Happy 90 minutes

Bharani Mataji met an American lady who mentioned that she practices Ayurveda and is very interested in knowing more about the activities of the soul. Bharani Mataji encouraged her to read the book and visit the temple.

I showed Bhagavad Gita to an Arabic lady she was so respectful to Gita and her face brightened as soon as she touched it. She eagerly heard about the glories of Gita and she wanted to buy the book. Then her daughter came and told that she doesn't know how to read English, but the mom was very determined to just have the Gita with her. She secured the book in her bag and asked if it is okay if she drops the money in my car on her way back from the shopping. I said "yes". She said she is very happy that I trusted her. How can I not trust someone who has so much enthusiasm to have Gita in a language that she doesn't even know how to read! Sure enough, when I came back, money was there in my car. I wish I had the same respect towards Gita.

I met an American lady from Washington DC, As soon as she saw the Gita she asked "Who is your Guru?" I showed Prabhupad's picture and explained about his mission. She mentioned that her parents taught her about transcendental meditation when she was very young & she is now teaching the deaf and dumb students in a non-profit organization. She was very appreciative of Prabhupad's mission and happily gave donation.

Though people were in the morning rush, many stopped to hear about the book. One Indian lady was very happy to get the book packet and eagerly inquired about our programs. In the end, I met a Chinese Lady; she took the book packet in hand and very eagerly listened to the explanations about the books. Then I mentioned that we accept some donations to cover the printing cost and also use it in other services that we do to the community. As soon as she heard the word donation she gave them back and said she will try some other time. I spoke a little more and she again rejected. The more she rejected the more I felt like encouraging her to take the book. I was praying to Nityananda to inspire her from within because she was very eager in the beginning. Finally, this concept of appreciation came into my mind, I told her, let me tell you the truth, if it were someone else I will not encourage them this much but I see that inquisitiveness in you. Your look so bright:-) I am sure this book will help you. As soon as she heard this she gave 3 quarters.:-) The happiness that I feel when I receive my bonus checks seemed worthless when I received those 3 quarters from her!

All glories to Nityananda! Srila Vrindavan Das Thakur prays, "I worship Lord Nityananda, the unlimited root of the tree of devotional service. He traveled on every path singing and dancing and repeating, "Hari! Hari!" Without considering His own interests, He was merciful to the people and he gave them His merciful side long glance."

I had already missed many meetings @ work (because of an emergency appointment @ Cupertino (Sankirtana) school:-). Happy 90 minutes felt like very few seconds & we realized that this is how devotional service is "joyfully performed"!.

Param Vijayate Sri Krishna Sankirtanam!

-Sanatana Gandharvika Mataji

Harinam performance held on 10/22/10 in Palo Alto was fantastic far surpassing my expectations. Though the weather was mostly cloudy with some rain at times in the neighbouring areas, there was no rain at the Harinam place. Many devotees participated with great enthusiasm despite being a cloudy weather day.

---Ramananda Sakha das

A Few Good Moments

GNAB:

It was an ok outing, with most houses being unaswered, but still there were a few good moments.

We met a nice person Bruce Kerans. He was watching a movie, but he paused it and listened to Sri Krishna P Pr explaining him the BG. He knew about George Harrison and his involvement with Hare Krishnas. He is going through some tough phase in life and was very excited to know more and has shown desire to attend the lectures next week. Although unemployed currently, he gave a nice donation of 40$.

Sri Krishna P Pr explains the BG nicely to American devotees and a few people took the BG and gave good donations. It was nice learning experience accompanying him.

Nilesh Pr / Neelam M met an Indian lady and she was happy to get the BG. She gave a nice donation. She gave a 50$ donation, but had second thoughts and asked to take only 25, but, still ended up given 30$. We can approach her later for New temple fund.

Nilesh Pr also met a person who started arguing about why the BG should not be given free, when Bibles are available for free in motels. He was more a Hindu activist and didnt agree to the concept of BG being distributed to all. Finally, they gave him a small pack and got some donation although he intially refused.

OkNAB

Nilesh Pr met one guy, who was trying to create problems. So they thought it wise to retreat from that area, so missed 2-3 apt blocks.

With one team having gone to San Ramon, some of us decided to stay local and join Chandra Pr. who normally services this spot. We had a couple of new devotees who enthusiastically joined us. Initially, we started as a small group that quickly grew in number as Sukheswari dd & family, DVD Pr and Hariguru Pr also joined us. In no time devotees were all over the place enthusiastically distributing book packs and Bhagavad Gitas. DVD prabhu worked the adjoining shops and distributed many packs. All this enthusiasm drew shoppers to our book table, causing Ravi Puranam Pr to start showing books to them (his first debut in book distribution, we were told). Everyone participated and much energy and enthusiasm was generated before rain interrupted a 2-hour spell in which many books were distributed. Not encumbered, some devotees stayed on and continued to distribute more books after a brief interruption.

Contributors

Hariharan Pr & Raxit Pr

The story of the Blue & White boy

1) Balaram used to go for a creative essay competion with his homeschooling group and almost 20 kids come to attend the seminar, I was about to a give a book pack to the teacher, she is an author and teacher...she accepted. 2 parents in the club got the book pack also. very nice, one of kid's father started reading the Isopanishad during his wait time and I was observing him during his course of reading and he seems to be disturbed in the beginning then moved to the pictures in Iso & looks happy then again he came back to the page where he left earlier... as a whole IMHO, he got an spiritual impact. it was so good that I got the experience of a new reader , instant value.

2) As per the creative story writing , the theme was fantassy and Balaram wrote about Lord Bramha stole the cows and cowherd boys and how the "Blue Boy" by his magic power re-created and bewilder Lord Brahma.. Many of the kids are non Indians so they could not understand the story character but they listened intently with great surprise. At least they heard about the Blue Boy and herad the holy name of Krsna

All glories to Sankirtana movement.....

Yas,

Bali Mardan das

The rain of mercy

: It was like Krishna had come to Sankirtana Central. With the morning having started with rain, my hopes of going to the Farmer's Market for book distribution were dashed. No sooner had I recovered from that thought than we received a call from a couple of traveling devotees from Seattle who had come to the ISV temple and needed books. Hanspriya dd showed them the way to Sankirtana Central. In the morning, they acquired a couple of cases of Krsna books, a case of BGs and CDs. Then, on the same afternoon I received another call that they needed more books, having given away what they took in the morning at an Indian cultural festival. I met them at the temple where they bought more cases of Krsna books, BGs and CDs. All the BG paperbacks were sold out. In all they acquired about 200 books & CDs. Krishna had reciprocated when weather conditions did not seem right to go out on Sankirtana.

Ys
Raxit

Everything must go

* We just thought of trying out sunnyvale hindu temple as our book distribution spot and we were a little skeptical before the weekend because some one said that they disallowed us selling our books there. We still went ahead anyway and over the weekend, we did around 900 books and collected close to $1400 'just near parking lot'.

* I met one guy today and was about to hand him Bhagavad-Gita. He said that he tried every thing in his life (Art of living, Ramana maharshi, Krishnamurti - not the Giddu, etc etc..) and felt a little frustrated and disgusted about all the spiritualism and was trying to figure out things on his own and leading a life free from attachment, anger etc.. I remembered some parallels between what he was explaining and what I read about similar kind of people mentioned in BG 4.10 by Srila Prabhupada. I immediately flipped pages and read a few lines of that purport which read : "Furthermore there are many persons who cannot understand spiritual existence at all. Being embarrassed by so many theories and by contradictions of various types of philosophical speculation, they become disgusted or angry and foolishly conclude that there is no supreme cause and that everything is ultimately void...." He got impressed that people like him are being mentioned in the Bhagavad-Gita. We had a long conversation and in the end he took a book pack and Gita and gave $20.

* Praveena met one young Indian man whose name was 'Krishna Chaitanya Kapila' :-) He hails from a pious family and his grand father gave him that name and apparently their ancestors are devotees of Chaitanya maha prabhu. He did not have any cash to buy the Gita. He sent his friends to a nearby store to buy some thing with credit card and get 'cash back' from the counter and with that they purchased the Gita :-)

* 'Everything must go' suited quite aptly to our campaign today as we were left with not a single book at the end of the day :-) Hold on!! Just as we were thinking like this, Praveena discovered a Bhagavad-Gita lying in her handbag. She felt bad that we could not distribute 'every thing' that we took and one book was still remaining. She was lamenting and thinking that how nice it will be if she can distribute that Gita some how. And when we came and parked at the temple, some one ran up to Praveena and asked her (what are the odds?) if she had a 'Hardbound Bhagavad-Gita'. What a magic from Krishna!! Praveena gleefully responded to her request by distributing the only remaining Gita and got a $20 bill.

Ys

Kishore

HG Vaisesika Prabhujis Vyasa Puja Celebration

Video Archive

http://www.justin.tv/iskconsv/b/271144430

http://www.justin.tv/iskconsv/b/271156019

http://www.justin.tv/iskconsv/b/271166573

MSF of Loving Exchanges 2010

The Monthly Sankirtana Festival (MSF) of Loving Exchanges was held last weekend at ISV. Based on Srila Rupa Goswami’s ‘dadati’ principle of giving (Nectar of Instruction, Text 4),

dadati pratigrhnati

guhyam akhyati prcchati

bhunkte bhojayate caiva

sad-vidham priti-laksanam

Offering gifts in charity, accepting charitable gifts, revealing one's mind in confidence, inquiring confidentially, accepting prasada and offering prasada are the six symptoms of love shared by one devotee and another.

The results of MSF are as follows:

• 28 devotees participated in book distribution
• 3870 books were totally distributed and
• $2502 in Laxmi points were collected (including donations*)

On behalf of Team ISV, we thank all participants and contributors.

MSF of Loving Exchanges ki Jaya!

Yours in service,

Raxit

GNABS

I had brought a little sign that said, "Bhakti Yoga, Free Meditation Lesson" and some little japa malas.

The first lady I talked to, before other distributors arrived, took a Krishna book. Her name was Michelle. She had done TM and Namyeho Ringekyo chanting. She considered herself a Buddhist but actually believes there is a soul and a Supreme God (these statements were coming from her, not from me). It was clear that Krishna had sent her to me at this difficult time in her life, and she wanted a relationship with a personal God and was tired of impersonalism and voidism. She seemed smart and simple and good hearted.

She had recently lost her job in Napa County and had moved to Santa Cruz because she always wanted to live here, but she was in anxiety about economics. She is in her early 60s and is afraid about finding decent employment at her age. She said she wanted to become "fearless" and she was thrilled when I told her the "A.C." in Srila Prabhupada's name referred to Krishna (abhaya caranaravinda), whose lotus feet deliver one from all fears.

She sat and chanted a round with me, said it made her feel "lighter", and was very happy with the experience. I forgot to get her contact information, but maybe she gave it to Vaisesika, who arrived before we finished chanting. She asked us about contacting us, and Vaish was talking about how we were setting up a "meet group" on the internet. (I want to talk to her again. I wish I had at least given her my card. I noticed she was chanting with her left hand and was holding the beads between thumb and index finger. I hope she learns to do it right. I think she will love her Krishna book. I also gave her a paperback Gita and a little mala.)

Anyway, for me the whole day was like that. I had a brief to write and I could only stay out a few hours. During that whole time I was giving one japa lesson after another to people who were eager to experience bhakti. I ran out of malas and some people had to chant without malas. One person donated $5 for a little mala. I did not have time to distribute books (but our group distributed 15 Gitas and about 30 books altogether).

At least three of the chanters, including Michelle, might easily have moved into a temple asram (if we had a well-organized local temple asram for them to move into) for further training. This "free bhakti yoga lesson" idea is a keeper.

Ys

Akruranath Das

HH Hanumat Prakesa Swamis Srimad Bhagavatam Classes at ISV

Wednesday Bhagavad class

http://www.justin.tv/iskconsv/b/270725290

Saturday Srimad Bhagavatam Class

http://www.justin.tv/iskconsv/b/270732350

Sunday Feast Class

http://www.justin.tv/iskconsv/b/270825734

HH Hridayananda dasa Goswami Srimad Bhagavatam Class on 18th Sep

http://www.justin.tv/iskconsv/b/270298683

Not a bad deal after all !

* Had an interesting conversation on phone with a mormon, whose wife received our books. Apparently he was not at all happy after he saw the books after going home. He called me and left a nasty voice message showing his dissatisfaction. He also spoke to me later and vented his anger at us using the name of George Harrison by selling our 'yoga' books. After some time I cut the conversation and said "Have a nice day". And he replied 'You have a nice day too.. HARE KRISHNA!!" It was so funny that he said Hare Krishna in the end. I said to myself 'that's not a bad deal after all' :))

* I met an Indian person who took the Bhagavad-Gita and when I asked for a donation. He gave $5 and he replied : "That is why we can not spread our Hindu culture through out the world. Just look at the christian missionaries. They distribute Bible like any thing without asking money like this. That is why they are able to spread so well. Because of your tactics, we can not spread like that. People will unwillingly give the donation and they won't feel good about you". I told him that we have to do this activity based on the money we receive from good souls like him. And we some one like him can donate good amount, we can afford to give freely to others. Then some thing happened to him and he immediately took his wallet and gave $20 bill and told me : "Use this and give 4 free Bhagavad-Gita's to others.. especially westerners.." :)) 'Not a bad deal after all', I said to myself :))

* Sri Krishna Purushottam and I met one old American man and he was quite familiar with Hare Krishnas. He knew about Srila Prabhupada and it seems he also worked with some devotees for procuring some things (it seems he set up a computer for them and a software which constantly scrolls the maha mantra in various fonts) for Berkeley temple. He accepted our book pack and gave some donation. He also chanted the maha mantra.

Ys

Kishore