Dear Devotees, Friends and Well Wishers,
Please accept out best wishes.
It is the end of Kartik. The month seems to have gone by in a flash. We hope that your Kartik has been spiritually uplifting and rejuvenating. We invite you to share your realisations with us.
We are entering the holidays soon. People look forward to this time of year with hope of filling their hearts. In the pursuit of happiness we desire by direct perception: a branded item, the newest gadget, the must-have summer fashion, etc., leaving many hankering and lamenting. While these things may fill one, it only does so for a short time, and then the emptiness returns. Ancient philosophy presents one essential truth about desire and money, "Our desire will always outweigh our income." The wanting, the desire, is never truly fulfilled by things but by love of the Supreme Lord. The great mind who is Srila Prabhupada understood this and painstakingly provided the balm for the craving heart.
His books is the salve for the soul. We begin the Srila Prabhupada Book Marathon on Wednesday, 28 November as an act of gratitude, and as a act of compassion. As Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura elegantly says, "The softness of the heart towards Krishna is bhakti, and the softness of the heart towards other living entities is compassion." This book marathon is our time to practice both bhakti and compassion.
All energies will be spent in distributing Srila Prabhupada's books and the temple morning program will be adjusted. Everyone is invited to take part.
And if you are going on pilgrimage, holiday, working, suffer from poor health, or any other reason that you may not be able to go out on book distribution, then we ask a small gesture from you: The BBT Africa have recently published 3 isiZulu books and they cost just R6 each. We appeal to each and everyone to sponsor minimum 5 of these books for the cost of R30. We host programmes in Umlazi and KwaMashu, the heart of the Zulu people, in Durban. Our roll out plan is to distribute those books in these areas.
Vibhu Caitanya Das writes in the Nov/Dec Hare Krishna News, "Nelson Mandela once said that if you speak to a man in a language he understands, it will go to his head but if you speak to a man in his own language, it will go to his heart. It is for this reason that we are attempting to reach people in their mother tongue, to connect to their hearts."
This simple gesture that does not even require you to leave your desk can cause a spiritual shift, enter the heart and transform the consciousness. The devotees from the book office have made it easy for you to purchase or sponsor books during the marathon with extended hours. The timings are:
Mondays to Friday: 12pm - 7pm
Weekends: 9am - 7pm
Please make prior arrangements for requests/purchases required during other than the times listed above. You may contact:
Prasuti Dasi: 084 919 4090
Aradya-murti Dasi: 083 652 1525
Vrajanath Das: 083 974 8314
Krishna Baladev Das: 082 551 8047
Sad Goswami Das: 084 621 8904
Rajiv: 073 422 8709
Cunerl: 083 373 5313
This festival will be broadcast live. Please go to www.mayapur.tv
Last Day of Kartik Programme:
Wednesday, 28 November
5.30pm Prasadam feast
7.00pm Arati
7.30pm Class by His Holiness Bhakti Brhat Bhagavata Swami
8.15pm Srila Prabhupada Book Marathon Launch
8.30pm Offering clay lamps to Lord Damodar
Sunday, 2 December
11.00am Snana-yatra at New Jagannath Puri Temple
3.30pm ISKCON Durban's Child Protection Team (CPT) has planned the following activities:
1. 4 to 9 year olds Fun-filled activities to empower children in this age group to prevent them from being victims of abuse. Self-esteem building skills will be included in this programme.
2. 10 to 16 year old Dealing with peer-pressure, developing positive self-image and bully-proofing yourself.
The above activities will run concurrently in the temple grounds.
3. A 15 minute talk will be presented to the adults in the temple at the end of the Sunday class.
The above activities will run concurrently in the temple grounds.
3. A 15 minute talk will be presented to the adults in the temple at the end of the Sunday class.
Topic for discussion: What is abuse and how to effectively discipline a child without losing your cool.
There will be give-aways for the children.
4.00pm Sunday Love Feast
We hope this meets you in the best of spirits
Your friends and well wishers at
Sri Sri Radha Radhanath Temple
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