March 2012 ISKCON-London Community Newsletter

COMMUNITY

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March 2012 Highlights

• Radhanath Swami visits ISKCON • Happy Birthday to Chandravali devi dasi • Book Distribution

Gaura Purnima • Govinda’s Restaurant Devotee Care • Radha’s Boutique Youth Preaching • Outreach

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Community News

Gaura Purnima Gaura Purnima celebrates the auspicious occasion of the appearance of the Lord’s most merciful incarnation, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. This year Gaura Purnima fell on March 8th. The morning started with euphoric kirtan with Their Lordships dressed in new outfits for the special occasion.

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His Holiness Atmanivedana Swami, who gave an entertaining and insightful class, joined us. We were also very fortunate to have the association of Rupa Vilas dasa, who gave the evening discourse.

As usual the day was filled with festivities which included a drama, maha harinama, kirtans, abhishek of Sri Sri Gaura Nitai, a sumptuous feast and the famous late evening festival kirtans.

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Community News

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Community News

Devotee Care Creating a system of care in Lisbon We visited ISKCON-Lisbon, Portugal centre, on the request of Rupa Vilas and Govinda Sundar Prabhus from 19 - 22 March 2012 after they were inspired by a presentation made at the ELM about the Counsellor System and Devotee Care.

The devotees were extremely receptive, hospitable, kind, caring and eager to hear. There was a core group of about 4-5 who attended our daily sessions over three days from 3:30-5:30 pm - then there were programmes each evening nama hatta style. All of the core group are initiated, over 30 years of age and mostly locals.

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We discussed the core ethos of Devotee Care and shared the method we have introduced (counsellor system) - explaining that there are many different styles and methods to choose from. (We gave them copies of the newest devotee care journals for them to see.)

The sessions were very interactive and personal, with questions and answers, real life experiences of successes and challenges.

They were inspired to begin the system but felt it was important to first develop themselves by meeting as a group to hear and chant together for their own nourishment and to also discuss how to practically move forward.

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Community News

We have agreed to stay in touch with them via email, share any information we have and also to follow-up at a later date to be set in the future - which they desired.

Side point is that they seem to be running a relatively successful lunch time restaurant programme with approximately 50-75 customers a day, many of them say Hare Krishna or Haribol, are professionals and almost entirely locals.

Another side point - there was a lot of talk about integrating more with the local Hindu community, this has not been done and may require guidance.

Your servants Jai Nitai dasa and Bhava Bhakti devi dasi

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Community News

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Youth Preaching March was a very exciting month for preaching, being the last month before the Easter break. The main highlights are outlined below.

Mantra Jam After considerable planning and hard work, our team at SOAS university finally launched their Mantra Jam kirtan event in the heart of SOAS, attracting well over 100 people throughout the evening.

An evening of mellow and ecstatic tunes was led

by Radha Londonisvara dasa and Jahnavi devi dasi, and by the end of the session there were crowds of students dancing wildly in the lounge area of the university.

The event was a huge success, being the first introduction to Krishna Consciousness for a large number of students. The event included not only kirtan, but book stalls, merchandise and a free feast which was a big hit with the students after an evening of dancing and singing.

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Gita Sutras The Gita Sutras sessions continued as usual, and the main topics discussed were Life Lessons and the Inner Voice.

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KC Lounge We have recently recruited new team members from the brahmacari ashram to manage the weekly Friday Programe, in an effort to revitalize and expand its success. It is hoped that the programe will also now serve to attract a new generation of attendees who

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Community News

may consider joining the ashram at a later stage.

The main topics covered this month were the Inner Voice, Sense Perception, an overview of the Bhagavad Gita and a presentation on the WADDA farm community project in India. Another of the popular open Q&A sessions was also held.

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Community News

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Radhanath Swami visits ISKCON London At the end of this month we were very fortunate to have the association of His Holiness Radhanath Swami. Maharaja spoke on building a community of care and led an estatic kirtan. His Holiness Chandramuali Swami was also in attendance and led the devotees in dancing enthusiastically.

Happy Birthday to Chandravali devi dasi A surprise party was held for Chandravali devi dasi on March 3rd to celebrate her 60th birthday. The party was held in Govinda’s and brought many members of the ISKCON London community together. Mother Chandravali ki jaya!

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Community News

Book Distribution During the month of March we collected ÂŁ5,574, distributed 3,198 books for 1,840.75 book points.

The scores were as follows:

Name

Days Lakshmi

Book Points

Jai Nitai Dasa

1

5.00

1.25

5

Bhakta Elin

1

4.00

1.25

5

Virabhadra dasa

2

9.00

2.00

Nrsmha Vallabha das

1

8.00

2.25

Bhaktin Louise

2

17.00

3.50

Premarnava dasa

1

12.00

4.00

2

Govinda's smart box

1

10.00

4.00

2

Bhakta Aryan

1

10.00

4.00

2

Bhakta Ben

1

12.00

4.50

2

Mantra Jan

1

16.00

7.00

3

4

Bhakta Shiv

1

35.00

8.50

4

2

Vijaya Das

1

16.00

10.00

5

Gaura Kishore group-Smart Box

1

30.00

10.00

5

Bhava Bhakti Counsellee group

1

32.00

11.00

5

2

Jayananda das

5

40.00

12.75

4

2

15

Bhakta Alexey

4

43.00

13.50

4

3

16

Sachi Kumar Nimai das

2

40.00

15.75

8

47

Bhava Bhakti Counselle smart box 3

71.00

17.25

2

11

31

Yoga school

1

47.00

17.50

8

1

Intro to Bhagavad-Gita

1

34.00

18.00

9

Bhava Bhakti Conselle Cans

1

63.00

20.00

10

Hari Kirtan das

1

90.00

26.75

7

9

33

WW south

2

111.00

30.25

6

22

29

WW west(Ealing)

1

42.00

36.75

16

3

13

Bhakta Pasha

15

281.00

97.00

16

53

154

Bhakta Laurie

9

504.00

124.00

5

62

332

Russian Bhakti Vriksha

4

357.00

128.25

36

17

191

Sundara Nitai das

9

833.00

357.00

155

1

3

1,387.00

366.25

16

122

36

2

1,415.00

486.50

4

27

555

HDG AC Bhaktivendanta Swami Prabhupada Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna NPKTSP Hare Hare

Big

Maha Big Medium Medium Hard Hard

Set

1

6

1

1 1

1

Small

1

10

1

1

49 353

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Community News

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Govinda’s Restaurant Govinda’s collected £58,075.33 in March, of this amount: catering £1,882.50 and books £103.50. ********************************************************* Govinda’s takings: £56,089.33 ********************************************************* • • •

31 working days.

Average day for the restaurant: £1,873.40. £7,890.89 more then March 2011.

Radha’s Boutique Radha’s Boutique collected £9,123.86 in March.

Outreach Jai Nitai dasa preformed the following outreach activities in March: 1st – Held a department heads meeting. This was the first meeting of this kind. 12 department heads attended and the temple management plan to hold these meetings quarterly.

16th – House Program with the Dattani family. There were 30 devotees in attendance.

23rd – Held a program in Wimbledon with 25 guests in attendance.

28th – Jai Nitai dasa and Bhava Bhakti devi dasi attended a Westminster Faith Exchange meeting.

The topic of discussion was the upcoming London Olympics.

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Community News

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Daily Programme Times Arati Times 4.30am – Mangala Arati 5.00am – Tulasi Arati 7.00am – Deity Greeting 8.00am – Dhoop Arati 12.30pm – Raj Bhoga Arati 4.15pm – Dhoop Arati 7.00pm – Sundara Arati 9.00pm – Dhoop Arati

Darshan Times 4.30am to 5.00am 7.00am to 7.30am 8.00am to 11.45am 12.30pm to 1.00pm 4.15pm to 6.30pm 7.00pm to 7.30pm 9.00pm to 9.30pm Lunch Programme Monday to Saturday 1.00pm to 2.15pm

Classes 7.30am – Bhagavatam or Caitanya Caritamrta 1.00pm – Introductory Talk 6.00pm – Bhagavad Gita (except Sunday) Sunday Programme 3.30pm – Bhajans 4.15pm – Dhoop Arati 4.30pm – Introductory Talk 5.30pm – Sunday Feast 6.00pm – Questions & Answers 7.00pm – Gaura Arati

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Radha-Krishna Temple 10 Soho Street London W1D 3DL

T: 020 7437 3662 E: london@pamho.net W: www.iskcon-london.org

International Society for Krishna Conciousness Founder-Acharya: His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada