March 2000

Hare Krishna on the Internet

by Arjunanath das

Devotees have been using the internet for a long time now, and there are hundreds of Hare Krishna sites out there offering everything from Bhagavad-Gita to Mridanga drum lessons. Here in Britain, all the individual temples have recently come together with other Hare Krishna projects into a single site - www.iskcon.org.uk. The site provides hosting, links and contact details for all UK-based activities, and includes links to on-line ordering of books through BBL, a service which has been running since 1996. There are currently around 5,000 page requests a month, which probably translates as 1,000 visitors, all of whom can easily look up temple programme times, directions and news, as well as browsing further afield through the international Hare Krishna Index.

Group News

Swindon's web-page, kids, and a day out on the beach- by Lisa Scratchley

Justin has been working to create a Swindon Nama Hatta webpage (www.namahatta.cwc.net). He has created a Hare Krishna macromedia flash which has Jagannath on it spinning around. He is also in the process of updating the page as some of the information is very out of date. We intend to keep it updated regularly, so if any devotees would like to send news they can please contact us via e-mail on: justinmac@mcmail.com. There is also a counter on the page to monitor how many people visit the site, which is really handy and we have had a few visitors so far. As the internet itself is getting ever more popular, it will be a good way to get some interest.

Here in Swindon we are in the process of starting up a children's Nama Hatta meeting. We are going to hold it once or twice a month. We have five children so far. It all started because we had a little girl called Sophie (Shane's sister) attend our Tuesday night Nama Hatta. This was fine and she enjoyed the kirtan but was getting a bit lost in the discussions afterwards and there was nobody else of her age. So we decided it would probably be more beneficial for her if we held a meeting more suited to her, explaining Krishna consciousness more simply. So that was the first step; then we had to find a few more children. We did not have to look far- there was Amena who could bring Kaliya and her nephew. I thought of my niece and then there was Jasmin, Steve's daughter. So it was all set. We are holding the first meeting this Saturday. So any tips from devotees who already run a children's Nama Hatta meeting would be very much appreciated.

We had a Nama Hatta day trip on Saturday, 18th of February down to Brighton. We first went to Dharanidhara's flat and he very kindly made prasadam. Then we went down to the Pier on the beach and met up with devotees from the London temple and Brighton. The weather was lovely and sunny. Abhimanyu started the Harinama off and we all followed in twos because of the shoppers through the town centre. We got a lot of smiles from most of the shoppers; a few people joined in and as usual we got a tramp hurling abuse and a man covering his ears. Apart from the latter it was a very blissful Harinama. We finished at the beach late afternoon and all went our separate way. It was a very nice day out.

London Temple's 'Crash Course'

by Adi guru das

It is difficult to measure the success of the efforts to preach by the Radha Krishna Temple in its busy and hectic daily life. The deity worship, the restaurant, the daily street chanting processions (harinam sankirtana), the book distribution, lunchtime and evening classes; all surge on and on in a daily transcendental routine that fully engages all the resident devotees and many congregational devotees right in the heart of London's West End.

The last two years, however, have really seen an increase of new devotees coming to live at the temple, a huge increase in book distribution, and an increased attempt to cater for the steadily growing congregation. So this January we started a 'crash course' in the teachings and practise of Vaishnava life, both for residents and congregation. The schedule ran as follows: 10.00am: Chanting Sanskrit verses and practical aspects of the philosophy with me, Adiguru; 11.00am: Class on Srila Rupa Goswami's mediaeval classic manual The Nectar of Instruction with Abhimanyu. This was followed by a cooking class at midday, also with Abhi. Arati ceremony and kirtan before the altar and a lunchtime class with visitors (various speakers give class at this time). After a delicious Prasadam meal there was a rest period until 3.00pm when Madhava would give a mridanga drumming class. At 4.30 we all went out on harinam sankirtana through the streets of London.

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March 2000

Hare Krishna on the Internet

Group News

Swindon's web-page, kids, and a day out on the beach- by Lisa Scratchley

London Temple's 'Crash Course'