New “Bhakti Sastri” E-Course begins Feb. 2, 2013
Bhakti Sastri Course
We would like to invite all of you for the New Vrindaban Bhakti Sastri E-course in cooperation with Bhaktivedanta College, Radhadesh,
Belgium.
Courses start the first weekend of Feb. 2013.
Bhaktivedanta College is ISKCON’s university, offering a Bachelor’s degree in Religious Studies.
You can check out the website for their Bhakti Sastri course here:
http://www.radhadesh.com/en/activities/bhaktivedanta-college
There is also an ISKCON News article about the college’s bhakti sastri course here:
http://news.iskcon.com/node/4870/2013-01-18/bhaktivedanta_college_to_grow_fast_in_2013_and_2014
New Vrindavan’s Gaurnatraj das will be the teacher for these e-courses, using Bhaktivedanta College’s online platform.
Bhakti sastri covers the study of the four essential books of Srila Prabhupada, namely:
1. Nectar of Instruction
2. Nectar of Devotion
3. Isopanishad
4. Bhagavad-Gita As It Is
This is a unique opportunity to study Srila Prabhupada’s books systematically and to apply them practically in your daily life.
All the material will be provided online.
This type of course will allow you to study from the comfort of your own home.
There will be forums, and Q and A available. The final test is online.
You can enjoy the convenience of contacting your teacher, H.G.Gaura Natraj Das, any day between 10 am—9 pm by e-mail at gaurnatraj@gmail.com or phone @ 304 845 4194 or 304 843 1600 ext (118) .
How to register
Click on this link
http://newvrindaban.com/newsevents/341-new-vrindaban-bhakti-shastri-e-course-in-association-with-bhaktivedanta-college-radhadesh-belgium.html and go through the payment gateway.
After the payment gateway we will send you an e-mail with the confirmation form, after which username and password will be provided.
Reminder: Courses begin the first weekend in Feb. so we are taking registrations from now until then.
Thank you.
ECOV Board Meeting – Minutes 12-29-2012
Participating Members of the Board of Directors (constituting a quorum for said meeting to be held): Anuttama, Chaitanya Mangala, Krpamaya, Madhava Gosh, Navin Shyam
Advisors present: Jaya Krsna
1. Approve agenda
Approved
2. Review and approve previous meeting minutes – Completed over e-mail
3. E-mail approvals completed
Bulldozer purchase
WHEREAS: Both ECOV and INV have plans for various land development projects and agree that renting a bulldozer from third parties to work on these projects will be unduly expensive.
RESOLVED: The Board approves up to $53K for purchasing and transporting a bulldozer, that ECOV will own, maintain, and rent to others on an hourly usage basis.
Ranaka proposed. Chaits seconded. Chaits, Gosh, Krpamaya, and Ranaka voted in favor. Anuttama and Navin Shyam did not participate in the decision.
—-
Temple and lodge foundation plantings
WHEREAS: The ECOV Board wishes to improve the energy efficiency of the INV Temple and Lodge buildings, as well as to increase the agricultural production and natural attractiveness of the land immediately surrounding these buildings.
RESOLVED: The Board approves up to $5K for insulating the exposed concrete slabs of the INV Temple building and Guest Lodge, as well as establishing garden beds, on the parking lot side of both buildings.
Gosh proposed. Chaits seconded. Chaits, Gosh, Krpamaya, and Ranaka voted in favor. Anuttama and Navin Shyam did not participate in the decision.
Project Manager Reports
4. Madhuban project (Gosh)
Gosh sent a diagram of the ox barn via e-mail.
The Vastu consultant made several recommendations (e.g. doors to the structures facing S) which will be incorporated into the design.
The WVU landscape architect consultants have not responded to e-mails, and are preumed to be out of the picture.
Gosh asked for and will recieve topographical maps from Jaya Krsna, which he will use to create a site plan. He also wants to put a sign on site to display this plan.
Gosh has chosen not to use wood from the deteriorating Bahulaban barn, as he feels that demolition of that structure without some sort of formal closure will likely have a negative impact on community morale.
5. ECOV loans to IMNV for power generator (Jaya Krsna)
The generators will be delivered in 8 weeks.
6. ECOV loans to IMNV for new water well (Jaya Krsna)
The connections have all been made, and the holding tank has been propely lined. The old well collapsed, and so the last step will be to dig a new well in the spring.
Old business
7. Grant funding procedures (Navin Shyam)
Regarding our general procedure, Navin Shyam will be making edits to the grant application requiring applicants to submit written reports and financial audits.
In addition, Ranaka will ensure that receipts are obtained within a reasonable time after issuing any grant money.
Regarding specific grants given to Tapahpunja, Gosh will be asking for a status report on the irrigation project, and informing Tapa that the bread oven grant will expire on August 1st.
New business
8. Grant request: Wood gasifier (Gaura Sakti via Gosh)
WHEREAS: The ECOV Board wishes the Madhuban housing project to feature sustainable energy.
RESOLVED: The Board approves $3K for purchasing/constructing a wood gasifier that will convert local scrap wood into gas fuel.
Gosh proposed. Krpamaya seconded. Anuttama, Chaits, Gosh, Krpamaya, and Navin Shyam voted in favor.
9. Pipeline project: Preservation of last remaining Prabhupada house (Gosh)
The Board granted Pipeline status to a proposal to spend up to $5K to preserve the last remaining rammed-earth house built following Srila Prabhupada’s plan.
10. Grant request: $5000 for high-tunnel greenhouses (Tapapunjah via Gosh)
WHEREAS: The ECOV Board wishes to augment the agricultural production of New Vrindaban by extending the effective growing season.
RESOLVED: The Board grants up to $5K to INV and The Small Farm Training Center for repairing/constructing 3 high-tunnel greenhouses.
Gosh proposed. Chaits seconded. Anuttama, Chaits, Gosh, Krpamaya, and Navin Shyam voted in favor.
11. Management software
In order to facilitate efficient and accurate record-keeping and communication, the Board agreed to:
(1) Utilize Google Drive to maintain official copies of Board meeting minutes, forms and other documents.
(2) Keep e-mail threads confined to a single topic (i.e. neither splicing in unrelated topics within an existing thread nor creating duplicate threads on the same topic).
Beware The Marble Hearted Fiend – an appreciation
Beware The Marble Hearted Fiend
By Abhay Das of D.C. On January 15, 2013
I have just returned from a sabbatical at New Vrindaban (if you were wondering where my blog had gone), and quite enjoyed my visit. What really struck me was the incredible beauty of Prabhupada’s Palace and the main temple. It is astounding to consider the unlimited man-hours it took to create such a holy place. I imagine an army of talented devotees standing over vats of chemicals to make the elaborate molding, crafting the marble and onyx by hand, and operating the earth moving machines (some devotees, like Varshana Maharaja, are still suffering the after affects of so much time on heavy equipment).
Also on display is the pinnacle of devotee talent and artistry. In the temple room of the palace, the ceilings are adorned with incredible paintings by Murlidhara, probably our premier artist in ISKCON, where also hangs his original giant painting of the Panca-tattva (a picture of which graces our Gaur-Nitai altar here in DC), truly a window to the spiritual world. The gorgeous golden altar of Sri Sri Radha Vrindaban Chandra, also made by hand by devotees who careful studied the work of traditional Indian artisans, is straight out of Vaikuntha. I witnessed the reaction of the many guests, both Indian and other, completely over-awed with hands folded while approaching the Lord.
And then there are the devotees whose hard labor paid for it all. Droves of surrendered souls traveled the country for many years while performing the austerity of approaching the public for donations. I have known many of them and can attest to their dedication. They used up their youthful years and vital force to fill up the drop safe in the temple treasury office to make it all possible.
While I was enjoying the opulent atmosphere, I started to reflect on my indebtedness to all those great souls. I tend to get enlivened when in beautiful surroundings. When traveling with my parents as a child to New York, we would stay at the Waldorf Astoria, and when visiting London, have high-tea at the Savoy or the Ritz. I was also trained in art appreciation by my father in many of the great museums of the world. So being a vishayi (spoiled sense g ratifier), I get inspired when surrounded by works of art, and this visit to New Vrindaban was not only spiritually uplifting, it encouraged much meditation and introspection. And I owe it all to the sacrifice of countless sincere Vaisnavas there.
I wish to hold that mood of gratitude, to never forget the obligation to those who have helped make my journey back to the spiritual world possible. Indeed, William Shakespeare writes in King Lear, “Ingratitude, thou marble hearted fiend”. It is also written in the Vedas that even a Rakshasa (evil cannibal), will not eat an ungrateful person.
So I would like to take this opportunity to place my head on the feet of all the angels who descended to assist Srila Prabhupada in his mission to create a special place of Krishna’s pastimes in the western world, and pray to remain always grateful to all the devotees of the Lord.
Tagged with ? Abhays Blog • New Vrindavan • Palace of Gold
Here is the original link to Abhay’s Blog:
Beware the Marble Headed Fiend
Second Terrarium / Dish Garden Class
I would like to have a second Terrarium/Dish garden class next Sunday after lunch in the guest kitchen room. I will bring enough product and soil with me. We have a small demand to fill at NV and Center market in Wheeling.
I will have a prize for the most creative garden built. This is a perfect little business and our first micro-business project.
Come, Learn and have some fun.
Marty
Mark Your Calendars:New Vrindaban Festival of Colors Sept. 14, 2013
The 2nd Annual New Vrindaban Festival of Colors is coming!!
Sat. Sept. 14, 2013 is the date to mark on your calendars.
You won’t want to miss this amazing event.
Last year’s Festival of Colors, (Sept. 15, 2012) New Vrindaban’s first ever, was a great success, with over 1,000 leaping, dancing, color throwing and singing participants.
Join us in the fun this coming Sat. Sept. 15, 2013 from 11 AM to 7 PM.
Jobs Available in New Vrindaban
Open Services at New Vrindaban, ISKCON’s FIRST FARM COMMUNITY
ISKCON New Vrindaban is looking for devotees to help fulfill Srila Prabhupada’s instruction and to serve the many devotees and pilgrims visiting:
Congregational Preacher
Bhakta Leader
Head Cook Devotee Kitchen
Assistant Cook Devotee Kitchen
Assistant Cook Restaurant
Cleaning Personnel for Restaurant
Cleaning Personnel for Lodge
Cleaning Supervisor for Lodge
Assistant Gardener at the Palace of Gold
Devotees interested in Agriculture and Cow Protection
Interns for Agriculture
These are all paid positions that begin at the end of March 2013. Please send your applications to Jaya.Krsna.SNS@gmail.com.
For additional information about New Vrindaban Community, please visit newvrindaban.com.
New Vrindaban Festival of Colors
Words and Photos by Ryan Neeley
As my family and I made our way into the event, we were greeted by a sea of humanity smeared in the colors of the rainbow. My son immediately grabbed a bag of colored powder and went to work bombarding everyone around. We made our way to the stage area, where the bands were playing, and as I scanned the crowd, I noticed that it was a delightful mix of young and old, the rich and not-so-rich, hippies and yuppies, devotees and non-devotees, all laughing and smiling while dancing to the music.
And the bands really delivered to the audience, which could have been difficult due to the wide range of tastes and age groups present. Unfortunately, we missed the first two acts of the afternoon, local group Triadelphia and TK and the Namrock Band, but I heard that they really got the crowd grooving.
We were able to catch Jai Krishna and the Ananda Groove, a Utah group that has done “the past 10-12 festivals in Utah,” according to their lead vocalist and namesake Jai Krishna. “The festival in the U.S. started in Utah, and we had about 300 people the first year, 1,000 the next, and now we have 80,000+ participating.”
Seeing this group play was a very unique experience, with bagpipes, bamboo flutes, chanting, washboards, and just about anything else that made noise becoming an instrument for them to experiment with, much to the delight of the crowd. Not to mention that they have such a calming, peaceful aura about them that rubs off on those around them.
The next band to hit the stage was the up-and-coming Wheeling-area jamband KR-3 – Tim Boyd (lead/vocals – formerly of The Trainjumpers), Eric Stone (drums),Alex Wodarski (bass), and Travis Hoard (keys) –KR-3 has been in existence since 2004, but the band took it’s current form in January of 2012 when Hoard and Wodarski joined the KR-3 team, “and we embraced the jamband scene, as that’s where our music was taking us,” said Boyd in a recent phone interview. “The jamband fans don’t seem to analyze everything as much, and are willing to just cut loose and have fun with the band instead of standing in a corner with the arms folded, analyzing each note.”
And the crowd , painted in colors and dripping with sweat from dancing, seemed to agree, digging the group’s extended psychedelic guitar licks and lyrics with actual substance. Be on the lookout for a release coming from KR-3 soon, called Fractures and Sparks. “It really reflects where we are currently as a band,” Boyd added.
The devotees at New Vrindaban did a fantastic job organizing this event, the first of its kind in the Eastern US, with exotic food, beautiful surroundings, and most of all ACCEPTANCE, a virtue not normally witnessed enough in some religions today. My family and I learned a great deal about their culture, and had a great time doing so, and look forward to coming back year after year to “celebrate life” in this special way.
At W.Va.’s Palace of Gold, Hare Krishnas move to restore their community
See a photo essay about New Vrindaban in the Washington Post here. See the related article here.
At.Va.’s Palace of Gold, Hare Krishnas move to restore their community. Tarnished by scandal and corruption, a community moves to rebuild. – Washington Post
Can Hare Krishnas at Palace of Gold in W.Va. rebuild its tarnished community?
By Ellen McCarthy for the Washington Post 01-11-13
The sign announced that the Palace of Gold was ahead, but somewhere along the way, pulling the steering wheel back and forth across the tight West Virginia turns, a visitor might begin to think it was wrong. That the promised land can’t be reached. Instead he’ll spend eternity driving by one-story homes that double as beauty parlors, and hillside cemeteries dotted with bright silk flowers that never lose their bloom.
Then at the top of the mountain — his hands cramped and heart racing from another near-miss with a deer — it unfolds. The palace is massive and ornate, with gilded spires cutting into the sky. Instantly, it’s evident why this place, about 15 miles southeast of Wheeling, was called America’s Taj Mahal.
“Welcome to Heaven,” a New York Times story proclaimed of New Vrindaban, once the nation’s largest Hare Krishna community. The palace opened its doors to great celebration in 1979 and became one of West Virginia’s biggest tourist attractions. Newspapers, magazines and television raved about the handiwork of the devotees who built the magnificent structure in honor of their guru.
Then came the scandal, the corruption, the child abuse and murder. The betrayal of faith, the fissions of community.
New Vrindaban is now often eerily still, the rural silence pierced only by the shrill cry of a peacock making its way along the path. In solitude, one might notice that the walls are crumbling and the paint is peeling. The palace is in decay.
But change is rumbling through the mountains: New leadership has arrived, as has a controversial new source of money. American Hindus and tourists are once again making the pilgrimage to New Vrindaban.
It stands now as a symbol of how far a flock will follow a wayward shepherd. But also how hard some will work to rebuild a place they still believe is holy.
The beginnings
Sankirtana Das felt a pull grow stronger as he, his wife and their two young children approached New Vrindaban on a dark winter night in 1976. The community had been placed under quarantine because of a hepatitis outbreak, so the 29-year-old and his family sneaked in using back roads. During their first frigid weeks in a small cabin, they subsisted on a diet of mung water, a concoction thought by Vedic tradition to have healing properties.
Sankirtana, born Andy Fraenkel, was the son of a Jewish father and Lutheran mother. He grew up in Manhattan, and later studied theater and filmmaking at the City University of New York.
After seeing the Hare Krishna devotees chanting in colorful robes around the city, he decided to make a short documentary for a school project. He was intrigued by the chant — especially after hearing it on the George Harrison track “My Sweet Lord” — so when he and his future wife struck out for a quieter life in Canada, they brought along the Bhagavad-Gita, the ancient Hindu scripture, and made their own beads to use when chanting the Hare Krishna mantra.
“My wife and I both felt a kinship to the meditation,” recalls Sankirtana, now 65.
They gave up marijuana and LSD, and became vegetarians. When the money ran out, they headed back to the States, stopping in Detroit to hear a talk by the founder of the Hare Krishna movement, Srila Prabhupada.Prabhupada had sailed to New York on a freight ship in 1965 at 70. He carried with him $8, an umbrella and a command from his spiritual guru to spread to the West their religious traditions, which shared roots with Hinduism but emphasized a holy repetition of God’s name. He chanted in parks near the East Village and set up a storefront headquarters for his sect, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).
Prabhupada’s message of material renunciation and spiritual focus resonated with counterculture types looking for higher meaning. Within a few years, he had initiated thousands into the movement. Each new devotee agreed to the four rules: no gambling, no intoxicants, no sex outside of marriage and no eating meat. They were to chant for 90 minutes or more every day and devote themselves to living in service of God, or Krishna. The men shaved their heads, save for a small tail in the back, and everyone donned saffron robes.
One of Prabhupada’s first initiates was Keith Ham, son of a Baptist minister who would take the name Kirtanananda Swami, or Swami Bhaktipada. In 1968, Kirtanananda acquired farmland in West Virginia to build a rural Hare Krishna community where devotees could seek respite and live off the land. It was named after Vrindavan, a holy city in India near Krishna’s birthplace.
By the time Sankirtana and his family arrived, eight years later, there were nearly 80 devotees living on the mountainside. The community’s motto was “Simple living, high thinking.” Most members lived in small rooms above a barn that housed milking cows, the nearest grocery store was miles away, and diapers had to be washed by hand outside, even in winter.
Sankirtana’s job was to cook breakfast and lunch. He awoke before dawn for a 4:30 a.m. devotional service, followed by chanting and meditation. Then he went outside to cook huge pots of beans and rice over wood-burning fire pits.
“It was tough, but we felt like we were pioneers,” Sankirtana recalls. “And we owned this project. It was a very communal atmosphere. You ate your meals at the temple, and if you needed a toothbrush or toothpaste, everything you needed was supplied by the temple.”
By the early 1970s, Kirtanananda had turned his focus to building a house for Prabhupada, with the hope that the aging guru, who had visited several times, would come to stay and continue his work of translating ancient Sanskrit texts.
The vision for a modest home morphed into an opulent palace. Land was cleared at the top of McCreary’s Ridge, and the devotees learned how to stain glass and lay bricks. They imported 52 varieties of onyx and marble for walls and floors. They carved furniture out of teak, constructed crystal chandeliers, painted elaborate murals on the ceilings and adorned the 10 rooms with jewels.
“We were making things up as we were going along,” Sankirtana says.
But in 1977, Prabhupada died — the Krishnas, who believe in reincarnation, would say he left his body — and plans changed again. Now the palace was to be a majestic memorial.
Two years later, the Palace of Gold opened to the public. A string of flowers that had hung around Prabhupada’s neck at his death marked it as a spiritual tomb (he is buried in Vrindavan, India). Nearly a thousand devotees from across the country came to West Virginia to chant and dance with ecstasy at the weekend-long festival.
“People always ask, ‘Why is it so opulent?’ ” Sankirtana says. “I always say, ‘This opulence is actually a manifestation of the devotees’ love and appreciation of what Prabhupada gave us.’ ”
The palace became an immediate sensation.
The scandal
But even as the palace doors opened, the facade of nirvana was beginning to crack. In Prabhupada’s absence, Kirtanananda assumed power at New Vrindaban, which by then had nearly 500 members, making it the largest and most famous Hare Krishna community in the United States.
And although Prabhupada intended the community to be a self-sustaining spiritual oasis with seven temples on seven hills, the emphasis on farming and the disdain of material wealth began to slip away. Devotees were sent to airports and sporting events to work the crowd for donations — often under false pretenses — and sometimes sold counterfeit goods.
The community became heavily male-dominated. Women were forced to leave their children in communal nurseries for hours at a time. Kirtanananda’s ego grew as his sway over devotees increased.
He was a slight man who walked with a limp from childhood polio, but he was charismatic and persuasive. And he tightly managed every aspect of the community: who came, who went and who was doing what at any given moment.
Kirtanananda strayed from Prabhupada’s teachings by introducing interfaith elements to the prayer services. The shifts were deeply divisive, but Kirtanananda had little tolerance for dissent.
The community feared an attack from outsiders and armed themselves with guns. Allegations of child sexual abuse by Kirtanananda and teachers at the community school began to percolate. Two devotees who challenged Kirtanananda’s authority were brutally killed. Another devotee, who was convicted of the murders, would later say he acted on the order of Kirtanananda.
Kirtanananda himself was attacked by a mentally ill visitor. After 10 days in a coma and a month in the hospital, Kirtanananda returned to New Vrindaban, and two German shepherds were acquired to guard him at all times.
Because of his departure from Prabhupada’s teachings, ISKCON leaders excommunicated Kirtanananda and, ultimately, his whole community.
After an FBI raid, a federal grand jury charged Kirtanananda with racketeering, mail fraud, conspiracy to murder and other crimes. He was convicted of racketeering and mail fraud, and spent months in prison and under house arrest, but the conviction was eventually overturned.
Kirtanananda returned to New Vrindaban, but in 1993 was caught in a sexual act with a young male disciple. Even those who had been loyal during his prison stay were now seeing that the spiritual master they long revered was perhaps the biggest sinner among them. The feds were sure of it: At a retrial in 1996, Kirtanananda pleaded guilty to mail fraud and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
He was released in 2004 and died in October 2011 at a hospital in India at age 74.
The effects
Donations from Hindu Americans had been a major source of revenue for New Vrindaban, but once news of Kirtanananda’s crimes surfaced, they shut their pocketbooks. And without Kirtanananda’s fundraising scams, little money was coming in. Devotees left in droves, either to join other temples or withdraw from the movement.
“I was too stubborn to leave,” Sankirtana recalls. “We were saying, ‘Well, wait a minute. This is not Kirtanananda’s community. This is Prabhupada’s community. We’re here to serve Prabhupada.’ ”
By the late 1990s, New Vrindaban’s population dropped to 225 members. Only 10 cows continued to produce milk. The school had fewer than a dozen students. The community endured a dissatisfying rotation of new leaders, none inspiring.
To stay afloat, New Vrindaban sold off land to members, who built houses. To pay their taxes, some became long-haul truckers, others took seasonal jobs selling Christmas gifts at mall kiosks. Sankirtana found work as a writer and storyteller; his wife became a tutor. Life became less communal, but also less restrictive.
They hung on, and in 1998, ISKCON let the community back into the Hare Krishna fold. Last year, they got a new leader, someone they felt they could trust, someone aloft in spirit and grounded in business savvy.
Today, New Vrindaban feels something like an abandoned garden. There are neglect and desolation, but also signs of beauty and new life. About 165 devotees belong, living either above the temple in an ashram, in a nearby apartment complex or in modest homes that dot the winding road. There is still a pasture of 65 cows, though 60 are too old to give milk.
New Vrindaban is most alive before 5 a.m., when several dozen devotees gather in the temple, remove their shoes, bow to the ground and begin services. While even the birds still sleep, the devotees dance and drum and sing before colorful statues of their deities.
They lay food and flowers at altars, each representing a form or facet of God. To the side sits a wax statue of a cross-legged Prabhupada. When there is a chill, devotees adjust a covering over his shoulders; in the heat they turn a fan to face him.
It is a jubilant scene, illuminated by candlelight and perfumed with incense. After 45 minutes, they will sit with prayer beads and meditate on the names of God. Then there will be more chanting and a class on scripture. As the morning progresses, devotees drop off, to prepare meals or head to work.
Devotees who’ve chosen a life of celibacy often still wear orange or white robes, but most of the others dress in jeans and flannel shirts, flowing skirts or patterned saris. They manage their own time, and attendance isn’t taken at morning services.
Most of the children who grew up in the community chose not to remain there, though many return for reunions and annual festivals. But a small stream of other young people has begun to flow in — devotees from other temples who want a quiet place to raise children or are drawn to living off the land and studying under Prabhupada’s early disciples.
Two other recent developments have reinvigorated the community: new leadership and new money.
The new leader
Take away the white robes, stocking feet and streak of clay running down his forehead, and you can almost see the businessman that Jaya Krishna once was.
He is sitting at a long table beneath a picture of Prabhupada. He is 59, though he looks a decade younger. Until 10 years ago, he was a sales executive at a software company in his native Switzerland.
But even as his career thrived, he longed for something more. “You have your house. You have your second car,” he says. “But where is happiness coming from? Is this really what life is all about?”
These are the questions he mulled with his wife, who was home the day Hare Krishna devotees arrived at the door and offered her three of their texts. “You have to read this book,” Jaya Krishna remembers her saying when he arrived home. “This book is for you.”
Six weeks later, his wife and 23-year-old son were killed in a car accident. “She was gone. And then suddenly I said, ‘Oh, there is a book somewhere I have to read,’ ” he recalls.
What he read in the Bhagavad-Gita struck a chord. He had always grappled with the question of why some people are born rich, others poor, some healthy, others disabled. The concepts of reincarnation and karma made sense. “And somehow you get this feeling, ‘Oh, that’s right,’ ” he says. “The soul is hankering for this relationship with God, and the mantra is reestablishing this relationship.”
He went to India and was initiated as a Hare Krishna. Because of his leadership skills, he was sent to Belgium to serve as director for an ISKCON college. Last year, he was asked to come to New Vrindaban.
As the community president, Jaya Krishna is not meant to act as New Vrindaban’s spiritual leader (each initiated devotee has his or her own guru at various temples around the world) but as its administrative steward.
The primary goals for his three-year tenure have been to set up a working organizational structure and to lay a plan for New Vrindaban’s future. But the first step, he says, is to help the devotees once again believe in the purpose of their community.
“Based on the history, their trust has been shattered — their faith,” he says. “We have such big potential. Everybody loves to be here. We just have to change ourselves internally so we can believe it.”
Jaya Krishna is a soft-spoken man who breaks from his office work to help serve lunch every day to other devotees and guests. Lately the guests have been making more regular appearances. American Hindus and tourists are once again making the pilgrimage, touring the Palace of Gold and taking pictures at the 25-foot-tall statues of deities overlooking a fish pond.
“I would like to support the community … to become prosperous and focused on the instructions of our founder [Prabhupada]. That is, protect the cows, educate — everyone, not just the children — and finally, deepen and spread Krishna consciousness,” he says.
And there has been an influx in money to advance the cause.
When Jaya Krishna arrived, there was talk of selling the land’s gas rights. With the temple property, the farmland and the homeowners’ individual plots, New Vrindaban owned about 2,000 acres on the Marcellus Shale, a gas-rich stretch of earth running from Tennessee through West Virginia to Upstate New York.
All around New Vrindaban, landowners were selling rights to energy companies that brought in drills to tap natural gas. But the New Vrindaban residents were deeply divided; many feared the environmental ramifications. Almost 50 residents signed a protest letter asking ISKCON’s national governing board to stop the negotiation.
But ultimately a board of members voted to sell the rights to Chevron, arguing that the gas from their land would be tapped through nearby drills even if they didn’t make a deal, so they might as well get a cut of the money.
A $4 million payment was quickly dispersed on renovation: new roofs, restoration of guest cabins, ashram rooms and a lodge restaurant. Other payments went to a trust holding the community’s agricultural land and to individual homeowners. Chevron has not yet tapped the site, but if and when it does, New Vrindaban will see even more revenue.
Jaya Krishna is hoping the spruced-up grounds will bring an influx of visitors. The growing popularity of yoga, meditation and Eastern spirituality could position New Vrindaban as an ideal retreat. He envisions expanded accommodations, educational offerings, shops. The community also hopes to acquire more milking cows and revitalize the agricultural program.
There is a renewed emphasis on living off the land, and young followers interested in the local food movement consider the community a mecca.
“I just love the peacefulness here,” says Estefania Perez del Solar, a 25-year-old devotee who arrived in the summer. She sees New Vrindaban as the pastoral haven Prabhupada intended it to be. She was not born when Kirtanananda was banned from the place. To her, the history is an interesting footnote, not the defining truth.
Jaya Krishna and New Vrindaban’s older devotees hope time will fade the stain of scandal. That their guru’s vision will once again flourish on the mountaintop.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/can-hare-krishnas-at-palace-of-gold-in-wva-rebuild-its-tarnished-community/2013/01/04/38dbf6a8-ebc8-11e1-a80b-9f898562d010_story.html
Dear Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati
Here is an inspiring, transcendentally creative letter sparked by the recent Disappearance Day of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati.
This was done as a writing assignment by a 10 year old student who is a member of the New Vrindaban Home School Co-op.
Dear Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati:
I humbly offer my obeisances to your lotus feet. You have done so many great things. You met Srila Prabhupada in Noverber 1935 ad inspired him to spread the teachings of Lord Caitanya all over the western world. You even received the blessings of Lord Jagannatha on the Rathayatra cart when His garland fell around you. You were so serious about your service to Krsna You vowed to never eat another mango again because you had accidentally eaten an unoffered one. By the time you were seven years old, you had memorized the entire Bhagavad Gita and could explain each and every verse. You began 64 temples all over India. I still cannot believe how many people you inspired to become devotees.
You have changed the lives of people all over the world. and I thank you for it.
Your servant,
Brinda dasi
Gopal’s Garden Home School Co-op
New Vrindavan, W.V.
Thursday Night Bhajan Bliss – 1st and 3rd Thursdays!
The Thursday night Bhajans in the temple were very much appreciated by all who attended last Thursday Jan. 3.
There were even a couple of new bhajans that totally enlivened the crowd.
Everyone is welcome to attend on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays at 5:30 PM in the temple.
There can never be too many kartal players, mrdanga players, harmonium players, guitar players, lute players, flute players, singers, book holders, audience, and more.
Come one, come all!!!
Welcome to Brijabasi Spirit
Thank you for taking the time to visit the New Vrindaban community blog. Think of visiting our blog as making a virtual pilgrimage.
Hare Krishna Hare KrishnaKrishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare
"May cows stay in front of me; may cows stay behind me; may cows stay on both sides of me. May I always reside in the midst of cows."
Hari Bhakti-vilas 16.252
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