New Vrindaban Brijabasi Spirit

Breaking and Entry

by Taru

“And when the spiritual master sees the devotees are taking bhagavat prasadam, he is satisfied” —Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur.

If there is any other instruction which the devotees of New Vrindaban have taken up more seriously than the one above, I have yet to run across it. In their undaunted endeavors to obtain bhagavat prasadam, devotees have crossed over the difficult ocean of contraptions, locks, chains and booby traps grouped together under the heading of maha cabinets.

According to Webster, a maha cabinet is “any device or container, usually a box, a safe, cupboard, or so forth, which is used to preserve maha prasad, i.e., to protect it from being stolen, hidden or ingested from the time of its being lawfully distributed.” A little further on down, mention is made of the fact that as of the present, there are no fool-proof models available.

Daily, huge quantities of prasadam like rice, dahl and chapatis are prepared to feed the members of our growing community. But apart from all that, there is another, totally separated program of cooking just for the pleasure of Their Lordships Sri Sri Radha Vrndavana Candra and all Their expansions. Needless to say, the maha prasadam, or those foodstuffs which are offered to the Deities, are the most delectable and sought-after preparations within the three worlds, it is only fair, then, that each devotee has a chance to sample a small portion of these other-worldly delicacies.

Maha is as Good as Gold

The difficulty lies in the fact that the Deities are offered prasadam about nine times a day whereas the devotees generally eat only twice. So all the maha prasadam is put away until the next morning when each devotee receives a small quantity of it. These “maha plates” are a medium of reward and punishment. Someone who is delinquent in the execution of his duties is fined by having his maha taken away. Similarly, it is customary to repay some favor by giving your maha plate to the person. In other words, maha is as good as gold.

Now there will always be a class of men who are not content with their own lawful share of the maha prasadam and take to illegal means for satisfying their lust and greed. As the horse thief was universally condemned throughout the Old West, the maha thief is equally despised amongst members of the Vaisnava community.

As Kirtanananda Swami succinctly put it, “Any brahmacari caught stealing maha should be severely chastised”. Local panditas have analyzed the meaning of this verse to be that one should take great care and attention to avoid being caught while he is stealing maha.

The Horrible Truth

You see, the horrible truth to the matter is that every devotee is a potential maha thief. It is hard to trust anyone, save and except the self-realized souls, to be alone in the same room with maha prasadam. That is why the maha cabinet is necessary. Without it, none of the maha prasadam would ever live to see the sun rise.

I believe that the situation is much more acute at New Vrindaban than in other temples around the world. I remember that in the first temple I stayed, there was a refrigerator full of left-over prasadam that was always open to the public. But in New Vrindaban, it is pretty hard to come up with anything in-between meals.

Another factor is that practically no one here cooks at home, everyone is dependent upon the temple for their maintenance. Finally, there are just a lot of people here, compared to a smaller center which still has six or eight offerings a day and only ten or twenty devotees to distribute the maha amongst. Apart from that, Maharaja remarks on occasion that the inhabitants of Vrindaban are generally lustier than everyone else. Whatever the case, stealing maha has always been as prominent in New Vrindaban as robberies and muggings are in the big cities.

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As of Thursday evening, the large machine that was blocking the road for repairing the slip was removed, and it seems like all the pilings are installed.

While there may be other delays as they finish off the details, it might be easier to slip by than when the large tracked machine was there.

This, of course, is an unofficial opinion, but the worst of the road closure may be over.

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Dear Devotees,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

I just received the news from the University of Chicago Medical Center that liver transplant surgery of Shymasundar prabhu (ACBSP) and Gopinath prabhu has concluded successfully. The surgery lasted approx. 11 hours. Both are presently in the ICU and will be under observation for at least 24 hours.

My heartfelt gratitude to all the devotees who prayed for Shymasundar prabhu and Gopinath prabhu. We are totally overwhelmed by all your support, prayers and encouragement.

We shall always remain indebted to Srila Prabhupada, his disciples, our Guru Maharaj Radhanath Swami and our ISKCON family for their love and prayers.

Your servants,
Parijata devi dasi
Rasanath

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by mrupa

Prabhupada writes in Krsna Book (and in umpteen other places) “The pastimes and activities of the Lord are not material; they are beyond the material conception. But the conditioned soul can benefit by hearing such uncommon activities. Hearing is an opportunity to associate with the Lord; to hear His activities is to evolve to the transcendental nature—simply by hearing.” There is just no substitute for the power and happiness of transcendental sound vibration.

So a long long time ago, in a galaxy far far away—ooopps. No. But it was a long time ago (1974 by the time it came to New Vrindavana) a devotee named Akshobia took that principle to heart and invented a game for all the ISKCON Gurukula kids in which they could compete to discuss Krsna’s pastimes; particularly, Krsna Book. He styled and named it along the lines of an even older TV game called “College Bowl”.

There were two teams of four players each, a moderator/questioner, and in the devotee version a judge or two or three, or sometimes the whole audience. The obvious exception being in the case of Akshobia himself asking the questions.

The moderator would ask a question called a ‘toss-up’ that anyone from either team could try to answer by raising their hand first. If the answer was correct, then another ‘bonus question’ was asked for only the members of the answering team. The bonus questions were harder and trickier than the toss-ups. Gradually, the points were accumulated from answering the questions and the team with the most points would win the game.

In the TV version the winning college students would just get scholarships and stuff. But in New Vrindavana the winning team members were much more fortunate: each person got a plate of Radha Vrindavana Chandra’s maha. ( sorry; I’ve got to say it, a bowl of Krsna for the winning Krsna Bowl-ers)

It started out simply as a children’s game, and was played only in some of the Gurukulas. But it became so popular, it wasn’t long before the city temples were making up teams and playing it as well.

Everyone’s consciousness became surcharged by the eager and continuous give and take of reading Krsna Book and asking each other questions about Krsna and His transcendental activities. And so we started playing it here in New Vrindavana also. After all, where else better to discuss Krsna?

There were two natural divisions of teams: the men’s teams and the women’s teams. The divisions would compete among themselves during the week. Then as part of the Sunday Feast celebrations there would be a ‘championship’ match in the temple room for the enjoyment of Radha Vrindavana Chandra and the devotees, between the victorious party of each division.

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 Dear Devotees:

In celebration of the Holy Name, you are all invited to join in an enthusiastic Sri Hari Nama tomorrow evening, from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm, convening in front of RVC Temple. We will circumambulate Radha Vrindaban Chandra, then head for Srila Prabhupada’s Palace, via the Goshalla and return, via the Lake, offering special attention to Sri Sri Gaura Nitai and perhaps, even the Garden of Seven Gates, ending at the Lotus Feet of Sri Sri Radha Vrindaban Chandra and Sundar Arati, then followed by Prasad!

Hope to see a great crowd! 

Hari bol!
Your servant at the feet of Srila Prabhupada, Malati devi dasi 

Monday September 24th the ridge road between the temple and Route 250 will be closed between the school bus runs, approximately 7:30 AM to 3:00 PM.

It will be closed between Sudhanu’s and Tejo’s houses in order to stabilize and fix the slip that occurred there in January 2005 and has had the road reduced to one lane since then.

This will be from Monday to Friday, for one or two weeks, depending on soil conditions. They are driving piles to stabilize it and they have to drive them until they hit something solid which depends on a number of factors.

While it may be possible to get past the equipment if you are willing to wait for 30 minutes or as long as it takes to drive one pile, don’t count on it. When they fixed the slip by the Palace, the shoulder was wider and they had more room to work with so while there were delays, the road wasn’t actually officially closed. This time the road is narrow and it may not be possible to get by.

The alternative inbound route is coming up from Wheeling Creek, the “back way” as devotees refer to it. There is a piece of gravel road from Wheeling Creek that arrives on the apartment side of the temple.

It is possible to follow the creek from Elm Grove, but the easiest way to explain is to have people come in along route 88 as normal. Once past Sherrad (where the schools are) the road winds around for a while, then passes Eagle Hollow which is at Crow’s Lane to the left. 88 then comes to a relative straightaway.

The next lane, just past an abandoned gas station, turns to the left and is Pine Hill Road. Take Pine Hill Road down to Wheeling Creek. Don’t cross the bridge — take a right turn onto a gravel road just before it.

The gravel road will come to a fork and bear right there onto a paved road that goes right by the temple.

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photos courtesy of Jivagoswami.

Pretty much from the 1980s, I guess. I don’t know if Varshana or Radhanath were or were not swamis at the time of these photos, but probably they were.

This is back in the day when the work ethic was valued and devotees were more task oriented than position oriented.

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(Fourth in a series of six continuing articles (Sections) as taken from the Brijabasi Spirit from the 1970s, written by Taru dasa,.)

The Agony and the Ecstasy

In this material world everyone needs something to look forward to because generally no one is satisfied with his present condition. They are hoping that in the future, in some other situation or with some other person, they will experience happiness. The working man is always waiting for payday, the student is looking toward summer vacation, the lover is wishing to meet his beloved, the little boy can’t wait to grow up. The materialist becomes so attached to achieving this or that goal that he endures all kinds of miseries without complaint. This is a type of insanity, because the goal they are all seeking is simply another type of misery. Real happiness is achieved only when we give up all these vain goals and aspirations and try to return to our home in the spiritual world.

Devotees also have their goals. Those who are completely pure have no other desire than to serve Krishna. Factually, this is the strongest of all desires because it is our natural constitutional position. The pure devotee remains fixed in his determination to serve Krishna in all situations. No one else can be this determined. Therefore, the pure devotee is able to accomplish so much more, by Krishna’s grace, than any materialist.

The neophyte, however, cannot remain always fixed up. He may have realized that the ultimate goal is to surrender to Krishna, but he hasn’t quite gotten around to doing it yet. So he has mixed desires, some spiritual and some material. As long as he remains steady in discharging his devotional service, these material desires gradually fade away. But this “gradual” process sometimes appears to take a long time.

Even though one may be chanting 16 rounds a day, following four regulative principles, hearing from the Bhagavad-Gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam every day, and engaging enthusiastically in devotional service – still he may be aspiring for something other than pure, unmotivated devotional service. And if he’s a real neophyte, the chances are pretty good that what he is looking forward to more than anything else is the Sunday feast.

Anticipating Sunday

Now we have stated many times already that prasadam is spiritual, that in fact, it is non-different from Krishna. Still, there is a prescribed method for realizing this fact and that is “to accept only as much as is necessary to keep body and soul together”. It is not that since prasadam is the same as Krishna, I can go on eating and eating, mound after mound, at every available opportunity. This is not a fact, but it is a common belief, or hallucination that occurs to prasadam addicts.I’m sure any amateur psychologist could come up with an explanation that sounds feasible. A rough approximation of that explanation is that the prasadam addict, while realizing that it is imperative to control the senses, experiences vast feelings of inadequacy when faced with opulent prasadam. Therefore, he transfers his natural affection for the Supreme Personality of Godhead to His prasadam incarnation.

Thus the eternal attachment we all have for God becomes sublimated and re-expressed as an intense yearning for eating prasadam. Due to this attachment, his mind distorts all the truths of Vaisnava philosophy and reinterprets them to substantiate his feelings that taking prasadam is the ultimate goal of life. For instance, Srila Prabhupada has stated that, “The first sense you will realize Krishna with is your tongue”. The meaning is clear. All of our advancement in spiritual life comes from chanting Hare Krishna. Therefore, by this process of chanting Krishna’s names, one will eventually learn to see Krishna everywhere. But for the prasadam addict, the statement has another meaning.

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Friday, Oct. 5

11:00 – 11:30………..Opener
11:15 – 11:30………..Break
11:45 – 1:15……………Session 1 – Gopi Mata…………”Peaceful Body, Peaceful Mind ” (Yoga)
…..Session 2 – Rasa Manjari……..Bhagavad-gita Teachings
1:30………………Lunch
3:00 -4:30……Session 1 – Nidra…………….”Alternative Book Distribution”
…..Session 2 – Divyambar………”Pronounce It Right!” Pt. 1

4:30 – 4:45…… Break
4:45 – 6:15……..Session 1 – Radha dasi………….”Anchors in the Storm: Helping Vaishnavis in Crisis”
…..Session 2 – Divyambar……”Pronounce It Right!” Pt. 2

Evening……..OPEN

Saturday, Oct. 6th

7:45 – 9:00*………..SB class – Narayani…….”Overcoming Offensive Chanting”
10:00 – 11:30……Session 1 – Rukmini…….Faith and Doubt
……Session 2 – Krishnandani & Praharana…….”Twelve Principle Values of a Healthy Krishna Conscious Family”
11:30 – 11:45…….Break
11:45 -1:15……….Session 1 – Narayani………”Chanting With Feeling”
………..Session 2- Robin……….”Flower Essences for the Family”
…………Session 3-Chandra-Vallabha…..Shamballa Multi-dimentional Healing: The personal healing energy of Krishna
1:15…….LUNCH
3:00 -4:30……..Session1- Archana Siddhi…”Evolution in Consciousness: Exploring the Secrets of the Siksastakam” (Pt. 1)
….Session 2 – Maharha…….”Deity Sewing 102″
….Session 3 – Gopi Mata……”Pranayam Connected to Chanting”
4:30 – 4:45….BREAK
4:45 – 6:15……Session 1 – Archana Siddhi……..”Evolution in Consciousness: Exploring the Secrets of the Siksastakam” (Pt. 2)
……Session 2 – Loka………Care and Nurturing for our Inner Leader
……..Session 3 – Rasa. Manjari………..”Bhaktivinode Thakur’s Bhajans”
7:30 – 9:00………Campfire Bhajans @ Gopa’s………Facilitated by Rasa Manjari

Sunday, Oct. 7

6:00……..Mangala Arati At Srila Prabhupada’s Palace
6:25…….Nrshrima Prayers
6:30……Tulasi Arati/ Prayers
6:40……Japa Session
7:30…..Guru Puja
7:45……SB Class – 10.14.8…….Participation by all members
9:00….Breakfast
10:30 – 12:00…….Session 1 – Mukhya…….”Healthy, Delicious, Easy Meals”
….Session 2 – Mrgaksi……..”Puppets & Music”
…..Session 3 – Krishnanandini……”What is an Empowered Vaishnavi?”
12:00 – 12:15……BREAK
12:15 – 1:45……Plenary Ending………”What Will We Bring Home?”
2:00……..FEAST

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