Srila Prabhupada Katha Week

By Srivas Caitanya Das

|| Hare Krishna ||

Srila Prabhupada Katha Week – Congregational Development Ministry, Kuala Lumpur

In conjunction with the appearance day of HDG A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, founder-acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, the Congregational Development Ministry (CDM) of Sri Jagannatha Mandir, ISKCON Kuala Lumpur dedicated a week to the ‘saviour of the whole world’, Srila Prabhupada.

As part of this effort CDM subsidized the “Your Ever Well Wisher”, a biography of Srila Prabhupada, both in English and Tamil, which was made available to all devotees and well-wishers for RM 3 only, for an entire week. Many devotees opened up their homes to celebrate the Vyasa Puja (appearance day) of Srila Prabhupada a week after the original celebration date. A total of 10 homes partake in the simultaneous glorification of Srila Prabhupada by organising home programs.

Home programs are an efficient means of spreading the glories and pastimes of Srila Prabhupada. It was both beneficial to devotees as well as new comers to read and listen about the struggles of a 70 year old man, who suffered two heart attacks while crossing the ocean to go to the West to establish Krishna Consciousness, for the good of all humanity. Srila Prabhupada aimed for a revolution of consciousness, amidst the ongoing cultural and political revolutions.

The history of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness humble roots is truly inspirational. Srila Prabhupada has saved countless lives through his books, lectures and is still going on saving the fallen souls of this world thorough ISKCON and his bona fide disciples. The CD Ministry has successfully distributed 300 ‘Your Ever Well Wisher’ books during this Katha Week.

The CD Ministry wishes the continuous celebration of this program yearly, to inspire everyone to read more Srila Prabhupada books. Our humble efforts in propagating the pastimes of this great saint will surely benefit the society, as the Supreme Lord is pleased when his sincere pure devotee is glorified.

Srila Prabhupada ki Jai !

Your servant,

Srivas Caitanya Dasa,

Congregational Development Ministry,

Sri Jagannatha Mandir, ISKCON Kuala Lumpur.

Vyasa Puja Celebrations of Bhakti Caitanya Swami at SJMKL

Vyasa Puja Celebrations of HH Bhakti Caitanya Swami at SJMKL

Input by HG Gaura Chandra Prabhu (BCS)

nama oà viñëu-pädäya kåñëa-preñöhäya bhü-tale
çrémate Bhakti Caitanya-svämin iti nämine
nama oà viñëu-pädäya kåñëa-preñöhäya bhü-tale
çrémate Bhaktivedänta-svämin iti nämine
namas te Särasvate deve gaura-väëé-pracäriëe
nirviçeña-çünyavädi-päçcätya-deça-täriëe

On Saturday the 22^nd of August, the Vyasa Puja of HH Bhakti Caitanya Swami was celebrated in traditional ISKCON way, with the true spirit of remembering and glorifying a Vaishnava, on the actual tithi. Disciples and aspiring disciples of HH Bhakti Caitanya Swami, namely HG Gaura Chandra Prabhu, HG Radhesyama Mataji, Bhaktin Satte Mataji and Bhaktin Dr Saraswathy Mataji were the driving force behind a very successful and well organized festival.

Devotees were invited and notified well in advance so that they could put the dates in their diary and thus taste the nectar of participating in the glorification of a sincere and pure devotee of the Lord who is trying to assist Srila Prabhupada and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in the Sankirtan movement. HG Radhesyama Mataji and Bhaktin Satte Mataji personally invited devotees by giving invitation flyers and by sending mobile text messages.

To celebrate the most auspicious occasion and for the pleasure of the Lord and His devotees, a team of dedicated devotees took up the seva of cooking the feast. HG Sudarshan Prabhu, who is a very inspiring cook, took up the seva of cooking Biryani rice and paneer sabji. The Mataji’s who manage the daily lunch prasad seva kindly cooked roti channei and HG Subal Mitra Prabhu and his family were in charge of the overall cooking of the Vyasa Puja feast. We also had few motivated Mataji’s who helped the cooking team.

The deity bhoga offering was coordinated by HG Radhesyama Mataji who got a few Mataji’s to cook a grand offering and another six Mataji’s to each make a cake, so that there were six cakes of about 1 kg. There were about 100 offerings in total for the pleasure of their Lordships Sri Sri Jagannatha Baladeva and Subhadra Mai.

The Vyasa Puja celebrations started at 11.30 am with Vaishnava bhajans glorifying the spiritual master. By noon we had a temple full of devotees eagerly waiting to glorify HH Bhakti Caitanya Swami as part of the offerings session. Everyone got an opportunity to glorify and some of the important qualities of Maharaj which were highlighted were his attachment to Vrindavan and Mayaypur dham; his ability to narrate pastimes of Lord Krishna in Vrindavan; and the variety of topics on which Maharaj has given insightful discourses.

The festival came to a glorious end with ararti accompanied by Gurvastakam prayers glorifying the spiritual master. A grand feast was then served for the pleasure of all assembled and it showed the true spirit of unity we have in SJMKL where disciples of all different spiritual masters come to celebrate these auspicious days.

Note from disciples and aspiring disciples of HH Bhakti Caitanya Swami:

We, the disciples and aspiring disciples of HH Bhakti Caitanya Swami, were very touched by the attendance and support given by devotees who graced the occasion, and we would like to thank them all very much. Many said that by chance they were fasting until the feast was served. The occasion had its special flavor because of the mercy of our Guru Maharaj. 

Sri Krishna Janmastami SJMKL

By Kasthuri Krishna Devi Dasi

Sri Krishna Janmastami 2009, SJMKL

Just as Lord Balarama appears in the womb of Devaki before Krishna appears—to purify and prepare the atmosphere, we have to take shelter of Krishna in a spirit of devotion, fear the power of maya, and never let go of Krishna’s mercy, never let go of the association of devotees who are saving us at every moment, and we’ll become purified.(His Holiness Radhanath Swami, Gokula Mahavan, Vrindavan Yatra 2004)

On that note the congregation of Sri Jagannath Mandir Kuala Lumpur (SJMKL) had been preparing the soul, mind and body to welcome the anniversary of Lord Krishna’s appearance by various forms of services to awaken that spirit and mood of Krishna Janmastami. Apart from extra hearing and reading about Krishna, devotees were  engaged in various services such as distributing invitations, cleaning the temple, procurement of bhoga, publicities are just to name a few of the preparations done to ensure that the festival is celebrated with great pomp and grandeur for the benefit of one and all.

After more than a month sinking in bereavement  following the sudden departure of HG Uttama Caitanya das prabu, the former president of SJMKL, the congregation is now actively back on the track to celebrate the most grand and auspicious anniversary of Lord Krishna’s appearance on 14^th August 2009.

Despite being a working day, the events were arranged for the full day. The Vedic culture requires one to receive the guests in most warm and exquisite manner so much so that during Maharaja Yuddhistira’s Rajasuya sacrifice, Lord Krishna Himself took charge of washing the feet of all the incoming guests. In SJMKL, the reception team welcomed the guests of Lord Sri Jagannath with warm smiles and greetings, flowers, kum kum powder, rose water, perfumed oil and friendly gestures by providing itineraries and temple layout map to the guests as a guide throughout the festival. The VOICE team’s initiative to arrange a bus load of 50 UNITEN college students to attend the festival is laudable.

Guests were guided into the beautifully decorated temple hall by the flower/decoration team to take darshan of our presiding deities Lord Sri Jagannath, Baladeva and Subathra Devi, Lord Sri Radha Syamasundar and Lord Sri Nitai Gaurasundar. Their Lordships appeared majestic for public darshan in their gorgeous blue and purple outfit, in the midst of garden of pink roses. The guests were then gestured to take part in the abhishek ceremony for Sri Sri Radha Krishna which went on until 9.30pm. Simultaneously prashadam was served and guests were entertained with various stage programs and exciting performances ranging from carnatic and gaudiya bhajans, colorful dances and plays on Krishna’s pastimes from 8pm until midnight. We also had booths set up to reach out to the guests for various reasons consisting of one booth for book stall, and 2 booths by the VOICE team for preaching and spiritual theater. Food for Life and BCC-ISKCON Malaysia Temple Building Projects taken up one booth each for donation drive. Finally the savories stall, a place of sweet prashadam delicacies sold.

Special feature of the festival was the presence of Datuk Panjamurti, Secretary of MIC KL and chairman of Kepong’s division. Datuk attended the festival representing Datuk Saravanan, the Deputy Minster of Federal territory. On the other hand we were also privileged to have the presence of HG Simheswara Das, the Secretary General of ISKCON Malaysia to grace the festival. Being fascinated with the wonderful services, performances and engagements by the youths in our temple, Datuk made a noteworthy point in his public address. He firmly believes that if the youths are properly engaged in such spiritual movements and activities, they will be better off in terms of their discipline hence making the society a better place to live in. We look forward to secure goodwill with the government by opening up our temple and festivals to the public on a higher scale by establishing mutual understanding and warm relationship between the government and ISKCON movement in Malaysia.

It was then the time for the devotees to rejoice into midnight hour to usher the appearance anniversary of Lord Sri Krishna with arati and kirtan. The day came to an end with the swing ceremony of Sri Sri Radha Krishna and devotees honoring Jagannath’s Mahaprashadam. The cleaning team swings into action immediately to prepare the temple premise and its vicinity to be available for the next day’s festival to celebrate the appearance day of Lord Krishna’s beloved devotee and jagat guru His Divine Grace Baktivedanta Srila Prabupada (ki jai!)

HDG Srila Prabhupada’s Vyasa Pooja 2009, SJMKL

The presiding deities of Sri Jagannath Mandir Kuala Lumpur looked splendid in their black and gold outfit that morning. At 10am the bathing ceremony for HDG began with the senior devotees such as HG Vrndavan Candra das prabu, HG Simheswara das prabu, Markendeya Rishi das prabu and followed by others. The abhishek ceremony lasted for an hour and at around 1130am, the glorification slot took place to provide opportunities to devotees to glorify and thank Prabhupad for where we are now. With smooth coordination and timeliness, the glorification ceremony ended at 1pm to give way to pushpanjali led by HG Simheswara das prabu.

The culmination of the grandest annual Vyasa Pooja was the arati and kirtan. The Gauradesh devotees cooked and served prashadam for 600 people and again the cleaning team got back on their feet to clean up the temple.

Despite the threat of the recent H1N1 pandemic, which has resulted in a small decline from previous year, the management is nevertheless pleased to announce that the total crowd for Janmastami was approximately 2500. The management also dedicates the success of this festival to HG Uttama Caitanya das prabu, our late president as gratitude for having trained up the congregation to manage and handle this major festival in absence of HG.

The management finally wishes to thank all the involved parties, and devotees who have rendered so many services on individual and collective basis to make this festival a success. We may have missed or overlooked to extend our appreciation to some devotees that have rendered service tirelessly for the success of these 2 festivals, but rest assured that the All Knowing Supreme Lord would not have missed casting His glance on everyone that have engaged in even the smallest service for the pleasure of the Lord and His devotees. In this endeavor there is no loss or diminution, and a little advancement on this path can protect one from the most dangerous type of fear. BG2.40

All Glories to Sri Sri Radha Syam!

All Glories to Srila Prabhupad!

Jhulan Yatra SJMKL

By Sudarshan Das

jhula jhule radha damodara vrndavana men kaisi cchayi hariyali ali kunjan men

(Sri Sri Radha-Damodara are swinging on the swing in Vrndavana. Oh friend, how very green the kunja is!)

Yes, this was the sweetest of festivals, the 5 day long Sri Sri Radha Krishna Jhulan Yatra, which was recently celebrated in Sri Jaganath Mandir Kuala Lumpur starting from Saturday, the 1^st of August.

In the holy dham of Sri Vrndavan, this period of the sacred month of Shravan, which falls during the auspicious 4 month period of caturmasya, bears witness to hundreds of thousands of people from surrounding towns and villages and from all over India and abroad, who have all blissfully congregated to participate in the Jugala kishora and kishori monsoon pastimes where the Radha Krishna deities in the temples are swung on a swing. This was a time where the hot summer begins to give way to the thunderous approach of the rain clouds marking the beginning of the monsoon seasons. Extremely fine mist-like rain drizzles everywhere casting the entire forests of Vrindavan in a lush emerald hue. The caressing touch of the gentle drizzle awakens the blooming of flowers of the forests and the entire atmosphere tingles with festive joy in a kaleidoscope of fresh colours with music & devotion permeating the air.

Yamuna ke kula, pahari suranga dulala kaise khila rahe phula, ali kadamana mein

(On the banks of the Yamuna they are wearing very beautiful and colorful clothes. O friend, how the flowers are blossoming on the kadamba tree!)

Here in Sri Jaganath Mandir Kuala Lumpur, this blissful festive mood was recreated, albeit in a more humble magnitude, but with no less joy and devotion. The swinging of their Lordships was held each day at eight in the mornings and at 7.30 in the evenings. The Sunday feast that coincided with this festival was especially sweet. HG Vinod Bihari prabhu who had experienced this festival in Vrndavan dham for 14 years was there to lead the Jaya Radhe Jaya Krishna song as the devotees swung their Lordships Sri Sri Radha Gokulananda. As his fingers magically swept along the keys in his harmonium, his voice lifted beautifully in sweet reminiscence that infected the mood of everyone there.

ita nandan ko dularo, uta bhanu ki dulari, jodi lage ati pyari, basi nainana mein.

(On this side is the dear son of Nanda, on that side is the very dear daughter of Vrsabhanu Maharaja. Both look very beautiful; I keep them within my vision.)

The origins of this festival traces back 5000 years to Krishna’s pastimes in Vrindavan. The beginning of the monsoon season has not entirely dissipated the heat of the passing summer, and the opulence at this time is to find a breeze, as the air is heavy with the humidity of the rains. So the gopi friends of Srimati Radharani arrange for the pleasure and satisfaction of Krishna, and Srimati Radhika by placing them on a swing or Jhulan and creating their own breeze from the motion.

gaura syama ranga, ghana damini ke sanga bhai ankhiyan apanga, cchabi bhari man mein

(Their golden and dark colors are like lightening on a dark cloud. My eyes do not close; that picture fills my mind.)

In Kuala Lumpur, as per the local annual tradition as far back as I can remember since joining ISKCON, the culmination of the festival was on the 5^th day in the home of HG Tatvavit Prabhu and HG Shanti Rupa Mataji, very senior devotees and dear servants of their beloved deity Sri Sri Radha Gokulananda. The entire KL and Klang yatra congregated at their bungalow in PJ on the Wednesday evening to celebrate. His Holiness Janananda Goswami graced the festival and led the kirtan and class. He spoke of the sweet pastimes of the divine couple and lead a sweet bhajan for the pleasure of their Lordships. Sri Sri Radha Gokulananda are one of the sweetest deities that I have ever seen- especially Sri Radha. They were beautifully decorated and placed on a creeper like swing amidst lush green plants and flowers. Bhajans continued through the evening as first class feast was served.

radhe mukha aur, naina syama ke cakora sakhi

(Radha’s face is like the moon; Krishna’s eyes are like the cakora bird [attracted to the moon], looking towards Her.)

And the next day was the full moon day of Balaram’s appearance! Indeed in Sri Jaganath Mandir, there is no shortage of festivals to keep our minds and limbs constantly engaged in bliss and constant remembrance of Radha Krishna. This was possible only due to the causeless mercy of Srila Prabhupada and the wonderful devotees of Sri Jaganath Mandir.

Hare Krishna

VOICE KL Boys’ 4th Annual Varsity Summit 2009

By Bhakta Hemalann

|| HARE KRISHNA ||

VOICE Kuala Lumpur Boys’ 4^th Annual Varsity Summit 2009

The annual gathering of likeminded youths by the Vedic Oasis for Inspiration Culture and Education’s (VOICE) Boys team held its 4^th varsity summit on the 24^th- 26^th July 2009 at NUBE Training Centre in Port Dickson, Malaysia.

This time around, the organizing committee focused on substance development of the attendees and invited HG Kanai Thakur Das Brahmacari of ISKCON Pune, India, to present topics on sadhana and sadachar (spiritual practice and vaishnava etiquette).

The summit saw a total participation of 35 youths including 7 devotees from Singapore, led by HG Yamunacharya Pr and HG Braja Hari Pr. The summit began on 24^th evening, with a short arati, and was then proceeded by a discourse presented by Kanai Thakur Pr on “Deepening the roots of sraddha in KC through chanting & hearing”. The evening concluded with a question and answers session and was followed by sumptuous prasadam.

The following day began with Mangala Arti at 5.15am and continued with a session on Discover Your Self (DYS). The presentation on DYS, a six chapter self explanatory book on the science and philosophy of the Bhagavad-gita is based on the teachings of HDG A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and is authored by HG Radheshyam Prabhu of ISKCON Pune, India.

In the evening, a beach harinam was conducted where the glories of congregational chanting was shared by HG Kanai Thakur Pr. After evening arati and honouring prasadam, a short skit called “3 modes of Material Nature” was presented by the VOICE Boys team. A presentation on “The Need to be in Krishna Consciousness” was presented by HG Srivas Caitanya Pr. HG Kanai Thakur Pr presented on “The importance of Devotee Association” that included presentations on DYS.

On Sunday, the program was dedicated to the discussion on an action plan – The Way Forward. HG Kanai Thakur Pr formulated a weekend program for VOICE Boys to be in constant association, while always remembering to place Krishna at the pinnacle. With that, the Saturday Evening Program was created, where books of Srila Prabhupada will be read, discussed and may include the organizing of other activities like skits and plays.

Overall, the mood of this year’s varisty summit was more sober and mature; imbibing the importance of chanting and hearing, nevertheless, whenever and wherever Krishna is discussed, the mood of such a place becomes nectarine and the consensus amongst participants was that they had a wonderful time through devotee association.

We would love to thank HG Kanai Thakur Pr, for accepting our invitation and humbly guiding us in our spiritual progress. We also thank our advisor, HG Srivas Caitanya Pr for his selfless and continued support as well as insight. Our appreciation also goes out to our director for this year’s summit, Bhakta Gajendra for his excellent coordination and facilitation efforts.

Your servant,

Hemalann Nambiyar,

VOICE Kuala Lumpur

Link to the photos taken during the event.

http://picasaweb.google.com/dr.srivas/4thVaristySummit2009?authkey=Gv1sRgCLa8y46X2a7zTA&feat=directlink

Grihastha Seminar SJMKL

By Sudarshan Das

Hare Krsna
All glories to Srila Prabhupada
All Glories to Sri Sri Guru and Gauranga

“The importance of the grihastha ashram is because it gives birth to, nourishes, sustains and preserves all the four ashrams” – Srila Prabhupada.

Keeping in line with the above quote from our founder Acharya, and in efforts of serving his instructions, the Social and Welfare Ministry of SJMKL headed by HG Shanti Rupa mataji, recently conducted a two day Grihastha Ashram Seminar. This was held on the 24^th and 25^th of July just a day before the Smrthi Sabha of our late Temple president HG Uttama Caitanya prabhu. This grihasta seminar was rather special as it was his pet project. Despite coping with his loss, Her Grace Shanti Rupa mataji was determined that the seminar should not be canceled and that it should go on as planned. In fact, in the opening speech, she revealed that it was one of HG Uttama prabhu’s last instructions which he emphatically left, just the day before his passing.

The seminar was held at the Malaysian Hindu Sangam office at Petaling Jaya, a mere 5 minutes drive from the temple. About a hundred devotees both from SJMKL and ISKCON Klang attended the seminar on Friday which began at 8.30 pm. After the welcome address by HG Shanti Rupa mataji, we were introduced to our special guest speaker HG Krishna Kishora Prabhu who had come all the way from Pune, India to share his knowledge and experience in the topic. HG Shanti Rupa mataji expressed her appreciation to HG Gaurachandra prabhu (RNS) for being instrumental in securing our special guest speaker.

HG Krishna Kishora prabhu was a very captivating speaker. He delivered his points in a most engaging manner and kept the audience attentive. On the first day, he spoke about the importance of Grihastha Ashram as an important and integral aspect of the Daivi Varnashram system. He emphasized on how Srila Prabhupada wanted every married couple in ISKCON to practice Krishna Consciousness based on the tenets and principles provided in the Grihastha Ashram. We ended the first day session at about 10 pm with dinner prasadam.

The second day of the seminar began with breakfast prasadam, followed with Srimad Bhagavatam class given by HG Krishna Kishora pr at about 9 am. Prabhu elucidated a very interesting point about how Maya uses 2 methods to trick the unsuspecting devotees. One is moroseness and the other being pride. I personally found it very illuminating.

After the class, the first session of the day was on the Duties and Responsibilities in Grhasta Ashram. Amongst others, this topic also covered the Psychology of Man and Woman as well as the Do’s and Don’ts between husband and wife. To better illustrate the points, the highlight of the session was a series of ticklish skits enacted by some of the participants. I’m sure none of us will forget the infamous line by Kumar prabhu in his skit which was about how one should not chastise ones partner in public. That brought forth peals of laughter from everyone.

At about 12.30 noon, we broke for lunch which was served at the premises. An hour or so later, the seminar continued with HG Shanti Rupa mataji who shared her realizations and experiences. The topic was on the role of the wife in Grhasta Ashram. She ended by emphasizing that in the end, everything will fall in place if only we take the 4 instructions of Srila Prabhupada seriously to heart, which was chanting, reading his books, eating prasadam only, and associating with devotees.

The last session of the day was something which I was very much waiting for. This was on the topic of raising Krishna Conscious children in Grihastha Ashram, given by HG Krishna Kishora pr. Personally I found the session very enlivening and motivating. Prabhu spoke on how we should stick to the essence of Krishna Consciousness and very patronizingly study Srila Prabhupadas’ instructions regarding the upbringing of children. He provided many practical suggestions and pointers and shared with us some of the success stories in ISKCON Pune as well as in other parts of the world.

The seminar ended at around 4 pm with a final wrap up of the points by HG Shanti Rupa mataji and by thanking HG Krishna Kishora prabhu for his time and efforts. All in all it was an excellent seminar with many useful pointers carefully arranged and masterfully presented. It was also an excellent platform for associating with the devotees. On behalf of the management of SJMKL, we would like to thank HG Krishna Kishora prabhu for his wonderful association and service to our Yathra and we dedicate this seminar to the memory of HG Uttama Caitanya prabhu for being a source of inspiration to all of us here in KL.

VOICE KL 1st ANNUAL JULY BOOK MARATHON

By Bhakta Hemalan

||HARE KRISHNA||

VOICE KUALA LUMPUR 1^st ANNUAL JULY BOOK MARATHON REPORT

The VOICE Kuala Lumpur team, guided by HG Srivas Caitanya Prabhu, decided to get organized and launch a special book distribution marathon month dedicated to the students in various universities and colleges around the KL and Klang Valley region. The team focused on distribution only two books, as a set, the Bhagavad-gita As-It-Is and Discover Your Self, a six-chapter fundamental understanding based on the philosophy of the Bhagavad-gita for a merger price of RM10.00. Definitely with such a price for a set of two books, success is certain.