IPT August 2013

iskcon pune today
Newsletter Vol 11 / Issue: 8 (Monthly) / August 2013 / Price: ` 1/-
Chauffeuring the Lord of the Universe
A group of nearly 100 devotees
traveled from Pune to the holy
dham of Jagannath Puri in the
week of 10 July 2013 to participate
in the world famous Rath Yatra
festival. Puri, a city in the eastern
state of Odisha, hosts the oldest
street procession in the world,
dating back to the Satya yuga. Lord
Jagannatha, the Lord of the
Universe, along with His elder
brother Sri Baladeva and sister
Subhadra Devi leave the sanctum
sanctorum of the main temple and
sit on large sixty feet carts that are
drawn by hundreds and thousands
of devotees. The procession which
attracts over eight hundred
thousand devotees from all over
the world ends at the temple of
Gundicha Devi, a few kilometeres
away
For Gaudiya Vaishnavas including
ISKCON devotees, Jagannath Puri
is even more special because Sri
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu resided in
Puri for over 24 years after leaving
Bengal to enact his final pastimes
here. Many of ISKCON’s preceptors such as Srila Bhaktivinode
Thakura and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta
Saraswati also stayed in the city
for many years. "Lord Chaitanya
came to Puri after accepting the
renounced order of life and
taught the practice of pure
devotional service,” explained
Ranganath Das, a senior software
engineer with Wipro in Pune.
“He displayed the highest symptoms of pure Love of God, ever
witnessed in history by showing
us how to chant the pure holy
names of Lord Krishna. Devotees
also visited holy places where the
Lord and His associates enacted
their pastimes.”
On the day of the Rath yatra,
devotees queued early in the
morning for the pahandi festival,
where Their Lordships Jagannath
Baladev, Subhadra and Sudarshan, majestically step outside
the main temple in great pomp
and gaiety, ready to board Their
chariots.
“The long wait and scorching
heat did not deter the devotees,
who started singing the Hare
Krishna mantra loudly when
Lord Jagannatha, Baldeva and
Lady Subhadra were carried in a
procession by the priests of the
temple,” said Haripriya Devi Dasi
who had accompanied the
delegation from Pune. “Their
Lordships were accompanied by
musicians
beating
gongs,
cymbals, and drums, and several
artistes displaying their skills. As
if on cue, the rains poured,
drenching everyone including
Lord Jagannatha, bringing relief
from the heat. Devotees chanted
and danced in front of the
chariots just as Lord Chaitanya's
party chanted and danced 500
years ago.”
"We chanted Hare Krishna and
danced in kirtan for hours for the
pleasure of the three Lords. By
the end of the day, only Lord
Baladev's Rath managed to reach
Gundica temple, Subhadra devi’s
rath was midway and Lord
Jagannath’s rath had hardly
moved,” remembered Amarjeet
Gupta, Software Architect with
Symantec in Pune. “Later in the
evening many enthusiastic
devotees climbed the chariot
and managed to embrace Their
Lordships! Considering the
effort it took to wade through the
milling crowds, climb the
enormous chariots, and finally
embrace the Supreme Lord, it was
a feat accomplished and a life-time
dream come true."
The Rath yatra commemorates an
event where the Gopis of Vrindavana saw Lord Krishna in Kurukshetra after many years of separation and desired to bring the Lord
back home to Vrindavan by
pulling on a chariot on which He
was sitting with His brother
Balarama and His sister Subhadra.
“The Jagannatha temple is considered to be Dvaraka and the Gundicha temple is like Vrindavana,”
concluded Amarjeet Gupta. “As
devotees pull the chariot and bring
the Lord from Dwaraka to Vrindavana, they also plead with the
Supreme Lord to come and reside
in their hearts. Thus, it is a purifying experience that has no parallel
in the entire universe.”
--- Shankar Pandit Das
Senior Functional Consultant,
Tieto, Pune
ISKCON Pune Today | August 2013
From the President's Desk
ISKCON supporter
S. P. Malhotra passes away
Janmashtami
Meditation
W
hen Sri Krishna appeared in
the jail of Kamsa, He appeared as a
bluish baby, whose body was
shining like a blue sapphire. Unlike
the normal babies of this world, He
had curly locks of blackish hair,
bore in His four hands the four
weapons shankha, chakra, gada
and padma. On His chest was the
mark of Srivatsa and on His neck
the brilliant Kaustubha gem. ressed
in yellow, He had a beaming smile
on his face and decorated with
beautiful ornaments, appearing
very wonderful. Have you ever
seen any child born like this?
The Position of Krishna:
On the day He appeared, He told
His parents about their three
previous births, revealing His
oceanic wisdom and memory as
God. Krishna is not an ordinary
human child or an extra-ordinary
one. He is the Supreme Absolute
Truth, the source of all that exists.
He is God, when He is born, in the
lap of mother Yashoda, in the
battle of Kurukshetra or anywhere
else.
Understanding Krishna's
Loving Pastimes:
The Vedanta sutra declares Sri
Krishna as the storehouse of all
loving mellows. Krishna is not
God because He creates,
maintains and destroys millions of
universes, but because He knows
how to exchange pure love with
His pure devotees. Kunti declares
Krishna as the Supreme God
beyond the universe, and Devaki,
on seeing Him as her own child,
treats Him like a baby in
reverential admiration. Yashoda's
love for Krishna in Vrindavan is
the epitome of intimate motherly
love, that has no trace of
reverence. It is the cresendo of
love in which Yashoda carries a
stick to chase after Krishna calling
Him a butter thief!
Page 2
ISKCON PUNE TODAY / August 2013
Knowing Krishna through
His devotees:
Krishna comes to this world to
reveal His colorful pastimes in
Vrindavan to charm and attract us
back home, back to Godhead. He
specifically comes to please His
pure devotees like Kunti, Pandavas,
Devaki and the Vrajabasis. Even
great devatas like Brahma, what to
speak of yogis, cannot fathom
Krishna's greatness and may
misunderstand Him as a human
being. Only by taking shelter of a
pure devotee of Krishna, we can
begin to come to understanding of
the mysterious truths about
Krishna's greatness and sweetness.
The futility of material
existence:
Unaware of Krishna's true position,
we never took Krishna or
Bhagavad gita seriously. Srila
Prabhupada's books reveal that
Krishna, in His original, beautiful,
imperishable sac-cid-ananda form
resides eternally in His spiritual
abode of Golok Vrindavan. Each
one of us is related to Him as a
servant, friend, parent or lover and
that is our real permanent identity.
The material body that we occupy
is only a temporary perishable bag
of material ingredients. We wander
from one species to another in
search of happiness, until we
become tired of our futile attempts
for independent enjoyment and
return back to Krishna's devotees.
Then, having reawakened love for
Krishna and love for all His
children, we return back home
back to Godhead.
Yours in the service of
Sri Sri Radha-Vrindavanchandra,
Yours in service of
Lord Sri Krishna,
Radheshyam Das
President, ISKCON Pune
L
ong-time supporter of ISKCON Pune, Satpal Malhotra
breathed his last on 23 July 2013. S P Malhotra, as he was fondly
known, was the Chairman of the Weikefield Group, one of
India’s pioneering and oldest brands that introduced custards,
trifles and other desserts to an entire generation in India.
S P Malhotra along with his two brothers Bahri and Harish
Malhotra have been associated with ISKCON for over forty
years. The Malhotra family had been instrumental in starting
the first ISKCON centre in Pune.
Srila Prabhupada had visited Pune in 1976 and had stayed at the
residence of the Malhotras, who were famous not only as
prominent businessmen but also as compassionate philanthropists. While staying in their house, Srila Prabhupada pointedly
told Bahri Malhotra, “I want to have a temple in Pune, can you
please help me build one?”
After that incident, His Holiness Gopal Krishna Goswami,
Governing Body Commissioner for Pune regularly met the
Malhotras every time he visited Pune.
In 1982, Bahri Malhotra and his friend Ramesh Thakkar were
encouraged by Gopal Krishna Goswami to help ISKCON rent a
bungalow from a retired army colonel in Camp. The devotees
installed Deities of Sri Sri Radha-Kunjabihari and Sri Sri Gaura
Nitai in the rented temple and started their Krishna consciousness activities from there. Although a wealthy entrepreneur
who was respected all over India, S. P. Malhotra was also
famous for his firm detachment from material assets and his
faithful devotion to God. Once he told a journalist, “So what if I
lose everything! I can always buy a cart and sell bananas.”
He was known for his work in social upliftment through the
Malhotra Weikfield Foundation, an educational trust set up by
Weikfield group offering scholarships to meritorious students
especially girls from underprivileged backgrounds.
“The Malhotra family have been wonderful supporters of
ISKCON and have personally served Srila Prabhupada for over
forty years,” explained Radheshyam Das, President of ISKCON
Pune. “We pray to Lord Krishna to shelter His servant S. P.
Malhotra on his journey back home to Godhead, and hope his
family is able to deal with this great loss.”
The devotees had organised a special kirtan in his memory on
24th July to pray for the departed soul.
S. P. Malhotra is survived by his wife Rajinder, his sons Mukesh,
Puneet, Ashwini and his daughters Urvashi and Pooja.
ISKCON Pune Today | August 2013
The Joy of Walking
for Lord Vitthala
Over
300 devotees from
ISKCON Pune joined the annual
palkhi procession from 29th June
till 22nd July that carries the silver
padukas or peg shoes of Saint
Tukarama, a great devotee of
Lord Vitthala, a form of Lord
Krishna.
Over 2.5 Lakh devotees of Lord
Vitthala from Maharashtra walk
in two processions from Dehu
and Alandi to Pandharpur for
450 kilometres in a journey that is
called vari. The devotees or
pilgrims are called varkaris and
they march in groups. Each group
of varkaris is called a ‘dindi’. The
tradition of carrying padukas to
the vari was introduced by the
youngest son of Tukaram in the
year 1685. Since then the
padukas of Saint Dnyaneshwar
and Tukaram are carried by
pilgrims every year on the vari,
which commences about three
weeks prior to ashadi shayana
ekadasi. It is considered very
auspicious to have the darshana
of Lord Vitthala and take bath in
the holy waters of the
Chandrabhaga river on this day,
when the vari ends its journey at
Pandharpur.
The palkhi procession is one of
the most colourful and lively
carnivals of Maharashtra. During
the journey, the varkaris
constantly engage their tongues,
bodies and minds in kirtana of
Lord Vitthala chanting ‘jaya jaya
Rama Krishna Hari’ and various
abhangas of the saints. As the
dindi progresses through villages
and towns, hundreds of
individuals and organizations
serve the joyous devotees
immersed
in
kirtan,
by
distributing water, juices and
prasad.
The city of Pune becomes
witness to the vibrations of
prayers and chanting of the holy
names of the Lord as it is
geographically positioned on the
route between Alandi, Dehu and
Pandharpur. Around thirty
thousand people from Pune join
the vari journey annually.
“Many old people walk
enthusiastically with the young,
driven by the eagerness of
obtaining darshana of Lord
Vitthala,” said Dr. Milind, who
recently completed his studies
from the prestigious BJ Medical
College in Pune, and had joined
the Vari. “The varkaris follow a
simple lifestyle and stay in
makeshift tents, accepting meals
at the roadside.”
Under the guidance of His
Holiness
Loknath
Swami,
ISKCON’s Hare Krishna Dindi
has been participating in the vari
for the last seventeen years. Two
bulls pull a cart carrying Deities
of Sri Sri Gaura Nitai and Srila
Prabhupada with devotees
chanting the and singing the
Hare Krishna mahamantra along
the
route.They
distribute
prasadam and books such as the
Bhagavad-gita and Back To
Godhead magazine. This year, the
Hare Krishna dindi began on 30th
June and reached Pune ISKCON
temple after two days from where
Lokanath Swami personally led
the dindi to Pandharpur where
they reached on 17th July.
“What is notable about the Hare
Krishna Sankirtan dindi is that
most of our members are highly
educated city-dwelling youth who
are engineers and doctors by
profession. These devotees may
not be exposed to such an austere
lifestyle, but the simplicity and
devotion of other varkaris
motivated everyone to happily
accept austerities in the service of
the Lord,” continued Dr. Milind.
“Another difference with the Hare
Krishna dindi was that we
organized evening kirtan, arati
and lectures wherever we halted
for
local
residents
who
participated enthusiastically and
appreciated the young devotees,”
explained Chandrashekhar, a
postgraduate from NIT. "Our
book distribution party visited
many houses and were warmly
welcomed with milk, water and
even meals. In the few weeks, we
distributed 13500 Back to
Godhead magazines and 400
Bhagavad-gitas.”
The Hare Krishna dindi attracted
media attention too. A reporter
from SAM Marathi, a leading
news channel interviewed the
young devotees and asked them,
"What were your special
experiences, and what attracted
you to the dindi?"
The devotees replied, "Non-stop
Hare Krishna kirtan, distribution
of Vedic literature and prasadam,
street skits, arati, classes and a life
close to nature was what attracted
us."
The reporter further enquired
how marching in the dindi would
help modern youth who were
addicted to bad habits.
"Once a person gets the higher
taste of serving and remembering
God selflessly, lower tendencies
will automatically go away,"
replied the devotees. "The positive
experiences in dindi are so
nourishing that one can easily
forget bad addictions and focus on
the ultimate goal of human life."
"The dindi taught us that simple
living is amazingly conducive to
devotional service," said Abhishek,
who had come from Australia to
march with the devotees.
Loknath Swami who hosted the
Hare Krishna Dindi at the
ISKCON temple in Pandharpur
commented, "There may not be
much facility for the body in dindi
but the soul becomes blissful and
happy."
--- Chakrapani Krishna Das
M.Tech. (Gold medalist),
NIT Surathkal
ISKCON PUNE TODAY / August 2013 Page 3
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ISKCON PUNE TODAY / August 2013