Planet ISKCON

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The TOVP is looking more like a temple and less like a construction site with each passing day. Especially now since the altars and brickwork are progressing!

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Pankajanghri Prabhu at ISKCON Mayapur on 2014-05-03

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 29 April 2014, Radhadesh, Belgium, Srimad Bhagavatam 6.4.49-50)

Our purposes are fixed and we do not let obstructing circumstances to block us permanently. Somehow or other, we must go through and to fulfill our purpose – to chant sixteen rounds and to follow four regulative principles – because that is our first austerity, to chant these rounds and to follow these principles.

Then, as we see, the austerities do not come alone. We also need support. It’s not just a matter of the right frame of mind. It is also a matter of favourable conditions so that it becomes feasible and possible. One must protect the rounds. One must put other things out of one’s life and then put the rounds in, otherwise it is not going to happen. One cannot just think, “I’ll see how far I get today.” Then there is a good chance that it won’t work. So chanting sixteen rounds is about making an arrangement to chant sixteen rounds. That is the very first thing and actually so important!

It is not all about a mood and getting absorbed. That comes after. If the arrangement is wrong then how can you get absorbed? First the arrangement has to be in place. When that is all there, then stage two comes, “Yes, how to get absorbed.” I find one thing that helps me is to read a little bit. It’s not that we just to get up and immediately be in the mood, “Okay, let’s get these rounds done! I’m up (shuffling to do things), quickly get stuck in. Then that’s behind me.”

That is one way of chanting. But another way is where I say, “Okay, I’ll read for five or ten minutes.” And I read until I come across something that strikes me. Something that while reading, it strikes me and then I start chanting and that gives some energy to get into the mood. Then the mood starts happening, better. Like that there are impetuses. Ālambham is there, the impetuses in spiritual life that help us to awaken our attraction for Krsna.

Beautiful flower pots made by Vidya

Greetings From the Garden:

This week as I was harvesting asparagus I was asked, “what do you do with all of the vegetables that are picked from the garden?”. What a great question. The vegetables, fruits, and flowers grown here at New Vrindaban are used for the deity kitchen, prasadam, and Govinda’s Restaurant. The organization responsible for the planning, maintenance, and harvesting is ECOV. ECOV is a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to cow protection, local production of food, sustainable housing, alternative energy production and energy conservation. We are also working towards having active teams of oxen, planting 1000 fruit and nut trees and building earth sheltered low impact housing using recycled or locally produced materials. ECOV stands for Earth, Cows, Organics, and Village. Check out the ECOV website

This year we are starting many new garden projects and were in need of garden tools. I have always enjoyed a good auction so when Madhava Gosh suggested we attend an Amish consignment auction in search of tools I was quite intrigued. We left early in the morning for the Captina Auction house in Monroe County, OH. I have been to many animal and produce auctions before, therefore I thought I would know what to expect. I was wrong. There was an almost even mix of Amish and English (English is what the Amish call non Amish people). Horses and buggies surrounded the auction building. The amount and variety of auction items was mind blowing. Large carts filled with tools, buildings, furniture, animals, boats, all things equestrian, tractors, building supplies, trees, hand crafted items, and so much more.

Three auctioneers began the bidding in three locations, it was almost sensory overload deciding which area to watch. We started with the tool carts. It took only a few minutes for the auctioneer to mark Gosh as the dollar man. Or in other words when no one was bidding they could rely on Gosh to pay a dollar for anything that seemed to have at least some value. We were able to get shovels, rakes, boots, and tools for just $1.00. Some items were more expensive than I would have expected, notably pitch forks were going as high as $30.00. I found this odd because I saw a beautiful horse saddle for only $15.00. In a moment of auction weakness I even bid on a deaf puppy (which would have made for an interesting ride home). Luckily I was out bid by a young girl super excited for her $12.00 puppy. In the end we FILLED the van with an assortment of items including a 150 gallon water tank for tree planting, many hand tools, and a very large sorghum & maple syrup evaporator. We had a great day with successful purchases and I can’t wait until next year.

Article written by His Holiness Giriraj Swami

The Mayapur Temple of Vedic Planetarium (TOVP), under construction, recently opened an office in the ISKCON Juhu temple, at Hare Krishna Land in Mumbai. In honor of the occasion, and to further the cause, I thought to share an excerpt adapted from my article “Memories of Sridhar Swami” in my book Many Moons.

In November 2003, Srila Prabhupada’s staunch disciple Sridhar Swami phoned me from Bombay and told me that he was planning to go to Vancouver in April for four to six months. Soon thereafter, however, he sent an e-mail saying that he had been diagnosed with liver cancer and was going to Vancouver immediately to see if he could get a liver transplant, which was his “only hope.” There the tests revealed that his cancer had spread beyond the limit allowed for transplants, and so his “only hope” was dashed, and it seemed like he was soon to leave his body. I phoned Maharaja from Santa Barbara and eventually got him on his cell phone. “Where are you?” I asked. “I’m shopping,” he answered. He seemed so jolly—like always. But then he confirmed my worst fears: “The doctor says that I could go at any time. Phone me back later. We have to talk.”

After that, we would speak every day, usually twice a day. And we had wonderful talks. Then the question arose whether he should go to Mayapur—and when. He decided he would go to Mayapur and concluded that he should go as soon as possible.

He had three desires, he said: “I just want to survive until I reach Mayapur. Then, if possible, I want to live to see the Panca-tattva installed. And then, if possible, I want to live until Gaura-purnima. And then—whatever.” (He meant, of course, “And then—whatever Krishna wants.”) No one knew how much travel Maharaja’s weakened body could bear, but with these three desires in his heart, he flew to London and then to Kolkata, and eventually he arrived in Mayapur.

I wanted to phone Maharaja every day, but the way it worked out with the time difference and all the difficulties in just getting through to Mayapur, we only managed to speak every third day or so. The last time, two days before he left, he was having a good day. The previous day had been a bad one, but the night before, they had given him some additional medication. So when I spoke with him that last time, he was having a good day, and we had one of the best talks I have ever had with anyone in my entire life. We spoke mainly about the Mayapur project and Srila Prabhupada’s mission. It’s really something that I’ll cherish for my whole life—the experience of it and the lessons it contained.

That was Thursday, March 11. The next day, Friday, we installed beautiful brass Deities of Gaura-Nitai in our Carpinteria ashram. They had come from Vrindavan, originally commissioned by Mother Kirtida for Tamal Krishna Goswami. I felt that Their coming was also part of Sridhar Swami’s mercy, because he so fervently desired that the glories of the Panca-tattva be spread and that we build the great temple for Them in Mayapur. So, two representatives of the Panca-tattva had come, and I felt that Their arrival was his desire.

On Thursday I had told Maharaja, “I don’t know if I will be able to phone you again before then, but the Deities have come and we will install Them Friday evening, and by your mercy we’ll try to serve Them and Their dhama.” And now, whenever I look at Their beautiful forms and appealing faces, I feel that we have to do something for Them—we have to build Their wonderful temple, as Sridhar Swami always reminded me.

I think this may have been Maharaja’s main contribution in recent years, at least to me in my service: He impressed upon me—and upon our entire movement—the importance of the Mayapur project, of the “wonderful temple” (adbhuta mandira) that Nityananda Prabhu had desired for the service of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and that Bhaktivinoda Thakura had envisioned. (One day, when Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura was chanting japa on the balcony of his house in Godruma-dvipa, he looked across the Jalangi River to Mayapur and had a vision of a transcendental city with a magnificent temple rising like a mountain in its midst.) Maharaja’s whole life was dedicated to Srila Prabhupada, and I think he felt that this was one of Srila Prabhupada’s main desires left to be fulfilled. And he felt that we had to do it—and that we had to do it; it would benefit the whole society, and the whole world. He would quote Ambarisa Prabhu: “This will be the tide that will make all the boats rise.” So, although Sridhar Maharaja left so many wonderful legacies for us in terms of his personal qualities and activities, I think one legacy that may serve to unite the movement and fulfill one of Srila Prabhupada’s main desires is his inspiration to push on the construction of the great temple in Mayapur.

When I was a new devotee, maybe less than two years in the movement, I approached Srila Prabhupada one day while he was getting his massage on the veranda of the Calcutta temple. “Srila Prabhupada,” I said, “I have been thinking about what pleases you most.” Srila Prabhupada was so pure he took every word into his heart. He replied, “Yes.” I said, “The two things that seem to please you the most are distributing your books and building the big temple in Mayapur.” Srila Prabhupada smiled with great appreciation and said, “Thank you very much.”

So, those were Srila Prabhupada’s two main strategies for spreading Krishna consciousness, and Sridhar Swami helped him in both. In his early days, Sridhar Swami was instrumental in developing book distribution in North America. And in his later years, he was very involved with the Mayapur project, planning and raising funds for the great temple. And by Maharaja’s mercy, on Gaura-purnima, standing in front of the Panca-tattva Deities in Laguna Beach, I got the inspiration: “Now it’s time for Mayapur. Sridhar Swami understood that long ago. Now it’s time for you [me] to join the effort, too.” And that was important for me in other ways as well—to let go of the past: “Forgive and forget. Now let’s all work together for Mayapur, for Sridhar Swami, for Srila Prabhupada, to build the wonderful temple.”

When I asked Sridhar Swami how I could help, he requested me to speak about my experiences of Srila Prabhupada related to Mayapur. So, in 1973, when Srila Prabhupada came to Calcutta from England, he was very excited and enthusiastic about Mayapur. Tamal Krishna Goswami had gotten the first land, we had observed the first Gaura-purnima festival there, and now Srila Prabhupada had come with the plans for the first building. There was a detailed discussion, and at the end Srila Prabhupada said, “If you build this temple, then Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura will personally come and take you all back to Godhead.”

Now I think, “That might be my only hope, so I’d better get to work. We’d better build the Mayapur project, because I don’t know how else I will ever get back to Godhead.”

His Holiness Sridhar Swami has given me a lifetime of work in service to Srila Prabhupada. Although jivo va maro va, to live or die is the same for a devotee—and certainly that was true of Maharaja—my own feelings are mixed. I think, “He has left so much service for me, given me so many instructions. So I must stay and execute his mission.” I think the same about Tamal Krishna Goswami. Even though part of me misses them terribly and wants to be with them, mainly I think, “They left me so many instructions. I have so much service to do for them here.”

Of course, how long we have to do what they have asked—what they would want—all depends on Krishna. Therefore, whatever time we do have left we should use in the best possible way—in Krishna consciousness.

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Mumbai being the largest metropolis of India, Srila Prabhupada endeavored enthusiastically and established a large temple at Juhu Beach. Mumbai temple has influenced the preaching of ISKCON in India greatly. Srila Prabhupada’s vision was that the congregation and life members of Mumbai can very easily establish the city of Mayapur by building the TOVP and therefore he said, ” Mumbai is my office, Vrindavan is my home, and Mayapur is my place of worship.”

For the last year the TOVP fundraising team has diligently worked and made presentations to the ISKCON India leaders and in return is receiving enthusiastic feedback and commitment from the entire India Yatra to participate in the fundraising endeavors. Mumbai temple president His Grace Braja Hari Prabhu, Zonal Secretary His Grace Devakinandan Prabhu, Sriman Bhima Prabhu, and the local GBC His Holiness Gopal Krsna Maharaj have all together blessed the TOVP fundraising activities by providing a very nice office at the Juhu temple for this purpose.

The TOVP office is located above the life membership office, and the Grand Opening was celebrated by the presence of the above leaders with a Guru puja to Srila Prabhupada and enthusiastic kirtan of hundreds of resident devotees. This auspicious celebration commenced on Sunday morning, April 27^th, 2014. We thank the leaders of the Mumbai Yatra for their devotion to the TOVP project and hope to organize many fundraising events there in the near future.

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