ISKCON London (UK)-2008.12-December Newsletter

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ISKCON-London

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNAKRISHNA KRISHNAHARE HARE

HARE RAMA HARE RAMARAMA RAMA HARE HARE

NEWSLETTER

DECEMBER 2008


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Providing knowledge of Krishna to All

International Society for Krishna

Consciousness

Founder-acharya His Divine Grace

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila

Prabhupada

RADHA-KRISHNA TEMPLE

10 Soho Street - London

W1D 3DL

T: 0207 4373662

W: www.iskcon-london.org


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FESTIVAL (PHOTOS continued)


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PRESIDENT

During the month of December, Jai Nitaidasa carried out the following engage-ments:

On 2nd Dec - spoke at the Westminster FaithExchange on the power of prayer. This wasfollowed by Radha Londonishvara dasachanting Hare Krsna on the harmonium.

Our Krishna Kids Drama Club members wonthe following prizes; Jyothi Dev (HighlyCommended in the 10 years and under agecategory), Dajani Jegatheeswaran (FirstPrize in the 15-19 years age category), andSonia Sharma (Second Prize in the 15-19years age category)

On 3rd Dec observed the 39th installationanniversary of Sri Sri Radha Londonishvaraat the Temple. We had a bigger celebrationat Conway Hall in the previous month.

On 4th Dec spoke at an Oasis programmewhich took place in the Temple. There wereapproximately 30 university students pres-ent and the talk was entitled Season ofPeace & Goodwill.

On 8th Dec attended a house programme

at Nimesh and Ashika Patels house.

On 9th Dec spoke at Imperial College -Krsna Conscious Society programme.

On 13th Dec joined the Pandava Sean inCroydon for book distribution and in the

evening attended a programme with thedevotees in Crawley.

On 14th Dec attended a programme inTooting organised by Bhagavat Anandadasa. (See separate article).

On 25th Dec attended a house programmeat the home of Shailesh Govindia.

On 26th Dec took part in the Boxing Dayharinama from 3.00pm to 6.00pm. Therewere approximately 25 devotees.

On 29th Dec attended a house programmeat the home of Suriti Joshi.

PSankirtana in Croydon




HARE RAMA HARE RAMARAMA RAMAHARE HARE

HH Kavicandra SwamiVisvambara dasa

news

Bhakta Erik and Kavi Karnapura dasa both joined here in London and resided in the

ashrama. Erik for about 4years and Kavi KarnapuraPrabhu for one year.

They are both now resid-ing in Govardhan andstudying at the Srimad-Bhagavata Vidyapithamunder the guidance of HG

Gopipuranadhana Prabhu, the main BBTSanskrit editor, who did the translation forthe last cantos of Bhagavatam afterPrabhupadas departure and recently theBrhad Bhagavatamrta.

We wish them all the best for their futurestudies.

SANSKRIT SCHOLARS

Bhakta Erik

VIP SPEAKERS

Hare Krishna Jai NitaiPrabhu

There is one more thingI want to tell you about.I was not able to sharethis with you, I foundout only one or twodays after you had leftGovardhana. The teach-ers here at the school

wants me to translate Prayuktakhyata-Manjari by Rupa Gosvami. Right now I amhelping Matsya Avatara Prabhu and Divya

Govinda Prabhu with a comparitive study of

Harinamamrta-Vyakarana and Paninis gram-matical system. I will finish my part of it inless than a month and then start this proj-

ect. It is a book on grammar. It will be ofvaluable use for the school I believe. Newstudents will be able to learn from RupaGosvami meanings of verbs which is some-thing we otherwise would be consultingMonnier Williams dictionary for.

your servant,

Bhakta Erik

Kavi Karnapuradasa



Ramanrsimhadasa joinedISKCON on 28N o v e m b e r1977, twoweeks afterS r i l aPrabhupada leftthis planet.

He startedchanting imme-diately basedon just reading

Srila Prabhupadas books which he had got-ten in Oxford. Within a few weeks, afterattending a Sunday Programme and a hari-nama, he joined ISKCON at BhaktivedantaManor where he engaged fully in book dis-tribution.

In 1978, he went on travelling sankirtana tothe north of England with four other devo-tees (in those days they usually had aboutfive mens party). He continued with travel-ling sankirtana in England until 1982 and forsome time he was also a sankirtana leaderin Scotland. After some unsettled times inScotland, the travelling party returned toBhaktivedanta Manor.

In 1984, his service at the Manor was man-aging the fleet of ISKCON vehicles, makingsure that they were serviced and repairedtimely. Around that time his guru left so hemoved back to a flat in London where hehosted many devotees.

Since 1987, Ramanrsimha has been comingto Soho Street temple pretty much on adaily basis. He does a number of services at

Soho. One of his favourites is serving thesannyasis by driving them from and to the

airport and wherever needed. He also helpswith accommodating devotees, drivesMother Rama Shakti to the flower marketand visits devotees who are ill or in a hospi-tal. And another thing: hes been able tohelp devotees preach to their families.

He says, I havent got any great story or aparticularly heroic tale to tell about my life,theres nothing extraordinary. But its

amazing how available he makes himselffor service, and how capable of a preacherhe is. He just likes to offer himself as a ser-vant to the Vaisnava community and he isone of the humblest devotees we can seearound. Today, he is very dear to MahaVishnu Swami whom he serves closelywhen Swami is here.

Ramanrsimha has always been a commu-nicative type of person, so hes available forsupporting and counselling devotees if theyneed any help. He frequently facilitatesdevotees, including new ones. Having beenborn in England and understanding howthings work in this country, he is able tohelp devotees with practical advice oraction.

He has been active in Krsna consciousnessfor over thirty years, so he knows almost

everyone in the Vaisnava community herein the UK and has a very large network ofcontacts. He is always available on hismobile phone numbers and is quick torespond to anyones need. Ramanrsimhalikes to look upon himself as someone whois a resource to the community, a network-er. Someone to whom people can turn in atime of need or emergency.

He says: If I have a basic message, it is toalways stay in the association of devotees,

WHOS AMAZING?

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no matter how difficult it might be fromtime to time. We have a wonderful opportu-nity here in Central London, as this is one ofthe best locations in the world for preachingKrsna consciousness. Another thing I wouldlike to underline is the importance of sad-hana. To maintain strong sadhana as far aspossible, always rising very early in themorning and strictly chanting. These princi-ples will make us steady and fixed in Krsna

consciousness. So if we want to seriouslymake an attempt to go back to Godhead,we must have a solid sadhana. Moreover,Vaisnava seva, nama ruci and jiva doya serving Vaisnavas, having a taste for theholy name and giving Krsna to others, arethree wonderful and very important princi-ples in maintaining steadiness in Krsna con-sciousness.

This is an email that was sent to our web-site.

Hare Krsna Prabhu

Please accept my humble obeisances.

I had come to London on an official assign-ment and was there for the past4 months. During this period I used to fre-quent the temple, attend thebhagvatam class/morning prasad and takethe association of the visitingsannyasis and other devotees. I should say

that this was a very spiritually enliveningexperience and was an inspiring one aswell which I share with the other devoteesback home in India.

Please accept my heartfelt thanks for set-

ting up a very efficient and wellfunctioning temple administration system. Ihad a lot to learn and was inspired in manyways.

Your insignificant servant,

Divya

APPRECIATION


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I caught up withHH JananandaGoswami lastmonth andasked him:

If you were tostart again as adevotee whatwould you dodifferently?

We could go onand on herewith this and

that but I wont. I have no regrets as such.I am not the doer. Krishna is guiding usall and the trials and tribulations, thepains, the elations, the ecstasies, theassociations. the services are all perfectlyoffered, perfectly suitable to help us towake up and realize our true naturesbeing freed from the contamination ofbodily and mental identification. Freedfrom all forms of selfish motivated behav-ior. Freed from fear, envy, lust and pride.Krishna is arranging for our molding - its

up to us how much we take it or fightagainst it. How much we take responsibil-ity or continue to blame everything andeverybody around us. How much we stillthink we are right we are the friend ofeveryone we are the boss.

What we go through is to help bring us to

the point of humility - dependenceon the name and tolerance and truerespect for others. Realizing they areall our master and we must serve them.How to serve by becoming an instrumentto deliver them to Krishna consciousness.

At his point all I can say is devotionalservice is eternal and will simplycarry on perpetually evolving to higherlevels. You cannot expect to dothings or see things the way a teenagerdoes when we are 5 years old . Wehave to go through what we go throughin order to grow.

I do have one thought however and thatis I wish I had the energy andfacility of a 20 year old with the experi-ence (little that it may be) I havenow. I would dedicate myself to Harinamasankirtan on the street for as manyhours a day as possible. Now we realizethe sole purpose of our movement isto propagate the holy name and all otherservices are to serve this purpose.All the other services are to help us torealize this and as long as wedont then we will have to do this andthat to purify us and lead to thisrealization.

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During the month ofNovember &December,Krsna Pranadhika devidasi carried out the fol-lowing engagements:

On 5th Nov - attendeda SACRE meeting andWestminster Faith

Exchange ExecutivesMeeting.

On 6th Nov - Krsna Pranadhika dd, YasodaNandini dd, & Bhaktin Dragana visited HurstPrimary School. This was the fourth visit tothe school. Krsna Pranadhika devi dasi gavea presentation to 140 children and 8 teach-ers. While Dragana & Yashoda Nandini dddressed children and painted their faces

On 11th Nov - 12 students and their profes-sor from Florida State University visited theTemple. After a presentation by KrsnaPranadhika devi dasi they took 10 Bg and 10

Higher Taste books.

On 11th Nov Krsna Pranadhika devi dasiorganised a panel in St Ethelburgas Centrefor Peace and Reconciliation on the subjectof Karma, Destiny or just Chance. Guestspeakers were Sita Rama Dasa, Rev.Stephen Williams, Senior Chaplin fromUniversity of London, and Rabbi Gavin

Broder from the Jewish Chaplaincy.

On 12th Nov - 16 students and a professorfrom Regents College visited the Temple.Krsna Pranadhika devi dasi gave a presenta-tion.

On 13th - 20 students and a professor fromCAPA visited the Temple. Krsna Pranadhikadevi dasi gave a presentation.

On 17th Dec Krsna Pranadhika devi dasigave a presentation to 8 young policemenand women from the Metropolitan Police

UPCOMING COURSESThe Essence of Bhagavad Gita course

Teacher: HG Jai Nitai dasaSunday 11.00am to 12.30pm

February 15, 22March 1, 8, 15

Venue: 3rd floor seminar room

5 per class - please register & pay inKrishnas Community Shop

This course is a certified course at a founda-tional level and is a requirement for poten-tial Bhakti Sastri candidates or thoseseekinginitiation.

Enquiries: Bhava Bhakti dd [email protected]





On the 24th December, wewere very fortunate to havethe association of HH

Radhanath Swami. Maharajspent the day in the associa-tion of HH Kavicandra Swamiand Jai Nitai dasa. A fewdevotees were than treatedto a 2 hour japa walk throughCentral London where Maharaj greeted various book distrib-utors on Oxford Street along the way. Unfortunately this wasa very short visit as Maharaj was flying out to Mumbai in theevening.

HH RADHANATH SWAMICOMES TO TOWN!

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Documents

ISKCON London (UK)-2008.12-December Newsletter