| Wednesday, September 15th, - Tuesday, September 21st, 2010 |
Wednesday, September 15th The Appearance of Srimati Radharani (Fast until noon) Saturday, September 18th: Parsva Ekadasi (fast from grains and beans) fast until noon for Lord Vamanadeva's Appearance Sunday, September 19th: Appearance of Lord Vamanadeva (break fast between 7:13 - 11:18 am) Upcoming Monday, September 20th: Appearance of Srila Bhaktividnode Thakur Sunday, November 14th: Govardhana Puja Celebration
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| | | | | | | | | From Srila Prabhupada: So Radha, so Radha and Krsna. Krsna is the enjoyer and He wants to enjoy. So He's the Supreme Brahman. He cannot enjoy anything, atmarama, He can enjoy it in Himself. Therefore Radharani is the expansion of His pleasure potency. Krsna hasn't got to seek external things for His pleasure. No. He is in Himself full, atmarama. So Radharani is expansion of Krsna. Krsna is the energetic, and Radharani is the energy. Just like energy and energetic, you cannot separate. Fire and the heat you cannot separate. Wherever there is fire there is heat, and wherever there is heat there is fire. Similarly, wherever there is Krsna there is Radha. And wherever there is Radha there is Krsna. They are inseparable. But He is enjoying -- "Radhastami," August 30th, 1968, Montreal |
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Sethiji and Guruji
A Talk by Giriraj Swami
January 12, 2010, Kiev, Ukraine
Tonight I shall speak about Srila Prabhupada's dear friend and staunch devotee Mr. P. L. Sethi. When Srila Prabhupada first came to Bombay with his disciples from America, Mr. Sethi read a notice about them in the newspaper, which said that Srila Prabhupada had arrived with sadhus from foreign countries who chanted the Hare Krsna maha-mantra. Mr. Sethi was part of a group that also chanted Hare Krsna, and so he wanted to meet Prabhupada, and he got the address and came to see him. At their first meeting, Srila Prabhupada asked Mr. Sethi what he did during the day, starting from when he woke up in the morning. Mr. Sethi began, "I get up, brush my teeth, take my bath, have a cup of tea and a piece of toast, read the newspaper, and go to work." Srila Prabhupada said, "What is the difference between you and a pig?" [laughter] Mr. Sethi thought about it and seemed to agree [laughter]. So he asked Prabhupada, "What should I do?" And Prabhupada replied, "You should invite the devotees to Goregaon [the northern suburb of Bombay where Mr. Sethi lived] early every Sunday morning to do hari-nama-sankirtana, and then you should feed them sumptuous prasada." And this became a regular practice.
Later, when Srila Prabhupada got the Juhu property, Mr. Sethi bought some land behind it and built a house for his family. In India people often give names to their houses and office buildings, and he named his new home "Vrndavana."
Srila Prabhupada underwent a great struggle to get the Juhu land and then to get the permissions to build on the land. Mr. Sethi was a building contractor, and Srila Prabhupada engaged him in getting permits and doing some of the early construction. At the back of the land were six two-storey apartment buildings, and before we got permission to build the temple and main project, Mr. Sethi got permission to add one storey on top of each of the buildings at the back. The roofs of those old buildings were flat, with little white ceramic tile chips set in cement, and Srila Prabhupada that said we should keep that flooring and build the walls and roof over it.
When the first additional quarters were ready, Mr. Sethi took Srila Prabhupada on a tour. Srila Prabhupada looked at Mr. Sethi with great affection and said, "Just as you are building these rooms for my disciples here, Krsna is building your rooms for you in Vaikuntha, the spiritual world."
But we still did not have permission to build the main project. Finally, Mr. Sethi told Prabhupada, "Unless we pay them some money, we can't get the permission." He wanted to know if Prabhupada was willing to do that. Srila Prabhupada asked, "How much?" Mr. Sethi said, "Five thousand rupees." Srila Prabhupada asked, "How do we know that if we pay the money we'll get the permission?" Mr. Sethi said, "The municipal commissioner is the final authority, and he seems to be a decent man, and this is how it works in Bombay." Srila Prabhupada said, "Let me think about it; I will tell you tomorrow morning."
After Mr. Sethi left, Srila Prabhupada discussed the matter with me and maybe one or two other managers of the Juhu project. "So, what should we do?" he asked. And he raised another question: "What if we give the money to Sethi and he doesn't give it to the commissioner?" He quoted a Bengali saying that a goldsmith, while fashioning some gold his mother gave him to make into a ring, is thinking, "Should I use all the gold for the ring or put some in my pocket?" Prabhupada said that this type of cheating is so much a part of the goldsmith's business that even if his own mother gives him gold to make an ornament, he will think, "Should I cheat and keep some of the gold for myself?" Prabhupada said that the construction business-paying bribes and getting permits-is such that someone in it will automatically think, "Should I keep some of the money for myself?"-no matter whose money it is.
So there were many factors to consider-whether Mr. Sethi would give the money, or the full amount, to the commissioner, whether the commissioner, having taken the money, would in fact give the permission, or whether he might take the amount and then ask for more and more and more-so many complexities. Finally Srila Prabhupada decided, "We will not do this."
We were a little apprehensive about how Srila Prabhupada would present his decision to Mr. Sethi and how Mr. Sethi would take it. And the next morning we waited anxiously for Mr. Sethi to arrive. Eventually he came and, as usual, sat on the floor before Srila Prabhupada. "So, what do you think?" Prabhupada asked. "Should we do it?" Mr. Sethi replied, "Yes, because otherwise we are not getting the permission." Prabhupada immediately said, "All right"-just the opposite of the way the discussion had been going the day before. So Prabhupada arranged the money, and we got the permission.
Srila Prabhupada, as the acarya, was teaching us. He often told us that intelligence means to see the same thing from many points of view and that we should do everything very cautiously and carefully. I do not believe that he actually doubted his dear friend and staunch devotee Mr. Sethi, but he was teaching us to be circumspect and consider every proposal with keen intelligence.
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Wednesday, September 15th: Radhastami We will be celebrating Radhastami, the Appearance of Srimati Radharani, Lord Krishna's eternal consort. Don't miss this special occasion, as this is the one day a year where we receive darshan of Radharani's lotus feet! Program schedule will be as follows: 7:30 a.m. Greeting of the Deities 8:30 a.m. Class on Radharani 10:30 a.m. Abhisheka (Deity bathing) 12:00 noon Arati & Kirtan 1:00 p.m. Feast |
Wednesday, September 15th: Evening Concert with the Mayapuris Come celebrate sweetness incarnate, Sri Radha with the Mayapuris in the upstairs hall from 6:30 - 9:00 p.m. Mayapuris have crash-landed into the kirtan/chant genre, quickly becoming the most talked about group in this growing culture of exotic world music. Their debut album Mridanga soars with fiery vocals, earth shaking rhythms and enchanting musical flavor. Click on their site to hear some sample tracks and free downloads. |
School Temple Tours Season Every school year, students by the 100's come to visit the temple for their high school and college projects. The devotees are also invited at this time to speak at several venues. For example, this Tuesday, there will be a large class from SMU that will be attending the Gaura Arati kirtan. On Thursday, Jaya Keshava & Nityananda Chandra Prabhus will be taking over an entire day of classes at Rockwall High School, reaching hundreds of high school students. If you would like to help out for any of these programs such as participating in the kirtans, prasadam, or any other seva please contact Nityananda Chandra Das, 214-669-3369.
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Please Give Us Feedback We would like feedback about last week's Janmastami festival. We would like your comments, feeback, what you liked, what could be changed, etc. Please send us an email to let us know. |
Temple's Facebook Page  The Temple now has a Facebook Page. Everyone please go there and click the "Like" button. From this page, one can get all the updates of Kalachandji Katha, along with invitations to festivals and other special events. |
Recipe Corner Banana Bread 1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup butter, at room temp
3 very ripe bananas, mashed well
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a 8x4 bread pan with non stick cooking spray, or lightly coat with butter. Sift together flour, baking soda, salt and spices.
Cream together the margarine and sugars. Add bananas, milk and vanilla.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry. Mix well. Pour batter into pan. Bake for an hour to an hour 10 minutes. | Contact Information | Main Temple phone: 214-827-6330, Congregation Services: 214-827-6330 x 216
Email for general questions and information
To schedule a tour, home or school program: Nityananda Chandra 214-669-3369, or email him
To place an item in next week's bulletin, please send it by Monday each week |
| | September Feast Sponsorships Sept 5th
Ashish Ghosh 1 Sponsorship Available Sept 12th
Bobby Jivnani and Family 1 Sponsorship Available Sept 19th 2 Sponsorships Available Sept 26th 2 Sponsorships Available Kindly come forward and sponsor a feast |
Radhastami Wed, Sept. 15th 2010 We Invite all of you to take part in the festivities Available
Sponsorships 1) Deity Dresses $2,501 2) All Day Festivities $2,501 3) Flowers $1,001 4) Prasadam $501 5) Jewelry Please kindly come forward to help us celebrate Srimate Radharani's Appearance in a grand celebration To sign up call 214 454 5267 Email |
call 214 454 5267 214 827 6330 x 216 |
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