International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)Founder Acarya His Divine Grace A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

0005 December 2019

CommunityNewsletter

"While the impersonalistwrongly concludes that he isthe Lord himself, thepersonalist, out of a greatgratitude, worships the Lordin devotional service,knowing perfectly well thatnothing is different from theLord. The devotee thereforeendeavors to applyeverything in the service ofthe Lord because he knowsthat everything is the propertyof the Lord and that no onecan claim anything as one'sown. This perfect conceptionof oneness helps theworshiper in being engagedin His loving service, whereasthe impersonalist, beingfalsely puffed up, remains anondevotee forever, withoutbeing recognized by theLord."--- Srimad Bhagavatam2.6.23 purport

Contents

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This is the official community newsletter ofISKCON New York City, Sri Sri Radha Govinda Temple

Become a contributor!email media@iskconnyc.com

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A New Beginning..................................................................2Monthly Sankirtan Festival...................................................3Community Supported Agriculture........................................5Prabhupada's Book Marathon 2019......................................6Srila Prabhupada's first Christmas in New York....................8Christmas Day Feast............................................................955th Street ..........................................................................10Annual Interfaith Breakfast...................................................11Gifts of Gratitude.................................................................11Dream into reality for The Bhakti Center.............................12Devotee of the month.........................................................13ISKCON ILS 2020...............................................................13

New York is central to SrilaPrabhupada's ISKCONmovement, as it is thebirthplace of the Westernbranch of Lord Caitanya'sSankirtan mission.On account of this, formembers of ISKCON, NewYork is an important place ofpilgrimage, on the level ofVrindavan, Bombay orMayapur.On December 15th seniormembers, HH RadhanathSwami, HG Vaisesika Prabhuand HH Kadamba KananaSwami came to hold afundraiser aimed at raisingfinance to help newbeginnings emerge and growforth.

HH Kadamba Kanana Swamiled a kirtan while devoteesarrived, and a total of 400attended. Our TemplePresident, HG HansarupaPrabhu, made a briefintroduction thankingeveryone for coming andoutlined the course of theevent.HH Radhanath Swami thengave a lecture followed by ourChairman of the Board, HGVaisesika Prabhu giving hisencouragement and blessingswhile urging contributions.

Fifty Seven sets of SrimadBhagavatam, signed by all ofthe GBC and many othersenior members of ourmovement, including HHJayapataka Swami, weregiven in gratitude to thosewho made generousdonations.A total of $105, 000 in cashand pledges was collected.

“The funds will be used forrenovation of areas to expandpreaching such as Library,Lotus Room, Reception andLobby areas, and anyessential repairs, and to paydown old debts from theprevious administrations. Iwould like to thank all of thecommunities that participated,both locally and globally. Itwas a beautiful show of unityand support for TheirLordships Sri Sri RadhaGovinda and New York – SrilaPrabhupada's 'most importantproject'”. Said our TemplePresident HG HansarupaPrabhu.

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MonthlySankirtanFestival

December's Monthly SankirtanFestival fell on December14th, and was facilitated byHG Vaisesika Prabhu andHH Kadamba Kanana Swami.More than 30 devotees tookpart in this enlivening festivalcelebrating and encouragingthe art of what it means to'be a giver'.Both Radha Govinda andBhakti Center communitiescombined, as one super teamof sankirtan warriors!

The event started at thetemple with a lecture by HHKadama Kanana Swami,followed by book distributiontraining by HG VaisesikaPrabhu. All participants

subsequently becameincredibley enthused to go outand 'touch the pavement'!The revival of MSF in NewYork has now been goingstrong for just over 1 year,bringing our communitiestogether; “It’s important tohave a common purpose, apractical service that bringsdevotees together as one unit.And book distribution is idealbecause it was so muchemphasized by SrilaPrabhupada and oursampradaya that everyoneagrees it is a worthycause.” Said HG VaisesikaPrabhu.MSF started in ISKCON

Silicon Valley in 2007, andhas since spread to severalcountries worldwide.

With HG Vaisesika Prabhu atthe center of its inspiration,the spirit and fervour carried inwaves touches so manydevotees and invigorates thewider community to cometogether for our universal goalcentral to our movement.

Four groups each with teamleaders, went out to differentlocations around New YorkCity; Brookfield Mall, JayStreet Metrotech, and theother two groups went toAtlantic Avenue, BarclaysCenter, each setting up a booktable.HG Vaisesika Prabhu travelledto different groups and gavethem support by personallydemonstrating the service ofbook distribution. The festivalended with devotees meetingback at Radha Govinda toshare realisations and ofcourse prasadam!

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Community Supported Agriculture restores relationships by connecting consumers to their foodsource, the land and the farmer. Consumers and farmers then form a broader farm communitywhere one may buy a share of the harvest produced.By paying for a share, the costs of farm operations are covered and in return the farm provides aweekly supply of produce during the growing season.Sunday 22nd December saw members of Gita Nagari take part in preparing the days feast.A great opportunity has now come about to be the change that we wish to see within the world,and be a part of Srila Prabhupada's vision for the future, for one can now order an organic andethical veg box for 22 weeks for just $715 that will be delivered to 305 Schermerhorn.Why not treat your family? Or our temple deities? click here

Community SupportedAgriculture@ Gita Nagari

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This year's Book Marathoncame to an end at Midnight,December 25th. We had tomention midnight as devoteeskeenly went out on ChristmasDay to enjoy the last fewhours of book distribution!

ISKCON Radha Govinda's2019 Srila Prabhupada's BookMarathon saw over 50devotees both local and fromfar and wide participated.Two teams were created, oneled by Govind Das and theother Divyangi Devi Dasi.

Devotees took part in avariety of ways, going out atdifferent times of the day,hosting a book table inreception, cooking cookiesprasadam for distribution, andmuch much more!Looking forward to next year!

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The best gift fullSrimadBhagavatam Setsall wrapped up

Narada Rsi dasBramacari veryexpertlydistributed severalbox sets

The Marathon ran from November 27th and finished onDecember 25th

All together we have distributed:1518 Maha421 Big

398 Mediumand

1358 small!

"Thank you so much again for everyone's involvementon all levels!" -- Divyangi Devi dasi Sankirtan Leader. 7

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New to New York,Bhaktivedanta Swami, SrilaPrabhupada, had undoubtedlytaken up the greatest austerityon the order of his GuruMaharaja. In the short spaceof three months he hadtraveled from his belovedvillage of Vrndavana, crossingthe ocean in a small freighteron which he had suffered twoheart attacks, to the freezing,inhospitable, dangerousstreets of New York City.Possessing only a short letterof introduction, he was offereda small room in the back of anapartment occupied by Dr.Mishra, a well-meaningMayavadi "uptown Swami."Even with weather, health, andliving conditions at their worst,Srila Prabhupadaenthusiastically beganspreading the message.As his biography tells us, "Theweather grew cold…. OnColumbus Avenue shops wereselling Christmas trees, andthe continental restaurantswere bright with holidaylighting. On Seventy-secondthe Retailers' Associationerected tall red poles toppedwith green tinsel Christmastrees. The tops of the trees onboth sides of the streetsprouted tinsel garlands thatspanned the street and joinedin red tinsel stars surroundedby colored lights."Srila Prabhupada wore a coatDr. Mishra had given him, buthe never gave up wearing hisdhoti, despite the cold, windywalks.

Although Prabhupada did noChristmas shopping, hevisited many bookstoresOrientalia, Sam Weiser's,Doubleday, the Paragon, andothers trying to sell hisSrimad-Bhagavatams.Mrs. Ferber, the wife of theParagon Book Galleryproprietor, consideredPrabhupada 'a pleasant andextremely polite smallgentleman.' The first time hecalled she wasn't interested inhis books, but he tried again,and she took several volumes.Prabhupada used to stop byabout once a week, and sincehis books were sellingregularly, he would collect.Sometimes when he neededcopies to sell personally, hewould come by and pick themup from Mrs. Ferber, andsometimes he would phone toask her how his books wereselling.All during that winterPrabhupada would try topreach to whomever he couldget to listen. He alsocontinued to translate Srimad-Bhagavatam, alone in his fifth-floor room."The weather went belowfreezing, colder than he hadever experienced in India.Daily he had to walk towardthe Hudson against a westwind that even on an ordinarywinter's day would take yourbreath away and make youreyes water and your facegrow numb

His advisors had cautionedhim not to remain an alien butto get into the spirit ofAmerican life, even if it meantbreaking vows he had held inIndia…. But Prabhupada'sidea was different, and hecould not be budged. Theothers may have had tocompromise, he thought, butthey had come to begtechnological knowledge fromthe West.

"I have not cometo beg something," hesaid, "but to givesomething."

Srila Prabupada hadreinvented Christmas. And hisfollowers for decades to comewould try to assist him in histranscendental giving.Especially at Christmas.

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Following the success of ourThanksgiving Dinner,December 25th, ChristmasDay, saw us cooking up yetanother feast. Though theprevious one was hard to beat,we managed it and made amega feast with over 12different preparations!

The decorations weregenerously sponsored by the72nd Street RetailersAssociation.It was a wonderful event thatbrought everyone together,the true spirit of Christmas!Many devotees from ourcommunity took part eachmaking or assisting those whowere preparing some of thedelicious specialities,

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many served guests bygreeting them, made beautifultable decorations, and ofserving out plates piled highwith divine prasadam!

The first Maha SankirtanParty down Wall Street, NewYork City, the center ofMaya's activities with fourmridanga players --Brahmananda on the right,Rishi Kumar to the left, andbehind Bharadvaja andChandanacharya.

In 1975, the InternationalSociety for KrishnaConsciousness purchased atwelve-story building onManhattan’s West 55th Street(in the off-Broadway theaterdistrict). "By November 1975they we had fully moved in,the following month,December, saw the first, andbiggest, Christmas Marathonfor ISKCON NY." Says ourHansarupa das.

When the devotees told SrilaPrabhupada that the centerhad a good-sized auditorium,his face brightened. SrilaPrabhupada then called forSudama Svami, the mostexperienced actor in themovement.“Why don’t you organize atheater in New York?” SaidSrila Prabhupada.

On December 3rd weattended the Annual InterfaithBreakfast, organized by theBrooklyn Borough President'sOffice of Faith-based andClergy Initiatives; adepartment committed toimproving Brooklyn's diversecommunities, regardless oftheir religious or politicalbeliefs. The event was held atthe Brooklyn Borough Hall,and members from a widerange of faiths took part, andeach were invited to offer their

prayer of how faith canovercome the troubled timesthe world and its communitiesare going through. One of ourrepresentatives, Hari Vilas dasBramacari, sat amongst aSikh Granthi, BuddhistBhikkhu, a Rabbi, an Islamicleader, a priest, a soldier, tworeverends and the BoroughCouncil President, EricAdams. Hari Vilas dasdecided to contribute with asimple prayer; “that everyonethere, as religious people, can

practice their faiths withsincerity and thus becomeblissful and happy. SrilaPrabhupada explained thatspreading God consciousnessis easy – one simply has toshow others how happy youare. If we can somehow attainthat state of spiritualhappiness that comes whenwe render sincere service andsacrifice to God, then we canactually make a valuablecontribution to society andpositively influence the world.”

The festive season is not onlya good time to share LordCaitanya's mercy throughdistributing Srila Prabhupada'sbooks, but it is also a greattime to share appreciation andlove with those around us,who we are close to and shareinteraction with every day, andthose who make each day inthe service of Krishna that bitmore special and inspiring.

As the year drew to a closethere was time to reflect uponthe events and those whohave made it extra special.Sukanti Gaurangi Devi Dasiand her team created sweetgifts of gratitude as a token ofapprecation to thosedevotees.

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RadhaGovindaGifts

After years of collectivededication in devotionalservice by the community, inDecember 2019 themanagement of New York’sBhakti Center made the finalmortgage payment to own the25 First Avenue buildingoutright.It was the communitymembers’ heartfeltcontributions have made itpossible for the people of NewYork to find their spiritualhome and enter the family ofSrila Prabhupada, SriGaurachandra, Sri Sri RadhaMuralidhara and the belovedcommunity of devotees forgenerations to come. 12

THE COMMUNITYNEWSLETTER OF ISKCONNEW YORK CITY

DIRECTOR OF PUBLICATION:Hansarupa das

CONTRIBUTORS:Hari Vilas das, Govind das,Divyangi devi dasi, SukantiGaurangi devi dasi, BhaktinYanina, Aditya devi dasi,

Do you have a story you wouldlike to see in our nextnewsletter?Or would you like to sponsorprinting ?email: media@iskconnyc.com

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Its always to tough to pick the devotee of the month, especiallyfor month of December, with so many devotees going an extramile to spread the mercy. So many great devotees have comefrom near and far to take part in Prabhupada's Christmas BookMarathon, but the month's Devotee of the Month goes to a verysteadfast and dedicated devotee, who every day without fail,throughout the entire year, performs to one of the mostimportant services at Radha Govinda's ISKCON New York Citytemple...Bippin Bihari Das Bramacari cooks the devotee breakfast everysingle morning, while most of us are busy chanting our roundsin the early hours, so we can be confident that each morningafter Srimad Bhagavatam class there will be a deliciousbreakfast awaiting us. Breakfast prasadam that will set us up

for the rest of the day of service. Thank you Bippin Bihari ji! Pleasing the devotees throughprasadam every day ensures that devotees have a great start to their day of service.

The ISKCON LeadershipSanga 2020 is almost here –less than two months away!The event will be held atISKCON’s headquarters in SriDham Mayapur betweenFebruary 14-20 2020, with 75unique seminars anddiscussions, uplifting kirtans,wonderful prasadam, and 45stalls displaying variousprojects and services from allover the world.LS 2020 promises to be thelargest gathering of ISKCONleaders to date. Five hundreddevotees attended ILS in 2012

and the numbers have beensteadily increasing. This willbe ISKCON’s 5th ILSgathering, and the organizersare anticipating 1,500 leadingdevotees from all over theworld.