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August 2000
Major weekend gathering in September
All readers are invited to a major weekend gathering of congregational
devotees from around the country in mid-September. Organised by the Congregational
Council, the event is a great opportunity, particularly if you don't often
get the chance to meet others who live the same life you do. This will
be a great two days; you'll be able to take a break and go on a spiritual
retreat, meet old friends, make new ones, all in a rural setting. The
place we're holding the event is a residential centre in the countryside
near Oxford. The accomodation is very comfortable (no sleeping on the
floor or in tents!) with single beds in heated dormitories, hot showers
and three meals a day. There is a large main hall, dining room, childrens
area, two tennis courts, outdoor swimming pool, nature walks, and plenty
of trees and green fields. Sivarama Swami will be in attendance and will
speak on the Srimad Bhagavatam. Other speakers are being invited as well
as teachers for afternoon workshops on cooking, music, deity worship and
other subjects.
Here are the main details:
Location: Hill End Residential Centre, Farmoor, just three miles outside
Oxford.
Dates: September 15th, 16th and 17th.
Times: Arrival on Friday 15th after 5.00pm for registration, settling
in and prasadam.
Morning kirtan and class begins 7.00am, breakfast at 8.30.
Morning sessions 9.30-11.00 and 11.30-1.00pm.
Lunch at 1.00pm followed by afternoon workshop sessions (Saturday only)
4.00-6.00pm.
Evening kirtans with many devotees. Departure will be on Sunday afternoon
before 4.00pm.
There will be activities for children including sports and games plus
a supervised wildlife walk and nature craft making.
Prices for the weekend including all meals: Adults: £25.00 Children aged
6-16 £10, under 6 free. Please make cheques payable to ISKCON. For more
details or to book your place, please write, call or e-mail Kripamoya
using the addresses above. You are strongly advised to book early and
to arrive on the Friday if at all possible. Cars will be coming from many
areas and it may be possible to arrange a lift for you.
Please check with your local co-ordinator:
Southwest:
Steve Burton 01252-511826
West:
Gail Staveacre or
Justin Reid 01793-641100
South:
Chris Pakula 01252-511826
Southeast:
Debbie Williams 01245-257665
London:
Sitarama dasa 01923 854270
"I've got nothing to wear to the party!"
My invitation from the Lord Chamberlain at Buckingham Palace read: Dress
- Gentlemen: Lounge suit or morning coat I possessed neither. So what
do you wear when you're invited to the Queen's Garden Party at Buckingham
Palace? I opted to wear this white,Indian two-piece outfit I've got in
my wardrobe. Actually I own rather a lot of them. Come to think of it,
I don't actually have too much else in my wardrobe. Dhoti and Kurta: standard
wear for vaishnavas yet attire not exactly guaranteed to help one merge
into a predominantly black-wearing formal crowd at a royal event. Nevertheless,
I had been invited to attend one of the annual garden parties on the grounds
of being a 'senior Hindu priest' so white, yellow or saffron robes were
more or less fitting for the invitation.
So there I was on the 12th July, a good day for subjects loyal to the
monarch, parking my car with official sticker in the Mall, presenting
my invitation at the gates of the palace, and walking numerous red carpets
through the building to the terrace at the back. The Royals were due to
come downstairs in ten minutes, through the door I now passed through.
I stepped out onto the terrace and gazed out across the huge lawn. More
than three thousand expectant people gazed back at me, all eyes straining
to catch the first glimpse of the Queen coming through the same door.
It was a rather humorous moment as I stood alone there for a few moments,
bright white dhoti and kurta moving in a gentle breeze, while top hats
and floppy hats inspected me and I surveyed them. 'Good scene for a film'
I thought.
Anyway, the Vaishnava dress and tilak seemed to be a conversation starter
as throughout the afternoon people asked me questions and I introduced
myself and shook hands. I met guests from the military, church, charity,
business and diplomatic worlds, all of whom seemed to have spent over
twenty years in their particular field. A balmy summer afternoon on the
Queen's lawn, two military bands playing Beatles numbers, and the first
English man to wear a dhoti at Buckingham Palace talking to people about
Vaishnavism. Nice.
-Kripamoya das
U.S. Lawsuit filed
In 1972, the ISKCON movement opened its first boarding school or gurukula
in Dallas, Texas. The purpose was to provide children with both a well-rounded
academic education and a firm foundation in devotional life. Much later,
a large international boarding school was built in Vrindavan, India. Hundreds
of children passed through both of these schools, as well as many other
similar establishments around the world. Although there are many who spent
happy childhoods growing up as devotees of Krishna, there are quite a
few who didn't. Now adults, their stories of maltreatment and abusive
behaviour have been surfacing for several years, much to the profound
shock of devotees throughout the world. Now over forty of them have decided
to take their stories to court in order to seek redress for events during
the seventies and early eighties. The perpetrators themselves are not
the accused but the organisation that allowed perpetrators to go unpunished.
ISKCON's former and current leaders will now be asked to prove they did
not know of these events at the time. Failure to do so will prove expensive
as compensation is being sought in millions of dollars.
Religious organisations are not the only environment where such abuses
take place, indeed, maltreatment of children appears to be a social disease
the enormity of which is only becoming publicly understood. Yet religious
organisations can, if not extremely vigilant, be unwitting hosts to unhealthy
individuals hiding behind the respectability which the religious life
often affords. From that viewpoint, ISKCON itself, like many churches,
is also a victim. It is likely that as this courtcase begins and continues,
media interest in this country will grow. Please contact our office for
further information.
"Golfing Gita" movie sells Gitas
Readers may remember a few issues ago we announced that a new film loosely
based on the Gita-'The Legend of Bagger Vance'- was on its way. The production
company is Stephen Spielburg's Dreamworks and the director Robert Redford.
No less an actor than Will Smith plays the 'Krishna' character. Apparently
temples in the States have been receiving telephone calls from people
who've read about the film and who now want to read the Gita. Author of
many books on Krishna consciousness, Stephen Rosen, known as Satyaraj
das, has just written a book to accompany the film: The Green Gita explaining
how the eighteen holes relate to the eighteen chapters of the scripture.
Meanwhile, now famous author of the philosophical golf book, Stephen Pressfield,
kindly wrote the appreciative introduction.
Members and Group News
Nigel Hornsey has been quietly going out regularly to sell Srila Prabhupada's
books. Although he's never been one to blow his own trumpet, I felt readers
should know that Nigel has sold over 350 books in the Bristol area so
far this year. May Krishna bless him for his devoted service. Jean Nicolle
invites any reader to come down for a holiday in Jersey. She promises
great weather, clean beaches, and comfortable accommodation. Jean will
even throw in some free massage for tired ladies. You can get a flight
to Jersey for under sixty quid, and Jean just asks for a small donation
to cover food.
Also in Jersey, Miguel and Christelle have been giving out Srila Prabhupada's
books and prasadam to friends. Minaketana and Gandharvika wrote to say
they've started Food for Life in Aberystwyth, Cardigan and Carmarthen
with around 10-20 takers in each place. They would like to thank Parasurama
for his encouragement and support. An Eggless Cake Decorating course is
running for one day in Radlett, Herts. Akincana dasi, of Eggless Cakes
book fame will be sharing all her secrets. Give her a ring on 01923-350040
for the delicious details.
Finally, there's been festivals in Bournemouth, Brighton, Norwich, Swindon
with Guildford, Southampton and Chelmsford yet to come. Ask for one in
your town next year! Don't forget-Krishna's Birthday is coming soon on
August 23rd followed by Srila Prabhupada's birthday, known as Vyasa Puja
the next day.
"My Granny had a dream about Prabhupada"...
Readers have written and phoned to say how much they liked the previous
two stories about how Krishna sometimes deals with His devotees; they
said that by hearing of the apparently miraculous taking place in everyday
life, they too felt that Krishna was indeed helping them personally. I
first read this letter some years ago after I travelled with Sivarama
Swami on the Hungary Festival Tour. In eastern Europe and particularly
Russia, Krishna has won the hearts of hundreds of older people, many in
their seventies, countering the claims that Krishna consciousness is merely
a 'youth movement'. I thought you all might like to read this young granddaughters
letter, translated from the original Hungarian:
Dear Sivarama Swami, Hare Krsna. Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada. I hope you do not mind my writing to
you. I have never written to a spiritual master before. You do not know
me. My name is Bhaktin Dora and I live in Pecs. I am 14 years old , and
I live at home with my mother and older sister.
In 1992 I went to the Hare Krsna Festival with a friend. I was not very
interested, but I enjoyed the chanting and dancing at the end. After it
was over I bought a book, The Science of Self-Realization. I do not know
why, generally I never read. I think it was because of the chanting.
I took the book home and cannot remember what happened to it. One day
my mother found it and was very angry with me. She thought that I was
reading this kind of thing. You see, our family members are all very strict
Catholics. They thought Krsna Consciousness was some kind of "brainwashing".
Actually I wasn't reading the book, I had forgotten all about it. Somehow,
it just "appeared". Anyway my mother was going to throw it away. My grandmother,
who is 68, was in the kitchen at that time. She lives in the apartment
upstairs. She came in and took the book. She looked at it and scolded
me in a very heavy way. I thought that would be the end of it. I did not
mind it so much as I was in a lot of maya at that time.
About a week later, I overheard a conversation between my mother and
grandmother. Granny was saying that this was not an ordinary book. She
said that what Prabhupada was saying is what Jesus Christ said and that
Krsna is God. I was very surprised. She said that we should listen to
what Prabhupada said and chant Hare Krsna because that was the religion
for this age. There was a lot of talk about how Christianity was no more,
and no one was following the Bible, but what Prabhupada said was pure
and perfect.
Things really took a turn from there .One day my grandmother visited
the nama-hatta center here and began to chant on beads. She also began
to buy Prabhupada's books one by one. She was spending all her pension
on buying what she called the "beautiful, holy Bhagavatam". Sometimes
she could only afford to eat potatoes, but she kept buying the books.
The devotees even came to her flat and helped her set up an altar. When
I went upstairs, they had taken all the pictures down, and there were
Krsna pictures everywhere.
That was really the beginning. One night, granny had a dream about Prabhupada.
Something really happened to her then. I don't know what it was, but she
began to get very enthusiastic. Next she began to get the whole family
involved. I mean, not just me and my mother and sister, but her two sons,
their wives and six children as well as her brothers, sisters and relatives.
Before she used to ca(Érry a Bible with her and quote Jesus Christ. Now
she has a Bhagavad-gita-and quotes "the good Lord Prabhupada". She became
a veritable transcendental terror. Everyone in the family has to chant
at least one round a day. In addition, granny made everyone become a vegetarian
including my dog Sikra, and we offer our food to a picture of Prabhupada
and Lord Caitanya.
Now, I am also getting out of maya and chanting and reading a little
also. Where I go to school my friends inquire about Krsna, as they know
I am a devotee. The whole family goes to the nama-hatta, all sixteen of
us. During the Christmas Marathon, we all tried to distribute Prabhupada's
books. Even granny would take books with her to the market and sell them
to the vendors. Everyone is afraid of her because she is fearless. They
all think she has gone crazy, but she does not care.
Now she is saving to go to Budapest to see the newly installed Deities.
She has heard that Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda "came" to Hungary
and are being worshipped there by the devotees. She says she wants to
see God just once in this life.
At this year's Hare Krsna festival, you were speaking to the guests after
the kirtana. You must remember my grandmother because she came and sat
right beside you and asked so many questions. At the end when you stood
to leave, she even kissed your hand, remember? I also wanted to ask a
question, but I was shy. Could I please ask you now? I hope you do not
mind, Maharaja. I want to know what kind of man Srila Prabhupada was.
He must be so dear to Krsna to have spread this message all over the world.
What are these books that changed my family so much? How is it possible
that he can speak so powerfully through them? You must feel very fortunate
to be his disciple. How great a man he is. Sometimes when my granny chants
in front of a picture of Krsna she cries. How does Prabhupada do that?
I want to cry like that too. Granny dreams of Prabhupada, and sometimes
she talks to his picture. Although it says on the cover of the book that
he passed away, is Prabhupada really dead, or is he still alive? Do you
think I can meet him someday?
I am sorry that I have gone on so. I would like to be a good devotee
one day and help you and Prabhupada spread Krsna Consciousness. Please
could you answer my questions ? Your servant, Bhaktin Dora.
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna,
Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama,
Rama Rama, Hare Hare.
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