Dear Guru Maharaj,

Please accept my most humble obeisances. All glory to Srila Prabhupada and your glorious service unto him.

I sincerely apologize for my foolishness and for not replying and checking to reply to your responses because I was not checking my Gmail because of it being full of too many emails. It is my great misfortune that I forgot to check my Gmail for your responses. I missed your Vani darshan due to my foolishness and ignorance.

In your previous emails you instructed me that I should do Kirtan to improve my married life spiritually. I find your guidance to be so perfectly apt for me because when I did kirtan with students in our programs at Texas A&M University - Kingsville, I felt emotionally and spiritually fulfilled. We were very fortunate to have held our programs in the university student union building ball room and invited students and several students came and we held nice Kirtan and Bhagavad Gita reading programs after which we had Prasadam in a student’s house. Now our students are planning to incorporate our Vedanta club as an official registered student organization in our university. I have attached photos of our events also.

I am also eagerly awaiting to take your auspicious darshan when you are next in Houston. I hope I did not miss your Houston visit this summer because I was in India and out of the country. This time I hope to be of some service to you as last time I was not able to serve you as I aspire to. I feel dead in my spirit without devotee association and I need a connection with Devotees and a way to connect with them is to engage myself in services under your guidance. I hope to when I next obtain your Holy association in Houston.

I beg to just be able to gain darshan of your holiness and get your Holy Association.

Still learning from my mistakes,

Your most foolish and aspiring servant,

Aja Govinda Dasa

HpS - ASA - And you are married. Small thing. Ha! Ha! Ha! What is you good wife's name. Introduce here to everyone. I'm sure they want to know all about her.

Our visits to Houston, etc. will be in the Calendar by Friday. What is your calendar? When retrurn to USA:??

Dear Maharaja,

Pamho agtsp agthps 

Checking in...

Dr. Mabbett 

Dr. Mabbett and his good wife kindly welcomed me into their home. I was in their association for nearly 4hrs. Dr Mabbett and I recorded an interview for 1hr and 20 minutes about Dr. Mabbett’s history and experience in education, as well as some philosophy and a discussion of what is sacred, and pedagogy in general. Then they fed me vegetarian risotto and chocolate cake. One of their friends heard I was coming and came for lunch also. She was with us all the first time we went to visit Dr. Mabbett together in 2013. The mood was very friendly and they have invited me back next time I visit Melbourne. After all Dr. Mabbett years of study and education, he sees family as sacred and his message to leave behind is that as educators we need to find ways to get people out of the boxes they are trapped in due to technology (smart phones) and group think.

HpS - Super!!!!!! Are you going to edit the movie??

Education and the Sacred 2019

I have been requested by Sriman Abhirama Prabhu to write an article for this year’s Solaris, on Education and the Sacred. Usted requested me to interview your friend Dr, Mabbett on this topic. What would you like me to do for the Solaris article; would you like me to write about Dr. Mabbett, or would you like me to write up my own presentation? 

HpS - I think Solaris has reached its deadline for submissions this year, but we will be publishing lots of stuff. I would suggest that you just send the above description of your visit to him as news and then included explanation of the future of the recorded interview. Give little bio-data of Dr. Mabbet.

Quick, simple, off within 24-hours.

Local relations

I have been doing service in the pujari room for 3months, once per week. Its in the evening, cleaning paraphernalia. Very nice, quiet time. We steal Krishna’s heart by stealing the hearts of the devotees. We steal the hearts of devotees by serving Krishna along side them. 

On Prabhupada’s appearance day I finally sat with the Temple President for 30-45min. Actually I was watching my daughters in the play ground at the time and he came and sat with me, starting a conversation about how quick children grow up. His only child is currently leaving the nest at 17 years old. 

I told him how, for two reason I investigate popular knowledge paradigms; the first is to deal with my own doubts and test if I truly have the highest knowledge and the second is to learn how the world thinks the way it does. I explained that what I do is I study a people until I find what their philosophy is standing on, paying careful attention to their language and concepts and then do three things; once I see that their philosophy is but a part of Prabhupada’s I gain conviction and confidence that my path is the highest, I defeat their philosophy using their own langue and concepts, and I present Krishna consciousness in their own language and concepts. For example, I can present acinyta bedha abheda tattvain terms of panentheism, which is a theology that developed out of A. N. Whitehead’s process philosophy. Temple President was very pleased and he pulled out his homage to Srila Prabhupada, in which he mentioned that currently ISKCON is lacking in the area of making sure we are understood by the public and that’s because we haven’t taken the time to understand them. We spoke about a great many things, relating to Prabhupada and his movements changes over time. Prabhu mentioned how Srila Prabhupada changed his tactics six times before Hare Krishna explotases. He also said that many devotees join due to one aspect of Srila Prabhupada’s teachings but then they cannot adapt with the time place and circumstances being too attached the the aspect they joined for. 

It was a very productive conversation. My generation must find ways to connect with the generation above us for a smooth transition into the future ISKCON. 

HpS - Wow!!!! Socrates and Plato? Need beards and togas!

Brahmin initiation 

Recently I received an email from my gurumaharaj offering me the opportunity to take second initiation. Although I am extremely unqualified, I will not miss this opportunity to progress on the path of Bhakti.

HpS - ..... jayatam dvijate..... keep your eye on the ball.... the whole game is to wake up....

Family 

Currently everyone is doing well in our family. Dhanesvari DD is maintaining her weekly service at the temple with the accounting, as well as maintaining our children nicely. My in-laws are in good health and enjoying their retirement. My daughters are thriving in all aspects of child life. 

Japa

My sadhana is going on but it always can be better. When I am under a heavy load from university, work, family etc. I meditate on HH Jayananda Goswami building ratha carts and just try to focus on how what I am doing is service for guru and Krishna, minute as it may be in comparison. 

Public engagements

I have been giving yoga philosophy talks at New Govardhan’s Krishna Village yoga school, and yesterday even my good wife and I drove to Brisbane to speak at the same Urban Monk program that usted spoke at in 2017. It was a great program with 25 quality guest who were engaging deeply with the content of my talk. The talk was title “Life after ego dissolution”, in which I spoke on BG 7.4-5 and took the guests on a journey down into the death of the false-ego and then a reawakening of the true self in Bhakti. Even my youngest brother, who is currently studying maths and physics at that university, came with his girlfriend, which was very good for our relationships. Also HH Lakshmi, Sriman Raktak Prabhu’s eldest daughter, was at the Urban Monk program. It was so nice to see her there full of spiritual shakti while she studies at university. 

HpS - It is so nice to see people becoming devotees inspite of any material defect.

Final thoughts

Thank you very much for everything maharaja. I would not have about 95% of what I have in my life right now if Krishna did not arrange my meeting you.

HpS - Srila Prabhupada is keeping after us through so many inept tools.... we can only hope that you mature your path more and more. very scrutinizing to perfect your self quickly.

There was Indiana Jones!

Now there is Australia Dhruva!

Cultural Anthropologist from Hell!

Eternally in debt

Your servants 

Team Cholo Kangaroos. 

Hare Krsna Beloved Gurudeva

AGTSP PAMHO

As U requested.

Here are some pictures

Jaya Sri Radhe

HpS - ASA - Thank you! They are the Lords of Peru! Comunidad Andenan!

Hare Krsna dear Gurumaharaja

Please accept my humble obeisances

All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

I hope you are in good health, recovering enough strength for the Education and Sacred event, if you allow it, we will be accompanying you in your service.

I'm giving you the 8th report of the Ministry representation to date:

• Educational material has already been delivered to Bolivia. I sent the Introduction to Bhakti Yoga course developed by Jiva Sakti prabhu, LAD and the one I am developing in Chosica, in addition to Yadunandana Swami's study guide and complementary material from Australia.

HpS - Super. Read the books with guidance!

• Additionally, the Bhakti sastri course developed by NIMSAR and BS study guides of VIHE and the Mayapur Institute has been sent. We trust they will find this material useful for the development of their educational program. The next step is to collaborate with them to acquire Bhakti sastri certification and achieve autonomy.
• Regarding the Bhakti sastri certification, it is necessary for us (Peru) to recover it. For this I sent you an email asking to put me in contact with the BoEx devotees in charge of this. That way, Candramukhi dd. can perform her service as an examiner for the Peruvian yatra.
• I have had conversations with the Arequipa devotees (specifically with your disciple Ramananda Raja das), to develop a basic education program for their yatra at the request of the local board of directors. They are asking for courses on Vaisnava etiquette, Deity Worshiping, Cooking, Kirtan and other fundamental topics. I think it's great, from this experience we can develop academic programs, or at least, study circles that may be the first step towards educational autonomy. The workshops will start on September and the first one will be taught by Anandamaya prabhu (Vaisnava etiquette).
• Isvari mataji and I are working on the standardization of the Introduction to Bhakti Yoga course through a printed and official study guide that serves as work material for teachers and students. For this we are considering all the material developed in previous years for students in Chosica, Wilson and Miraflores temples. Once this material is finished, we will do the same with the ISKCON Disciples course to avoid capricious interpretations and to establish a minimum quality standard for official courses.
• We already sent the article to Viplavah thanks to the careful correction of Rahika Ramana prabhu. We hope it meets the demands. Thank you for the opportunity!
• Finally, we have been attentive to the development of children's education program in Chosica. There are parents and devotee teachers involved in this program and they meet weekly. The only drawback is that there are very antagonistic positions that erode the enthusiasm of the devotees involved. Despite this, they are managing to develop a project that I will share with you as soon as they send it to me. It is important for the managers of this project to receive advice on successful experiences, such as yours or other initiatives in America. As soon as I have it in my hands I will send it for your review.

HpS - I hope the work we are doing at the international level will be useful to you. Your work is going to be able to change things on the international level also. Hanuman Dad our Yadunandana Swami from Spain might visit to help us. Welcome to the cultural revolution meant to save the world!

***********

Personally I will tell you that we are very happy, serving in the pujari on a regular basis and learning many things about worship. Since Indira Sakti and I have received the second initiation thanks to your mercy, dark aspects of our character have been revealed but at the same time we perceive things from a more appropriate perspective and with a much more positive attitude. I'm not sure that one thing is related to the other but it is what is happening. Meanwhile, we are under your shelter, that of Srila Prabhupada and the incredibly compassionate Sri Sri Radha Madana Vihari.

HpS - We plan to see Them in less than eight weeks and get Their mercy also!

Have a very happy Janmastami dear Gurudeva

HpSb- It was tough! Four days of festivals in a row! Couldn't get to the mail. 😀

We miss you so much

Your little servant

Gandharva dasa

Hare Krishna, dear Gurumaharaja. Pamho, AGTSP!

The other day I thought I wasn't doing enough service for ISKCON. I teach once a week in the temple; I have a Bhakti sastri study group; another group with which we study the Bhagavatam. I do not serve the Deities directly, but I make donations every time I visit the temple (it is prescribed in the NOD), apart from my monthly donation of 4 kilos of raisins. Still, it seemed to me that I was missing more. Precisely, my contract at the school where I worked was finished. Now unemployed.

Almost immediately an unexpected service came to me. After talking with you and various devotees about a proposal, finally at the ISKCON Peru Associates meeting (as a legal entity before the government) I was elected secretary. The new legal board has yet to be registered in the public records, but if there is no legal problem, I will start this new service very soon.

At first, I was not very excited about the service because there are many cumbersome details regarding the operation of that position. The legal board is composed of:

P. Caitanya candra, president.

M. Candra Mukhi, Vice President.

P. raghunath, treasurer.

LAD, secretary.

I still surprised. Krishna sent me a service, a heavy one.

ASA - Be sure that you keep the Association Record book properly!

Meditating further, I realized, obviously by inspiration from Paramatma, Srila Prabhupada and you (so many suggestions and accomplishments that you has told me), that my service can go beyond a formal matter of signing papers, keeping the minutes of the meetings (of course they have their importance). I thought that the communications matters can be a great opportunity to do internal and external preaching.

ASA - Yes!

As one devotee told me, the administration needs to regain its credibility. Wonders can be done through communication and an appropriate treatment of the institutional image. We have not interacted for so long with the community, with the political authorities, with the institutions of our locality, even with the neighborhood. And then we wonder why people don't go to temples.

Some time ago I heard this concern of a guru who said that we have to go out and participate in the dialogue of the world, that we are in our bubble and still continue with the old idea (medieval said) of thinking that people have to go to the temples. Before we were invited to events in Chosica, but as we do not attend, they no longer do so. Before there was even a large sign welcoming to the city with photos of different tourist places and there was the temple. With the new mayor the billboard was changed and we no longer appear.

So, we have to work more in that direction. Someone said that the administration meetings have to be 30% problems and 70% sankirtan. The ISKCON documents say that the main task of the administration is to organize the sankirtan. Then, my work will go that way. Inspired by the preface of Srimad Bhagavatam, we must distribute the Bhagavatam in universities and educational institutions in general. We must get them to invite us to conversations, give talks in cultural institutions, interact with other religions, be part of the community. Much can be done for Srila Prabhupada. There are so many preaching strategies in his books waiting to be realized.

Again, dear gurumaharaj, please give me your blessings to do this entrusted service well, and please instruct me in this regard that you have a lot of experience. I have some experience, vision, perspective. I hope to use it well, for the interests of Srila Prabhupada's ISKCON and our beautiful Deities.

I will report regularly how I am doing in the service.

Thank you for your mercy towards me.

ss LAD

ASA - Very nice! Yes! Please report! It seems Krsna is giving an opportunity to all of us robbers!

Todas las Glorias a Sri Guru y Gauranga

Todas las Glorias a Srila Prabhupada y a su sankirtan

HpS - No hay contenido!!!!! 😯