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NEWSLETTER of HIS
HOLINESS TAMAL KRISHNA GOSWAMI
(referred to as Srila Gurudeva)
August 29, 2000
Srila Gurudeva recently celebrated Sri Krishna Janmastami
and Srila Prabhupada's Vyasa-puja at New Vraja Dhama,
Hungary . This beautiful temple and farm community
situated in the hills of Somogvyamos has been named
Krishna-Volgy, or "the valley of Krishna".
Eight disciples flew from England with Gurudeva to
Hungary on Tuesday August 22nd and returned on Friday
the 25th. They included Kirtida dasi, Visvambhara
dasa, Gopal Raja dasa, Syamala Sakhi dasi, Yamuna
Jaya dasi, Nakula dasa, Vicaru dasa & Sarvabhauma
dasa. Other disciples who attended the festival were
Radhika dasi, an Indian disciple currently living
in Zurich, Switzerland; Bhaktin Noa and Acarya Sakti
dasa from Israel; Sri Hari dasa & his wife Candra
Laxsmi from Rotterdam, Holland; Bhakta Chris &
Radikatma dasa of Amsterdam, and Radha Sharana dasi
from Slovenia.
Just as last year, the festival was wonderfully organized.
Srila Gurudeva was refreshed and enlivened to associate
with his dear god brother Sivarama Maharaja and to
imbibe the sweet Vrndavan atmosphere created by the
ecstatic Hungarian devotees. Also attending this year
were HH Bhakti Balabha Puri Maharaja from Scotland,
HH Bhakti Vidyapurna Maharaja and His Grace Tattva-vit
Prabhu, a disciple of Prabhupada who does editorial
and writing work.
A special feature of the festival were the incredibly
innovative decorations on both Sri Sri Radha Syamasundar's
altar and Srila Prabhupada's vyasasana. On Janmastami
Sri Syamasundar and Radharani were artistically decorated
with one thousand peacock feathers, in the style of
Krishna as a male peacock and Radha like a peahen.
On Janmastami Srila Gurudeva led a kirtan with the
'surrender-loka' melody then gave the main morning
class, speaking from Caitanya Caritamrta Adi-lila
4.15.[We will present the transcript of the class
beginning in the next newsletter]. At one point Sivarama
Maharaja's personal Deities Sri Sri Dayal Nitai Gaura
Hari were brought into the temple and set up on a
table. Srila Gurudeva then described the stunning
beauty of the Gaura-Nitai Deities of the same name
in the Philippines. After the class a devotee brought
four copies of Sivarama Maharaja's new book on Krishna
lila. Gurudeva agreed to auction off the books to
raise money for the Hungarian yatra. By his expertise
he quickly inspired the devotees to pay high prices
for each book. The local devotees appreciated Srila
Gurudeva's auctioning expertise very much.
Throughout the festival, especially in the evenings,
there were wonderful sitting-down kirtans in the temple
room with about six or seven microphones set up. These
were led by Sivarama Swami on the harmonium and accompanied
by Hungarian devotees who played violin, saxophone
and flute. Gaurangi dasi and her father Jayadeva Prabhu
from London both sang and Jayadeva played a portable
jimbay type drum he held between his legs. Madhava
dasa from Vrndavan, who now stays in Zurich, led some
of the kirtans very sweetly playing the harmonium
and singing Aindra Prabhu melodies and also accompanying
on mrdanga expertly. During these kirtans beautiful
signs on high poles, one saying Radhe, the other Syama
were spread throughout the temple. The ladies were
waving the signs saying Radhe, the men were waving
the Syama sings. It was reminiscent of a political
convention where the candidates' names are waved enthusiastically.
But this was the real, pure thing. Radha and Krishna
are the original and pure leaders worthy of the votes
of our hearts. Puri Maharaja led many of the standing
up kirtans during the two days in a very powerful
and sweet style.
At noon on Janmastami day a Siva-linga of Gopesvara
Mahadeva was installed in a special ceremony outside
the temple. HH Bhakti Vidyapurna Maharaja conducted
the abhiseka, and other rituals of installation, assisted
by Sivarama Maharaja and other senior devotees. The
Siva-linga was installed in a small temple outside
the main temple as the protector of the dhama.
At midnight on Janmastami Srila Gurudeva fanned Sri
Sri Radha Syamasundar while Puri Maharaja performed
the arati ceremony. An amazingly beautiful kaleidoscope
of moving colored lights cast a sublime illumination
on the altar and extended over much of the temple.
Gurudeva then honored the ekadasi feast with his god
brothers and all the assembled devotees.
On Vyasa-puja day the specially decorated vyasasana
of Srila Prabhupada was unveiled at the morning guru
puja. When he saw this vyasasana and the temple altar,
Gurudeva said this was probably the most spectacular
darshan he has ever had. Prabhupada's vyasasana had
been transformed into a wonderful boat with Sri Sri
Dayal Nitai Gaura Hari standing above the front bow;
"ISKCON" was painted on its bow in large
letters. Prabhupada, as captain of the ship, sat at
the helm, steering the boat to the lotus feet of Radhe
Shyam. In fact, a ribbon extended from Radhe Shyam's
hands all the way to the bow of the ship at the rear
of the temple. Surrounding the boat for a few feet
on each side was a 'plaster-of-Paris' blue ocean,
and in it swam various dangerous-looking sharks and
fish, each one named after a formidable enemy of suddha-bhakti,
or pure devotional service. There was a vicious-looking
shark named Mayavadis, a killer whale named Sahajiyas,
another whale titled Karma Kanda, another called Sunyavada,
and a huge ugly fish was named Apa-Sampradayas. There
were several small human figures in soldier uniforms
either drowning in the ocean, or trying to save themselves.
The Mayavadi shark was sinking his teeth into one
man's leg as he tried desperately to grab a rope.
On the lower bow of the boat were two red-and-white
life rafts, one on each side, marked "ISKCON".
From each side of the boat, safety nets extended into
the water. A few fortunate souls were able to climb
from the dangerous waters onto the boat via these
nets. Attached to the ropes were a series of small
photographs. One photo showed Hungarian devotees doing
a sitting hari nama at a park or university. Through
such hari nama, or chanting of the Holy Names of the
Lord, many souls in Hungary have been pulled out of
the ocean of material existence and were in the temple
today. Once on the boat, captained by Srila Prabhupada,
they can be carried to the lotus feet of Sri Sri Radha
Syamasundar. Of course, the boat directly faced the
altar and behind Their Lordships (this morning) stood
a tall lighthouse with a revolving light, as a beacon.
[This is reminiscent how the ISKCON temple in Dallas
is near "Beacon Street" and is a beacon
light to attract souls in another part of the world
to Radha and Kalachandji]. On the rope another picture
showed a Hungarian mataji performing bharat natyam
dance at a cultural program. Through such cultural
presentations, many other souls have been attracted
to the boat of ISKCON as well. Another photo showed
an old lady reading one of the Prabhupada's books,
and thus he was personally inviting her-via the book
distribution-to join his spiritual pleasure cruise
to Goloka. On another part of the life rope was a
picture of a devotee mother with her baby, and a picture
of devotee children. By raising the children with
a loving atmosphere they may also be inspired, as
they grow up, to remain on, or connected to, the ISKCON
boat, and in fact to help power and steer it with
their fresh enthusiasm in the coming generations.
Finally, there were many photos of devotees attached
to the top edge of the boat, indicating that they
were already in the boat of ISKCON. The photos included
Srila Gurudeva, Indradyumna Maharaja, Sivarama Mahraja,
Jayapataka Maharaja, etc. as well as many regular
devotees, bhaktas, bhaktins, men, women and children
alike-all safely situated on the boat of ISKCON. And
before we forget: many of the six gopis on the altar
today held signs which read, "Jaya Prabhupada!"
Lord Syamasundar Himself had a sign which read, "sarva
dharma parityagya mam ekam saranam vraja," while
Radharani held a sign which read, "anayaradhito
nunam bhagavan harir isvarah yan no vihaya govinda,"
which means, "[When the gopis began to talk among
themselves, they said:] 'Dear friends, the gopi who
has been taken away by Krishna to a secluded place
must have worshiped the Lord more than anyone else."
(S.B. 10.30.28) Lord Caitanya held the sign, "pritivite
ache yata nagaradi gram, sarvatra pracara hobe more
nama."
Srila Gurudeva gave the main Vyasa-puja talk, followed
by shorter ones by Puri Maharaja and Sivarama Swami.
In his powerful talk, Sivarama Maharaja expressed
his realizations regarding the 'boat theme'. Because
Maharaja has personally helped so many souls in Hungary
to climb onto Srila Prabhupada's ISKCON boat, his
insights are very profound. In fact, this talk forms
a nice foundation for appreciating Srila Gurudeva's
discussion; so we will present it here and Gurudeva's
will appear in upcoming newsletters.
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