OBSERVATIONS ON THE VRINDAVANA ISSUE -Reply

[Guest guest]

RE: Babrhu Prabhuji's suggesstion we all get together and chant Hare

Krsna-Nothing will be lost and our purification will be gained-I

second that motion!

YS

Jagaddhatri dd

[Guest guest]

On Wed, 17 Nov 1999, Jean Prem wrote:

>

> RE: Babrhu Prabhuji's suggesstion we all get together and chant Hare

> Krsna-Nothing will be lost and our purification will be gained-I

> second that motion!

> YS

> Jagaddhatri dd

>

>

tasmAt saGkIrtanaM viSNor

jagan-maGgalam aMhasAm |

mahaAtm api kauravya

viddhy aikAntika-niSkRtam ||

 

"Sukadeva Gosvami continued: My dear King, the chanting of the

holy name of the Lord is able to uproot even the reactions of the greatest

sins. Therefore the chanting of the sakirtana movement is the most

auspicious activity in the entire universe. Please try to understand this

so that others will take it seriously."

 

--Srimad Bhagavatam, 6.3.31

 

 

Mukunda Datta dasa

[Guest guest]

Hare Krsna-

Last night my son Raghunatha Anudasa and I went to "the Temple of the

Golden Volcano" on the Big Island (near by Honokaa).

Ther are a group of devotees there, some intiated by SP, some by

Sridhara M, some by Puri M, some by our god-brother SiddhaSwarupa,

etc.

They have a beautiful altar, with RadhaKrsna, Gaur, Nrsrngadeva,

Salagram etc. They have a group of young Bengali brahmacaris who do

fantastic cooking and other devotional arts etc.

I am bringing this up because, although we were not attending a

specific function, our arrival at their remote temple project was

accommodated so sweetly...one young brahmacari came out to greet us,

lead me into the temple room etc, to take darshan of the Deities;

after a wonderful kirtana (where I lead the Nrsrngadeva prayers),

they brought prasadam and personally served my son and I in a very

sweet manner. No hint of 'agitation' that I was a woman, that they

were men, that I was anything other than a devotee seeking shelter at

the Lotus feet of the Lord.

We had come there because there is a Swami who is a disciple of Puri

Maharaja, carrying on his work. Although he had been visiting other

spots on our island all day, and he was tired, we were invited into

his room. To my surprise he is a very young man; he kindly invited

us to sit, and interacted with both my son and I as devotees, not a

'man' and a 'woman'. He was sweet.

I am embarrassed that our ISKCON temples are so consumed with this

man/woman thing, that the simple act of taking darshan has become so

'political'. Any little step that any of us take to offer service

and love to Krsna should be encouraged on the spiritual platform that

it is. Why are we continually dragging it down to th bodily level so

that we forget why we are doing what we are and become totally

engrossed in the designation of our body, either to 'defend'our

position of power, or attempt to gain our 'equal' rights.

As a devotee there, I felt nourished by my brief contact with the

Deities, and as a woman, I felt very lovingly cared for and

respected. It made me feel so satisfied so that I naturally came to

a position of quiet and loving reciprocation with Krsna and these

wonderful devotees.

Any chance in our life time that ISKCON could learn from these

devotee 'cousins' of ours how to properly respect and reciprocate

with each other?

 

YS

 

Jagaddhatri dd