I was excited to have the opportunity to visit New Vrindavan - one of the most prominent and famous communities within ISKCON. Srila Prabhupada had visited here several times, encouraging the devotees to establish a rural community on the basis of "simple living high thinking". And in order to glorify our beloved Srila Prabhupada, they had built a beautiful Palace of Gold for him, which has now become a very popular tourist attraction.
Her Grace Malati Devi was welcoming me in Vaishnava hospitality, making all the necessary arrangements for my stay, arranging my programs and extending herself in affectionate care and friendship.
The temple room has several altars with Deities, Who used to be worshiped in different temples around the property. Some years ago this community was the home of around 800 devotees, and there had been several places of worship. Now, all the Deities had moved to the main temple room: Lord Nrsimhadeva, Lord Jagannath, Baladev and Subhadra, the six Goswamis, Gaur Nitai, beautiful Sri Sri Radha Vrindaban Chandra, and Sri Gopalnathji.
The Temple President Jaya Krishna Prabhu, originally from Switzerland, invited me for a little tour around the property. "Old Vrindavan" - the house where it all started during Srila Prabhupada's times, left deep impressions on my heart. Today it is a very simple and old wooden house where Prabhupada had stayed, and where the devotees had established the first altar. Very simple facilities indeed, and yet a place of great historic importance for us all! Jaya Krishna Prabhu shared stories from the early days, which he had heard from Radhanath Swami and other senior devotees. We had a short kirtan in the bare and empty little temple room, offering a stick of incense to Srila Prabhupada while remembering him and his great visions for Lord Caitanya's Sankirtan movement being spread far and wide. They were sweet and intimate moments.
On another morning I visited the beautiful Golden Palace and chanted japa in front of Srila Prabhupada. The community here had gone through many challenges and up's and down's over the last decades, with many lessons to be learnt along the way. It requires internal work in honest introspection and reflection to work through all kinds of past experiences and impressions and be able to digest them and move forward.
The following video gives insights into this unique project and its history:
The following video gives insights into this unique project and its history:
Now it is time to bring the project to further levels of development and open new chapters. I offered the seminar on "Sheltering Relationships", which now seemed to have come at a perfect time. A nice group of around 25 eager devotees participated, some being senior devotees and key players of the New Vrindavan community. Devotees expressed a genuine desire and inspiration to take this topic of Devotee Care based on sheltering relationships further, being firmly convinced of its relevance for the further development of their community. Especially for a community such as this one, which receives so many visitors every year and has become a popular tourist attraction, and which therefore requires an efficient and professional level of administration and management, it is of greatest importance to find a good balance between professionalism and Devotee Care. Otherwise we can easily become too project-focused and almost end up as a commercial enterprise, while forgetting the ultimate goal of bringing our devotees to higher levels of spiritual advancement and devotion to the Lord.
I also offered three SB classes, which nicely tied into various topics of Vaishnava culture and were well received. Devotees eagerly accepted my two books, which give additional support to the importance of spiritual culture and Devotee Care. New relationships were established, and devotees expressed their gratitude and appreciation for my humble attempts to serve them, requesting me to visit again in the future. It is indeed a great honor for me to especially serve the senior devotees in such a place, which was so important to Srila Prabhupada.....
On the 24th of April I flew off to Phoenix/Arizona.....
Your servant, Devaki dd
On the 24th of April I flew off to Phoenix/Arizona.....
Your servant, Devaki dd
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