New Talavan Times 3-2-2005

Weekly Bulletin of the ISKCON New Talavan Community

"Protecting Vedic Dharma in Dixie"

Founder-Acharya: His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Temple President: His Grace Yogindra Vandana das Adhikari

31492 Anner Rd. • Carriere MS 39426 • 601 749-9460

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Please always chant the mahamantra:

Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare | Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Srila Prabhupada's Vision

"Whatever is available easily we can use. There is no objection to using electricity. But we should not be dependent upon it. Produce oil from castor seeds and stock the oil sufficiently. It can be used in so many ways—for burning, grease, cooking, and as a purgative to cure all diseases. And oxen can be used for driving carts and go preaching village to village. What is the question of killing them? Here in India our Lokanatha Maharaja has successfully organized such a program and it is a great success. He has traveled all over India and everywhere they distribute books, prasadam and perform kirtan, village to village. Each night they stop at a different village. We can introduce many millions of such carts all over the world." — Letter to Nityananda, 16 March, 1977

Vaisnava Festivals

Sunday, March 6 is Vijaya Ekadasi (Break fast 6:20-10:14). The Sunday Feast program will begin as usual at 11:30 AM. Special Ekadasi preparations will be served (no grains or beans).

Monday, March 7 is the Disappearance Day of Sri Isvara Puri, the spiritual master of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Lord Nityananda Prabhu. “At the last stage of his life Sri Madhavendra Puri became an invalid and was completely unable to move, and Isvara Puri so completely engaged himself in his service that he personally cleaned up his stool and urine. Always chanting the Hare Krsna maha-mantra and reminding Sri Madhavendra Puri about the pastimes of Lord Krsna in the last stage of his life, Isvara Puri gave the best service among his disciples. Thus Madhavendra Puri, being very pleased with him, blessed him, saying, ‘My dear boy, I can only pray to Krsna that He will be pleased with you.’ Thus Isvara Puri, by the grace of his spiritual master, Sri Madhavendra Puri , became a great devotee in the ocean of love of Godhead.” — Caitanya-caritamrta, Antya 8.28-31

Tuesday, March 8 is Siva-Ratri. "Sometimes the Vaisnavas also observe this ceremony because they accept Lord Siva as the foremost Vaisnava. But the function of Siva-Ratri is not observed very regularly by the bhaktas, or devotees of Krsna." — Krsna Book, Chapter 34.

Thursday March 10 is the Disappearance Day of Srila Jagannath Dasa Babaji, the spiritual master of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakura. He confirmed the discovery of the Yoga-Pitha, the actual place where Lord Caitanya appeared.

Sunday, March 13 is the Appearance Day of Sri Purusottama Dasa Thakura. "From birth, Purusottama dasa was merged in the service of the lotus feet of Lord Nityananda Prabhu, and he always engaged in childish play with Lord Krsna." — Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi 11.39 The Sunday Feast program will begin as usual at 11:30 AM.

New Orleans Rathayatra

This year's Rathayatra was held on February 2 during the annual New Orleans Mardi Gras parade. Over a million people got to see Lord Jagannath and hear the Holy Name of Lord Krsna. In addition, this year we were blessed with the presence of Sripad Jayapataka Swami, who came from Mayapur for the Rathayatra. Lord Jagannath rode in a gaily decorated cart that was prepared specially for His pleasure by the older New Talavan Gurukula students. His appearance in the crowded streets of New Orleans showered mercy on the most fallen souls, who turned out in huge crowds to see Him. A wonderful time was had by all, and afterwards there was a sumptuous prasadam feast at the New Orleans Temple.

Cow and Garden News

In the recent weeks Krsna Caitanya das, Mother Gopal Nandini, and Bhakta Kyle have been steadily developing an expanding agricultural program. Three of these oxen moved with Krsna Caitanya from North Carolina, and several are locals. They are training several oxen daily to follow voice commands to help with plowing and wagon transport.

We also have high hopes for doing some nice things in Krsna's garden. We restored the old Tulasi house and used it for starting an assortment of flowers and herbs, and look forward to the arrival of our seeds for summer. We have been working in the garden with the oxen to prepare the ground and make seed beds. We planted several rows of spring vegetables: snap peas, lettuce, Swiss chard, spinach, carrots and beets. Next time you come to the Sunday Feast and taste the nice fresh vegetables grown in Krsna's garden, remember to thank the oxen and ox trainers for their dedication and hard work!

Gaura-Purnima Update

Gaura-Purnima, the blessed Appearance Day of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, is coming up soon! On Friday, March 25 we are planning a grand festival at the Temple. We want to offer 108 delicious vegetarian preparations, cooked with devotion, to the Lord. Sign up to offer your home-cooked specialty to Lord Gauranga!

We also desire to offer new outfits to our beautiful Deities, Their Merciful Lordships Sri-Sri Gaura-Nitai and Sri-Sri Radha-Radhakanta. The outfits are being made in Mayapur and to get here in time, have to be picked up by March 2. To do this, we need a donor or donors to underwrite the cost of the outfits plus shipping, a total of $1,800.

Offering new outfits to Their Lordships is a very important service that is usually performed only twice a year, on Janmastami and Gaura-Purnima. This is an opportunity to get some special mercy. You will certainly receive the blessings of Their Lordships for the entire year. Plus, in recognition of this valuable and important service, the Deity outfit donors will receive some wonderful Deity decoration maha-prasadam at the Gaura-Purnima celebration on March 25! If you want to donate, please contact us right away, time is short.

Thanks are due to Mother Mohanasini, Nanda Suta Prabhu and Mother Laksmi for their kind donations.

Srila Prabhupada Tirtha Memorial

Srila Prabhupada visited New Talavan on August 1, 1975. He gave class, instructed the devotees about simple living, Vedic agriculture and Varnasrama-dharma, and went for a walk around the farm. Thus New Talavan is one of the very special pilgrimage sites where Srila Prabhupada's lotus feet are eternally present. Our plan is to develop a New Talavan Visitor Center to facilitate pilgrims who want to take darshan of Srila Prabhupada.

The first stage of this plan is a Srila Prabhupada Tirtha Memorial Walk, with seven stupas enshrining the places Srila Prabhupada visited on his walk. The next stage is the Srila Prabhupada Tirtha Visitor Center, where pilgrims can view pictures of Srila Prabhupada at New Talavan, hear audio recordings of his class and walk here, and see artifacts used by Srila Prabhupada during his visit. Finally, we will construct a Srila Prabhupada Tirtha Memorial Guesthouse where pilgrims can stay while visiting New Talavan.

Letter from a Visitor

We really had a wonderful visit with you all. The farm touched us deeply and we plan to come by again. Thank you so much for the maha-prasad. It was so kind of you. I wish we could do more but please accept our humble donation. Till next time,

Sincerely,

Chuck M.

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