Letters to the editor

On Whatsapp the BRh writes: Any news on a temple in Nashville.

ASA: Your question is of relevance to many who read our Blog. So we will engage our well paid professional staff of apes and porcupines to post it here.

First, we are not trying to develop a temple. We are trying to develop an academic focused ISKCON rurual community.

We have asked about it, and President of NIOS and other senior devotee mentioned that they had done some work to look for land, but that is all.

It is not advancing much.

We do not have great hope for it in the near future, but practically speaking there has been a lot of background work, so we might see sprouts at any moment.

If you, or other nice Blog readers, give me a short written comment, request, suggestion, we can forward it to NIOS President. Esquire A. Singh.

Hk pamho Jay Gurudeva!!!!!

Al fin pude cambiar exitosamente mi contraseña.

Aunque todavía con dolor en el cuerpo por el accidente del carro, salimos muy contentos casi todos los días a distribuir libros, por lo general Krsna tiene cada día un hermoso pasatiempo. Una vez estaba muy cansada ya era de noche, no pasaba ningún carro, varios esperábamos, un buen rato en el paradero, Krsna envió el bus más lujoso en el que viajé, subimos varios era una movilidad privada que trasporta al personal del banco y estaba vacío, el tipo deseaba ganarse unas monedas, justo me dejaba muy cerca de casa y nos cobró lo mínimo.

Estoy contenta porque falta muy poco para el Pada Yatra que será en Lima, Ud. participó en dos de ellos, las deidades que salen son las que estoy cuidando a diario. Ellas desean salir, quieren una gran fiesta, muchos devotos desean participar.

A pesar que Perú está muy polarizado en el plano político y administrativo en ISKCON, como si eso no fuera poco, ahora a nivel de grupos más pequeños, es decir “todos contra todos”, por ello, prefiero no pertenecer a ningún bando, sólo al de la prédica de Srila Prabhupada.

Me alegra retomar este servicio de Pada Yatra, El grupo bhakti yoga, bajo la autoridad de ISKCON Wilson, aceptaron muy entusiastas ayudar en el servicio, en su local se iniciará la fiesta y terminará en el parque concurrido cercano al local. Esperamos que todos los vecinos de Jesús María, disfruten del canto de los santos nombres y captar nuevos devotos. Varios de los integrantes del grupo son sadhaneros, fijos en rondas, adoran el altar de sacrificio y al maestro espiritual, estudian el sastra, siempre consultando a brahmanas por buen consejo, muy activos en la predica, evitan prajalpa, debido a ello me siento a gusto con ellos y las cosas están fluyendo.

Como Ud. es nuestro maestro le reportaré todos los pormenores de este evento, los desafíos y demás, por lo pronto le adjunto el afiche. Y también le enviaré el reporte económico, hasta el momento, el único de mis hermanos espirituales Visala Das es el primer donante, estamos muy agradecidos con él, siempre nos apoya en la buenas y en las malas, para mi es como un hermano de sangre. Entonces, queda muy poco tiempo. Por ello, una vez más le pedimos sus bendiciones para complacer al Señor Jaganatha con este sacrificio, para que aparta los obstáculos de ego falso que puedan ser amenazas para el éxito de cualquier programa de prédica. 

Todos debemos apoyarnos entre todos y juntos servir incondicionalmente a un propósito supremo.

En muy poco tiempo se realiza este evento, por ello urge sus bendiciones sin ellas estamos perdidos. Por favor denos su misericordia.

Jay Jagannatha!!!

Pada yatra 2023 Ki Jay!!!

Jay Sri Sri Guru y Gauranga!!!

Su hija que lo adora:

Yugala Kisora Dasi (El león que desea saltar a Goloka)

------

Hk pamho Jay Gurudeva!!!!!

I was finally able to successfully change my password.

Although we still have pain in our bodies from the car accident, we go out very happy almost every day to distribute books, usually Krsna has a beautiful pastime every day. Once I was very tired, it was already night, no car passed by, several of us waited, a long time at the whereabouts, Krsna sent the most luxurious bus in which I traveled, several of us got on, it was a private vehicle that transports the bank staff and it was empty, the guy wanted to earn a few coins, he just dropped me off very close to home and charged us the minimum.

I am happy because there is very little left for the Pada Yatra that will be in Lima, you participated in two of them, the deities that come out are the ones that I am taking care of daily. They want to go out, they want a big party, many devotees want to participate.

Despite the fact that Peru is very polarized at the political and administrative level in ISKCON, as if that were not enough, now at the level of smaller groups, that is, "all against all", for this reason, I prefer not to belong to any side, just to that of Srila Prabhupada's preaching.

I am happy to resume this Pada Yatra service, The bhakti yoga group, under the authority of ISKCON Wilson, very enthusiastically agreed to help in the service, the party will start at their venue and end in the busy park near the venue. We hope that all the neighbors of Jesús María enjoy the chanting of the holy names and attract new devotees. Several of the members of the group are sadhaners, fixed in rounds, worship the sacrificial altar and the spiritual master, study the sastra, always consulting brahmanas for good advice, very active in preaching, avoid prajalpa, due to this I feel at I like them and things are flowing.

As you are our teacher, I will report all the details of this event, the challenges and so on, for now I am attaching the poster. And I will also send you the economic report, so far, the only one of my spiritual brothers Visala Das is the first donor, we are very grateful to him, he always supports us through thick and thin, for me he is like a blood brother . So, there is very little time left. Therefore, we once again ask for his blessings to please Lord Jaganatha with this sacrifice, so that it removes the obstacles of false ego that can be threats to the success of any preaching program.

We must all support each other and together unconditionally serve a higher purpose.

In a very short time this event takes place, so his blessings are urgently needed without them we are lost. Please give us his mercy.

Jay Jagannatha!!!

Pada yatra 2023 Ki Jay!!!

Jay Sri Sri Guru and Gauranga!!!

His daughter who adores him:

Yugala Kisora Dasi (The lion who wishes to jump to Goloka)

HpS/ASA - 😁 Thank you very much! AgtSP!!!!! You must be the Most Fallen, because you are getting Lord Caitanya's mercy in the very first group! Go on improving your spiritual life.

Go on.

Sankirtan!

Send reports, yes!

Hare Krishna, guru maharaja, please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Maharaja, we are very excited to hear that you will be visiting us in September. Anantarupa prabhu has bought my ticket to fly with you back to Tennessee and I was hoping to stay for a few days. So can I be there from Wednesday the 27th to the evening of Saturday the 30th of September. Is that okay with you?

HpS - Seems fine with us. Your mercy! Whole week of festivals. We can develop a lot of Sankirtan.

I like to sleep on the floor and I can cook, clean and do any other menial services.

HpS - How about Brahminical services!? 😄

We want to thank you again for giving Yamuna her middle name. ~Tarangita~ It very much suits her so far. Waves of the Yamuna river. Fresh. Not stagnant. Anantarupa Prabhu says that she will bring waves of bhakti to the Boise temple and the astrologer says she will start preaching very successfully at age 15.

HpS/ASA - Jaya!

Also, I wanted to let you know that we have a wonderful new pujari from Nepal named Madhava prabhu. It was a long process getting him here but thanks to Radhika Raman Prabhu and Anadi’s strong and diligent effort he is now taking very good care of Radha Bankebihari. I also really like him. His association has been a very good thing.

HpS - So, nice!!!

I hope this finds you very well.

Your aspiring servant,

Nitisara das

HpS - Look for the internal intelligence that Bankibihari gives you to find the internal thread to reach your neighbors in Boise for the Sankirtan of Lord Caitanya!

Hope our Kapi Dhvaja and this Blog and Twitter are useful!!!

Dear Guru Maharaja,

Please accept my humble Obeisances.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

Kapi Dvaja family, Ki Jay!

Due to visa, me and my husband, we had to leave Bali for a while. Now we are back here.

HpS/ASA - Hare Krsna!! Thank you for writing us! Where is "here". 😃

Unfortunately, I don't get India 's student visa. I don't know when India will reopen a tourist visa to China. I was planning to meet you in Kartik in Vrindavan.

ASA - We have no plans to be in in India in Kartika!

Seems like that won't happen so soon. It's very sad.

HpS - A little bit, but Mother Saci was happy that Nimai was based in Puri. She was getting news and Prasadam from Him and He and Nitai came for lunch everyday.

In Bali,we stay in one temple, Singaraja Town, Prabhuji gives classes and does books, I do service in the kitchen and sowing deities outfits.

HpS - Super!

We attend mangala arati and other programs everyday. We chant our rounds early in the morning. To improve my chanting, I watched some seminars from Hari sauri prabhu, Giriraj maharaja and Jayadvaita Swami. I have followed all the rules strictly and have been enthusiastic. I am ready to take responsibility of being intitiated.

HpS - Have you taken The Disciple Course? You need letter of recommendation from Temple President or some GBC line authority. In any case, if you are chanting 16-nice rounds and following the four principles strictly and following Temple program and want to take shelter of Srila Prabhupada for initiation, it seems certain that he and the Supersoul are taking lasting attention to your commitment.

Can you fulfill the above administrative requirements?

How long 16/4 been doing?

Your aspirant

Wang Pan

Dandavats dear Hanunat Preshak Maharaja

Glories to His Divine Grace!

Its my privilege to write few words from the Eastern front to your Holiness. I apologise for my English mistakes.

Initially we were on the way to New Gowardhan, Australia. Rupa Ragunath prabhuji (TKG) invited me to join the green pasturing grounds on the Golden Coast in distribution of books. Mainly I thought that could be a better place for Rukmini. More girls and some senior matajis so she can grow more healthy.

Also everyone speaks English which is not the case in Indonesia. Bali although tourist place hardly anyone can say few words in English. Nothing is written in English on the streets or shops. They want to keep their culture untouched as much as possible is what they say. However, somehow we got stuck here.

Here is work in progress, New Gowardhan is already well organised. Recently in Bali government banned devotees from public activities and party members often come to temple to treaten devotees. It did had effect . Many devotees just stop coming to temple. We could say, their activities and faith were not based/rooted on sastra, so when trouble came, many left.

With sentiments they came, due to sentiment they left. Its sad. Its been long time things were going well here. Now is turning point and major test for devotees who remained. As usually, two sides are claiming they know how to continue. One wants to remain as it is and the other one wants to mix with Balinese culture to make it look more "normal".

We know everything is temporary and sooner or later things will change so we are basically unaffected by this. As Prabhupada said, nothing can stop the movement from inside. That is the case again. We have seen similar things around the society but it seems like devotees have to go through that purification.

I got good responses from local devotees. Simple people, culture of humility. Lots of facilities to talk and I hope for more as the relationships become more solid with steadiness.

Books are hard to get. Australia is expensive and Indonesia tax books from there. Mumbai gave up saying that there are no ships. So I personally went to Vrindavan and send by post and found someone who can do that when needed.

Shipping for 100 kg is 500 usd . Someone says its too much, but that would be vaishya calculation. We are interested in the pleasure of the Lord and experience showed us that yagna brings multiple benefits, not only to the person who has received the books. So we took it as a favorable and believe in Krsnas intervention.

Books only go to foreigners, its more safe. Locals are all very negative for Hare Krsna at this time. There are plenty of spots where I can move and remain invisible. Our devote bought Ganja oil online from Holland for his wife who has cancer and police found out the bottle in the post office. They took him to jail and sentenced 14 years. So severe are punishments here for small offences. That is another reason books find owners in foreigners hands. And and and....lots of things, it's a time of need in short.

Maharaja, with your prayers and attention we can continue contributing to this wonderful movement of Lord Caitanya. This movement makes sense and its worth of giving life to it. Taking Prabhupada to the future is our motto.

Book Distribution ki Jai!

Sarva Sukhino Bhavantu!

Your servant

Narayan pandit das

HpS - Wow! Thank you so much for this letter. It is an honor to know you and your Sankirtan. Our old friend Abhimanyu Das we in a center in Bali teaching in the Gurukula. Do you know him? He is disciple of B. S. Damodara Swami.

I hope you can help Mrs. Rukmni adjust the GBC requirements for initiation.

Nothing can stop us.

Hare Krishna, Gurudeva 🙏🏻

Please, accept my humble obeisances at your lotus feet!

HpS/ASA - 🐷 pesunyas de loto

All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

HpS/ASA - 😍

In response to your questions from the previous report..

HpS: What is style correction?

As the translation is being done by five different devotees, it results differ greatly from each other, which is why we need a job of syntax to homologate the text in Spanish in the best possible way.

The style correction eliminates grammatical errors and adjusts the text to the regulations.

Syntax inconsistencies, concordance errors, correlation of verb tenses, errors in the use of prepositions, etc. are corrected.

It is done to improve the flow and cohesion of a text.

HpS - Yes, I think Kesava Bharati Swami did this for Brhat bhagavata amrta of Gopi pranadahna. People don't realize how many people may be involved in gfetting the finished product.

HpS: Gandharva das is not working with you?

No Gurudeva, he told me that he was not able to do this service anymore. A few days ago, his wife Indira Sakti dd told me that at this time he is very, very busy in his job.

But the good news, Gurudeva are that Abhirama Thakura prabhu offered to help us in this process in various ways.

We will meet soon in order to make the work plan.

Any suggestion from you is welcome, Gurudeva.

Thank you! 🙏🏻

Your aspiring servant:

Mitravinda dd.

HpS - Our only impression is that it seems to us that when this book is available in Spanish it will create a big step forward for all the Rupanugas in the Hispanic world.

Thank you!!!

Dear Maharaj,

PAMHO AGTSP!

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond to each message. Here are my responses to your esteemed questions 🙏.

1) PhD:

Here are 4 ideas that we have been brainstorming for PhD:

🐸 ASA - Wow! Too much detail for a 75-year-old brain cell! We scan them and give our best shot. Ribbit!

A) Ancient Indian Classical Dance and Mental Health Applications, PhD in Performing Arts from The Julliard School, NY

🐸 Too complicated. You don't know enough about physiology and endocrinology.

B) Psychotherapy through Ancient Indian Classical Dance, PhD in Psychology from Stanford, Harvard etc

ASA - Sounds like the first one. Real thing is you need to find a mentor at the university who can evaluate your talents and then set a practical thesis etc. for you. Big name schools, Harvard and Stanford eg. Are almost always colored by big business. Which means pharmaceutical medicine.

C) Dramaturgy in Cinema and Mental Health Applications, PhD in Cinematic Arts from USC

ASA - Huh!? Seem the same. We have so much stuff going that understanding any details of any program to make detailed decisions is not possible. Right now Dr. Samaresh is waiting for us to review Solaris 7, and in 26-minutes the BOEX meeting starts.

Hare Krsna, Hare Rama.

D) Impact on Mental Health by Supplementing Modern Cinema with Elements of Ancient Indian Dramaturgy. PhD in psychology from UCLA

PhD in psychology might help in preaching. People might take it more seriously and the earnt laxmi can be used in film-making. UCLA is about 3rd place in both cinema and dramatic arts. I might be able to take useful courses in both discplines while getting psychology degree.

In my proposal I could begin with greek medicine; Hippocrates talking about mixture of bodily humors producing behavior; controlling secretion of humors through mind; establish ’drama’ as therapy (SE somatic experience, FR fantastic reality, CBT, NLP etc), proceed to Aristotle, vs Bharata. Then after quoting my research results of Ancient Indian Dramaturgy’s effects on my IIT students (survey based) I can propose the benefits of creating films using emotion centric stories (from India)?

ASA - Had to scan through the above. Is very detailed. First thing, again, is to find a faculty advisor you can work with. If they exist.

Our perspective would on the history of cinema and its impact on society eg. Battleship Potemkin

https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=c99bbc8990dbca26JmltdHM9MTY4Njc4NzIwMCZpZ3VpZD0xNTI1Yzc5Ny01YmFkLTZhYjgtMDExZi1kNmY2NWE3ODZiZTEmaW5zaWQ9NTQ0OA&ptn=3&hsh=3&fclid=1525c797-5bad-6ab8-011f-d6f65a786be1&psq=battleship+potemkin+britannica+encyclopedia&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYnJpdGFubmljYS5jb20vdG9waWMvQmF0dGxlc2hpcC1Qb3RlbWtpbiM6fjp0ZXh0PUJhdHRsZXNoaXAlMjBQb3RlbWtpbiUyQyUyMFJ1c3NpYW4lMjBCcm9uZW5vc2V0cyUyMFBvdHlvbWtpbiUyQyUyMFNvdmlldCUyMHNpbGVudCUyMGZpbG0lMkMsYXMlMjBhJTIwbWFzdGVycGllY2UlMjBvZiUyMGludGVybmF0aW9uYWwlMjBjaW5lbWEuJTIwQmF0dGxlc2hpcCUyMFBvdGVta2lu&ntb=1

Or The Great Dictator.

Then use that for your Sankirtan. Of course, that is our perspective. May not be too much use to you as as Siksa for your Sankirtan.

2) Publications/Research.

Yes Maharaj, IIT Mandi Director Dr. Lila Purushottam (The General of the army) has an entire team of researchers doing phds on various Indian Knowledge Systems (yoga, odissi, pranayama, yoga nidra, mantra meditation, kirtan etc) for Mental Health Applications (IKSMHA). Because it is an IIT they have almost every resource in India available. This topic is interesting to me and they are also paying me to teach and monitor results on enrolled students and they will give me the monitoring equipment (Captain of classical dance).

One paper has already been published on heart rate variability and Odissi, conducting tests on my 300 class students. Tests showed a reduction in stress in students after Odissi class. Because of suicide rates in India, student mental health is being seen as important. This HRV correlation with Odissi paper has been accepted in a conference in Italy.

Being first author in this research, will be useful for phd applications. I know preaching efforts usually don’t get funding because we go against Maya Devi 🙏. But somehow some little window of service opportunity is opening up here for time being 🙏. I hope it’s worth while. Also I’m very happy to work with Dr. Ravi Singh and NIOS as well if they are open. A lady (from Nashville in Geriatric care) on the plane overheard me on this research topic and was so interested she asked me to share more.

ASA - Ask Lila and his crew about this line of work! Contact Dr. Ravi directly. Let us know the results😃

3) Film-making:

HpS/ASA - Here we have to stop! 😅 All our brain cell can handle for one letter. Doctor limits our academic work each day or else we will have brain hemorrhage.

Please use us properly.

HpS - ASA

... Yes Maharaj, I’m building my community beginning with Yogi from Houston. He’s quite enthusiastic and guiding me, he has a lot of contacts with Hollywood as well. I have shared with your esteemed self the first draft of the pitch deck on WhatsApp (it’s missing few slides, work in process).

I’ve also reached out to devotee film makers. Of course after I enrol there I can also build my own community of contacts.

Sanskrit verses: Maharaj you were suggesting you had some ppts made for festivals that you wanted to share with me to guide my dance productions 🙏. You mentioned there are selected verses in those ppts. Hence it was in that context I asked. As the film is evolving and we are approaching various sponsors, I’m adapting the content of the film also.

I just met with DG ICCR Delhi, Tuhin Kumar, he is interested in empanelling our theatre production group and taking our Ramayan on North America tour after Dec.

4) Kalaripayattu diploma starting in July from Kalarigram (Indian martial arts).

YAS

SMDD