Letters to the editor

Hare Krishna Esteemed and beloved Gurudeva,

Please accept my humble obeisances,

All glories to Srila Prabhupada,

We are still on the run, struggling to be a sane Iskcon member!! reach the standard, join the two parts of the elephants.

We began this harinam / sankirtan program during the marathon and it was so extatic that we are going to continue it during january!! We go out chanting and distributing books before the sunday feast. Very nice program, kids like it a lot.

HpS - Invite nice people.

16 R 4 P ok, very little Fmp and no Fep. A little bit of reading. Bg, Sb, Cc, Kb, what is the difficulty by Srutakirti prabhu.

ASA - Early to bed and early to rise and Maya goes hunting for other guys.

We will be in bs as from 15 to 18 of january and in cordoba from 22 to 25 january to have your glorious association. Hope we can be of any use for your Sankirtan!!

ASA - Jaya.

We are trying to simplify our life to focus more and more in devotional service!

Thank you Gurudeva, you are like an utsaha booster, feeling your kindness and love increase our faith in the process, rasa!!

Trying to become your disciple,

Nikunja Bihari das.

Hare Krsna!   Catching the airplane.

hare Krsna Gurudeva, pamho, jay Srila Prabhupada! _o^__.
 This is the link to the short version of the video of the symposium in Lima. This version has subtitles in English. Abhiram was supervising and we made several changes according to the precise details he did. What do you think? I hope to be useful in his sankirtan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smE_l_o9vX4

Thank you so much for everything.

Your Servant, Vrsabhanu Nandini dd

HpS -ASA   --  O.K. we try to see it very soon!
 

Todas las Glorias a Srila Prabhupada!!!

Hare Krsna Guru Maharaj, por favor reciba mis humildes reverencias, nuevamente seguimos en la ciudad de Puno - Perú, haciendo Sankirtan y practicamente culminando la Maratón de diciembre 2015.

En mi carta anterior le mencione que en el mes de febrero del 2016 me iría a Huancayo, pero la realidad es algo que vengo pensando, SI IR  Ó   NO IR, pues mi interes es más seguir viajando y distribuyendo los libros de Srila Prabhupada, pienso que lo mejor que funciona es la distribución de libros y el ocupar a otros en SANKIRTAN, espero el proximo año ir a hacer Sankirtan a Brasil, Paraguay, Uruguay, espero poder viajar por esas zonas.

Mi esposa, madre Nadiya Nivasi Dasi, va a viajar a Chile con Madre Anadi Adi Govinda, hacer Sankirtan y para su Vyasa Puja, espero en un futuro más adelante ella pueda estar en un templo con madres y yo poder seguir viajando con devotos varones.

Por otro lado queria pedirle disculpas, pues a veces ó casi siempre especulo cuando usted nos da instrucciones ó nos aconseja, perdoneme.

Seguimos luchando para seguir cumpliendo los 4 principios, mi mente es muy lujuriosa, también seguimos leyendo el Srimad - Bhagavatam canto 1, cap.9 "La Muerte de Bhismadeva", Nityananda Caritamrta y Krsna Book por las noches. Mangal Artik 5 am, 16 rondas de Japa y un poquito más. Gaura Artik con Prabhu Percy, su sobrino Alejandro y madre Nadiya Nivasi.

Bueno Guru Maharaj, me despido, espero que su salud esté bien, yo sigo mejorando de a pocos, de  la gastritis. Un abrazo Hare Krsna!!!

HpS - ASA --- Aparece bastante bien, como vida de Vanaprastha, pero piensa un poco mas en como Nadia va ser bien situado tambien. Krsna va a compartir la inteligencia! 

Gadai Gauranga Das

Gauranga! Every day is a festival in Sridam Mayapura, West bengal. Today is especially festive as it is the celebration of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati's Dissapearnce day.

In December 1974  Dina Bandhu Prabhu the Portland temple president announced that we were going to Vancouver, Canada for this festival. Devarsi Dasa explained to me that in Hare Krishna we celebrate a death day as much as a birthday because that is when a devotee goes back to godhead. It was a new concept. We loaded into a couple of vans, picked up a few more in Seattle, another carload in Northern Washington at a little farm, and the devotees from New Saranagati. We were greated by Bahudaka Prabhu and a roaring Hare Krishna kirtan as we pulled up the driveway into ISKCON Vancouver. The next day we had mangals, Tulsis and a class by Srila Prabhupada about his Guru maharaj.

That  morning we fasted and cut up for the feast that was supposed to be served at noon thirty.  Instead the 12:00 arotik was so ecstatic that Sukadeva led Hare Krishna kirtan through the 4:00 arotik. Fianally the prasadam came out in 50 gallon drums. Three Subjis, rice, chutley, pakoras, puris, sweet rice, gulabjamins, and more. In those days there was no oil in Krishna's kitchen in North America, everything was cooked in ghee and other dairy products. The strawberry halavah had so much butter you could have floated a boat. Aw memories, memories.

41 years later I am still feasting with the first class prsadam made by Bhakt Vidya Purna Swami's boys at the Gurukula Brahmana school. They produce their own ghee, from their own cream, from their own cows. It is a good meal. Maharaj said that "The rules of Bhakti Yoga should be presented at different levels so that a person can accept them. All the rules are there so that we can remember Krishna. The principle is the idea to think of Krishna." 

One hundred and one thousand visitors came to Sridam Mayapur Chandrodaya mandir on Christmas weekend. To engage them in Krishna Conciousness as Gita Mela was constructed. This was a themepark with many booths. Visitors poured through a big golden and white archway with releifs ofdemigods and clubs guarding it.

The first thing the folks see is a wax museum type diorama exhibit of various pictures from the Bhagavad Gita. The three modes of nature, changing bodies, the senses as horses carrying away the souls, a man eating like a pig becoming one, naked lady into a tree, and a starving bird in the cage getting the cage cleaned.  Other booths were for japa, kids corner, books, questions and answers, and more. A main stage had rotating show of Indian dance, Hare Krishna kirtan, and Bengali lectures on the Bhagavad Gita. 

Sri Mayapur International School had their own Hari Nama sankirtan party and an art exhibition. There were many Hari Nama Naga sankritan parties all over ISKCON Mayapur. Along with them are dozens of sankirtan devotees ditributing Srila Prabhupada's books to the crowd. Laxmi Moni Devi Dasi spoke about Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati opening temples all over India and preaching in Burma, England, and Germany. Srila Saraswati said "We should call at the door of each and every seeker of the truth. Bearing on our head the baggage of reak truth for them."

I hope this meets you well, Your servant, Mishra Bhagavan Dasa

ASA - Jaya!!  Incredible!!!   Now, please try to write some poetry for the next letter also!!!!   Thank you so much!     We have one foot on airplane for South America.

Dear Guru Maharaj,

Pamho agtSP!

Ok, I didn't know where to find your reply to my report. The situation with my recommendation is explained in my other letter. Svavasa prabhu has probably been too busy with the marathon to reply right away, we kept on until New Years!

In LA, we've been finding book tables very successful lately. People respect us more, take more books, and give bigger donations. It takes less of a toll psychologically, so I'm thankful. Svavasa prabhu has big plans for next year, and I'm looking forward to helping out. There's other strategies I'd like to try eventually but I'm indebted to New Dwarka. Ideally I would like to bring in another 10 brahmacaris more qualified than myself before moving on (if I ever do), so I've been thinking about how to accomplish this.

Meanwhile: If you were curious, most of us use American clothes on sankirtan. I just got some nice new threads from a thrift store but I try to keep it simple. Two pairs of temple clothes two pairs of sankirtan clothes. It's funny you mentioned Clint Eastwood; I usually go business casual with a straw hat, and devotees say I look like him. Sometimes I showdown with my roommate, Prema Sankirtan.

Let me think of one short story: A few days ago I was at Santa Monica Pier. An older fellow who took a book from me the day before asked me to tell him more about the Bhagavad Gita. So I said something like "The Bhagavad Gita is the most widely read classic on eastern philosophy; it's the climax of the Mahabharata, which is the most expansive epic in ancient history. It's 8x the length of the Iliad and the Oddysey combined and forms the substrate of a very sophisticated ancient civilization. This was a favorite of Albert Einstein, Schopenhauer, Voltaire, Gandhi..." Just then another gentleman approached, so I explained to him "You may have heard of this one, it's called Bhagavad Gita. It's basically the original encyclopedia on yoga. It gives a whole overview of this ancient culture of transcendence. Basically it teaches that real happiness doesn't come from material things, it comes from inside the soul." He asked me "are you a Hare Krsna?" And I replied that I was a monk from the local temple. He said he always wanted to chant with us in London so I invited him over. He asked me if I read the book and I explained how it completely changed my life. He gave a donation looking very satisfied and went away, so I finished up with the initial conversation. I told him "There are over 600 translations of Bhagavad Gita and this is the most widely read edition around the world. This has Sanskrit transliteration, English, commentary, and it explains how this has been understood and practiced within the tradition going back to the original author." I showed him the pictures of Prabhupada and Vyasadeva. It's like a user's guide so it enables you to take this knowledge and do something with it in your life. I glorified Prabhupada a bit and explained about how it was a multigenerational, international project. He gave another donation and went away with a big smile. Wished him a happy new year, said "May the Source be with you!"

My style is that I tend to focus on quality over quantity. I'm not that funny or charismatic, but I'm kind of a nerd, so I can get into it a little with people if they're on the level. I've been discussing with my sankirtan leader (Brghupati Prabhu) about trying a more focused approach here in LA for a while. I've heard that Svavasa prabhu is less enthusiastic about the traveling program lately because it is expensive, and it's a challenging austerity for newer devotees. The current temple commander just changed ashrams and he's spread a little thin, maybe I could assist him. I've been dealing with some pretty intense depression symptoms lately so I think being near the temple for a while might be good for me. (It's something I've had practically my whole life. Although I haven't been medicated in years and I've gotten much better, I'm still not completely liberated yet.) My idea is to choose one or two schools and go there every single day with another devotee, set up a table, and have little prasad for people to take, and Kirtan at the end. I want to establish relationships, meet professors, start Bhakti clubs, turn people on to some of our projects, and hopefully make tons of new sankirtan devotees.

Ys,

Bhakta Eric

HpS - Thank you so much for the letter. We suffer from depression symptoms. Any sane person in the material world does, no?   Of course, Radharani also has depression symptoms, no?

Your report sounds great. I got the other letter also. Yes, the Annual Report goes into a specific box, I think you sent it there later, then our response to that is not published, but your report didn't strike us at all as private. It was very nice example. The more we see the faces of other devotees, the more we become inspired.

Your plans sound great.

Just seems you have to stay in touch with local friends etc and you can see what plans are clear, no?

It is 3.37AM. One big letter done to India, 8-rounds, TLC, now bath and Puja.
Tomorrow we are being carried away to India.

Toda Gloria a Srila Prabhupada!!!

Hare Krsna Guru Maharaj, reciba mis respetuosas reverencias!!!

HpS - ASA --- Super sober news. Thank you. We all read your letters with attention and take great benefit from them. Do you think that it is anyway possible that this perspective that you have for Sankirtan is not something that was developed at least a little bit in the last life.

We hope Krsna gives you intelligence so that your can go on expanding the Sankirtan more and more. Maybe you will become a General in Srila Prabhupada's army.

En realidad lo único que deseamos es hacer Sankirtana "distribución de libros de Srila Prabhupada" y  enseñar a las personas a que se únan a esta sagrada MISIÓN DE SANKIRTANA.

Nose si esto sea un deseo de vida pasada, lo unico que se, es que deseamos humildemente hacer esto y esperamos que el Señor Nityananda nos pueda dar su misericordia.

La primera semana de diciembre fuimos a Bolivia por 8 días, hicimos Sankirtan en las ciudades de Oruro por 2 días, Potosi por 3 días y Sucre por 3 días, fue muy interezante, viajamos con Madre Anadi Adi Govinda, Nadiya Nivasi y yo Gadai, distribuimos alrrededor de 1000 libros entre pequeños y grandes.  

Mucha distribución de libros en Potosi y Sucre, lamentablemente no hay templos de ISKCON, ni restaurantes de devotos, mucha austeridad con la alimentación, gracias a madre Anadi Govinda que llevó una cocina electrica y pudimos cocinarnos a escondidas, sin que se den cuenta los dueños de los hospedajes.

También algunos problemas con la policia de inmigraciones en Sucre, me hicieron preguntas el por que de mi visita desde tan lejos???, pense en mentirles, pero decidí decirles la verdad, que habia venido a predicar y que eramos de la iglesia Hare Krishna, con eso se quedaron tranquilos y se fueron....jejeje que misericordia!!!!

Ahora estamos nuevamente en Perú - Puno, siguiendo con la maratón de libros, mi esposa Nadiya Nivasi estará viajando a Santiago de Chile con la Madre Madhumati, ellas haran Sankirtana en Chile y mi esposa estara para su Vyasa Puja.   Por otro lado yo estare en Puno con Bhakta Percy haciendo Sankirtana. 

Para el 15 de enero del 2016 ire con mi esposa a Cusco a  hacer Sankirtana, estaremos hospedados en la casa de un amigo de Bhakta Percy, aproximadamente estaremos unos 20 días en Cusco.

Esta ves no podremos ir a INDIA, así que iremos a HUANCAYO en febrero, para hacer nuestra base de Sankirtana, construiremos en los terrenos de mi padre para poder descanzar por temporadas y también hacer Sankirtana de una manera local en HUANCAYO Y POR DIFERENTES LUGARES DEL PERÚ.

Bueno Guru Maharaj, me despido, que esté bien y que el Señor Caitanya lo aconpañe en su Sankirtana!!!

Gadai Gauranga Das