(A)  Main Conference Room under Guest Lodge

  (B)  Large Prasadam Hall Adjacent to Temple Room (Behind Srila Prabhupada’s Vyasasana)

  (C) Small Kitchen/Prasadam Hall Adjacent to Temple Room (Behind Jagannath’s Altar)

  (D) Carpeted Room Next to “A”

  (E) Guest Lodge Room 8 on Ground Floor  Between Snack Bar & “A”

 FRIDAY, May 9th

7:00 am              Guru-puja

7:30 am              Darsana-arati

7:45-9:00 am          Class: Memorizing Slokas: B.V. Madhava Swami

8:15 – 10:30 am         Breakfast Prasad Served

11:00 – 11:30 am       (A) Welcome by Organizers

11:30 –   1:00 pm      SESSION I

(A) The Guru-vandana Prayers: An Overview: Candramauli Swami

(B) Pitfalls on the Pilgrim’s Path: Laksmi-Nrimsha Das

(C) The Healing Power of Prasadam: Krpamaya Das & Soma Das

1:00 – 2:30 pm       Lunch Prasad Served

3:00 – 4:30 pm       SESSION II

(A) Spiritual Economics: Romapada Swami

(B) Vaisnava Youth Empowerment through Entrepreneurship and Education: Vasudeva Das & Prithu Das

(C) Hopeless to Highest Hope: Nanda Dasi

(D) Mahabharata in America: Sankirtan Das

4:45 – 6:15 pm       SESSION III

(A) The Complete Art of Transformation – The Vedic Way: Sacinandana Swami

(B) Esoteric Hints of Japa: Atmarama Das

(C) Srila Prabhupada’s Virtual Encyclopedia: Nrsimhananda Das

6:30 – 7:30 pm       Dinner Prasad Served

7:00 pm              Gaura-arati

8:00 pm              Entertainment in Tent

SATURDAY, May 10th

7:00 am              Guru-puja

7:00 -8:00 am      (E) Yoga with Damodar

7:30 am              Darsana-arati

7:45-9:00 am              Class: Bringing Our Chanting to Perfection: Sacinandana Swami

 8:15 – 9:30 am           Breakfast Prasad Served

10:00 –   11:30 am    SESSION I

(A) PLENARY: Leadership & Service: A Spiritual Perspective: Peter Burwash

(B) Catch the Fever of Book Distribution: Vaisesika Das

(C) Teaching Vegetarian Cooking Classes:  Apurva Das & Kamalini Dasi (Limit 12)

11:45 – 1:15 pm      SESSION II

(A) Visiting Radha Kunda & Syama Kunda: Romapada Swami

(B) Taste for the Holy Name: Arcana-siddhi Dasi & Karnamrta Das

(C) A Pleasing Management Pleases Prabhupada: Anuttama Das

(D) Using Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Ekanath Dasa

1:00 – 2:30 pm       Lunch Prasad Served

3:00 – 4:30 pm       SESSION III

(A) The Yoga of Comedy: Beth & Yadunath Das

(B) Mending Broken Relationships: Sukavaha Dasi & Vrajalila Dasi

(C) Writing to Share Krsna Consciousness: Srinandanandana Das with Madhava Ghosh Das & Sankirtan Das

(D) Prayers to the Holy Name: Awakening the Heart to Chanting with More Feeling: Divyambara Dasi

 4:45 – 6:15 pm       SESSION IV

(A) Spiritual Recovery from Consumerism: Varsana Swami

(B) TBA: B.V. Madhava Swami & Dravida Das

(C) Preparing for a Krsna Conscious Marriage:  Krsnanandini Dasi, Tariq, & Arcana-siddhi Dasi

(D) The Magic of Cow Protection (Excursion/Tour): Balabhadra Das

6:30 – 7:30 pm       Dinner Prasad Served

7:00 pm              Gaura-arati

8:00 – 11:00 pm      Maha Nama-Yajna in Tent:  Sacinandana Swami & Friends

SUNDAY, May 11th (Mother’s Day)

7:00 am              Guru-puja

7:00 -8:00 am      (E) Yoga with Damodar

7:45 am              Darsana-arati

8:00-9:30 am      Class: Honoring Our Mothers: Radhanath Swami

8:15 – 10:30 am          Breakfast Prasad Served

11:00 – 12:30 pm       Special Presentations Dedicated to Our Mothers

 (A) Laughing in the Material World: Yadunath Das & Beth & Friends
      Vamana (Drama): Directed by Bhaktimarga Swami

12:45 – 2:15 pm      SESSION II

(A) Remembrances by Departed Vaisnavas (DVD Premier): Siddhanta Das

(B) Preaching Power of Rural Communities: Tapahpunja Das

(C) Teaching Vegetarian Cooking Classes:  Apurva Das & Kamalini Dasi (Limit 12)

2:00 pm              Sunday Feast

 House and 27 acres of land for sale, asking price of:  $225,000 ( appraised value
A total of 10 rooms with 3,200 Square Foot of Living Area
If interested please contact us at: Kamsahanta das  or  Lokadrsti devi dasi at:

304-843-5498…….Lokadrsti d.d. (Lorraine Haslam) lokadrsti@hotmail.com

********************* 

From: Pusti Subject: Mobile Home & Property For
Sale Two acres of mostly gently sloping, cleared & mowed, and fenced land with a 1970, 800 sq. ft., two bed/1 bath mobile home. (looks like new)The mobile home has been redone entirely, with new carpets, ceramic tiles on the kitchen and laundry room floors
and around the bathtub/shower.  The sinks and faucets are all new.  The appliances include a gas range/oven,
fridge/freezer, microwave, and washer/dryer.  The bay windows were completely redone along with eight other windows. The roof is in excellent condition and everything else is in proper working order.  There is a propane tank for central heating.   The septic system has a 1000 gallon tank, and everything has been approved by the Marshall County Health Department.The well is 100 foot deep and provides sweet water.  This home has a state of the art security system, which can also monitor medical emergency.   There is a gradual sloping well graveled driveway.  Residence will sell as “turn key”, that is including appliances and furnishings.   The property is also a prime location for someone wanting to build a more permanent structure, as the water and septic system can accommodate a much larger house.   Buyer must secure their own financing, as the owner cannot carry. Please call me at 304-845-6461 for more information or to make appointment for viewing.
Pusti d.d. 

*********************** 

From: Jambavan and CarolynSubject: Land for sale with Mobile Home 

Hare Krsna!  PAMHO  All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Dear Friends, Jambavan and I are moving back in to the big metropolis of
Wheeling. 
Here is the information:
2 acres beautiful piece of land.  It is on the back road (coming from Big Wheeling Creek) across from the Ghee factory.  The House Trailer is 12 by 50+, with  1 bedroom.  New well, new septic all approved by the county.  The trailer has all new electric service and all new plumbing.   For more information please call 304-243-5270   If there is no answer please leave a detailed message and we will get back to you as soon as possible. 
Jambavan and Carolyn

Adi Guru das, the devotee who is spearheading the development project, will be in attendance to answer questions and also raise questions how to practically move forward.

The meeting will be this Saturday March 29, 2008 at 2:30 pm. (after lunch prasadam) in the RVC Temple Prasadam Hall.

Included as part of the meeting, everyone is invited to go to Bahulaban, for an on site look at the present conditions and potentials of everything.

Possibly bring your own note pad to write down your own ideas and suggestions, as in that environment there may not be a suitable place or time for all pertinent discussions.

Please Be There!

If for some reason you can not make it, please email your suggestions to:

adi.guru.rns@pamho.net or nityodita@juno.com

Nityodita dasa

What’s brainwashing? How does it differ from ordinary educa­tion? It might be rather difficult to come up with a precise defini­tion since this word is thrown around with great abandon. General­ly it implies forcing a man to change his beliefs against his will by means of mental and physical torture. Today we find ancient sys­tems of religious training, such as the bhakti-yoga path followed by members of the Hare Krsna movement, being attacked as dehumanizing pro­cesses, or brainwashing. Is there any validity to such attacks, or are they merely criminal attempts to discredit a time-honored, bona-fide science of improving one’s consciousness and realizing the actual meaning of existence?

Without placing much stock in emotion-laden scare words, let’s take a look at the nature of educa­tion from a rational point of view. Four key questions can help us an­alyze any given system of education and judge whether it’s actually be­neficial, simply harmless, or down­right detrimental: 1) Is the proc­ess voluntary? 2) Is the subject matter truth or slanted propaganda? 3) What is the teacher’s qualifica­tion and motivation? 4) What is the ultimate effect on the student?

Let us investigate these points one at a time.

1) Is it voluntary? In any sys­tem of education the teacher is re­quired to set up a learning labora­tory, an environment which facili­tates the learning process. Outside distractions have to be cut down so the pupil can concentrate on what his teacher is communicating. It is pointless to call such a situation ‘artificial,’ it is simply neces­sary. Just like a certain atmos­phere is created for surgery, simi­larly a certain atmosphere has to be generated for learning.

Is the student giving up his free will by entering such an ‘art­ificial1 atmosphere? If he under­stands the nature of the process, if he’s free to leave if he choos­es, then the answer is no. We are constantly placing ourselves into controlled situations because we desire a certain result. Just as we mentioned surgery before, a patient .becomes voluntarily unconscious, is even cut by the surgeon’s knife, because he has confidence in his doctor, because he understands the need for and the nature of the op­eration. In like manner a pupil can enter a university, a seminary or a yoga asrama, understanding that he has to undergo some discipline in order to attain a given goal. And as long as he remains free to leave there is no question of forcible coercion.

Even a casual observer will eas­ily see that the students of the Hare Krsna Movement are free to leave at will. Of all the young men and women who stay for a while at one of our centers, approximately 80% leave, though they often return from time to time. As for the ones who stay, they have a healthy, clear-headed view of the discipline they are pursuing, and they submit to it willingly. They are by no means brainless zombies, but to the contrary they are well-spoken and philosophically-oriented individu­als who are eager to discuss their views with outsiders.

Contrast this with the situation faced by one who is forcibly kid­napped by a group of mercenary so-called ‘deprogrammers’. He has not accepted this situation, he is af­raid because he doesn’t understand what is going on. He is taken to some unfamiliar place and incarcer­ated for one to four weeks. Teams of hostile, alien people deprive him of sleep, food, privacy and, most of all, the right to leave. Would you enter into such an arran­gement yourself? Obviously no sane man would. Each and every victim of such a ‘deprogramming’ course has to be violently abducted. Yet it is this very group of abductor-terror­ists who charge Hare Krsna disciples with brainwashing. A sober man f becomes a little disgusted as he sees through this shallow attempt to camouflage gestapo-like activi­ties with a deluge of euphemisms.

2) Is it the truth? Real educa­tion means to teach the truth. If one implants untrue conceptions in the minds of his students, no mat­ter how nice his system appears, it has to be condemned.

The basic truth of Krsna Cons­ciousness is both simple and sub­lime. Krsna, or God, is the Supreme Being and all living entities are His parts and parcels. The part must render service to the whole, as the hand serves the rest of the body. Therefore it is the natural duty of a person to serve God. Without such service his life is simply sinful and he is punished in so many ways. The goal of life then is to become situated in the Lord’s service and thus become eternally free from the sufferings and inebrieties of this material world.

Without considering one’s rela­tionship with God, life is viewed simply as an attempt to satisfy this temporary material body. As the body is doomed to die, such hopeless attempts are doomed to failure. One is forced to undergo birth, then disease, then old age, and ultimately death. Our only hope for happiness is to enter the Sup­reme Lord’s eternal abode. That is the purpose of yoga.

Modern day so-called education tragically misses the whale point of education. Students are conditioned to accept this short span of life as the all-in-all. This condi­tioning continues outside the school, on the billboards, TV pro­grams, in movies, newspapers and novels which take up every moment of a man’s consciousness. Knowledge of God is being pushed out of the picture by floods of materialistic propaganda. Where is the hope of happiness in such a civilization? The true mission of human life is not being taught. Instead our youth is being trained up for animal existence–simply to eat, sleep, mate and defend. Such modern schools are simply slaughterhouses which teach children to accept death meekly.

In the face of such dire circum­stances who but the hardened athe­ist will stand against the Hare Krsna Movement’s sincere attempt to instill the hope of God Conscious­ness into our otherwise hopeless lives? Scores of Vedic literatures translated by the society’s found­er, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, bring new hope for a troubled world. This pure and simple message of love of God is being spread in book form by Srila Prabhupada’s unselfish disci­ples all over the world. Nowhere else is there such an organized sy­stem for the distribution of real knowledge.

3) Why be a teacher? Recently several articles have appeared wherein Christian teachers complain that they are forced to teach God­less materialism in the public schools. If the teacher is not free to instruct according to his own convictions, what is the use of his occupying the post? Sad to say, evidence seems to indicate that most so-called teachers are simply out to earn their livelihood. They are purchased outright by an insti­tution and simply carry on as they are ordered. Students are shuffled through with little or no personal attention. Cases are now coming to national attention wherein high school graduates have not attained even a fifth grader’s reading lev­el. Above all, teacher strikes over pay raises give sound basis to the conclusion that it is the salary, not the service, that they are at­tracted to.

The ancient Vedic conception is that no one should accept the post of teacher or guru unless he can actually impart knowledge. Such a guru is called tattva-darsinah, one who has seen the truth. This truth we have already discussed, that man is meant to serve God.

Besides being learned, the guru must be a living example of his own instructions. It is not that one can preach religious life and be engaged in material frivolities. It is stated that only one who has control over his mind, speech, an­ger, tongue, stomach and sex drive may accept the post of guru.

The goal of such a teacher is to deliver his students from the mis­ery of material existence. Such a teacher would also instruct the student in the material sciences, such as linguistics, geology, math­ematics, etc., so that he can also function nicely in the material spectrum. The guru accepts a will­ing disciple without remuneration. He is responsible only to his dis­ciple, not to the school board or government or anyone else, for he is meant to speak only the truth. The student in turn agrees to hear attentively and serve his guru very faithfully in exchange for such transcendental knowledge. This is the perfect bond between instructor and student. It is the only cure for erasing the credibility gap which must naturally arise when the very teachers themselves admit they are teaching others that which they do not believe in.

4) Effect on the student, as we stated in the beginning, education is meant for producing a desired type of behavior. A learned person is one who’s able to act in his own best interest. Brainwashing victims are people who have been tricked into serving another’s interest.

If one seriously analyzes pres­ent day processes of education–the public schools, mass media, ad­vertising agencies–soon he faces the stark conclusion that such sys­tems do not seek to enlighten the public but to deceive them. Some examples will help demonstrate this point.

Children in this country are brought up from year one to believe this is the greatest nation in the history of the world. This is to insure complacency, to keep them from questioning, to just sit still and swallow the Great American Dream. But what sane person can ac­cept this headlong rush towards to­tally atheistic materialism, with its ever-increasing crime, divorce, and suicide rates, as the perfect­ion of existence?

Consumers are constantly being agitated to use more and more use­less things. Advertising is used to increase desires, not satisfy them. These commercial firms are pumping out so much information meant to capture the consumers1 dollar, nev­er mind whether he suffers or not. Allurements for alcohol, cigarettes and sex are constantly bombarding the innocent public: Eat this, drink this, smoke this, enjoy! But what is the enjoyment? Such sinful habits are creating a hell­ish situation on this earth, what to speak of the life of the soul after death.

Fortunately, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada has brought us an alternative life­style. In the midst of so much mat­erialism all of his disciples take strict vows to avoid gambling, in­toxication, animal slaughter and illicit sex. They do not attend ci­nemas or night clubs or rock concerts. They are not listening to blaring radios, spending hours staring vacuously at the television or reading stale, useless literat­ures. Instead they are always ac­tive, trying to spread love of God. They are attempting to counteract the overwhelming forces of materi­alism which are threatening to en­gulf the world. This is not a group of dazed zombies, but of dedicated, talented people who are engaged in the highest welfare work for human­ity at large. That such efforts can be labeled as brainwashing, that such individuals are being openly persecuted, that such a saintly person as Srila Prabhupada is not being received as he deserves–this indicates the organized work of ma­terialistic atheists to have us forget God completely and lose our­selves forever in the complexities, anxieties and emptiness of the mat­erial way of life.

They have asked that a vision team be formed from amongst local community devotees as well as interested non resident parties to help set the direction and spell out do-able goals for them to execute. There will be an open meeting next Tuesday, March 11 at 6 pm in the Temple Prasadam Hall.

The purpose of this meeting is to stimulate discussion on this exciting development concept for Bahulaban and to form a vision team that can articulate a well thought out plan to the new corporation.

Everyone is Invited!  Please Come! Prasadam Will Be Served!.

On July 12th, another phase of Vrindaban history opened. Big Lord Jagannath, feeling grievously homesick, decided to stay in Vrin­daban after the culmination of the usual cold He usually gets at this time of the year. Not having room to sit next to Radha-Vrindaban Candra and Their ecstatic friends on the Bahulaban altar, He has decided to retreat to the ori­ginal Vrindaban forest.

Brijabasis know how to have a festival. Sim­ply come to Vrindaban, and automatically, it is a festival. Kirtananda Swami briefly interrupted the sweaty, ecstatic installation kirtan to explain what glamour this shanty-like farm was for us. Many of the devo­tees there were initiated in the Vrindaban farm scene. Bodies were packed in the temple room like canned peas, and the heat was intense. Kirtananda Maharaja, pointing his finger toward the upper level, declared to Sridhar Maharaj that Prabhupada had spent a month right there, making Vrindaban an extra special place. “When Srila Prabhupada saw that we had cow dung on the kitchen floor, he was very pleased.” Maharaja stated. “He used to take His bath right out there in the meadow. Prabhupada once told us, “A man could go out all day, work hard and come back with ten dol­lars. But if a man simply stays in one place, using his intelligence, he can make one hundred dollars a day.” Similarly, by staying here in one place, living simply and thinking purely, we can make people come to us. There is no need for us to travel far and wide. Now Krishna is giving us so much facility for spreading Krishna con­sciousness with an opulent palace and so much land. If we simply stay in this one place and chant and remember Krishna everything will come.

Most likely, I was not the only person in the room experiencing a dire thirst amid the heat and scarce air. This thirst was satisfied, however by the sweet, cool katha coming from Kirtananda Swami. Also during the heat of the kirtan, considerations of comfort were tran­scended by the “ocean of bliss” we were tapped into.

In Vrindaban, the gopis had Rasa-lila with Krishna. Out of pure affection, without hesi­tation, they sacrificed all mundane consideration to please Krishna. To experience the love they had for Him, Krishna incarnated five hundred years ago with the first amongst the gopis, Radharani, and took the form of Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu. In the mood of Radharani, He has shown His most sublime causeless mercy by appearing in this dark age of Kali and inaugurating the Sankirtan movement.

We spread Krishna-lila by dancing, and by the chanting of His holy name: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Although we’ve committed the most abominable activities, in this age we can also enter into the Rasa-lila with Krishna by engaging in the kirtan and giving up sinful dealings. To estab­lish a foundation for His movement, Lord Caitanya excavated the old Vrindaban in India where Krishna originally performed His past-times on this planet. His principle associates de­veloped it as the center for Krishna-bhakti by building wonderful temples and writing liter­ature on Vaisnava behavior.

Now, in the last few decades, Srila Prabhupada with the help of his disciples has expanded this movement around the globe so that not just in India, but everywhere, practically everyone has heard the name of Krishna. He has deputed his disciple, Kirtanananda Swami to establish this New Vrindaban in America so that Westerners will also have a holy place to make pilgrimage and come closer to
Krishna. It is offensive to consider the bound­aries of Vrindaban to be limited. Wherever a sadhu stays and glorifies Krishna, there is where
Krishna is performing His pastimes. Therefore Prabhupada stated that this New Vrindaban is non-different from the old Vrin­daban. In a letter to Kirtananda Maharaja, written during the first years of it’s founding, Prabhu­pada told him that due to his pure devotional service, Krishna had followed him to this place.

It was here, on this remote ridge that New Vrindaban was established. Mountain living was new to the original devotees, who settled here. Being conditioned by years of city con­veniences, all of them left during the winter months, except for Kirtananda Maharaja. Liv­ing for months on only oats and roots he dug from the ground, Kirtananda Maharaja made gar­lands for his deities with colored leaves and berries or whatever he could find. He grad­ually attracted others by his determination. In that same letter, Prabhupada declared, “Just be steady in your deity worship, chant your six­teen rounds early, before you do anything else. Then Krishna will be pleased and He will send others.”

Only a handful of the approximately three hundred and fifty devotees who now reside in New Vrindaban crowded into the small, hot temple room where it all began, but that did not dampen the enthusiasm of the dancing devotees upon the occasion of Lord Jagannath’s reinstallation. Kirtananda Maharaja said, “This farm too will be part of the whole scheme for Krishna-land. Besides Srila Prabhupada’s Palace and Radha-Vrindaban Candra’s new temple, there will be the seven principal temples of Vrindaban built on the farm. Within a one or two mile radius, visitors will be able to do Parikram and see all the principle sites of Vrindaban.”

The original farm has gone through phases since the beginning. To realize the goal of building Krishna Land, it became necessary to central­ize the community’s activities in the less remote location of Bahulaban farm. Vrindaban farm became known as the place of pilgrimage within the place of pilgrimage, because Srila Prabhu­pada had lived there a month, and Kirtananda Maharaja, by his austerities and devotion attracted Krishna to that place.

Krishna’s personal pres­ence can especially be felt by the devotees who lived there or visited the “city.” (Bahu­laban) For five years, until the first grand open­ing festival for the Palace in ‘79, it had been the resting place for Radha-Vrindaban Natha and most of the brahmacaris on the farm. Atmabhu Maharaj, who had been the temple president and construction manager extraordinaire for most of this period, said that “without the se­clusion this farm had afforded to us, the Palace would never have been built.” Kirtananda Maharaja says, “Staying in this one place, we shall change the whole world.” Indeed, although one’s re­spective social position may change, the simple brahmacari life which has been exhibited here seems most natural for the soul. If we can duplicate this mode of simple life and high thought as far as possible, then we shall be admitting others into this land of Vrindaban, whose bound­aries are not limited.

Since Krishna never leaves Vrindaban, it is no surprise that Lord Jagannath chooses to appear and reside there. The devotees, in the mood of separation may appear to have lost their sight of Krishna in Vrindaban, but actually, how can we ever take Vrindaban out of our minds.

ISKCON’s champion milker, Sarasvati, came fresh for the fourth time in the beginning of January. Last lactation she established, at 116 pounds, the record for one day’s production for an ISKCON mother. This season she set out rapidly to demolish all her previous records. Within two weeks she had top­ped 120 pounds, the new record rising to 125.

Now I’ve been out of the barn for about a year, my current engagement being as a plasterer. But I started hanging out at the barn around milking time just to see Sarasvati do it. I have to admit that she gets more beautiful each year. Old fans of the Spirit may recall earlier descriptions of her rascaldom back in her days as a heifer. Now she’s as mild as can be, so busily engaged in making milk. You won’t find a nicer milk bag anywhere—it’s like the artist’s concep­tion of an ideal udder. It’s perfect in size and shape and is supported quite firmly. Although it puts out so much milk, it isn’t overly large on Sarasvati and she wears it quite comfortably. You wouldn’t guess she was putting out 14-16 gallons per day.

While the average cow is milked twice a day, Sarasvati is milked three times to relieve the strain on her bag. One morn­ing Amburish stopped by and told me she had cranked out 91 pounds in the first two milkings. So of course I was on hand for the day’s finale. Everyone was hoping for her to clear 130.

Well, Tapomurti pulled the old milk­er off her and emptied it into a pail. I was checking her rear teats and felt there was more in there. So Amburish came over and squeezed a little and, sure enough, extracted another 4 or 5 pounds from her magic bag. We then weighed it and totaled the day to find she had hit 138 pounds, 13 pounds high­er than the previous record! By the mer­cy of Providence I got in on a little bit of the action.

Last year we announced our first annual cow awards for 1976. Continu­ing in this tradition, here are the awards for 1977.

COW OF THE YEAR: Sarasvati (who else?). Milking up to 300% higher than the daily average for the rest of the herd, Sarasvati amassed 20,500 pounds of milk in 305 days from October of ‘76 to August of ‘77. She got her picture taken with Kirtanananda Maharaja and receiv­ed numerous garlands from her admirers. She is given all she can eat as a reward and she readily converts all such feed in­to more and more milk. Who could ask for anything more-and don’t say carob milk!

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Shakti. The first daughter of (who else?) Saras­vati, Mother Shakti made her debut by giving more milk in her first year than Saracvsti did in her first year. Following in her mother’s hoofprints, she was very fond of kicking would-be milkers in the head and had to have her legs tied up a lot. But for a nice supply of nectarean milk, who would be unwilling to accept a little austerity?

MOST IMPROVED COW OF THE YEAR: Citralekha. This is our one and only
Guernsey cow, probably because she did so bad her first year. Factually, no one milked her-we just stuck her in with the calves and let them get what they could. Now she has developed a truly admirable udder and we’re all waiting to see how nicely she’ll do. By the way, she puts out the hugest calves which can only be compared to a human mother’s delivering a 25 pound baby.

SMOOTHEST MILKER: Cancala. A few days ago the power went off and we got to milk by hand, like in the old days. Cancala’s easy delivery reminded me of Mallika, who gave milk the way a faucet gives water. It was confirmed by the boys who milk her every day that she’s the fastest of all.

MOST HUMOROUS BAG: Surabhi. Imagine a large beach ball which is a little soft. Now poke your index finger into it so far that it’s completely engulf­ed. Well, that’s just what Surabhi’s teats look like. You can hardly see them as her loosely supported bag droops down all around. Up close though, don’t laugh too hard. She likes to kick a lot.

THE COW I’D LEAST LIKE TO BE STRANDED ON A DESERT ISLAND WITH: Lila. Better known as ‘Hurricane Lila,” she continues to defy the rule that a cow’s temper quiets down after she’s had a few calves. The quickness, accur­acy and ferocity of her hind legs makes one wonder how a bull ever managed to breed her.

THE OLD PRO AWARD: Pritha, putting out her seventh calf in seven years, is about the oldest milker still in action. Old Dudya exceeds her age, but Dudya hasn’t given a drop in the last four or five years. Pritha’s just the typ­ical cow, the one you’d never notice, she’s so plain and simple. Practically everyone learned how to milk on her, including me.

We’d also like to mention that the herd topped 300,000 pounds last year and just ‘last week we went past the 1,000,000 pound mark (since we started keeping records in 1974).

Cows are people. The cows in Vrindaban may even be liberated souls. Who can say? In any case, it’s a lot more fun than going to the A & P and picking up a little square box out of the dairy freezer. It’s nice to know that the milk came from a friend of Krsna’s.

There they were, the ”weird baldies” Joe had warned us about. They appeared very odd but harmless as they jumped around in the field. Joe was an elderly fellow who drew a. lot of attention and respect as one of the established hippies in Coconut Grove, He was rather knowledgeable in the occult sciences and his advice car­ried some weight. “Don’t talk with them, they can put a spell on ya. Rite powerful one,” Joe warned as we sat on the wall across the street from the park.

Later, as Pat and I walked toward town through the park one of the “baldies” left the group. He was running an intercept course with us as he juggled paper plates and cups. His big smile seemed genuine enough and I wondered why Joe seemed worried about these freaks. On the paper plates was a yellow wet potato salad and a strange yellow drink in the cups. He muttered something about “spir­itual food and seeing God” and I asked him why his head was bald. The sour taste of the potato salad kept me from hearing his answer though. I drank the stuff- in the cup to wash the taste out of my mouth. It was the first time I tasted buttermilk and the long day in the Florida sun had made it seem very sour too.

As Pat and I walked away laughing, the devotee was simply interested in cleaning the gouranga potatoes and buttermilk off the ground and himself. His concern for the potatoes on the ground was a rather surprising reaction.

Eight months later I remembered that day quite well. I was in Port Authority in New York City, I was handcuffed to an escort from the Juvenile Detention Center in Hackensack, New Jersey. He was taking me back to my home town in Pennsylvania.

A devotee mother came up to us and ‘made some remark about my bad luck, in a nice way of course. I told her I’d get over it and she suggested I take a Back To Godhead. When I saw some pictures in it, I remembered the de­votees in Florida. I laughingly told her of my encounter with one of her people in Florida.

She about knocked me out of my seat when she replied, “‘That’s OK, you’ll be forgiven if you’ll only chant God’s names, Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.” As she mentioned I’d be forgiven she tapped me on the wrist with the Back To Godhead where the handcuffs were.

That did it! Did she put a spell on me? What did she mumble? Was she a witch? What DID she mumble? What DID she mumble? The escort ended up taking the magazine and gave her some change. He even tried to convince me to read it on the way to Pennsylvania. I wasn’t touching that magazine!

Not for another 8 months would I encounter the devotees again. This time it was different. Less than a week after the last encounter I joined the Service. After 8 months in the Marines I was trying pretty hard to get out. I had no idea what was in store for me this Sunday in September in Memphis, Tennessee.

I had just spent over $30.00 on a few books on astrology, advanced tarot reading and “cosmic consciousness” and like any good serviceman, I was rather intoxicated.

It was just beginning to drizzle as a friend and I walked through the park. It would be hard to say if the unusual music would have attracted me if it had not been coming from a big white school bus. The bus was a long ways up the hill and nobody plays music that loud unless they’re partying. That’s what this Sunday needed.

As Rick and I started up the incline through the drizzling rain, I noticed the bus was rocking back and forth. This only heightened my anticipation but Rick seemed frightened. I tried to ignore it until lie blurted out, “Let’s get, come on,” I was surprised to see him like this. By this time we were just outside the bus and I was trying to make some sense out of the writing on the side of the bus. It wasn’t any thing I could identify or figure out. What was Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. These big bold letters seemed to absorb my atten­tion for an eternity. It was cut short though by Rick tugging on my arm yelling, “Let’s go!”

Why was he afraid of this bus? What was the apparent calamity I couldn’t recognize? “I just want to look inside once,” I suggested. As I opened the door to the bus I saw what seemed to be dozens, hundreds, thousands of shoes on the steps. As I turned to Rick for reassurance that this scene” was in­deed unusual I began to recognize the music. Furthermore, Rick was gone, nowhere to be seen. As I read the mantra on the side of the bus again I knew it was unavoidable to look inside, even though I felt I would be captured by the “weird baldies” Joe had warned me about.

The kirtan was the only thing in existence at this point. The loud, loud, music. Louder and louder. Then I re­membered that mother in New York City and the mantra she chanted as she touched me on the wrist with her magazine like it was a magic wand. Curiosity got the better part of me and I finally leaned up into the bus and looked inside. I was so frightened for the first time in many years I asked God to protect me.

I had never seen anything like this. One devotee sat on the floor (playing harmonium), rocking like he was having an epileptic fit. Another in the middle jumping up and down beating on a drum, and a few more playing karatalas, spinning in circles with their robes flapping like flags. It was like something from the movies, THEN! Then I saw the Gour Nitai Deities, The loud music, the incense, the weird baldies, the talk of spells, the shoes, the LSD, all, was racing through my mind but the statues were very peaceful and pacifying. Not even when the one fellow waved his hand through the “cup of fire” and touched my head did I get excited. The deities made the whole thing seem right, orderly, and peaceful.

After aratika, a boy walked over to me and said, “Hare Krsna, thanks for coming.” “We’re going back to our house now, would you like to come along,” he asked politely. I was sur­prised to hear myself answer, “Sure” in a calm sort of way. Aja das and I talked a little about the deities and then he asked what I had in the plastic bag. I was quick to show him my “spiritual books.” He laughed lightly and asked another devotee to come see.

With more sincerity and conviction than I had ever experienced in my whole life, he told me, “Here, this Bhagavad-gita As It Is contains every­thing that is in those books and a lot more. Those books were written by crazy men, crazy because they think they’re their bodies.” Then he opened the Gita to show me Prabhupada’s picture. As I stared at his beautiful face, Aja told me, “This is a perfect person. He’s come to this world to save us from our hellish life and expose the cheaters.” His words were a long awaited comfort. I had been thinking, there are so many yogas, religions, types of mysticisms, types of divination. How can one ever master them all? I felt so small in my search for knowledge.

Here this “Aja” was telling me his teacher, was at least an equal to Jesus Christ and this one book of his was worth more than dozens of others in the “spiritual” field.

In his words was a genuine concern that practically begged me to accept Prabhupada. I guess I did because on the way back we laughed and chanted as the devotees helped me tear up my occult books into little pieces. I felt a strong attachment to my Gita, like it was a good friend. My anxieties were all gone, I had found the genuine path. Now I had to learn it and apply it. Could I do it? Chanting and dancing seemed easy enough for now.

Once at the house I was brought inside to meet the swami, Rupanuga was inside, busy with some paper work but he stopped to talk a little bit. Aja told him I was trying to get out of the service. Rupanuga told me he was once in the service and he could help me get out. This was music to my ears. “How?” I begged. “Join Krsna’s army, they’ll have to let you go,” he said confidently. With a smile he went back to his papers. Then he looked up again, “Study that book daily and chant the maha mantra daily.”

Aja took me to the kitchen and gave me more apple chutney than I could eat, 3 big plates. I ate 2 and took one with me back to base. Aja gave me a string of beads and showed me how to chant.

Then it happened. “Oh, before you, go, can you sort of help with the printing of the book. They cost a lot­ to print.” As I opened my wallet and handed him a $20, I asked for change! Ignoring me he handed me a Sri Isopanisad and reached for the other $20, bill in the wallet. Looking me in the eye he asked, “You know, a lot of people are searching for the truth, Some can’t afford to pay for their books though. Can you leave this for a brother?”

As much as I wanted to refuse, I couldn’t. It sounded like a plain hustle but I knew he lived for those Gitas, He was serious about printing more. Then he said, “Krsna will take care of you.” As I walked to the bus stop, I con­sidered how I would get out of the corps by chanting Hare Krsna. That’s a whole other story. Maybe I’ll tell it later.

All glories to Sri Caitanya’s Sankirtan Movement.

Thank you Srila Prabhupada!

 She had just been in the hospital for  along time and had just come home. She definitely struggled in her life but she always remembered Krsna. Her son Narayana found her and came to our house (she just lived a couple of houses from us).  

I could tell that she left peacefully. There was a picture of Krsna about her head and a picture of Lord Nrsmhadev and Srila Prabhupada to her side.  She had just recently spent a week-end at New Vrindaban which for her was spiritual renewal.  

Please remember her and her family in your prayers.

Thanks, Mother Vrsni