**Festival Day!**

We hope you can come to the temple this evening for chanting, dancing and feasting, in the good old-fashioned way! The Deities on the altar are looking bright and beautiful and ready to receive you. Please scroll down for details of the festivities.

Sri Nityananda's blessing.

Lord Nityananda's name, composed of two Sanskrit words, nitya - eternal and ananda - bliss, give us a clue to His essential nature and to our relationship with Him. Devotional songs often play on this meaning; while Sri Nityananda is experiencing eternal bliss, we are having the opposite experience. Our lives are often a struggle to grasp even the barest minimum of happiness, through so much misery and dissatisfaction. The happiness we manage to find is hard to keep hold of, and nowhere near as strong as we would like. We can never feel secure in it as long as we can see how much suffering there is in the world.

In one of his best-known songs, the devotee poet, Srila Narottama das Thakura prays, "My dear Lord Nityananda, You are always joyful in spiritual bliss. Since You always appear very happy, I have come to You because I am most unhappy. If You kindly put Your glance upon me, I may also be happy".

It's not ordinary, mundane happiness which Lord Nityananda gives, but that transcendental bliss which comes from completely selfless devotion to Krishna. This can seem a far-off dream to those of us who are struggling with weak faith or shaky sadhana, but no matter how 'off the radar' we may consider ourselves in spiritual life, and no matter how often we may fall away, Lord Nityananda is quick to help us and give us spiritual strength if we turn to Him. And He gives us tastes of that bliss even at the foothills of devotional service.

Fortunately He doesn't expect us to become pure and perfect overnight; as expressed in a song by Bhaktivinode Thakura, Lord Nityananda requests only three simple things: "Chant Krishna, worship Krishna and teach others about Krishna.

The next verse of that song is so nice, we'll put it here: "Being careful to remain free of offenses, just take the holy name of Lord Krishna. Krishna is your mother, Krishna is your father, and Krishna is the treasure of your life." Happy festival!

Lord Nityananda

Lord Nityananda was instrumental in spreading the message of the sankirtan movement in Bengal. He is renowned for His mercy and for making pure love of God easily accessible to everyone through the chanting of the Holy names. He is very easy to approach:

"Simply by talking of Nityananda Prabhu one awakens one's love for Krishna." - Chaitanya-caritamrta.

"Sri Chaitanya said:"If anyone even once chants the name 'Nityananda' they will become purified and I will immediately accept that person as My own."'" - Caitanya Mangala.

You may like to listen to Srila Prabhupada singing the beautiful song "Nitai-pada-kamala" - the Lotus Feet of Lord Nityananda. And his description of the song (purport) here.

Sri Nityananda Festival - This Tuesday.

This Tuesday is the feast-day of Sri Nityananda, Lord Chaitanya's dearmost companion. We warmly invite you to join us for evening celebrations at the temple.

• 6.30 p.m. - Kirtan and Temple Ceremony (Gaura arti)
• 7.00 p.m. - Talk: Lord Nityananda and The Holy Name.
• 7.30 p.m. - Vegetarian Feast.

ISKCON Belfast: 140, Upper Dunmurry Lane. Tel: 02890 287590 for directions.

We look forward to seeing you!

The Appeal of Monasticism.

I recently read this article by Mark, a Catholic blogger in Scotland. He describes his stay in a Gaudiya-Vaishnava (Krishna) monastery in California, a few years ago and his appreciation of his time there. I thought you might like it too...

It's the second article from the top. Mark's blog "Rise and Pray" is thoughtful and interesting, as he writes of his search for God.

Advaita Acharya's Compassion.

Tomorrow we celebrate the festival day of Sri Advaita Acharya, an important figure in the lives of the Gaudiya-Vaishnavas. Please read about him here:

“In the age of Kali*, intelligent people perform congregational chanting to worship the incarnation of Godhead, who constantly sings the names of Krishna. Although His complexion is not blackish, He is Krishna Himself. He is accompanied by His associates, servants, weapons and confidential companions.”


This verse from Srimad Bhagavatam, predicts the arrival of Sri Chaitanya with His close companions; His mission: to introduce the chanting of Krishna’s sacred names, as the easiest and most potent method of self-realisation; a special “remedy” for the difficult age of Kali*.

Advaita Acharya was one of the close companions who helped Lord Chaitanya spread His message “to every town and village”. In fact, he plays a particularly important role in bringing this about:

Advaita Acharya was born in Bengal in 1434, fifty years before the advent of Sri Chaitanya. He spent most of his adult life in the town of Shantipur, with his wife and family, where he became the well-respected leader of the brahmana community. At Shantipur, he taught the philosophy of Bhagavad-Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam, encouraging everyone to follow the path of bhakti – loving service to Sri Krishna.

As time went by, however, Advaita Acharya became increasingly saddened as he saw the growing tendency for people to abandon their spiritual practices for materialistic goals – the pursuit of wealth and the medieaval equivalents of sex, drugs, rock and roll. He saw clearly that this would lead to a dysfunctional society of unhappy individuals, and after due thought, concluded that the only solution was to beg the Supreme Lord to come Himself, and attract people back to the joyfulness of spiritual life.

Advaita Acharya prayed fervently to the Lord for several months – it is said that he cried out loudly and worshipped the Lord with sacred tulasi leaves and Ganges water. At the end of thirteen months, at an eclipse of the full moon, the Acharya’s prayers were answered; Sri Chaitanya advented in the district of Mayapur in Bengal, as the son of Mother Sachi and as he grew up, brought about a spiritual revolution with His sankirtan movement. Srila Prabhupada introduced that same movement to the western world in the twentieth century to many thousands of satisfied "customers".

Many of Advaita Acharya’s activities are described in the books, Sri Chaitanya-charitamrta and Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata. On his feast day, Gaudiya-Vaishnavas enjoy reading and discussing these “pastimes”, and remember Advaita Acharya with gratitude, for taking such compassion on the people of our age.

* The age of Kali is our present age. According to traditional sources time moves in cycles, the greatest of which are the four Ages - Satya, Treta, Dwarpa and finally Kali - "the age of quarrel and hypocrisy". They correspond to the Golden, Silver, Bronze and Iron ages of Greek philosophy.

"Detox"

It feels right, at the beginning of a new year, to think of clearing the decks, throwing out unnecessary clutter and unwanted habits, and starting clean and fresh. However things worked out for us in the old year, whatever dissatisfactions we may have with our situation, we have the chance now to review our lives and make plans for improvement.

This 'clearing out' extends to our bodies as well. Have you noticed, at this time of year, all the talk of Detox programmes? In the media it is the topic of the moment. Having binged at Christmas, now is the time (they say) to clear the system of nasty toxins which clog it up and bog it down, and may cause future disease. We should go jogging, or do a grape fast, or book into a health spa.

But search as you might, it would be hard to find advice on how to clean the mind of the nasty things which clog it up and which fester there, leading also to serious problems in our lives. As the mind is known to have a powerful effect on the body, this is surely a good place to start, if we want health and happiness. Negative impressions we take into our minds stay there and become a heavy load; deep, unwanted habits affect our abilities at work and in relationships and make us dissatisfied and unhappy.

Until we begin to clean the mind, we often don't even realise how dirty it is - like cleaning our windows at home. We get used to them being dirty, but when we clean them, then we really notice how much light comes in, and how clear and bright the colours are outside.

So our advice for detoxing the mind is to take a course of Kirtan - chanting! Scientifically tried and tested over thousands of years, there is no surer, nor speedier method of deep-cleaning; for the maha-mantra is not only antiseptic, but also "prophylactic" - it will protect us from further contamination. As we chant, our original buoyancy and joyfulness will emerge, and spread to every aspect of our lives.

And the best thing is, that unlike detox diets, kirtan is sweet, yet you can have as much of it as you like. So if you want to lose the weight of anxiety and fight the flab of dullness, come to the Belfast Temple "Health Spa" and try it out, with the rest of us!

Kirtan every Wednesday evening 7.00 p.m. - 8.30 p.m. at 140 Upper Dunmurry Lane. Tel: 02890 287590 for details. Free of charge.

Hari New Year!

A very Happy and Hari New Year to all our readers!

May 2007 bring you peace, prosperity and many jolly kirtans! And may Krishna bless you with increasing attraction to His lotus feet.