Newsletter July 2023

Beauty and care

Dear devotees and dear friends,

Please accept our best wishes, all glories to Srila Prabhupada!

Summer time is always the busiest time of the year because we get the chance to receive more visitors. During the last month, in addition to individual guests, we hosted 50 Indian Pilgrims on their European tour, one great marriage of a Vaisnava couple and also the visit of Harinam Mandir. This time of the year is also very beautiful for arranging the gardens of Sri Sri Radha Madana Mohan.

In this newsletter we will share a bit more about the Harinama Mandir group, a little report on the development our mentorship program and a glimpse into our gardens.

This group of devotees is composed of 16 celibate monks who are travelling around Europe to sing the Holy Name in public, generously distributing Krsna consciousness to everyone. They are under the nice care of Ananda Vardhana Swami who is also the head of the Holy Name monastery in Estonia. Their group is mainly composed of young monks but has also 4 to 5 senior members who are inspiring and caring for the younger generation. For most of the year they live a very simple life in their monastery and they have very deep spiritual practices. When the summer comes they go on a Harinama tour and generously share the depth of their realisation to everyone by the media of sound vibration.

The scriptures describe the sound of Krsna´s flute as something really amazing. Inanimate objects start to move and animate beings become stunned by this marvellous sound. The rivers stop flowing and all living entities are overwhelmed with loving feelings. It is so because all the love Krsna has in His heart is transformed into sound by passing through the hole of His flute.

Of the entire body of Krsna, the most beautiful is His face. Even more beautiful is His smile. When Krsna blows into His flute, His most beautiful smile transforms into a melody and then enters the living entities’ hearts in the form of the Maha Mantra. C.C. Madhya 21.113

In the same way, the deep meditational practice of those serious practitioners is filling their public chanting with spiritual emotions that have the power to awakened love of God in the hearts of everyone.

Around two months ago, Vaijayanti dd and I went to Croatia to follow a mentorship course organized by the European Nation. This course was followed to help us receive European volunteers in Goloka Dhama and to learn the necessary requirements for such programs.

While following the course we noticed how well designed it was and could give a great support to the development of our own members. It became clear that by giving a structured training to younger devotees or volunteer we would empower a new generation to become strong and capable individuals. This type of education can also reinforce the ability of a mentee to later on go out into the world, find appropriate work and have a mature and balanced life style.

This training addressed the personal needs of the individual but mainly the learning experiences of the volunteer/devotee. This training focuses a lot on learning reflections, goal settings and evaluation of the progress done. The help of a mentor to navigate the volunteer into this type of training is very necessary. It also fits so nicely with our own Krsna conscious philosophy that always stresses the need for receiving guidance.

After this course, a presentation was given to some members of our community and around 6 devotees are now inspired to give this care for our younger generation and receive further training.

In a lecture of Ananda Vardhana Swami, we learned that the Sanskrit word “RUPA” means form but also means beauty. Especially the form of Lord Krsna is the epitome of all beauty. My spiritual master once told me that the strongest quality the Lord has to attract the living entities is by His sensational beauty. Çré Vallabhäcärya has written the Madhurastakam in which he reveals the beauty and sweetness of the Lord.

Following this principle, the devotees of Goloka Dhama have gone out of their ways to improve the beauty of our gardens. When Krsna is so beautiful, his garden and temple should also look very beautiful.

In his puport to SB 6.19.5 Srila Prabhupada writes:

Sometimes the Lord, as the child of Mother Yasoda, requests His devotee for some food, as if He were very hungry. Sometimes He tells His devotee in a dream that His temple and His garden are now very old and that He cannot enjoy them very nicely. Thus He requests that the devotee repairs them. Sometimes He is buried in the earth, and as if unable to come out Himself, He requests His devotee to rescue Him. Sometimes He requests His devotee to preach His glories all over the world, although He alone is quite competent to perform this task. Even though the Supreme Personality of Godhead is endowed with all possessions and is self-sufficient, He depends on His devotees. Therefore the relationship of the Lord with His devotees is extremely confidential. Only the devotee can perceive how the Lord, although full in Himself, depends on His devotee for some particular work.

We would like to express our profound gratitude to all members of our community who are selflessly giving their lives, time and energy to serve the mission of Srila Prabhupada and to all our supporters who are giving us the necessary funding to accomplish this mission.

On behalf of the Goloka Dhama community,

Your servant, Gaurahari dasa