OM SRI SURABHYAI NAMAH! OM SRI GURAVE NAMAH!
The first three months of our OM Sri Surabhi Campaign have been filled with many exiting developments where more and more devotees and well-wishers are becoming introduced to the main theme of our campaign, i.e. a much needed awakening and growing awareness about Mother Surabhi as an integral part of our lives and as our mentor towards a more natural, simple and sustainable lifestyle.
During this short period of three months, we have been hearing more and more testimonials from devotees around the world, some of whom are influential leaders within the ISKCON society, as to the need to move in the direction of cow care and sustainable living. Increasing our outreach to devotees, temples, and congregational members and beyond is the key to get more people connected and involved with the campaign.
What follows is a brief summary of various events, many of which have become landmarks of the campaign, where IDVM-India was able to successfully introduce the Surabhi Campaign. We plan to come out with Quarterly Reports on the progress of the Surabhi Campaign to keep everyone updated and motivated. Many of these events have already been reported on our main website, www.srisurabhi.org
January saw the launching of the OM Sri Surabhi Campaign in Hyderabad (and we came to know later at the New Mayapur Farm Community in France as well as in Mayapur and Vrindavan) where over 250 devotees gathered to attend a formal function that began with a Go-Puja to Mother Surabhi at the residence of one of our IDVM-India members, HG Gour Gopal das and family. Special guests were invited for the ceremony that included both activists and professional people very much involved with the protection of mother cow. During the event, the booklet explaining the OM logo (Our Mother) was distributed. In addition, the official IDVM Press Release was read out. All the participants were then asked to take the solemn Oath to Mother Surabhi by repeating the oath raising their hands. The local newspapers covered the event in the next day’s edition.
During the month of January, a core team of devotees based in North America began holding regular conferences planning how to introduce the campaign in NA. Our first Continental Coordinator for the Surabhi Campaign thus emerged in the person of Sri Krishna Purusottama das who is based in San Jose, California. As a result of such endeavors, two major achievements took place in NA, setting in motion the pace for the Surabhi Campaign. The first development was in connection with the registration of a non-profit called Sustainable Eco Alliance [SEA.Inc.] reaching out especially to the secular world. The second major development was in the formation of a website that has been named www.srisurabhi.org taken up by a very enthusiastic and gifted devotee named Shantibhushana. The official site of the campaign was later officially launched on the auspicious day of Gaura Purnima, March 5, 2015.
The month of February saw many significant events taking place directly and indirectly related to the Surabhi Campaign. The Sanga for Gurus, GBCs and Sannyasis held in Sri Dham Mayapur from February 2 to 5, the Strategic Planning Network from February 7 to 10, the Annual Global Varnasrama Mission Conference from February 11 to 14, the Varnasrama Training Course from February 14 to 18 were all opportunities to share the Campaign Logo Booklet and special DVD. It was during this time that we worked on the cow documentary introducing the milestones event of a 12 year Marathon with a 15 minutes Video Premier in Sri Dham Mayapur at the Prabhupada Samadhi Auditorium to a crowd of some 100 devotees on March 4th. The video received a warm reception from all those attending.
After the documentary release in early March, some local outreach programs promoting the Surabhi Campaign were conducted in W. Bengal covering the village of Aamjam in Midnapur District, the village of Gajankol in Howrah District and the ISKCON Kolkata Temple. One of the most positive responses was from students attending the ISKCON LEADS program in Vallab Vidyanagar, Gujarat, where the cow documentary was highlighted. Some 30 students happily shared realizations about the courses, most of which related to the importance of Mother Surabhi.
March also gave an opportunity to visit Avanti Village, a fledging community near Baroda in Gujarat where a number of families under the inspiration of HH Bhakti Vikash Maharaja have been developing their self-sufficient community since the last few years.
The month of March culminated in a two days festival at the Vrindavan Goshala where a group of enthusiastic devotees conducted the BLISS Festival (Bhaktivedanta Learning Institute for Self-Sufficiency) with some 75 devotees attending the event which was reported in our srisurabhi website.
During this 3 months period the preliminary planning was formulated for the next few months with expected Yatras in Indonesia in the month of May, a Yatra in Cambodia in June, a Yatra in Switzerland in July and a Yatra in Ukraine and Russia in August. Various other festivals in North America as well as an extensive tour of the French countries of West Africa will also provide opportunities for devotees to join in the Surabhi Campaign.
We expect to get more and more exposure as we begin to introduce various branding techniques that will help to spread the glories and importance of Mother Surabhi.
We invite devotees to share information about their projects and for this we will be introducing a new section called “Project in Review” thus gradually listing all the rural projects and how they are developing.
We also plan to come out with a practical way for devotees to become connected and involved through the Sustainable Eco Alliance program thus giving an opportunity to more and more people to become connected. We are looking for National Managers as well as State Managers. If you are interested please contact your Continental Campaign Coordinators. We also plan to introduce the Eco Alliance program giving an opportunity for more and more people to receive the mercy of Mother Surabhi. We are still looking for National and State Campaign Managers as well as Campaigners to help promote the mission of the campaign. If you are interested in any way or would like to recommend someone, please contact us.
We hope to report more important developments in the months to come. Krsne matir astu.
Yours in service to Mother Surabhi,
RP Bhakti Raghava Swami