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CommunityNewsletter
International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)Founder Acarya His Divine Grace A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
ISKCON New York CitySri Sri Radha Govinda
0003 October 2019
A HarinamSankirtan
Fairground!
"Yes, from the very beginningI went to New York because Ithought that KrishnaConsciousness is the mostimportant idea in the world,so let me go to that place,New York, which is the mostimportant city in the world,and if I am able to doanything for Krishna and mySpiritual Master, even if I amat the end of my life, at leastlet me try for it there. So mydreams have all come true,and all of you nice boys andgirls are getting the credit."
-- December 23, 1972Letter to Sudama das
Contents
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This is the official community newsletter ofISKCON New York City, Sri Sri Radha Govinda Temple
Become a contributor!email [email protected]
Be sure to follow us on social media
Monthly Sankirtan Festival...................................................2Comic con............................................................................4The Second Installment of MSF...........................................5Kartik begins........................................................................6Tompkins Square Park anniversary.....................................8Meet our Board of Trustees.................................................9Govindas featured in Timeout NY........................................9Interfaith Center NY.............................................................9HH Bhakti Charu Swami initiations.....................................10Local High Schools visit Radha Govinda............................10Temple President on Indian TV...........................................11Daily Srimad Bhagavatam now on MTV.............................11Devotee of the month.........................................................12Using Science in Krishna's Service....................................12
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New York, New York, a Cityfamous for many things is fastbecoming famous for its manywonderous sites andopportunities for HarinamSankirtan!Visiting devotees from aroundthe world, as well as thosefrom both ISKCON NYC andHarinama Yuga DharmaAshram regularly fill thestreets with the Lord's namesand the distribution of SrilaPrabhupada's literature.The end of last month saw anecstatic weekend of bookdistribution that culminatedwith our Monthly SankirtanFestival and in addition takingpart in the street fair'Atlanic Antic'.
Books,books. books!
“I thank you EVERYONE, whoshared with us!” SaysDivyangi devi dasi, oursankirtan leader. A group ofdevotees even went out todistribute Russian books onBrighton beach the very sameweekend, a wonderful iniativeheaded up by Kishori Ranidasi.
The book scores of theweekend speak forthemselves;108 maha42 big64 medium178 smallA total of 392 books!This month's MSF wasbeautifully facilitated by HisGrace Vaisesika prabhu andHer Grace Nirakula mataji.Their contagious and infiniteenthusiasm fueled the spirit ofeveryone who took part.
“So very energizing andinspiring to spend time withboth of them. I am still buzzingfrom their association, andthinking about ways to furtherthe mission of SrilaPrabhupada and our SpiritualMasters.” Says Brajarani devidasi.
Five book tables were set upin the Lower Manhattan area;Astor Place;
near New York University;and two tables in WashingtonSquare Park. Our main focusbeing the park, with a kirtangathering upon a large mat inthe grass at the place wheremonthly kirtans are oftenheld.
Coincidentally, WashingtonSquare Park is the very placewhere Srila Prabhupada heldthe first intentional publickirtan, when he one dayinstructed his disciples to joinhim and make a kirtan there.And of course this park hasbeen the traditional end pointfor the Annual NYC RathaYatra Festival for many years.
HG Vaisesika prabhu wentfrom each area firing up thedevotees and the public!
The event finally came to anend at Washington SquarePark, with all groups joining tosing in kirtan and to sharerealisations and reflections ofthe day.
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MonthlySankirtanFestival
The following day devoteeskeenly went out to a localstreet festival 'Atlantic Antic'.Still brimming with rawenthusiasm from the daybefore, they set to work bycreating an attractivelydecorated gazebo and booktables. A wide selection ofdevottees attended, and dueto the nearby proximity of thefestival, many went out whodo not usually get theopportunity.
The very same weekenddevotees again went out intheir local neighbourhoods!Lets hear it once more forKaruna Avatar and his teamout on Liberty Avenue inJackson Heights, and forBhakta Jose in his local area!
Why not take the opportunityto do something similar in yourarea or to join one of thegroups already set up? Do notforget we regularly holdSankirtan Sundays that inviteanyone within the communityto join in the fun!After all, as Dasya Prem das,our Temple Commander,famously said, “New York Cityis a dream come true, its like aHarinam Sankirtanamusement park!”
Book distribution atComic Con weekend!The weekend of October 5-6thsaw our team attend anannual comic convention, andwhat better place to distributeSrila Prabhupada's bookswhich tell the pastimes of theone true hero, Lord Krishna!The team had a lot of fun overthe weekend, meeting manynice people who were bothopen minded and seeking analternative vision frommundane reality.
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October 19th saw another MSF book festival, brought forward a week by the enthusiasticHH Kadamba Kanana Swami. A total of 99 books were distributed.
The most auspicious andbeautiful month is finally here,and we can relish theopportunity to get a stepcloser to Krishna and deepenour sadhana and meditation.Again we have been blessedwith so much wonderfulassociation at ISKCON NYC,with HH Trivikrama Swami,HH Krsna Kshetra Swami andHH Kadamba Kanana Swamiall choosing to spend somequailty time with us.
Devotees have been filling the temple room each evening tooffer lamps to their Lordships and singing the delightfulDamadorastakam after the daily evening class.
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Tompkins Square Park,the birth place of LordCaitanya's Sankirtanmovement in theWestern hemisphere.October 9th marked theanniversary of the TompkinsSquare Park Kirtan thatchanged the world as weknow it today. After arriving inNew York in September theyear before, in 1966 SrilaPrabhupada set up ISKCONINC soon after openingMatchless Gifts on 26th 2ndAvenue. This very same year,as the summer drew to aclose, and Mukunda das wentto San Francisco to start anew temple, Srila Prabhupadawent by himself to TompkinsSquare Park to sing kirtan.
News of the Swami soonspread as Srila Prabhupadadrew a crowd of interestedhippies and bystanders, andthe kirtans in TompkinsSquare Park became aspontaneous 'happening',drawing in curious newaspirants who later becameprominent characters withinour ISKCON family.Tompkins Square Park is justa few minutes walk fromMatchless Gifts, and todayone can easily visit the samespot where Srila Prabhupadasang under what is known asthe 'Hare Krishna Tree'. Justaround the corner from whereAdi Purusa distributes freeprasadam daily.Earlier this year as part of athree day long Ratha Yatra
Festival we held the first of itskind 'Kirtan Pilgrimage', atribute to our heritage and thelegacy that Srila Prabhupadahas given us. To watch the fullevent click here...
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Meet our boardof trustees
On September 29th, 2019 theBoard of Trustees of Sri SriRadha Govinda Temple (a/k/aBharati Center Inc.) held theirannual meeting to review theactivities, financial statementsand other matters relevant tothe management andorganization of the Temple.The Trustees are as follows:
• Vaisesika Das (Chairman,Bharati Center Inc.)• Caitanyananda Das (ViceChairman, Bharati Center Inc.)• Mañjulali Manjari Dasi(Secretary)• Talban Syamsundar Das(Executive CommitteeMember)• Dhanañjaya Krishna Das• Pyari Mohan Das• Mahagopi Radhika Dasi• Gokulesvari Radha Dasi
The temple officers are:• Hansarupa Das, President• Harivilasa Das, VicePresident• Mithuna Das, Secretary• Talban Syamsundar Das,Treasurer
Recently our lunch club,Govinda's Vegetarian Lunch,was featured in a list ofvegetarian eateries aroundNew York City. It waswonderful to present thedelicious preparations on offerthat day, and to give 'Timeout'a brief introduction as to whoGovinda really is!
Govinda's featured in'Timeout New York'
As a part of New York Cities faith groups ISKCON New YorkCity is now a member of ICNY, New York's Interfaith collective.The Interfaith Center of New York is a nationally recognizednonprofit organization that catalyzes collaboration amonggrassroots religious leaders and secular civic officials toaddresss the cities most pressing social problems, and also anon-governmental organization (affiliated with the UnitedNations Department of Public Information) helping to make NewYork an internationally recognized model of mutualunderstanding and cooperation among faith traditions.Recently an event was held in Brooklyn Borough Hall, and over30 different civic faith leaders came together to discuss how toprogressively move forward with a message of love andacceptance. It was an interesting event with many social issuescovered, and an exciting prosepect to be a part of thelandscape of the cities mainstream spiritual communities.
Click here for the full article
Interfaith Center New York
Towards the end of Septemberaround 30 children from alocal high school came to visitthe ISKCON NYC as part oftheir educational field trips,visiting different faith groups attheir houses of worship.Young devoteesenthusiatically hosted the visit,taking the group into thetemple room, explaining aboutthe deities, the Maha Mantra,our devotional lifestyle and ofcourse leading them in anenergetic kirtan that saweveryone dancing. Theafternoon ended with a mealat Govinda's. 10
On September 29th twelvenew aspirants took initiationfrom His Holiness Bhakti CaruSwami.The first initiations to takeplace in our temple room forsome time, the ceremony waswell attended and many of themembers of our communitycelebrated the commitment ofthese aspirants onto the pathof bhakti yoga.
First initiation:Rati das... RasheshwarGovinda dasKanika das...Kankangi Radhadevi dasiSwaralipi Sinha...SatyavatiRadha devi dasiNanda Sinha....Nandanandana dasDilip Biswas....(DamodarGopal Das)Manika Bhardan....MadhumatiRadha devi dasiGaura Priya Saha...GaurangiPriyasi devi dasiMahendraDebnath...Manmohan dasSubornaDebnath...Suarnakanti
Second initiation:Samarpita Radhika devi dasiDhananjaya Krishna das
Bhakta Max was previouslyinitiated by HH DevamritaSwami as Dhenukari das andhe also sat at the first initiationsacrificial fire on September29th 2019.Anyone who was a part of theinitiations but has not receivedtheir initiation photos [email protected] forfurther information.
His Holliness BhaktiCaru initiations
Local high school visits Radha Govinda
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In the past month it hasbecome a frequently occuringevent, that film crews come toour temple. Where else thanin New York City could yousay such a thing? Recentlywe paid host to two visitingfilm crews, one fromEducational TV, and another from an Indian political channel 'Republic'. The educationalchannel featured our temple and its community in a documentary about how young peopleexperience their spiritual journey. While the latter included an interview with our TemplePresident, Hansarupa das, on how scriptures and diplomacy are relevant in today's world.The full clip can be viewed here.
Temple Presidenton Indian TV
Still in its fledgling stages,nonetheless our daily livestreaming of SrimadBhagavatam class is nowavailable on Mayapur TV!Our debut on Mayapur TVearlier in the year saw full livecoverage of our three dayRatha Yatra Festival, whichreached over 60,000 viewersworldwide. If you would like tosee our delightful Sri SriRadha Govinda daily deitydarshan on Mayapur TV [email protected] today!
Now on Mayapur TV TAKE PART IN THECHRISTMAS MARATHON!
SPONSOR BOOKS TODAY!
Everyone is invited to takepart in the Grand NYCChristmas Marathon!
There is no better time andopportunity to join us andour team in spreading loveand peace this festive
season!Full training is offered.
For more information email: [email protected]
THE COMMUNITYNEWSLETTER OF ISKCONNEW YORK CITY
DIRECTOR OF PUBLICATION:Hansarupa das
CONTRIBUTORS:Citta Hari das, Karuna Avatardas, Divyangi devi dasi,Sukanti Gaurangi devi dasi,Aditya devi dasi,
Do you have a story you wouldlike to see in our nextnewsletter?Or would you like to sponsorprinting ?email: [email protected]
Devotee of the month
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This month goes to not one, not two but three devotees...
All of us can be grateful for their wonderful contribution to Sri Sri Radha Govinda.Divyangi devi dasi is always encouraging us to join her out on books and leading us by such awonderful example. Caranti devi dasi takes care of guests and is always making sure thateveryone is happy taking prasadam. And Sukanti Gaurangi devi dasi, in case you are wonderingwho that is, she is our newly initiated Bhaktin Sarah! Sukanti Gaurangi devi dasi is fast becomingan expert administrator and organizer.These three are all residents of our ladies ashram, and we are so fortunate to have them.
Murali Gupta Das, a BIHS research associate with a PhD inPhysics, and resident of New York City, embarked on a globaltour, to encourage devotees to use science in Krishna'sservice. This October he also gave talks in our temple,presenting the relationships between philosophy and science.His tour started in Gainsville, Florida, where he held aworkshop which saw a diverse group of devotees and otheracademics gathering to discuss ISKCON's place in the evershifting Religion- Evolution dialogue. The outcome was anarrative that challenges the atheistic conclusions generallyassociated with Darwinism, while maintaining a respect forscience itself.
Using Science in Krishna's Service
