us a chance to ask our own community members if they would like to play roles as background extras in the movie. Some extras will also be dressed as zombies!
To read the entire article click here: http://goo.gl/4nTnLB

A new Sannyasi for Iskcon: Bhakti ratnakara Ambar Swami.
He accepted the sannyasa order today (1 April 2016) in Vrindavana by HH Gopal Krishna Swami.
Srila Prabhupada: Krishna takes special appreciation for His devotees who are engaged in risking for His preaching work, and He will give you special care and guidance at all times because you are sincerely trying to serve Him in this way. Letter to Amogha, August 9, 1972.

Students Join Nairobi Hare Krishna Training Centre.
The new ‘Hare Krishna Training Centre’ in Nairobi, Kenya, has become a popular accommodation destination for local students, who are chanting, studying Srila Prabhupada’s books, and following the four regulative principles of Krishna consciousness. The idea germinated when manager Govinda Prema Das and others began trying to follow Prabhupada’s instructions to reach out to local Africans, rather than Hindus. “It is an African country,” the ISKCON founder told Brahmananda Das, who was preaching in Nairobi in 1971. “They are the proprietors. We should be preaching to them.” Later that same year, he wrote to Chyavana, “I am very pleased to hear that the African boys are becoming serious devotees.”
To read the entire article click here: http://goo.gl/gHIhgB

Please Remember - 5 min. hip-hop musical video based on Sri Isopanisad Mantra 17.
vayur anilam amritam athedam bhasmantam sariram om krato smara kritam smara krato smara kritam smara
TRANSLATION: Let this temporary body be burnt to ashes, and let the air of life be merged with the totality of air. Now, O my Lord, please remember all my sacrifices, and because You are the ultimate beneficiary, please remember all that I have done for You.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/QS3J4R

Album of beautiful photos from ISKCON Vrindavan’s Boat Festival 2016
Srila Prabhupada: “My heart is always burning in the fire of material existence, and I have made no provisions for getting out of it. The only remedy is hari-nama-sankirtana, the chanting of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, which is imported from the spiritual world, Goloka-Vrndavana. How unfortunate I am that I have no attraction for this. (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 5.1.22 Purport)
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April 1. ISKCON 50 – S.Prabhupada Daily Meditations.
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami: The Paradox Restaurant.
The Paradox, at 64 East 7th Street on the Lower East Side, was a restaurant dedicated to the philosophy of George Ohsawa and the macrobiotic diet. It was a storefront below street level with small dining tables placed around the candlelit room. The food was inexpensive and well-reputed. Tea was served free, as much as you liked. More than just a restaurant, The Paradox was a center for spiritual and cultural interests, a meeting place reminiscent of the cafes of Greenwich Village or Paris in the 1920s. A person could spend the whole day at The Paradox without buying anything, and no one would complain. The crowd at the Paradox was a mystical congregation, interested in teachings from the East. When news of the new Swami uptown at Dr. Mishra’s reached The Paradox, the word spread quickly.
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The Paradox Restaurant 

Indradyumna Swami and his group's Kartika parikrama took to Mathura, where Lord Krsna appeared 5,000 years ago.

From Beijing to Belgium, from Bulgaria to Buenos Aires, from Canada to Karnataka, from Nairobi to Naperville, from Istanbul to England, From Delhi to Gaborone, to Slovenia, to Switzerland, to Ecuador, to Romania, Poland, etc., four dozen leaders assembled in the Govardhan Ecovillage outside of Mumbai, learning for thirteen days at the GBC College for Leadership Development how to serve as Zonal Supervisors. 

One of my favourite quotes is from the business mentor Stephen Covey, who said that the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. In other words, don’t lose your focus.

The new ‘Hare Krishna Training Centre’ in Nairobi, Kenya, has become a popular accommodation destination for local students, who are chanting, studying Srila Prabhupada’s books, and following the four regulative principles of Krishna consciousness.  The idea germinated when manager Govinda Prema Das and others began trying to follow Prabhupada’s instructions to reach out to local Africans, rather than Hindus. 

Is there a scientific explanation for “changing bodies”?
Question: Is there any scientific explanation for the concept of changing bodies? Could a spirit soul transfer to a completely different universe or dimension? Does the soul remain in the body after death for any amount of time?
Our Answer: Anyone can prove to themselves, using scientific methods, that they perpetually remain the same conscious entity while the body perpetually changes. It’s simply a matter of hypothesis and observation. Depending on what kind of science you accept as valid, the Bhagavad-gita gives a thoroughly scientific explanation of transmigration of consciousness through different bodies, especially in the eighth chapter. You may also want to examine Dr. Ian Stevenson’s three thousand case studies of children remembering past lives.
To read the entire article click here: http://goo.gl/eAm79a

Music video by Mikey Jay filmed in Sridham Mayapur. Get the full album at http://mikeyjay108.bandcamp.com/

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Gaura Purnima in Slovakia (Album with 48 photos)
Srila Prabhupada: In this Age of Kali, the process of worshiping Krishna is to perform sacrifice by chanting the holy name of the Lord. One who does so is certainly very intelligent, and he attains shelter at the lotus feet of Krishna. (Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Antya-lila, 20.11)
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Youth meeting at Urban Yoga. Melbourne
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ārtā devān namasyanti

tapaḥ kurvanti rogiṇaḥ

nirdhanā dānam icchanti

vṛddhā nārī pati-vratā

ārtāh — the distressed; devān — to the gods; namasyanti — pay obeisances; tapaḥ — austerities; kurvanti — perform; rogiṇaḥ — the diseased; nirdhanāh — the poverty-stricken; dānam — donations; icchanti — desire [to give]; vṛddhā — old; nārī — lady; pati-vratā — is devoted to her husband;
“The distressed automatically start paying obeisances to the gods [for they have no other option]. The diseased naturally perform various austerities [for they have no other option]. The poverty-stricken desire to give big donations [for they do not have the option of doing it in real life] and an old lady automatically shows devotion to her husband [for all hope of attracting paramours is lost].”

— (Subhāṣita-ratna-bhāṇḍāgāra, Sāmānya-nītiḥ, page 157, Verse 168)

[Verse and translation provided by Hari Parshad Prabhu] 

Life’s temptations frequently deviate us from the right path – they make us give up principle for pleasure. Conversely life’s tribulations, especially tribulations that we have no hope of solving on our own, impel us to the right path; they make us accept the available even if it is not particularly appealing, because the alternative is utterly unpalatable. This Subhashita talks about such forced choosing of the right course of action.

People often have a similar utilitarian attitude towards God. Such motivated devotion is usually interrupted devotion. When things go wrong in our life, we come rushing to God; and when things start looking up, we bid him goodbye.

The mistaken notion that God is a dispensable means is illustrated in an insurance company’s ad: “If you don’t have our insurance, it’s time to say your prayers.” Actually, it is always the time to say our prayers and to connect with God. Why? Because we as souls are his eternal parts, and we can find lasting happiness only in loving and serving him. Moreover, even in dealing with our practical problems while living in this material world, no solution can work without God’s sanction. Srimad-Bhagavatam (7.9.19) illustrates how the apparent solution can’t provide the actual solution, if divine sanction is missing: parents can’t always protect their children; medicines can’t always save the sick; and boats can’t always rescue the drowning. Extending this principle, we can contemplate that the insurance company too can’t guarantee us relief. What if it goes bankrupt at the same time when we are facing a crisis?

Of course, motivated devotion is better than no devotion at all – instead of living godlessly, we at least believe in God and worship him, even if for self-centered purposes. How we can rise from motivated devotion to pure devotion is outlined in the Bhagavad-gita (07.16-19). The first verse (07.16) mentions four kinds of people who approach Krishna and start worshiping him: the distressed, the inquisitive, the wealth-seekers and the knowledgeable. Krishna appreciates all of them for their piety in approaching him – he calls them as large-hearted (07.18). Yet he lauds especially the knowledgeable, for they are unmotivated in approaching him – they are interested only in him, so their devotion is one-pointed (07.17). He concludes the section by declaring (07.19) that after many lifetimes, the motivated become unmotivated when they finally understand that Krishna is everything – he is the embodiment and fulfillment of all our heart’s aspiration for happiness (vasudevah sarvam iti).

When we see Krishna as a means to an end, we focus on him only till we get that end. Not only that, if we feel that we can get that end by some other means, we turn away from him. If we find that we can’t get it by any other means, we return to him. But such return doesn’t last for long – it ends when we start feeling that some other means might work better. Thus, we keep taking U-turns in our journey towards Krishna.

The best way to come end such oscillation is by philosophically understanding and experientially realizing that he is the highest end of everything. And Krishna is the end not in the negative sense of the exhaustion of something desirable – he is the end in the positive sense of the termination of something troublesome. Our long and harrying search for happiness that has extended over many turbulent lifetimes ends when we are united with Krishna in love.

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The family of vaisnavas.
Kadamba Kanana Swami: The family of vaishnavas is somehow or other our support. Prabhupada made this movement a very personal one. In the beginning, we overlook how important relationships are because we are not used to it. In the material world, when a relationship does not work, you just cut it off and try another one… then another one and another one.
Now I’m not talking just about friendships. So many friends came and went in our lives in the material world but spiritual relationships are very different. Spiritual friendships are different because devotees are very rare. Therefore, devotees are precious and the relationship with the devotee is precious and once broken it is difficult to repair; not like a broken pot that can be glued back together.
Therefore with devotees we cannot just afford the mentality that if it does not work, get rid of this one and get another one! Because the day will come when we will need all the devotees. The day will come when we will very much depend on devotees because the vaisnavas are sustaining us in our spiritual life and without them it becomes so difficult. The day will come when all artificial behavior in our relationships will have to go because that cannot sustain us and time will test us. As they say, “It all comes out in the wash!” It means that sooner or later, it has to get real.
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ISKCON.Pakistan’s Gaura Purnima celebration, March 2016 (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: When loud chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra is performed all over the world by those who follow in Your footsteps, all living entities, moving and nonmoving, dance in ecstatic devotional love. (Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Antya-lila, 3.72)
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How Did ISCOWP Start?

By Balabhadra dasa

In 1981, our family (myself, Chayadevi, son Baladeva and daughter Lakshmi) moved to the farm community called Gita Nagari in the state of Pennsylvania, USA.

In the mid 80’s the farm started a program called “ADOPT-A-COW” which was to raise funds to help support the cows. By that time we had a herd of 157 cows and it was way to many cows for the land that we had to work with. We were the 1st ISKCON farm in North America to stop breeding along the commercial dairy way of doing things. It was realized that if you are not killing your unproductive cows and male offspring as a commercial dairy does, then you lose your economic profit. So it was necessary to raise funds to pay for the feed that we could not grow on the farm. My wife and I ran the “ADOPT-A-COW” program from 1988 to 1990. During this time we also were in charge of the agriculture department on the farm.

It was during the celebration of Govardhan Puja and Go Puja in 1989 that a devotee by the name of Adwaita Chandra paid us a visit and had an idea that he wanted to discuss with us. At that time each of the North American ISKCON farms each had a cow protection program. There was “ADOPT-A-COW,” “SAVE A COW” and “MOTHER COW,” each dealing with a specific herd of cows. Adwaita Chandra’s idea was to develop a cow protection program that was universal in application, global not regional. We talked for many hours over that weekend and came up with the name of “INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR COW PROTECTION’ as well as a basic list of goals that have since evolved into the present day goals of ISCOWP. We parted company after the festival and he said, “Think it over and if you want to go ahead with ISCOWP, go ahead.” He is an idea man, consultant type of person, not a cow man or farmer. We decided to organize ISCOWP as a non-profit charitable incorporation. We legalized everything in March 1990.

The spring of 1990 we started traveling to all the North American Rathayatra festivals, the Earth Day Festival, and other programs. We took a team of oxen and led the Ratha Yatras during the parades. At the festival site we would have the oxen available for people to pet, touch, and photograph. The festival visitors were completely in awe of the beauty and size of the oxen. We also had a booth where we sold t-shirts, distributed literature, and had many pictures of the farm and what the oxen did at the farm. “THE OX IS THE BACKBONE OF THE FAMILY FARM, NOT THE SOUP BONE” was one of the slogans that we used to show the usefulness of the oxen in our lifestyle. We did this for approximately 4 summers in which we received positive press coverage throughout the USA. In the meantime we acquired some small acreage (3 acres) in North Carolina to establish a small family farm.

Beginning in 1990 my wife, Chayadevi, began writing and publishing the ISCOWP quarterly newsletter. This newsletter is still printed today. She also started a children’s newsletter and materials but could not find many persons to subscribe, so it was discontinued. Chayadevi does most of the correspondence, fund raising, accounting, photography, curriculum development, designing of original ISCOWP T-shirts and display paraphernalia. In 1993 she began the ISKCON COM cow conference that had approximately 90 members from about 20 different countries. The cow conference formulated cow protection standards that are now ISKCON Law 507 so that mistakes aren’t made and repeated in cow care facilities. Since the beginning of 2005, we have not been active with the cow conference. Now we have a presence on the social networks: Facebook, YouTube, etc.

On the 3 acre North Carolina property we acquired in 1991 we grew wheat, rye, and vegetables with the help of the oxen only, no machines. Eventually we found this acreage to be too small for our family, 2 oxen, and the crops we wanted to grow. A friend of ours had bought a large parcel about 2 hours away in which there was approximately 20 acres in bottom land. An oral contract was made that we could cultivate that property to expand our program. There was no electricity, no water system, and the land had not been worked for years. I lived there in our school bus that we used to travel coast to coast with the oxen and began to cultivate the land with our ox team, Vraja and Gita. We developed a hand water system drawing water from the nearby stream. The living situation was austere. Oil lamps for electricity, hand pumping all water, and living in the school bus that had no facilities but shelter. Here we grew large vegetable gardens, dry land rice, wheat, and rye. No machines were used for farming or living on this property.

For approximately 3 years we cultivated this land until we received an invitation in the beginning of 1995 to live at New Vrndavana and join Varsana Maharaja’s disciples work towards self-sufficiency. It was proposed I would teach the younger devotees the skills I knew so they could get established on the land. We were enthused to make the big move so that we could gain energy and association on the path to establishing cow protection as Srila Prabhupada desired.

We sold our 3 acres, our trailer home, and made numerous trucking trips long distance to move all the ox equipment and household to New Vrndavana. During the first year we trained approximately 10 teamsters and 20 oxen from the New Vrndavana herd. Due to financial difficulties of the New Vrndavana administration our project could no longer receive strong support from New Vrndavana. At this point we had the opportunity to purchase land from New Vrndavana as they were selling land to minimize their financial pressures and to attain funds for expenses. In 1996, we acquired a 57 acre parcel which was the heart of an old family farm. The devotees had worked it about 15 years ago. Some of the buildings were still standing but most were not in good repair. Numerous springs, a stream, pastures, and forest were some of the features that attracted us to purchase the property.

In 1998, I was appointed the ISKCON Minister for Cow Protection and Agriculture to advise and instruct ISKCON centers and devotees protecting cows. To this end, ISCOWP and the members of the cow conference created the Minimum Standards for Cow Protection which is ISKCON Law 507. I traveled to various ISKCON centers and cow protection projects worldwide for the purpose of establishing these standards and distributing cow protection knowledge. It was my pleasure to also acquire knowledge through these travels. In 2012, I resigned from this position due to on-going, unresolved health problems..

In the last 19 years we have been working to establish ourselves on the ISCOWP Farm. We have built two modified earth shelter homes and one cabin for trainees, refurbished the old standing barn, built a new barn adjoining the old barn, built a hay barn, a geriatric barn and an equipment storage/workshop building, installed new fencing (ongoing process) and a new water system, reclaimed the pastures from rose bush weeds (ongoing project also) and removed truckloads of garbage. Twenty-four cows and oxen (mostly rescues) reside here protected and loved in a beautiful environment. Since 1996 we have acquired two adjoining parcels and another parcel that will make the land holding 165 acres. Now we have more facility for the cows and oxen.

We have been growing much of our food and preserving it by canning and drying. There is a big deer and groundhog population here that tries to eat much of the garden. A very important resident, Rudra the dog, guards the garden and has been quite successful in scaring off the wild animals. However, the deer became so profuse that we built a 9 foot fence around the 1 acre garden with the help of our donors.

We have come to realize that no matter how many cows one can rescue, save and care for, there will be thousands more suffering and in the need of love. Both the meat and commercial dairy industries make profit from exploiting the cow, her brothers and her children. If you can become vegetarian and not take milk from the commercial dairy industry but only from life-protected cows (Krsna – Dairian), then you are contributing to lessening the demand for meat and commercial dairy products. The less demand the less the supply and the less suffering for Mother Cow. One person’s diet change a drop in the bucket? That is why we feel education is so important to saving more cows. Many people do not realize the correlation between diet change and saving cows. Once people understand the correlation and how much Mother Cow is suffering because of the meat and diary industries, they will be encouraged to make a diet change. Our goal is to not only protect the ISCOWP herd but to spread information about diet change and the need for cow protection. We are looking forward to hearing from you at: iscowp@gmail.com. and please feel free to explore this website.

Written By :
William E. Dove (Balabhadra dasa)
President of ISCOWP

Ratha Yatra - Durban - 2016 (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: My Lord, the moving entities who have heard Your loud sankirtana have already been delivered from bondage to the material world, and after the nonmoving living entities like trees hear it, there is echo. (Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Antya-lila, 3.70)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/EAL6ih

ISKCON Communications Conference 2016.
On the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of ISKCON we have a very interesting and rich Conference with many known speakers:
- Srila Prabhupada The Greatest Communicator by Anuttama prabhu
- How to discuss and resolve controversial and sensitive issues in ISKCON by Kaunteya prabhu
- ISKCON and Interfaith by Radhika Ramana prabhu
- Video Skills for High Impact Communications by Krishna Lila dasi
- Preaching, Undue Influence and Religious Freedom – Panel Discussion by Shaunaka Rsi, Prof. Raffaella Di Marzio and Maria Cristina Carratu
- First Draft Screening of Joy of Devotion and Feedback session by Krishna Lila dasi
- ISKCON Communications Europe report by Mahaprabhu dasa
- Communications Reports by participating Yatras
- 50th Anniversary report by Madayanti dasi
- Outing to Florence. We will meet interesting people and visit amazing places.
To read the entire article click here: https://goo.gl/9eT7jY

We require an enthusiastic devotee who can plan teaching, learning and assessment of a Krishna conscious curriculum. The applicant must be able to provide an educational environment conducive to the learning of the children in the class in line with the school educational philosophy based on the teachings of Srila Prabhupada.

We are looking for a caring teacher who can understand the needs of the individual children in the class, structuring their learning so that they progress at a rate which challenges them in a secure devotional environment.

If you would like to live and serve in Sri Mayapur dham, please email your CV and details of professional and devotional referees to mayapurschooloffice@gmail.com There may be other vacancies for suitable candidates in the Primary school.
More details of the remuneration will be given on receipt of your application.