newsc o m m u n i t ynews from iSKcon-London’s

Radha Krishna templethe September Edition2009

September Highlights• Brighton Rathayatra

• Lord Balarama’s Appearance Day

• 40th Anniversary Gala Event

• Spiritual Counselling Reviewed

and much more!

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ViPsDuring the month of September we were very fortunate to be visited by the following VIP devotees:

HH Kavicandra SwamiHH Candramauli SwamiHH Prahladananda SwamiHH Devamrta SwamiHH Mahavishnu Swami HG Pankajanghri dasaHG Navina Nirada dasa

Krishna’s community ShopThe total for September was: £6,909.07

Krishna’s Community Shop is open 7 days a week from 12noon to 8pm. Please visit us on the 3rd floor.

This month our dedicated FFL volunteer team, headed up by Bhakta Sumit, distributed over 1,260 plates of prasadam.

Also the team has started providing prasadam for 6-7 Krishna Conscious University societies. This joint venture has been organised by Sandipan Krishna dasa, who also looks after the Hertfordshire Krishna Conscious University society.

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Words of AppreciationHere is an extract from an email sent to Jai Nitai dasa:

“I am a regular visitor of the ISKCON Temple in Soho Street, and I wanted to share with you that I had the most enriching experience on Janmastami this year. It was simply divine. I spent nine hours in the temple and each minute I spent there I felt that the Supreme Lord was with me just there. It was eternal. I am from Kolkata, India and I visit Mayapur every time I go home. The peace and solace I experience in ISKCON Temples cannot be compared to any other. It’s simply beautiful.

I am sure I would be a voice for thousands of devotees who attended Janmastami at the ISKCON Soho Street Temple that day. I was there for Radhastami and as always it was a beautiful experience. To see Sri Krishna and Radharani clad in flowers and the harinam...the totality and the purity of the ambience...it’s always overwhelming for me.

Thank you Prabhu for responding to my message.

All Glories to your service.

Gitanjali Singha”

Janmastami classWe would like to show special appreciation for HG Visvambhara dasa who gave a wonderful class on Janmastami day – it was much appreciated by many many devotees - thank you Prabhu !

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Festival ReportBalarama JayantiOn the 5th August we celebrated Lord Balarama’s ap-pearance day with great pomp and ecstasy. We had extended kirtans throughout the day, a maha hari-nama, splendid decorations for the altar and Temple room and definitely one of the highlights of the day (apart from the feast!) was the initiation of Bhakta Robert (now known as HG Balanuja dasa) from HH Kesava Bharati das Goswami.

Balanuja Prabhu ki jay !

[Editors Note: This festival, in particular the initiation, was mistakenly left out from the August newsletter. We apologise for this oversight.]

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Festival ReportBrighton RathayatraOn Saturday 19th September we observed the initiation of Bhaktin Cintia (now known as Sita Thakurani devi dasi) in the Temple room by HH Mahavishnu Swami.

Sita Thakurani devi dasi ki jay !

After breakfast we boarded a coach and took our con-gregation (and Maharaj!) to Brighton for the day for the Rathayatra festival. The weather was great and everyone was chanting and dancing along the beachfront with ec-static kirtans by HH Mahavishnu Swami and Giridhari dasa amongst others.

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Volunteer’s DinnerOn the 18th September we held our annual vol-unteers dinner at the Mayfair residence of Anil Agrawal. The VIP guest was HH Devamrta Swami. The evening consisted of spiritual charades, kirtans, talks by Jai Nitai dasa and HH Devamrta Swami and sumptuous prasadam sponsored by Anil Agrawal.

40th Anniversary Gala EventIf you have purchased tickets for the 40th Anniversary Gala event at The Troxy – please note that due to the haphazard postal strikers we are cur-rently experiencing – we will not be posting these tickets. Rather you can arrange for collection by contacting Bhakta Shavin on 07930 926 751.

Thank you for your cooperation and we apologise for any inconvenience.

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my Experiences of theSpiritual counsellor Systemat iSKcon-LondonI’ve been coming to the Radha-Londonisvara Temple since January 2009 and I first learned of the Coun-sellor System when launched in March 2009. It was towards the end of May when I approached Bhava Bhakti devi dasi and she invited me into her group. My thoughts after the first meeting (we meet every 2 weeks) were how much fun these girls have.

Asked the same question now, it is still full of fun, devotional love and respect and Krishna is always focused on as the centre of our lives. Outside the Temple we regularly keep in contact, Bhava Bhakti is always there for us and we as a group are always there for her; that’s how much love and respect we have for one another. We are more than a family - we are a transcendental family including the Counsellee groups. We are actively encouraged to take part in the subjects we talk about in the meetings and encouraged to take part in events outside of the Temple. For example, recently we went to both Crawley and Brighton Rathayatra. Also all the groups even cook for the Sunday feast on a rotation basis !

Krishna Consciousness is so much fun and yet we still maintain the proper etiquette. If someone offered me a diamond worth millions right now I wouldn’t take it - the Counsellor System is the jewel. Your servantBhaktin Julia

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Budding new Krishna ArtistThese pictures were sent in by a new devotee who is finding deeper inspiration in Krishna and Srila Prabhupada. I think you will all agree that he has a great devotional talent just waiting to be tapped.

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outreach PreachingThe following engagements were carried out by Jai Nitai dasa during the month of September:

1st – Attended a programme at Bhaktin Sangeeta’s home in honour of her departed father.

2nd – Gave a talk to 25 Police cadets who came to the Temple for training in Hinduism

5th – Attended an UKMC meeting in Dublin

8th -14th – Took a small break in Hungary with Bhakta Niket

15th - 20th – Gave a talk to students from the James Madison University (USA) and gifted 5 books

16th – Home visit to meet Gaura Kishor dasa and Bhaktin Shital

18th – Gave a talk to 20 students from Notre Dame University and gifted 2 books

18th – Attended the volunteers dinner at the home of Anil Agrawal (see separate article)

19th – Attended Brighton Rathayatra

20th – Manchester Rathayatra – Radha Londonisvara dasa travelled with HH Mahavishnu Swami and various other devotees from the Temple

24th - 25th – Visit by Danish students to the Temple. Bhakta Sean greeted and hosted the visited

25th – Spoke at a Crawley Adult Sanga. There were 10 devotees in attendance

26th – Spoke at the Crawley follow-up from the Rathayatra meeting. There were 35 attendees and the talk was entitled ‘Spiritual Solutions to Modern Problems’

28th – Attended the opening of Krishna Avanti School

29th – Spoke at Canary Wharf Sanga. There were 12 guests in attendance

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Radha-Krishna Temple10 Soho StreetLondon W1D 3DL

T: 020 7437 3662E: london@pamho.netW: www.iskcon-london.org

International Society for Krishna ConsciousnessFounder-Acharya: His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada