New Sunday Schedule Day 1

Last Sunday was the first day that our new Sunday schedule was in full effect. The new changes are quite invigorating. Our previous schedule always had the problem of having very poor attendance in the Sunday class, thus many of the guest and congregation were not receiving the proper nourishment of Krishna Conscious philosophy and Katha. Thus according to the desire and direction of devotees, along with the instruction of the GBC’s SSPT initiatives, we changed our Sunday schedule.
Kirtan has always been a highlight of our program so there was a great desire of the all devotees to maintain the 1 hour kirtan for the main artik. In our previous schedule the class would start at 5pm and would end by 6pm for the artik. During the end of the class there would be about 10 people attending, and a large group waiting in the hall way for the conch to blow announcing the appearance of the Lord. This followed by a wonderful kirtan, Nrisimha prayers, and announcements followed by Tulasi puja. Some of the congregation showed some concern that they were not getting sufficient opportunity to learn about Krishna Consciousness, therefore is was greatly refreshing to see how enthusiastic the congregation took to the new schedule.
So first we start off at 5pm with a few devotees doing bhajans leading into the main Artik which is at 5:30pm. The kirtan was very nicely lead by Haridas, followed by Bhadra, and several other devotees. This was followed by Nrisimha prayers at 6:30pm along with announcements. By this time the temple room is full with about 250 devotees and guests, we had a hand count of about 18 newcomers. About 2 hours earlier I was asked to give class. The suggestion was to speak from 9th or 10th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita. I struggled however to find the right verse. My attention was drawn to the 3rd chapter and picked this verse.
Bhagavad-gītā As It Is 3.27
prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni
guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ
ahańkāra-vimūḍhātmā
kartāham iti manyate
“The spirit soul bewildered by the influence of false ego thinks himself the doer of activities that are in actuality carried out by the three modes of material nature.”

The class was primarily about the difference between the body and the soul and the symptoms of transcendence. A question was brought up by a devotee asking, “What is the difference between Krishna Consciousness and Christianity?” He had brought with him several Nepali families who were mostly likely Christian, hence the question. The answer given was that virtually that there is no difference in between the teachings of Christ and Krishna Consciousness. However one must expect that there is a certain standard for knowledge that is being presented. So just as we would not accept that a plumber could become a surgeon just by reading many books without having a teacher who has understood the subject and has demonstrated his knowledge, Similarly we should not accept that spiritual knowledge can be practically understood without a teacher who is an emblem of what is to be taught. The by product of God consciousness is that of saintly behavior and satisfaction, that is, the further the attachment to the Lord is developed the further one is detached from find pleasure through temporary things. Jesus Christ has given this example. As he was being dragged to the cross and saw that the ladies were crying he said, “Cry not for me, cry for yourself and your own children.” Even Similarly Prahlad was undisturbed despite so many seemly stressful situations (i.e. like being put in a pot of boiling oil, hmm that might be a little stressful) And we also in the Krishna Consciousness movement have the benefit of Srila Prabhupada’s example of how to be Krishna Conscious at every moment. And with that benefit we also have the benefit of the great example of the devotees who follow in Srila Prabhupada’s footsteps. So as Krishna says in the 9th chapter of Gita Samoham sarva bhuteshu, I am not partial to anyone, but I do reciprocate with loving ecstasy. So we should examine, within the Krishna Consciousness movement and outside of it, are we making this advancement in consciousness. Are we, by the process that we are practicing, becoming pure at heart and satisfied? If not we must question there is a discrepancy with our practice, the process or both. Another benefit of Krishna Consciousness Movement is that the process is very scientific. The mixture of karma, religiosity for personal gain, jnana, philosophical speculative pursuits, had been separated so that we may know what is Bhakti, unalloyed service to the Lord.
The program then lead into Tulasi Puja and then the feast at 7:30. The class timing was reduced to 30 mins to make it possible to have it after the artik. The response from the all guests was great. Many guests came up to me after the class to inquire more. We had traded an hour long class for 10 people for a 30 min class for 250-300 people. By hearing the class the guests feel a great appreciation for devotees and Krishna and thus they begin to appreciate Srila Prabhupada. By the blessing of my spiritual master, who Vyasa Puja was also on that day, HH Prahladananda Swami, I was able to speak in a way that was satisfying for the devotees. After the Sunday feast we had a very nice small program for Vyasa puja at our house to honor my Guru Maharaja.
Hare Krishna
Your humble servant,
Nityananda Chandra Das

Nrsingha Caturdasi - Sunday, May 18th

For more information: www.radhakalachandji.com

Lord Jagannatha Appears in a Potato

A day before Dallas Ratha Yatra and everyone is in ecstatic preparation for the Lord festival. The Lord kindly gives His appearance prior to his debut Chariot festival. Pritha was peeling potatoes for tomorrows feast and while blissfully engaging in that seva she discover the smiling face of Lord Jagannatha. My hope is that He will soon also appear in my heart. Hare Krishna
Your humble servant,
Nityananda Chandra Das

Ratha Yatra - Sunday, May 4th 2008

Dallas Gurukula Spring Cleaning

On March 29, Mother Jayanti and the other teachers at the TKG Academy organized a spring cleaning. TKG Academy is the local gurukula for the Dallas Hare Krishna community.

Many of the parents and former students came out to help.

Mother Jayanti and Gopi Gita organizing the storage shed.

Rupanuga Prabhu, and gurukulis digging a ditch

Madan Gopal clearing dirt from under the bridge

Moving the dirt. Vraja Kishor and Pradyumna

More digging

Gopi Gita and Fatima spreading the mulch

Pritha was saving the worms that were uncovered while digging. Vraja Kishor and Nitai Pran helped out too.

Having fun. Saksi in the left picture. Kaliya in the right.

Nadia got into the action as well.

Thanks to everyone that came out to help! There were more people than just those in these pictures.

Rama Navami Celebration - Sunday, April 13th 2008

ALSO:

Rama Navami Children's Fair in Kalachandji's Park

5:00 - 6:00 p.m.

For kids, ages 2-15

Bring your children to Kalachandji Park where there will be tons of activities to help them learn about Lord Rama’s pastimes. Fun games and arts and crafts! Games include “Feed Rama’s Monkeys”, “Build a Bridge for Lord Rama”, “Offer Arati to Lord Rama” and much much more!

Saint Patrick's Day Parade 100,000 People

100,000 cheer on the Hare Krishna devotees as we Parade down Greenville Ave. Our 3 year participation in Dallas’ annual St. Patrick’s day parade was fantastic. The amount of devotees participating had multiplied each year. This year by the grace of the Lord and many of his dear devotees, such as Chaitanya Chandra Prabhu every one was graced with a beautiful float of Lord Jagannatha.



All the youth headed by GopiKrishna’s crew baked up together about 4000 cookies to be distributed along with Gaura Purnima Flyers.
She also purchased 7000 Krishna.com St. Patrick’s Day magnets for distribution.

Here we see Gopal Prabhu with Mathuranatha carrying one the buckets of prasadam candy to be packaged and passed out.
As you can see Mathuranatha Prabhu is a real “Texas Krishna”


Meanwhile Dharma Prabhu fuels up for afternoon's event,

Dharma Prabhu every year organizes the devotees participation in this annual city parade.
Bhaktine Angela, Radha Kunda, and GopiKrishna along with many other ladies prepare their baskets of prasadam to be passed out.

and Sakshi Gopal warms up on his mridanga
Our party consists of 2 cars, our brand new rental truck which was decorated with an elephant by Bhaktine Heather Simpson.


which is to pull Caitanya Candra cart Followed by another truck and trailer, Ragava Caitanya Prabhu's, full of prasadam candy, Krishna.com magnets, and Gaura Purnima flyers.

But as per the theme of the morning class, Jagannatha is in control and if he likes, he sometimes makes it so that the cart will not budge.

Our new rental truck that has practically no milage on it would not start. This major problem for the parade was already on the move and we may not be even able to participate. Help comes as some other paraders drive over to give us a jump start, but no success. Caitanya Chandra Prabhu immediately organizes the removal of the truck and brings his van, attaches the float, and all are ready to go. Everyone saw that this turn of events only took place at the arrival of our two sanyassi guests, His Holiness Gunagrahi Das Goswami, and His Holiness Giriraja Swami.

Krishna would not allow the float to move without their arrival. We then quickly zoomed across the Sam's parking lot in our float. The crowd is great and early into the parade our elephante headed truck returns on the scene after getting TWO battery changes. We a very impressive party with 3 cars. Rupa with all the gurukulis of Dallas along with the gurukulis of Houston share a wonderful kirtan sung by His Grace Urjasvat and Edhani Prabhus, Then new and upcoming famous bhajaneer from Houston, Anish, lead some amazing bhajans (who by the way just came out a new CD with all the Dallas and Houston Kulis) followed by the standard ecstasy given His Holiness Gunagrahi Das Goswami.




As seen the video, the crowd chanted Hare Krishna along with the devotees, many whom were already familiar with the timeless mantra and while other who chanted "Jesus Christ" were enthusiastically surprised to be accompanied in their chanting with the devotees chanting "Jesus Christ" as well. His Holiness Giriraja Swami walked and danced most the way. At the end of the parade the kirtan did not stop for quite some time. Devotees were immersed in the ecstasy holy name and further enthused by the thousands of flyers, magnets, and cookies that were distributed