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Multiple responsibilities
I recently come from a trip from Vrindavan to Mathura in a boat with several devotees. It is one of the nicest experiences in Vrindavan. Far from markets, and the truth is that every day I think about the nice mission that Srila Prabhupada put us in charge of. As it is said: grasp all, lose all. Srila Prabhupada grasped the whole world in his campaign. He watered his seed anywhere, so we have found ourselves in multiple responsibilities that are distributed to many places. And so I find myself involved in a dimension that simply exceed a big part of the task to represent Srila Prabhupada to all of you.
That is a blessing also, because of course, along the road the commission is arranged. One learns things quickly when they are given in our responsibility. It does not matter that you make mistakes due to lack of experience. Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridha Maharaha glorified the purity in the purpose. I wish that all of you could learn that, to make the impossible. Do not get discouraged because something does not work as you wish. That is daily bread in this world. The important is to be faithful to the essence of life. Satyam sivanam sundaram. There is nothing more auspicious and nothing more beautiful than the truth. The surroundings in the material world are not very favourable for devotional service. Every day we are bombed with approximately 26.000 images in publicity; one's mind is filled like a globe balloon until it explodes. Therefore the depressions, the addictions and furthermore the selfishness are so strong. What can we expect, just one devotee is a surprise. So then, what to say about a temple in the kingdom of maya!
Emergency Communication Office
I also want to say something about the Emergency Communication Office: I already had the chance to share serious problems with several devotees before they left the body. Krishna gave me this facility to serve them the best. So if there is any real emergency, you can send a mail to the Emergency Office so they can try to get in touch with me. And this makes me very happy. Even being here in India, or anywhere, it always exists this way to communicate. The e-mail is lvasileva@orbitel.bg.
This does not minimize the great task that all of you have, though. Of course, one always have to learn to handle everything well. For instance, our life changed so much with the Internet communication. I could not imagine! But the most important is the personal contact; the individual personal compromise. And this medium helps us in this.
The House of Wisdom
The House of Wisdom has a department that offers to accompany people when they are about to leave this world. Many devotees already work in this beneficence. Mother Danistika from Switzerland has been working for many years like that, and is compiling the principle advices for participants in this program. Furthermore, in Germany the university clinic in Berlin accepted the proposal from a devotee who works as a nurse at the emergency station, to make people in the stage of coma to listen to mantras via an audio phone to give them strength and peace in that difficult moment. It was accepted as an official experiment and financed by the clinic.
Neurologist helps to study
Another interesting news from VRINDA: The neurologist Abbhay Caran Das, disciple of Guru Atulananda, has offered persons who are unsure if they needs a surgery for some reason, to help them to study the health material. You know that many doctors do not tell the truth; they create anxiety. The prabhu offered for free this study of the available information that can be sent by Internet regarding any intervention. Of course, this service by a conscious doctor is especially for the members of our family. Really, the experience of Abhay Caran is very big, he works for the OMS.
A plan to increase the preaching
I think that after Bhagavata Purana, FUCASA, Karnamita, finish all the material of the House of Wisdom, very naturally opportunities will gush forth by starting little by little these services in different parts. Important is to remember that even though the devotees are the ideal chiefs of the House of Wisdom, and the fundamental is the Vedic wisdom, the presentation of the program has to be for places distant from the temples and without the vaisnava dressing. This will facilitate that many people can participate who have some fear for the external vaisnava and till suddenly of the image that they have a temple in the community. But there is one thing that I want to make very clear: This is not a program to substitute some aspect of the previous preaching. Quite contrary. I always want to increase the previous preaching. It is a new plan, additional, more loving craziness, in line with Srila Prabhupada, since he always surprised us with ideas to help humanity. It is not easy to make all of this. Sometimes it seems impossible. But it isn't. It is not impossible. It takes self-discipline.
For example: Who can say that he has no time to prepare a nice conference and to present a continuous course in the local vaisnava academy?! Of course, this means to prepare a little; to study well the topics, and the courses can be repeated continuously. I am already preaching Bhagavad Gita for 30 years. And the basic one must deliver very nicely and quite sophisticated. In Bogotá there are many opportunities to preach in schools and universities. This happens if one endeavours. But the most important is to have the vaisnava academy. It does not matter how many people that come to the conferences, even though the same devotees should assist to form better.
VRINDA Cd-rom number 2
The VRINDA CD-rom number 2 will have my power point presentations to preach with the projector. I just received 5 presentations in English; presentations that really destroy the atheists as well as the impersonalists on a logical and mathematical basis and an excellent graphic documentation. It is only missing to translate it to Spanish. I already have included the CD on the WVA. Tomorrow night we have a release party for the WVA CD. Uff! It cost me one eye and five teeth. No, that was a joke! It cost Gour Kesava. It was a Peruvian- Colombian- Austrian cooperation. A lot of pizzas were made in all of this, to calm the nerves. And with this connection, where the light disappears 5 times a day, we almost become dhiras. Especially Prakasananda, who simply goes to the Yamuna to eat his own to stand it. But leaving the jokes - all the world liked the CD. It has a lot of material to motivate more participation and interest in the World Vaisnava Association, etc.
Web pages
Furthermore we have the VINA.cc service. Earlier, this page was made by devotees of the mission of Siddhaswarupananda Jagat Guru, but the devotee who was in charge of it, hardly had any time. So for me it was a real shame that there was no news for long time. But Gour Kesava accepted the responsibility to make the VINA page, and this gave me great relief.
And also the VNS.st is becoming more important. After all, it is the principal door to our mission for the English-speaking world. So you see that I spend my time pushing the others. The only important for me is that you take it with a good mood... with the desire to make it. Because without this, it will not become any ecstatic devotional service.
I also want to present for you Dhristadyumna Das Brahmacary. He lives in the temple in Berlin and makes a page on the Internet that is like El Armonista in its form. It is a new work and he has to have a lot of patience. But with the help from the devotees he makes it very nice.
WVA Cd-rom
The CD-rom of WVA also is good for preaching in India to general people; a lot of vegetarian stuff, the George Harrison show by Kalki, etc, etc., And it is good also in South America, to show the authorities what kind of mission we belong to, and the presentation is very nice. I hope we will distribute thousands of it. Here in India we are selling it for 2 dollars, you see! It is not a question of gaining; it is pure preaching. I already gave to Nimay in Switzerland to translate the introduction to Spanish so that Kalki can include it in his next CD. In Mayapur I will present the CD-rom for the different vaisnava missions there. Of course, the majority do not have computer yet, but all missions have members who are connected. It is just a question of time until all the temples in India have computer, like they have telephone.
Maha Siva Ratri
Yesterday was Maha Siva Ratri. You cannot imagine! A minimum of 20.000 people came to Gopesvara Mahadeva. They came walking from the river Ganges with bottles from the river to make abhiseka. Everything was so full and in the typical mode of Gopesvara where the entire world is welcome. Of course, Gopesvara is very merciful and this made Him famous and people come to ask from Him anything. At the door they were selling dolls and other symbols of good life to intensify the petition. But yet, also the pure devotees of Vrindavan came - but to ask for other things, of course. My prayer was that none of you will stop at any obstacle and that you will achieve the pure love that the heart is longing for. Well, at least what the heart of Srila Prabhupada longs for, for us. To come to the spiritual world and that you are not seduced by the craziness in the world of maya.
The Yoga Inbound Book
Little by little, also the Yoga Inbound book is finishing. It is more packed than I could imagine. What we are doing at this moment is making the guide for the teachers, the brahmanas who are helping the people gradually to understand what the most important in our life is. That book will take some more time, but at least it compiles the substance and we are going to get it to disposition it the form of archive as soon as it is corrected and edited. Gurudeva Atulananda has a lot of work with the poetry of nectar, and he is working with Caitanya Caritamria in poetry. He is dedicating most of his time with it; he has revised it and hopes it to be finished soon.
This is the end of the public chat today. The next chat will be from Mayapur if I can find out how to make it. Anyway we have to maintain the chats, and Gurudeva Atulananda represents me if I cannot be there, and so do the other sannyasis and seniors who happily contribute to the others.
Your well-wisher,
B.A. Paramadvaiti Swami
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