Report on the 30 years of the Vrinda Family 9/28/14

Hare Krishna dear devotees and mothers
Please accept my obeisances
All glories to Srila Guru Maharaja, Srila Atulananda Acharya and Srila Harijan Maharaja

Srila Guru Maharaja and Srila Atulananda Acharya can be found in Peru at Eco Truly celebrating the International Vaishnava Mela.

Several devotees from different parts of the world have come to Eco Truly Park to share in this wonderful festival. Celebrating 30 years together as Vrinda Family. Thirty years is a considerable amount of time.
Our family has entered a mature stage, where many pioneering projects have already been consolidated and expanded very efficiently.

Our Guru Maharaja spent 40 years preaching the message of Srila Prabhupada without stopping and 30 years of the Vrinda Family are the fruition of that tireless and loving preaching.

Our Guru Maharaja and our Gurudeva Atulananda have devoted much time and effort to serve Srila Prabhupada through their service to all mankind. The examples of the great Vaishnavas that we receive from the scriptures are present in the daily service of our Gurudevas. In them we see all the qualities of a devotee, without exception. They are the light that removes all traces of ignorance. They are the refuge that soothes the hearts of the devotees in difficult times.

Srila B. P. Puri Goswami Maharaj appeared in this world on a day like today, and His Vyasapuja is celebrated in every corner by members of different Vaishnava missions. He was the first president of the World Vaishnava Association, and that position he accepted with great humility following the request of our beloved Guru Maharaja. Our Guru Maharaja accepted Srila B. P. Puri Goswami Maharaj as his siksa guru after Srila Prabhupada's departure in 1977 and the departure of Srila Sridhar Maharaj in 1988.

Srila Guru Maharaj always shares very sweet pastimes about his relationship with Srila B.P. Puri Goswami Maharaj.One of them is the purchase of the Temple of Gopinath Gaudiya Math (the mission founded by Srila BP Puri Goswami Maharaj). Srila Puri Maharaj had been looking for a place for his temple in Vrindavan.

After Srila Guru Maharaj had bought Vrinda Kunja in the 90's, Srila BP Puri Goswami Maharaj approached our Gurudeva and asked him what he had done to get such a nice place so quickly, as he (Srila Puri Maharaj) had been looking for long. Srila Guru Maharaj told Srila Puri Maharaj that he had been trying several times to get places for a temple, but without any good results, until someone told him that for that to be effective, he would have to seek the blessings of Sri Gopesvara Mahadeva. So Srila Guru Maharaj followed the instruction as he was told and went to Sri Gopesvara Mahadev to ask for His blessing to find a place where the family could set Vrinda so to offer a humble service to the Dham and to the feet of Srila Prabhupada, Srila Sridhar Maharaj and all Vaishnavas.

Shortly after, Srila Guru Maharaj was walking through the market and a vrajavasi  offered a land that day which later became the beautiful Vrinda Kunja, which today is the main temple of our family in Sri Vrindavan Dham.

Today, in the same "Dauji Mandir",the Vyasapuja of Srila BP Puri Goswami Maharaj was held and all the devotees from Vrinda Kunja were invited to participate in the festival. It was a very nice celebration, full of devotees from different missions of the Gaudiya Math and other Vaishnava sampradayas. Thanks to the mercy of our beloved spiritual master, our family members can participate in those beautiful celebrations that are a reflection of "unity in diversity" that characterizes the World Vaishnava Association.

Srila B. P. Puri Goswami Maharaj was a promoter of "unity in diversity", he agreed to become president of the WVA yet he said he did not feel qualified to be. And today, the WVA continues to work under the same slogan of bringing all the Vaishnavas together in order to create an open platform which can the support the preaching of Sanatan Dharma around the world. Once again, thanks to the mercy of our Gurudeva, Vrinda family members from around the world have been involved in various services offered to the feet of all the Vaishnavas.

For example, Saksi Gopal prabhu,who at the beginning of the World Vaishnava Association was responsible for organizing the melas and meetings in addition to printing several WVA publications. Bhagavatamrta prabhu from Colombia, Gour Kesava prabhu from Germany who to this day maintain the Vaishnava page news www.vina.cc and actively participates for many years in the publication of WVA magazines and books. Pancatattwa prabhu who has also spent several years maintaining web services and communications for the World Vaishnava Association. Arup Govinda Das from Mayapur, who has been a great reporter of events for the different Maths in India. BV Madhusudhan Maharaj from Ecuador, who was for years directing Vrinda Ashrams in India and supporting all WVA services. Dasavatar prabhu from Argentina who in recent years has been dedicated to maintaining the most visited page of the WVA called "News from the world from the perspective of the Vedas", which has been a service greatly celebrated by Srila Guru Maharaj. Prem Kumari dd from Brazil who, for some time, supports and participates in maintaining multiple web services in WVA. Dina Bandhu prabhu from Chile, who from Yamuna Kunja in India supports and participates in public relations with the various temples of the WVA. And so many devotees and mothers of our spiritual family who have had the opportunity to make designs for the WVA such as Sarasvati Dasi and Damodarastaka Dasi from Colombia, Brahma Samhita Das from Sweden, Tulsi Dasi from Bulgaria, Radhe Shyam Dasi from Australia, among others.

Currently, the WVA is hosting a new exhibition of the Museum of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur Prabhupada, this time in Vrindavan during the month of Kartik. This exhibition is a humble offering to our spiritual master, to Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Thakura's lotus feet, and all the Parampara of our line. For this exhibition, devotees and mothers of our family are actively involved. This exhibit was designed with the help of Vishvakarma prabhu and Stoka Krishna prabhu from Colombia, who are graphics experts.  Sarasvati Dasi did all the research and compilation of pictures with the help of Brahma Samhita Das from Sweden who compiled the texts of each graph.Ramesvari Dasi from Peru revised and corrected each of the texts in English. And Mahatma prabhu along with the Vrinda Kunja team is organizing all the details of the exhibition which will be inaugurated on October 9 by the mercy of Srivatsa Goswami Maharaj, who is Acharya in service of the Sri Radha Gokulananda temple in Vrindavan.

So, devotees of our family have had (and still have) multiple opportunities to offer service at the feet of the Vaishnavas of different missions. All thanks to the mercy of our spiritual master, who is a faithful representative of the acharyas of the past. That is the characteristic of the Vrinda family: Being an instrument of service to mankind under the guidance of our Gurudevas; and it is thanks to them and their mercy, who teach us about the distribution of the message of love to all souls of Sri Caitanya; it is thanks to their mercy that we can celebrate together in the various temples the 30 years of life of VRINDA.

Now devotees gathered at the Mela are celebrating with great joy and many service plans, these 30 years.

As part of that celebration, yesterday at the Eco Truly Park it was launched the "Review of 30 years of Vrinda," which was the result of the unified effort of a group of devotees and mothers from different countries and it came out just a few days ago. The SEVAS managers will be making copies of this magazine to later distribute them to all the temples, then to be distributed to all family members and friends who want to know more about our Mission.

Along with the launch of the magazine, these days we inaugurated a new hall in Eco Truly Park called "The chacana" which aims to become a meeting and working place of UDSA (University of Ancestral Wisdom) which is quite q development project in which Srila Gurudeva is putting a lot of energy with the help of devotees from different countries. The UDSA's objective is to create an educational platform open to all people, where they can share traditional teachings of various ancestral people and cultures who share the same ideals of love and respect for all living entities, which are of the same ideals to those of the Vaishnava culture of India. Now the UDSA will have an important place in the Eco Truly Park in Peru, where you can strengthen your service to humanity.

At this time, Srila Guru Maharaj, Srila Gurudeva Atulananda and the devotees accompanying them are returning to Lima to celebrate Rasa Yatra along the streets of the capital of Peru. That is why Srila Guru Maharaj could not send his weekly message today and rather we have shared with you this little commemorative report of 30 years of VRINDA and it service to humanity. We also share with you that within the next few days Srila Guru Maharaj will be making his arrival in Vrindavan Dham alongside the company of Srila Gurudeva Atulananda, where they will also celebrate 30 years of the Vrinda family and 30 years of Vraja Mandal Parikram.

Devotees and mothers from Vrinda Kunja Ashram have been working hard in recent months for this celebration.

Already more than 100 devotees and mothers from our family have confirmed their participation during the parikrama, which is a great joy for the devotees who do service in Vrindavan Dhama.

Sixty devotees have already arrived at the Dhama from South America and in the coming days there will be more and more arriving. All of them are very happy to participate in this beautiful Vaishnava celebration. The home team will do their best to convey the daily morning conferences of our spiritual masters and to share every day the parikram nectar through photographic and video reports.

In the coming days details of the transmissions will be announced. Thank you very much to everyone for participating today in the Sunday report.

Please, excuse any offenses and disadvantages.

Thanks to Dasavatar prabhu for translation into English and Laksmi Priya dd from Antofagasta (Chile) for later editing and publishing the report.

Please accept my obeisances again. 

All glories to Srila Guru Maharaj! 

Haribol!

Traveling & Preaching 7/27/14 From Austria

Dear devotees. From Austria I send this chat today.

We are traveling at a rate of one country per day. So there is no desperation we are meeting beside rivers and lakes to take advantage of the beautiful Mother Nature in all its merciful aspects.
Right now I'm talking to Gandharvika, the Austrian artist. We are planning more Chaskis festivals. I am inviting her, as soon as she feels the need, to go to South America to do a Chaskis tour throughout all the temples.

Now tomorrow we are going to Hungary to a 6-day Mela where I can recuperate some strength. There we will be more calm. And Yatra in Germany, I can tell you that they just prepared the art of sadhana of Srila Bhakti Promode Puri Maharaj so they can start distributing it.

When you travel around Europe preaching you realize the nectar of preaching in South America. As you said, one does not know what you have until you lose it. So, I can tell you that I have received much mercy to represent Srila Prabhupada with you anywhere in the world. It's nice to open a mission anywhere in the world, but believe me it is a very hard thing and more so when it is in Europe.

The many number of projects that there are in South America is a great fortune to be able to know besides the devotees filled with much enthusiasm. But there is a very interesting thing for all of us and that is that the people in Europe are interested in the ancient villages. On this side, it can be shown that the ancient wisdom of India and that of the world is really one.

A base to see the world differently and solve the problems facing humanity. So I think we are in a historical moment where they are giving circumstances, that from my point of view, is a positive forecast for the Planet.

In recent days I  have been discovering productions of Vrinda that I had not seen although they are not so new. Perhaps due to the saturation of our materials there are other very important material that I have missed. For example Gandharvika offers a new video clip called Wake up sleeping soul on youtube for all to see (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCBozWAJJKQ). Or mother Gita Manjari who has a beautiful video clip called Gopinath, to the tune of Ave Maria. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4dw6U51_-8)

I send all my affection. The celebration of 30 years of the Vrinda Mission we are celebrating everywhere, especially by the medium of sacred songs in all waters of the world.


Your always well wisher,
Swami Paramadvaiti

Report from India 02/03/14

Reverences to all.

We are going to begin today's chat with a report from Risikesh. Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay , Srila Gurudeva Atulananda Acarya ki jay, Srila Harijan Swami ki jay, Sunday chat  of Vrinda family ki jay!

At this moment Gurudeva is in very good health and went to Risikesh to participate as an activist for PMC, promoting the project . At this time there is an international yoga festival organized by Parmarth Niketan where he invited the theater group of Vrindavan to participate to spread the message about the current state of the rivers.

Rishikesh is the land of the yogis, but now many have forgotten the true meaning of  real yoga, it has been converted into a mass business market. Srila Gurudeva guided by the constant effort of taking the message of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to every site, came all the way here to distribute awareness about the importance of protecting Mother Bhumi. He is being accompanied by two the sannyasism B.V. Vamana Maharaj and B.V. Padmanabha Maharaja , in addition to a group of 20 devotees and mothers from different parts of South America.

It is a costume group of plays on the current situation of our planet. Srila Gurudeva and the devotees headed out March 1 in the middle of the night towards Rishikesh. On the way there Srila Gurumaharaj directed a meeting of services with Vrinda Kunja.

Gurudev spoke about the importance of appreciating serving in Vrindavan, emphasizing commitment to it that must a member of the Vrinda family does in Seva Dhama, even if it is a service that has been done for one day or several years. Gurudev is always insisting that our main service in the Dhama is to become catalysts in  the message of Sri Mahaprabhu, whether it be in cleaning the Dhama,  in the WVA,  in theatre plays, in the office ... etc.

On another note, Srila Gurudev has been working on the plan for next festival where we will be celebrating 30 years of the Braj Mandal Parikram of our family. It will be held from Kartik and extending up to another month.

In the next few days Srila Gurudeva will be traveling to Sridham Mayapur for the Sri Gaura Purnima festival to offer to the lotus feet of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura, Srila Prabhupada and all of the vaishnavas, the newest productions of the WVA: the magazine is in honor of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta and his life in service. It will be launched March 10 at the samadhi of Srila Bhakti Pramod Puri Maharaja in Sri Gopinath Gaudiya Math.

Because of the different activities in Rishikesh it is more than likely that Srila Guru Maharaj will not be present in today's chat and vecause of this we will like to share some nectar from the lips of our Gurudeva in the form of instructions

" Sraddha ( faith ), Smaram ( remember Krishna ), Asraya ( the true refuge) are what will bring us to the loving service of the Lord and His devotees."

"Grhasta : do no worry solely for your family, better yet become occupied in extended your family by preaching to all those souls who come into your life"

"I left everything in this life to seek the Supreme Absolute Truth"

Gaura Prema Nandi!

Continue giving all your effort in your individual struggles... 2/9/14

From Ekachakra .
Dear devotees.
A hug from Chile Yatra. Happy in the company of my dearest brother Gurudeva Atulananda.

First I want to offer my obeisances to Srila Prabhupada, who changed the world, who sent me to this life with a mission. With a mission to fulfill, that mission is the mission of finding spirituality for myself and to share it with others.

The materialistic man is busy with all their toys and even though man has so many giant things, countries like China, Russia, USA, a fairly powerful world where everything is huge, yet they can not seem to solve their problems, it seems that man creates more problems than solutions.

There is very little coordination, there is little progress in understanding a situation of cause and effect. To avoid the negative causes and its effects, you would think that when you know something hurts that it should be removed to avoid causing further damage. So one might assume that the man would be very handy, especially in terms of food, pollution, but that is not the case. Man can not even advance much in that manner. For Example:

Currently there are many modern diseases and hospitals where new systems of medicine, surgery, etc are invented and there even exists computers that can run surgeries. One says, " how smart, look how much power man has." Actually the problem is simple, man has forgotten spirituality. Spirituality is the only way that one has to understand the difficulty of the material world. With the material one can not solve problems, the spiritual gives one the power to understand the essence, the cause of everything. The spiritual master always has doors open for everyone to grow and all problems are solved humility within the heart.

On the other hand, the idea of economic happiness or economic security is something that is naturally created in this materialistic environment where if everyone wants to have something then they have to have money, but they have forgotten that societies existed before without money and sharing was natural. ..
For example devotees share everything they have.We have a new farm Inkawara, 60 hectares in Bolivia which will be the light of the Incas, and it is a paradise. It has many butterflies, the most beautiful I have ever seen in my life, water everywhere, orchards in 60 years that have not been touched or better to say that have never ever been touched.

This land is also yours because you are a devotee of Krsna, because your dad is the owner, because the owner is Krsna, He has made the most beautiful things in the world until men come and they exploit it and destroy it. In other words, wherever Krsna may be that is also your place, that is divine socialism, and if we need a big roof because we are a lot of people we are also capable of making a large roof and if we need blankets because it is very cold, we will also be able to get them so that there is warmth.
So simple living and high thinking is not fictitious, it is not illusion, but you must be detached enough.

One of the founders of Ikwashenduna said : you all talk about the money but that is something very bohemian to decorate the walls, that is to stick on the walls, you see money as something important but it is only to decorate, but that is for doing something beautiful, but when you see money as the most important thing and you are neglecting your relationship with God that is very grave. Therefore, Srila Prabhupada was very gracious, he gave us the world, he gave us Vrindavan, that was raised by the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

All the banks and financed houses cannot even  afford to pay for a pebble of Govardhana.

We know that our lives are there to serve, learning to serve with or without money, no problem, the issue is to serve, but when you forget to serve you want to become the served, that's what happens in the material world, everyone wants to be served, served by others, ignorance of others. Even when you say " I love you", that has become selfish, if people say " I want to serve you " that's fine, but people really mean " I want to enjoy you." So you must be very careful with this phrase "I love you ".

We are very fortunate when we look for the goal of life and it comes to us through the form of the spiritual master and you now can serve in a loving way. And it is better you understand this anyway because everyone is the architect of their own fortune. Some have heart and not others. Those who do not will not understand anything but those that are, will build a temple of the Lord in their heart. They become well-wishers for all others and want to make temples in the hearts of others also; they become builders in the hearts of others even when uninvited. I see that your heart is in a prison, a place full of worries, you should remove those bars to be free and then I will enter there and build a cozy temple.

Everyone has to build a temple in their heart. They are constructing doctors of the soul, and there are many ways to see it, but the concept is very nice; that someone comes into your heart and will start constructing sa temple, that is rather advantageous but nice. Because really to build and be constructive one needs materials, and these are the materials of Seva. These are the materials to build temples in the hearts of others, there are cds, books, all to create the perfect consciousness and to have favorable environments especially when speaking of intelligence and speaking of the mind. There is a subtle construction needed, in that place there is no longer a need to handle bricks or mud. To build on them one must be quite prepared. When you install the books of Srila Prabhupada and Gurudeva Atulananda's conferences in the hearts of people, a temple is insured. Only the Lord knows what you 're calling, you just have to change your heart and call, you have to call, I install the line but you have to call, and if not, that is alright, because we will also call you, but hopefully you answer.

All things are lessons to grow, to learn, to rejoice, the value of this world is to feel that our brothers are happy, and so practically the happiness of Krishna consciousness is knowing that there is Krsna consciousness.

Our life, our path, our road, our task is to spread love, and we do not need anything else, we just need love, and one who does not have much love then you must chant the Hare Krishna mantra, that is why in a temple the maha mantra is installed to activate that love that everyone searches for :

"O my Lord let me be an instrument of your love."
When you have time to sing, that is activated. Then the Lord's devotees have a duty to activate the holy name and install the worship of Ishtadev. Everyone should be involved in the worship of God, even when he is an atheist.

One has to be a sankirtaneer, sankirtan leaders for Srila Prabhupada, equip yourselves and do not go without material. Equip yourselves to preach without the false ego, without thinking that you are the doers. We are nothing but instrumental pawns. Those who are doing it all, are our Gurudevas, Srila Prabhupada, Srila Sridhar Maharaj, Srila BP Puri Maharaj, we are the pawns. And there is much more work to be done. I see that many communities are being activated through the leadership the devotees are taking.

My message and desire is this: to continue giving all your effort in your individual struggles and change the community around you.

I wish you the best with the blessings of Srila Prabhupada.
Haribol .

Your always well wisher,
Swami B. A. Paramadvaiti .