The Old Log Cabin  and The Brick House

The New Vrindaban Advocacy Sanga met with Jaya Krsna prabhu on Tues. July 5, 2014.  One of the topics that came up was the recent removal of the old log cabin that used to sit just off the road across from Srila Prabhupada’s Palace of gold.  It was made of massive, thick logs and, at one time, was an attractive remnant from the Limestone area’s past.  Over the years, there have been various additions and subtractions made on the cabin.  Acting on inquiries from residents of the community, who noticed with some surprise that the cabin was being dismantled, the Advocacy Sanga brought up the topic with Jaya Krsna on behalf of the residents.

According to Jaya Krsna, although the log cabin has been taken down, it will be re-used as a temple for Krsna for the devotees living in the area of Yudhisthira’s land.

Jaya Krsna explained, “There are a few reasons why the log cabin has been removed.  First of all (but not necessarily in order of importance) New Vrindaban has been doing a lot of promotion over the last two years to bring back visitors and buses to Srila Prabhupada’s Palace of Gold.  This includes TV spots in Pittsburgh, ads in tourism magazines, as well as distributing flyers to a wider area than we have done in a long time.

 to bring back visitors and buses to Srila Prabhupada’s Palace of Gold. This includes TV spots in Pittsburgh, ads in tourism magazines, as well as distributing flyers to a wider area than we have done in a long time. As a result, we have experienced that more buses and tourists are coming. Our Palace parking lot is not big enough to accommodate all the vehicles. At the beginning of the season, two spaces for tour buses have already been realized.

Jaya Krsna went on, “Another reason concerns the history of this cabin. Some people thought that the cabin was a significant historic building, in which case we would not want to remove it, but rather have it certified and marked as such. However, after some research, Varsana Maharaj discovered that the cabin had been a church built in 1810, originally in Limestone, but had been moved two times prior to settling where it was for some years now, across from the Palace. It was not at all connected with the historic Wetzel family, as many people thought – a family who had settled the current area of New Vrindaban back in frontier days. In addition, when Yudhisthira recently approached the Marshall County Historical Society, they showed no interest, nor did they give any historical significance to the cabin.”

According to Jaya Krsna, the third reason for removing the cabin is related to Varsana Maharaj’s Govardhana Hill and Sri Sri Radha Gopinath Mandir project. There have been plans in place for many years to construct this small replica of Vrindavan Dhama in New Vrindaban in the area of Govardhana Hill, a region which includes the log cabin as well as the brick house (Kirtanananda Swami’s old house). Just a couple of years ago, when some professsors from WVU did research work on the topic of holy places of pilgrimage in New Vrindaban, they recommended that, for optimum effectiveness, there should be no buildings obstructing the view or the access between the Palace and Govardhana Hill.

This is a fact which has already been proven at the recent July 4 festival. Visitors were seen leaving their Palace tour, and then walking directly up to the Sri Sri Radha Gopinatha Mandir, which was now clearly visible due to the removal of the cabin.

“Finally,” Jaya Krsna reminded everyone, “the decision about the log cabin was discussed at the April joint Board meetings and then presented to the community during the community dialog that same weekend.

The Brick House

The brick house, still standing next to where the log cabin was situated, originally belonged to non-devotees, but was bought by the community in 1980, and ultimately became Kirtanananda Swami’s residence for some years, with a men’s asrama downstairs. After he left the community in 1994, the brick house was used as living quarters for one family upstairs, and offices for the Palace downstairs. But then, the house remained empty for many years and fell into disrepair. Eventually, there was a new roof put in, and the basement was gutted in order to eliminate the black mold, all in an effort to possibly make the house useful again. However, due to various changes in New Vrindaban at the time, the house was never again used to this date, and is now in even worse shape.

Jaya Krsna says that this house will also soon be taken down and partially re-used, in order to further clear that area for the Govardhana Hill project, which is meant to help fulfill the part of Srila Prabhupada’s vision for New Vrindaban as a place of pilgrimage.

Mangala Arati of Sri Sri Radha Gopinath, 14th July 2014 Iskcon Chowpatty

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This talk is a part of the "Fascinating Mahabharata Characters" series. To know more about this course, please visit: bhakticourses.com

Banned in V.K. (Vai-Kuṇṭha)

This is an extremely important purāṇik story, please hear it attentively. Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 3.15.26:

Brahmā’s four sons became saturated with supreme, unprecedented delight when the force of their attachment granted them entry into Vaikuṇṭha, which is the only truly praiseworthy place, full of dazzling, amazing, transcendental crafts, and predominated by the Guru of All. They felt a bliss greater than they had ever felt before, because they anticipated that here they would receive the highest enlightenment from that supreme guru.

The “force of attraction” is yoga-māyā. Hari extended this to the Kumāras because he is the viśva-guru and wanted them to come to him to learn about bhakti.

27₂₈:
With complete detachment, those four scholars passed through the gates of six walls, approaching Hari’s palace. At the seventh they saw two divine beings of the same age holding clubs and bedecked with incalculably valuable bracelets, earrings, crowns, and exquisite cloth. Delirious bees surrounded the flower-necklaces hanging from the bluish shoulders between their four arms. Their eyebrows frowned, their nostrils flared, and their reddish eyes, stirring to anger, glanced at the four boys.

“Why were they angry at the boys?” The gods asked Brahmā.

29:
Brahmā explained that the boys had no sense of discrimination, no sense of property or boundaries, so they were habituated to simply going wherever they wanted and doing whatever they needed without asking permission. Therefore, they tried to open the gold-and-diamond doors of the seventh gate without asking permission from the doorkeepers.

30:
The doorkeepers saw that the four naked five-year-old children had comprehended only the reality of oneness. So the held out their staffs, preventing the children from entering. They thought, “These monists are too proud of their powerful realization, and do not deserve to enter the palace. Their behavior will not please Hari.” But from another angle it was the door keepers who took their powerful post too seriously and displeased Hari by disregarding the fact that Hari is always pleased to meet a true spiritualist.

31:
Many divine entities saw this and realized that the two gatekeepers had blocked the most deserving souls, so they hurried to inform Hari. Meanwhile, the eyes of the children suddenly flooded with anger, as a result of the obstacle to their most eagerly desired audience with the dearest friend of the soul, Hari.

Actually the four children did possess some type of seed of bhakti, because they had lobha (greed) to attain Hari’s darśan for the sake of learning about him. So they should not have been blocked. Being blocked from their transcendental greed, they developed transcendental anger. The verse uses the word kāmānuja for “anger”, it literally means “the younger brother of greed.”

32:
“Who are you,” they incredulously asked, “to have attained such exalted service to the All-Attractive, yet to still have a character that generates disharmony among the harmonious residents here in Vaikuṇṭha?”

“We are gatekeepers!” they said, “We must guard against the possibility that Hari’s enemy may take the guise of a spiritualist to infiltrate the palace!”

“You are guarding the person who is the source of all peace and who has no enemy!” The sages pointed out, their anger flaring higher. “You alone among all the residents of Vaikuṇṭha do not have a nature similar to his! That must be why you suspect that there could be an enemy who might sneak into Vaikuṇṭha.

33:
“Fools!” they continued, “just try to listen to reason.

The All-Attractive beyond this gate contains the entire cosmos within him and is the soul of every soul. Every soul is simply like a pot containing a portion of the sky that is Hari. You don’t seem to understand this. You two look like divine beings, so why have you developed this foolish idea that living beings are separate from Hari, and could possibly threaten him?”

The doorkeepers did not reply.

The children spoke amongst themselves,

“We should think of some punishment that would bestow a supreme blessing upon these two slow-witted servants of the Husband of Vaikuṇṭha.”

Then, turning to the doorkeepers, they declared,

“Leave here and enter the worlds where you can easily see the three awful results of your dualistic mentality: lust, anger, and greed — the only true enemies.”

Proponents of the theory that the living entity was established actively in a life in Vaikuṇṭha prior to entering the material world frequently refer to this incident in search of some support from śāstra for their conception. However this is not a tenable reference, for the following reasons:

1) The theory claims that aversion to Hari can develop in Vaikuṇṭha. However, the gatekeepers did not possess aversion to Hari, they simply made a bad decision on a difficult issue, as a result of their devotion to Hari making them feel the vatsālya-bhāva that they needed to protect Hari from possible enemies.

2) The theory seeks to explain why the living entity falls into delusion and forgets Hari. However, the gatekeepers did not fall into maya like an ordinary soul.

3) The astonishment of the Kumāras over their misconception that the doorkeepers were disharmonious with the nature of Vaikuṇṭha indicates that such a thing (disharmony in Vaikuṇṭha) would be impossible, inexplicable and astonishing.

4) The departure of the two doorkeepers from Vaikuṇṭha is an extremely uncommon event requiring the curse from extremely powerful brahmanas. Yet the theory seeks to use this incident as evidence for the eternal, normal generation of jīvas who are not in perfect harmony with Hari.

Therefore this incident does not at all illustrate the viability of the theory that we infinite living entities were previously in Vaikuṇṭha with Hari.

Feeling Separation Part 5 2012-09-21 Ukraine

Feeling Separation Part 4 2012-09-20 Ukraine

Feeling Separation Part 3 2012-09-19 Ukraine

Feeling Separation Part 2 2012-09-17 Ukraine

Feeling Separation Part 1 Ukraine 2012-09-17

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, April 2010, Radhadesh, Belgium, Lecture)

Time gradually forces us to rely on Krsna! We can no longer rely on our reflexes; we can no longer rely on our wit as our memory is fading day-by-day. An old man with a T-shirt, I met him in Johannesburg airport some years ago, and it said, “Done it all! Seen it all! Heard it all! But can’t remember it all!” Yes, a great T-shirt!

He said, “You like it? I designed it myself.” Which made it even more authentic, you know. So in this way, old age is certainly a factor in the life of a vaisnava but it works favourably! Whereas for the materialists, it is just limiting him further and further, and diminishing all his means to happiness! But for the devotee, it brings him to the one pointed root of just relying on Krsna, taking shelter of Krsna and realising that it is Krsna who provides!

Rtadhvaja Swami, Jayadvaita Swami, Giriraj Swami, and other devotees and guests were present at this ceremony, in which Giriraj Swami awarded second initiation to Krishna Kirtan Das, from Ventura, and first initiation to Brent Pyeatt, from Bellingham, WA, who received the name Balabhadra Das, and to Nick Pritchard, from LA, who received the name Narottam Das.

“Srila Prabhupada had a press conference during the pandal program in Calcutta. A lot of the reporters were in that atheist-communist mood. One of the reporters asked, ‘What is the use of spending all this money on this big elaborate arrangement? What are you going to achieve by this?’ The implication was that we could have used the money to feed poor people or do some charitable work. Srila Prabhupada replied, ‘What will it achieve? It will achieve hearing. This whole elaborate arrangement that you are seeing has come from hearing. Some young men and women heard from me, and because they heard they have been inspired to make this arrangement.’ And that is a fact—everything begins from hearing. And then, as Srila Prabhupada would say, following his Guru Maharaja, ‘One who hears nicely can speak nicely.’ So, we are not manufacturing anything new, we are simply repeating what we have heard from Srila Prabhupada and our predecessors.”

—Giriraj Swami

Rtadhvaja Swami
Jaidvaita Swami
Giriraj Swami

Here is another inspiring exchange with Srila Prabhupada about Hare Krishna Land, Juhu. —GS

Tamala Krsna: You always came out victorious—always. I have never seen you defeated. In Bombay it was absolutely impossible. It seemed to be impossible.

Prabhupada: Nobody encouraged—not a single man. Who could see that such a big project would come up?

Tamala Krsna: Only you could see that—you and Radha-Rasabihari. I was . . .

Prabhupada: Still, I was determined: “No, this place is very nice.”

Tamala Krsna: They should write a book about that.

Prabhupada: Yes, it is worth writing, history.

(Room Conversation, June 18, 1977, Vrindavan)

Early July morning picking.

The last few weeks have been VERY busy in the gardens. We have had many new volunteers.  A family from Maryland came to work and camp in the garden.  Currently we have two volunteers from WWOOF (world wide opportunities on organic farms) that have been helping with our abundant harvest of green beans.  The Roots & Shoots 4-H Cloverbud Club came and spent a day touring the gardens and picking flowers.  The kids had a wonderful time and learned all about farming and flowers.

Ohio County 4-H club Cloverbuds in the garden

The first week of July we planted four varieties of squash.  This is the last big planting until fall.  Our sweet potatoes are looking great and the vines are filling in all the spaces in their beds. Twice a week we harvest herbs and greens for the temple (lettuce, kale, swiss chard, and arugula).  This week brought us our first full sized red tomatoes and bitter melons. Our current pick list also includes red raspberries, peppers, beets, basil, oregano, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, dill, and tons of green beans.  Two of our local contract growers have been also making weekly deliveries or carrots and cilantro.

Just a few of the green beans we have been picking this week.

Both the Teaching Garden and the Garden of Seven Gates are bursting with beautiful flowers.  The temple staff has been picking hundreds of marigolds for garlands and a variety of flowers for vases. As we move further into the summer harvest we hope to have more volunteers to continue to provide the community with a bounty of vegetables and flowers.

Fresh cut flowers for the temple and palace.

Over the past weeks, the international media has been reporting about an escalating political situation in Ukraine, which is now close to a civil war. The government has launched a massive military offensive on the insurgent-controlled parts of Eastern Ukraine, using heavy weaponry, aviation, and troops to subdue their resistance. Many ISKCON centers and hundreds of devotees are also seriously affected by the conflict.

And here is the link: http://youtu.be/Q7r8Qtxfjrk

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BY THE GBC EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Dear Friends and Members of ISKCON,

Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

The tragic news of the deaths of several devotee pilgrims from Russia last month who died when their bus drove off the road and into the Bhagirathi River in the mountainous Himalayan region in India has brought us great sadness.

We send our prayers and support to their families. We pray that those who lost their lives and those that were injured will be given full spiritual protection by the Lord.

Reflecting upon this recent accident, we also remember the terrible plane crash that took the lives of six devotees from the Chowpatty community in Mumbai who were flying to the Himalayas. Both events remind us how dangerous this world is and how we must strive to protect our fellow Vaishnavas from harm.

Years ago, Srila Prabhupada had sober words to share after the death of a devotee who drowned diving and swimming in the dangerous headwaters of the Ganga. Prabhupada instructed that we should remember how fortunate we are to have taken up Krishna Consciousness, and that “we should not take unnecessary risks.”

This order also applies when traveling to visit holy places. While driving is dangerous everywhere in the world, it is especially so in India where more than 100,000 people each year die in automobile accidents.

Some of the isolated Himalayan holy places where ISKCON devotees occasionally visit are particularly dangerous. These include Badrinath, Kedarnath, Muktinath, Gangotri, and Yamunotri. The roads to these places go for many miles over treacherous curves just inches away from steep, deep gorges. Landslides are common, the roads are poorly maintained, and are often without any guardrails. In addition, drivers are often poorly trained and poorly supervised.

Thus, the Executive Committee of the Governing Body Commission, concerned with the safety of our fellow Vaishnavas, announce the following Advisory Notice. We request that local temple communities post this notice where appropriate and share it through your local websites and newsletters.

Advisory Notice

Devotees and friends of ISKCON are advised to take extra precaution in planning visits to holy places in India, taking all possible steps to ensure the safety of themselves, their families, and their traveling companions.

We particularly advise pilgrims to take caution when visiting isolated holy places in the mountainous regions in India including Badrinath, Kedarnath, Muktinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri. This is especially true for new members and visitors to India, and for devotees organizing tours for others.

Anyone who chooses to visit these places should do so only after fully deliberating upon the risks involved.

India is full of spiritual havens connected with the pastimes of Lord Krishna, Lord Caitanya, and the Lord’s many avatars and devotees. Visits to most of these tirthas are relatively safe; some are less so.

Thus, remembering Srila Prabhupada’s loving words “to not take unnecessary risks,” we strongly advise that ISKCON members apply extra care and caution while visiting any of these holy places, and we pray always for your safety.

GBC Executive Committee July 15, 2014

Anuttama das, Chairman
Praghosa das
Sesa das