Community Development

TEMPLE REOPENING

On Sunday 5th July the Temple reopened for public darshan after over three months of closure due to the lockdown. New safety measures were in place to ensure the safety of visitors and to help stop the spreading of the virus.

The Community Development Team helped support the opening of the temple for darshan by personally getting in touch with community members inviting and informing them of the opening times for darshan on the weekend of 4th and 5th July.

The team was also busy getting the summer festival mailout ready, which included preparing the invitation letter, invitation card and an Offering of Love leaflet providing information on how one can become a regular donor, and packing the envelopes.

They also organised a donations table outside the temple during the Darshan Days and festivals in August.

Every year the Mentorship Retreat Team organises a summer retreat. This year due to the pandemic that was not possible but that did not hold back the spirit of offering something to the community.

Over the summer Bank Holiday weekend, Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th August, devotees were transported to the holy land of Vrindavana with the first virtual retreat. Sessions were led by Sacinandana Swami, Bhakti Rasamrita Swami, Urmila devi dasi, Amarendra dasa and Bhuta Bhavana dasa on Lord Krishna’s pastimes.

The nectar-filled weekend event was attended by over 300 participants. Both days ended with kirtan and live darshan of Their Lordships. This retreat was a joint team collaboration organised by Radha Govinda dasa and included Hema Shah, Mahaprabhu dasa, Natasha Menon, Siddarth Vachhani and the LCVS team.

Watch the classes here: https://bit.ly/krishnainvrindavan-playlist

Sacinandana Swami shares why he felt the retreat was unique and important, “The subject of this online retreat was very different. We are speaking very personally and directly about

Krishna and His pastimes, and in this way, we do what I would like to call therapeutic hearing.

When you go for therapy initially you will not see the immediate benefits. Similarly, when you hear about Krishna personally and directly, you may at the beginning not feel the immediate benefit. But hear it as a therapy against your forgetfulness of Krishna. You will gradually lose your forgetfulness and become attached to Krishna. You soon lose your attachment to the world of harmful attachments.”