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| November 2008 ~ Issue 1 : : email: janananda@yahoo.com |
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Dear Prabhus
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Sorry we have fallen a bit behind. This mail-out is again a reminder of our family commitment to serve each other and pray for each others welfare especially HH Jayapataka Swami. The rest of the newsletter is just Aussie katha.
Melbourne
Known as the “Mahaprabhu Mandir”. A Srila Prabhupada Tirtha. Prabhupada installed the Deities here. Melbourne – famous for prasadam distribution. The Gopals and Crossways restaurants are situated right in the main street – Swanson Street, where Kurma prabhu spearheaded one of the greatest pushes for capturing the tongues of the conditioned souls and bringing them to Krishna consciousness. Today the restaurants still flourish. The temple is always buzzing with large numbers of congregational devotees coming and going. About 50 young Indian men and a few girls live close to the temple and come regularly for the morning programme and do all sorts of service. The Temple at lunchtime is full of hungry people. Prabhupada himself set this in motion in a room conversation in Melbourne on 21st May 1975.
Feed Everyone
Prabhupada was emphatic. "We say everyone, come and eat. Why he should remain hungry? We invite everyone, come here, eat, no charge. We don't charge. Why he should remain hungry? Let us increase this program. All hungry men of Melbourne city, come here, you take your eating sumptuously." As Prabhupada said, "Come here", he gestured as if all the hungry men were actually standing at the door. "We invite -- come on. Why you should remain hungry?" With another subtle, but striking, movement of his hand, he sat the hungry men of Melbourne down.
Harinama in Melbourne
Harinama in Melbourne is just astonishing. Outside of Crossways the footpath is crowded. Dozens of young kids join us as the kirtan starts rocking. Jumping, hands in the air. They don’t want to leave. 30 minutes pass and we are still in the same spot. It seems like Lord Caitanya’s sankirtan has taken over the walkways. We move on and some young EMO’s (Goths all in block –Emo short for emotional as they are called) swirl in. The street stops to watch. The young Melbourne devotees have a real taste for Harinama. They continue the mood in the evening at the loft programme with more blissful kirtan and interaction with 30 prospective devotees.
The sankirtan movement is alive and kicking.
Melbourne - Kirtan in the Mall attracts all
Melbourne - School kids get into it
Melbourne - Chant dance and be happy
Hobart
Off to Hobart on the island of Tasmania. The Most southern Aussie city and it’s quite small. A group of about 20 meet weekly – some of them are chanting regularly. There are devotees in others parts of Tasmania also. There are devotees everywhere. One of our main problems is we are not exposing people enough to Krishna consciousness. We have too few active preachers. The crop is there for the picking but we have few farmers. We are stuck behind our computers talking about it.
A Spontaneous Harinama Poem (poorly done)
On Harinama four of us go, to suburbs where they do not know
Of Lord Caitanya’s sankirtan prema, let’s go, let’s chant the name
In this little suburb in Sydney town, where the people appear very down
We pray that they somehow partake, the seeds of devotion will surely awake
Unsuspecting they were to encounter us there, but Mahaprabhu’s mercy we must share
In every town and village on earth, to release them from material birth
Rough and ready we may be, but the people love the sincerity
As we chant and dance along the street, it is simply an ecstatic treat,
To see them clap, laugh and smile, even though we have very little style,
Harinama is our actual life, to release us of our material strife,
Happy we become to serve the name, free us of desire for mundane fame,
The heart feels relieved of all distress, freed we become of all tiredness,
In this world so troubled and torn, where the people are terribly forlorn
The only hope the holy name, in this empty life the only gain
We pray that your mercy will shine upon all, Your holy name everyone will call
May their attraction to You develop and flow, and Back to Godhead let them all go,
The highest benediction for the fallen souls, come to Krsna! Kirtan cajoles,
Okay let’s chant and feel the bliss – this is something you just can’t miss.
Let’s go for harinama sankirtan, everyday or whenever we can
This is the nectar we all hanker for, there really isn’t anything more
Harinama sankirtan is our life and soul, Harinama sankirtan is our movements goal
It’s the yuga dharma there’s no other way, let us not our attention stray
From the importance to give the name to all, on the street the park the market the mall
In the city, the suburb, the village, the town, in the home, in halls in subways, let’s drown
All of our brothers lost in their ways, let’s immerse them in glorious praise
of the sweetest of nectar Your merciful name, Krishna Himself it’s fully the same
Harinama sankirtan is the only way, why not go this very day
Experience the bliss that we are hankering for, and please Srila Prabhupada for sure
In all the fourteen worlds there is nothing to be had but the Holy name.
We are still not doing it – what a shame!
Back at the Temple
Memories go to the early days in Australia. Kurma prabhu has so nicely described the events that took place in his book “The great Transcendental Adventure”. It is so amazing to see how it was 37 years ago. Here is an excerpt about how Radha Gopinatha came to Sydney.
Sydney Altar - Sri Sri Radha Gopinatha
Deja Vouz
1971 May: “Prabhupada travelled from India to Malaysia and then to Sydney with His servants, Vegavan and Bali Mardan prabhus. Travelling with them were the Deities of Radha and Krishna Whom Prabhupada intended to install in Sydney. Whereas this was to be Srila Prabhupada's first visit to Australia, it was the second visit for Radha and Krsna! Perhaps only a handful of people at the time knew the circumstances behind this amazing fact.
Many months before, while the Sydney devotees were still residing in the beach-side suburb of Bondi, the temple was visited by an Indian gentleman named Mr. Singh. He was happy to see Krsna consciousness established in Australia and promised to send some Radha-Krsna Deities to the Sydney temple when he returned to India. The devotees thanked him, but did not take his offer very seriously, and the whole incident was soon forgotten.
Mr Singh, however, had meant what he had said. On returning to India, he purchased a small set of Deities, packed them in a crate and sent them by boat to the Bondi temple address. By the time the crate arrived, the Sydney temple had relocated to Paddington. The devotees had left no forwarding address, and so the unclaimed crate was put into bond storage and finally shipped back to the sender's address in Bombay.
Mr. Singh was understandably disappointed. Still wanting to donate the Deities to ISKCON, he had offered them to Srila Prabhupada, who subsequently installed them to temporarily preside over the Cross Maidan pandal in Bombay and then receive worship at the Akasha Ganga apartment temple. Now, by Their own sweet will, Radha and Krsna were returning to Australia, this time under the careful and loving auspices of Their intimate servant, Srila Prabhupada.
The Installation – May 10th 1971
Here is an account of the event again recorded in Kurma’s book:
“After taking an early massage and bath, Srila Prabhupada, with freshly shaven head and wearing pressed, shiny, saffron cloth, left for the temple to perform the initiation ceremony and Deity installation. When Prabhupada arrived, the small shop-front was already filled with devotees, guests and media representatives. TV news crews and reporters from several newspapers jostled with hot lamps and heavy equipment. Prabhupada offered his obeisances and sat behind a small firepit filled with sand and bordered with white bricks and a few leaves for decoration. From briefly surveying the scanty paraphernalia before him, Prabhupada could easily discern that the devotees were not ready. Only one small vase of flowers decorated the almost bare altar. The devotees had not made any garlands for the Deities. Prabhupada appeared grave and expressed his concern to Bali-mardana.
Sheryl: We had no idea what we were doing. It seemed that everything that could have possibly gone wrong went wrong on that day. While the girls ran practically the full length of Oxford Street searching for garland flowers, Bali-mardana asked us to get some metal plates on which to put some utensils. We knew nothing of Deity worship, and returned with some enamel eating plates. Bali-mardana looked horrified and waved us away. Meanwhile, the TV crews filmed everything.
…………The installation ceremony began as Srila Prabhupada carefully poured pancamrta -- a mixture of milk, yogurt, ghee, honey and sugar syrup over the small Deities of Radha and Krsna that stood before him. Halfway through the ceremony, the girls returned with a few small bunches of large red carnations and began to quickly thread them into garlands. After the bathing ceremony, Prabhupada, still sitting adjacent to the small firepit and in full view of everyone, personally dressed Their Lordships in the simple green, red and gold-check clothes that had accompanied Them from India.
Finally, Krsna stood in a gold-trimmed shawl, dhoti and wearing two simple pieces of jewellery. Radharani wore a matching sari. The Deities were placed on Their simple altar -- tiled steps leading to a platform covered with a red velvet canopy perched on silver-painted wooden poles. Srila Prabhupada named Them Sri Sri Radha Gopinatha.
Sri Sri Radha-Gopinatha
The Initiation
The devotees had originally expected that perhaps three or four of them would be initiated. Earlier that morning, however, the news had spread quickly that Prabhupada would be initiating practically everyone in the temple -- 16 devotees in all.
The young men and women sat nervously before Srila Prabhupada. The men were shaven-headed and wore dhotis made of cheap synthetic peach-coloured material. The ladies were wrapped in saffron saris fashioned from the same simple cloth. Those who were married, or were going to be married, wore lemon-coloured material of a similar quality.
Hardly anyone amongst them knew much of Krsna consciousness, and Srila Prabhupada knew he was taking a risk initiating such neophytes. Most probably some of the candidates sitting before him would not fulfil the exclusive lifelong commitment a disciple owes to his guru. And although the reactions for a disciples past sins were removed at initiation, the spiritual master would remain responsible until the disciple was delivered from the material world. Lord Caitanya had warned, therefore, that a guru should not accept many disciples. But despite their disqualifications, Prabhupada took it as his responsibility to engage whomever had come forward to help him in his mission. Prabhupada was offering them the methods which, if followed, would protect them from ever falling down. Those who followed his instructions to chant Hare Krsna and avoid sinful activities would be successful.
Srila Prabhupada had brought with him 11 sets of chanting beads for the new initiates. Being five sets short, someone ran out to purchase more from a Kings Cross bead shop and returned, just in time, with some smaller sandalwood beads.
Vaibhavi: Halfway through the ceremony, we discovered that there were no sacred threads for the brahmana initiations. In actual fact, we didn't even know what sacred threads were, not to speak of how to make them.
I left the crowded temple and ran down the street to buy some string, and, while Prabhupada was initiating people, I was sitting there in the arena making sacred threads, copying the one that Bali-mardana had taken off himself.
One after another, the five devotees chosen to receive their second initiation came and knelt before Prabhupada, who instructed them in the art of counting and chanting the mantra.
Upananda: I was afraid of making a mistake, and watched scrutinisingly as the other devotees went up to receive their Gayatri mantras. Finally I was called up. I was so nervous my hands were shaking, and after Prabhupada showed me once, I got it wrong. Again he showed me, and again I got it wrong; such an apparently simple thing had become so difficult -- my fingers were moving haphazardly, and my mind was totally confused. Finally Srila Prabhupada said loudly: ‘No!' Immediately my mind was focused and I was able to receive the mantra attentively.
Land of the Mlecchas – Please guide them
When Srila Prabhupada left Sydney on the 14th May he made one request of Radha Gopinatha: “Now I am leaving You in the hands of the mlecchas (meat eaters). I cannot take the responsibility. You please guide these boys and girls and give them the intelligence to worship You nicely.”
New Govardhan Farm
In early 1977 Srila Prabhupada advised the GBC about the new Australian farm in Northern New South Wales.
"You produce milk on the farm, [you] utilise and give the cows protection. Grow fodder. They will eat that leaf. The grains, milk, ghee -- then we can maintain hundreds and thousands of devotees in any place. Chant Hare Krsna and take nice food. Our philosophy is: ‘Eat nicely, live nicely, and advance in Krsna consciousness'."
Most people, Prabhupada said, were basically good, but they were being controlled by demonic leaders. Tamal Krsna gave his perspective. "This prasadam and chanting will cure them. It will capture the masses." Prabhupada agreed. "Yes. So do this."
From New Govardhana today a group of devotees go out regualraly distributing huge quantities of prasadam at festivals and functions in the area. Srila Prabhupad indicated this is the way for the Australians.
Bali-mardana described how the Australian people loved prasadam. "We did one alternative life-style festival and the people lined up for three hours, waiting for the prasadam."
Prabhupada: Just see.
Bali-mardana: Over a thousand people. And then when they ate, they came back for seconds and thirds.
Prabhupada: (Laughs) Give them!
Bali-mardana: Everything. Puri, subji, sweet rice. They ate the whole plate. It was amazing.
Prabhupada: Please do that. Give them prasada and ask them to chant. Bas [that's all].
Bali-mardana: And then there were many articles written in the paper that the Hare Krsnas, they have supplied very nice food freely for everyone, and they said, "Oh, they are very good".
Tamal Krsna: The thing is, when they take prasada, then it's very easy to get them to chant.
Prabhupada: Yes.
Tamal Krsna: They may not chant in the beginning, but as soon as their stomachs are full of prasada, then they chant.
Prabhupada: (Laughing) They chant. Very good. Do that.
Children and teachers from the Steiner school dancing in kirtan in the temple
Sri Sri Gaura Nitai
Sri Sri Krishna Balarama
Stain-glass windows in Temple
Sri Sri Radha Govardhandhari
The conversation turned to farms. Prabhupada stressed to Bali-mardana the economic necessity of cow protection.
"You must do it. The other day I was explaining that from an economic point of view, even if the cows do not supply, still, they should be protected. Because that stool and urine is also useful. Cow is so important. They'll eat and they'll pass stool and urine. That is also important. If they supply milk, it is very good. From that point of view, we should give them protection."
Bali-mardana told Srila Prabhupada more about the new farm in Murwillumbah. "There is a house on the property just for you, so when you come there the house is waiting. It is a very peaceful place for translation, and there is no winter. It's 75 degrees in the winter -- very nice. In the summertime, 85 degrees -- a little hotter. But it rains. Summer is a rainy season, two or three months of the year." Prabhupada asked if it was near the sea. Bali-mardana explained that it was 19km from the ocean, and it was twenty-five minutes from the airport, so the farm was very easy to get to.
Prabhupada nodded. "Purnam idam. Everything is complete by the arrangement of Krsna. Simply we mismanage. That's all. I do not know why people are engaged with politics, fighting and so on. By Krsna's grace everything is complete. You eat sufficiently, you become strong and keep your health good and chant Hare Krsna. This is the arrangement. These rascals, they have created ‘civilisation' -- simply animosity -- fighting, politics. This is Kali-yuga. Kali means simply unnecessarily fighting. There is no need of fighting, but they'll create a situation for fighting. That's all. Why politics? Why so much discussion, barking in the United Nations? Krsna has given the formula. Annad bhavanti bhutani.
"In America, Australia, Africa, they can produce so much grain, that ten times the population as it is now can be maintained. Similarly, Australia can produce ghee. So by Krsna's arrangement everything is all right, the economic problem [fixed]. Why they create this situation and occasionally fight and finish the whole thing? Such a rubbish civilisation. Raksasa, unnecessarily increasing military power and spending all the revenues."
Progress Report
Today like many of our farm projects we have a lot to be desired. A few sincere devotees endeavour to fulfil Prabhupada’s will but only too often we ourselves have become dependent victims of the very system Prabhupada wanted to change.
One amazing programme going on here is the large scale prasadam distribution. Many of the devotees are engaged in this. Going to large events and festivals they have a very well equipped travelling kitchen and distribute vast quantities of prasadam. The people love it and readily buy. This programme has financially stabilised New Govardhan and given a livelihood to many grhastha devotees.
Brisbane
We are here for Janmastami and Vyasa Puja.
It’s a good programme in a public hall and the turnout is around 2000.
The Saturday evening programme at the Temple is well attended and although the temple room is real small an average of 300, mostly young Indians, come weekly.
They call Brisbane the Hawaii of Australia but it’s a sweet place for preaching.
Srila Prabhupada ki jaya.
Wishing everyone all the best
Your servant
Janananda Gosvami
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| October 2008 | Taking Responsibility for One’s Situation, Change of Heart, Self Reform, Don’t Identify |
| September 2008 | Travelling Rathayatra - Oslo, Gothenburg, Malmo, Copenhagen, Germany, UK |
Schedule for the upcoming months |
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| Nov 19th – Dec 9th | Vrndavana, India |
| Dec 11th – 28th | Malaysia – lots of Rathayatras |
| Dec 29th – Jan 8th | Philippines –Manila etc. |
| Jan 9th – 13th | Australia, New Govardhan farm for annual festival |
| Jan 14th -22nd | Auckland district –Hamilton etc. |
| Jan 23rd -27th | Sydney |
| Jan 28th - Jan 31st | Brisbane |
| Feb 1st – 3rd | Melbourne |
| Feb 5th | Malaysia Kualalampur |
| Feb 6th – March 11th | India – Aravade, Bombay, Mayapura, Vrndavana |
| March 12th | Malaysia for Gaura Purnima |