From the corner of the room

By Krishna Kumari Devi Dasi

Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Gurudeva!!

The practical method of God realization propagated by
Caitanya Mahaprabhu is that everyone, always and
everywhere, chants the names of Krsna, especially the
Maha-mantra:

Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

Chanting of these sublime names effectively destroys
all sinful effects and instills pure love of Krsna.


Through the mercy of Krsna and Guru, we are put into
the position of meeting devotees of the Lord. If we
are fortunate, we have some attraction for the Holy
Name. My son, Trikalajna das was instrumental in
supporting me to become a devotee of the Lord. This
is the story of the day my life began…

At 19, my son had moved to Portland, Oregon to live
with a friend and his family. His goal was to be in a
rock and roll band and become rich and famous. During
this same time, by oldest daughter was getting ready
to have her first child. When she went into labor, it
was exciting but the labor became long and difficult.
There were complications and the atmosphere was full
of anxiety and concern. There was a phone call from
my children’s father; he wanted to know if I knew what
my son was doing? I had spoken to my son a couple of
days earlier and he was working part time and taking
some classes at the community college. His father
then informed me that he had dropped all of those
plans and had “gone and joined the Hare Krishna’s”!

There was a bit of a surreal feeling as my mind tried
to recall what I knew of the Hare Krishna’s. My image
was of young men dress up in orange costumes, jumping
up and down singing on the street corners and in
airports asking for money. Not exactly, the life I
had envisioned my son pursuing. I told his father that
I had to close my mind to this new information until
after the birth took place and everyone was ok.


Two weeks later, my husband and I planned a trip to
the Hare Krishna temple in Portland, Oregon to see
what was going on. My son who was dressed in a white
dhoti and kurta greeted us. He had a shaved head
except for a tuft of hair left on the back. It was a
shock to see him looking so different. I had
absolutely no idea what all of these changes meant. I
was going to find out.

We attended an evening Arotika and I was immediately
drawn to the singing of the Maha-mantra. The temple
president gave a class and I do not even remember the
content. I certainly did not understand it! He
answered our questions and listened to our concerns
with compassion. He did his best to alleviate our
fears. My greatest concern was the idea I had of
Iskcon being a cult and that my son would turn away
from his family and become brainwashed. It was only
through experience that I learned how our relationship
would change.

I left feeling very strange. I could not understand
what had made my son turn away from the live he knew
to a culture that was so different. Yet there was
something familiar and compelling as well. I thought
I had done something wrong as a mother and went
through a period of soul searching before deciding I
needed to get more information on Krishna
consciousness and learn why this philosophy was
attractive to him. In my youth, I had always been
searching for the absolute truth and my experiences in
life and religion were preparing me for this moment.

When I was 8 years old I had a near death experience.
I was born with a birth defect that required multiple
surgeries. I knew that I was in danger of dying with
each surgery I had. After one such surgery, there
were complications and my heart stopped. I had a
classic near death experience where I left my body and
witnessed the medical staff trying to resuscitate my
body from the corner of the hospital room. It was
such a relief to be free of that body. I was happy to
leave it behind and I turned away to the light and
tunnel. I was immediately stopped by a presence that
would not let me go any further. I knew I did not
want to go back into that body, but the presence said
that I had to go back to the material world to
“remember Him”. Who was I suppose to remember? At that
point, it felt like I was pulled back into my body,
back to pain and suffering. There is medical
documentation for this experience and my parent’s
validation as well. This memory is as clear to me
today as it was 42 years ago. I knew from that moment
on that I was more than my physical body. The many
years that came after were preparing me for the next
step of my journey.

After my first temple experience, I started reading
books on Iskcon by HDG AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila
Prabhupada and attending more programs at the Portland
temple and spending weekends when I could. As I came
to understand the philosophy and mission of Iskcon, I
became more and more attracted to becoming a devotee.
I began to adjust my life to follow the regulative
principals by starting to be a full-fledged
vegetarian, chanting 16 rounds, avoiding intoxicants
and illicit sex and gambling.

On one of my weekend trips to the Portland temple
there was a Sannyasi visiting, HH Bir Krishna das
Goswami. I was very much attracted to his preaching
and felt at ease talking to him about my life and
Krishna Consciousness. I started to write him
regularly and knew he could guide me to become a
devotee. I asked him to accept me as a disciple. By
his mercy, I received first initiation into the
chanting of the Holy name. I am eternally grateful to
HH Bir Krishna das Goswami for his guidance. I became
engaged in doing service at the Vancouver Iskcon
Temple in Vancouver, British Columbia since it was
close to where I lived. The devotees have been so
merciful to me at the temple. They have become my
spiritual family and their association has helped me
to make progress in Krishna Consciousness.

My son has been in the brahmacari ashram for a number
of years now. The relationship we have is closer and
better than it ever was before he became a devotee.
Other members of our family have become devotees and
the ones who have not are supportive of our Iskcon
lifestyle. Iskcon has totally changed my life and now
whomever I meet will hear about the glories of Sri
Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead! The human
language is too limited for properly expressing my
appreciation for the mercy of becoming a devotee. Now
I understand the meaning of my near death experience.
It was to remember Him, Sri Krishna! Achieving love
of Krsna is now the goal of this and every life. I
only pray that life after life I be placed as an atom
at His Lotus Feet!

May we always be thinking of Krishna!

Your humble servant in Krishna’s service,

Krishna kumari devi dasi

Gokulananda das

How I came to Krishna Consciousness

Srila Prabhupada's appearance in this world is a glorious part of the greatest story ever told: of how God has so much to give that He sends, from among His dear servants, His empowered messenger to abundantly deliver His divine grace and make the unfortunate fortunate again.

Srila Prabhupada is certainly one of Mahaprabhu's most amazingly successful instruments of salvation.

So my own story is yet another instalment in that never-ending miraculous movement of God's heart to save us from our own delusions.

To this day, I still wonder how someone like me could ever have come in touch with someone so great and so pure as His Divine Grace, like the dwarf trying to touch the moon.

I have gradually come to understand that this is only possible by the great mystery of divine grace: how Lord Caitanya chooses, out of His infinite kindness, to reach out to His lost children so that even the most unworthy can also become swept up in His great net of mercy, so expertly yielded by His loving servant Srila Prabhupada.

Looking back, I can see how my life's ups and downs all somehow contributed in some small way to my eventual connection to Srila Prabhupada's mission of mercy.

Born in Ottawa into a devout French-Canadian Catholic family, I was brought up with the simple values of my working-class environment, with a very good education from excellent teacher-priests at a Catholic Seminary.

By the time I reached university at 18, I discovered the whole realm of literature and philosophy, which sent me on a long eclectic search for deeper truths among the most popular luminaries of Western culture.

I found a lot of affinities among the Romantic poets like Keats, Shelley and Wordsworth, as well as the French Pascal, Lamartine, Verlaine and Beaudelaire.

These inspired poets stirred up a lot of feelings in me to seek out the deeper meaning of the human condition. Yet I was also noticing my growing appetite for sensual experiences conflicting with my higher aspirations.

By that time (1967), the whole hippie counter-culture swept me up into its maelstrom of sex, drugs and random spiritual probing. After about four years of confused searching, I became somewhat jaded, yet still hopeful that something real and beautiful still awaited me.

While I was thus winding down my former fixations, I began to feel a growing affinity for all things from India. Starting with Indian music then yoga, I soon found myself searching for anything connected to India's ancient spiritual traditions.

One day, while buying incense from a local Indian import store, I noticed a nice carved sandalwood figure of Lord Krishna, which I bought to put on my mantle-piece. I would often offer the incense to the Lord, thinking it to be a nice Indian custom.

And then, the Lord's unseen hand soon began to vividly appear in my otherwise unfulfilling life.

During a short week-end visit to nearby Montreal, I somehow found,in a downtown mall, a discarded french Back to Godhead magazine, with a beautiful front-cover picture of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta. Then, just a minute later, another gift from above: a beautifully illustrated pamphlet of "Krishna, the Reservoir of pleasure".

Eagerly looking through it, I came upon an effulgent color photo of Srila Prabhupada, whose intense smile stirred up deep feelings of inspiration. Upon reading the first words of his enlightening article, "Krishna means the highest pleasure"..., I remember thinking that this effulgent saint's luminous smile spoke volumes about his being immersed in the most intense state of spiritual ecstacy possible.

I was somehow blessed with this fleeting yet moving glimpse into SrilaPrabhupada's immense spiritual beauty.

And I thought: where is such a rare saint possibly to be seen and heard? Yet there were none of his followers close to where I was then living; so my budding desire remained unfulfilled.

Well, soon my whole material life started to fall apart. I became deeply restless and dissatisfied with all my previous infatuations; all the music, sex, drugs, my group of bohemian friends, the whole shebang was all pointless.

I was really down; everything seemed futile. I remember sending up a prayer to my childhood saviour Lord Jesus beggingfor his help in finding the right purpose to my empty life.

Then, one sunny summer morning in 1971, I announcedto my young sexy wife that we would be soon leaving to hitch-hike all the way across Canada to the West-coast mecca of the youth counter-culture: Vancouver, B.C.

Some vague but deep calling drew me to go there to seek out some spiritual community.

Soon after arriving, I got to know a couple of nice yoga groups. But that was not really what my heart wanted. Then two wonderful events rewarded my determined search with more than I ever expected.

I soon noticed an ad in the local hippie paper for the "Hare Krishna Sunday Love Feast".

When I showed up the following Sunday, I was totally blown away by everything I experienced there. The temple was on the second floor of a small warehouse in a dingy semi-industrial area near downtown; yet I felt as if I was entering another dimension.

Everything was so intensely beautiful: the smell of the incense and cooking, the bright vibrant colors, and mostly the effulgent smiling faces of the shaven-headed devotees busily preparing for their Sunday festival.

During the kirtan, I gladdly joined them to dance and chant to my heart's content, bringing me to the happiest place I had ever been. And then the prasadam was simply out of this world. I felt that the best of India had come to me and that at last my long search was finally over.

A week later, Krishna allowed me to meet a two-devotee chanting party in Gastown. Although I wanted to get their magazine, I didn't have even a penny to offer.

So I returned to get it two days later, but they were not there. While feeling greatly disappointed, I then somehow noticed something lying next to the side-walk half a block away: there was my Back to Godhead magazine!

Yes God was answering my prayers for sure! Running over to pick it up off the street, I gazed at the beautiful cover-painting of an effulgent devotee chanting with arms up-raised, surrounded by dancing deers, tigers and elephants! I would soon learn that this was Lord Caitanya miraculously spreading the Maha-mantra even among the jungle animals while journeying to SriVrindavan.

I went to a nearby park to drink deeply from the fountain of truth flowing from Srila Prabhupada's lips.

By the time I had finished entirely reading that effulgent magazine, I was crying abundant tears of joy and gratitude for God's gift. I felt I was in the presence of a rare enlightenened saint, who possessed the deepest knowledge on the planet.

After that intensely uplifting darshan in the park, I knew that my life had changed for good. Srila Prabhupada was somehow reaching out to offer me his matchless gifts of Krishna consciousness. All I had to do was accept and join with his fledgling but very sincere followers.

After being with them repeatedly over thefollowing month, I finally decided to surrender and join His Divine Graces's army of love, with an immense sense of relief and gratitude for God's infinite kindness.

Throughout my life's meager attempts to repay Srila Prabhupada for thus saving me, I have repeatedly experienced his graceful reciprocation in many subtle and sometimes dramatic ways.

Whatever spiritual experiences I've been blessed with have all been manifested in the person of Srila Prabhupada, as precious glimpses, sublime darshans into the transcendental beauty and opulence of a true lover of God.

As Krishna's infinite splendor is acintya, so are His tadiya, His intimate servants. Whatever access we are allowed into their spiritual glories is the ultimate possible reward. Srila Prabhupada has thus been my kalpa-vriksa, fulfilling all of my desires.

I was searching for deeper truth and he brought me to the shores of Gaura-vani, the ocean of transcendental knowledge about the infinite potencies and loving dealings of the Embodiment of all truth, Sri Krishna.

I wanted to discover who the great saints of mankind were, and he revealed to us the glories of the Gaudiya Acharyas, the greatest pantheon of divinely-empowered saints ever to have blessed this world.

I was hankering for deeper happiness and he blessed me to vicariously experience, while listening to his sweet and potent chanting in glorification of His Beloved Lord, a taste of eternity flowing from his pure heart's intense spiritual emotions overflowing with the purest love, which has repeatedly thrilled my whole being.

And I was also hoping for more satisfying relations and he gave me the rewarding kinship of his many pure-hearted sons and daughters.

Everything good and beautiful in my life has all been his enduring yet undeserved gifts. Srila Prabhupada spent his entire life's energy to indiscriminately offer all souls the opportunity to join in the greatest on-going miracle in history: LordCaitanya's flood of love of God destined to inundate the whole world.

To have been a minute part, one of countless witnesses, in that rarest miracle has made my life infinitely blessed, as one more note in that great symphony of salvation broadcasting Mahaprabhu's glories to the whole world. Jai Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga!

Bhakta Tim

Please accept my most sincere and deepest respects! All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

My story how I joined is actually two parts. It began in New York on the lower east side where I was living at the time. I was in a place that had two very large back windows without curtains and each morning I would wake up to the first light hitting the back windows on the apartments behind me, There was an old man who would sit in the window and when I would wake up I noticed he would be looking in my window so I would get up and move to the couch.

Not much later I had moved to Miami Florida. Things just wouldn't work for me in every area to such a degree that it got to the point I would wander around aimlessly not knowing what to do. I couldn't find a job and where I was living was horrible. I almost felt it was inhabited by some real bad energy due to the dark and heavy feeling it had. The two roommates there were very negative people caught up in Miami nightlife and I wasn't . So we didn't mix so well.

While I was out looking for work I applied at a store and met a girl named Lindsay.(Bhaktin Lindsay,but I didn't know that yet) We would talk and we would both comiserate with each other on the state of the place and how difficult it was and I mentioned my situation. She suggested going home and praying to Lord Siva for protection against this bad energy.

Now being brought up a Christian it was very unlike me to actually go home and do this but for some reason I actually went home and really seriously asked for help in a prayer to Lord Siva.

A couple hours later my roommates got home and told me that they had found someone else to live there and that it wasn't working out! So I thought " Oh great,I pray to Lord Siva and now I'm really in trouble!"

Later that evening a friend I hadn't spoken to in ages called me out of nowhere and mentioned they were trying to find me because they wanted to know if I would like to watch a place on the beach free of charge. It was a nice sunny and vegetarian house with such a nice peaceful energy. At this point my interest was definitely peaked!

The next day I went to see Lindsay at her store and she asked me how it went. After telling her she told me she brought me something. It was a bag with japa,tulasi necklace, Lord Nsrimhadeva pendant and a Bhagavad Gita. I was unusually excited.Presents don't usually get me this way even though I always feel appreciative and thankful.

I remember opening up the Bhagavad Gita and I was floored!!! First I read the first paragraph and it was uncanny how familiar it was. I "knew" this was what I was looking for. I knew it was the truth that I felt existed out there yet hadn't found! And two when I saw Srila Prabhupada I realized that is who I saw in the window looking at me at first light in the morning!!!!!

I went home and within 24 hours I was in a new place, chanting japa, offering my food to Srila Prabhupada and Sri Panca Tattva and reading Bhagavad Gita. It was like another existence.

I looked up the Miami location for a center related to Srila Prabhupada and found the Miami Hare Krishna temple. I went down and found the temple president and asked him if it was possible for me to move in. I saw the devotees there and I asked him how could I look,behave and some day become like these great souls! He told me to please move in if I would like. This was in 1993.

Previous to this I had always dreamed of winning the lottery, or making it big in music or acting and becoming famous and wealthy for some magic and happiness in life. But each day the realization becomes more solid how this sort of so called happiness so miserably compares to the true satisfaction and real happiness so mercifully given by Srila Prabhupada and his disciples, the Vaisnava devotees of the Lord!

I currently correspond with H.H. Bhakti Caru Swami and just recently Mukunda Goswami Maharaja, the latter of which I am in the process of organizing to transcribe his lectures from tape.

Due to the causeless mercy of Lord Krishna and His pure devotee Srila Prabhupada someone such as me was given a chance to hear the truth as it is , unaltered, without deviation and I am always thinking how can I attempt to make some small repayment to such a great and merciful benefit.

I just hope and pray that Srila Prabhupada will utilize me in some way to bring Krishna Consciousness to others because I cannot imagine what this life would be like without Prabhupada, the devotees , and Sri Sri Radha Krishna in it!

JAYA PRABHUPADA!!!!!!!

HARIBOL sincerily your servant,

bhakta tim

Bhuvana Pavani DD...All glories to Srila Prabhupada, whose forgiveness and mercy I pray for...

"Lord Caitanya then inquired: What is the most profitable thing in the world, the essence of all auspicious events? Ramananda Raya replied that there is nothing as profitable as the association of pure devotees." (Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Page 341)

When did I meet Srila Prabhupada? Srila Prabhupada arrived in Butler, Pa. in Sept. 1965. Is it possible I was visiting my Grandparents in Butler? Did I happen to catch a glimpse of Srila Prabhupada? Or the following summer, at the age of 13, did I happen to walk downtown Butler where His Divine Grace had previously walked? There is no question that Srila Prabhupada's very presence, his kirtan and bhajan, his transcendental preaching, purified the material atmosphere of the Butler area like nothing ever before... at least in THIS age!

"Some say that the devotee should remain in holy places like Vrindavana or some holy town where the Lord lived, but a pure devotee can live anywhere and create the atmosphere of Vrindavana by his devotional service. It was Sri Advaita who told Lord Caitanya, "Wherever You are, O Lord - there is Vrindavana." (Bhagavad-gita As It Is, 8.14, Purport)

In 1971 while spending a weekend with a few new friends, our host was often speaking informally on topics of the nature of the soul. I had never heard these topics spoken about in such a deep way! When the weekend was ending, I asked if there were any books containing his contributions to these discussions. He kindly handed me Easy Journeys to Other Planets.

I do not recall a picture of Srila Prabhupada on that publication and of course did not connect "His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada" as author until some months later, but I did begin chanting "Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare/ Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare" as a result of hearing from His Divine Grace.

"The spiritual master is the mercy representative of the Lord. Therefore, a person burning in the flames of material existence may receive the rains of mercy of the Lord through the transparent medium of the self-realized spiritual master. The spiritual master, by his words, can penetrate into the heart of the suffering person and inject knowledge transcendental, which alone can extinguish the fire of material existence." (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 1.7.22, Purport)

Some time later, once again visiting friends, someone arrived who had a box full of pictures he had taken of this man sitting on a special seat! These 8x10 photos in the box, all the same, showed a light-filled person, a smiling elderly man... and I wanted so badly to have one of those pictures, but could not bring myself to ask for one!

"Pure devotees are so absorbed in thought of Krsna that they have no other engagement; although they may seem to think or act otherwise, they are always thinking of Krsna. The smile of such a Krsna conscious person is so attractive that simply by smiling he wins so many admirers, disciples and followers." (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 3.22.21, Purport)

Shortly after that while in a book store, there was Bhagavad-Gita As It Is, the abridged paperback copy, with the blue/purple cover. Previously I had been reading a small Penguin edition of Bhagavad-Gita written like poetry and had no idea there was a real Bhagavad-Gita! Early on in my reading, Srila Prabhupada said that there was no need to read anything else; so for the next several months, I gave up all other reading and concentrated on Bhagavad-Gita As It Is!

One day shortly after taking a job in a mall gift store, a wigged salesman from Spiritual Sky incense came in. I knew he was a devotee of Krsna so went right up and said, "Where is the temple?" He was quite shocked! I bought japa beads from him and began chanting the Holy Name a round or two daily.

The first time I visited the temple was in the middle of the week and the middle of the day. I was sent to help a kind devotee in the kitchen as who was preparing the noon offering. He taught me how to cut an orange "the way Srila Prabhupada likes it done, so he can suck out the juice and leave the pulp!" After a short while, he turned to me and with clear humility and deep sincerity, "Isn't it wonderful? We are making dinner for God."

"Pure devotees of the Lord are more powerful than the waters of the sacred river Ganges. One can derive spiritual benefit out of prolonged use of the Ganges waters. But one can be sanctified at once by the mercy of a pure devotee of the Lord." (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 1.1.15, Purport)

In October of 1972 I moved into a temple 1000 miles away from my first encounter with His Divine Grace via his previous presence, his words, his books! December 1973 I received initiation from His Divine Grace. Yet I had only seen Srila Prabhupada's picture and read his books!

Finally after taking second initiation, Srila Prabhupada was going to arrive at the temple I was then residing in. Because it was a large community of disciples and so many had come from far and wide to have Srila Prabhupada's mercy, I still had only caught a fleeting glimpse!

Finally I was to actually be in the temple room for the morning lecture as arrangements were made to allow me on the men's side. I will never forget Srila Prabhupada's first words spoken that morning... before even formally beginning class... and not even recorded anywhere (I have searched and searched): "The problem with you young American boys and girls is you are not afraid enough of Maya!"

Even in my fallen condition, there is one thing I have full confidence in: His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada will continue to shower his causeless Vaishnava mercy on any soul anywhere who has the good fortune to read (or even touch!) Bhagavad-gita As It Is, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Sri Caitanya-caritamrta"any bona fide original publication containing the translations, purports, words given to all us conditioned souls for the next 10,000 years!!!

"We think that we have met Your Goodness by the will of providence, just so that we may accept you as the captain of the ship for those who desire to cross the difficult ocean of Kali, which deteriorates all the good qualities of a human being." (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 1.1.22)
All glories to Srila Prabhupada, whose forgiveness and mercy I pray for, for this poor soul is still "not afraid enough of maya."

Bhuvana Pavani Devi Dasi (Editor, Queen Kunti Website)

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/QueenKunti/?yguid=115339297

Srila Sridhara Swami

BEGINNINGS – part of interview with Sridhar Swami (Bhaktivedanta Manor - 30. 10. 2003) The first devotee I met was in 1968 and that was Hansadutta Prabhu travelling with a little travelling party across Canada, and they ended up in Vancouver in front of the city library chanting and I just thought they were very beautiful, maybe they were Buddhists. I had no idea. Later I had been down to San Francisco and met the devotee, his name was Babhuvrahan Prabhu and he had pamphlets and incense and he had a big painting of Mahavisnu. I got a mantra card with an invitation to a Sunday feast and it sounded very appealing. So on Sunday I went over to the San Francisco temple, which was across the bay from Berkeley on Frederick Street. The first person I met at the door demanding donations was Jayananda Prabhu and I was early so he made me give a donation for the feast and he invited me in and got me to vacuum the rug on the floor of the temple. Then I thought, "Now I'll relax". But then he again grabbed me and got me rolling simply wonderful sweets and he showed me a technique to roll two at a time, one in each hand. I guess he was pretty much my varmta-pradasika guru in the sense that he was the first one to engage me in devotional service. It was always nice to be engaged by Jayananda Prabhu because he was so transcendental. Everybody who came within his aura felt his sublime qualities and presence.

DEVOTIONAL SERVICE Shortly after joining ISKCON in 1969, Sridhar Swami returned to his native place in Vancouver, Canada to serve. He was initiated in 1970 in Los Angeles. After doing sankirtan he was trained as the first male pujari in ISKCON and sent to San Francisco to worship the newly installed deities there. Big book distribution started at that time in San Francisco and he joined the first travelling party with the world's biggest book distributors. In 1972 Sridhar Swami went to
London with Buddhimanta Prabhu to train book distributors there. In the fall he went to India for a visit where he stayed for many years, it becoming his permanent home base for the rest of his days on this planet. Sridhar Swami was one of the very first life membership preachers and had a lot of personal association with Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada used to joke with him when he was still a brahmacari, saying on several occasions, "Here comes Sridhar Swami". In 1975 Srila Prabhupada awarded him sannyasa in Vrindavana. Sridhar Swami was all ready to travel and preach, but Srila Prabhupada sent him to the Calcutta temple to be the president due to an emergency situation there. Sridhar Swami stayed in Calcutta for some time until everything was back on track and then he began travelling around India with the Library party, which was comprised of 40 devotees in 6 Mercedes Vans. During this time he met Srila Prabhupada in Bombay and was sent to Hyderabad to be the temple president. Later, he became the President of the Bombay temple and from 1990 onwards he was the GBC minister of Life Membership as well as GBC of Bombay and New York. He was made GBC emeritus in 1998. His heart and soul project was the found development for Mayapur temple of the Vedic Planetarium, Adbhuta Mandir.

SRIDHAR SWAMI'S MESSAGE "I have nothing to gain from anyone but I want very much for SrilaPrabhupada to be respected as the real servant of Siddhanta Saraswati and you can be sure that when the dust of the cloud, now covering some peoples minds, finally settles, only his ISKCON will remain as a ray of hope for any sincere spiritual seekers". VISION FOR ISKCON – part of interview with Sridhar Swami (Bhaktivedanta Manor - 30. 10. 2003)"

“We have to learn to encourage devotees to come up to their highest potential. Not that we aren't prepared for them to fail miserably. But if you leave the impression with someone that you're not confident about their ability, that's the level they'll come to. But if you somehow inspire them on the highest level, they'll come to higher levels. Srila Prabhupada was able to do that. If something goes wrong, we make adjustments. Progress is a series of adjustments. An organisation is never perfect in the beginning. So we need that type of attitude and dealing. In the one sense, there's a sense of urgency to get things done, on the other hand we have to be detached.”

ADVICE TO YOUNGER MEMBERS OF ISKCON – part of interview with Sridhar Swami (Bhaktivedanta Manor - 30. 10. 2003) “Get education - spiritual education - Bhakti Sastri, Bhaktivaibhava, Bhaktisarvabhauma, whatever you can do, learn as much as you can because that will serve you. Work, don't be afraid to work. It used to be that you worked and when you got a chance you read a little bit, but now it should be study and when you get a chance work a little bit. In my day there was no VIHE, MIHE etc. Later on you can do a huge amount of service, but you'll have so much knowledge to give you shelter.”

, but you'll have so much knowledge to give you shelter.”

Srila Sridhar maharaja assisted by Pankjanghri Prabhu

He'd never take the Hare Krsnas seriously
—or so he thought.

[Rupa Gosvami and Sanatana Gosvami said to Lord Caitanya]: "Jagai and Madhai had but one fault—they were addicted to sinful activity. However, volumes of sinful activity can be burned to ashes simply by a dim reflection of the chanting of Your holy name. Jagai and Madhai uttered Your holy name by way of blaspheming You. Fortunately, that holy name became the cause of their deliverance. (Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya, 1.194-195)

FIVE YEARS AGO, while still in high school in Honolulu, my friend Brian and I decided to dress as Hare Krsnas on Halloween. We got some white sheets and dyed them orange. I wore a woman's stocking on my head to make me look bald, and Brian wore a rubber wig with a ponytail. We borrowed tambourines from someone in our high-school band.
We went to school in our costumes. We got a lot of attention. Brian and I had the same American Studies class. No one could concentrate. Everyone kept looking at us. Our classmates asked, "What are you?"
"We're Hare Krsnas, don't you know?"
When nightfall came, we went to Kalakaua Avenue. On Halloween, the police close the streets to traffic, and thousands of costume-clad Hawaiians and tourists mob the street. We started to shake our tambourines and give out flowers to people. "Hare Krsna. Here's a flower for you."

Close Encounters of the Spiritual Kind
An hour or so went by. Off in the distance we heard the sound of karatalas and drums. From out of the crowd came a jubilant group of Krsna devotees chanting the maha-mantra. Brian and I were shocked. We were afraid they would be angry with us for impersonating them.
The devotees saw us. There was a strange moment of silence. Then one of the devotees approached us. He said, "Hare Krsna. Yeah, we thought someone like you would be down here." Instead of shouting at us, they asked us to join them! They taught us the words of the maha-mantra: Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.
We began to chant. The devotees filled our tambourines with prasadam cookies to distribute.
We tagged behind the party, chanting and dancing. As we handed out cookies, we said, "Yeah, we're the real ones. These guys are posers." As we chanted, we changed the words of the mantra. It was complete blasphemy. Still, we were having fun.
We chanted for three hours. Finally, the devotees went home. One of the devotees asked, "So, are you ready to join up? Are you ready to come with us?"
"Yeah, right," I thought. "Never in a million years."

Midnight Chanting
We met another friend, Cherise, around midnight. We gave her an orange sheet and taught her the maha-mantra too. The three of us chanted and danced along Waikiki.
Most people were amused by our imitation kirtana, but some of the ghouls and goblins got ugly. One burly, angry drunk ripped the wig from Brian's head. Brian and I were petrified. Cherise was outraged. She poked him in the chest, "You give that back, mister!" He relented. Off we went again, hairstyles intact.
Hoarse and thirsty, we drove to a nearby shopping center. We entered the Rose City Diner, a '50s fast-food joint, bustling with witches, warlocks, ghosts and other creatures of the night. "The Monster Mash" blared from the jukebox.
We were parched and broke. Shaking my tambourine in outstretched arms I approached the manager at the counter, "Hare Krsna. Hey, will you give us free sodas if we get up on the counter and chant and dance?" He agreed.
We got on top of the long formica countertop, and belted out the maha-mantra for everyone to hear. The patrons laughed and applauded. We got our sodas and headed for home. Our chanting trio had been out for more than two hours. Blissful and exhausted, we made it home at three A.M.
For the next several days the maha-mantra kept echoing through my head—Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. It was pleasurable, but I was afraid. "This is addictive. I'd better stop before I become one of them," I thought. I pushed the maha-mantra back into my subconscious and forgot about it.

Soul Searching
I finished high school and began attending MIT. I joined a fraternity and soon entered the fast lane of college life—women, alcohol, and hard drugs. By the middle of my freshman year, after hitting bottom, I began to search for spiritual knowledge. I studied martial arts, different systems of meditation, hatha-yoga. I read the Bible. I took a course on Asian religions, which included a study of the Bhagavad-gita.
One day, a fraternity brother came home and said, "Here, I got this from some guy on the street." It was Srila Prabhupada's Message of Godhead. I looked at the striking picture of Srila Prabhupada on the back. I was frightened by it. I put it away and continued my mishmash of pseudo-spiritual pursuits.
Then last May, at the end of my sophomore year, I met Bhakta Sashi from the Boston temple in front of the student center at MIT. He was distributing Srila Prabhupada's books and invitations to the temple. I spoke with him several times at his book table. I would needle him, but he was always kind and reasonable in answering my questions.
During my summer break in Hawaii, I read the cookbook The Higher Taste, which Sashi gave me. Inspired by it, I offered some food to Krsna. I had never tasted anything like it before. I started to offer more of my food. I became convinced: "I have to go to the temple."
When I returned to MIT last fall, I was depressed. My then-girlfriend had just left for college. I had broken ties with my old college fraternity. I felt like I was in limbo. I had lost the temple's address, so I walked up and down Commonwealth Avenue. I couldn't find the temple.
I went home and read The Higher Taste again. I read about the maha-mantra. "Oh, no, I'm not going to start that again!" But it said that chanting the Hare Krsna mantra is the only shelter. So I went for a long walk and I started to chant. Immediately, all my troubles melted away. As I walked down Commonwealth Avenue I prayed to Krsna, "Please let me find this temple." I detected the fragrance of sandalwood incense. I looked across the street and I saw the temple. Krsna was reeling me in ...
The next day was Sunday. As I rode my bike toward the temple, I saw a devotee chanting on his beads on the steps. "No," I thought, "I won't shave my head!" I peddled past.
But I came back the next week. Inside I found a warm, friendly atmosphere and that all-addictive mantra: Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.
I'll remember that day for the rest of my life. It was beautiful. I felt like I was home. I remember thinking, "I don't want to leave. This is nice."
During December, I visited the Honolulu temple for the first time. On Saturday night the devotees packed into the van to chant Hare Krsna on Kalakaua Avenue. On the way there, I told a devotee about that Halloween five years ago. He said, "I remember you." It was the same devotee who had given us the cookies and taught us the maha-mantra.
Another devotee explained that as they were going home that night they were saying, "These guys think it's pretty funny that they're out here imitating devotees, but I'll bet you at some point they'll become devotees."
Or at least they'll try...

From Katie to Karunamayi devi dasi

I had moved into the neighbourhood on a whim with my husband and young son in 1996 when I was 22. I had never heard of the “Hare Krishnas” before but it would come to pass that I had met them several times, bought furniture (an Indonesian Cabinet) from one and bought books, also. I was always very curious about the interesting looking people getting on the bus down at Marine Dr and would look at them wondering about their lives. A friend of mine had suggested we go down for lunch one day and I was excited to see what this place was. My husband at the time warned me not to go but I was so drawn by my curiosity.

We went for lunch and when I walked in there were 2 devotees in the restaurant, a girl and a boy one older and one younger than me and I thought “wow, there are people here *just* like me!”

I came back alone with my son a few days later which was Srila Prabhupada’s appearance day festival. I came in my jeans and tank top, baby Sterling on my hip and stood to the side watching this scene which I had never been witness to before.

The boy from the restaurant saw me and motioned for me to step in line and participate. My first conscious connection with this sacred practice was by bathing Srila Prabhupada with a conch shell full of honey. I had no concept of what I was doing but profoundly appreciated the sanctity of the worship. I was also raised without a faith that was put upon me by my parents.

From that time I developed a very strong attachment for Srila Prabhupada. I can feel his love and mercy for me and I take shelter in knowing he loves me.

Shortly after was our Rathyatra and I went down on the Saturday (of a 2 day festival) and had a lovely afternoon talk with a Brahmacarini traveling with the festival of India. I didn’t understand one word she said philosophically, but just LOVED the conviction with which she shared her beliefs. She was 100% convinced and convincing. I can’t say that I had been “looking” for anything because I was not aware that I was “missing” anything. Was I ever in for a surprise.

I saw the boy again on the bus and he sold me my first book, a soft cover gita.

I started to come to the temple with greater frequency, still clueless to what was going on. I would come during the day and sit on the nice comfy chair (vyasasana!!) and read, or rather, look at the pretty pictures in the book.

One day at the temple and I noticed a devotee woman who is still here today. I remember looking at her and thinking “this is amazing how *these people* have surrendered everything to this path; the way they talk, dress, speak, eat, bathe…” It really was a concept for me to absorb that there is something in life that you can be completely dedicated to.

I had the good fortune of finding an almost complete set of Bhagavatams and 1/3 of a set of CC at the local thrift store. I got them ALL!

I went to the local Indian market and bought myself 6 yards of bright purple fabric and glued a gold tassel border on it. That was my *first* sari. Looked rediculous, but I was in bliss!

I had no idea how to tie it so I basically just kept wrapping it around myself until I could barely walk, but I had the palu over my left shoulder. I had figured out *that* much. A sweet devotee took mercy on me and took me privately to show me how to wrap my sari properly. I had also taken to using a paint brush to apply tilak to my face as I couldn’t figure out how to do it with my fingers.

I started attending the Namahata programs at a devotee’s home and started attending the morning program. I also made a trip up to our Saranagati community farm for Rathyatra.
The whole time I was telling my family that I just thought it was nice, but I wasn’t serious. I said this for almost a year and a half and then I had the opportunity to go on the infamous new years Harinama here. I had *such* an ecstatic time and the next day I was at the temple sobbing because I had realized that I loved this place and never wanted to leave. That sensation was totally overwhelming for me as up until that point, Krishna Consciousness had only been trickling in. That Harinama was a pivotal point in my surrendering for what I understood to be the rest of my life.

I began to work in the restaurant, do cut up for breakfast prasadam, fix Lord Jagannatha’s jewellery, cleaning the pujari room and make Gaura Nitai’s turbans. I was not able to do full time service in the temple as I had my family to care for but how I wished I could just become a brahmacarini and move into the temple. I later came to understand that in my times of difficulty I realized that the reason I *stayed* was so that my children would benefit from the mission. So, what in effect I felt was holding me back, was actually what was keeping me there.

As time went on I continued to attend the morning program religiously, doing some little service and my marriage started to fall apart as my husband did not like the movement. By the time my marriage was finished, I had had my daughter Chaya and complete faith in Krishna consciousness. This was the way for me.

Later, I was to marry that salesman devotee who sold me the Indonesian cabinet. His name is Kripanidhi Dasa and we have our daughter Hladini-Shakti.

We lived in Saranagati Dhama for 2 years where we had the good fortune of attending the morning program at Sri Sri Radha Banabehari Mandir, the effulgent Deities of Dinatarine and Yamune devis. We have since moved back to the lotus feet of Sri Sri Radha Madana Mohana in Burnaby, BC

In July of last year I was given initiation by HH Srila Radhanath Swami in New Vrndavan.

Srila Prabhupada saved my life and all I can do is pray to hang on to the lotus feet of my spiritual master and the assembled vaisnavas.

Hari bol!