Letters to the editor

Respected Guru Maharaja,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

I am very sorry I did not attend Saturday's SB class by phone. Actually, at that time Gopal's wife was delivering her baby in the Logan hospital, with my wife at her side.

HpS - Well, O.K.      I guess we can excuse her and you all, but if they are recorded then we can all listen later. Our respects to the Mother and family.

Gopal was frantically driving from Boise to Logan, rushing to make it in time for the 9:30am C-section operation. I was coordinating between Gopal, his wife, and my wife---trying to keep everyone calm---while also looking after the kids at home. The baby was finally born around 9:30am. In the pandemonium, I totally forgot about class.

I am so sorry you have had to go through so much pain just to have a weekly Bhagavatam class in Boise. This is actually for our benefit, and yet you are taking all the trouble. Please, Gurudeva, I really want to make this my last life in the cycle of birth and death.

HpS - Come on!   What could be more ecstatic than coming on the scene being pulled screaming and crying form the belly of your poor mother cut open with a sharp instrument?

Help!!     I need these classes as much as our while ISKCON.

I promise that in the future I will call on Saturday mornings if it is in any way possible and attend Bhagavatam class. Please forgive me.

your unworthy servant,

Radhika Ramana dasa

HpS - Thank you so much. We are unworthy to be anyone's servant in New Bihar van.

We also noticed a Yahoo letter from your esteemed father ARD. We will look at it with Rama-giridhari Das and post it here also!

Tato jayam uddhirayet.

Respected Maharaja

Please accept my humble obeisances at your feet. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

ASA - HpS - Paoho at your feet and all the assembled Vaisnavas. AGTSP!!

I am responding to your letter at http://hps-d6.monkeywarrior.com/node/8474 Thank you for your efforts, patience, and perseverance to start a weekly Bhagavatam study of Boise ISKCON devotees inside the temple. This is the third attempt you made in the recent past. Initially, almost all the time, I was the only one sitting in the temple on feeble phone connection from my home, broadcasting our online session. After many many weeks, I found it discouraging and eventually discontinued it when there was audio being played on the altar at the time of the class!

HpS - Yes, I think Ananta-rupa Das told me that they could not listen to the class so they were playing Bhajans while they dressed Sri Sri Banki bihari.

Then again by your efforts, we started a session just for local devotees and we were gathering before Sunday feast program to discuss weekly content. I was helping as much as possible with scheduling and other things. There was very good turnout and the response was positive and encouraging. Then all of a sudden the Temple President canceled it without soliciting any feedback from participants or a progression plan in place.

HpS - Could he have consulted but your good self just didn't know about it?

Now for the third time, you started it again. . .

HpS - Actually we had been doing a lot of discussion about the situation with ARD and Prof. Radhika ramana Das and that is how it got started to my knowledge.

. . .and this time, in my mind, I had no active role other than a participant in a program that the Temple President is promoting in accordance with the instructions from ISKCON Ministry of Education.  . .

HpS - Actually, we are right in the middle of the MOE meetings here in Ujjjain. It is INTENSE works and we are discussing all these things and of course remembering that administration is very dangerous because one can commit Hati-mata, offenses amongst the Vaisnavas, so easily. The MOE is just trying to apply Srila Prabhupada's instruction, even GBC instructions, always have a class in every morning in every ISKCON Temple. 

I was excited to participate but things didn't go well and as you summarized the class was canceled again.

HpS - Has it been canceled??   I just thought a couple of participants walked out of that one. They could apologize exchange gifts of money and non-alcoholic beer and try again next week.

Of course, the above three instances were most recent ones but you have been trying this for more than a decade and several ISKCON devotees from Boise and other places have been attending online and taking advantage of the scripture and your association.

HpS - All others.

At least, I would have been in a pretty bad situation, if it were not to the teachings you have been imparting in these weekly gatherings! Over the last decade, you made countless requests to Boise temple administration to get involved but it didn't work out.

HpS - Not countless. Just several and they may have their difficulties.

I agree with what you said: "No one in Boise, or even in the material world, has much claim to be perfect and not admit mistakes and offer obeisances to initiated ISKCON devotees and work out practical management problems in organizing Daily SB class." Please forgive me for losing my patience due to historical reasons, maybe I could have responded better! I am willing to attend, as a participant at the same time that you decided (6:30 am Saturday) so as to make it suitable for Anantarupa Prabhu to attend. I cannot promise to be the first person coming in advance and setting things up. If needed I can do it for a couple of weeks till devotees learn how to get online themselves. In fact, almost everyone knows and have logged into start meeting many times before. The presenters need to get their own laptops or the temple should provide one since some carry business laptops and cannot use it for public purposes other than in rare scenarios. I also feel the temple administration should give the projector so devotees can see the presentations instead of peeking into the tiny laptop.

Your insignificant servant

Srinivasacarya dasa

HpS - Thank you so much for communicating your perspective on the elephant. Let us see what others have to say.

So far the discussion is 0.K. (Zero Kill. Nobody dead).

Your suggestion about getting the Boise classes out to the community through tele-conferencing seem practical to me, but other may have more information to present. If nothing else someone could call in on a telephone and then broadcast and record through their phone. Of course, the visual is very nice!

Hare Krsna.

AGTSP Paoho

Here we are in Room 105 in the Guest House, ISKCON Ujjain.

It is 2.30AM and we have seven rounds done.

Our focus is the Daily Srimad Bhagavatam Class in our ISKCON Boise temple.

After bleeding through our stomach to help to get the Saturday morning class, weekly review class, going, we had the experience that it was one of the most delightful times in our life.

Then, by Krsna's, arrangement we took off for six weeks of travel with very difficult contact with ISKCON Boise.  We were amused to see what was going to happen.

Personally we had been in airplane, auto, airport from 5.30AM Tuesday until the present, and we were not maintaining our Morning Srimad Bhagavatam class perfectly, because "morning" kept changing hour to hour, but we did do daily reading first. With our feet halfway on the ground we were strong in going to the local class.

Thus we heard Vaisesika Das' class. Bhadri-narayana Swami's class and today we give the morning class with Badri and Bhakti-caru Swami et al present.

Srinivasa Das took advantage of our efforts to communicate and made his own struggle and got our India phone number and then we had a conversation. In 99% good humor he gave his impression of the class last Saturday.

We tried to text, but it failed, and then sent by Skype greetings to Ananta-rupa, Radhika-Raman and Balabhadra Das', asking for their impressions about the class.

We discussed the situation in our Temple in Boise with Vaisesika Das, Badri-Narayana Swami and taking those discussions into mind here is our perspective now. Please respond.

No one in Boise, or even in the material world, has much claim to be perfect and not admit mistakes and offer obeisances to intiated ISKCON devotees and work out practical management problems in organizing Daily SB class.

Big issue was that Srinivasa Das had not "set up" tele-conferencing facility even though Ananta-rupa Das told HpS that Srinivasa should take full charge of organizing the class.

ARD did tell us that in the course of our discussions, once in passing, but we failed to work it out with SND in the rush of leaving for travel. Please forgive our mistake.

ARD got angry and walked out of the class. SND got angry and walked out of the class. Murari Das just watched them get angry and then went home.

Upendra Das wasn't there because he had gone to India. He should have let the Temple President know that and the Temple President could have told SND, organizer, and everyone.

Gopal wasn't there because he went with his new baby to Logan to see Radhika, but they both could have come online to attend their Temple class and when the class didn't come on line they could have phoned the Temple President and he could have referred them to the Weekly Review Class Organizer, SND etc.

Ha! Ha! Ha!     Get's complicated when you go to administrative level.

Did Balabhadra Das and Kama-gayatri Devi Dasi try to log on? Has the Weekly Daily Srimad Bhagavatam Review Class been announced to the congregation and have they been encouraged to join the program?

Ha. Ha. Ha. Ho. Ho. He. He.

Our general impression is that unless we get this WDSBRC going we are all going to birth in ISKCON life after life until we solve this problem.

Make it work!

Get it recorded on Startmeeting. com and we will listen to the classes and send our comments.

[Whine!  Growl! Complaint!]

Puff and nonsense!

We are all PhDs, CEOs, Earthly Gods. If anyone of us can't get us (HpS, Monkey, Piggy et al) a recording of a WDSBRC then we curse you to have more more opulence than Indra, to be more beautiful the Miss America, and take birth again in ISKCON life after life. 

Of course, our curses are probably useless, but we really have no other aspiration than to hear recordings of the WDSBRCs.

Thank you all for your kind attention.

We wait to hear the opinions of others and will post them here.

Jaya!   Srila Prabhupada!

Agtt Assembled Devotees!

Hare Krsna Maharaj, 

Please accept my humble obeisances, All glories to Srila Prabhupada! All glories to your preaching efforts and wisdom!

Maharaj, this is Anadi Radha dasi from Boise, Idaho. I was hoping to ask you a question regarding an experience I had recently.

HpS - ASA -- Our honor!

Around the beginning of August 2017, one of my teacher mentors from my high school who is now more of a friend (HS was almost 10 years ago) came to visit me at my apartment (I currently live on the temple grounds right next to Tulsi Kunja at New Biharvan). She knows devotees in Peru (she's a spanish teacher) and was telling me one devotee she knows there just recently got engaged to a girl named Tulsi. She also shared with me how she loved chanting with this group she's associated with and she just got a meditation pillow. In the spirit of such a conversation I asked if she would be interested in chanting Hare Krsna on japa beads and that I would be more than happy to give her some. So I brought out a bag with two japa malas, one neem and one tulsi, planning to give her the neem, as she still eats meat. She asked me she liked the other, darker beads, the tulsi beads. I kindly told her that Tulsi is one of those plants very sacred to Krsna and devotees, that she is given very special care and devotion. Because of these factors, its better to start out with the neem beads, and get tulsi beads later after you really get to chanting. So I gave her the neem beads. I felt I was kind, however, I also felt I conveyed a little separatist mentality. I also thought maybe her draw to Tulsidevi and the fact she was talking about this Tulsi girl was an indicator that.. she could have been okay to take the beads. Maybe Tulsidevi would be her inspiration in Krsna Consciousness. Because afterall, the first devotee I met gave me tulsi neckbeads... 

After thinking a bit about it and feeling a bit uncomfortable with my choice, I asked Anantarupa Prabhu about the incident and his thoughts. He told me I did the right thing, but maybe for a little more information and input, I could ask you for some instruction on your blog. 

I always thought giving Tulsi to nondevotees was sort of wrong, and I still feel that way, but I'm also open to Krsna's will...

Maharaj, could you share what you think about this subject matter? 

Thank you so much.

Yhs, Anadi Radha dasi

HpS - Wow. Great question. We would feel hesitant to give Tulasi unless the person was Sattvic, vegetarian, etc. We give little 18-bead Malas that we import by the bag full from Mexico, pine. Look nice, not too many beads, fit in you bag.

But Vijitatma Das, our B'cari partner, and great Sankirtan man since 1974 or more distributes Tulasi beads to attract people to buy books. He is still distributing books. Maybe it works for book distributors but us folk have to be more careful until we some to their level.

That's all I could say. Thank you. Hope to see you soon.

Hare Krishna Gurudev,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

I hope this meets you in good health and momentum. In Benelux we have a monthly kirtan event (called Kirtan Connection), taking place in a different centre every month. Last week i learned that the organization stopped because the person who organized had a hard time to get things organized every month with every centre's and everyone's enthusiasm. I took the opportunity to take over, and after some inquiry i concluded it is good to make it into a bi-monthly event. More dates being optional. I'm very happy to have this chance for service, and i hope to receive your blessing for this faltering initiate's undertaking.

ASA - May God bless you very much!

Regarding sadhana, things are going with ups and downs in enthusiasm. Sadhana is fluctuating, heavily depending on my schedule. Sometimes my schedule is more suitable and i can do reasonably well (still sub-par though) while at other times it's just doing whatever i can. So basically i'm running behind the caravan, trying to catch up one day soon. I ask myself sometimes why it is so hard to find and spend 2,5 hours a day on japa. (Sleeping less is no option, i learned).

ASA - Because you are ignorant!  You have not yet learned that EVERYTHING will improve at the maximum possible rate with improved Japa. We know you are ignerant because we are also ignerant.

We visit sunday feast as often as possible and had a kirtan event in our house last weekend.

ASA - Super.... !.

Also i've finished some nice memories books recently. I look forward to having the chance one day to visit the States and have ample time to be somewhere close without bothering, and deepen our relationship. I think about diksha often. Basically i still wallow in self pity for lagging behind but i take comfort in your remark that whatever is being done, will add up to forever. But i think i mentioned this before.

Your aspiring servant,
Raghava pandita dasa.

ASA - We think about you often. Maybe we will see you very soon. We will be in Europe Thursday.   You news is just wonderful.  Keep trying and soon you will be LEADING the caravan or at least one branch.

Annual Report

Hanumatpresaka Swami

September 24, 2017

We traveled representing NIOS, ISKCON, Anjana Suta Academy, from September to December to Chicago, Richmond, Raleigh, Washington D. C. and Mexico. We also participated in the Gala Event in Houston.

End December to beginning March we had a very hard trip from Mexico City to Houston that was then supposed to go to Delhi, but got rebooked in route four times. Twenty-four hour trip became like 54-hours and we were have severe chest-pains by the end of the trip, but we visited the Indian Council on Philosophical Research, Prof. Kalyan Kumar Cakravary, former Director, of the Lalita-kala Academy, Indians, fine arts academy, presented a paper at a symposium on the Srimad Bhagavatam organized by the University of Madras and Oxford Center for Hindu Studies. Then in Kolkata we did programs with Presidency University and one other. We travelled through the remote North East to Assam, Tripura, Manipur and then Pune, Navi-mumbai and Mayapura. Meeting Directors of biggest NGOs et al.

With ISKCON Kolkata, Delhi et al we did extensive lecturing with hundreds of Society Member and Guests and Brahmcari Ashrams. With Dr. Samaresh Bandhyopadyay we worked on our ISKCON publications: Man Making book, Promtional Brochure, Stapathyam. We finished in Delhi with a visit to Dr. Lokeschandra and the ICCR (Indian Council on Cultural Relations). He proposed to send five scholars from India to participate in Art and the Sacred in Peru in June 2018.

Back in USA we worked with NIOS Nashville. The Peruvian National Library changed their Director three times and the Indian Ambassador for Peru, Dr. Sandip Cakravorty, was re-stationed to Washington D. C. so we could not get a firm sponsor for Art and the Sacred and lost the opportunity.

However, Abhirama thakura Das, Alejandro Salazaar, and other staunch NIOS supporters in Peru pushed ahead The Second Symposium on Psychology and the Sacred in June.

It only had one evening in the National Museum this time for the public and then with the Jesuit University and San Marcos University we organized two more days of extremely potent and informative symposia at universities.

We published the second edition of ‘Solari’ our magazine but will not post it in English.

We have a clip of the events in Peru at www.youtube.com with a keyword search for “psychology and the sacred 2017”.

Besides these massive events in Peru we then continued to Chile where we presented Arjuna and Hamlet at the National Library’s marble hall with the National Poet Laureate, Raul Zurita, and Jung and the Bhagavata at the best Community Cultural Center in Santiago. All these programs and many more were packed with excellent and influential audience members.

We also did programs in Bolivia and worked in a very concentrated effort with local ISKCON educators such as Mathuresa Das on developing education in ISKCON as a NIOS project.

We were one of the principal organizers for the Third Annual Symposim on Education with ISKCON in Seattle. It was attended by 25+ of the best educators and educational institutions in ISKCON and we are working on the editorial board of ‘Viplavah’ the newly formed ISKCON Ministry of Education Journal. The first issue has come out and many educators are asking for more.

We took advantage of NIOS facilities in Murfreesboro to revive our energy. We had traveled through 26-airports from 1 June through 1 August.

We have worked and have a Webmaster: Joshua and Grants-lady: Ambika in Houston and Corresponding Secretary: Dr. Ayus Goyal in Texas.

We are now working on this project: Art and the Sacred, with requirements that Abhirama get a signed proposal for Sept-Oct in the Ricardo Palma Cultural Center in Miraflores, Lima, Peru. They have 4-exhibition halls and guarantee 40,000 people will see displays each week. In their theater we hope to premier our move, “Art and the Sacred: A pilgrim’s progress”. Participation in this symposium and movie are from top Hispanic and International Directors, Artists and Art Historians.

Of course, many people came forward with generous donations which are reported in the Annual Financial Report.

Now we are headed for India and Australia to do interviews for Art and the Sacred, work with Dr. Samaresh and help develop Education with ISKCON.

Of course, at 70-years old this is all happening by Krsna’s will and quite seriously we can die of heart failure and any moment and plan to die of old age November 2024, God willing.

Next year, 2018, is the last year we will serve as General Secretary of the Advisory Board of NIOS.

There are other projects so please ask us questions as you wish.