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Vol. 1 Issue 2

Dedicated to His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness

The person who has not at any time received the dust of the feet of the Lord’s pure devotee upon his head is certainly a dead
body. And the person who has never experienced the aroma of the tulasi leaves from the lotus feet of the Lord is
also a dead body, although breathing. —Saunaka Risi, Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.3.23
Sri Sri Radha Gopinath Newsletter 1 March 2010
 When Srila Prabhupada established temples he instructed the In 1992, Her Grace
devotees to worship the Lord very nicely, saying that if they did Tulsi Devi Dasi single-
so, the Lord would personally be present and the temples would handedly took the responsi-
be non-different from Vaikuntha. bility of cooking the “Raj
Waking up the bhoga” (Noon offering) for
deity in the the deities . She did this
morning (mangala seva alone(as there were
darshan), offering very less devotees to help)
bhoga to Their for many years and grad-
Lordships, offering ually raised the standard of
arati, singing for the offering by introducing
Their pleasure 12 offerings to the Lord,
(during arati), including 3 sweets which is
putting Them to still being followed till date.
rest (shayan She adds, “In those times it
darshan) are few used to be such a rush that
important sometimes I would be
activities of daily making hot chapathis and
worship which are they would be offering
regularly carried them one at a time to the
out at Sri Lord.”
Sri Radha Gradually,over the years many other devotees joined in to
Gopinath temple. perform this sacred service.
Offering bhoga Currently the seva is being managed by a senior devotee Tulasi
to the Lord is one Manjiri Devi dasi. The entire seva has become very well organised
of the most important activities, with a fixed number of devotees assigned for each day of the
since devotees accept only foodstuffs offered to the Lord in the week.
form of Prasad. The Lord is self sufficient.He does not need Everyday a total of seven
anything but as devotees we need to offer everything to the Lord offerings are made to the Lord
and accept the same in return as His mercy for our purification starting with Balya Bhoga-
and further Early morning at 4:40 am
advancement when the Lord wakes
in up, second just before
Krishna con- Sringar Darshan at
sciousness. 7:25 am, Mangal
When Bhoga-at 9:30 am, Raj
Their Bhoga-at 12:00
Lordships Sri pm,Vaikalika Bhoga at
Sri Radha 4:15 pm, Sandhya
Gopinath were Bhoga at 6:30 pm and
installed in the last one just before
1988, initially He goes to sleep (Shayan
the resident Darshan).
devotees Madhuram sweets which
started include cakes, cookies and pastries,
cooking for the deities. As per ISKCON standards Sandesh,Rasagullas,Rasa Malai,Burfi are also an extension of this
they used to offer Mangal Bhoga, Raj Bhoga and Sandhya Bhoga seva which are offered to the Lord as a part of the different offer-
with foodstuffs falling into four categories(as mentioned in the ings.
scriptures) those that are swallowed,
licked, drank and chewed.

March 2010 2 Sri Sri Radha Gopinath Newsletter

 If we are looking for peace and tranquillity in our life then it is essential that we develop a
high level of tolerance and forgiveness towards others. Here are some pointers
given by Rukmini mataji during the last Chetana programme,
a youth festival for girls, on how todevelop these qualities.
It has been 63 years since India got its independ-
ence. However, along with technological advancement
and a booming economy, the quality of tolerance has
been fast depleting and slowly becoming extinct.
Result is the growing frustration among today's youth
which is leading to alarming number of suicides in
age groups as young as 12 to 19 years. According to
psychologists and counsellors what today's youngsters
lack is this important quality of tolerance.
In such a scenario we need to go back to our
origins to learn a fewlessons from the biggest man-
agement guru of all, Lord Krishna Himself! In the Bhagavad
Gita He has given us four management principles based
on which we could understand this quality of tolerance.
Firstly, Tolerance is a must in this age of quarrel and
hypocrisy. It is inevitable that one has to learn this principle of
tolerance as this world is a place of dualities i.e. happiness-
distress, honour-dishonour, victory-defeat, go hand in hand.
Secondly we need to understand that we are not this body,
but eternal spirit souls. This obsession with our bodies, leads
to the concept of I, Me and Mine. Today's generation is every page in our scriptures is filled
growing up with this I and Me culture which is the root cause with such examples. They wore tol-
of frustration. erance as their armour which was
The third principle is that this world is temporary and full impenetrable and protected them from
of sufferings. The root cause of suffering is our mind and our all kinds of situations.
senses. There are six enemies within our hearts such as lust, Now the question is, how to practically apply these prin-
anger greed, pride, envy and ciples in our lives. We could learn this from Mother Nature
illusion which lead to a great herself on how to imbibe this most elusive quality of tolerance
deal of suffering. So there is a in all situations.
need to develop this quality 1. From the Ocean we could learn how to remain undis-
of tolerance so that we could turbed in the midst of so many material desires and tempta-
fight these enemies which tions.
cause havoc in our lives. 2. From the tree that stands in the scorching sun but still
The fourth and most gives shelter to others, we could learn how to endure suffering
important principle is that the silently without any expectations.
greatness of a person is esti- 3. From the building whose strength depends on its founda-
mated by the ability to tol- tion, we could learn how to build our life around values, prin-
erate provoking situations. ciples and our belief systems, based upon the strong foundation
This is a quality which has of integrity, love and forgiveness.
been seen only in great 4. From the lotus flower we could learn how not be affected
political and spiritual leaders by external circumstances but be nourished from within by
like Gandhi, Jesus Christ or Mother Theresa and in deep spiritual realizations i.e. be in this world but not of this
today's modern age His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta world.
Swami Prabhupada, the founder Acharya of ISKCON. In fact - Sita Devi dasi

Sri Sri Radha Gopinath Newsletter 3 March 2010

 The same Personality of Godhead Krishna, who though one may have fallen away from the injunctions of the
appeared as the son of Maharaja Nanda 5000 years revealed scriptures. This is Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's
ago in Vrindavan, appeared again as Lord special mercy,that He is giving us the highest but at no
Chaitanya, 500 years ago in Navadweep(near cost.Consequently He is known as patita-pavana,
Kolkata) and Balarama appeared as Lord the deliverer of all fallen souls.
Nityananda to bestow very easily what no
incarnation has ever offered before to The Brahma-samhita says, one who takes to
the people of this world. this process of Krishna
He is the most munificent of all Consciousness,primarily chanting, reactions to
incarnations because He gives Krishna his past misdeeds are adjusted & love of
to everyone, without any Godhead is awakened in his heart immediately.
qualification.He preached that simply by So every one of us can take part in this
chanting the Hare Krishna movement of Krishna consciousness by
Mahamantra(Hare Krishna Hare Krishna chanting
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare,Hare Rama Hare Krishna Hare Krishna,
Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare), one Krishna Krishna Hare Hare,
would be able Hare Rama Hare Rama,
to perfect his life." The only qualification required is Rama Rama Hare Hare and
that we chant with faith and conviction. perfect his or her life.
The supreme Lord can deliver anyone and everyone, even

March 24, 2010

Rama Navami. Fasting till noon Bhagavad Gita lectures on
March 11, 2010 all the days in the temple
Fasting for Papamocani Ekadashi March 26, 2010 hall from 7.30 to 8.30 pm.
Fasting for Kamada Ekadashi

c 2010 all articles & photographs copyright of Sri Sri Radha Gopinath Mandir, ISKCON
March 12, 2010 Donors can sponsor Deity
Break fast 6:49 - 10:49 (Mumbai) March 27, 2010 Dresses, Deity Services,
Break fast 6:37 - 10:41 (Mumbai) Jewellery, Flower Decorations
March 15, 2010 and Festival Prasadam.
Damanakaropana Dvadasi Interested donors may please
Mina Sankranti (Sun enters Pisces) contact Acaryanidhi das on
March 30, 2010 23665652, Smitha Krishna das
March 21, 2010 Lord Balarama Rasayatra on 23665522 or Krsnanaam
Sripad Ramanujacharya Appearance Sri Krishna Vasanta Rasa das on 23665577 for details.

Edited and Published by Krishnan M. Iyer , Building No.4, Flat No.5, LNHO
Compound, K.M. Munshi Marg, Chowpatty, Mumbai 400007 and printed by
him at Steadfast Printers, A/12-47, Chittaranjan Nagar, Rajawadi, Vidyavihar
(East), Mumbai 400077, India for:
International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) The materialist thinks that persons engaged in
Sri Sri Radha Gopinath Mandir, 7, K. M. Munshi Marg, Girgaum Krishna consciousness are crazy fellows wasting
Chowpatty, Mumbai - 7. Phone: (022) 2366 5500 Fax : (022) 2366 5555 time by chanting Hare Krishna, but actually he
does not know that he himself is in the darkest
Please visit us at: www.radhagopinath.com, www.deitydarshan.com
www.harekrsna.in (FAQs), www.iskcondesiretree.com region of craziness because of accepting his body
for daily Darshans, Lectures, Donations & more. as permanent.
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Please send comments & letters to
newsletter@iskconchowpatty.com
Prabhupada, Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.30.3, purport
Photos printed with permission from BBT
March 2010 4 Sri Sri Radha Gopinath Newsletter