iskcon pune todayNewsletter Vol 11 / Issue: 9 (Monthly) / September 2013 / Price: ` 1/-

Over 200,000 people attended Pune’s largest Janmashtami on 28th August, 2013 at the ISKCON NVCC temple on Katraj-Kondhwa road. �is is the first Janmashtami festival at the new temple that was inaugurated by President Pranab Mukherjee earlier this year on 24th February, 2013.

Over 200,000 pilgrims throng Pune’s largest Janmashtami at ISKCON NVCC

Over 200,000 pilgrims throng Pune’s largest Janmashtami at ISKCON NVCC

Janmashtami

CelebrationsJanmashtami

CelebrationsHe praised centres such as ISKCON of being invaluable assets that help build India’s social infrastructure.�e inaugural Janmashtami festival was attended by several VIPs, celebrities, political and business leaders as well as community representatives. �e colourful festival featured a marathon abhishekha ceremony, arati, bhajans and kirtans, a dance and drama festival, cultural exhibits, stalls and bazaars, children’s activities, youth programmes and decora-tions of the presiding Deities Sri Sri Radha-Vrindavanchandra in the exquisite style adopted in the holy city of Vrindavana, near Mathura.�e marathon abhisheka ceremony saw hundreds of dignitaries and celebrities bathing the Deities of Radha and Krishna with sanctified water and sacred substances from kalash pots accompanied by the chanting of bhajans and devotional songs. “Janmashtami, which marks the appearance of the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna, is very relevant to the modern world as it celebrates the victory of right-eousness over evil, and the importance of values such as liberty, protection of the family, prevalence of social order and the importance of spiritual elevation to higher levels of consciousness,” explained

Radheshyam Das, President of ISKCON Pune. “�e festival at ISKCON brought together people from different sections of society who helped and participated in this colourful festival in a spirit of camarade-rie and friendship. It was encouraging to see people from different economic, social and cultural backgrounds come together and leave any differences aside to serve the Supreme Lord, Sri Krishna.”Other ISKCON temples in Pune such as the ones in Camp, Nigdi and Uttam Nagar also organised local Janmashtami festivals on a grand scale. �e temples at Camp and Nigdi attracted 50,000 people each.ISKCON organizes more than 1000 Janmashtami festivals around the world to mark the appearance of Lord Krishna. “Most of the pilgrims who attended the festival had a deeply enriching spiritual experience that reminded them that we are all eternal servants of the Supreme Lord, Sri Krishna and can be freed from the miseries of the mate-rial world by chanting the Lord’s holy names, continued Radheshyam Das.

We express our heartfelt thanks to the patrons, wellwishers and devotees who contributed in making this festival a grand success.

ISKCON Pune Today | September 2013

From the President's Desk: Radhashtami Meditation, 13th Sept. 2013

Radhashtami marks the divine appearance of Krishna's supreme devotee Sri Radha in this world. Radha is the Supreme Goddess of fortune and is called as the abode of Love and Sri Krishna is the Object of love. Radha has a ocean of bhakti bhava called mahabhava with which she worships Sri Krishna wholeheartedly through singing, dancing, cooking, mimicking, joking, dramatizing, drawing rangoli, etc. in 64 types of kalas. She is the Supreme mother of the whole universe and Vrindavaneshwari, Queen of Vrindavan, who teaches all living beings how to worship Krishna with love. She is the source of even Lakshmi and Sita. Vrindavan dham is the eternal abode where everyone -gopis, gopas, cows, calves, deers, monkeys, Yamuna - is constantly absorbed in a one-pointed meditation of love and service to Krishna. �ey have no other aspiration besides service to Krishna. �ese devotees of Krishna in Vrindavan have achieved this exalted status of becoming an associate of Krishna due to their pure devotion to Him. And Radharani is lovingly addressed by all Vrajavasis as 'Radhe Radhe' remembering her pure

love for Krishna. Such a position is extremely rare for even mukti-achieving jnanis and siddhi-achieving yogis, who after millions of years of meditation can only get to see the shining toe nail of Krishna's lotus feet.

When Radha appeared in this world as a small baby with golden color in a golden lotus, handed over by Brahma to King Vrishabhanu, She was a very beautiful child. Still her parents were very sad to see that the child appeared blind and would not open her eyes. When Krishna came with His parents during their visit to the house of King Vrishabhanu, seeing Krishna lean over the cradle, Radha opened her eyes for the first time! �e lesson she taught to the whole world was this: there is nothing worthy of seeing in this world other than the beauty of Sri Krishna! One day the great sage Narada visited the home of Vrishabhanu to take darshan of Goddess of fortune, Sri Radha. He circumambulated the child several times, offering prayers of glorification from the scriptures and Radharani revealed her eternal form as she resides in the spiritual sky to Narada.

�e Rasa dance of Radha, Krishna and the gopis is a divine dance and should not be misunderstood to be some mundane relationship between boys and girls. Modern day men and women are mutually attracted to each other based on sex appeal, but sex is nothing but a biological function for reproduction purpose. True love is between the hearts; that is why even mundane people draw a heart pierced with an arrow. �e pure love of gopis headed by Sri Radha is glorified by saints like Shankaracarya, Lord Caitanya, Shukadeva goswami and others who are all crest jewel among renunciates. �ey have no business with the lusty affairs of any man and woman. �us the divine eternal romance of Radha Krishna is the subject matter for paramahamsas and the so-called love of boys and girls in this world is nothing but a perverted reflection of that pure love, manifesting as lust, similar to milk souring into curd by contact with a lemon.

�e Shelter of Sri RadhaLord Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita that His external energy, mayashakti appearing as Durga in this material world, who subjects all living beings to

three-fold miseries of adhyatmika (miseries arising from body and mind), adhi-bhautika (miseries arising from other livingbeings) and adhi-daivika (miseries from natural calamities) represented by her Trishool, is very difficult to cross over; but if one takes shelter of His internal potency, Radharani, then one can very easily cross beyond this material world and go to spiritual world. �e Supreme Lord is never separated from His divine consort; thus He is addressed as Radha-Krishna, Sita-Rama or Lakshmi-Narayan. As a tiny soul, we all have a small drop of bhakti bhava for Krishna that has become covered over; thus we have become busy chasing after material commodities which can never make us happy. By worshiping Radha Krishna, by rendering service to �em and chanting the holy names of Hare Krishna Maha Mantra -- Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare -- we can easily purify our heart and awaken our original love for God. Visit us at ISKCON NVCC for seeing the beautiful darshan and abhishek of Sri Sri Radha Vrindavanchandra on Radhashtami day.

-- Radheshyam DasPresident, ISKCON Pune

Page 2 ISKCON PUNE TODAY / September 2013

�e Divine Rasa-lila

ISKCON Pune Today | September 2013

His Holiness Bhakticharu Swami, a senior disciple of Srila Prabhupada, visited ISKCON Pune for two days from 21st August to coincide with Balarama Jayanti – the day Lord Balarama appeared on this earth.

In the evening of 21st, Bhakticharu Swami narrated the divine pastime of Lord Balarama’s appearance first in the womb of Mother Devaki and transfer to the womb of Mother Rohini. He explained that the austerities carried out by Lakshmana in Treta-yuga were so severe and extreme that it deeply moved and melted the heart of Lord Ramachandra. He therefore arranged for Lakshmana to appear as His elder brother Balarama in Krishna-lila, so that He could take a subservient role as a younger brother.

�e following day commemorated the forty-eighth anniversary of Srila Prabhupada’s departure for America. In his lecture, Bhakticharu Swami narrated the hardships, disturbances and obstacles faced by Srila Prabhupada as he established ISKCON in the West and preached Krishna

Bhakticharu Swami enlightens Pune devotees on Balarama Jayanti

200 Children sing at the first Kids Kirtan Mela

Consciousness to an audience unexposed to Vedic culture. Bhakticharu Swami concluded Prabhupada’s phenomenal success that astounded the world was due to his strong faith and firm devotion to Lord Krishna and His Holy names.

In the closing address in the evening of 22nd August, Bhakticharu Swami gave an insightful understanding of how one should rightly apply one’s natural inclination of fault finding to find one’s own faults instead of others’.

“Everyone was surcharged by the inspiring association of Sripada Bhakticharu Swami,” recollected Mukunda Ananda Das, a Professor at VIT college, Pune. “His profound understanding of the essentials of bhakti-yoga, and his sweetly melodious bhajans kept everyone enthralled.”

--- Chakrapani Krishna DasM.Tech. (Gold medallist), NIT Surathkal

On 15th August 2013, ISKCON Lotus VOICE organized the first ever Kid’s Kirtana Mela Festival at ISKCON NVCC.

More than 200 children between the ages of five and twelve were escorted by their parents from 4.00 pm to the main temple hall, where the event was held. �e children, who were decked in colourful ethnic wear, enthusiastically sang devotional songs, played musical instruments and chanted the Hare Krishna maha-mantra in front of the presiding Deities, Sri Sri Radha Vrinda-vana Chandra. Twenty-five children led the chorus from the stage, while the rest joined the kirtana by clapping, dancing

and singing in unison.“It was absolutely charming to see hundreds of children exuding joy and singing the Lord’s holy name for five hours in a mood of devo-tion and service,” said Bhakta Manjunath Rao Jadhav, the main organizer of the Kirtana Mela. “�e event coincided with India’s

Independence day. Most of the children felt so liberated by the kirtana that they felt this was the real celebra-tion of the culture of India, that the Independence movement hoped to preserve.”

Bhakta Manjunath, who manages the 24-hour NVCC Kirtana Mandali, plans to hold the festival once a month where children from several prestig-ious schools will be invited.

Page 3ISKCON PUNE TODAY / September 2013

iskcon pune todayRNI Res. No. 72522/2000 No. L/RNP/PNCE/M-136/2012-2014

From:Editor,

ISKCON PUNE TODAY4, TARAPORE ROAD, CAMP, PUNE - 411001 (MS)Phone: 020-41033222, 41033234

Registered NewspaperISKCON PUNE TODAYPosted at GPO, PuneOn.................................................To,

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4, Tarapore Rd, Next to Dastur Boys School, Camp, Pune | Phone: 020-41033210 / 22 Mobile: 9225545984 | Email: nvcc@iskconpune.in | www.iskconpune.in

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

“ISKCON PUNE TODAY” monthly magazine is printed and published by Radheshyam Das for the owner ISKCON-Pune Br. Printed at Yashraj Printers, 5 - Gulmohar Manor, Nagar Road, Pune 6 & Published at 4, Tarapore Road, Camp, Pune 411001. Editor - Mr. Kiran Shinde

Contact: 9225545984

1. Janmashtami Abhishek for the year.

2. One Balaji Puja on the special day of your choice.

3. Your name will be displayed in both the temple

campuses on LED Screen as "NVCC sevak of the Month".

4. Annual subscription of "Back to Godhead" magazine.

5. Free subscription for the monthly newsletter.

6. Tax Exemption - u/s 8OG of Income Tax Act.

7. Invitations to the special programmes.

8. Summer Camps for children.

CHEQUES / DRAFTS CAN BE ISSUED IN FAVOUR OF ISKCON NVCC