Planet ISKCON

ECO-Vrindaban Board Meeting Minutes 12/17/2017

Mission Statement: ECO-Vrindaban promotes simple living, cow protection, engaging oxen, local agriculture, and above all, loving Krishna, as envisioned by Srila Prabhupada, the Founder-Acharya of ISKCON New Vrindaban.

Participating Directors: Chaitanya Mangala (chair), Kripamaya, Ranaka, and Vraja.

Participating Advisors: Jamuna Jivani (secretary), Kalakantha (partial attendance), Makara, and Olivia.

1. Ranaka’s Monthly Report

• At the Temple Barn, Ananda Vidya and Lalita Gopi are currently milking 6 cows: Jamuna, Surabhi, Parvati, Laxmi, Sita, and Malati. Milk production is approximately 20 gal. per day.
• Ananda Vidya continues to produce approximately 15 lbs. of butter, 15 gal. of yogurt, and 1/2 gal. of ghee on a weekly basis, and delivers them to the temple kitchen.
• Malati gave birth to a heifer named Gopi Katyayani last week. Shortly after giving birth she came down with what is commonly referred to as “milk fever,” which is caused by reduced blood calcium levels. She improved after the vet injected her intravenously with calcium and steroids, and has reentered the milk herd in a normal condition. The vet suggested that, in the future, we administer calcium gel as a precaution for all of the cows when they give birth. This will now become standard practice.
• Sriya and Anjali are both due in February. Subhadra is due the end of May.
• There are now three heifers residing at the Temple Barn: three-month-old Lalita, 11-month-old Vamsika, and newborn Gopi Katyayani.
• Jaya Radhe and Usha are still residing in Nandagram with Madhu for breeding.
• Last Sunday, we had a gathering at the Temple Goshala of 11 local New Vrindaban devotees and five members from the Catholic group, Wild Church WV. There was a nice interfaith service followed by dinner in the temple prasadam hall.
• Ray is about halfway finished with replacing the siding around the front entrance to Gopal’s Garden school building. Work will resume when weather permits.
• Ray picked up the materials needed for the greenhouse repairs at Vidya’s and Nandagram. He will work on them this month.
• Ray has been working on projects at the ghee plant during the cold, wet winter months.
• Caitanya Bhagavat has been working with Hari Chand in the ox program for an hour each morning, along with daily Nandagram herd care.
• Caitanya Bhagavat, Ray and Ranaka have scheduled a walk around at Nandagram next week to decide on a proper fencing scheme to divide up the barns and pastures there and to discuss the best place to build a permanent loading chute.
• Suchandra, along with her partner Ryan, have agreed to take on the responsibility of overseeing the food and flower gardens for the 2018 growing season.
• Ranaka will meet with Mukunda dasi and Radhanath das to coordinate their activities for the coming season.

2. Fall 2017 Joint Board Meetings Recap

Chaitanya Mangala reported on the joint board meetings that were held November 10-12:

• There were several changes to the regular schedule. Saturday morning ECO-V presented along with Gopal’s Garden, the Spirit Garden, and the Village Council. INV will be the main presenters in Spring 2018. This helped the presentations go more smoothly, as it allowed each group to have more time to share their information.
• The new Yoga Shala created a warm, relaxed, and inviting setting.
• The recent passing of Syama Kunda prabhu deeply affected the overall mood and created a very sober atmosphere throughout the weekend. His memorial ceremony was moving and greatly appreciated by both his immediate family members as well as his extended spiritual family in the New Vrindaban community.
• There was a Parikram tour Sunday morning that went well. Participants visited Tattva & Amritanam’s property, Sri Sri Radha Gopinatha’s Mandir, Srila Prabhupada at his Palace, & Govinda’s Restaurant kitchen.
• The service appreciation ceremony moved to Saturday, and Sunday afternoon was reserved for an open conversation and a presentation by Professor Burke Rochford. This time we honored Rasalila Dasi & Ranaka Dasa.
• Ranaka’s wife, Elena, helped organize and distribute the gift t-shirts. The Palace Peacock design was quite popular with the recipients. The ECO-V Board wants to specifically thank Elena for volunteering to do this service.

3. ECO-V Website Update

Jamuna Jivani resumed work on the website from earlier in the summer, and Makara also volunteered to help with this project. They are gathering some more material and writing the last of the content. They aim to have everything to the web designer within the next week.

4. Online Cow & Cowherd Campaign

ECO-V’s new Facebook campaign consists of two weekly posts; one featuring a cow, and the other a cowherd/gardener/staff. These posts provide information about their personality and history (for the cows) and about their service, history, etc. (for staff). This was the idea of Sukhayanti and Nila Gopal, and they are putting together the content, with the help of the ECO-V team. This has been a very popular campaign, as many Facebook users have been reading and appreciating these posts.

5. Cow Adoption Request

The Lakshmi Cow Sanctuary, located in PA, has requested ECO-V to adopt five of their cows, as the director, Dr. Sankar Sastri, is nearing retirement. In order to understand the situation more fully and to be able to make a clear decision, Ranaka will find out:

• more about the age and health of the animals, as well as what the sanctuary’s expectations and financial contributions would be
• what ECO-V’s capacity is to care for these cows, as well as how that might impact a timeline and trajectory for its own herd
• INV’s interest in fundraising to help cover the costs for the long term care of these animals

6. Gita Nagari Grant Request

Devotees at Gita Nagari are building a new feed area and manure storage facility for their cows. The total cost is $268K. They were successfully awarded a grant of $134K from the USDA. It is a cost share grant so they have to raise the balance. Dhruva Maharaja dasa, the President of Gita Nagari, asked if ECO-V would help them complete the project.

WHEREAS: The ECO-V Board wishes support cow protection throughout ISKCON, especially with our sister organization at Gita Nagari.

RESOLVED: The ECO-V Board authorizes a grant up to $10K to Gita Nagari for help with the completion of their new facility, contingent upon confirmation of their ability to raise the remaining funds.

For regular updates please visit and like the ECO-V Facebook page.

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 07 October 2017, Canberra, Australia, Srimad Bhagavatam 4.27.25)

The essence of spiritual life is simple – to render some devotional service to Krsna. This does not require very complex philosophical understanding. However, there are some injunctions which require analysis, for example, “One who does not give to charity according to the customs of the scriptures and who does not accept from charity are considered to be in the mode of ignorance.”

So giving to charity is very important. We have to be charitable because if we are not and we just hold onto things, we develop a deep attachment to matter. Therefore we have to give in charity but it must be done according to the scripture, otherwise what benefit is that charity? If we just give charity to the poor what will the poor do with that charity? If they engage in sinful activity then nobody will benefit. They will not benefit and you will not benefit.

I saw a ghastly scene in Calcutta. Near the Howrah Bridge, under the flyover, there are colonies of lepers. They do not look very nice because their fingers and their noses are gone. They look intense and naturally, we feel some compassion but also a little fear of getting too close. As I walked past, I saw how one of them picked up a stone and smashed the head of a sleeping dog. They killed the dog right, there in front of my eyes and later when I had to walk back on the same road, I saw that they were cooking the flesh of the dog on a fire. It is a sinful little world there!

So, it not just poverty but they are deeply rooted in the mode of ignorance and endure the suffering that comes with it. It is not so simple to help, to be charitable. Mother Theresa would just take the beggars off the streets and offer them a bed. That was very good but how are we going to change their heart?  How are we going to actually remove those sinful inclinations which brought them down to their ghastly situation?

Those kinds of questions come up in Krsna consciousness. In this way, we can see that to give or to accept charity is a complication. If one accepts charity and uses even one cent of that charity, then one will get some of the karma by which those funds were attained, unless one offers it to Krsna. By offering to Krsna, we can purify. Yes, that is true but still to offer things, which have been obtained from a sinful source to Krsna is not recommended.

Now in this age of Kali, it is very difficult because everything is tinged with sin. If we have to do a security check on whoever gives a donation to find out where the money came from and whether any sin was involved, it will become too complicated. But when the drug dealer starts to regularly give money to the temple then at one point it becomes a problem where you have to say, “Well, this is not ideal,” and it becomes a cut-off point. When a butcher gives a donation, we accept it to purify that butcher, to give him a chance to be saved from hell but at the same time if we just get a direct pipeline of money coming in from the slaughterhouse, then it becomes a bit compromised. So like this, even living according to scriptures is not just cut and dry.

The TOVP management has arranged for a live broadcast of the Grand Installation Ceremony of the Chakras onto Sri Sri Radha Madhava’s and Lord Nrsimhadeva’s domes on February 7th, 2018 through MayapurTV. Now every devotee will have an opportunity to view this occasion live right from the comfort of their own home and with their entire family.

This momentous and pivotal occasion, perhaps the most important in ISKCON’s history to date, represents the completion of a ten year phase of construction and the beginning of the remaining phase of construction of the TOVP as we approach the Grand Opening in 2022. It heralds yet another milestone of achievement in our cooperative effort to fulfill Srila Prabhupada’s strong desire to build this unique temple and establish Sridhama Mayapur as the spiritual capital of the world, nay, the universe, from whence the sankirtan movement of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu began and Krishna prema flows.

The address to access MayapurTV is: www.mayapur.com/media/mayapur-tv/

A link to download the Schedule of Events is below and we request you print it to post at your local temple and share on your Facebook Page and other social media. Become a TOVP Ambassador and spread the word.

Please note that the schedule times are for India and you will have to adjust that for your own time zone.

To sponsor an abhisheka for one or both Chakras go to:
https://tovp.org/donate/once-in-a-lifetime-chakra-abhisheka-seva-opportunity/

Schedule of Events can be downloaded by clicking the button below.

DOWNLOAD ZIP  

The post Watch the Live Broadcast of the Historic TOVP Chakra Installation Ceremony appeared first on Temple of the Vedic Planetarium.

(photo by Laura Fasulo) KEEPERS OF THE FLAME: Although this expression is most often used by our Christian brothers and sisters, I totally relate to its exclamation in relationship to what or who I am, or at least, aspire to be: A Keeper of the Flame of Bhakti, or A Keeper of the Flame of Spirituality. Personally, I see this as a responsibility for all followers of Shri Chaitanya and those who represent him. I visualize a flame burning brightly in my heart, or raising a torch in my hand to dispel darkness. To me, this is inspiring! "Lead me from untruth to truth! Lead me from darkness to light! Lead me from death to immortality." [Brhad-aranyaka Upanisad 1.3.28] This is my meditation and affirmation on being a keeper of the flame.

More than ever before in my life, this is what I want to stand for, and share, and be, and promote. Though admittedly this has waned in the last year, I keep being reminded of it, and now this is the direction I want to take. With this new year, I am reaffirming my commitment. Thus, I write and speak with the prayer to do this service of giving light and encouragement to deal with our worldly desires and nature in the context of spiritual growth—transforming our human life into the life of the soul. Easy to say, I am well aware, yet for me, I need to keep high aspirations always in mind and in my prayers for my highest prospect. Otherwise I may just settle to get by as I have for so many years.

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Maintenance of ISKCON is in the hands of the next generation by Bhakti Charu Swami. Published on Jan 5, 2018 (video)

Srimad Bhagavatam Class 11.6.34-35 By Radhanath Swami at ISKCON Chowpatty on 6th January 2018 (video)

Sivarama Swami: Yoga has lost its soul! (2 min video)
What Yoga REALLY is?

The Wall Street Journal: Psychologists Shouldn’t Ignore the Soul!
David H. Rosmarin: When I was an intern, patients frequently asked if they could talk to me about God.
In my first six months as a predoctoral psychology intern at McLean Hospital, I was approached by at least 10 patients asking essentially the same question: Can I speak to you about God? They wanted to discuss their problems not in psychological terms but in spiritual ones. I guess the yarmulke on my head suggested I was an appropriate person to offer guidance.
To read the entire article click here: https://goo.gl/kmLzj6

New Varshana’s Ratha Yatra (6 min video)
Prananatha Das: New Varshan devotees held a Ratha Yatra Festival today, pulling the Rath cart around the farm. This was the first time that many of the devotees and guests saw our new, Govardhan Hill. You won’t believe your eyes!! (Thanks to the hard work of Saci Suta and his wife, Ananta Krishna. ).
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/DoV3Lq

Prabhupada had planned the takeover of Russia long before he ever went to Russia.
Govinda dasi: He used to sit and turn the globe, and he would meditate on the different countries.
And he would say, “Brahmananda, you shall go to Russia. Goursundar, you shall go to Japan. Somebody else, you shall go to South America.”
You have to understand, we had no money, we had no manpower, we had nothing.
We were a handful of teenagers, 10 people in their early 20’s who were rather eccentric, all of us, because we had rejected our cultural values and we were following him like a Pied Piper, and he was telling us about these different countries we were going to go to and open temples.
He had his plan. It was not haphazardly done.
I have a beautiful picture of Prabhupada sitting and turning his globe.
He did it a lot. He meditated on the globe.
He looked at the different countries. You would see him doing it a lot, and he was planning.

He had planned the takeover of Russia long before he ever went to Russia.

This is a part of what he knew he had to come to this world and do.

We just didn’t know what all he was doing, although sometimes…in Montreal when we had a lot of time and he would talk, he used to talk to me about his different plans.

We had no money. We lived in a little flat. We had rats too.

There was nothing and yet he was telling me how he was going to have a world sankirtan party, and he also told me how he wanted to have a big auditorium where people could come and watch bhajans and hear bhajans and see plays and Krishna conscious things rather than going to the cinemas.

He felt the cinemas were drawing people into another world.

He had plans of doing this.

And when I go to Bombay and I see that great big auditorium, I say, “He said he was going to do this.”

It’s just like if I’m a pauper and I tell you I’m going to build Disneyland, and that’s what it was like.

But I never disbelieved anything he said, I just listened.

I was just always listening to him, and he liked to talk about what he was going to do.

And he talked about many things.

—Govinda dasi

The appearance of Govardhana hill in New Varshana. (Album with photos)
By the mercy of Srila Prabhupada!!
The residing Deities are Sri Sri Radha-Giridhari installed by Srila Prabhupada 1972.
Work in progress.
One night Sacisuta Prabhu one of the older devotees of New Varshana, Auckland, NewZealand had a dream about Govardhana hill. And when he woke up from his dream he said to his wife Ananta Krsna dd I’m going to build Govardhana hill and as you can see by the photos Sri Giri Govardhan! is fulfilling his desire by manifesting himself by His causeless mercy.
Today we sprinkled dust from Braj over Govardhana.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/CSUpqf

The Supreme Personality of Godhead is worshiped with the prayer name brahmanya-devaya go-brahmana-hitaya ca. Thus it is clear that the Supreme Personality of Godhead respects and protects the brahmanas and brahminical culture, as well as the cows; in other words wherever there are brahmanas and brahminical culture, there are cows and cow protection. In a society or civilization which there are no brahmanas or brahminical culture, cows are treated as ordinary animals and slaughtered, at the sacrifice of human civilization.The specific mentions the word gave by Prthu Maharaja is significant because the Lord is always associated with cows and His devotees.In pictures Lord Krishna is always seen with cows and His associates such as the cowherd boys and the gopis. Continue reading "Will Veganism save the cows?
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*Absolutely no offerings will be accepted after April 15, 2018.* Offerings must be in English. Please restrict the length to a maximum of 3,000 words. Please omit all diacritics on words that can be found in the VedaBase. It’s easier for us to put them in. If you quote a verse from outside the VedaBase or compose original Sanskrit, please include diacritics. Do not "recycle" an offering — no offerings from previous years will be accepted. The Vyasa-puja book is meant for glorifying Srila Prabhupada, not venting grievances. The BBT reserves the right to reject an offering it deems inappropriate or to ask for a rewrite. When writing an offering on behalf of a temple or other unit, please try to write in such a way that the other devotees in your unit can also identify with the offering. Continue reading "Call for homages for Srila Prabhupada’s 2018 Vyasa Puja Book
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In the previous months at the old center some neighbors were disturbing the programs in different ways, devotees could not have kirtans, and there were other obstacles that discouraged guests from visiting the old temple. Eventually Temple President Prabhu Das suggested to the community to find another place in which they could properly glorify Sri Krishna loudly, without restrictions. They then began to look for another place. A few short weeks later they found out that a nearby building, in which they had previously done some Food for Life programs, was now empty and that they were looking for somebody to rent it. Continue reading "New Center in Torino
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The post Daily Darshan: January 07,2018 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Adi Purusa Das, the TP of Canberra temple, invited me to a kirtan program on a Saturday night. Even though on that day it was nearly 40 degrees, quite a few devotees attended the evening of blissful chanting.

Apart from myself there were a few local kirtaniyas who led, such as, Gauravana das, Ananda devi dasi and Ayodhyadeva das. At the end everyone relished a wonderful feast cooked by Krsna Kirta das.

Mission Impossible (The Impossible Quest)
“IMPOSSIBLE is a word in fool’s dictionary.” Hope you have heard this statement oftentimes. Such inspiring statements invigorate one to do things that apparently seem to be beyond one’s capacity. But did you ever try to contemplate in what ‘context’ such statements could be used? And what could be the driving force that enables a person to make impossible things possible?
Scriptures proclaim that not a blade of grass moves without the permission and sanction of the Supreme Lord. Sure enough, this is no exaggeration, because every living entity is utterly dependent on the Lord in every walk of his life. So, without the sanction of the Lord, how does any insignificant mortal possibly achieve anything impossible?
Here is the formula to achieve the impossible. If one has a pure intent to render tangible service to the humanity selflessly, the Lord and His representatives help him in every possible way to make the impossible tasks possible. It’s the blessings and good wishes of great souls and the Lord that make one accomplish impossible missions, and not the individual’s determination inspired by one’s own whimsical desires. If one is obsessed to achieve one’s selfish ambitions that cause no good to others, his taking of so-called inspiration from such statements is merely passionate, if not imprudent. In fact, a selfish person’s desire to achieve impossible goals doesn’t cause any good to his own self. We see several examples in the scriptures like Hiranyakashipu and Ravana who tried to become immortal, which is impossible for any mortal being, causing great disturbance to people in general and ultimately ruining their own lives.

On the other hand we have an example from the Srimad Bhagavatam that describes the glorious sacrifice of a selfless soul who took up an impossible mission and made it possible by the power of his pure intent. Once upon a time there lived the great king Sagara, who was an ancestor of Lord Rama. He decided to perform a horse sacrifice. Indra, the king of heaven, being envious of Sagara had stolen the sacrificial horse and tied it near the hermitage of the great sage Kapiladeva. The 60,000 sons of Sagara went in search of the lost horse and found it near Kapila’s hermitage. They mistook Kapila as a thief and tried to attack him. The angry sage then burnt all of them to ashes. Ansuman, the grandson of Sagara then approached Kapila and begged for the deliverance of his forefathers. Kapila told that they could be delivered only when touched by the holy waters of river Ganges. Dilipa, the son of Ansuman tried to bring the Ganges to this world but died without success.

King Bhagiratha, the son of Dilipa, was determined to bring the Ganges to this world, and underwent severe austerities. Mother Ganges, being fully satisfied by his austerities, appeared before him. Bhagiratha then requested her to deliver his forefathers. But Gangadevi expressed her concern that her waters would be very forceful that the flow would pierce the surface of earth. She therefore asked Bhagiratha to find someone who is capable of checking her force. Bhagiratha then prayed to Lord Siva who agreed for this task, and thus helped the descent of Ganga devi. Simply by the touch of the holy Ganges, Bhagiratha’s forefathers were delivered and allowed to go to the heavenly planets.

Thus Bhagiratha with his determined will accomplished the impossible mission of bringing Mother Ganges to this planet. Thus, he not only delivered his forefathers but also every living entity that would come in contact with holy waters of the Ganges for the rest of eternity.

Similarly in our journey of life, we face many ups and downs and many missions that may seem impossible. But the lesson we learn from the descent of Ganga is to remain fixed in the goal of life, by the strength of higher virtue. Life is not worth living without seemingly impossible challenges. If one takes up challenges with pure motivation and determination, in a spirit of doing good to others, Lord favors him in all his movements and makes every circumstance in life favorable to him.

Srimad Bhagavatam Class in Mayapur, Jan 4, 2018, Canto 8.6.12 by Atita Guna devi dasi ACBSP.

Srila Gopal Bhatta Goswami Appearance day celebrated at ISKCON-Delhi, 06-01-2018(Album with 16 photos)
Srila Prabhupada: All gl...

Krishna katha kept everyone captivated for more than two hours (Album with photos)
On 11th Nov 2017, Gaur Gopal Das was invited to speak at Artha Forum on the topic of ‘Living in the VUCA world,’ at RELC International Hotel, Singapore.
Smart and well-informed group of entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, professionals, and students gathered to hear from him, seeking for new perspectives on dealing with the mayhem around us. Filled with deep wisdom and realizations, the talk and follow-up Q&A kept everyone captivated for more than two hours.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/6yy8op

On January 2nd in a conference call, the Global BBT unanimously voted to *continue* the special augmented book points for Arabic and Farsi books! So it did not stop at the end of the year, and is still active right now and for the whole of 2018 (at least)! This is also nicely timed for the long awaited launch of the new Arabic Gita which will be awarding the book distributors with 6 (six) points for each sale instead of the normal 2 points for a Gita. So please feel free to get this good news out to all the sankirtan devotees of your area. Continue reading "Great news for Sankirtan devotees
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To this day, the ISKCON Mayapur Food for Life strives and, by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada, succeeds in fulfilling this instruction. Over the last eight years, the ISKCON Mayapur Food for Life program, under the Sri Mayapur Food Relief Trust, has distributed over three million, nine hundred and twenty-five thousand, seven hundred plates of prasadam (3,925,700 plates). By the end of this year, the number of plates will have reached four million. Continue reading "Our Secret Weapon
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Why is that thousands of these Orthodox monks can chant day and night non-stop but we can't? Now that many of our devotees are retired from active duties and call themselves vanaprasthas perhaps it's time for our society to start talking about increasing the number of our daily rounds. Not compulsory, of course, but for those who can it could be encouraged. Another important aspect is that in Orthodox Christianity following preceptors is the only way of spiritual progress. There's no democracy on Mt. Athos, you can't just show up and claim the right to be taught - one must be selected and accepted by a known teacher. Likewise, one can't practice on his own - guidance must always be there. One can't approach Jesus Christ on his own either - only through what we'd call a parampara. Continue reading "Monks of Mount Athos – is there something we should learn from them?
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The post Daily Darshan: January 06,2018 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Giriraj Swami: In anticipation of the fortieth anniversary of of the Juhu temple, Rasa-sundari dasi wrote about serving there:
Serving Guru Maharaja in Bombay from 1990 to 1992 was sometimes a real challenge, because we had hardly any facilities.
In the beginning there were only three of us, not even initiated then: Bhakta Juan, Bhaktin Manju, and myself, Bhaktin Flor.
Cooking was done on the second floor in a small kitchen connected to the Bhaktivedanta Institute. Guru Maharaja always took his prasadam in his office, and as he liked hot chapattis, we were cooking them on the second floor and then running down the hall with them, one by one, to the office.
There were no mobile phones at that time, so lots of time was spent trying to find each other to get the messages through.
Serving Guru Maharaja in Bombay meant to be able to go with him to visit all those wonderful devotees who were present during Srila Prabhupada’s time—Mrs. Nirmala Singhal, Dr. C. P. Patel, Mr. P. L. Sethi, Srimati Sumati Morariji. They all received Guru Maharaja like a long-lost son who finally had come home.
Serving Guru Maharaja in Bombay meant witnessing how he gave himself fully to each and every person who wanted to see him, and everyone wanted to see him. He never showed any concern for himself, whether he had eaten, taken rest, or had some time for himself.
Serving Guru Maharaja in Bombay meant being the lucky first three devotees that received initiation from him under the loving glance of Sri Sri Radha-Rasabihariji, and we became Vrindavan das, Janaki devi dasi, and Rasa-sundari dasi.
After our initiation, Guru Maharaja allowed us to collect guru-daksina in front of the restaurant. At the end of the day, when Vrindavan das told Guru Maharaja that because of his service, he had not been able to collect anything and so he had nothing to give to him, Guru Maharaja looked at him and said, “You need not worry about that—you have already given me your life.”
Serving Guru Maharaja in Bombay meant being able to see him many mornings on the altar doing the mangala-arati for Sri Sri Radha-Rasabihariji.
Serving Guru Maharaja in Bombay meant seeing him so expertly supervise the cleaning and maintenance of Srila Prabhupada’s quarters. He wanted us, the devotees, to do the cleaning and everything else there.
Serving Guru Maharaja in Bombay meant watching him go almost every morning after mangala-arati to Srila Prabhupada’s quarters and chant his rounds there.
Serving Guru Maharaja in Bombay meant meeting and serving so many of his wonderful godbrothers and godsisters who had served together with him during Prabhupada’s times, and seeing the love they all had for him.
Serving Guru Maharaja in Bombay meant realizing that you are not this body, when after ten or twelve hours of intense service you fell on your bed, the body completely exhausted and the soul inside completely blissful, wanting to do more.
Serving Guru Maharaja in Bombay was one of the happiest times in my life!
—Rasa-sundari dasi

In anticipation of the fortieth anniversary of the Juhu temple, Rasa-sundari dasi wrote about serving there:

Serving Guru Maharaja in Bombay from 1990 to 1992 was sometimes a real challenge, because we had hardly any facilities.

In the beginning there were only three of us, not even initiated then: Bhakta Juan, Bhaktin Manju, and myself, Bhaktin Flor.

Cooking was done on the second floor in a small kitchen connected to the Bhaktivedanta Institute. Guru Maharaja always took his prasadam in his office, and as he liked hot chapattis, we were cooking them on the second floor and then running down the hall with them, one by one, to the office.

There were no mobile phones at that time, so lots of time was spent trying to find each other to get the messages through.

Serving Guru Maharaja in Bombay meant to be able to go with him to visit all those wonderful devotees who were present during Srila Prabhupada’s time—Mrs. Nirmala Singhal, Dr. C. P. Patel, Mr. P. L. Sethi, Srimati Sumati Morariji. They all received Guru Maharaja like a long-lost son who finally had come home.

Serving Guru Maharaja in Bombay meant witnessing how he gave himself fully to each and every person who wanted to see him, and everyone wanted to see him. He never showed any concern for himself, whether he had eaten, taken rest, or had some time for himself.

Serving Guru Maharaja in Bombay meant being the lucky first three devotees that received initiation from him under the loving glance of Sri Sri Radha-Rasabihariji, and we became Vrindavan das, Janaki devi dasi, and Rasa-sundari dasi.

After our initiation, Guru Maharaja allowed us to collect guru-daksina in front of the restaurant. At the end of the day, when Vrindavan das told Guru Maharaja that because of his service, he had not been able to collect anything and so he had nothing to give to him, Guru Maharaja looked at him and said, “You need not worry about that—you have already given me your life.”

Serving Guru Maharaja in Bombay meant being able to see him many mornings on the altar doing the mangala-arati for Sri Sri Radha-Rasabihariji.

Serving Guru Maharaja in Bombay meant seeing him so expertly supervise the cleaning and maintenance of Srila Prabhupada’s quarters. He wanted us, the devotees, to do the cleaning and everything else there.

Serving Guru Maharaja in Bombay meant watching him go almost every morning after mangala-arati to Srila Prabhupada’s quarters and chant his rounds there.

Serving Guru Maharaja in Bombay meant meeting and serving so many of his wonderful godbrothers and godsisters who had served together with him during Prabhupada’s times, and seeing the love they all had for him.

Serving Guru Maharaja in Bombay meant realizing that you are not this body, when after ten or twelve hours of intense service you fell on your bed, the body completely exhausted and the soul inside completely blissful, wanting to do more.

Serving Guru Maharaja in Bombay was one of the happiest times in my life!

—Rasa-sundari dasi

Movie Stuntman Finds Joy in Krishna Consciousness.
Devotees from ISKCON’s Soho St temple began visiting Jason and bringing him maha-prasadam and more books. “I read Chant and Be Happy, and the idea of self-realization through chanting really appealed to me,” he says.
“Next, I read Prabhupada’s biography, ‘Your Ever Well Wisher.’ I started to become very interested in the person of Srila Prabhupada. I read more and more about his mission, and the history of how he founded ISKCON in the United States. That’s when I became vegetarian. Step by step, my consciousness was changing.”
La Shard began to look for devotee association. He visited the Soho St. temple, and then took the three-month Veda course, an introductory program to Krishna consciousness, at Bhaktivedanta Manor. There, he studied the Gita chapter by chapter, and learned about Vedic culture, Vaishnava saints, the history of ISKCON and more.
In the summer, he joined Parasurama Das’s team of preachers, putting on Rathayatra festivals all over Scandinavia as well as Northern England and Scotland. Parasurama, delighted to make the acquaintance of the “biggest devotee in ISKCON,” warmly nicknamed La Shard “Bhima.
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Gopal’s Fun School - Goa.
Mission: Train Children of our society in the spiritual field with a view to awakening God consciousness in them so that over a period of time they become divine law-abiding citizens and consciously make the correct decisions in life to keep away from everything any caring parent would want them to avoid. Above all they are provided with a sense of responsibility towards themselves and society as a whole. Most importantly this all has to be done in a FUN way. 90% FUN + 10%.
GFS is a weekend FUN program for kids to create wonderful memories of their childhood and KRISHNA using a lively blend of art, stories, quiz, drama, games.
Read more: https://goo.gl/boRKA7

Kirtan by HH BB Govinda Swami, Dallas Kirtan50, 29.12.2017 (video)
Srila Prabhupada: We are not afraid of maya because Krishna is there. Krishna says, “My devotee will never be vanquished by maya.” Maya cannot do anything if we become strong. And what is that strength? Chant Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare loudly. (Lecture on Bhagavad-gita, 3.6.10, Los Angeles 1968).
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/rrrQjz