New Srivasa Angana temple

[Guest guest]

Dear Prabhus and Maharajas,

 

Please accept my most humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

 

I am writing this message to all of you because the situation here in New

Srivasa Angan, the ISKCON headquarters in Denmark, is getting very serious.

I would like to give you a brief overview.

 

This temple has always been a wonderful and inspiring place to be. The

devotees are sincere, good followers with a lot of young energy. The temple

is located 30 minutes outside of Copenhagen in the beautiful Danish

countryside, and is well-connected by train and bus. The facilities are

large enough for grihastas, with room for expansion in the undeveloped areas

of existing buildings. The Danish government recognizes ISKCON as a

bona-fide religion and ISKCON is mentioned in the school text books.

 

At the beginning of this year, the financial situation began to deteriorate,

perhaps due to the departure of Harikesa das. Then a few months later a

premature decision was made to sell the temple and find smaller facilities

in the city of Copenhagen. This created an atmosphere of insecurity in the

temple, a situation already present since Harikesa das left. The devotees

were deeply effected by this and became very discouraged. During this time,

many senior devotees visited Denmark. They all indicated to the leadership

that the temple is a good asset for spreading Krsna consciousness in Denmark

and that we should work on a new strategy to fix the budget problems.

 

Thus I, with my wife Nitya-trpta d.d., was asked to temporarily take

responsibility of the devotees and to try solve the crisis. Despite the fact

that we know ourselves to be completely unqualified for the job, we gladly

accepted. So this is the situation now.

 

1. We have only 3 sankirtan devotees who need help both in numbers and in

training.

 

2. The finances are down to "0" with no reserve. Krsna is very kind and has

sent some new young devotees. We are now trying to form a new sankirtan

party.

 

3. While in Bhaktivedanta Manor for Sri Krsna Janmastami we saw how the

"Patron Membership Program" generates a lot of support for the temple. We

are in the process of starting that program here. His Holiness

Kadamba-kanana Swami is also giving a lot of nice input.

 

4. I have just discovered that in Denmark there are 400 Indian families.

During a meeting with some of the members of the Indian community who have

been involved with ISKCON for the past few years, everybody was inspired to

start a Patron Member program for ISKCON in Denmark. This program can be

dynamic in solving our crisis. We will be holding our first Patron Member

dinner on September 26. If you are expert in this field and would like to

get involved please contact me.

 

So, everything can be resolved, but we need your help during this transition

time. How?

 

1. Maybe some of you would like to come and help organize a fundraising and

Patron Member campaigns.

 

2. Or join the sankirtana party and train the young devotees.

 

3. Some of you may have experience in congregational preaching.

 

4. Some may want to give donations, or you may know somebody who would like

to sponsor this temple.

 

5. We have facilities for devotees to come and stay with us--both couples or

single--as well as space to expand, so if you would like to move here with

your family and be part of this community please contact us.

 

So please help us in any way you can. I am convinced that to be part of this

wonderful family that Srila Prabhupada has created is still the best place

to be on this planet. I am confident that somebody will help and everything

will be fine very soon.

 

Thanks to all of you.

Your servants,

 

Krsna Prema das

Nitya trpta devi dasi.