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Vrindavan - Pune - Juhu

10/24/2013

 
On the 4th of October I arrived in Vrindavan for a short visit of five days. It was so wonderful to be here again, that I decided to change my scedule and return after the GBC meetings in Juhu for another two and half weeks.

I was busy with some errands - getting a few things done which can only be done and bought in Vrindavan. And I spent time with devotees who I hadn't seen for a long time.....
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On the 10th I flew  off to Pune. Waiting for my flight at the Delhi airport and writing on my computer I had all of a sudden Sivarama Swami standing in  front of me, with a big smile. I assumed he was on his way to the GBC meetings in Mumbai, but he wasn't. With a cheeky smile he shared that he  would join Niranjana Swami taking an ayurvedic treatment in South India. Just see....The situation reminded me of catching two school boys who have decided not to attend the classes and rather go to the forest to play.....

I requested him to convey Maharaja my obeisances, and he agreed to do so. I  regretted that I had no gift to send
along with  him. Strangely enough, the  thought had entered my mind in Vrindavan to take along some maha prasadam for  him, but since I knew that he would not be in Juhu I didn't. Little did I know  that I would have the opportunity to send something to him after  all...

It was my very first visit to  Pune Radhesyam Prabhu, the temple president had invited me to visit in order to give  some classes to the ladies of the congregation. Even  though he personally was absent, nevertheless everything was nicely  arranged and taken care  of.I stayed with Jahnava Mataji in her  spacious flat. She is a senior disciple of HH Radhanath Swami - a very  experienced devotee and preacher. We had a nice time together and  connected  well, sharing visions, realizations and thoughts on spiritual  life and  preaching.
Pune is situated in the mountains, and thus the climate is very pleasant: fresh at night, and sunny and mild during
the day. Not as hot, humid and sticky as Mumbai.
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I gave three longer afternoon sessions on "Giving And Accepting Shelter - The Foundation To Vaisnava
Relationships And Devotee Care". The topic was well received, and I had a nice opportunity to connect with the ladies and get to know them. Some days I was invited for prasadam to devotees' homes, and I also met with Indulekha Mataji from Ukraine who lives now with her husband and daughter in Pune.

By Krsna's mercy I was able to reach some devotees' hearts. The idea came up to arrange for a ladies' retreat in the
future. There seems to be a dire need to give attention to the ladies in order to nourish their spiritual life - also in this part of the world.And they were pleasantly surprised and charmed to meet a German woman who understands and
preaches spiritual culture - something which even in this part of the world is deteriorating more and more due to the Western influences. And they felt understood, accepted and supported.
They were affectionately requesting me to come back again soon....
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On the 14th morning I took a car together with Bhanu Swami to Juhu to attend the GBC meetings.

It was nice to be at the beautiful Juhu temple, attend the full morning program every day and offer the ghee lamp while singing the Damodarastaka. 




 And once again I had the opportunity to meet so many senior devotees and leaders of our ISKCON society and connect with some of them on a personal level.As every year I was sharing the room with Dina Sharana Mataji who is serving as the GBC of Germany, and we found time to share visions and plans in regards to developing our ladies' forum.In our Committee For Devotee Care we finalized the Manual for Care For Leaders And Care Givers, and I presented it to the entire group of Committee members, who were pleased with the outcome of our endeavors.

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Since the last GBC meetings in Mayapur I have been contemplating the connection  between spiritual culture and  Devotee Care. And I am more and more  convinced about the importance and need to raise attention to this topic of
spiritual culture, since it seems to solve so many problems within our  society. It is an undeniable fact that spiritual culture promotes selfless  service and care towards all the sections of society,  whereas materialistic  culture promotes envy, neglect and competition. It is a culture of abandoning  each other: wives abandoning husbands, husbands abandoning wives, parents  abandoning children, and children abandoning their parents and grand-parents. It  is a culture of abandoning each other for the sake of sense  enjoyment.I am firmly convinced that true Devotee Care is all about establishing spiritual  culture. Spiritual culture is Krsna's culture. It promotes care on all levels.  In Krsna's culture there is even no need for a  Devotee Care  Committee.However, if we neglect this aspect of culture, then we simply end up  like some Swedish welfare state - we are simply giving guidelines,
recommendations and certifications of a caring temple - all very  organisational and system orientated, without emphasizing the very basis to it  all: spiritual culture. It will become mundane, and the spiritual content will
get lost.

I was trying to find ways to  introduce this thought into our Devotee Care Committee, and even into the  Strategic Planning. Once again I spoke to Gopal Bhatta Prabhu and his team, but  time was short, and there were so many other important issues, so it didn't seem  as urgent and important to them as it is to me.....

I felt the time had come to  establish an Institute For Spiritual Culture, in order to give my courses more  weight and support. Some senior devotees had given me this idea already last  year. The fact that the course is so well received in a Western country like  Germany is a major break-through, and certainly an indication how universal the
underlying principles of spiritual culture are indeed. I needed this experience  to feel confident to move forward and take up the next step of establishing an  Institute.I shared those thoughts with several senior devotees and received
all the encouragement and confirmation I  needed....

I stayed for another three days  in Juhu temple and gave the same seminar "Giving And Accepting Shelter" to the
ladies here. A nice crowd of intelligent ladies gathered and committed to  attending the entire seminar. We connected well, and they received deep insights  into various aspects of shelter - something which easily can become an external  formality unless we come to deeper levels of understanding. Also here the  ladies expressed their joy to meet a German person who valuesspiritual culture.  And this gave them encouragement to preserve what they have received by taking  birth in this part of the world, rather than immitating the West.And I realized what a fertile  preaching ground India is - something I had never really considered  before....

Srila Prabhupada didn't want us  to adopt Western or American ways of life. After a Bhagavad-gita lecture Srila
Prabhupada was asked if he was in this world.He replied, "Just like I am in  America. It is very easy to understand. I am not adopting any ways of life as  the Americans. So I am not in America. Not only myself, all my disciples who are  following me, they are also no Americans. They're different from American  behavior, American ways of life.
In that sense I'm not in America. I am in  Vrndavana because wherever I go in my apartment or in my temple, I live with  Krsna and Krsna consciousness.I don't accept any consciousness of America.  And I teach my disciples also to take to that consciousness. So one who takes to  that consciousness, he is also not in America, not in this world."

(Lecture, Los Angeles, 12/16/68)

As usual  Prabhupada's words make everything very clear - he wants us to transform our  Western or American
consciousness and ways of life into a Krsna conscious  way of life, which is out of this world......

On the 21st I went over to  Bhaktivedanta Hospital for a thorough health check-up - something I had not done  for two years. I stayed for one night with Vaisnavaseva Prabhu and his good  wife, and we did some recordings of presentations on various topics for their  website Iskcondesiretree.com

(To be viewed here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qM68HUedz5o
                    
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNwN1V1w98g 


All the medical check-up's turned out perfect - my vehicle had passed the inspection for the next couple of
years....

On the 22nd of October I flew  back  to Delhi and traveled out to Vrindavan  again....


Your servant, Devaki dd

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