OM SRI SURABHYAI NAMAH! OM SRI GURAVE NAMAH!
This is the fifteenth Quarterly Report summarizing the on-going developments of the OM Sri Surabhi Campaign – 2015 to 2027 – in our attempt to promote the varnasrama mission both in India and in various countries. All the previous reports published can be read on our two main websites at www.iskconvarnasrama.com and www.srisurabhi.org.
JULY 2018
UKRAINE MONTHLY GO PUJA
Devotees in Ukraine have been conducting a regular monthly Go Puja at Mother Farm project headed by Yamuna Prana das. With the assistance of Bhakta Simon and other devotees, Yamuna Prana has been visiting various Bhakti Vriksha groups in the capital city of Kiev to introduce devotees to the importance of rural life and Mother Cow. As a result, a good number of new visitors regularly come to the Mother Farm project to experience first-hand rural life and to get the association of the local cows.
GAURI ATTENDS RAHTA YATRA IN BALI
The organization Gau Raksha Indonesia (GAURI) continues to be very active attending many of the local Ratha Yatra Festivals conducted at different locations in Indonesia. In the last few years, the number of Ratha Yatras in Indonesia has increased manifold largely due to the enthusiasm of HH Subhaga Maharaja and many of his disciples who have introduced the festival in many new cities. Ratha Yatras in Indonesia now rival the Ratha Yatras in Malaysia with both countries holding some 30 festivals yearly.
Headed by Kisora prabhu and Yadhava Hari prabhu, the GAURI team sets up a book table at such Ratha Yatras displaying various books translated in local Bahasa Indonesia as well as various cow products made by the local devotees. In this way, on July 14th and 15th, the devotees participated in the annual Bali Sri Jagannatha Ratha Yatra that attracts thousands of devotees.
ISKCON PUNE SPONSORS SEMINAR ON MILLETS
As part of the ISKCON Daiva Varnasrama Ministry-India mandate, a group of devotees started visiting City temples to give seminars on various topics related to Varnasrama. On July 21st, 2018 Jananivas das, Rasamandal das, Vasudama das and Rama Lakshman das reached ISKCON NVCC- Pune to give a seminar on “Millets – Its health and nutritional benefits”. The devotees who attended the program very much appreciated the presentation.
FULL ARTICLE at:
http://www.srisurabhi.org/report/millets-its-health-and-nutritional-benefits/
PROMOTING THE OM SRI SURABHI CAMPAIGN
IDVM-India, in an attempt to systematically introduce and further publicize the OM Sri Surabhi Campaign in India, held a summit meeting of two national ministries connected with Cow Protection and Cow Culture to establish a National Department promoting the OM Sri Surabhi Campaign. The three National Coordinators are HG Damodar Dulal prabhu, ISKCON Minister for Cow Protection in India, HG Sri Rama prabhu, Temple President of ISKCON Mangalore, and HG Rajarama prabhu, President of Varnasrama Book Trust (VBT). Each Co-National Director pledged to introduce the OM Sri Surabhi Campaign to our various ISKCON centres in India.
DHARMA GAU GRAM YATRA ENTERS ANDHAR PRADESH
The Dharma Gau Gram Yatra that was established in April 2018 entered the State of Andhra Pradesh at the end of July with plans to visit villages in Machilipatnam area as well as Kakinada. Under the leadership of HG Hari Kirtan das, an enthusiastic group of devotees helped organized 8 villages surrounding Machilipatnam. Another four villages were covered in the area of Kakinada, under the leadership of HG Ananta Sesa das, including the village where ISKCON Kakinada plans to establish its new temple for which they recently held the Bhumi Puja.
AUGUST 2018
GITA NAGARI BARU (GNB) COWS ENJOY NEW FENCING
The devotees at GNB decided to fence a major portion of the Bhadravan Forest so that the cows can freely roam within the one-acre natural forest. Bhadravan in the first of 12 Vrindavan forests the devotees plan to open within their 150 acres village project with the intention of making most of those forests available for the grazing of cows. Whenever the devotees hold their monthly Go Puja, they chose one of the existing three forests already opened.
SRI SURABHI APP DEVELOPMENT
Those who have downloaded and registered the Sri Surabhi App that was launched earlier this year will be happy to know that with the help of a new App Developer, they will soon enjoy new features, with the added Menu called SRI SURABHI GLOBAL. An improved technology will facilitate the simultaneous updating of the Sri Surabhi App in both the Android and iOS version. The date for the Android update is October 15th and for IOS is October 22nd.
PORTABLE MILL AT VEDIC ECO VILLAGE IN CANADA
On August 21st, devotees serving at Vedic Eco Village in Saranagati, Western Canada, received their new portable mill. Most of the valley surrounding the Vedic Eco Village is covered by forest that needs to be properly managed to reduce the possibility of forest fires. The wood mill is already in operation with devotees preparing lumber for a veranda expansion at the main cabin.
BRANDING DHARMA GAU GRAM YATRA VEHICLE
The core team travelling in India introducing the Dharma Gau Gram Yatra have arranged to nicely decorate the vehicle with the IDVM-India Ministry logo and the name of the Ministry with the subtitle “Promoting Rural Development”. Since the Dharma Gau Gram Yatra is specifically centred on villages, the bilingual letters that appear in both English in Telegu now serve as added publicity to promote this village outreach program as very much desired by His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada. Many years ago, Srila Prabhupada had written to one of his disciples that upon returning to India he would travel from village to village in his ambassador car.
See article at http://www.srisurabhi.org/latestnews/dharma-gau-gram-yatra/
INDONESIA HOLDS SEMINAR ON THE MAJESTY OF COWS
GAURI conducted a discussion activity or dharma-tula in the tradition of Hindus in Indonesia along with Hindu students who are members of the Hindu clergy organization in Way Jepara, Lampung. The activity took place during a session of teaching and learning activities of Hindu religion which is routinely carried out every Friday at their school. At that time, GAURI, represented by Yadava Hari Prabhu, was asked by the Hindu teacher of State Senior High School 1 Way Jepara to replace him because he was going out of town for a while. Incidentally, Yadava Hari Prabhu who is a student in Yogyakarta is on vacation in his hometown, Way Jepara, Lampung and is able to fulfil the request. He coordinated with Hindu religious leaders in the school. They agreed to hold a dharma-tula in collaboration with GAURI.
Full Article: http://www.srisurabhi.org/latestnews/discussion-about-the-majesty-of-cows-with-young-indonesian-hindu-clergy/
SEPTEMBER 2018
GANGA SAGARA BARU in INDONESIA
Devotees at Ganga Sagara Baru (GSB) in the Province of Kalimantan, Indonesia, have put 70 hectares of their 125 hectares under paddy cultivation in a government supported scheme to increase crop production in the area and provide employment to local farmers.
The devotee heading up the project at GSB (New Ganga Sagara), Sundar Gopal prabhu, applied for the government assistance and after being approved now heads up a team of some 20 local villagers in systematically growing crops.
Full Article: http://www.srisurabhi.org/latestnews/ganga-sagara-baru-in-indonesia/
SEMINAR ON AYURVEDA in ISKCON Mayapur Community Hall
On September 11th, 2018, IDVM – India took the opportunity to hold a seminar on Ayurveda during the short visit of Dr Srinivas to Sri Dham Mayapur. The primary impetus to conduct this seminar came from the enthusiasm of HG Veera Gopal Das who wants to share the awareness of the importance of Ayurvedic treatment in our society.
With the assistance of Vishnurata das who was arranging the hall for the seminar, the event was conducted from 10 AM to 12 PM, with approximately 30 devotees attending the seminar including HG Pancaratna Das (ACBVS) and his wife, HG Saci Priya Mataji, HG Radha Rati Mataji, Bhakta Kamal, HG Shyama Mayi Mataji, and other residents of Sri Dham Mayapur. The course was very much appreciated by all the who attended.
Dr Srinivas was covering many important points during his speech:
- The introduction of Ayurveda.
- Dinacharya and Rtucharya.
- The bad effect of plastic toothbrush and sweetened toothpaste.
- The dangerous of refined cooking oil and maida flour.
- The advantages of taking millet diet over rice.
- The dangerous of packed masala. (Dr Srinivas was making a nice point, he said that “once you cut the package of the masala, that time you are actually cutting your throat”)
- Encouraging to grow our own natural organic foods.
Full Article: http://www.srisurabhi.org/latestnews/seminar-on-ayurveda-in-iskcon-mayapur-community-hall/
VEDIC SOCIOLOGY SEMINAR AT BHAKTI SANGAM – UKRAINE
A group of devotees headed by Yamuna Prana das and Bhakta Simon helped organize a five-day seminar during the Bhakti Sangam in Ukraine covering the topic of Vedic Sociology. The first day was dedicated to introducing the general concepts of sociology and why it is important for devotees to understand the difference between Western Sociology and Vedic Sociology. The second day covered the first of four Vedic sciences that make up Vedic Sociology, the Science of Philosophy coined by Canakya Pandita as ANVIKSIKI. The third day covered the Science of Education, known as TRAYI based on the 14 standard books of knowledge that make up the curriculum in traditional education, the subject matter for brahmanas. The fourth day covered the Science of Politics, known as DANDA NITI, the subject matter for ksatriyas while the firth day covered the Science of Economics, known as VARTA, mainly centred on natural farming and cow care, the subject matter for vaisyas. The overall reception was positive with between 50 to 100 devotees attending the various sessions.
VILLAGE OUTREACH IN UKRAINE
The DHARMA GO-GRAM YATRA initiative to cover 10 Eco Vaisnava Villages outside India continued in Ukraine in the month of September. Although Ukraine has a number of rural initiatives, none so far are having a large number of families living off the land. One of the rural projects is known as MOTHER FARM, located some 2 hours from the capital city of Kyiv. The special feature of this project is its outreach to local farmers in surrounding villages where daily milk is collected from hundreds of cows and brought to the small dairy factory operated by Yamuna Prana das. The dairy supplies ahimsa milk to the main temple at ISKCON Kyiv as well as various milk products such as yoghurt, sour cream, butter, buttermilk, and ghee. A number of families reside at the MOTHER FARM project and help milk the cows and in various phases on the dairy industry.
On the last day of the survey, a festival was held attended by some 40 devotees from the city of Kyiv. MOTHER FARM regularly organizes such festivals to create local awareness and also to introduce urban people to the concept of village life. During the one day festival, Yamuna Prana das who heads up the project, arrange for the soft opening of the MOTHER FARM VARNASRAMA COLLEGE officially dedicating a portion of land for the purpose. He also donated one of the houses that will serve as the residential quarters for some of the matajis.
UNIVERSITY OF KYIV SEMINAR
Devotees organized two university seminars at two separate faculties at the University of Kyiv. The seminar was entitled MODERNITY IS KILLING CIVILIZATION. His Holiness Bhakti Raghava Swami spoke to the attentive audiences of 100 and 200 students outlining the root cause of today’s global maladies pointing out how modernity has been in vogue for the last 400 years under different isms causing severe anomalies affecting the social, economic, educational, politician, health and environmental conditions globally. He explained how the three cardinal principles of the gifts of nature, namely cows, land and education were severely being abused and exploited. A number of students asked pertinent questions at the end of the presentation.
COW CULTURE CONFERENCE IN INDONESIA
After the Ukraine Yatra that lasted two weeks, a team of devotees visited the well-established rural community called GITA NAGARI BARU that was started in the year 1999. Some 33 families totalling 133 residents make up the community at GNB. The special feature of this Vaisnava Village is its 19 years of steady progress towards self-sufficiency. During the visit, there were two significant programs, one being a one-day seminar entitled COW CULTURE CONFERENCE with devotees from India giving presentations. There was also a one-day BHAGAVAD-GITA CONFERENCE promoting the teachings of Vedic culture where over 200 copies of Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is were gifted to all those attending as part of the Dhana Shastra initiative started three years ago by devotees in Bali.
By: HH Bhakti Raghava Swami