namahatta.org - Congregational Development Ministry

It’s amazing how you are expected to have an opinion on everything even if you know little or nothing of the facts, I have been asked on several occasions on the departure of the Temple president following aligations of over punishment of children in India and if I felt that he should be retained in some capacity.

Firstly I have had a long and productive talk with the head of ISKCON child protection and the safeguards are impressive although we agree not infallible.

Here at ISKCON Silicon Valley we are in the middle of our Janmastami Vyasa Puja Sankirtan Festival, which is another two weekend event. We've completed the first weekend and we are heading into the second. Below are the emails that Vaisesika Prabhu has sent out to inspire us to perform the sankirtan yajna.

How many did you get right?

Answers tomorrow.

[Watch Video]

Too funny!

by Kaunteya das

At times the standards of our "grihasthas" are so low and disfunctional (ethically, spiritually, economically, etc.) that I am thinking of starting a campaign to promote grihamedhi consciousness, in the spirit of "something is better than nothing."

In ISKCON's pshyche the word grihamedhi represents (and with reason) an unacceptable social stereotype. "The grhastha means he is making the best use of a bad bargain. And the grhamedhi means he is animal. " Srila Prabhupada said in a Gita lecture in London, on 20 August 1973. Such references have created an impression of the grihamedhi as an unspeakably corrupted being, a detestable individual functioning on a level of debasement to which devotees could never possibly plunge?

After the filming of the opening of Radharani's Bakery's new shop, Kripamoya Prabhu quietly mentioned that it may appear on the net soon.

Well, after much thought I have decided not to post it!

HA!

For all who want to see the opening of the shop it's available here:

[Watch Video]

And for a short tour of the facilities you can do here:

[Watch Video]

I hope as always that these clips meet the needs of the devotee's

ISKCON aims to bring the holy name to every town and village, and this program is helpful in fulfilling this vision. If properly implemented, there will be massive harinama sankirtana festivals across the planet every year, generating a tremendous amount of media interest and coverage. Every year, devotees around the world will share their ideas on spreading and glorifying the holy name, resulting in an increased focus on the chanting of the holy names.

This year, World Holy Name Week will be observed from 13–21 September; this nine day period includes the following auspicious tithis:

• Saturday, 13 September: Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura's Appearance Day
• Sunday, 14 September: Srila Haridas Thakura's Disappearance Day
• Monday, 15 September: Acceptance of sannyasa by Srila Prabhupada (also: Sri Visvarupa Mahotsava; beginning of the third month of Caturmasya, fasting from milk)
• Sunday, 21 September: Srila Prabhupada's arrival in the USA

Please celebrate World Holy Name Week on as many of these days as possible. Some Suggestions:

"Child-worship is more important than deity-worship. If you cannot spend time with your child, then stop the duties of pujari. These children are given to us by Krishna. They are Vaisnavas and we must be very careful to protect them. These are not ordinary childern, they are Vaikuntha children, and we are very fortunate we can give them chance to advance further in Krishna Consciousness. That is very great responsibility, do not neglect it or be confused."

Letter to Arundhati, July 30, 1972

My thought this morning:

Preachers should be compassionate. Administrators should be just.

When mercy replaces justice in a land, the people are left unprotected by the rule of law.

One of the great things about our modern political systems is that they are based on the idea that everyone should be protected by the rule of impartial law. There are no favorites, no elites who can act with impunity.

Fasting for one day each month may reduce the risk of clogged arteries by 40 percent, according to a new study conducted by researchers from Intermountain Medical Center and the University of Utah and presented at a conference of the American Heart Association.

Researchers first began to study fasting when an analysis of a health registry indicated that significantly fewer Mormons than non-Mormons in Utah suffered from the clogged arteries indicative of heart disease, even after different smoking rates were taken into account.

I lifted this from the excellent Krishna Kathamrita Bindu eMag:

by Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami

''We cannot say with any certainty that cellphones are either safe or not safe,'' Dr. Black said on CNN. ''My concern is that with the widespread use of cellphones, the worst scenario would be that we get the definitive study 10 years from now, and we find out there is a correlation.''

- Experts Revive Debate Over Cellphones and Cancer, New York Times

A prominent cancer researcher's warning to limit cell phone use has rekindled anew the longstanding question over mobile-phone health risks.

The media is abuzz with news of the memo from Dr. Ronald B. Herberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. He sent it to faculty and staff Wednesday, saying, among other things, that children should use cell phones only for emergencies, since their developing organs are the most likely to be sensitive to possible effects of exposure to electromagnetic fields.
Dr. Ronald B. Herberman

by Devaki dd

Chowpatty is becoming more and more an example for ideal community development within ISKCON. However, sometimes it is not easy to convince senior devotees of the value of the much discussed and glorified Counselor System. And without full and active support from senior devotees it is rather difficult to put into practise. Often we hear the opinion, "the Bhakti-vriksha Program does the same thing." Some devotees conclude, therefore: "No need for any new systems!"

There are basic differences between these two programs; it is not that one is better than the other. If we analyze them more deeply we discover that they have fundamentally different goals, and that there is plenty of room for both programs to run side by side in a yatra.

This is a lovely clip produced by a devotee on YouTube:

[Watch Video]

Kripamoya Prabhu explains history and development of book distribution follow-up strategies in the UK. This online-book contains the following articles:

• Book Distribution Follow Up Strategies: The Mail Order Miracle
• Book Distribution Follow Up Strategies: Meet the Monks!
• Book Distribution Follow Up Strategies: Market Place Festivals

The articles have been posted originally on his blog, The Vaishnava Voice. If and when Kripamoya Prabhu writes more on this subject, I'll include it here.

You can download the whole series as a pdf-file, too.

Such lack of integration between preaching styles inevitably leads to organisational snobbishness, the consequent erosion of team spirit, and can lead to the complete disintegration of a temple or centre. At the very least, it means that the right hand of the movement doesn't know what the left hand is doing—and any interested people lose their way in the confusion.

So the idea was quite simply to bring the different types of preaching together into a seamless programme that more or less resembled Srila Prabhupada's idea of 1973. We wanted to keep the cost down, so we made sure that we paid for everything we did with the proceeds of book distribution. We also wanted the programme to be reproducible for any sankirtan team.

Tribhuvanatha Das, who preached to me in a muddy field in the rain—he was completely dedicated to the spirit of adventure in taking Srila Prabhupada's message to the world

I've been writing something recently about book distribution follow-up strategies. As readers may have gathered, such things are important to me. Firstly, on a logical, strategic level, and on a much more personal level. I came to Krishna myself through a varied campaign.

I'm very grateful to the devotees who spared the time to first speak with me many years ago. My existence as a devotee and as a preacher within the Krishna consciousness movement is the result of their combination of techniques. I had already received Back to Godhead magazines, seen devotees off in the distance at pop festivals, but never had that magic conversation that would bring me to any kind of conviction. The conversation where someone actually cared that I took up the practice of Krishna consciousness.