Letters to the editor

Hare Krsna Dear Maharaja.

PAMHO. AGTSP!

I hope your body is in good health.

HpS - ASA -- Ha!    HA!    HA R E!     This body IS a disease, but now is manageable for Sankirtan!    Thank you.  Hope yours and your families also.

I share the following concerns with you if you can give me your generous opinion,

1.-We are all told to sing 16 enthusiastic and sincere rounds. I comment this to a devotee (initiated) by encouraging her to sing his rounds, But he told me: I do not feel encouraged to sing, I have done it as an obligation but I feel that this is not right, one must sing of his own free will and not feel obligated. Before leaving, the devotee told me that he read the SBG and that he liked it better than singing japa. I did not say more to disturb him, I just asked him to try to sing 2 to 3 rounds.

HpS - Child does not like to go to school. Wants to play, but parents and teachers oblige him. NOI 7. Of course, this can be done in such a way that it is great fun, but usually some element of fear or greed is pushing us to chant our rounds in the beginning.

This made me think the following: In life many times we do things by obligation if we want something we are forced to perform an action to get it by just thinking or meditating we will not get it (unless it is krsna). Even chanting japa is part of the process of meditating on Krsna.

On the other hand, there are psychological tendencies and pedagogues that say that things should not be forced to do so but should be encouraged to do so, however in Eastern cultures (China, Japan, Korea). It is said that: Discipline precedes the intelligence and for this reason, the discipline was given much importance; Differentiated what is "your will" with "what is your duty".

ASA - Again NOI 7 says so much about this, no?   In sports it is the same thing. We force ourselves to practice believing it will become fun later.

I am not an expert in psychology but I think that many things are being confused and some are taking new trends to justify their lack of discipline, I see that there is a tendency to skip or to obviate the processes and call that spontaneous service.

I do not know what the middle term is here, would there be a psychological damage to say that the rounds are obligatory for an initiated devotee? (Also looking for ways to lift their enthusiasm).

HpS - ASA - Prabhupada says that artificial repression can be worse than the disease, but...   we don't force anybody to become initiated. That is a voluntary thing. Of course, ISKCON institution is not perfect, and there may be force in certain social or subtle ways, but seems that any sincere person can avoid that and then will be making their own choice if they want to chant 16 rounds for the rest of their life.
Even then you can stop and accept the reactions of breaking your promise. It is very clear. NOI 7 -8. So many places, Learning Piano, Tennis, natural attraction usually comes from some formal practice.

2.- At the moment I see a great increase of feminism in the society (there are also cases in Iskcon), the women have obtained many things that they consider freedom and now they want more and more, but also have arisen negative things of all this that do not want to see or to admit.

Particularly I do not like to speak of machismo or feminism, for me it is to identify me more with the body, however I have seen and I see the dangerous thing of not taking care of the "psychology" of the woman and of some way it is notorious the problems that also are being generated in ISKCON.

I think that perhaps these issues should be addressed not only at the GBC level but at the level of Spiritual Masters.

HpS - ASA -- Yes, but there is so much in the SB about this, no?   Right in the begnning we see several points about feminine mentality of Draupadi when Asvattama kills her sons. Of course, The Battle of the Sexes goes on forever, Radharani and Her friends, versus Krsna and His Friends. So, it is also very much fun and sarisfying dealing with problems in terms of properly understanding feminine and masculine needs of the person and their body.

Any items in specific about this??

Sri Nrsimhadeva protect you.

with affection

ys and spiritual niece

Isvari dd

HpS - ASA --- Thank you very much!!    Hope you all can join the Seattle Conference with lots of benefit.

Hare Krsna / Hare Rama!

Thank you Visvambara Das et al, (SEE LETTER BELOW)

KALA

15th - 18th June 2017

Thursday Evening - Reception: Temple Hosts (Eg. President, Harivilasa Das), Sesa Das (Rama-giridhari Das) Ministry of Education, Protocol Officer.

Friday Morning - Srimad Bhagavatam Class (???), Topic 1 - Chairman: HpSwami, "Philosophy and Strategy of Education with ISKCON" (Presentation about 20-minutes, Contribution Discussion from Everyone. Chairman and others can make the Presentation)

Topic 2 - Chairman: Visvambara Das (And one other?!), Early Education (Pre, Primary, Secondary)

Topic 3 - Chariman: Partha Das / Uttama Devi Dasi (Grhastha Vision Team), "Varna-ashrama Education, Preparing for Marriage, Preparing for Sannyasa" 

Friday - Afternoon - Gay and Delightful Workshops to be decided. These of course can be topical groups such as Early Education, but they can also invite expert contributions eg. Early Education can Invite Sastric Education for 15-minutes.

Friday - Evening - Cultural - Entertainment. Suggested: "The Taming of the Shrew" with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, with short intro by HpS on Teaching and Shakespeare in the Guru-kula

Snore!!!!!!!!

Saturday

Srimad Bhagavatam (???  Maybe Vaisesika Das on line)

Topic 1 - Chairman: Radhika Raman Das - "Studying and Preaching in the University and Academic Environment". This will include reports of the incredible results. Orienting Early Education to send students on this route etc.

Topic 2 - Chairman: Hari-lila Das (HpS) - "Sastric Education". Report of Results in USA and World. Discussion of how this fits with other topics eg. Early Education.

Topic 3 - Chairman: Rama-giri-dhari Das (Ananta-rupa Das). "Education in with ISKCON in the Western Hemisphere - Building a Global System". This will include Latin American Devotees who will be involved with Tele-conferencing and a Simultaneous Translator.

Saturday Night - Cultural Program (???)

SUNDAY

Srimad Bhagavatam (??)

Breakfast of Fraternal Felicity

Closure Session with Summation and Action Items

NOTES: You can see that this is going to be a tight, intense, powerful program. We will need the Chairpeople to start collecting input, discussingn topics, so that this meeting is just a moderate part of the pre and post work.

We are available. We will be in Boise and San Jose the weeks before.

As an action item we would very much like to see the selection of an Editor for a Periodical: Education with ISKCON in the Western Hemisphere.

PURUSA

Who is joining?

Physically

Sesa Das, Rama giri dhari Das

Harivilasa Das, HpSwami, Seattle Devotees, Synergy School! Ananta-rupa Das

Visvambara Das, Gopi-gita, Subra DD, Dallas Gurukula,

Ananda Vrndavana DD, Hari-lila Das, Kartamasham, Uttama DD and Partha Das.

On-line:

Mother Aruddha Devi Dasi, Radhika-raman Das, Nitya-ananda Das Prabhu (Dallas, GBC North American Chairman), Srivasa Pandita Das (Sastric Education ISKCON Silicon Valley). Devotees from Latin America such as Candra-mukhi DD + Lalita-gopi DD (PhD both (Mexico Yatra)), Laksmana agraja Das (et al Peru), Jagat-guru Das, Param-padam Das, Baladeva Das, Mathuresa Das (GBS Zonal Supervisor) (Running Schools and Education in South America), 

We will broadcast this schedule now and invite more participation on line. The connection, in the shadow of Micro-soft, should be excellent.

TRANSPORT AND ACCOMODATION

Temple can house 15-devotees in devotee homes:

We count -

HPS, RGD, SESA, Partha - Uttama, Kar, Vis, Subra, Gopi + Nitya, Hari-lila, Anantarupa, Ananda V Mataji.  Any others?

That's thirteen.

Airport is like 45-minutes from the Temple.

HpS, Hari-lila Das, Anandavrndavana DD are arriving at Seattle airport from San Jose at 2.37PM on Delta 5738.

Please send your itenarary ASAP and try to combine things for easy travel.

FINAL WORDS

This program is about 51% organized, but we are all Brahmanas, right?

We have just brushed the surface describing the intense qualifications of the people coming and the programs that are in motion.

We hope that the sound of Krsna flute is everyone's dearmost companion during all these days!

HpS

From: David Aguilera 
To: 13- primary schools et al
Sent: Saturday, May 6, 2017 10:10 AM
Subject: ISKCON Ed Conference Agenda
 

Dear Friends,

Hare Krishna. I hope this email finds you all well.

Subhra and I had the opportunity to meet with Hanumatpresaka Maharaja by phone to discuss the upcoming ISKCON Education Conference in Seattle on June 15 - 18. The general agenda that is shaping up seems to be morning presentations with afternoon breakout sessions. 

We want the time we spend in Seattle to be worthwhile. A thought Subhra and I had was for the school leaders to spend the afternoons together supporting each other by presenting relevant topics and sharing our experiences. The idea is for us to come away from the conference having had the opportunity to connect with each other and to bring back ideas from the discussions that we can use to help improve our schools.

I have put together a Google Sheet for us to start compiling what we want to talk about:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16gQ7WtbgyYaoLO5NG7GO4vNNwxOKL0ouGAAleHXfCCk/edit?usp=sharing

I encourage you to start plugging in topics as they come to mind. Don’t hesitate to duplicate topics that someone else already put in. If the same topic comes up multiple times, we will know this is something that should go to the top of the discussion list.

Another thing we want to have on the agenda is to allow time in the morning sessions for each of us to give presentations about our schools: introduction, history, current status, accomplishments, and challenges. Let me know if you are interested in doing a presentation, so I can work with Maharaja to put them in the morning agenda.

These are just some ideas. None are set in stone. Your thoughts on the formatting and how we best spend our time is much appreciated. 

I am looking forward to finally getting together with all of you (knock on wood).

Yours in service, 

Visvambhara Dasa
Head of School
Bhaktivedanta Academy
 

Hare Krsna.

Nandulal Das will arrive on same plane as us in Lima and will leave back to Houston same day we leave for Santiago.

Who wants to help him with his visit. Very, very nice person. He owns an elephant.

Go sightseeing in Lima.

Shopping.

AGTSP!!!

paoho

It is 6.13PM now. We leave for EP at NGD ashrama in  a little bit.    It starts at 7.30PM.    Mother Matsya's surgery is like 91% O.K. now. Body live, body die, it's the soul that is low or high.

All the mail is caught up to 3-days ago. Now we do some Disciple Reports.

We worked on our BhVai Essays today.  We listened to the Hawaii class, talked with Hari-lila Das, texted Rama-giridhari Das, and spent about 45-minutes watching the Tutorials for the Meta-soft Foundation to learn to apply for Grants.

What do we need the money for that would appeal to these big donors?   Of course, some will understand that poetical description of the Infallible Hero is the perfect use of money, but we were also remembering that Hector Behar said that the UN estimates 1,000,000 suicided each year. This is more than all the deaths from all the armed conflicts in the world.

Then 'Art and the Sacred', 'Psychology and the Sacred', are essential to making a better world. More 'Art and the Sacred', less tobacco, but... is getting too late. Unless we get contract signed by National Library this week, we have to really readjust our aims for 2018.

We can do that!

Always have practical, wonderful, plan to serve Krsna!  See wonderful results if Krsna wants.

O.K. Disciple Reports,

Japa,

 E.P,

    Ekadasi tomorrow,

        Satuday morning ABC Workshop.

Happy Radha!  Happy Shyama!  The crazy Monkeys sing their Song.

Another intense letter, that we read, but too intense to publish.

We had all kinds of problems on the Braja mandala Parikrama with Rocks, Witches and other evil things, but we developed the Mantra: In Braja, only Krsna and Balarama kill demons (Others chant, 'Hare Krsna!!  Hare Rama!). KB may empower us to use force, but then there will be no bad after taste for any body. We can go to the authorities and ask them to use violence to protect the weak from the strong if good arguments fail!

Hare Krsna Dear Maharaja,

PAMHO. AGTSP!

 I hope your spiritual energy is increasing.

Sorry for not writing before.

ASA - Hare Krsna!!!

Our meetings with the study group (Hari bhakta sanghan: Tarangaksi dd, Indira dd, Nitya kisori dd, Rukmini, isvari dd, Gandharva d, Abhinanda d. Juan) are going well.

ASA - Super!

We try to give the best of ourselves by practicing Krsna katha. We already have tasks, as they are done we will inform you.

With regard to the educational team (Tarangaksi dd, Abhinanda d, Rukmini, Isvari dd), our organization will be in stages.

For now my participation in the temple for this year is minimal, only pujari and class once a month, I help organize classes. Both Tarangaksi. Mitravinda and Rukmini are collaborating in preaching.

The family is fine, Rajani and Sarasvati sing 6 rounds for now. Abhinanda d takes good care of us.

ASA - If  you all take Sannyasa when children grown then he can take care of your perfectly. Go hand in hand to Goloka.

I find it very interesting how Brahma performed austerities to please Krsna before doing his service. I meditated how I could follow this example to improve my service and I started by improving the chanting of my japa and it seems that Krsna is helping.

HpS - ASA --- JAYA!

This year I started taking a curriculum, I am studying SBG and TLC and also a training course to teach as well as English. It has always taken me time to learn something, unlike Abhinanda d (he learns fast). For this I need more hours, and to be able to fulfill all my duties I saw the need to reduce hours in sleep, at first it was difficult but I remembered srila prabhupada and gave me strength to do it. I feel happy in some way Krsna allows me to do Some small austerity and helps me to do it.

ASA - Always learning.  Goloka.

Lad and Yugala want to reopen NImsar, both communicated with me, for now I can participate as a collaborator for them (They have their rhythm and I have mine ), they have a lot of enthusiasm,  they are going to run and I take some time before running. I have asked them both to talk since they have very similar ideas and if they reach an agreement they save efforts. And if they do not reach an agreement, well, everyone will take their course.

I am preparing the best I can, I would like to preach like you, I hope Krsna helps me, I am not very skilled, but if Krsna wants to help me I can do it, and if it will not be for the next life.

Thank you very much for all the inspiration you give us. Sri Nrsimhadeva protect you.

with affection and gratitude

ys and spiritual niece

Isvari d d

ASA - Thank you for the news. What job does Abhinandana Das do? What Prasadam do you all have for breakfast?