New Vrindaban Brijabasi Spirit

Cleaning the Kundas in New Vrindaban Dhama

by Sukhavaha dasi,  Madri dasi & Lilasuka dasi

Radha Kunda, the crest jewel of Govardhan, is now beautifully shining, and freshly lined.

New Vrindaban’s replica Radha Kunda up on the replica of Govardhan Hill got a fresh lining at the end of  this summer of 2014. It’s called “Rhino”, a type of cement which hardens into enamel, and is guaranteed for 30 years not to leak. This took two weeks, and lots of time and energy to shovel all the muck at the bottom. After seeing the beauty of Radha Kunda, and understanding that Lalita Kunda is also leaking, Gopisa Prabhu suggested that we also line Lalita Kunda and Shyama Kunda.

Radha Kunda, “before”, awaiting renewal.

During the lining of Radha Kunda

Renewed Radha Kunda

Sukhavaha dasi relates the story:

“We had the rare opportunity of immersing ourselves (literally) in the sacred mud of those kundas, thus  receiving  some very special mercy.  There was only two days to clean out the other two kundas. Tilak  das and I worked along with some help from Lalita Gopi  dasi, Ananda Vidya das, Madri dasi and Gaura Shakti, and some extra help from Venkatta das, TK das, Navin das, Daivata das and Bhaktin Autumn as we all  proceeded to clean out Shyama Kunda, which was going to be really simple, because it was only 3 and ½ feet deep, according to Varsana Maharaj. No big deal. “We will have this done in no time”, we thought. Well, see the story in pictures below.”

1 Lalita, how fortunate we are- now we are receiving Lord Shyama’s mercy.

2 Good thing we got more “Man” power.

3 The more . . . the merrier.

4 We need a bucket brigade.

5 Keep those buckets moving.

6 The Sacred Mud from Shyama Kunda.

7 There’s a lot of rocks down here.

8 How did all this mud get in here anyway?

9 We need Varsana Maharaj’s help.

10 Maharaj comes to the rescue.

11 Maharaj, I thought you said this kunda was only 3 and ½ feet deep.

12 There’s a big rock right down there. And a heavy tarp.

13 Maharaj gets the rock out.

14 Venkatta holds the tarp on the bucket.

15 . Maharaj, that was the best ride I ever had.

16 How could this much mud fall in here? Is it frog stool?

17 How deep is this, Maharaj?

18 It’s seven feet deep. Keep digging….

19 Maharaj, I need to see the bottom. Is there really a bottom to this??

20 Yes . . . . it’s in there. Keep going. This is a practice in going deeper.

22 So, Maharaj, where DID all this mud come from?

23 Did no-one realize that maybe I put it there for a good reason – to protect the deer or humans from drowning in such a deep Kunda?

24 There’s the bottom, finally

25 Sukhavaha, we’re done. Come out now. Stop scrubbing.

26 Shyama Kunda, Ki Jaya. A job well done!

26 So, TK, how was your experience of the “Brijabasi spirit”?

27 This is what we are here for: the service of beautifying the Dhamas and purifying our hearts.

THE END

Srila Prabhupada Tours His Palace, June 1976.

“I shall go to New Vrindaban as soon as your Palace is finished. Jaya!”

Click here to read the rest of the letter at the Vanipedia website.

External Renovations at Prabhupada’s Palace of Gold

By Gopisa das & Lilasuka dasi

There have been many renovations done in New Vrindaban over the last two years.  Govinda’s Restaurant received a complete overhaul, including a drop ceiling and ornate Rajasthani style furniture. The Welcome Center, once an old wooden cabin, was brought up to date with high tech insulation and new exterior/interior improvements. The men’s and women’s asramas were renovated with new lighting, walls, floors and furniture and the Palace Lodge rooms were greatly improved with similar treatment.

Drainage on the 2nd Level of Palace.

This year, Prabhupada’s Palace of Gold is receiving some much-needed repairs. Renovations have begun with all new storm drainage pipes on the exterior second level. This is the first phase of an extensive design plan to handle all rain/snow water from roof to ground level and a necessity for protecting the soon to be installed new granite steps.

Drainage Work.

The work is part of a new push to fully renovate and improve Srila Prabhupada’s Palace with major visual improvements planned for completion by 2016 as an offering to Srila Prabhupada on the 50^th anniversary celebrating the formation of his beloved ISKCON.

Stay tuned- more to come.

Prabhupada’s Palace of Gold

This week’s challenge: Who are the two people and what are they doing?

Extra credit: When and where was this photo taken?

What to do: Post your guesses on the “who, what, when, where & why” in the comment section at the Brijabasi Spirit website.

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Early September in the Teaching Garden

The late summer has brought us a bounty of vegetables and a mountain of work preparing for the fall.  The teaching garden is filled with fall colors as the mums, calendula, daisies, and lilies have begun to bloom.  As the summer flowers and vegetables have completed their season the beds containing annual flowers (one that do not grow back in the spring) are being cover cropped. In the photo above daikon radishes are growing around daises yet to bloom. Other cover crops in the teaching garden include vicia vilosa (winter legume), wheat, and rye.

Colors of fall at New Vrindaban

In the Garden of Seven Gates it has been all about harvesting, building, and planting.  Yes, I said planting; this time of year it is difficult to keep up the same early summer pace in the garden. Weeds start to win the epic battle with the garden, some plants start to struggle, and just keeping up with the harvest in a daunting task all its own.  However, to really get the most of your garden don’t miss out on the often forgotten benefits of fall planting.  In early August we seeded cabbage, spinach, lettuce, radishes, and beets which all love the fall weather and are fairly quick to harvest (none more than 60 days). At the end of August we seeded for our winter greens high tunnel with many of the same crops and added kale. The buckwheat field is now filled with an infinity of beautiful radish greens. In the terraces where vegetables like tomatoes and sweet potatoes were growing it is now cover cropped for the fall and will return early in the spring.  For weeks we had beautiful fields of giant sunflowers, the seeds are now drying to be shared with the community. Their former home is now a field of rye.

Sunflowers in the back field of the Garden of Seven Gates

With more green beans to come, squash harvest, greens, and amaranth we still have a lot of picking to do. The test plot of giant golden amaranth has proven not only to be sustainable (no irrigation, no fertilizer, no pesticides), beautiful (most plants are over 9 feet tall filled with seeds) it produced an incredible bumper crop of amazing gluten free complete grains.  Which will be harvested after the first frost.

Amaranth in the Garden of Seven Gates

Another exciting harvest this year was sweet potatoes. This is a crop I suggest for everyone that can create some form of raised bed in their garden. When planted under the right conditions a single plant slip yields 8-10 lbs of sweet potatoes. We had enough to set up a “grown on site” sweet potato fry booth at the Festival of Colors.  We had a wonderful response and were very excited to share our harvest with people from many different communities.

As the New Vrindaban gardens transition to fall I will leave you with a quote from Rose G. Kingsley….. “In the garden, Autumn is, indeed the crowning glory of the year, bringing us the fruition of months of thought and care and toil. And at no season, safe perhaps in Daffodil time, do we get such superb colour effects as from August to November.” The Autumn Garden 1905

Sweet Potatoes from the Garden of Seven Gates

ECO-Vrindaban Board Meeting Minutes 08/31/2014

Mission Statement: ECO-Vrindaban promotes a simple, sustainable lifestyle centered on the care and protection of cows, local food production and the loving service of Lord Krishna, as envisioned by Srila Prabhupada, the Founder-Acharya of ISKCON New Vrindaban.

Participating Members of the ECOV Board of Directors: Anuttama (partial attendance), Bhima, Chaitanya Mangala, Navin Shyam and Ranaka.

Recording secretary: Jordanna Rock-Garden

1. Follow up on Bahulaban Barn/Ox Program Project

Currently the rubble from the site is being cleaned up and Vyasasana will serve as the project manager for Bahulaban barn renovations. This is an ongoing project that will require monthly reporting.

2. Follow Up on ECOV Documentary

In June, ECOV allocated $600 to Sabrina Jones, a college student majoring in cinematography at West Liberty University, to help her purchase a camera. In exchange, she agreed to shoot some footage of the garden for an ECOV film project being overseen by Kripamaya. She reported to Kripamaya that she is not able to complete the project and will return the funds.

3.  Proposal to designate Sankirtan Prabhu as New Vrindaban Folklorist

Chaitanya Mangala has proposed that ISKCON New Vrindaban (and ECO-Vrindaban) needs to develop an overall story that brings together key elements of the past – told in a cohesive way – that is relevant to our present and will help guide us towards a future we want manifest.

Sankirtan has expressed an interest in filling this position and others have recommended him for this role. He is a professional storyteller and has trained many people, including the students of the gurukula, devotee adults, non-devotee adults, and students in schools outside NV in storytelling and the importance of story both on a personal level and a community level. He also has a website or blog with a lot of NV’s history through stories.

Navin Shyam will speak with Sankirtan about this.

4. ECOV logo, brochure & posters

WHEREAS: The ECOV Board wishes to update its logo to better reflect its connection with ISKCON New Vrindaban, the New Vrindaban Community in general, its name change and the recent refinement of its mission statement.

RESOLVED: The Board authorizes up to $500 for Raghu Consbruck to design a new logo and other related graphics.

Srila Prabhupada visits young calves at the Bahulaban barn, June 1976.

“Krishna by His practical example taught us to give all protection to the cows and that should be the main business of New Vrindaban.”

Click here to read the rest of the letter.

Thanks to Vanipedia for the source material.

This week’s challenge: Who are the two main people and what are they doing?

Extra credit: Can you name the other five people?

Extra, extra credit: When and where was this photo taken?

What to do: Post your guesses on the “who, what, when, where & why” in the comment section at the New Vrindaban Facebook Page.

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