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ISKCON PORTLAND YOUTH NEWSLETTER
Winter/Spring 2012
Sri Krishna Janmashtami 2012By: Joshita Reddy
On August 9th, 2012, we celebrated the special and long-awaited
festival Sri Krishna Janmashtami. The devotees celebrated Lord Sri
Krishna's Birthday in a very grand fashion . The program included
abishek of Sri Sri Radha Syamsundar deities, ecstatic kirtan by
group of devotees. Even Mother Cow came to visit us at the event!
Cultural activities and sumptuous prasadam were some of the
highlights of the festival. There were also a wide variety of
booths on display such as: Darshan of Sri Krishna Balaram, Sunday
School, Bhakti Vriksha group, Science of Self Realization, book
store, and face painting. This event was filled with pure devotion
and love for the Lord.
Continued on Page 2
Issue No. 2 www.iskconportland.com
Q U E S T I O N S ? C O M M E N T S ?LET US KNOW
l i l a r p i @ g m a i l . c o m
Sri Sri Krishna Balarama
Sri Sri Nitai Sacinandana
http://www.iskconportland.comhttp://www.iskconportland.commailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]
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The altar was decorated “Vrindavan-style” with lots of fresh
flowers, plants, cutouts of peacocks, cows, deers, and parrots;
that were beautifully painted on the backdrop. We did Radha Krishna
Abhishek with various ingredients such as: milk, ghee, Honey, Sugar
Water, Yogurt and different kinds of seasonal fruit juices along
with ecstatic kirtan. This year main attraction for the event was
Mother Cow, many visitors enjoyed seeing the real/live cow at the
event. Vedic Center Sunday School children performed a drama
“Krishna The Butter Thief". It is the past time where Krishna
steals the butter and Mother Yashoda chastises Krishna by tying to
Grinding Mortar, and delivers Nalakuvara and Manigriva. In the food
stall, different varieties of prasadam were served to the guest and
devotees.
This year about 650 visitors attended
the festival. The devotees had a single agenda to shower love and
affection to all the visitors who came to the festival.
Understanding the moods of Lord Chaitanya - devotees emphasized in
cultivating more and more new people by spreading message of Holy
Name. The entire occasion of Sri Krishna
Janmashtami brought loads of pleasure and enjoyment everyone. This
is a huge success of devotees’ hard work, sincerity, and love for
Sri Krishna. We all beg and pray to the Supreme Lord that each year
we serve the Lord in similar way.
The devotee youth during the play. Mother Cow
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THE ISKCON PORTLAND YOUTH NEWSLETTER! PAGE3
The Collector, 1234 Main Street, Any Town, State ZIP |
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Hare Krsna, my name is Haladar. I am going to present an article
about Sunday School.To begin, there are 3 age groups: Madhava
(youngest), Damodara (middle), and Madhan Mohan (oldest).
Currently, the main topic in class is cow protection. In Sunday
school students take part in projects such as posters and
food distribution. A popular activity that students participate in
is called Project Prasadam. Project Prasadam is an activity in
which students put various sweets on plates and then decorate the
plates with nice paper and then offer the plates to Lord Krishna.
Then the students sell the plates as a fundraiser for the bhakti
library. The sweets include: gingerbread gopas, taffies, caramels,
and carob-chip cookies.The students feel happy
that devotees get such nice prasadam around the holiday season,
and as a result, the Bhakti Library gets new books!
The Bhakti Library has books for “Sunday Schoolers” of all ages.
There are picture books, cooking books, and other books, all of
them being devotional. The two librarians are the two nice
devotees, Ananda Shakti Mataji and Ram Tulasi Prabhu. The the cool
thing about the library is that there are actually library cards.
Another activity that the Sunday school puts on is the Krishna
Conscious Costume Party, which takes place around Halloween.
The kids dress up as a character of one of Lord Krishna's
pastimes and play various Krishna Conscious games. Depending on how
well each student does, specific points are
awarded. At the end of each game, they get a sweet put in
their bag. At the very end of the party everybody adds up
their points, and who ever wins in their age group gets to
distribute kettle corn to the devotees at the temple! Sometimes
there are very fancy costumes at this party and also when we
do dramas. Dramas are usually on special days like Janmashtami and
Nrisimha Chaturdasi. This year will be different because they
will be doing dramas every three months. All of these
nice dramas have been an effort for some of the teachers, please
come and see one some day.
All of this makes a very nice community please come to our
temple soon. Hare Krishna.
The Sunday SchoolBy: Haladar Wright.
A Sunday School Rathayatra
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THE ISKCON PORTLAND YOUTH NEWSLETTER! PAGE4
paritranaya sadhunam´
vinasaya ca dushkrutam
dharma-sam´sthapanarthaya
sambhavami yuge yuge
"To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well
as to reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself appear,
millennium after millennium."
There were auspicious stars,(signs of good fortune) present in
the sky. There were also rivers flowing full of waters, birds
singing melodiously, and lakes beautifully decorated with
lotus flowers. The residents of Gandarva and Kinnara planets began
to sing, and the sages and demigods showered flowers. So what was
the auspiciousness of the day? Yes, it was the appearance of Lord
Krishna!
Long ago, the world
was full of demoniac kings. Mother Earth could not bear the thought
of these demoniac creatures ruling her planet.So, she took a form
of a cow and went to Lord Brahma for some shelter. Lord Brahma
said,"Do not worry, I will go to Lord Vishnu and solve the
problem". So Lord Brahma along with Mother Earth and other demigods
went to the ocean of milk.
Then, the demigods offered the "Purusha Sukta Prayers" but Lord
Vishnu did not reply. Lord Brahma sat in a meditation and got the
message from Lord Vishnu within his heart about the coming
appearance of Lord Krishnaa.
In the city of Mathura, a great celebration was occurring. ,King
Surasena's son,Vasudeva, had just married Devaki, and were going
home on their chariot with the demoniac King Kamsa. While
Devaki and Vasudeva were happily sitting on the chariot, they heard
a noise. There was a miraculous and thundering voice in the
sky announced to Kamsa,"Kamsa,you foolish person! You are so
ignorant, that the 8th son of
Devaki will kill you!” Out of fear and anger, King Kamsa caught
hold of Devaki's hair and was about kill her. But before Kamsa
could do any harm, Vasudeva stepped in. He tried to pacify him by
telling him about the body and soul..Vasudeva requested to Kamsa
not to be envious of his sister. Yet Kamsa was not satisfied
by these words. So Vasudeva promised to Kamsa that he will give all
of his babies to him. Kamsa trusted Vasudeva’s word of honor, and
agreed to this proposal.
After some time, Devaki conceived her first son! Remembering the
promise, Vasudeva took his son to Kamsa and the baby to him. Kamsa
was very pleased with Vasudeva's behavior and said"You can take
back your child. It is only the eighth child that concerns me.So i
do not have any danger with this child.So please, return home.”
However, Kamsa’s confidence was destroyed when Narada Muni
informed Kamsa that all the close associates of Lord Krishna had
already taken birth in the Yadu Dynasty--and Lord Krishna could
appear at any time.After hearing this, he immediately
put Devaki and Vasudeva in jail. After this, Devaki gave birth
to six children, but cruel Kamsa killed them all. The seventh baby
was Lord Balarama, but he was transfered from Devaki's womb to
Rohini's womb, by Yogamaya (Lord Krishna's internal potency). When
Lord Krishna entered the womb of Devaki, he ordered Yogamaya to
enter the womb of Yashoda
Finally, the most awaited day had come Lord Krishna appeared,
and Devaki and Vasudeva were overwhelmed with joy.
The Appearance of Lord Krishna By Srikar Valluri
Source: http://www.iskcondesiretree.net/
http://www.iskcondesiretree.net/profiles/blogs/story-of-lord-krishna-3http://www.iskcondesiretree.net/profiles/blogs/story-of-lord-krishna-3
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THE ISKCON PORTLAND YOUTH NEWSLETTER! PAGE5
Continued on Page 6
phala-vikrayiṇī tasya cyuta-dhānya-kara-dvayam
phalair apūrayad ratnaiḥ phala-bhāṇḍam apūri ca
Translation: While Krishna was going to the fruit vendor very
hastily, most of the grains He was holding fell. Nonetheless, the
fruit vendor filled Krishna's hands with fruits, and her fruit
basket was immediately filled with jewels and gold.
One of Krishna’s beautiful childhood pastimes in Vrindavan was
his loving exchange with a fruit vendor lady. One day, little
Krishna was playing outside and He saw Nanda Maharaj getting a
basket of fruits from a fruit vendor lady by giving her a basket of
grains. He also
wanted fruits for Himself, so He went inside the kitchen and got
a
handful of rice in His hands. Since His hands were so small, He
dropped some grains on the way. By the time He got to the lady,
there were only a miniscule number of grains in his hands. But
since He was a child, the fruit vendor lovingly filled Krishna’s
hands with fruits. As soon as she placed the fruits, all the fruits
in her basket changed into
precious jewels.
The lesson to be learned from this is that we should offer
everything to the Lord with love. Krishna gives a similar message
in Bhagavad Gita (9.26):
patram ́ puṣpam ́ phalam ́ toyam ́ yo me bhaktyā
prayacchati
tad aham ́ bhakty-upahṛtam aśnāmi
Source:
http://www.iskcondesiretree.net/profiles/blogs/the-glorious-fruitseller-story
Srimad Bhagvatam 10.11.11By:Gopal Goel
http://www.iskcondesiretree.net/profiles/blogs/the-glorious-fruitseller-storyhttp://www.iskcondesiretree.net/profiles/blogs/the-glorious-fruitseller-story
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THE ISKCON PORTLAND YOUTH NEWSLETTER! PAGE6
Krishna has all the opulences. He doesn’t need anything from us.
It is only out of our love and affection for Him that we offer
bhoga. We can’t just offer anything to the Lord without any
devotion. The food will not become prasad. That also means that we
can’t think ”Since I am very rich, it doesn’t matter if I give
something to Krishna”. There is one nice story from the Mahabharata
related to this topic. One day, Krishna was visiting Hastinapura to
make peace between the Pandavas and Kauravas. Duryodhana offered a
lunch feast to Krishna but, he didn’t have any love. Krishna
wentaway from that sinful place immediately and went to Vidura’s
house. Vidura welcomed Him warmly and then lovingly offered banana
peels.
Since Vidura offered the banana peels with pure love, Krishna
accepted them.
Just like Vidura and the fruit lady, we should offer everything
to Krishna with love. It doesn’t matter how small or big it is.
Krishna is sure to accept it very happily.
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THE ISKCON PORTLAND YOUTH NEWSLETTER! PAGE7
Questions? Comments? Don’t hesitate to contact us :
[email protected]
Krishna is blue, Krishna is wonderful
He is the best friend of all
He is in each and every atom in His full form
He is in everything, big or small.
He is smaller than the smallest
And bigger than the biggest
He is forever young
But also the oldest.
Out of great compassion
He comes to the material world
To help everyone
Go back to the spiritual world.
Source: http://gita-blog.blogspot.com
Poetry: KrishnaBy: Ram Goel Devotee Interview
Interviewed By: Tulsi Patel
My name is Lajjarani Devi Dasi, and this is how I came to
Krishna Consciousness.
On a fervent summer day in New Orleans in 1984, my friends asked
me if I wanted to go to the local ISKCON temple for a free
vegetarian feast. I said no. After a few weeks my friends asked me
again. This time I said yes. When we reached the temple, I was
amazed by the feast! The food was delicious! From that day on I
slowly started my way into getting involved with he temple. I have
been in Krishna Consciousness ever since.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://gita-blog.blogspot.com/http://gita-blog.blogspot.com/
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Word SearchBy: Gopal Goel
SRI KRISHNA JANMASHTAMI WORD SEARCH
Balarama Nanda Devaki
Prison Gokul Vasudeva
Janmashtami Vrindavan Kamsa
Yamuna Krishna Yashoda
Mathura Yogamaya
A Y A M A G O Y
D B I D G R P M
P P J C A M N O
S I R P L A S M
A K M A D O H S
A Y D E W N N E
A I Y N E T A R
V A H S M Y R V
W T I N V V A N
U M A Y A N V P
H T A S N B F A
S D L X A S X F
S I R I I S H I
A Y I N J C U K
O Z L N T O B R
A R D C D A L E
O P A L K A P Y
L A E V U P F K
M N B H J O I I
V E K G J C I D
L J S U W C A D
O E L B O V R I
N D A V A N G N
B M A T H U R A
T A D E
