New Vrindaban Brijabasi Spirit

“Krsna is within you. He is sitting within your heart as a friend, not as an enemy. Krsna is always your friend. Suhrdam sarva-bhutanam [Bg. 5.29]. You are searching out friends to talk with, to joke with, to love. Krsna is sitting there for that purpose.

“If you love Krsna, if you make friendship with Krsna, if you love Krsna, then your life will be successful. You haven’t got to search out any other friend. The friend is already there. Either you are a boy or a girl, you will find a nice friend within yourself. That is yoga system, when you realize this friend.”

Srila Prabhupada Lecture — New Vrindaban, June 7, 1969

Got Cows?

 The New Vrindaban Community’s Vision and Planning team wants to step up its cow protection program. To this end, the Planning Team wants to expand the current milking herd up to 10 cows and to eventually have 10 pair of oxen to work the land as well.

 Krsna seems to be very pleased that Srila Prabhupada’s instructions for New Vrindaban are in fact being followed in this regard. Specifically, Krsna has motivated two donors to donate four milking cows already this year and we offer much thanks to these donors.

 Two of these milking cows, Anjali Soma and Asha Soma, have already arrived in NV and have given birth to two new females, namely little Gandharvika and little Rupal Soma.  Two new heifers will be bought at an auction soon.

 The next part of the cow protection plan is to buy two oxen. If anyone is interested in sponsoring one or a pair of oxen to work on the land of the Holy Dhama of New Vrindaban, please contact Lilasuka dasi at 304-843-1600 ext. 106.

Click here:

From the San Diego Reader

to watch the video.

by Robert Isenberg

You might not expect a Hare Krishna temple in the hills of West Virginia, but the New Vrindaban community has been an active spiritual retreat since 1968.

I recently took a road trip with my friend Jen Resnick to this peculiar intentional community. Known for its beautiful vistas and “cow sanctuary,” Vrindaban is also famous for its “Palace of Gold” – a slice of India in a region known for agriculture and heavy industry.

The people of the Panhandle are often skeptical about the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. At best, the local Hare Krishnas are perceived as weird and entrepreneurial, having purchased a massive chunk of wooded real estate. At worst, people view them as cultists. Indeed, the place can be unnerving: There are frequent power outages, weak cell-phone reception, and devotees talk about their yoga discipline with wild enthusiasm.

But Jen and I felt very comfortable in the odd little cultural island – we were treated to a buffet of vegetarian dishes, and we ate with our hands alongside the devotees. They came from all over the world, and they chatted openly about their experience at New Vrindaban.

We freely explored the Palace of Gold, a breathtaking domicile that was built, astonishingly, by an army of unskilled volunteers. Not once were we asked for money or favors.

We even attended a devotional ceremony, which featured our guide and several priests clanging cymbals and chanting “Hare Krishna” as lamps were lit and water was blessed. I don’t expect to ever really open my eyes to Krishna Consciousness, but I was happy to attend.

And it’s strange to drive into a rugged town like Wheeling, its skyline filled with smokestacks and rusty billboards, when you’ve spent an afternoon with the swamis.

We will be having an Open House next Tues. March 13 from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM under the Lodge in New Vrindavan.    This will be a collaborative session between the devotees and a group of enthusiastic graduate students, consisting of members of Morgantown’s WVU Community Design Team, coordinated by Jenny Selin. They have become very inspired by certain aspects of our N.V. Master Vision Plan concerning forestry/ wildlife management and parikrama paths. They have actually taken it on as their graduation project.   They came in January this year, and we had a very congenial meeting with them during that session. The Open House next Tues. will be a continuation of the project.

 This will be an interactive discussion.  They will present to us their understanding of how we could develop these two areas.  We will then break into two groups for informal discussion and sharing of ideas. They will then use our feedback to further their design concepts. They are depending on the devotees’ input.

 Sometime in early April (TBA) they will return for further refinement.

 Food will be served and we think that there will be some lively and hopefully productive discussions.

 Please do come out and participate on whatever level you can, and tell your friends.

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Please note the addition of an ecstatic Bharata Natyam dance to the evening Gaura Purnima Schedule.

Thank you.

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I have put together the berry order for the Garden of Seven Gates (temple garden) as follows. Please advise me of your needs if you want to order with us as I will order this coming weekend. Berries and cherries need deer protection, except maybe not the brambles (raspberries and blackberries).

Donations to help with the costs of the berries gladly accepted and helps us be able to plant even more than we already have budgeted.

Bush Cherries 4-5′ spacing For best yield, plant two or more.

Nanking $4.
Hansen $5

Blueberries (several varieties to spread the season out longer) $7 5′ spacing

Blue Crop
Blue Ray
Draper
Duke – very early
Elizabeth – late
Elliot – late
Sweetheart (early mid season, then again in fall) $9 (different company)

Raspberries $2.50 3′ spacing

Heritage everbearing
Prelude early
Taylor late season
Lauren early midseason

Blackberries 4-5′ spacing

Prime Jim fall bearing $5
Ouadata thornless summer bearing $4

Currants $8 4′ spacing

Ben Sarek (black)
Rovada (red)
Pink Champagne

Today we’re cleaning up the temple in preparation for Lord Caitanya’s Appearance Day Celebration to be held this Thursday March 8, 2012 in the evening.

We will have the full schedule ready to post shortly. Stay tuned.

Please join us if you can.

Hare Krishna!

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Everyone is invited to the wedding of HARICHAKRA DAS and MAHARASA DASI taking place tomorrow, Sat. Mar. 3, 2012 beginning at 10 AM and ending at the 2 PM feast at the Radha Vrindabanchandra temple.