Outreach

In July the Outreach Department carried out its regular programmes online. Dayal Mora dasa has been running a five-day live Bhagavad-Gita study every morning at 11.00am on the ISKCON-London Facebook page.

Other online programmes for newcomers such as Wisdom Wednesdays and Spiritual Technologies continued on the Bhakti Yoga London Facebook and Instagram pages, every Wednesday 6.00pm and Thursday 6.30pm. Wisdom Wednesdays is a study group facilitated by Shyam Govinda dasa and involves studying the text Sri Isopanisad with a guest-speaker every week. Spiritual Technologies is a study group which focuses on studying the Bhagavad-Gita and involves reading, discussion and questions and answers. This is also facilitated by Shyam Govinda dasa.

FREE SPIRIT SUNDAYS

The Outreach team started a new outdoor kirtan programme called ‘Free Spirit Sundays’ taking place in Soho Square Park. It takes place every Sunday afternoon from 3.00pm onwards. It’s proven to be an attractive and inviting programme to devotees and passers-by to come and join in the kirtan. Those that have joined in found the Hare Krishna kirtan enchanting and meditative. As there is plenty of space in the park, people can still maintain social distancing.

Due to COVID-19, this year’s seven-day UK Padayatra event had to be cancelled. This event had been taking place yearly since 2016, organised by Dayal Mora dasa and Parasuram dasa.

But the Padayatra team had a great new idea and have introduced one-day walks outside of London (which are technically still considered Padayatra according to the official ISKCON Padayatra standards) to different locations such as Dover and Seaford Seven Islands. These walks include harinama, picnic prasadam, devotee association and talks about Krishna in outstanding natural environments and are powerful experiences for newcomers to taste the joy of devotion. As a result of such programmes and other similar endeavours, but mostly by Krishna’s mercy, a few new youths have recently even decided to join the men’s ashram at ISKCON-London.

OUTREACH INTERVIEW WITH DEE WELIHINDA Dee Welihinda is a 30-year-old Project Manager for the Civil Service, currently living in South West London. Her first contact with Hare Krishna’s was in Reading about four years ago, during a Rathayatra festival where she enjoyed some prasadam. Since June last year Dee has been regularly attending the outreach programmes Wisdom Wednesdays and Fortunate Fridays. The Community Newsletter team caught up with Dee to find out a bit more about her spiritual journey so far.

Community Newsletter Team: Hare Krishna Dee! Thanks for speaking to us. Firstly, tell us a bit about yourself, your background and interests?

Dee Welihinda: I was born in Sri Lanka but grew up in Yorkshire and currently living in South West London. My hobbies include dancing, mainly salsa and modern jive and when I go home I enjoy target shooting with my parents in the local Rifle Club.

Q) Would you call yourself a spiritual person? If yes, why? A) Yes. I was raised a Buddhist so I’ve always grown up with spirituality embedded in me and have always been spiritually curious.

Q) Where had your spiritual journey taken you before you came into contact with the Hare Krishna’s? A) Although I’ve been a practicing Buddhist all my life, my first profound spiritual experience was with Lord Vishnu when I visited an ashram in Wales about three and a half years ago. That was the first time where I felt a connection with the divine in a personal way for the first time, where I felt I could truly open up and pour my heart out. To this date that place is my go-to happy place.

Q) When did you first hear about the Hare Krishna’s? Was that in London? A) I’ve always known they existed because I’ve seen them doing Harinama in Oxford Street and in Stockholm. But my first proper contact was in Reading about four years ago when I accidentally bumped into a Rathayatra and took prasadam. I’ve always had a habit of randomly bumping into Hare Krishna’s!

Q) What were your first impressions of the Hare Krishna’s? (You can be honest, we won’t be offended!) A) I’ve always been curious but thought they were a bunch of crazy folk in robes if I am honest. Mainly because I was always taught that being spiritual/ practicing religion was sitting down in a quiet meditative state. So I struggled to understand kirtan and thought they were busking to start with!

Q) What made you want to learn more about the Hare Krishna’s? A) By complete chance I popped into the pop-up temple at the Mind, Body and Spirit festival in London last year. They did a few minutes of Hare Krishna japa meditation and there was something so profound in it that truly resonated with me. Although I’ve meditated all my life, no other meditation has ever resonated with me that much. I then popped into the ISKCON-London Temple a few months later having chanted Hare Krishna at home regularly.

Q) What Krishna Conscious weekly programme have you been attending? A) Wisdom Wednesdays, Sunday Programme and a few Fortunate Friday sessions before lockdown. Now I join the online Wisdom Wednesdays and Spiritual Technologies every week and try and pop into the Sunday Kirtan sessions in the park.

Q) How do you find the programmes? A) It brings like-minded spiritually curious folk and devotees together and provides an open and inclusive forum to learn the scriptures and discuss other topical issues. Shyam Govinda dasa, who hosts the programmes, is always very inclusive and happy to be challenged and debate issues. So you never feel like you can’t raise anything. It truly feels like a discussion with a bunch of friends.

Q) What do you look forward to the most each week about the programme? A) It is association with devotees and learning the scriptures. I’ve met and become friends with people I’d never come across if it wasn’t for the programmes. We have formed a supportive little community where we help each other with our spiritual journeys and in general even with silly little things like suit shopping for siblings!

Q) Tell us about someone who really inspires you? A) Tulsi Gabbard. I feel I can relate to her having studied and worked in politics in the past. She inspires me because she helps breakdown that common misconception that you can’t be religious/ spiritual and be ambitious and have a successful career doing what you love. She is a good reminder that we all have our different varnas and roles to fulfil in this world, and we can do it in a Krishna conscious way with a service attitude.

July and August saw a beautiful variety of homegrown flowers, fruits and vegetables offered to Their Lordships. Offerings were used in the daily worship, decorating the Deities, the Deities’ garlands, food offerings and the flower vases on the altar and Srila Prabhupada’s Vyasasana. Other contributions included honey which was offered to Lord Balarama on Balarama Jayanti. A few of the preparations offered to Their Lordships during the festival days in August were made from Project Grow donations. One community member also made pure natural rose water which was used for bathing Their Lordships. Thank you to everyone’s contributions! The Project Grow team have also been engaging their children in gardening. Some benefits of engaging children in this service include:

Helps children to be outdoors and build physical strength while digging, watering etc.

Encourages healthy eating. Children love to eat what they grow.

They learn responsibility and patience while looking after the plants’ needs.

Teaches children to offer their results (in the form of flowers and produce) to Their Lordships and develop an attachment to serving Them. Feeling inspired and want to join the Project Grow team and grow for Sri Sri Radha-Londonisvara? Please contact Taruna Krishna dasa on tkd@iskcon. london. Project Grow contributions are collected once a week by ISKCON-London from Bhaktivedanta Manor entrance gates. Alternatively, they can be dropped off directly to ISKCON-London.

“Every man should produce his own food. That is Vedic culture. So this example is given: idam sariram ksetram. That means to own a certain piece of land is the basic civilization. Everyone must have a portion of land to produce his own food. There will be no economic problem” Srila Prabhupada, Lecture on Bhagavad-Gita 13.35, Geneva, June 6th 1974

“Of all areas that ISKCON devotees still need to make progress on, it is the production of our own food. Such production will be good for our health, will be satisfying to Krishna (that He is being offered as pure a food as possible) and will also go a long way to solving our economic challenges. So let me fall at the feet of all the wonderful devotees engaged in ‘Project Grow’ - what a wonderful initiative!”