From the 4th of February onwards the ISKCON Leadership Sanga took place for the following eight days. It is an event which is arranged every two years - Gopal Bhatta Prabhu initiated it several years ago. Around 800 leaders and senior devotees had come to Mayapur from all around the world to attend presentations on various topics. It was truly a Mela of presentations, with many topics being offered parallel in different venues. Since they took place several times, one could always find a chance to attend those one had chosen. In the mornings interesting plenary sessions on relevant topics for ISKCON took place - all arranged by Gopal Bhatta Prabhu and his team. Sometimes our prominent leaders such as Radhanath Swami or Bhakti Charu Swami would speak. I noticed that all of a sudden the topic of culture, and even SPIRITUAL CULTURE appeared many times! It almost seemed to be one of the key themes of the entire event.
I was scheduled to give four times the same presentation on "The Vanaprastha Ashram - Still Relevant Today?" - an overview of my 15-hour course, in order to bring awareness to the importance of this ashram. It became so obvious to me how devotees are not at all conscious of the great relevance and importance of this ashram which is meant to shape our last phase in life and help us to intensely prepare to go back to Godhead. Some devotees even expressed how they become fearful at the thought of entering this ashram, and rather don't aspire for it. So many misconceptions are there in regards to this topic, and we seem to miss Prabhupada's statements in the SB that it is a MUST! Maybe we are simply not there yet....!
I enjoyed attending various presentations and associating with devotees from all around the world over the delicious lunch prasadam in the big pandal. And it gave me a great opportunity to promote my book by showing it to many leaders and devotees who I know a little. Most of them accepted one or even more with great eagerness. Every day I came with my book bag and went on "Sankirtan" - by far the best way to get it out there! So much more effective than sitting on a book table. The personal approach always wins. And I love to approach devotees, connect with them and have meaningful exchanges. The book gave me a good reason to get in touch with people, and everybody reacted with appreciation, encouragement and interest.
The ILS presentation which left the deepest impressions on my mind was given by Kalakantha and Samba Prabhus, who live in Mayapur and spoke about "What we can learn from the Amish" - a Christian sect which lives in farm communities in America. I was deeply impressed by the slide show, illustrating their simple life style - keeping away from sense gratification and unnecessary necessities, as Srila Prabhupada calls them. They grow fruits and vegetables, produce wooden furniture and other crafts and move around in horse carts, and their life is God centered. Whenever a new technology appears on the market, the elders meet and discuss whether they want to accept it in their communities. One of the main important criterias in the discussion is whether or not it will increase pride. And if it does so, they don't accept it. Many times they consider "What would the Lord think about this? What would He instruct?" They very regularly meet for Bible studies in somebody's home. The ladies look very chaste, simple and pure hearted - covering their head and wearing simple uniforms.
Srila Prabhupada's instruction on the importance of farm communities came to practical life for me! I was amazed at how they manage to live like this - even without having access to the power of the holy name! And yet, we devotees seem so far away from this simple life style! Will there ever be a time, when we can be so united in our values, principles and practices? The amazing thing is, that they send each and every youth at around 19 years of age for one year out of their communities in order to evaluate their life and decide, whether they want to continue as a member of the Amish, or rather live a life in the outside world. And around 95% of those youngsters come back to their community! What binds them is the strong relationships, deep friendships and supportive systems which the community has developed.
Of course, they are not a preaching movement like we are, and only rarely accept an outsider into their communities. They increase the numbers of their members through having many children, and in this way they have expanded quite remarkably over the last 200 years.
I enjoyed attending various presentations and associating with devotees from all around the world over the delicious lunch prasadam in the big pandal. And it gave me a great opportunity to promote my book by showing it to many leaders and devotees who I know a little. Most of them accepted one or even more with great eagerness. Every day I came with my book bag and went on "Sankirtan" - by far the best way to get it out there! So much more effective than sitting on a book table. The personal approach always wins. And I love to approach devotees, connect with them and have meaningful exchanges. The book gave me a good reason to get in touch with people, and everybody reacted with appreciation, encouragement and interest.
The ILS presentation which left the deepest impressions on my mind was given by Kalakantha and Samba Prabhus, who live in Mayapur and spoke about "What we can learn from the Amish" - a Christian sect which lives in farm communities in America. I was deeply impressed by the slide show, illustrating their simple life style - keeping away from sense gratification and unnecessary necessities, as Srila Prabhupada calls them. They grow fruits and vegetables, produce wooden furniture and other crafts and move around in horse carts, and their life is God centered. Whenever a new technology appears on the market, the elders meet and discuss whether they want to accept it in their communities. One of the main important criterias in the discussion is whether or not it will increase pride. And if it does so, they don't accept it. Many times they consider "What would the Lord think about this? What would He instruct?" They very regularly meet for Bible studies in somebody's home. The ladies look very chaste, simple and pure hearted - covering their head and wearing simple uniforms.
Srila Prabhupada's instruction on the importance of farm communities came to practical life for me! I was amazed at how they manage to live like this - even without having access to the power of the holy name! And yet, we devotees seem so far away from this simple life style! Will there ever be a time, when we can be so united in our values, principles and practices? The amazing thing is, that they send each and every youth at around 19 years of age for one year out of their communities in order to evaluate their life and decide, whether they want to continue as a member of the Amish, or rather live a life in the outside world. And around 95% of those youngsters come back to their community! What binds them is the strong relationships, deep friendships and supportive systems which the community has developed.
Of course, they are not a preaching movement like we are, and only rarely accept an outsider into their communities. They increase the numbers of their members through having many children, and in this way they have expanded quite remarkably over the last 200 years.
The highlight of the ILS was the historic chakra installation on top of the new Temple Of the Vedic Planetarium. I was fortunate enough to be given a VIP ID allowing me to enter a nicely prepared area on the very construction site, which allowed me to closely witness this event. Our senior most leaders were giving speeches - Radhanath Maharaja, Bhakti Caru Maharaja, Gopal Krishna Maharaja and others, and of course Ambarisha Prabhu and his wife, who play a major role in building this temple. There was a fire yajna and an abhishek of the two chakras, and the atmosphere was very festive - everybody could sense the uniqueness of this historic event! When finally the big crane lowered its mighty hook to pick up the two cakras - one after another, and carry them up to the very top of the dome, I imagined the crane to be a personality, performing this amazing service - maybe a gigantic elefant, who was patiently waiting until everything was ready for him to perform this extraordinary service. It was an emotionally surcharged moment when he lifted the chakras, showered by flower petals, and carried them high into the sky, so that the chakra could be mounted on top of the temple. The small chakra would be above Lord Nrsimhadeva, and the big one surveying the main temple. They are non-different to Lord Visnu, Who is now presiding over the new Mayapur temple and is watching its development.....!
And I had to prepare for yet another exciting event to be held on the 13th of February......
Your servant, Devaki dd
Your servant, Devaki dd
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