Dear devotees,

Today I send my chat from Manila Paranaque mandir.

We had a lot of harinamas these days, since the temple is just around the corner of the center of this part of Manila. I feel very happy to finally have visited the devotees of the Philippines. Mura Hari Prabhu actually joined while Srila Prabhupada was still on the planet. He also associated with the devotees of Srila Sridhar Maharaj. He is a pioneer of the preaching of Mahaprabhu in this country which consists of 7000 islands. The devotees also came from Baguio city another important provinces.

The preaching in the Philippines is just beginning in our mission, but we have a very nice Conscious Art Center here. Mura Hari Prabhu makes out of cement Deities which are already worshiped in many temples, and he is very expert. There is also a big murti of Srila Sidhar Maharaj. That murti looks like Srila Sidhar Maharaj when he looks at his Deities.

Nice, capable and humble leaders are the real hope for our world

Like South America, this place is the facility of unlimited preaching. It is so nice to see how many people in different missions have taken up the message of spiritual love. This is another example, that the whole world is waiting for Lord Chaitanya and Srila Prabhupada's kindness. My own coming here is only motivated by the kindness of the devotees here. Actually, I hope to inspire a few sannyasis here and they will be able to do the work our wonderful preachers do in south america. It is my wish to train up very nice capable and humble leaders. they are the real hope for our world.

Really, only a softhearted Vaisnava will create interest in the people to do devotional service. The books can create such a desire, but the vaisnava becomes the connection. That is hard work, and hard works save us from Maya. The more we try to please Krishna, the more protected we are, and what we do to attract others to Krishna, can be done with such dedication.

The Sunday feast should really be a love feast

Take the Sunday feast for example. The cooking should be a participation of all. The devotees in their houses should all try to prepare some nice dish for the Deities. Imagine a feast with 15 or 20 preparations and all the blissful faces of those who cooked the feast and nobody was overworked either. Then they can see a sweet Kirtan, a good singer, not too load, so that elder people will feel away singing from the heart and teaching them to participate. Charisma, friendliness, then a lecture with the traditional content of bhakti tattva, a nice gift table and hopefully some music performance or drama. The Sunday feast should really be a love feast, as Srila prabhupada had designed it.

The beginning of the vegetarian movement was the hare Krishna Sunday love feast (Vegetarian Times editor). From the arrival to the departure, everything should be done nicely. That is sacrifice, right? Sweet sacrifice. For devotees the Sunday is NOT a resting day, it is the service day to the people we have invited during the week. O vaisnavas, you are all so wonderful! Sunday is the day people have a chance to meet with you, to hear from you to get inspiration from your service.

This should be our consciousness , to share all the nectar we have. The videos, the classes. and our appreciation for our spiritual guides. It is the chance to introduce our Guru to them. Tell them where he is, what he is doing for Krishna, and what they can get in form of books or CDs to know more about him.

The Movement of Love

If you want people to be happy in Krishna consciousness, you have to convey to them the security and joy to have a personal protector who teaches us how to love God. That is more important than just flowers fruits and nice decoration. You see, we walk through this life with nobody to trust, all is competition and so much violence. Then we meet devotees. What really gives love with them is, that they have a common holy focus. They speak about the Gurus and the dedicated sannyasi examples. They have no envy to glorify the outstanding services of others, while at the same time not expecting to be glorified by others. That is the movement of love: no envy, but all respect to others.

When we do not give respect to others, or pass our times speaking of the mistakes of others, the atmosphere becomes spoiled. This is the power of a blissful movement; gratefulness compassion and the desire to share the nectar with others. It is so important that people feel that we are occupied in making so nice things.

Organize to create an irresistable spirit

For example, they can introduce in anouncements to the visitors with great enjoyment: Come with us to see our ecological farms! Come and see how we are making our yoga planetary! Be volunteers for a week to help in a proyect for humankind! Learn how to cook vegetrian food with our star cook! Participate in a parikram (pilgrimage) to India with our Gurudeva, to know the sacred places of Vrindavan! Come to know our organic field and become experts in healthy food and ecology! Support the proyects as ratha yatra, a new altar, harinam, conscious art, etc. Be volunteers in the House of Wisdom, seek for professionals that want to support to the needed with Vedic wisdom and lots of love.

So this and other ideas should be the elements to cheer people up in our festivals. We need to have large posters to remind us what things we have to introduce. To have a temple with such spirit becomes irrisistable. Just a bit organization, and the effect is notable.

Remember the children

Program for the children also, in a separate room, so that they do not get bored. Sunday feast has a social function. It is also the best day for some seminar in the morning for those who come to learn in the temple. Sunday school is a famous Christian service to the community to be in contact with other dimensions, which in the normal life we do not hear about. Most people are too busy to increase their participation during the week, so the Sunday is crucial for their spiritual advancement. And the mind is tough; the mind tells them to go somewhere else for some enjoyment. Therefore we have to make our feasts really attractive. We should have a homepage announcing the highlights of nice Sunday feasts. Even more work, right! ”At this Sunday we are so happy to have the visit of Siddhanti Maharaj, the disciple of Srila Prabhupada from Spain who has currently opened the preaching all over Spain of the Vrinda mission. And we are so fortunate to have him here this weekend. ” This is life. Not eating and sleeping, but preaching.

Care for the details

It is only Guru Bhakti and Krishna Bhakti that brings about such an atmosphere. That will be the key to success of our temple, and a lively temple has devotees who are more happy and will get even more devotees, obviously. Year after year, to maintain a community with joy, is a real job. But we have so much nectar to present, and the urgency of Krishna Consciousness surely does not diminish. But if we stop caring for the details, our bahkti flower will suffer. It is daily needed to water, and the Sunday feast job is to preach and make a nice sacrifice for the welfare of others. And if in one city there can be more than one fest as well, it is not necessary that all meet in one place, but such feasts must be oriented to the welfare of the newcomers and not a devotees' hang-out-eat-pizza festival. Those you can celebrate on another day.

One suggestion for the Sunday fest... You can have photo copies of last week's chat for those who are interested, and that service can be complementary and will help to get the spiritual master's message out to the devotes and friends. I'm sure there are many more ideas on how to make the Sunday fest attractive. You've got to use your fantasy.

Another beautiful feature, used by prabhu Rupa in his school in Vrindavan: As soon as people come, one young girl, of 10 to 12 years, puts tilak on them, gopi dots on the women and on the children, and then everybody in the Sunday fest looks beautiful and smiling. Also a nice idea to receive them with a sweet ball after putting their tilak.

Vaishnava Seva

After the Sunday fest the people should say: This was the nicest Sunday of my life! That is called Vaishnava Seva, and in this way the people love the devotees more and more. What to speak of the main festivals! It is so important to be expert to manage things in such a way. In the material world people are trained to entertain and to attend, and how to serve food to people, that is a real art. The people in India are really the best in this art, it is amazing. First of all they make sure that you are sitting comfortable. Then they start serving smaller portions and usually hot. It means not cold food ,which is already hard to eat. Then they return and serve you as long until you protest: no more no more. Even then they will say one more chapati at least. It is not a question of quantity, it is a question of love.

Obviously, when you serve big groups it is less attentive, but the spirit of serving with love as much as people need, is always there. This personal serving people by the host or an advanced person, is really unforgettable. It commits you to a long lasting friendship at least. Only mothers serve like that, not even 5 star hotels. It is so special to feel welcomed. What else can I say? It is a question of culture. but we can and should learn from those pleasant cultures of the vaisnavas. That is Vrindavan. Radharani enjoys when Krishna eats another samosa. We in the West learn the opposite -- we eat with our eyes and scared to not get enough ourselves. I do not want to generalize. It is a great culture of love, the vaisnava world, and we should reflect it in our efforts to welcome everyone to the spiritual world.

A big hug from my heart from the Philippines, and tomorrow back in Kalkata and Mayapur. And a wonderful Sunday feast, and another one and forever many more. Chant and dance and refresh, share and inform. Be informed so that you can inform others. Consider it an honour to be able to receive others in Krishna's temple and to serve them. For me definitely it is an honour to serve you.

A big hug! Hari bol!

Always your well-wisher,
B.A. Paramadvaiti Swami