Community Dialog Covers Village Association, Rover Pipeline, and NV50
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By Madhava Smullen for ISKCON New Vrindaban Communications

On the afternoon of March 25th—after hearing inspiring news from ISKCON New Vrindaban and ECO-Vrindaban’s various department heads—Board members and Village Association members settled in for a lively community dialog on some important topics.

Village Association Foundational Document

The first was the presentation of a foundational document for the New Vrindaban Village Association. The Association defines itself as “A loving family of Krishna devotees, spiritual aspirants and friends” whose aim is “to empower and assist devotees to happily live in, or contribute to New Vrindaban.”

The Association also votes to elect members of a Village Council, through which New Vrindaban residents can participate in the governance of their community. The first vote, which elected the first Council, was carried out in November 2016.

Council member Gaura Bhakta Das presented the foundational document. It consisted primarily of rights Village Association members are entitled to, and matching responsibilities that create a good balance of reciprocation between the individual member and the group.

These included the right to spiritual guidance / responsibility to provide spiritual guidance; right to contribute freely / responsibility to focus on what we want; right of respectful disagreement / responsibility to speak up; right of involvement / responsibility to be informed; and others.

The essence of the Village Association was also boiled down to three recommendations: aim in good faith to be spiritually conscious; be a contributing community member; and be aware of Srila Prabhupada’s intents and purposes for New Vrindaban.

After Gaura Bhakta’s presentation, there was some discussion on the meaning and implications of the rights and responsibilities. Some expressed concerns that the document may be too idealistic. Gaura Bhakta responded that the Village Association needed to develop a starting point – however the document is a living one, which can evolve with community feedback.

Success in Re-Routing Rover Pipeline

Next, Gopisa Das reported on the recent legal struggles with the Rover Pipeline and success in getting it re-routed to avoid specific sacred places in New Vrindaban.

The Rover Pipeline is a 713-mile long multi-state project, starting in West Virginia and travelling through Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan before ending in Canada. It will deliver gas for distribution throughout the Midwest, Northeast, East Coast, and Gulf Coast.

Rover first contacted New Vrindaban residents two years ago saying that they were seeking eminent domain – a federal right to use private property for public use – to run one of their tributary pipelines through the community.

The route they wanted to take would have passed close to Prabhupada’s Palace and directly across Madhuban hill, where previously there was a Jagannath temple and a house Srila Prabhupada stayed in during his 1972 visit. It would have then cut right through the yard of the original Vrindaban farmhouse, where Prabhupada stayed for one month during his first visit to New Vrindaban in 1969.

Devotees met with Rover over the next couple of years but could not convince them to consider re-routing the pipeline. In February 2017, with no warning, the company announced that it had acquired eminent domain from the Federal Government, and that devotees were summoned for a federal district court hearing.

That meant ISKCON New Vrindaban and ECO-Vrindaban had just days to put together a full case against the $4.2 billion dollar project. To make matters even more daunting, Rover turned out to actually be Energy Transfer Partner (ETP), the same company that ran the Dakota Pipeline through sacred Native American land.

On the morning of the hearing, devotees organized a Harinama Sankirtana protest outside the court house in Wheeling, which was filmed by Channel 7 and Channel 9 News. Vrindavan Das also gave interviews to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette and Wheeling News Register.

Gopisa and INV President Jaya Krsna Das first testified, explaining that the specific areas ETP wanted to build through were sacrosanct to Vaishnavas because of Prabhupada’s presence there. They were then directed by the judge to work out an agreement with ETP’s lawyers.

The result was that ETP agreed to re-route the pipeline away from the designated sacred spots despite having full federal support and approval. Gopisa credited this to the power of chanting the Holy Name outside the courthouse, and said it was likely that ETP did not want to face more of the kind of negative media attention that they received with the Dakota pipeline.

During Gopisa’s report, a proposal – first suggested by INV Board Director Ananga Manjari –  was made that a portion of the funds INV and ECO-V receive from ETP could be used to construct a new Community Center. A majority of those participating in the discussion warmly embraced the proposal; and a decision was made to form a Community Center planning committee consisting of Village Association, INV & ECO-V members.

“We also negotiated an agreement with ETP that they would deliver to us all the trees they cut for use in building the Community Center, as well as fixing the old Vrindaban farmhouse,” Gopisa added.

Work on the pipeline is likely to start this spring.

NV 50 Plans and New Jagannath Altar

Rounding off the afternoon, Jaya Krsna Das presented plans for New Vrindaban’s 50th anniversary next year.

NV 50 themes will be integrated into every festival throughout 2018, and there will be a major celebration at the end of September 2018. There will also be a VIP event, and an Open House day for neighbors and the local community.

Meanwhile Sankirtan Das is interviewing many New Vrindaban devotees for an oral history project so that their experiences, challenges, successes and realizations can be secured for the benefit of future generations. There are plans to create both a video and book from these interviews, along with a shorter souvenier booklet with lots of photos.

Another major offering for the 50th anniversary will be that of a new altar for Lord Jagannath, Baladeva and Subhadra at the front of the temple room next year. The reasoning was that devotees currently do not get darshan of Lord Jagannath when facing the main altar during aratis, and show their backs to the Lord during gurupuja.

The move was decided based on a straw vote by residents and support from the ISKCON New Vrindaban board, GBC and ISKCON Deity Worship Ministry. The new altar will be in the spot the six Goswamis currently occupy, and will be an ornate wooden affair covered with gold and silver leaf.

Previously, Jaya Krsna promised devotees they would receive news of the move during this Spring’s weekend gathering, and the announcement was an auspicious and uplifting way to wrap up the Community Dialog.

 

For the Love of Wisdom
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Philosophy means the love of wisdom, the ability to separate truth from error, reality from illusion, and the subsequent discernment as to correct action. Professional philosophers use the word in specific ways according to which type of reality and illusion they are talking about.

Mohanasini Devi Dasi: Book Distribution weekend of May 25-28, 2017
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Hare KrishnaMohanasini Devi Dasi: My husband said something so sweet this week...I just have to share it with you....He said, "This album you post every week is your garland that you offer to Srila Prabhupada...every book distributed is a flower in that garland!" Book totals for this weekend: 11 Perfection of Yoga, 20 Chant and Be Happy, 76 Higher Taste cookbooks, 4 Science of Self Realization, 129 Bhagavad Gitas, and 4 Srimad Bhagavatams 1.1 Total: 244 books.

Debriefing the Mysteries of the Sacred Universe Workshop. Raga…
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Debriefing the Mysteries of the Sacred Universe Workshop.
Raga devi dasi : It’s my pleasure to offer this account of the “Unravelling the Mysteries of the Sacred Universe” workshop sponsored by the Krishna Institute and the Bhaktivedanta Institute of Gainesville held at the Alachua Learning Academy on the May 21-22. It included an all-star cast: Janmastami das did a stellar job of organizing the program, bringing in guest speakers His Holiness Bhakti Caru Swami (by internet), Brahmatirtha das in person, and key presenter, Murli Gopal das, who came in from the NYC Bhakti Center, toting an excellent PowerPoint presentation and many large charts and exhibits mounted around the room. Nandini Kishori devi dasi and her friendly helper, Vegavati devi dasi, facilitated online participation.

We began with the premise that the Srimad Bhagavatam’s Fifth Canto can be bewildering, and were quite relieved when Murli Gopal prabhu announced that we were welcome to consider our own appreciation of the information presented and need not conform to a definitive consensus. He cleverly avoided over-thinking complex topics by including two entertaining small group sessions exploring the 5th Canto’s cosmography. Throughout the workshop he presented fascinating Vaishnava pastimes involving this cosmography. We went to the Santa Fe College Planetarium to view “Passport to the Universe,” narrated by Academy Award winner Tom Hanks. It offered a dazzling tour of the modern scientific conception of the cosmos, which Murali Gopal prabhu skillfully contrasted to the Vedic version analyzed in the book Mysteries of the Sacred Universe by Sadaputa das (PhD in Mathematics from Cornell). Following in his footsteps, Murli Gopal prabhu has studied both science (Ph.D. in Physics from Ohio University) and Sanskrit (Columbia University), as well as Vedic cosmography and astronomy (and he has a 5th degree black belt in Karate!) He brought these impressive credentials to his well-organized talks, along with his deep loving respect for Sadaputa prabhu, plus a humorous, progressive outlook that allowed him to blend cartoons illustrating central concepts along with fascinating sophisticated graphics. The 48 participants (along with 20 more interacting online) appeared to be extremely satisfied with the spectacular presentations. Rucira devi dasi seemed to sum up the prevailing mood with her comment “I have no words to say how grateful I am to acquire this new knowledge.”

Sunday, May 28, 2017
→ The Walking Monk

Paxton, Nebraska

Animals

Last afternoon, I completed my walk at a farm where papa, mama, and baby bison were behind a fence on a rural property outside Sutherland.
Our day then began at this spot when Marshall put the high beams on to see our whereabouts. The lights dissolved their shyness and they moved on into the distance.
It was a day for animals—bison, cattle, birds, frogs, peacocks, even a hawk, and a bull snake. The snake was close. He was coming my way and I had to move.
There were party-animals, as well; two young men at 4:30 a.m. who when they spotted us, asked, “What’s goin’ on?” I encouraged Hayagriva and Marshall to chat with them. On the boys’ phones, they could display kirtans, chanting sessions, which the other fellows had never seen before. They were so intrigued with everything Krishna Conscious.
We also met Lawrence F. Wendelin.
“Can I give you a ride?” It turns out that Lawrence is a lay pastor for the Lutheran Church, and he was on his way to Church to deliver a sermon.
“It’s great what you're doing because the world is quite crazy.”
“That’s very obvious,” Wendelin said softly.
I continued to stride along with my heart warmed up from the enthusiasm my two monk assistants were showing, by driving to the nearest town to execute kirtan itself. In the small towns of Sutherland, Paxton and Roscoe, they had never heard kirtan before. Those in the bars and steak-houses were laughing and smiling, and some were bewildered to see the joy exuded by Hayagriva and Marshall.
You can follow Bhaktimarga Swami on twitter @BhaktiMargaSwam (no i).

May the Source be with you!

21 miles

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From a spiritual perspective, what causes addiction and how can it be dealt with?
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If we are already middle-aged, do we still have enough time to counter our bad karma by practicing bhakti?
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During the course of evolution, when did people develop the capacity to understand spirituality?
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How to Live in a World Plagued by Selfishness?
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Question: Namaste Swamiji. It is said that we should always associate with selfless people, and that’s very critical. Then, how should we interact with the people who are selfish? As you say, we should also love them as they are also part of God. So, if we are surrounded by such people, how should we act?
Radhanath Swami: By being a good example. Of course, if those people open their minds and hearts for us to speak to them about higher virtues and higher truths in life, then that is our service to them—to offer them that higher ideal, that higher philosophy that’s based on truth. We should not be egoistically thinking, “I know more than you.” We should be humbly serving all living beings by sharing a spiritual message that will enlighten them, bring joy in their life, and relieve them of suffering. So, if we learn the philosophy and the truth nicely ourselves, we can present it in a way that can help convince others of the good way of living.


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A short UK haul – May 2017
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Written by Krishna Kirtan

On 10th of May, Kadamba Kanana Swami came to England after an incredible Sri Nrsimha Caturdasi festival in Simhacalam temple, South-West of Germany. Sutapa and Vaisnava Sarvabhauma Prabhus picked up Maharaj and took him to Krishna Kirtan’s house where he rested well and had some informal talks with them for that day.

The next morning Maharaj came to the Bhaktivedanta Manor to give the morning Srimad Bhagavatam class on the 10th Canto, chapter 11, verses 33 to 35. Maharaj straight away pulled out his phone to search the commentaries from Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura. During the class, he told us that in the morning before japa he was reading the Saratha Darsini commentaries leading up to the Brahma Vimohana Lila, where there were descriptions of Krishna having a top knot. So this description then became Maharaj’s meditation during his morning japa. He was making the point that we need to absorb the mind in Krishna’s Lila and just think of Vrindavan, forget all else. Maharaj spoke a lot about the need for simplicity and how this is very favourable for our Krishna Consciousness. Telling us all that 1978 to 1984 were some of his favourite times in Vrindavan as things were still simple, and no-one had yet modernized or brought any Western culture into Vrindavan yet. The class ended on a very important note for everyone, with Maharaj stating that yes, Srila Prabhupada put Krishna at the front as He’s more known in the West, but he did introduce and give prominence to Lord Caitanya but now it is up to us to internally bring Lord Caitanya to the front! Because when we see our lacking we must turn to Him, Lord Caitanya and He is the one who will take us to Vrindavan.

In the evening there was an informal gathering of disciples and well-wishers at Krishna Kirtan Prabhu’s house. Around 30 devotees had come to spend time with Maharaj. And what a wonderful evening it was. Maharaj began with a short kirtan & then began reading the pastime when Nanda Maharaj was captured for untimely bathing to break Ekadashi vrata. Being captured by Varuna’s guards and then Krishna Himself came to rescue His father. Whilst reading the commentaries, Maharaj began explaining how these Krishna topics are every fresh as stated in the Lalita-Madhava that 1. The pastimes have transcendental potencies and 2. Based on the hearer’s pure eagerness and desire to relish them.

At the end of the evening, there was a small birthday surprise to celebrate and tie a few of the family members together. Hasita Raja Mataji had made an incredible cake for: Maharaj’s belated birthday, Janakinath Prabhu Sutapa Prabhu, Arjuna Raja, and Camplakata Priya Mataji. Maharaj got everyone singing and then all 5 joined hands over one knife to cut it and Maharaj began distributing to each of them.

The next morning Kadamba Kanana Swami left early morning to go to Plas Glansevin in Wales to facilitate the annual ISKCON Soho Street mentorship retreat. All were expecting a cold rainy affair, however Maharaj and the devotees being present in an old mansion house warmed up the atmosphere in no time. Maharaj delivered 6 seminars on the 9 processes of devotional service (śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ sakhyam ātma-nivedanam (SB 7.5.23))

Throughout the retreat Maharaj elaborately in a very unique manner how simply by relishing the Srimad Bhagavatam most the process of devotional service are fulfilled. Everyday Maharaj read from the Saratha Darsini commentaries by Srila Visvanath Cakravarti Thakura, which inspired many others to follow and dive deep into these commentaries. Maharaj brought an abundance of energy to the retreat and devotees in the evenings with his special kirtans. The devotees came away after the 4 day retreat extremely inspired, enlivened and eager to progress after Maharaj’s association and deep presentations, which showed there is great room for individuality.

On Tuesday night Maharaj left Wales to return back to Krishna Kirtan prabhu’s house in London. Wednesday Maharaj spend some times with various disciples, having one to one darsans. Later that evening Maharaj took everyone to his godbrother, Vrajesvara Prabhu’s new house for an auspicious start and an evening to welcome and invite the vaisnavas first. The evening began with Maharaj leading ecstatic kirtan and then speaking for a short time, followed by prasadam and a Vrajesvara Prabhu showing great appreciation and gratitude to Maharaj and the assembled devotees.

The next day, a few disciples came in the early morning to take Maharaj to the London Heathrow Airport for his departure to Brussels. Having a wonderful and humorous time with Maharaj in the airport but unfortunately, he had to leave and carry on his journeys to Radhadesh to enable his writing projects to take priority.

 

Writing as Life and Giving & HELPING ONE ANOTHER TO GROW
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After being inspired with a free verse poem as a way to check in with myself and my readers, I saw that it was very similar to a blog I wrote last year, so I am including it here. My intention, in addition to introspection and self-examination, is to encourage you in your own process of personal and spiritual growth. My prayer is to help you be a balanced human being and steady bhakti practitioner with the greatest likelihood of progress in serving and loving Krishna.
Got to serve somebody photo Serve Somebody_zps9j2gmmwl.jpg
Writing as Life and Giving

Even if my thoughts are not profound
or upon reading will change your life,
putting words on the page seems important,
a way of giving myself, my attempt to help,
as I so much believe in being a giver
even as I lack compassion and caring,
which I don’t like, yet don’t worry ‘bout,
since my nature is peaceful and accepting
sometimes to a fault, simultaneously frustrating

read more

Writing as Life and Giving & HELPING ONE ANOTHER TO GROW
→ Karnamrita's blog

After being inspired with a free verse poem as a way to check in with myself and my readers, I saw that it was very similar to a blog I wrote last year, so I am including it here. My intention, in addition to introspection and self-examination, is to encourage you in your own process of personal and spiritual growth. My prayer is to help you be a balanced human being and steady bhakti practitioner with the greatest likelihood of progress in serving and loving Krishna.
Got to serve somebody photo Serve Somebody_zps9j2gmmwl.jpg
Writing as Life and Giving

Even if my thoughts are not profound
or upon reading will change your life,
putting words on the page seems important,
a way of giving myself, my attempt to help,
as I so much believe in being a giver
even as I lack compassion and caring,
which I don’t like, yet don’t worry ‘bout,
since my nature is peaceful and accepting
sometimes to a fault, simultaneously frustrating

read more

Harinama in Barnaul, Russia, 27.05.17 (Album with photos) Srila…
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Harinama in Barnaul, Russia, 27.05.17 (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: “Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, that state he will attain without fail.” If one practices chanting the Hare Krishna mantra, he is naturally expected to chant Hare Krishna when he meets with some accident. Even without such practice, however, if one somehow or other chants the holy name of the Lord (Hare Krishna) when he meets with an accident and dies, he will be saved from hellish life after death. (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 6.2.15 Purport)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/i7JeAx

If science can’t answer some questions, why is everyone progressing along scientific lines?
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Science can’t address God’s existence and spirituality can’t prove it – how then can science and spirituality be reconciled?
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How can we get in our next life the devotional facilities we don’t have in this life?
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If senior devotees chanting for many years still have conditionings, does that mean conditionings are stronger than the holy name?
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When doing our prescribed service deprives us of devotee association, what should we do?
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When someone hurts us, how can we avoid becoming vengeful and stay focused on Krishna?
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WSN April 2017 – World Sankirtan Newsletter
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Hare KrishnaBy Mayapur Sasi dasa

Vaisesika Prabhu and his team did it again! They had a huge month of distribution in April. ISKCON of Silicon Valley was the No. 2 temple worldwide, with 20,701 book points. No one lives in the temple. It's a congregation of devotees inspired by Vaisesika, who also travels and inspires many other book distributors in temples around the world. Once, Vaiseska approached an Indian couple and showed them books. He befriended them and asked for a donation. The man said, "We'll get a book when we go to the temple." Vaisesika Prabhu responded, "No need! The temple has come to you. These books are nondifferent from the temple." The man said, "OK, so I guess that we'll get one now then." Continue reading "WSN April 2017 – World Sankirtan Newsletter
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Seeking Change for Eternal Benefit
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By Prabhupada-priya Devi Dasi

My invitation had been for two weeks, but the more I read the books, the more I became fascinated by the philosophy. The practices the devotees followed, such as chanting the Hare Krishna mantra and worshiping the deity, were not just something made up but were rooted in the teachings of the ancient Vedas. This immense wealth of knowledge existed before the creation and describes in detail the cyclical events of the creation and destruction of the material universes, giving precise time scales for such events. I realized that no matter how many nuclear weapons humans have, the planet cannot be destroyed without God’s sanction. It was comforting to know that there is a supreme controller who is all-good. Continue reading "Seeking Change for Eternal Benefit
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How Free Are We?
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Hare KrishnaBy Navin Jani

One aspect of the Vedic culture—knowledge of the future—may seem at first glance to contradict free will, but this is not so. In fact, St. Augustine’s explanation of this phenomenon in relation to the omniscience of God parallels the Vedic understanding. Others had argued that if God already knew what we were going to do, that would prevent us from having free choice; we could not help but act in the way God had foreseen. In response, Augustine explained that God’s vision of the future does not cause anything to happen. Rather, it is akin to human vision of the past. We have the ability to re-member past events, but this doesn’t mean we cause them. Similarly, God has the ability to pre-member future events, but this doesn’t mean His doing so curtails human liberty. He is simply beyond time, unlike us, and He can therefore observe past, present, and future all with equal ease. Continue reading "How Free Are We?
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