Connect is like a Temple!!

I have heard this following quote quite randomly from many devotees that newly moved into the temple. "I have learned more here in one week (or month) then I have learned in the past 10 years!" This spontaneous quote is heard quite often when new devotees come to the temple frequently or move into to the temple as a full monks (ladies included). One of the reasons for this is that there is so much facility to inquire about the details of Krishna Consciousness, which covers practically every aspect of knowledge. Prabhupada has suggested that we should study his books for 2 hours a day. But when one is in the association of others who are also reading Srila Prabhupada's books then the number of reading hours we have access to multiplies exponentially. At Connect I can ask a question about Krishna and it like I have a great research team dedicated to giving me an answer. Not just one answer but many wonderful answers from different angles. I am really thankful that such a facility is available on the internet for all.
ISKCON Utah Spanish Fork Temple

Hare Krishna

Your humble servant,

Nityananda Chandra Das

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Comments

Mon, 12/17/2007 - 07:22 — thirtho

good

ofcourse... i m a new comer but i m repecting ur word

Sun, 12/16/2007 - 15:59 — Krishnaowned

This IS My Temple!

I've said this more than once ... without all these wonderful devotees, I would not be anywhere near where I am now. You've all been SO wonderful!

Mon, 12/17/2007 - 03:05 — japaholic

mine too

Connect is my wondeful temple.

I knew about Krishna.com since day one I became KC but for some reason it just dint occur to me to join connect. After a while I started praying to Krishna for devotees association, one day I just joined & here I am associated with all humble devotees. Ever since I joined I have learnt a lot about Krishna, cleared my doubts.

Japaholic

Sun, 12/16/2007 - 15:45 — Navasi

Wow!

What time is Mongol Arotike Nityananda Chanrdra!!????
lol :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

Sun, 12/16/2007 - 17:54 — NityānandaChandra

Ha Ha it is always the

Ha Ha it is always the auspicious hour here at Connect.

Sun, 12/16/2007 - 18:00 — Navasi

Oh Good! :)

Ah Ha Ha!....
so glad to hear that! yes, I'd have to agree,

around here it's pretty much auspicious all the time!!!

:) :) :)

Sun, 12/16/2007 - 14:36 — Radwinters

Me Too

I'm also very thankful for this resource. In the past I read a lot of books on Krishna but never really felt that I was "connected" because I had never known any devotees. Now I get to find some over the Internet and I can only conclude that Krishna is using this medium for His will.

Sun, 12/16/2007 - 14:32 — Go-Seva

Jaya Connect!

Hare Krishna~ I feel very fortunate that the wonderful devotees at Krishna.com have created this "virtual temple" for those of us who are aspiring servants of the servant, and who live too far from a temple to regularly attend. Reading and learning from the forums, the blogs and the glorious devotees themselves have brightened my spiritual life immensely. I am sure that this magnificient association of devotees will help me in my journey.

Haribol!

Sun, 12/16/2007 - 15:17 — abrennan

MMMooooooo

: )
________________________________________

Visit the Food Channel @ Krishna.com

Mon, 12/24/2007 - 12:54 — Anand_Gurdas

California Cheese Commercial

Have any of ya'll seen the TV commercial?
Its got a duck chanting "ooommmm" and the cow walks up and says "no you're doing it all wrong, its MMMmmooooooo" (and the duck still can't get it right!"

Very cute
AGS

Mon, 12/24/2007 - 15:38 — abrennan

Hey, that cow Stole my

Hey, that cow Stole my line

______________________________________
Visit the Food Channel @ Krishna.com

Sun, 12/16/2007 - 18:01 — Navasi

Chanting Cows

Antony's a chanting cow I guess lol lol lol :)

Sun, 12/16/2007 - 14:28 — Navasi

This Temple

Hare Krishna, Dear Nitynanda Chandra,
Yes, I agree with you on this, I feel this way too....

It is exactly like a temple, connect.

A temple is where devotees come together to serve Krishna and learn about Krishna together... and that's what we do here...

I have always felt like this was just like a temple, this connect community we are all so fortunate to be a part of...

Wonderful example that.... :)

"Iskcon Connect Internet World"

(all we need now is a picture of it!)
LOL! :)

Maybe one of our resident artists will paint a picture of a 'virtual temple' for us to use! :) :) :)

Love,

Navasi

The Glories of Association

Sat, 12/01/2007 - 12:39 — NityānandaChandra

Recently I went on a family trip to my place of birth, Honolulu HI. It was there that I first learned about the service of Lord Sri Krishna. This all auspicious activity, Devotional Service, is brought to everyone by means of association. We find this wonderful statement in the Sri Caitanya Caritamrita. Madhya 22.54
'sadhu-sanga', 'sadhu-sanga' -- sarva-sastre kaya
lava-matra sadhu-sange sarva-siddhi haya
TRANSLATION
"The verdict of all revealed scriptures is that by even a moment's (1/11th of a second) association with a pure devotee, one can attain all success." Association with the Saints
When I was 14 years old I learned about Krishna
Consciousness from a friend mine.
At the time I was a punk kid and would spend a lot of time going hanging out with other punky/goth and hippyish kids.

 

Me in 1995 prom day.

Me in 1996
It was in that crowd where I met a great friend for whom I am eternally grateful. Her name is Kalae, a young bright faced half Hawaiian beach loving girl. With all of our friends we used to spend the night talking about so many interesting subject matters; ghosts, aliens, government conspiracies, reincarnation, and spiritual consciousness. She always had such wonderful things to say, so much so that by her association I became vegetarian and had taken a personal vow of no intoxications since one week of hanging out with her. Since that time I have had no difficulties in maintaining those vows. She spoke often of the Bhagavad Gita, and although she was 2 years younger, perhaps 12 or maybe 13 at the time, she had so much wisdom and great personal character. She taught about the universal form of the Lord which is described in the 11th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita. To see the trees as the hairs on the Lord's body, and rivers as His veins, the sun and moon as His eyes, and mountains as His bones. And in this way I became attracted to the wisdom of the Vedas. She also explained that the soul and body are different things, that the body was simply a vehicle and the soul was the driver. That the soul in the body of a hog is not difference in quality as the soul in the body of a human. So from the there on I started following the no drugs, no meat and celibate lifestyle. On this trip I had the opportunity to see her again and thank her once more.
I also had opportunity to solve what was a mystery to me. How did she know so much about Krishna and His service at the age of 12/13? She explained that not to long before we met she learned about Krishna from a taxi driver. We actually had a good group of us 13 year old and 14 year old punk rockers who were interested very much in Krishna.
Kalae and Me, Nov 2007 She is 8 months pregnant in the photo.
But it seems that the association did not just start there. On this family trip I had a chance to spend time with my father and family from his side of the family. It had been 12 years since I had a chance to see any of them. I never really could afford a trip back to Hawaii. I had learned before of my father's previous contact with Krishna Consciousness, but not with so much detail. My father grew up in bad area of South Bronx, New York, and he always prided himself for not getting involved with gangs or drugs even though he was on his own since the age of 17. He attributed this to his interest in spirituality and personal discipline. At an early age he became interested in and studied into yoga & meditation. So much so that he started to collect a good library of eastern literature. At the foreground of his collection was Srila Prabhupada's books which he quoted were his "life and soul". My Father, who had been vegetarian for 12 years, stated that it was very difficult for him to maintain his vow of vegetarianism after he joined the army in the mid 70's. When my father joined the military he brought with him a huge duffle bag of his books weighing over 100 lbs. The bag was so heavy that the strap ripped right off. He commented that those books were so important to him that there was no possibility of him leaving them behind. He also mentioned that both in Hawaii and in New York he had the opportunity to eat prasadam, food that has been offered to Krishna with love and devotion.
My sister, my dad, and me.
Me and Dad eating some prasadam that we all cooked together.: We cooked a stir fry broccoli sabji with carrots, and tofu. We also had some rice with green peas. They cooked this relishing the kirtan of BB Govinda Swami and Karnamrita Dasi
My father is now a Jehovah Witness, a religious tradition that he became attracted to after marrying my wonderful step-mother 25 years ago. Although my father never really had the opportunity to intimately associate with the devotees I feel that Srila Prabhupada's books have helped him to become the great gentleman my father is today, and as well as helped me to come also to Krishna Consciousness. My trip overall was very wonderful for I had the opportunity to get in many Krishna Conscious conversations especially with my father and my step mother. Hare Krishna
Your humble servant,
Nityananda Chanda Das

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Comments

Mon, 12/03/2007 - 09:21 — vikasmalhotra

Excellent Blog

Hare Krishna
I am touched with this wonderful blog and feel that you are so fortunate to have people around you who are involved with Krishna some way or the other.
Hare Krishna.

Govardhana Puja Dallas 2007

Govardhana Puja is one of my favorite holidays especially here in Dallas. Every year my wife and I, with the help of the youth from ISKCON Dallas, have the opportunity of organizing and building of Govardhana Hill. A lot of preparation is put into creating this festival. We make a six foot replica of Govardhana Hill out of cake and because of this there is a need to make a mold of the hill so that the cake can be layered on top. Caitanya Candra Prabhu, a Prabhupada disciple who is well known for his kirtan abilities, helped me very much in this regards. He intelligently suggested a layered Styrofoam mold which would be cut, layered, glued, and carved into a hill. If a successful mold could be created, it would be used year after year. The mold that Caitanya Candra Prabhu built was 6ft long, 4ft wide, & 2ft high. The festivities started the day before at the Divali Mela at the Texas Stadium. Over 50,000 people attended this major event. The event started with our two star Bharatanatyam dancers, Shyamali & Surata Rangini Devi Dasis. Shyamali and Surata Rangini Devi Dasis: Shyamali and Surata Rangini Devi Dasis perform Bharatanatyam dances at the Texas Stadium for the 2007 DFW Divali Mela.

dance

and dance some more

Then an excellent kirtan was performed by our very own Amala Kirtan Das, Kamal Das & youth crew.

Amal Kirtan & Kamal's Kirtan

The devotees had 3 booths at this event, 2 book booths and one prasadam (sacred food) booth. Thousand of fliers were passed out for our next day event, Govardhana Puja, by the devotees. Many of the young Indians who were attending the event were very happy to see the devotees because they were looking for the nearest ISKCON Temple.

The next day all devotees busily engaged in so many services to please the Lord. Radha Kunda (Caitanya Candra's daughter), Rupa, and Gopi Krishna all helped out with many other youth enthusiastically to recreate Govardhana Hill. Radha Kunda, Gopi, and Rupa

In fact Gopi Krishna bakes the majority of the hill in her own home, well over 25 cakes she made singlehandedly.

Radha Kunda applying frosting

Then enter the Gopis and Gopas which painstakingly were dressed and decorated over the pass 2 days by my wife Krishna Mangala and her friends. Bhaktine Angela, which you probably know from Connect, helped paint the gopi dots.

Gopis

Gopas

A total of 21 Vrindavan dolls eagerly awaited the arrival of their two most beloved Sri Sri Radha Giridhari (Krishna, the lifter of Govardhana Hill)

Sri Sri Radha Giridhari

Around this time many student, who scheduled ahead of time, started to enter the temple to observe the festival. That week many students called my office and asked, "Hi I am a student at SMU and I was wondering if it would be alright to come this Sunday and observe your worship, do you have any scheduled programs on that day." My enthusiastic reply was, "yes, on that day we will making a 6ft cake and be having a wonderful festival"SMU Students observe the Govardhana Festival

Many new people came as well who were not students and remarked that the festival had quite an impression on them, one in particular is Bhaktine Sara who came for the first time that day and offered to help with service. Bhaktine Sara engaged in serviceShe has become a very sincere student of Krishna Consciousness. She learned about the temple through a friend Bhaktine Angela who comes quite frequently with her father and and her son. Angela got attracted to come to the temple by the encouragement of Bhakta Mark our temple artist and tattooist via Myspace. She in turn encouraged Bhaktine Sara to come the temple via Myspace.

Everyone was simply elated by seeing the beauty of Sri Sri Radha Kalachandji.

Sri Sri Radha Kalachandji

After the first kirtan there was a dramatical performance by the Krishna Sunday School kids.

Sunday School drama

Hundreds of offering were then offered to the Lord with great love and devotion by all the community.

Offerings

Angela's son along with all the devotees again went into a blissful kirtan. Adrian

and even the SMU students sang along with the Kirtan chanting the Maha Mantra, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. SMU Students sing Hare Krishna

Both my wife and Bhaktine Angela enthusiastically danced taking in the beautiful darshan of Giri-Govardhana. Bhaktine Angela and my wife Krishna Mangala Devi Dasi

Krishna accompanied by Radha and surrounded by the loving residents of Vrindavan is splendidly decorated with jewel of Govardhana Hill deftly balancing on the tip of his lotus pinky finger of his left hand. Govardhana Hill

All, including the young Gopis, gazed at the beauty of the Lord,Young Gopis But the supreme most chaste one, Radha, blissfully gazed at the ground, shy that while Krishna was being looked at by all, Krishna could not stop gazing at the beautiful and all glorious Srimati Radharani.

Srimati RadharaniBecause Govardhana was being touched by the lotus finger of Krishna's hand all the Kunda's and Temples were unharmed by Indra's thunderbolts.

Kusum Sarovar

Kundas

Mother Shakuntala makes silly pose with a new devotee Bhaktine Trish

Rupanuga Prabhu relishes the Kirtan

Hare Krishna, I hope you enjoyed your Govardhana Puja.
Your humble servant,

Nityananda Chandra Das

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Comments

Thu, 11/29/2007 - 14:05 — Megha

Jai!

Thanks for posting.
Y'all had so many preparations for Govardhana :) Simply beautiful. Especially how Radharani gazes at Krishna!

Thu, 11/29/2007 - 02:07 — Bhakta Richie

I wish I was there.

I just came back to Mumbai i was in Puri for one week next week Giriraja Maharaja is coming to Vrindavan. I love the photos I know some of the SMU students i went to high school with them. It's good seeing they are taking pleasure associating with the lords devotees. There is no pictures of you dancing. Here in Chowpatti their is about 1o8 Nityanandaji's dancing enthusiastically for the pleasure of Sri Sri RadhaGopinath. I miss dancing with you in kirtan and hearing you talk to guests. All my love and appreciation to all the devotees Sri Sri RadhaKalachandji Dhama.
your servant

richie

Thu, 11/29/2007 - 11:45 — NityānandaChandra

1o8 Nityanandaji's

1o8 Nityanandaji's ha ha that was great, we all miss you as well. I just posted a video of you dancing in kirtan with HH Rtadvaja Swami. You have you classic ecstatic smile. Hare Krishna
Pray for all of us while you are in the Dhama, Haribol.

Your humble servant

Nityananda Chandra Das

Tue, 11/27/2007 - 15:04 — Krishna Mangala...

Thank you!

Thank you for making this blog. It made me experience Govardhana puja all over again.
GOVARDHANA PUJA KI JAYA!!!!!!!!

ys

-Krishna Mangala Devi Dasi

Tue, 11/27/2007 - 14:51 — Karnamrita.das

Govardhana puja kijaya!!

Great newsy article and pics, Nitaiji!!! One of my favorite festivals as well. So many we have to share. Prabhupada said once at a Rathayatra that we have 2 festivals like this a month. So we have our service cut out for us!!

Your friend in Krishna,

Karnamrita

Tue, 11/27/2007 - 12:31 — Bhaktin Apsara

Thank You!

Thank you for posting such an amazing article with the gorgeous photos! I was in complete bliss throughout the entire festival! I am so grateful for all the service and for bringing Bhaktin Sarah as well. I am so appreciative to Bhakta Mark for encouraging me to come to the temple and so grateful and happy to know you and Krishna Managala! Thank you!
Much Love and Respect,

Bhaktin Apsara

Tue, 11/27/2007 - 12:46 — NityānandaChandra

Well we are all very very happy

to have you here. Your whole family is inspirational. Hare Krishna
Your humble servant

Nityananda Chandra Das

Tue, 11/27/2007 - 11:29 — Bhakta_Curt

I used to love this holiday

I used to love this holiday in Dallas. To this day, I describe it to those unfamiliar with the festival as "Hare Krishna Halloween... me make a mountain of candy, worship it as God and eat it. " From the pictures, it appears that the "youth" of Dallas aren't so young anymore, except Rupanuga and Amala Kirtan Prabhus. They just don't age! The miracle of loving wives and excellent prasadam! Sri-Sri Radha-Kalachandji ki jaya!

Tue, 11/27/2007 - 12:40 — NityānandaChandra

Ha ha

Loved your comment.

Wed, 11/28/2007 - 14:13 — Radhikesh

Wonderful

Very nice description and superb photos brings the festival come to life for us. Thanks so much for posting this.

Radhikesh das

Weeks of Tours

This is has been a wonderful week here at Sri Sri Radha Kalachandji Dhama in Dallas Texas. We had several weeks of temple tours. Our temple in Dallas is accompanied by a fantastic restaurant, Kalachandji's. Because of the restaurant the temple is a hot spot for tourist and students. Personally I feel that having a restaurant next to the temple is a real blessing. The people that come to visit know that it is a public place and open to guests of all backgrounds. For some visiting a church/ mosque/ temple can be intimidating for such places are generally for only those of their particular faith. A restaurant makes a nice addition to for it gives the reassurance to the curious that this is a place for all.
http://www.3cim.com/opb/tour.do?method=viewTour&id=1166484836750

So far in the past 2 weeks over 50 students have come in for interviews and tours as part of their school projects. Most the students have been coming from the Dallas Theological Seminary. Although these seminary students are not aggressive with their questions, you can get a sense that one their purposes is come to the temple to gather information about how Krishna Consciousness is not Christian. They are surprised however when the come the temple and find so much in common so much so that they struggle to find in any way how is bhakti yoga, loving devotional service to God, Krishna, any different than Christ Consciousness. In following post I have given a link to a blog written by an aspiring Christian minister after attending a tour. http://connect.krishna.com/node/175

The tours and interviews are always very wonderful and never has their been any confrontation of beliefs. Many of the students are also students of regular non religious colleges and are doing a report for their world religions class. There are all generally surprised to hear that the Vedas are monotheistic and also very scientific and inclusive. Just last night a 45 year student who was actually a pastor came here for an interview. This gentleman was just golden, you could speak to him day and night about Krishna, and service to Krishna and he simply enjoyed it. His association was very delightful. He stayed talked and observed for a full 3 hours and then enjoyed prasadam. Later on that evening I ran into a boy at the restaurant, who was a musician, whom I recognized from the health food store. We hit it off well and I offered him some kirtan CDs. He also stayed around for about 3-4 hours chatting about life and Krishna and left with a smile. I pray that I can alway do this service and hope you all can bless me to continue to serve in this way. The picture below is of a tour that I performed for four 80 year old ladies. These ladies had been friends since high school. When these very open minded old Jewish ladies found out that the Bhagavatam was written over 5000 years ago they remarked, "Wow that is only 1000 years after creation." (In their belief system the ladies believed that the world created some 6000 years ago) with big smile on my face I said, "Yes that would be true." as to not cause any contention. Hare Krishna
Your humble servant,

Nityananda Chandra Das

punky kids enjoy the restaurant and talking the with devotees

Older ladies come to the temple for a tour

Janmastami in Dallas, Sri Sri Radha Kalachandji Dhama

This year's Janmastami was absolutely wonderful. For first time ever in Dallas we had some of the Gopis accompany Krishna on the altar. For the 4:30 am artik both Radha and Kalachandji were stunning. Kalachandji wearing His fancy turban and Radharani was there giving out blessing for all who came to see her beloved, Sri Krishna, on His most wonderful appearance day.
The devotee danced ecstatically for the pleasure of Their Lordships, led in a wonderful kirtan sung by Bengali brahmacari Baladeva Prabhu. The crowd of devotees then chanted their daily japa with great enthusiasm awaiting the beautiful day darshan of the Lord. As time passed excite increased over and over until finally our eyes were blessed with this vision.

Radharani's Morning Darshan

Kalachandji Morning Darshan

Kalachandji Morning Darshan

Mangal Kirtan

Full Darshan mid day

The altar, like the temple room, was made into a great forest replete with monkeys,
monkey

Beautifully painted cows, parrots, peacocks, peacocks

along with many many plants decorating the pillars, corners, and altar of the temple. We were all in the forest of Vrindavan.

The early day darshan was suberb. Radha and Kalachandji wore another new outfit that was adorned with strawberry designs and if that is not sweet enough for you, They were accompanied by four of the intimate friends, the Gopis. Early day Darshan

Especially amazing was Lalita

Lalita Sakhi

and Visakha Visakha Sakhi

These two Gopis along with many peacocks, cows, and monkey(which decorated our temple room) were artistically and devotionally made by our wonderful devotee, Bhakta Mark. Bhakta Mark

Bhakta Mark has been coming to Kalachandji's restaurant for 12 years but only recently by the long term mercy of prasadam (spiritual food) and by the mercy of the association of the devotees he has now full heartedly and very sincerely has taken to the process of Bhakti Yoga, loving devotional service unto the Supreme Lord. We can see how wonderful the Gopis look with the Divine Couple when they are decorated with Their late day flower outfit.

Flower OutfitMark Prabhu, a tattooist by trade, is an excellent artist and is working right now on many paintings of Prabhupada and other Krishna Conscious items. He will be helping my wife and I to make the base of Govardhana hill this year. For the Govardhana festival we generally make a 8ft by 3 foot mountain of Carob cake. The base is a paper mache model on which the cake is layered. On the mountain there is usually a couple lakes of pudding and underneath it beautiful dolls of Krishna with His friends holding the hill up.

But it doesn't seem that we have to wait that long to again get the darshan of Mark's wonderful Gopis. Recent news is that they will be making their divine appearance on Srimate Radharani's auspicious birthday. While this years theme for Janmastami was Bhakta Vatsala-Krishna as the servant of His devotees, for Radhastami the theme will be beautiful pearl story from Sivarama Swami's wonderful book, Krishna Sangati. Hare Krishna
Your humble servant

Nityananda Chandra Das

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Comments

Sun, 05/04/2008 - 00:28 — ravinjay

Kalachandji

Kalachandji looks shiny! Nice lalita, visakha, peacocks, flowers, cows, etc.... VERY good idea to make Lalita and Vishaka as cut-outs!

Tue, 09/25/2007 - 14:30 — Krishna Mangala...

Beautiful!!!

Dearest Nityananda Chandra Prabhu
This post is wonderful! Thank you for always being so enthusiastic, and inspiring. Keep up the good work!!!

your wife and servant
-Krishna Mangala Devi Dasi

Tue, 09/18/2007 - 23:35 — Navasi

On Top Of Karna's Comment:

All Glories to Sri Sri Radha-Kalachandji!!! All Glories To Sri-Sri Radha Kalachandji! All Glories to Shri-Shri Radha and Kalachandji!!!!
I am so greatful to be able to view the Lotus Like Countenance of Lord Kalachandji and His Devine Consort Srimati Radharani!!!

I am especially appreciative of this opportunity as I was in the van that drove from Dallas to New York to receive Their Lordships when they arrived in New York from India! (along with, at the same time, Sri-Sri Radha Kunjabihari (detroit)! I did not go all the way to New York to get them as I was sent to the Detroit temple and that was my service, to stay there. I never got to witness the installation ceremony of Sri-Sri Radha Kalachandji because I stayed in Detroit. However, I did have the tremendous great fortune to witness the installation ceremony (and participate in it thru my humble service) of Sri-Sri Radha Kunjabihari! Now, that was one incredible ceremony!!! I can CERTAINLY tell you that!!! As a result of my good fortune to be able to serve Lord Kunjabihari, I have always appreciated "black" Krishna deities! (I think it gives a whole new meaning to the term "black is beautiful" :).

Thank you again, and again, and again, for allowing me to view these BEAUTIFUL DEITIES!!!!

Sara Elizabeth Hartman

Tue, 09/18/2007 - 03:18 — Karnamrita.das

Great pictures

Pranams! Jai Radha Kalachandji!! Thanks for sharing this event with such beautiful pictures. I have wanted to begin adding photos to my blogs and you are giving me a push in that direction. Bhakta Mark has made a wonderful addition to your Temple and special days. Keep the nectar flowing!!

Yours in service ,

Karnamrita

Mon, 09/17/2007 - 07:33 — Navasi

Wonderful Photos!

Thank you Nityananda Ram,
Those are such very beautiful photos! What an amazing celebration that was! I appreciated being able to see it!

Thank you,

Sara

Mon, 09/17/2007 - 09:50 — NityānandaChandra

We all had a wonderful time

thank you for commenting and your encouragement. I may do some post about our trip to India.