May June 2021 Radhadesh English

E-Newsletter ISSUE 6 -MAY / JUNE '21

LORD NRSIMHADEVA THE PROTECTOR OF HIS DEVOTEES Also in this issue SHOP RADHADESH ITEMS ONLINE! PHOTO UPDATES OF THE NEW COW SANCTUARY

This newsletter is dedicated to His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Founder-Acarya of the International Society of Krishna Consciousness We remain forever indebted to him, our eternal spiritual master, and pray for his blessings so that we may continue to establish Vrindavan here in Radhadesh.

Editorial team : Shyamsakhi dasi, Surabhi Kunja dasi, Syamananda das Photography: Syamananda das, Surabhi Kunj dasi and our community members.

IIllustrations: unknown artists Graphic design: Surabhi kunj devi dasi Proofreader: Syamananda das

WELCOME

DEAR READERS,

Ok, it's coming closer and closer…the day when our dear Government will tell us we are again allowed to swing open our doors and going running out onto the street hugging everyone we meet crying "It’s over, it’s over, we can all go back to normal".

Everyone has had enough of lockdowns and limitations on our freedoms. We want it all to be ‘normal’ again. But we have to ask what exactly is ‘normal’? Was the world we knew really ever ‘normal’? Someone told me recently that in all the media outlets they saw that are discussing the end of the lockdown, the images that was most regularly accompanying the article, was of people in bars with some sort of alcoholic drink in their hands. I even saw one myself with a man clearly past his eighties with two glasses, one in each hand, toasting the upcoming end of the lockdown!

Scriptures around the world, all make the same central point - this world is not our home and speaking frankly, nothing about it is really ‘normal’. The world offers endless ways to distract us from this reality - such as dulling ourselves with various intoxications. The recent lockdowns may have imposed upon us some limitations for the past year or so, but factually we impose upon ourselves the greatest lockdown when we fail to use this blessed human form to get out of this crazy world altogether and go back to our real home with Krishna in the spiritual world. That will then be the final end to all lockdowns and the lifting of all restrictions upon our real desire for full freedom that is our deepest yearning.

ARTICLE

LORD NRSIMHADEVA THE PROTECTOR OF HIS DEVOTEES

BY SYAMANANDA DAS

It's an interesting phenomena in ISKCON, but nearly everyone you meet will say ‘I really love Lord Nrsimhadeva. He is my favourite avatar’. Somehow everyone feels that He is special to them and no doubt keep secret in their heart the hope that they are also dear to Him. Of the many, many forms the Lord comes in, we seem to have developed a special place in our hearts for this unorthodox and let's admit it, frankly ferocious form of the Lord. Why is the Lord in His angry mood so attractive to us so much?

There could be many reasons. One is the fact that Lord Nrsimhadeva is known as the protector of His devotees and as members of the Gaudiya vaishnava sampradaya trying to spread Krishna consciousness in a world that is really not interested and mostly inimical to it, we need to feel protected. Many devotees have stories of coming face-to-face with physically threatening situations and upon calling out to Lord Nrsimha with a heartfelt need to protect them, saw before their very own eyes, the situation suddenly change that removed the threat. I have been more than once on a car journey when suddenly there was the possibility of a crash and everyone cries out ‘NRSIMAHADEVA’ and the danger is averted and we lived to tell our near-death story (and also lived to chastise the driver for the danger in the first place!).

Srila Prabhupada himself personally taught the Lord Nrsimha prayers to the devotees early in the movement, when he gave permission to the devotees to pray to the Lord on his behalf so Srila Prabhupada could stay to help develop what he had just started in his fledgling ISKCON movement.

But there is another way the devotees pray to the Lord for protection; and that is the inner protection we need from our own demons. These ‘inner demons’ take on many forms. The forms of weakness of heart to follow what we know we should, the form of doubts in Krishna and is He really caring for me, the form of the tendency to engage in sinful activities and so on. Lord Krishna says in the Srimad Bhagavatam 1.2.17 that He personally takes up the task of cleaning our hearts. He personally resides in our hearts and as we can imagine, the Lord does not like to sit in a dirty place.

So out of His kindness, He wants to and is trying to clean our heart. But there is only one problem… us! He will take full responsibility to clean our heart and our role in the deal is to simply get out of the way and let Him get on with the job. But often we don’t let Him clean our heart and hold onto desires and tastes that are not becoming a devotee. So when we turn to Lord Nrsimhadeva upon His appearance day and increase our prayers for Him to protect us both ‘bahir nrsimho hrdaye nrsimho’, externally and internally, we may need to add a ‘PS’ to the prayer that the Lord also inspires us to protect us from ourselves and our amazing tendency to sabotage our own desire to once again become His pure devotee.

RADHADESH ONLINE SHOP Our Radhadesh Eshop is equipped with many articles which can be hard to find elsewhere. We always strive for the best quality and try to keep the prices as low as possible! Every so often we update your choice of articles on the shop. If you cannot find something but would like to purchase it online, you can contact us through the contact form on our website Next to the articles from the shop, we are also starting to expand to having other merchandise unique to Radhadesh.

We update almost every week. So stay tuned! www.radhadesh.com/eshop

UPDATES

RADHADESH ON DUTCH NATIONAL TV For their new television series De Bauers: Bestemming Onbekend, BN stars Frans and Mariska Bauer stayed at the castle. The popular singer and his wife actively participated in the temple programme and immersed themselves in the lifestyle and culture of ISKCON. Frans and Mariska were guests in the talk show BEAU to talk about their experiences. Mariska Bauer said that at first she thought she had arrived at some sort of 'haunted castle', but once they had driven through the gate, it was "just a happy lot", according to Frans. Frans explained in the talk show that the mindset of the devotees he met "is totally different from ours." But that "their whole life is geared to doing good for another." The presenter noted that they are thus only positive about the Hare Krishnas. "It is an enrichment," the Bauers agreed.

The program was broadcast with over 1.7 million viewers and was very favourable.

NEWS

RADHADESH TV NEEDS YOU! WE NEED YOUR HELP TO FINISH THE JOB! Until we reach over 1000 subscribers on our youtube channel we will not be able to embed the player into Mayapur.TV or the Radhadesh.TV page. It is therefore extremely essential to go to our Youtube channel and CLICK subscribe as well as share the channel with as many as possible so we can sooner than later be able to put the player on all platforms for all to see....youtube.com/c/RadhadeshTV We are delighted to inform you that Radhadesh TV is officially back up and running.

After more than 6 weeks of not having any possibilities of online darshan, we managed to collect every cent of the 1929€ spent to fund the new computer, screen and software to provide a new and improved Live Darshan of Sri Sri Radha Gopinatha and Their devotees.

Throughout the next month we will be finetuning the camera shots, the audio levels, as well as the general broadcast as we still have many areas to improve to come to the result we are aiming for. However you can already take advantage of the broadcast via this link: youtube.com/c/RadhadeshTV/live

NEWS

HOME DEITY WORSHIP ONLINE COURSE For congregation members and families in ISKCON, deity worship at home has long been a major part of their spiritual practice, as well as a way to bond in service to the Lord.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, with people encouraged to stay at home, such worship has become even more central. There are no prerequisites, with both newcomers and long time deity worshippers signing up. The online course will be given in 8 parts. The goal of this course is to help you with this essential aspect of your spiritual journey.

The course dates: 9 May, 16 May, 23 May, 30 May, 6 June, 13 June, 20 June, 27 June Course fee for 8 sessions : 80 euro ( Special Radhadesh member price 68 euro)

"THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT BUSINESS, DEITY WORSHIP. THE MORE THE DEITY IS DECORATED, THE MORE YOUR HEART WILL BE DECORATED WITH KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS.” (Srila Prabhupada Letter, October 7, 1974)

COW PROTECTION

NEW COW SANCTUARY

It has been just over a month now and our professional digging company have been very carefully And like all things in this material world…nothing ever goes exactly according to plan.

Of the many unexpected surprises, the biggest one was finding out that some of the ground we were digging was made of much harder stone than expected!

Mostly our ground here is schist (a medium-grade metamorphic rock formed from mudstone or shale for those with an interest for Geology) and relatively a soft stone. But we encountered a portion of ground so hard that the diggers could not break it with their normal equipment and a super special attachment was needed that we had to hire for two days that cost a shocking amount but we had no choice. Thankfully after two days it was all removed and there wasn’t more of it in the remaining area.

A big aspect of so much digging of earth is where to put the earth you dig up. And Belgium has some very strict laws about this and you need special permission to put it elsewhere even on your own property! Of course they offer companies to take it away but no surprise, the costs for this were again outrageous. So we are putting it on our own property and acquiring the necessary permits to do this. We even discovered you are not allowed to bury back into the ground tree roots that you dig up from the ground on the building site! We live in a strange world. On the other hand a nice unexpected surprise was when the diggers uncovered a beautiful fresh water well. Radhadesh uses our own well water for all our needs but it is still pumped up by electricity. But this wonderful discovery is not only our own natural water but it is also pumped directly up by Mother Nature herself. We will now build a little structure around it to make the water accessible for the cows…and if ever there is a real global meltdown, available for us!

Anyway the digging company finishes up this week with their part of the work and then the company scheduled to build the new Goshala will come and erect the building from the end of May. Having our new cosy cow home is just around the corner. We would like to take the opportunity to mention that the complications that arose in the ground work for the building means that we are going to go over budget with roughly 30-40.000€ and therefore we seek everyone's assistance in order to collect that necessary amount in order to fully finish the project by end of summer.

If you wish to support the New Cow Sanctuary project & our beloved cows you can do so via: A donation to (name: ASBL Radhadesh) IBAN: BE84 0682 5042 8159 or via Paypal.me/RGoshala Following our social media posts by subscribing to our Facebook & Instagram pages here: www.facebook.com/RadhadeshGoshala/ & https://www.instagram.com/radhadesh.cows/

COW PROTECTION

preparing and reshaping a portion of Radhadesh into a space for our future Goshala.

INTERVIEW

GETTING TO KNOW OUR RADHADESHVASI'S

Where are you originally from?

Netherlands How long do you live in Radhadesh?

Total 11 years

What is your current service?

Pujari service What are some of the other services you’ve done over the years?

Reception desk, guided tours, altar decorations, vases, Pujari services, taking care for the guests

When and how did you join ISKCON? In January 2000 when I saw a photo of Srila Prabhupada and Lord Krishna I knew this is what I wanted in life.

MALATI DEVI DASI

Can you share some memories of your young devotee days?

I loved to go to Mangala arati, the association of my guru maharaja who spent 6 months of the year in Radhadesh.

Everyday I could do some personal service for him like cleaning his room, cooking breakfast, washing his cloth.

Also to go on japa walks with him and so many of his disciples in that time here in Radhadesh.

I also loved the ashrama time with so many nice matajis in the ashrama. Best time in my life.

Do you have a favourite Prabhupada What are some of your most cherished

story or quote?

memories of service over the years?

Your love for me will be shown in how

I loved everything I have done here in

you cooperate with each other.

Radhadesh, but most cherished is the deity worship.

What piece of wisdom would you like to share?

Which Vaishnava inspires you most and

If you please the spiritual master then

why?

Lord Krishna is also pleased.

Srila Prabhupada, his love and dedication for his spiritual master and Lord Krishna.

What are your future hopes?

To become a pure devotee, to awaken

What’s a challenge you encounter in

my pure love for Krishna and hopefully

service, and how do you overcome it?

go back to Godhead, to Krishnaloka, to

My false ego, I need to chant better my

serve and love Him and His beloved

rounds and read more Srila Prabhupada's

associates eternally.

books.

PROGRAMS

To facilitate those devotees who are inclined towards Krishna Consciousness but cannot come to the temple every day, ISKCON Radhadesh organises Bhakti Home Programs at various places. Bhakti Home is a program centered around Krishna conscious homes aiming to connect Krishna conscious families with additional support and exciting resources in today’s busy world.

“Everyone can establish a small temple in his house, and he can begin family-wise — himself, his wife, his children. That is wanted. This Krsna consciousness movement wants to see that every house has become a temple of Krsna. That is our program.”

Lecture by Srila Prabhupada, 13 December 1972 The program consists of Kirtana, the Holy names of Lord Krishna, spiritual discussion on Bhagavad-gita or other Vedic scriptures, Question/Answer session and concludes with prasad (sanctified food offered to the Lord). After the Corona measures are relaxed, we would like to contact you by email to plan a date for your house program. If you are interested in the Bhakti Home programs, scan this QR code to fill in the form to register or you can contact shyam@radhadesh.com.

@RADHADESH.OFFICIAL @CASTLE.DURBUY @RADHADESH.MELLOWS @GOVINDAS.RADHADESH @PREMACULTURE @DURBUYBOUTIQUE @RADHADESH.COWS

YOUTUBE.COM/C/ISKCONRADHADESH YOUTUBE.COM/C/RADHADESHTV

VISIT FOR MORE INFORMATION

radhadesh.com WE ARE RE-OPENING SOON!