Travel Advisory

Below is a travel advisory notice from ISKCON's Governing Body Commission:

"Dear Friends and Members of ISKCON,

Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

The tragic news of the deaths of several devotee pilgrims from Russia last
month who died when their bus drove off the road and into the Bhagirathi
River in the mountainous Himalayan region in India has brought us great
sadness.

We send our prayers and support to their families. We pray that those who
lost their lives and those that were injured will be given full spiritual
protection by the Lord.

Reflecting upon this recent accident, we also remember the terrible plane
crash that took the lives of six devotees from the Chowpatty community in
Mumbai who were flying to the Himalayas. Both events remind us how dangerous
this world is and how we must strive to protect our fellow Vaishnavas from
harm.

Years ago, Srila Prabhupada had sober words to share after the death of a
devotee who drowned diving and swimming in the dangerous headwaters of the
Ganga. Prabhupada instructed that we should remember how fortunate we are to
have taken up Krishna Consciousness, and that "we should not take
unnecessary risks."

This order also applies when traveling to visit holy places. While driving
is dangerous everywhere in the world, it is especially so in India where
more than 100,000 people each year die in automobile accidents.

Some of the isolated Himalayan holy places where ISKCON devotees
occasionally visit are particularly dangerous. These include Badrinath,
Kedarnath, Muktinath, Gangotri, and Yamunotri. The roads to these places go
for many miles over treacherous curves just inches away from steep, deep
gorges. Landslides are common, the roads are poorly maintained, and are
often without any guardrails. In addition, drivers are often poorly trained
and poorly supervised.

Thus, the Executive Committee of the Governing Body Commission, concerned
with the safety of our fellow Vaishnavas, announce the following Advisory
Notice":

Advisory Notice

Devotees and friends of ISKCON are advised to take extra precaution in
planning visits to holy places in India, taking all possible steps to
ensure the safety of themselves, their families, and their traveling
companions.

We particularly advise pilgrims to take caution when visiting isolated holy
places in the mountainous regions in India including Badrinath, Kedarnath,
Muktinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri. This is especially true for new members
and visitors to India, and for devotees organizing tours for others.

Anyone who chooses to visit these places should do so only after fully
deliberating upon the risks involved.

India is full of spiritual havens connected with the pastimes of Lord
Krishna, Lord Caitanya, and the Lord's many avatars and devotees. Visits to
most of these tirthas are relatively safe; some are less so.

Thus, remembering Srila Prabhupada's loving words "to not take unnecessary
risks," we strongly advise that ISKCON members apply extra care and caution
while visiting any of these holy places, and we pray always for your safety.

GBC Executive Committee
July 15, 2014

Anuttama das, Chairman
Praghosa das
Sesa das

Janmastami FOLK News Online

Read Janmastami season FOLK news online here. Your print edition should arrive in your mailbox by Friday July 11.



In this issue we feature the major vaishnava festivals of August and September and stories that inspire their observance.

Our Founder-Acharya encourages us to relish the benefit of appreciating Sri Krishna Janmastami philosophically and to approach Srimati Radharani for Her blessings by chanting Hare Krishna.

Then, with the help of Srila Narahari Cakravarti Thakur, we remember Lord Balarama’s glorious pastimes at Rama-ghat.

Finally, Acharya Nirmal Chandra Goswami of Radha-Damodara Mandir remembers Srila Prabhupada in Vrndavana.

You can catch up on past issues here.

 

 

Vedic India Program at 'Artea'

Navadwipa Iswari narrates:

Our Vedic India school program is now starting to spread its wings. While the main focus is bringing Krsna consciousness into schools it seems now that the rest of the community is starting to show interest as well.

We were invited to the new Artea art studio/café/education centre in Port Melbourne where they were being filmed for ‘Big Tv review’ who were in town to review the studio.
For this event we did a mini version of our usual program in that we only had a henna table and prasadam distribution.

The Artea studio allowed us to promote the temple as much as we liked, so we distributed temple cards, and had devotees showing Prabhupada books and talking about our philosophy while being filmed.
Artea has invited us back for their grand opening later on in the month.

Here are some photos of the event.

If you would like to have a similar event in your school, please contact Navadwipa Isvari dasi

(Nala Exley): nala_aravind@hotmail.com

School Program at Port Melbourne Primary

Navadwipa Isvari Mataji narrates:

On 23 may we took our Vedic India school program into Port Melbourne Primary school to teach the prep classes about Indian culture.  We had 5 workshops that went for 40 minutes each that we were ran over 5 sessions.

Workshops included: Festivals & culture of India, Indian traditional wear, moral story & badge making, Indian music & dance, and yoga.

Because our Vedic India program goes into High schools as well as primary schools, we tailored these workshops specifically for the preps.
All workshops included a power point presentation followed by an interactive hands on activity. The children enthusiastically participated in all the sessions. At recess while we were all taking snacks, some of the students that had attended the Harinama at the Port Melbourne school fete the weekend before were requesting us to do one again. Jaya Jaganath Prabhu and Varadatri Radha mataji were happy to seize the moment and lead a harinam for the entire school.

After school we could see the children meeting their parents and many telling them what a fun day they had; the parents looked so happy to see their children so excited. The prep coordinator said both the children and staff all had a great day.  

If you would like to have a similar event in your school, please contact Navadwipa Isvari dasi

 (Nala Exley): nala_aravind@hotmail.com

 

Port Melbourne Primary School Fete

Navadwipa Iswari Mataji narrates:

Due to the mercy of Sri Sri Gaura Nitai our school preaching of late has been a great success. Word is getting around and many schools are now inviting us to come and present our Vedic India Program.

One of these schools was Port Melbourne Primary School, who invited us to be part of their annual school fete. The school gave us 2 stalls, one for the ever popular Henna/Face painting and the other for the even more popular prasadam distribution.

The devotees in both the stalls were kept very busy throughout the day, with prasadam being sold out by 3 pm. We were also given the opportunity to do Harinama. The chanting was led by Varadatri Radha Mataji and she had everyone singing & dancing along while the Holy name was amplified throughout the school and into the surrounding streets.

If you would like to have a similar event in your school, please contact Navadwipa Isvari Dasi

(Nala Exley): nala_aravind@hotmail.com

Here are some photos of the event.

Please keep our dear Bhaktin Preeta in your daily prayers and meditations.

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