My First Gaura-Purnima Festival.

Padma-malini dasi, former President of the Belfast Temple wrote this about her first Gaura-Purnima. Padma is presently teaching art at a school in Luton.

My first experience of celebrating the appearance of Lord Chaitanya had a profound and lasting effect on my life. Although it was almost twelve years ago, I clearly remember how the Hare Krishna mantra touched me and strengthened my faith in the teachings of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Krishna is present in His name and within His name there is the unlimited pleasure that we all want but usually run away from. I was fortunate to somehow catch a glimpse of the inner contentment and closeness to God that chanting can bring.

Half-way through my degree course in Belfast I took a year out to focus on my spiritual education. I had spent three years at a reputable university yet wanted more. I wanted to learn about more metaphysical and philosophical topics, and to bring more discipline into my life. I was attracted to Srila Prabhupada’s uncomplicated presentation of eastern philosophy and its practical application, and so decided to take time out from university to attend a one year residential course at the Belfast ISKCON temple.

Life in the temple was different. Rising before 4am daily to attend temple services and engage in meditation and prayer—how often had I gone to bed at this time as a student! Apart from assisting with various duties in the temple, my day was filled with classes and personal study. Not only was there so much information to learn, relating to the tradition but also codes of etiquette and guidelines that covered numerous aspects of life. I learned so much and began to feel energised and cleansed of my short yet intense spurt of student life.

Half-way through my course we began to prepare for Gaura Purnima, the celebration of the birth of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. We learned about His life and teachings, and how He introduced the congregational chanting of Hare Krishna. Preparations for the festival started months in advance, ranging from sending invitations to finalising menus. A ten-hour sponsored kirtana was organized to encourage congregational members to chant together for an extended period on this auspicious festival day, as Lord Chaitanya had done daily with associates and disciples. Read more ...

Gaurachandra Attracts Chinese!

A funny thing has happened. After we put up yesterday's post, our blog-counter showed a cluster of visits from all over China, which are still continuing now. I couldn't think what was in the post that could have interested so many Chinese people; I read it again and saw that we had translated Gaurachandra's name as "golden moon" - could this be it? I googled "golden moon" and sure enough, hundreds of Chinese restaurants came up!

Well, all got a glimpse of Gaurachandra in the picture, and no doubt a blessing from Him too -even if they had to go somewhere else for their dinner.

Dear visitors from China, you are always very welcome here!

By the way, I've just discovered that if you click on the picture above, it becomes very large and looks beautiful with Lord Chaitanya in the centre. Try it and see!

Belfast Hare Krishna Temple.

Golden Things.

A collage of golden things, which can all be seen around the time of Gaura-purnima. In the centre is the beautiful Lord Chaitanya from the Pancha Tattva deities in Mayapur.

Most of our readers know that Lord Chaitanya is golden-complexioned and has many 'golden' names such as Gauranga - golden limbed, Gaurachandra - golden moon and Gaura-natha-raj - great golden dancer. But some may not, so I thought I'd better mention it!

"May the Supreme Lord who is known as the son of Srimati Sachidevi be transcendentally situated in the innermost chambers of your heart. Resplendent with the radiance of molten gold, He has appeared in the Age of Kali by His causeless mercy to bestow what no incarnation has ever offered before: the most sublime and radiant mellow of devotional service, the mellow of conjugal love." Chaitanya-charitamrita Adi 1.4

Belfast Hare Krishna Temple.

Discovering Lord Chaitanya.

Our first encounter with Lord Chaitanya and His sankirtana movement is a very special time for devotees. Most of us grew up never having heard of either of Them, yet suddenly this becomes the most important thing in our lives - an understanding and an experience which we can never turn our backs on. There are two pieces of writing on this subject which you might like to read, on the way to Gaura-purnima. Here's the first:

Yadunandana das, a Vaishnava monk from Spain, Principle of Bhaktivedanta College , relates his first encounters with Lord Chaitanya's sankirtana movement.

When I first came in contact with the Hare Krishna movement, the personality of Sri Chaitanya intrigued and attracted me. Having being trained as a Catholic in my childhood, I had great appreciation and feeling for Jesus, although I was not practicing his teachings very much. To hear and read about Sri Chaitanya evoked in my heart some of those feelings I had experienced during my confirmation, but in an increased way. I liked that Sri Chaitanya had shown the path to spiritual perfection by giving up everything to serve the Lord and that he widely disseminated the chanting of the holy name.

In those beginning days, I used to read and re-read Srila Prabhupada’s introduction to Srimad-Bhagavatam, in which he wrote a summary of the life of Sri Chaitanya. In the description, I learned that Sri Chaitanya had been a great scholar almost from his childhood and had astounded and humbled great intellectual and spiritual champions of his time such as Kesava Kasmiri, Prakasananda Sarasvati, and Sarvabhauma-Bhattacharya. These influential, renowned philosophers and teachers became followers of Sri Chaitanya or, at least, accepted the Vaisnava teachings after meeting him. It was amazing to read, that in spite of being such a prodigious scholar, Sri Chaitanya had written only eight verses. The translations of these verses appeared at the end of Srila Prabhupada’s summary; I used to enjoy their poetry and deep spiritual feeling. They express the greatness of God and how tiny we are in comparison to Him and yet, how a very intense, sweet—sometimes bittersweet—relationship develops between the Lord and His devotee. I felt moved by those sublime expressions. I saw it, and still see it, as an ideal to be achieved: deep, loving attachment to God and open and honest communication with Him.

Later on, when I became a novice in a Hare Krishna temple in Spain , I would recite those same verses every morning, both in Sanskrit and Spanish, as part of the morning spiritual programme. Now, after 27 years, I still derive great inspiration from them. These eight verses of instruction, embody the teachings and mission of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. They reveal the process of pure love of Godhead, bhakti, and the congregational chanting of the holy name of Krsna (sankirtana) as the best method for spiritual perfection in this difficult age. In the first verse, Sri Chaitanya expresses the purpose of his advent on earth. He says: “Let there be all victory to the Sri-Krishna-sankirtana”. Sri Chaitanya is described by Srila Prabhupada as the great apostle of love of God and the father of congregational chanting. Every day Sri Chaitanya would go into the streets with his devotee companions and perform public congregational chanting of the holy name, inspiring other people to join in. He requested His followers to do the same for the benefit of others.

The first time I heard congregational chanting, was in a small room my friends and I had rented in the cultural centre of my hometown. We had a youth group for research about yoga and the paranormal. That day, when I came into the room, two or three of my friends were there, euphorically singing, accompanied by hand cymbals and a little metal box, which they used as a drum. They had not taken any drugs nor drunk any alcohol. They were simply singing with their hearts and voices, bodies moving from side to side, following the rhythm of the chanting and the instruments, their faces beaming. When I entered the room I felt my whole being caught up in an intense, spiritual happiness. This was not ordinary singing or music. It was full of tangible, spiritual power.

Some weeks later, I went to the temple in Barcelona for the first time. I was already chanting the Hare Krishna mantra on my beads, reciting sixteen rounds of 108 mantras every day and my friends and I used to meet regularly and have our kirtanas (chanting sessions), sometimes in one of our yoga rooms, which we had transformed into a temple, and other times in a nearby forest or park. Still, when I took part in my first kirtana in the temple, with all the temple devotees gathered and their enthusiastic and graceful dancing, the experience was even stronger. I felt immersed in an ocean of bliss. This may sound like an exaggerated expression, but I have no better words to describe it. After that kirtana I decided: “I want to come here and live with these people”. Since it was my first time in the temple, I had not made any friends. Yet, the experience was so powerful that it increased my desire to follow Sri Caitanya’s teachings and mission.

During the week, I could hardly wait for the weekend, to go to the temple, which was thirty kilometres from my hometown, to join the devotees and sing and dance with them, and to experience the happiness of that chanting. For me, this was a living proof that made me identify with the character of Sri Chaitanya and fanned in my heart a growing vocation to follow him, a vocation that has profoundly marked my life and that I pray will continue until my last breath.

Shortly afterwards, I participated regularly in the Sunday chanting processions in the streets of Barcelona. I was not dressed like the other devotees and I was less experienced than them, but this did not make any difference to me. I was going out to bring the experiences I was having so that others could have the same opportunity. Somehow the sankirtana of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and his devotees had touched me so deeply that I became part of his mission and was actively spreading it. The happiness I experienced, and still experience, surpasses beyond any comparison, the ordinary happiness of the mind and senses. Therefore, as Sri Chaitanya says in this verse: "param vijayate sri krsna sankirtanam, let there be victory to the Holy name of Krsna which expands the blissful ocean of transcendental life!"

©2005 iskcon.com

Festival Preparations.

We're busily preparing for Gaura-Purnima - the feast day of Lord Chaitanya. It takes place on Saturday, 3rd of March, less than a fortnight away.

We want to make the festival, here in Belfast, as gorgeous an offering as we can, but as well as running around planning and organising, we're trying to prepare in a contemplative way too - reading from Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita and The Teachings of Lord Chaitanya, and becoming inwardly strengthened and purified by His sublime activities and instructions. Then when the festival day comes, we'll feel more thoroughly "in the mood".

Another nice meditation before Gaura-Purnima is Lord Chaitanya's Eight Poems - the Sri Shikshastakam. A couple of years ago, Belfast devotees Lal-krishna das and Keshava dasi, commissioned reflections on these verses by eight contemporary Vaishnavas, to be posted on ISKCON.com., one a week, before Gaura-Purnima that year. They're very well worth reading and you can find them here on ISKCON.com. Beautiful pictures there too, and you can also listen to Srila Prabhupada singing the Shikshastakam prayers with deep devotion. Satisfaction for all the senses!

An Interlude.

Here's a nice thing: A slideshow of Sri Sri Radha-Madhava with photos taken at different festivals. And music to compliment it - Madhu-mangala das (aka Maurice Foley) sings a song of his own composition, accompanied by himself on mandolin and Clara on fiddle. Once we work out how to do slideshows and put sound up on these Chronicles, won't we have fun!

The slideshow is on the ISKCON.com website, run by our able Lal-Krishna das, and the picture above is one of a series of Names of Krishna which change every time you visit the site. It is our own Madhava-ji, of course. Click here to see the slideshow: Radha-Madhava Picture Gallery.

Belfast Hare Krishna Temple.

Love Poetry.

A reader wrote to enquire about poetry in our tradition, which expresses the idea of prema - the pure love for God which we mentioned yesterday. Thank you for your questions, dear reader.

Out of the many, many such poems available, here are two verses from Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's Shikshastakam. These are translations from the original Sanskrit:

"Feeling separated from You, a moment seems like twelve years or more. Tears are flowing from my eyes like torrents of rain, and I feel all vacant in the world in Your absence."

"I know no one but Krishna as my Lord, and He shall remain so, even if He handles me roughly by His embrace or makes me brokenhearted by not being present before me. He is completely free to do anything and everything, for He is always my worshipful Lord, unconditionally

By the way, Lord Chaitanya's festival-day, Gaura-Purnima is approaching - on the 3rd March. A date for your diary!

Belfast Hare Krishna Temple.

Tainted Love.

"I could not love thee, dear, so much,
Loved I not Krishna more."

"Be mine" plead the Valentine's cards. "Be mine until I get fed up with you and fancy someone else"!

But let's not be cynical on Valentine's Day. True love remains our secret ideal, no matter how disenchanted the weary world has made us. We can't help but desire to love and be loved - it's a desire so huge that it's almost impossible to satisfy. Yet, unsatisfied, it causes us grief. There are extreme cases such as Saddam Hussein and other merciless dictators who are known to have had loveless childhoods; their love becomes twisted and turns into lust for power, greed, anger. Most of us manage to keep more of an even keel and settle for what's available to us - lurv or luv, maybe.

But the true, fathomless love which our hearts desire, although hard to find, is available and achievable. Prema is the Sanskrit word for that pure, 24 carot love which has no tinge of selfishness. We already possess it, and through spiritual practise can unblock it. But we can't reveal our innermost selves to just anyone, to risk being misunderstood and abused. Prema can only be satisfied when it's object is Krishna - the perfect repository of love. Then it becomes unstoppable, like St. Valentine, who willingly gave his life for love of God. And our love spills over to all creatures, because they are also beloved by Him.

Belfast Hare Krishna Temple.

Krishna's Wintry Smile.

Snowdrops are out in the Temple garden. Srila Prabhupada described flowers as"Krishna's smile" - so next time you see some, smile back!

It's interesting how Krishna has arranged the flowers to perfectly match their season; the snowdrops, chaste and pure in winter-time, then daffodils, with their golden trumpets, proclaiming the arrival of spring. Summer flowers often look like small suns with sun-ray petals, like daisies and dandelions, sunflowers and marigolds. Then in autumn, the duller golds, bronzes and wine-colours of chrysanthemums match the colours of the changing leaves on the trees. There's a fine sense of fitness about it, don't you think?

Belfast Hare Krishna Temple.

The Vaishnava Voice.

Good news! Kripamoya has a blog. And a very good blog, it is. You can find it here.

His Grace Kripamoya das is well known to the devotees as one of the longest-serving, most dedicated teachers of Krishna consciousness in Britain. He's inspired and helped many hundreds of people in their spiritual journeys and attracted many a heart to Krishna by his beautiful singing in Kirtan. Now, in his blog The Vaishnava Voice he writes his thoughts and realisations on a variety of topics connected with Krishna consciousness.

It's good to see someone of Kripamoya's maturity and breadth of experience writing for devotees. I think many of us wish there was more of this sharing of experience in writing. We have many lectures and classes to listen to, but the written word can be more intimate and more developed than the spoken. As we struggle and strive to practise a high order of spiritual life to which most of us weren't born and bred, it's heartening to read the realisations of our elders. Hurrah for Kripamoya!

Kripamoya has a special place in the hearts of Belfast devotees; he was one of the first people ever to bring Krishna's message here, many moons ago, long before there was a temple or community of Vaishnavas in these parts. He's been a good friend to us over the years, helping us through difficult times and rejoicing with us in our successes.

He's promised to tell us some of his adventures in Belfast in his early days of preaching here. So watch this spot!

Teaching Hinduism.

This week, Lal-krishna paid his seventh annual visit to Victoria College, Belfast. He's invited every year to speak to the older girls about Hinduism, as part of their religious knowledge education.

As he boldly faced his class of eighty young ladies, what did he hope to convey to their modern, western minds about this complex subject?

Lal-krishna: "Well, I keep it pretty simple. I show how 'Hinduism' is a huge umbrella term, under which almost every kind of theology or philosophy exists - from atheism to monotheism. I describe the three main strands of Hinduims - Shaivism, Shaktism and Vaishnavism, and tell them that as I am from the Vaishnava tradition, I'll mainly concentrate on that.

I'm not so interested in presenting Hinduism as a foreign culture, or an academic subject; what really interests me is to engage the girls in the philosophy of the East and to give them something which has real meaning in their lives. I like talking to teenagers, as they're at an idealistic age and often think deeply about things. This time I talked to them about the advancement of consciousness. Our civilisation has advanced so hugely in terms of technology and science, but has it lessened greed, or envy? Are there fewer criminals, less depression, more happy people? Unless we advance also in spiritual consciousness, our material assets won't do us much good. This really seemed to strike a chord with them.

I explained the difference between matter and spirit, the concepts of reincarnation and karma and how to transcend the cycle of birth and death. The basic tenets of Vedic philosophy."

Apart from Lal-krishna's visits, Victoria College has another connection with ISKCON Ireland: one of it's ex-pupils became a devotee of Krishna in the mid-1980s. An accomplished artist and business-woman, she lives with her husband and family in Wicklow.

Their Resplendent Lordships - Sri Sri Radha-Madhava.

At the Temple on Tuesday

The Birthday Boy.

Sri Nityananda enjoying His birthday celebrations.