VOLUME 1, ISSUE 6

Aug-Sep 2009

Devasadan Mandir Detroit ISKCON

Holy Name Week (WHNW) 2009

“Those who take Krishna's advent as that of an ordi- nary man are great fools, but if one can simply understand the transcendental nature of this event as well as His disappear- ance, he becomes immediately liber- ated.” Sril Prabhupada

Inside this issue:

Holy Name Week 1

On Friday, Sep- tember 4th, over forty devotees from the De- troit International Soci- ety for Krishna Con- sciousness (ISKCON) gathered in down- town Royal Oak, MI to perform their hari- nama sankirtana for the after-work crowd, who shopped or dined at the various stores and open-air restaurants that lined both sides of Main Street. A festival within itself, a harinama sankirtana party or congregational chanting is an enliven-

ing parade which consists of dancing, drums, hand cymbals, and the melodious chanting of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra – Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. Like the Chinese dragon dance, the sankirtana party snaked its way through the incessant flow of pedestrians and motorcars as devotees distributed Krishna Conscious lit- erature and sweets such as homemade

cookies. Spectators and motorists could not resist smiling, honk- ing their horns, or dancing along with devotees as they chanted to the setting sun. (Continued on page 2)

Vvasa-Puja Celebra- 1 tion

Vyasa-Puja Celebration

Sri Krishna Jan- 3

Lord Vamanadeva’s 4 Appearance

Upcoming Events 5

“Spectacular” 5 ISKON Celebration

Vyasa-puja is an annual celebration by the devotees of Lord Krishna to offer homage to their guru, or spiritual teacher. We celebrated Jagat-Guru Srila Prabhupada’s Vyasa- Puja on August 14th. Sen- ior devotees and other members of the Detroit congregation offered beau-

tiful heart-felt offerings to Srila Prabhupada. Al- though most insignificant, I take this as an opportu- nity to send this small piece of offering for this Vyasa Puja celebration. There are not enough words to describe how grateful I am that Srila

Prabhupada introduced me to Krishna Consciousness and taught me the true purpose of life – Krishna Prema, through his won- derful disciples, devotees, and books.

(Continued on page 2)

Page 2 DEVASADAN MANDIR DETROIT ISKCON

Holy Name Week (WHNW) 2009 (Cont’d from pg 1)

“Temples around the world celebrated WHNW

in various ways ...“

In fact, 80% of the employees at Beirut Palace, a popular Lebanese open-air restaurant, brought tambou- rines and blissfully danced the night away with the devotees outside of their establishment.

In addition to being the first fun filled day of WHNW activities for Devasa- dan Mandir, September 4th

marked the 50th anniversary of sannyasa or the renounced order of life for His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, who is the founder-acarya for the Interna- tional Society for Krishna Con- sciousness. Inspired by Srila Prabhupada’s teachings, ISK- CON Temples around the world celebrated WHNW in various ways such as daily harinamas, japa marathons, 12 to 24 hour kirtans, and japa workshops as an attempt to fulfill Lord Nit- yananda prediction that there will be dancing and chanting of the holy names in every town and village (CC Madhya 7.82).

Fully committed to making Lord Nityananda’s prediction come true, the De- troit ISKCON congregation hosted a japa workshop at their Temple on Saturday, Sep-

tember 5th. The workshop focused on improving the qual- ity of chanting and how to overcome the various obstacles experienced while chanting. On the following day, Sunday Feast, the youth of Devasadan Mandir not only lead enthusias- tic aartis, but their heartfelt bhajans set the mood and fu- eled the devotees who per- formed harinama on the De- troit riverfront that Monday, which was Labor Day. The next three days, Tuesday through Thursday, took place in the various homes of congregation members who live throughout metro Detroit area. This was an opportunity for devotees to invite co-workers, family mem- bers, and neighbors to their home for an evening of enli- vening kirtans, a brief introduc- tion to chanting japa, and an amazing homemade vegetar- ian feast. Although Friday marked the official last day of the World Holy Name Week, devotees were too enthusiastic to stop. Thus, on Saturday, a few devotees setup a book table and distributed over fifty books at the annual Dally in the Alley festival just south of Wayne State University.

Inspired by the feed- back and results of this year’s World Holy Name Week, devo- tees have already begun plan- ning for a bigger and better 2010 WHNW.

Below is the schedule of events that took place during WHNW:

2 – (wed): 3 – (thurs): 4 – (fri): Maha Harinama downtown Royal Oak (43 devotees) & 50th Year of Srila Prabhupada’s sannyasa 5 – (sat): Japa Workshop 6 – (sun): Sunday Feast 7 – (mon – Labor Day): Hari- nama on Detroit Riverfront 8 – (tues): Namahatta ( Novi) 9 – (wed): Namahatta ( Farm- ington Hills) 10 – (thurs): Namahatta ( War- ren, Sterling Heights, Troy) 11 – (fri): 12 – (sat): Dally in the Alley

Hare Krishna, Jugal Kishore Dasa

Temple Address: The Fisher Mansion

Vyasa-Puja Celebration (Continued from pg 1)

383 Lenox St Detroit, MI 48215

Telephone: 313-331-6740

We’re on the Web! Please check our website for regular updates

www.detroitiskconlive.com

namah om vishnu pad- aya krsna preshthaya bhu tale 
srimate bhak- tivedanta swami iti namine namaste saras- wate deve gaura vani pracharine
nirvishesha shunya vadi pashchatya desha tarine

My Dear Respected Srila Prabhupada,

Please accept my humble obeisances at your lotus feet. On this most auspi- cious day of your appear- ance, I would like to thank you very much for every- thing you have done for this fallen soul. I have no quali-

fication to write or say anything about your unlim- ited glories dear Srila Prabhupada, but wanted to thank you as I remain grate- ful to you forever. You are the most magnanimous and most merciful representative of our sweet Lord Sri Krsna. Nobody except you could have saved us from the three-fold miseries of the material world. You have most mercifully unfolded the Supreme Absolute Truth—Krishna— in such a simple and attractive man- ner. You have most skill- fully showed Sri Krishna to us in so many different

ways— so that we could understand Him through

books, devotees, lectures, festivals, etc. I dread even thinking of what a wretched life I could have been lead- ing—if not for ISKCON, devotees, and you, Srila Prabhupada. If you had not come to save us, we would have nothing. There would be no ISKCON and we would know nothing of our real life with Krishna in the spiritual world. But you came to save us and gave us the many wonderful and amazing gifts of Krishna consciousness. Even one drop of Krishna conscious- ness is worth more than all the material opulences and so-called pleasures of the material world. Thank you

for your association through your wonderful books, your lectures, and your disciples, which is all nectar and happiness. Thank you again and again, forever, from the core of my heart. Kindly bless me. Though I am not qualified, I want to do something to spread the glories of your movement worldwide.

Your most insignificant servant,


Trying to serve you,

Vishakha Dasi

www.detroitiskconlive.com

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 3 Page 3

Sri Krishna Janmastami By: Syamanandi Dasi

This year, Wednesday, August 13th, had the special mercy of being celebrated as the most auspicious day of the year. It was a hot, sizzling day, and the birds could be heard

singing sweet, melodious tunes for our merciful Lord. The flowers bloomed in an exquisite way and were very fragrant as the leaves on the trees danced in the breeze, creating a pleas- ant aroma. Bees buzzed around the beautiful roses in Radharani’s garden, creating a peace- fully uplifting mood. Devotees could be seen bustling around; each doing their own special service for the Lord. Several cooking, plenty cleaning, numerous picking our temple’s gor- geous; fragrant flowers, quite a few Matajis sitting on colorful picnic blankets making gar- lands with those same flowers, 5 or 6 Prabhujis were setting up lighting equipment; tables; and tents, some were carrying bhoga in and out of the temple, others strolled by with their

colorful chanting bags; making sure everything was going perfectly on this very special day. The grass seemed to soften that day, to decrease the burden of the busy devotees, as they

strode around our pretty temple grounds. Many devotees had taken the day off from work, and had been there since dawn, cheerfully doing their special services. After the tents and

tables were set up and ready to go, other devotees brought out spiritual books, jewelry, deity paraphernalia, and other items to sell to the visitors who would be shortly arriving. In an hour or so, the guests arrived, and they were greeted by a sweet, melodious, and ecstatic

kirtan. They joined the devotees and took darshan of our dazzling, absolutely stunning Dei- ties; Their Lordships; Radha KunjaBihari, Nitai Gauranga, Lord Jagannath, Lord Baladev, Lady Subadhra, Sri Nathji, and Laddu Gopal. Then the now growing crowd was swept into the astounding kirtan and soon the singer had everyone on their feet; dancing in ecstasy! He

professionally transitioned the kirtan into the evening Gaura Aarathi. After a melodious Aarathi, everyone strolled aroun