Guest guest Posted April 27, 1999 Report Share Posted April 27, 1999 Dear Prabhus Please accept my obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. Here is our latest Sri Mayapur Newsletter. We are working to fulfil Srila Prabhupada's desire to build the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium, along with a wonderful devotee township. We are trying to the best of our ability, to do this in a practical and achievable way. We do not want to place any strain on ISKCON resources. That is not to say that we do not need your help and support. We especially need your encouragement and blessings. We also hope that you will tell your family, friends, fellow devotees and congregation members, --in fact anyone you come in contact with, about this project. In the next few months, we want to launch a campaign for Srila Prabhupada's Mayapur Project. By far the most important support we need is the blessings of the Vaishnavas. I hope that our regular newsletters have given you some insight into our plans and operations, and into the personalities of those involved. I hope that if you have any questions or concerns about this project, you will communicate with us, and give us a chance to earn your trust. Most of all, I hope that when the time comes, you will feel able to join our campaign, and work with us, side-by-side, to build this very special offering to Srila Prabhupada and Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Thank you for your time and patience. Your Servant Bhagavat Dharma das ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SHRI MAYAPUR PROJECT NEWS. VOL. 2, NUMBER 4. April 1999. >From the Communications Office, Radlett, UK. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ adbhuta mandira ei haibe prakash gauranga nitya-seva haibe vikasa 'One astounding temple will appear, from where Lord Gauranga's eternal service will be preached all over the world'. Lord Nityananda in the Navadwip Mahatmya. --------- Contents of this edition. 1) Editorial 2) News Bytes 3) The Fundraising Plan 4) Water Quality in Mayapur 5) Some Feedback 6) Acknowledgements ============= 1) EDITORIAL. ============= This edition comes to you from our small Mayapur Project apartment, in Radlett, near Bhaktivedanta Manor, England. As the new millenium approaches, the Project leaders and members are feeling increased urgency to start Srila Prabhupada's 'grand scale' project in Mayapur. Srila Prabhupada wanted a world-standard Temple of the Vedic Planetarium in Mayapur, to attract global attention. He wanted first class facilities to provide a year round sanctuary for devotees from around the world. He wanted devotees to take shelter of the holy dhama, make progress in their spiritual lives and be ready to go back into the preaching field. He also wanted to build a township, where devotee families could settle, and develop a Krishna conscious society. We feel strongly that the building of the temple and the town in Mayapur will help all of ISKCON become more firmly anchored to the spiritual and cultural root of our movement and less vulnerable to the flux of the material energy in this world. In Delhi, our designers and architects, under the guidance of Abhirama prabhu, are working hard to 'freeze' the overall design of the Temple before the end of this year. The design will then be developed into the tens of thousands of drawings needed for construction. Our target date for starting the foundation of the Temple is 2003. In this edition, we report on the development of our friend and fundraising plan. Please look over our ideas, and give us your feedback and suggestions. Recently there was a flurry of concern on COM and on the net about Arsenic pollution in Mayapur. Gaura Sakti prabhu, head of construction in Mayapur, has written a report for us, to detail what is being done to solve the problem. There is also a short report about the Mayapur Trust's effort to raise funding to helping villagers and townspeople in our local area cope with the same problem, an update on the Masterplan, and news of our co-operation with the Bombay temple. In this issue, I have begun our feedback column, with some comments from devotees in relation to the last edition. As always, I welcome your feedback. Your Servant Bhagavat Dharma Dasa Internet: bhagavat (AT) netcomuk (DOT) co.uk COM: bhagavat.dharma.mg (AT) com (DOT) bbt.se Sri Mayapur Project Temporary Web Page www.netcomuk.co.uk\~bhagavat\smp.htm ============== 2) NEWS BYTES. ============== Masterplan. ----------- The Sri Mayapur Masterplan is currently under review. According to Dhiraj Narayan, presently overseeing planning 'We are looking again at some of the basic assumptions which have been used for the Masterplan. Our approach has shifted subtly from an idealistic one to a pragmatic one, while at the same time, we are keeping the design, alignment, vernacular and sacred geometry principles intact. We are also presently involved in designing a sewage system for Phase I with the help of a Delhi consultant. The Flood Mitigation strategy to be adopted, for the whole Masterplan area, is also being detailed out by Mott McDonald, our flood consultant in Cambridge, England'. Arsenic Campaign in the UK. --------------------------- The Mayapur Trust is an independent body set up in the UK, to support the work of the Sri Mayapur Vikas Sangha in Mayapur. You may remember that the Mayapur Project is supporting the SMVS in many of its activities, which are geared towards improving the lives of the villagers and townspeople who live in the area around Sri Mayapur. The Mayapur Project also helped the Mayapur Trust to get started, and provided funding for the first eighteen months of its work. In Bengal, there is a serious problem of Arsenic contamination in the groundwater. (For a more detailed picture, see Gaura Sakti's article below). The Mayapur Trust is preparing a campaign to gather support and funding from individuals, companies, politicians and cultural and religious organizations. Divya Simha Dasa, the Trust's development officer in England has been developing contacts within the extensive Hindu community in the UK. 'Bimal Krishna Dasa at Bhaktivedanta Manor introduced me to some of the key people', said Divya. 'So far, everyone I've spoken to has been interested and enthusiastic. I will travel with Dr. Paritosh Roy, one of our trustees, to many functions and events during the year, and we will be launching a UK fundraising campaign, after gathering endorsements and media coverage'. The arsenic campaign offers an excellent vehicle for the Mayapur Trust to become known in England. 'Our funds from England will allow the SMVS to begin a testing programme in Bengal', said Divya. 'All polluted wells will be marked with red paint, and the water from those wells will not be used for drinking or cooking. We hope that once we show that we can be effective in this area, people will support many of the other activities of the SMVS'. Divya has gathered a great deal of information on the problem, from the Internet. One of the main sites covering the problem, (which has links to many others), is at http://bicn.com/acic/ Bombay Co-Operation. -------------------- Abhirama Prabhu has begun a working relationship with the Bombay temple, at the invitation of Bhima Prabhu, Temple President and Devakinandana Prabhu, congregational director. The devotees in Bombay are keen to start large-scale construction of additional facilities, to enhance the preaching and to fulfill Srila Prabhupada's desire that ISKCON Bombay should become a well-known international centre. Abhirama attended a meeting of the development committee, which includes some of the important and influential ISKCON Bombay supporters. 'I spoke to the members about our plan for Mayapur, and many were immediately inspired', said Abhirama. 'They asked me to help apply many of our design principles to the planned project for Bombay, and I am very happy to help out'. Pada Sevanam, chief designer of the Mayapur project has already produced sketches for Bombay, and Abhirama will become a regular servant of Sri-Sri Radha Rasabihari. =========================== 3) THE FUNDRAISING PLAN. By Bhagavat Dharma Dasa. =========================== In our recent Project report to the GBC, Abhirama Dasa, our managing director, promised the members 'more bang for less bucks'. He stated an ambition to 'begin construction in the first years of the new millennium', and to 'deliver this Temple in the next decade'. In the last year, the Temple design has moved from the conceptual and the idealistic to the practical and the realistic. Now, we feel, is the time to get our friend and fundraising campaign off the ground. In April members of our team brainstormed in England and the US to develop plans for a worldwide campaign for the Sri Mayapur Project. The goal: to gather the blessings and devotional contributions of as many men, women and children as possible. Srila Prabhupada suggested that much of the funding for the Mayapur Project could come from supporters in India, and his suggestion will be our guiding light. The Bombay temple authorities have already offered their full co-operation. We also hope to gain the support of the other major Indian temples. At the same time, we feel that a worldwide effort, to involve as many people as possible, perhaps in small ways, is part of the purpose of the 'adbhuta mandir', the astounding temple meant to engage the entire world. The Mayapur Foundation, based in Alachua, will conduct the campaign in North America. Kalakantha Dasa will run the operation, with fine-tuned professional support from Devi-Deva Prabhu. Ambarisha Prabhu, an active and enthusiastic member of the Foundation left us in no doubt about his commitment, "The time for small thinking is over", he said, "It is time to move forward and leave the skeptics in the dust". We will run the campaign in three stages. For the first time in an ISKCON Project, we will construct time capsules, digital and physical. We will place these in vaults below the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium. The first step is to craft a time capsule containing the complete written works of Srila Prabhupada, along with digitized photos, video and audio. We want to be sure that we do our best to give the opportunity for future generations to be able to hear and see His Divine Grace. In order to communicate Srila Prabhupada's special personality and greatness, we especially want to include homages, remembrances and sankirtan stories from individual devotees around the world, who can speak to future generations about their relationship with our Founder-Acharya. We plan to gather submissions in written and multimedia formats. We will store everything on durable digital media, --one copy in the vaults and one available to visitors at all times. In the second stage we will ask devotees, congregation members and well-wishers to join us in praying to the Lord for the manifestation of this great temple. Just as Advaita Acharya prayed for Lord Caitanya to appear, we will ask everyone to join us in praying to the Lord for the manifestation of His temple. We will ask devotees to write out pavitrams, or blessings for purification, including handwritten copies of the maha-mantra or verses from the Bhagavad Gita. These Pavitrams will be acts of prayer and devotion by individual devotees and families, and they will be placed in the foundation of the Temple. In the third stage, we will ask for practical support, and we will offer devotees and supporters the opportunity to record in individual time capsules their individual and family messages for future generations. As is the age-old Vedic custom, the family histories of those who help build the temple can be stored by brahmanas at the Temple. In this Temple, however, the histories will be stored in the latest digital media. Needless to say, such a campaign will need many devotee volunteers. We are at a very early stage. Do you feel inspired to help us get this moving? We need agents in all areas of the world who can communicate with and link groups of devotees to the Sri Mayapur Project. We need devotees to gather homages and remembrances of Srila Prabhupada, as well as nama pavitrams. We would also like to hear from computer-literate devotees who can help us prepare the digital archives. We feel that the development of Mayapur is a needed positive step for ISKCON now. Srila Prabhupada stated that helping to build this temple would bring enormous spiritual benefit to all those involved. Please join with us in this service for the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada and Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. I'm looking forward to hearing from you. Your Servant. Bhagavat Dharma Dasa =========================== 4) WATER QUALITY IN MAYAPUR By Gaura Sakti Dasa. =========================== There is an unusual and serious problem in the eastern part of the Indian sub-continent. The water in an area encompassing many thousands of square kilometers is contaminated with arsenic. Shallow tube wells were installed over vast areas of West Bengal and Bangladesh at the suggestion of Western aid agencies, to counter the problems of bacteriological pollution. Previously, local people used their ponds for all domestic purposes, including bathing, washing clothes, washing dishes, and even washing the cows and buffaloes. Diseases like cholera and dysentery were afflicting a huge number of people, causing thousands of deaths each year. Aid agencies (particularly UNICEF) and governments sought to solve the problem without studying it carefully. They spent millions of pounds to dig shallow tube wells, intending to provide "safe" water. Unfortunately, they uncovered a sleeping giant - there is arsenic naturally occurring in the ground shale and rocks, and it has been coming out due to the increased pumping of water from shallow tube wells. The area of Mayapur is within this afflicted area. Approach taken for Mayapur -------------------------- The managers of Mayapur, as well as the SMPDC, have been aware of this problem for several years. We have tried to take a professional approach to solving it, although not much is known in the area of inexpensively de-contaminating water containing arsenic. We have used the services of Dr. Dipankar Chakraborty, of Jadavpur University, the acknowledged expert in this field, for over five years. Under his supervision, we have periodically taken samples of water from different wells in and around the Mayapur community and sent them to him for testing. We took 2 approaches to the problem: one long-term, and one short term. Long term approach ------------------ It is stated in several places in the Shasta, that the Ganga purifies anything that comes in contact with her, and if her waters are left to sit for a period of time, they will automatically purify themselves. We wanted to test this, and then try to apply the results to properly design and engineer a system to use Ganga water for Mayapur residents and guests. Our testing procedure began in August of 1996, and was repeated again the following year in August of 1997. Two different laboratories were used, one Indian and the other Swiss. Part of our brief was as follows: 1) To find out the present condition of the major deep-tube wells that the majority of the Mayapur residents use; 2) To determine the qualities of the Ganga and Jalangi river waters for possible use as potable water supply; 3) To give us some indication of the treatments necessary in case the tests looked positive. We took water samples from the Ganga, several residences, and 2 of our 432-foot deep tube wells and sent them for chemical and bacteriological testing. The river water samples were taken during the month of August, as the river is quite contaminated, due to flooding. We had the waters collected in sterilized stainless steel containers, or sterilized glass containers, and had them tested daily in 2 categories: chemical content, and bacteria content. For the chemical aspect, we wanted to see if there were heavy chemicals present, from sources such as agriculture (they use many different pesticides) or factory discharge. We also tested the physical properties of the water (color, odor etc), the dissolved solids, ions present and the Total Plate Count (TPC), which gives a measure of the total bacteria present. We were keen to identify any occurrence of three bacteria, V. Cholerae, E. Coli and Salmonella, all deadly in very small quantities. The results from the first series of tests were encouraging enough for us to repeat the study the following year. We expanded the parameters and increased the frequency of testing so we could better interpret the test results. We discovered the following regarding the waters taken from the two rivers, Bhagirathi and Jalangi: (all measures in Parts Per Million). On the first day of testing, the Total Plate Count was high, at 16,500 and 18,400 respectively. By letting the waters sit, and doing no other treatment, on day 10 the TPC was down to only 64 and 65 respectively. By the 18th day, quantities had risen slightly above the recommended limits of 200. Chemically speaking, all waters were within safe limits as they came from the river. Upstream of Mayapur, there are few, if any, large industries or factories discharging into the river. Although the Total Plate Count rose after the 18th day, we saw a "window" of about 8 days within which the water is safe. Our long-term plan is to use Mother Ganga for supplying all of our potable water needs. We have an engineering consultant who will design and engineer a sewage treatment plant (STP) and delivery system (piping, lift stations, etc. necessary to bring the effluent from the house to the treatment plant). I have his second proposal on my desk right now. After successful completion of the sewage system, we intend to have him design a water treatment plant, using the Ganga water. Short term approach ------------------- Our research has shown that the deeper tube wells in Mayapur are free of Arsenic, and for our immediate needs, we are preparing documentation now for the drilling and installation of a new, deep tube well, which will serve the grhastha community. We have 3 quotations from professional well-drilling firms. We already have a system designed for bringing the waters to the existing and new buildings. After the well is completed, we will send in the water for testing, so we can determine what treatment is necessary. In some deep wells the CaCO3 in both forms-Alkalinity and Hardness are high, as is the Total Dissolved Solids, Calcium and Sulfates. These may require treatment. We want to limit the use of chemical treatments for obvious reasons, but still provide good quality water. We want to bring all of the natural elements within safe, international limits, so the devotees have a clean and safe supply of water. This new well should be completed within 3 months. The additional treatment plant will require extra time, as we will not know the type of treatment, nor the cost, until the well is completed, tested, and the results analyzed. I can assure you that we are putting our full attention on this issue. We invite any devotees concerned about this issue to correspond with Bhagavat Dharma das, our Communications Officer. A more detailed version of this report is on the Web at; http://www.netcomuk.co.uk/~bhagavat/smp/water.htm Your Servant Gaura Sakti Dasa Head of Construction Sri Mayapur Project ============ 5) FEEDBACK. ============ Here are some short extracts and comments received after our last edition. >From HG Kesava Bharati Dasa, Goverdhan, India. --------- 'I was very inspired by this latest newsletter. The arguments and practical evidence given in the newsletter are transparently clear. The movement needs to refocus on Srila Prabhupada's aim of developing Mayapur. If it does, the movement will mature. Those who co-operate will transcend the problems facing the world and become potent instruments in the hands of Srila Prabhupada and the previous acharyas.' >From HG Ajamila Dasa, London, England. -- 'I lived in Mayapur from 1973 to 1975. When I first arrived there were five devotees and we all lived in Srila Prabhupada's bhajan kutir since there were no other buildings. Seeing the current development and programs compared to the old days was a really moving experience, especially the prasadam distribution in the Gada Building. Hundreds of very respectable well-to-do families from Bengal were taking nicely prepared prasadam daily and were being very moved by the experience. In 1975 in Mayapur I saw Srila Prabhupada roll up his sleeves and personally serve prasadam to visiting life members. He considered this to be so important. And to see this going on now in Mayapur on such a big scale on a daily basis was an experience I'll never forget I was so moved by son's progress in the Gurukula and everything else in Mayapur that I sold my Vrindavana apartment and purchased a two bedroom apartment in Mayapur. The Mayapur project and grhastha community offers good association and housing facilities, and much, much more'. ==================== 6) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. ==================== I would like to thank the following devotees who helped with this issue: Gaura Sakti Dasa, Kalakantha Dasa, Dhiraj Narayan, Divya Simha Dasa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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