The super structure is rising from Mayapur’s golden dust as the momentum of construction steadily continues.

The time for considering finishing work has arrived and research is being done to identify suppliers of needed items. One such company is Nitco Limited. Established in Bombay in 1953, it has grown into one of India’s largest manufacturers of tiles. Members of the company’s staff recently visited Mayapur, including the Managing Director and owner, Mr. Vivek Talwar. After discussions with the art department and the TOVP’s own Managing Director, Sadbhuja Das, an exciting agreement was reached where Nitco will provide blue and gold tiles. A prominent area where these will be featured are the domes, renderings of the finished temple show popping blue domes with gold ornamentation.

This is a promising relationship. The staff at the TOVP look forward to cultivating new partnerships while accommodating the expanding needs of the project.

High quality rendition of Gaya Gaura Madhu Svare by Uttamasloka and Karnamrita Read more ›

69 photos: ISKCON Coventry, UK - Sunday program, August 18, 2013 Read more ›

 

 

ECOV Board Meeting Minutes 8-10-2013

Mission Statement: ECOV (Earth, Cows, Opportunities & Vrindaban Villages) is dedicated to cow protection, sustainable agriculture, self-sufficiency and simple living — all centered around loving service to Sri Krishna, as envisioned by the ISKCON New Vrindaban Founder-Acharya, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

Participating Members of the ECOV Board of Directors:  Chaitanya Mangala, Madhava Gosh, Navin Shyam, and Ranaka

Advisors present: Jaya Krsna

Others present: Tapahpunja

1. G7G & SFTC projects

In general, Tapahpunja said that a lack of manpower and unusually heavy rains had prevented him from working on longer-term capital improvement projects, as he focused on basic growing and distribution operations.

Greenhouse:  Based on recent experiences with PVC-shell greenhouses being damaged by storms, he is cancelling the current proposal and will resubmit a new one for steel-framed houses.

Irrigation system: This is 90% complete, but its use has not been necessary with the heavy rains.

Drainage system: Tapa has not been able to work on this because of wet weather.

Bread oven: Some funds were spent on creating a design and constructing a shelter.  The project was moved to the backburner, due to labor shortage, however, the shelter is being used to cover other gardening materials, and the balance of funds were returned.

Pole barns: Designs for 2 structures at a cost of $42K were made, but there have been issues in negotiating with INV on what the barns will be used for.

SFTC:  Tapa mentioned that he plans to ask for a grant to rebuild the fence and gazebo at the Teaching Garden.

2. Deity milk product offerings

Most of what the Deities are offered is coming from local milk.  INV has plans to purchase 2 more cows to increase production.  INV is requesting ECOV to continue subsidizing Ananda Vidya’s time on the project, which averages 6 hrs/week.

3. Reusable metal water bottle distribution

A sign to be displayed at the outlets is just about ready.  The lassi barn is not currently open, but when it does open, bottles will be available there as well.

4. Auction fund

Gosh is about to buy $1K worth of pavers at a discount price (for the G7G cabin and other projects).

5. Grain storage

The project is just about finished.  A motor needs to be purchased to power the augur that will transport the grain into the bins.

The purchase of grain will be discussed at the next joint board meeting.

6. Prototype cabin

The unit still needs insulation, a sink and flooring.  Pavers that Gosh will be purchasing will be used for the floor.  A grand opening celebration is scheduled for October 5.

7. Srila Prabhupada’s Palace cow pasture fence

Installation of a wooden fence is almost complete. Plans are to paint it next year.

8. Palace renovation

INV is advertising for a Project Manager for Srila Prabhupada’s Palace renovation.

9. Bahulaban projects

Pink building demolition is just about complete and utility building stabilization is about to begin.

10. Temple/Lodge foundation plantings

Gosh has found a devotee, Brikhasanga, to work on these.

11. Proposal: $7K to cover overage for 2013 trees and berries budget

WHEREAS: The ECOV Board wishes to continue its efforts to make New Vrindaban land agriculturally productive.

RESOLVED: The Board authorizes an additional $7K for the 2013 trees and berries budget.

12. Proposal: $15K for second cabin at G7G

The project was put in pipeline status.

13. Guidelines for promotional materials

The Board discussed that what we sell at our promotional booth should reflect our values and mission, even if that increases the expense and decreases the profit we earn.

For example, wooden and gourd cows, organic cotton t-shirts printed with non-toxic dyes, and generally hand-made crafts rather than mass-produced Chinese imports.

14. Grant request:  $12K for Gopal’s Garden School

WHEREAS: The ECOV Board wishes to continue its support of a school in the New Vrindaban community.

RESOLVED: The Board grants up to $12K to Gopal’s Garden school   for the 2013-2014 school year, based on the assumption that INV will match this amount, and on condition that the school produce a quarterly newsletter (September, December, March & June) highlighting activities at the school and including pictures of the students.

15. Replacement for Rafael

The immediate need is to find someone to manage the Deity flower garden and trees & berries projects while Rafael is away from October through April.

 

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Sree Dham Mayapur Morning Program – 2010

Moving On

Los Angeles, California

A concrete man-made water way is what gave space for the Ballona Bike Trail, a route that Dhananjaya and I had now become partially familiar with. It looks like we were not the only ones aware of this quiet getaway. We shared in this secret with a coyote who non-chalantly prowled his way (a portion of its length opposite to the river to us.) I Tried to gain his attention, "Hey Dude!" but he wasn't in the least phased. Frankly I was happy he was just there. His very presence seemed to defy or transcend the human infrastructure around him.

The other day, I had the same feeling when at pre-dawn an opossum was making its journey at post-party time on the San Diego beachfront. For him the party just began as I followed his quiet footsteps from dumpster to dumpster. He was apparently doing his rounds.

For those of us who are fortunate to live the lifestyle in the monastic order, rarely a day goes by where we can ignore sastra, the written wisdom, wherever we go. In reflection on today's Bhagavatam verses I was asked to speak on the final message of Chapter 11, Canto 7, regarding the Vedic four social orders. The Vedas convert the four social human types based on a person's psyco-physical make-up. What I attempted to emphasize was that spiritually we are all equal, as servants of Him. Materially we are all distinct and simultaneously complimentary to each other.

Complimentary or not, I did mutually get on well with a guy at the LA Airport waiting for a flight to San Jose. He calls himself a skipper or a sailor who is well-travelled and works on boats. He was neighbours to Crosley, Stills, Nash & Young and helped them get their yacht adrift in those days. A firm believer in conspiracy theories, he clearly pointed out at the CNN screen in front of us and declared that tv tells no truth.

He expressed that he really liked what I was doing as a roaming monk, hitting trails on foot and meeting people. On a recent ocean voyage he took ninety boy scouts for an adventure. I asked about the outcome.

"They're today's kids, hooked on gadgets and know little of the outdoors. About a dozen caught on. It's a shame, really."

10 KM

“I will miss so much pleasure if I devote myself to Krishna.” This feeling may check us while practicing spiritual life, especially its regulative principles.

Gita wisdom overturns this fear by declaring that we will miss far more pleasure by not devoting ourselves to Krishna. The Bhagavad-gita (10.41) indicates that the attractiveness of everything attractive is but a spark of Krishna’s all-attractiveness. This implies that Krishna’s pleasure-giving potency is far greater than the pleasure-giving potency of everything else, for he is the source of the pleasure-giving potency of everything.

Why then do we feel that worldly things are more pleasurable than Krishna?

Because our spiritual awareness that enables us to connect lovingly with Krishna is covered under lifetimes of materialistic conditionings. Though we are souls meant to rejoice in eternal love with Krishna, our conditionings have trapped our consciousness at the material level, thereby making spiritual happiness inaccessible.

So Krishna gives us the vision to see how he cares for us even at the material level, as the Gita (15.12-14) outlines. Over time when we understand philosophically and experience practically how Krishna loves us even when we don’t love him. Thus, we gradually develop faith in his assurance that devoting ourselves purely to him gives spiritual happiness far greater than the best material happiness.

When we take a leap of faith and sacrifice a few material pleasures for Krishna’s pleasure, we see for ourselves that we have not been losers but have been gainers. The enjoyment we have lost is drop-like, but the fulfillment we have gained is oceanic.

Once the conviction that Krishna is better than the best that the world can offer takes root in our heart, then worldly temptations lose their charm. And we march steadily and swiftly back to him.

**

Know that all opulent, beautiful and glorious creations spring from but a spark of My splendor.

Her Second

Los Angeles, California

Svavas has been the Krishna community leader here for many years. After I settled in at the sannyasi quarters of the LA community he showed me a copy of "Newsmax" August issue with a picture of First Lady Barbara Bush wearing a shawl from India. Draped around her shoulders it read in Devanagri script, "Hare Krishna." We were both delighted by Barbara's fashion statement.

My main reason for a rare visit to the City of Angels (It's just not on my regular trail) was to award brahman initiation to a Cleveland woman residing in the community. Hari Lila, was a super fan of George Harrison when she got internet-connected with Ramachandra of London Ontario, running a website of the legendary Beatle. One thing led to another and Hari Lila eventually, through the initial boost of George's devotional music, jointed the Krishna community here.

Hari Lila had earned this post of privilege on the strength of her sincerity and commitment. Svavas mentioned that she's earned it.

It was a pleasure to meet Rick, her father, a Lutheran, who came to the fire ceremony of his daughter. She was given new additional mantra to chant as part of the job description and that was followed by a planned walk on Ballona Bike Trail, through the heart of Culver City, a path she daily cycles as physical output. Her Dad came along as well as other friends.

The expression of wheels that takes to religiously is her down-time from kitchen and temple duties. Overall I'm very happy for her for having so many encouraging friends. "We love her," said one senior female devotee.

To her credit she has wrapped around her heart the Mahamantra, "Hare Krishna" and has mad it her life-line.

10 KM

Mundane wranglers have taken advantage of Bhagavad-gita to push forward their demonic propensities and mislead people regarding right understanding of the simple principles of life. Everyone should know how God, or Krsna, is great, and everyone should know the factual position of the living entities. Everyone should know that a living entity is eternally a servant and that unless one serves Krsna one has to serve illusion in different varieties of the three modes of material nature and thus wander perpetually within the cycle of birth and death; even the so-called liberated Mayavadi speculator has to undergo this process. This knowledge constitutes a great science, and each and every living being has to hear it for his own interest.

Bhagavad Gita As It is Preface

"Sometimes we think of chanting as a process, which it is. But more than a process, it is a relationship — our relationship with Krishna. We are in the material world because we have turned away from Krishna. We have come here to try to enjoy in imitation of Him, or in competition with Him. And when we realize that we cannot be happy trying to imitate God or take His place — when we realize that we have turned away from Krishna, who is our best friend and well-wisher, and we actually regret having turned away from Him and want to rectify our relationship with Him, the first — and best — thing we can do is to make the effort to chant His holy names with attention. So, it is really our relationship with Krishna in the form of His holy name that we are trying to develop."

From Reviving our relationship with Krsna
by Srila Giriraj Swami
Lecture 14 May 2013

Balarama Appearance Day 2013 Celebrations

Nitai’s Pizza and Pasta is an organic vegetarian restaurant run by Dhrumila das and his wife Nitai Carana devi dasi. Although situated in a busy area of Denpasar, the menu is not of local food style. The ingredients are totally vegetarian and organic. Along with pizza and pasta they serve breads, cakes, biscuits, energy health bars and much more.

(this blog is recorded on the full page: quick time player needed; works best with Firefox or Explorer)

There are many modern and ancient ways to describe the subtle building blocks, or constituents, of the material world for different purposes. However, looking through the lens of the Bhagavad Gita, we find a perspective of the physical world which is most helpful for yoga, or spiritual practice. While many people are at least casually familiar with the ancient Chinese concept of yin and yang, the Gita's outline of the gunas, or modes/qualities/karmic-blueprints of nature, will be more helpful for those interested in understanding their material conditioning for making spiritual advancement. The Gita devotes a whole chapter to giving us a basic template for noticing the gunas in our life, and in subsequent chapters goes into more detail. This knowledge is so powerful that it is considered the best of all knowledge regarding the material world, by which even great sages have attained perfection (BG 14.1-2)

To understand exactly what the gunas are, we need to understand some basic yogic philosophy. The metaphysic of the Gita is that our true identity is spiritual--we are eternal consciousness, an atomic fragment (atma or soul) of serving disposition, or a spiritual particle of God. Our intrinsic nature is to serve or cooperate with our Source, the Supreme Whole, revealed to be Krishna--the speaker of the Gita. The world of matter is foreign to the soul, as a confining spacesuit is confining to a human being. In order to function in this realm of matter we are given physical bodies with unique characteristics built by various combinations of the gunas, further limited by additional laws of Nature, such as time and space. The Sanskrit word guna, means rope, or a type of binding force created as a manifestation and instrument of a soul's karma, or reactions to work from previous lives.

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Verse 4.15: All the liberated souls in ancient times acted with this understanding of My transcendental nature. Therefore you should perform your duty, following in their footsteps.

"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement."

When I initially heard this quote from one of my bhakti mentors a few years back, it left a deep impression in me. How true those words ring!

It is also reminds me of a time when I asked another of my favorite bhakti practitioners a question. Younger and full of enthusiasm, I asked how I could become a better practitioner of bhakti yoga. With great compassion and a lot of love, he replied, "It will take patience and time. You are still young. With age comes many experiences which will help solidify your knowledge and deepen it into realization."

I remember meditating on that answer for quite some time. However, it is only years later that I gained the realization that those experiences don't necessarily have to be my own. By following in the footsteps of my teachers, inspirations and role models, I could also learn from their own experiences - whether they be positive or challenging.

The Gita is reminding us that first class intelligence is highlighted by learning from the experiences of others. Just like an aspiring entrepreneur will read and try to absorb the knowledge that was gained from the experiences of expert businesspersons, similarly the aspiring yogi observes and adopts the methods practiced by those successfully and steadily practicing the path of bhakti.

One of the traits of such advanced practitioners of bhakti yoga is humility. Such inspiring role models seek no recognition for themselves. Therefore, the price to get their company and hear from them is not money but a deep desire. Simply by desiring and making the effort to seek out such personalities, it's astounding how opportunities unfold to learn from them.

So go ahead and seek out the company of such wonderful personalities. After all:

"One's desires and ambitions develop according to the company one keeps."

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I liked these answers so much I thought I should make it part of my blog post. If you have already read it elsewhere, you can ignore this post. Two quotes by Prabhupada come to mind related to this question, they are something like "first deserve then desire", and then "work first samadhi later". The work he was referring to was preaching Krishna consciousness.

H.H.Hridayananda Maharaja very nicely captures the elongation of vaidhi bhakti into raganuga bhakti. I like the way he categorically states his points in bullets, gives way for easy read. When we see vaidhi and raganuga as two distinct aspects of bhakti then we are missing the point. A degree in phd cannot be separated from undergraduate studies. Phd is simply a continuation of undergraduate studies and both exist symbiotically. Similarly raganuga bhakti is a natural growth of vaidhi bhakti. Therefore by strictly practicing the instructions of our spiritual master, Krishna will award us the mercy towards spontaneous devotion unto Him. Of this, there should be no doubt!!

Please continue to read the answer given by Maharaj.

Question: It is mentioned in Jaiva Dharma that without practicing raganuga bhakti (which specifically refers to following the vrajavasis in our siddha deha and not sadhaka deha) one cannot go back to Krsnaloka or Goloka Vrindavan but one can go to Dwaraka. According to my understanding from reading Srila Prabhupada’s and other devotee’s books, I believe to serve and surrender to the Guru’s mission in the sadhaka rupa is as good as performing raganuga bhakti. I do not consider it separate although Aindra Prabhu condemns this type of approach and mentions that it needs to be cultivated separately. So I would appreciate if you can please enlighten me on this subject and let me know if we can still go back to Goloka Vrindavan to assist the servants of the servants of the vrajavasis in this lifetime just by serving in the Guru’s mission in sadhaka rupa or whether we need to separately endeavor to practice raganuga bhakti.

Answer by Hridayananda das Goswami:

1. Srila Prabhupada states many times that his faithful disciples who assist his mission will go back to Vrindavana.

2. In fact, those who devote themselves to Prabhupada’s service, and seriously practice bhakti-yoga, are coming to the stage of raganuga-bhakti. I am not doing my service because there is a rule to do it. My service to Prabhupada and Krishna is my life and I desire no other life. I find that I can easily understand Krishna’s Vraja Lila, and I am realizing myself more and more as Krishna’s eternal servant.

3. Preaching itself is raganuga-bhakti, not an inferior activity as some foolishly think. In the course of preaching, we realize great spiritual bliss and gain extraordinary insight into Krishna Lila. Most preachers I know are becoming more and more attached to Vrindavan, not Mathura or Dvaraka. That attachment comes from Krishna and indicates a devotee’s future destination.

4. The Bhagavatam does not explicitly state that we must practice a separate Raga-bhakti. Lord Caitanya stated that the Bhagavatam contains all Vaishnava-siddhanta. Therefore the requirement of practicing Raga-bhakti is not a siddhanta, a fundamental principle, but rather a detail as outlined in Chapter 6 of Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu. And details are variable, as stated by Rupa Goswami.

5. Bhaktivinoda Thakura perfectly spoke for his time. Then Krishna sent Prabhupada to make a full presentation to the world. Are we really to believe that Krishna will deny His Vraja-dhama to those who give their lives to His pure devotee, Prabhupada? That would be a ludicrous conclusion.

6. Aindra Prabhu did great service. He also wrote a book in which he seems to insult all the preachers of the world and place himself above them as their teacher. That’s what I read. I never heard an Aindra kirtana in which he first chanted the pranama prayers to his guru, Prabhupada. It is unusual to never begin kirtan by thanking and honoring your own guru, who happens to be a nitya-siddha devotee. In his book Caitanya-Caritamrta, Krishnadasa Kaviraja offers great respect to his predecessor gurus, as does Prabhupada in his books and kirtanas. If it were the case that simply chanting in Vrinavana, one could spread the sankirtana movement, why did Prabhupada leave Vrindavana to save all of us?

7. I suggest you read the Bhagavatam 6.17.28, which states that those actually devoted to the Lord do not worry about where they are going. They simply want to serve Krishna and they know that Krishna will reciprocate with their desire. Krishna clearly states in Bhagavad-gita 4.11 that He perfectly reciprocates with all souls. So if you are serving Prabhupada and you long to go to Vrindavana, why would Krishna send you somewhere else? Why would He deprive those who are most selfless, who think only of service, and who faithfully follow the pure devotee Prabhupada, not caring for their own bliss?

8. The essence of Vrindavana is selfless service, not trying to relish Krishna Lila. The essence of Vraja is forgetting any personal desire, including the desire to relish bliss, and rather doing whatever will please Krishna. We learn about what Krishna wants from His pure devotee Prabhupada. Those who think of nothing but fulfilling Krishna’s desires, as revealed by Prabhupada, are the real Vraja-vasis.

With best wishes,

Hridayananda das Goswami

Hare Krishna

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