VOLUME 1, ISSUE 6

Aug-Sep 2009

Devasadan Mandir DetroitISKCON

Holy Name Week (WHNW) 2009

“Those who takeKrishna's adventas that of an ordi-nary man aregreat fools, but ifone can simplyunderstand thetranscendentalnature of thisevent as well asHis disappear-ance, he becomesimmediately liber-ated.”Sril Prabhupada

Inside this issue:

Holy Name Week 1

On Friday, Sep-tember 4th, over fortydevotees from the De-troit International Soci-ety for Krishna Con-sciousness (ISKCON)gathered in down-town Royal Oak, MI toperform their hari-nama sankirtana forthe after-work crowd,who shopped ordined at the variousstores and open-airrestaurants that linedboth sides of MainStreet. A festival withinitself, a harinamasankirtana party orcongregationalchanting is an enliven-

ing parade whichconsists of dancing,drums, hand cymbals,and the melodiouschanting of the HareKrishna Mahamantra –Hare Krishna HareKrishna Krishna KrishnaHare Hare Hare RamaHare Rama RamaRama Hare Hare. Likethe Chinese dragondance, the sankirtanaparty snaked its waythrough the incessantflow of pedestriansand motorcars asdevotees distributedKrishna Conscious lit-erature and sweetssuch as homemade

cookies. Spectatorsand motorists couldnot resist smiling, honk-ing their horns, ordancing along withdevotees as theychanted to the settingsun. (Continued onpage 2)

Vvasa-Puja Celebra- 1tion

Vyasa-Puja Celebration

Sri Krishna Jan- 3

Lord Vamanadeva’s 4Appearance

Upcoming Events 5

“Spectacular” 5ISKON Celebration

Vyasa-puja is anannual celebration by thedevotees of Lord Krishnato offer homage to theirguru, or spiritual teacher.We celebrated Jagat-GuruSrila Prabhupada’s Vyasa-Puja on August 14th. Sen-ior devotees and othermembers of the Detroitcongregation offered beau-

tiful heart-felt offerings toSrila Prabhupada. Al-though most insignificant,I take this as an opportu-nity to send this smallpiece of offering for thisVyasa Puja celebration.There are not enoughwords to describe howgrateful I am that Srila

Prabhupada introduced meto Krishna Consciousnessand taught me the truepurpose of life – KrishnaPrema, 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 theworld celebrated WHNW

in various ways ...“

In fact, 80% of theemployees at Beirut Palace, apopular Lebanese open-airrestaurant, brought tambou-rines and blissfully danced thenight away with the devoteesoutside of their establishment.

In addition to beingthe first fun filled day ofWHNW activities for Devasa-dan Mandir, September 4th

marked the 50th anniversary ofsannyasa or the renouncedorder of life for His Divine GraceA.C. Bhaktivedanta SwamiSrila Prabhupada, who is thefounder-acarya for the Interna-tional Society for Krishna Con-sciousness. Inspired by SrilaPrabhupada’s teachings, ISK-CON Temples around the worldcelebrated WHNW in variousways such as daily harinamas,japa marathons, 12 to 24 hourkirtans, and japa workshops asan attempt to fulfill Lord Nit-yananda prediction that therewill be dancing and chanting ofthe holy names in every townand village (CC Madhya 7.82).

Fully committed tomaking Lord Nityananda’sprediction come true, the De-troit ISKCON congregationhosted a japa workshop attheir Temple on Saturday, Sep-

tember 5th. The workshopfocused on improving the qual-ity of chanting and how toovercome the various obstaclesexperienced while chanting. Onthe following day, SundayFeast, the youth of DevasadanMandir not only lead enthusias-tic aartis, but their heartfeltbhajans set the mood and fu-eled the devotees who per-formed harinama on the De-troit riverfront that Monday,which was Labor Day. The nextthree days, Tuesday throughThursday, took place in thevarious homes of congregationmembers who live throughoutmetro Detroit area. This was anopportunity for devotees toinvite co-workers, family mem-bers, and neighbors to theirhome for an evening of enli-vening kirtans, a brief introduc-tion to chanting japa, and anamazing homemade vegetar-ian feast. Although Fridaymarked the official last day ofthe World Holy Name Week,devotees were too enthusiasticto stop. Thus, on Saturday, afew devotees setup a booktable and distributed over fiftybooks at the annual Dally inthe Alley festival just south ofWayne State University.

Inspired by the feed-back and results of this year’sWorld Holy Name Week, devo-tees have already begun plan-ning for a bigger and better2010 WHNW.

Below is the schedule of eventsthat took place during WHNW:

2 – (wed):3 – (thurs):4 – (fri): Maha Harinamadowntown Royal Oak (43devotees) & 50th Year of SrilaPrabhupada’s sannyasa5 – (sat): Japa Workshop6 – (sun): Sunday Feast7 – (mon – Labor Day): Hari-nama on Detroit Riverfront8 – (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 StDetroit, MI 48215

Telephone:313-331-6740

We’re on the Web!Please check ourwebsite for regularupdates

www.detroitiskconlive.com

namah om vishnu pad-aya krsna preshthayabhu tale srimate bhak-tivedanta swami itinamine namaste saras-wate deve gaura vanipracharinenirvisheshashunya vadi pashchatyadesha tarine

My Dear Respected SrilaPrabhupada,

Please accept my humbleobeisances at your lotusfeet. On this most auspi-cious day of your appear-ance, I would like to thankyou very much for every-thing you have done for thisfallen soul. I have no quali-

fication to write or sayanything about your unlim-ited glories dear SrilaPrabhupada, but wanted tothank you as I remain grate-ful to you forever. You arethe most magnanimous andmost merciful representativeof our sweet Lord Sri Krsna.Nobody except you couldhave saved us from thethree-fold miseries of thematerial world. You havemost mercifully unfoldedthe Supreme AbsoluteTruth—Krishna— in such asimple and attractive man-ner. You have most skill-fully showed Sri Krishna tous in so many different

ways— so that we couldunderstand Him through

books, devotees, lectures,festivals, etc. I dread eventhinking of what a wretchedlife I could have been lead-ing—if not for ISKCON,devotees, and you, SrilaPrabhupada. If you had notcome to save us, we wouldhave nothing. There wouldbe no ISKCON and wewould know nothing of ourreal life with Krishna in thespiritual world. But youcame to save us and gave usthe many wonderful andamazing gifts of Krishnaconsciousness. Even onedrop of Krishna conscious-ness is worth more than allthe material opulences andso-called pleasures of thematerial world. Thank you

for your association throughyour wonderful books, yourlectures, and your disciples,which is all nectar andhappiness. Thank you againand again, forever, from thecore of my heart. Kindlybless me. Though I am notqualified, I want to dosomething to spread theglories of your movementworldwide.

Your most insignificantservant,

Trying to serve you,

Vishakha Dasi

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 themost 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 exquisiteway 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 specialservice 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, deityparaphernalia, and other items to sell to the visitors who would be shortly arriving. In anhour 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 intothe 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 melodiousAarathi, everyone strolled around the many tents, stands, and tables, admiring the peacefulatmosphere. Soon, the temple pujaris set up tables in the Deity Hall, preparing for the Ab-hishek program. Everyone lined up and bathed Radha Krishna in sweet milk, water, ghee,

honey, yogurt, and flower petals in ornate conch shells, with yet another glorious kirtan rag-ing on. This was a very blissful opportunity for all; bathing Their Lordships with their own

hands! After about an hour or so, the Detroit Youth group and Detroit Temple SundaySchool put on a 30 minute play portraying the story of Lord Krishna’s birth. It was organ-ized by none other than our very own Neha Patel Mathaji, who is known for fabulous dra-

mas with dazzling costumes. With the help of the other Sunday School helper Mathajis, shedirected and taught the play in 3 weeks! When the drama ended, Neetu Mathaji’s charming

little princess; Brinda, sang a lovely song about the advent of Lord Krishna’s most recentappearance on Earth. Devotees started serving prasadam upstairs in the Great Hall now,

fearing a long line if everyone ate at once. The rest of the guests rushed outside for the swingfestival, where the same Radha Krishna deities they bathed earlier were sitting on a deco-rated, beautifully carved, swing waiting for them. Everyone stood in a mob, fighting for

their few seconds of gracefully swinging Their Lordships. The swing festival carried on intothe boat festival, a tradition here at Devasadan Mandir, which consists of a few devotees

taking the Radha Krishna Deities in a special boat trip around the canal at the back of ourspecial temple, as a blissful kirtan carried on. Large crowds stood together, watching the

Deities on the boat while singing and dancing together in ecstasy! This time, everyone wentupstairs for late dinner prasadam, except for the devotees who were fasting till midnight;

they still had an hour or so to go. Everyone blissfully chatted about the days glorious activi-ties, their faces glowing with the mercy of the Lord’s remnants of prasad. Eventually, whenthe clock struck twelve, many devotees broke their fast with a sip of water or a bite of a pa-

kora, and then ran off to the temple hall for the midnight Aarathi, the special highlight of SriKrishna Janmastami. This year, we had a glorious celebration with wonderful programs

surrounded by great people. Sri Krishna Janmastami this year sure was a blast! Please ex-cuse me for any mistakes I may have committed or any offenses I have made. Haribol!

Radha KunjaBihari Ki Jaya!

“ A fabulousdrama with

dazzlingcostumes...”

Lord Vamanadeva’s AppearanceLord Vamanadeva is an incarnation of Lord Visnu who is the Supreme personality of

Godhead. Lord Vamanadeva’s appearance is beautifully described in the eighthcanto of Srimad Bhagvatam. He was born to Aditi and Kasyapa muni at an auspiciousmoment which was Sravana-dvadasi, the twelfth day of moon when the Abhijit star hadarisen. This dvadasi is also called Vijaya.

Vamanadeva was born in the form of Narayana with four hands holding conchshell, disc,club and lotus. His body was dark and He was dressed in gorgeous yellow clothes. Just

after birth he changed himself into a brahmacari –dwarf (vatu). All the three worlds, allthe demigods, the cows, the brahmanas and even the seasons were very happy for Hisbirth. According to vedic rules, when a child is born in the family of a bramhana, thebirthday ceremony, known as jata –karma is celebrated first and then other ceremoniesare performed later. But for this brahmacari dwarf, His sacred thread ceremony was per-formed immediately. Lord Vamanadeva was honored by sun-god and Brhaspati duringhis thread ceremony and several important personalities including Lord Brahma and Ku-vera were present during the ceremony.

When Lord Vamanadeva heard about Bali Maharaja performing Asvamedha sacrifices,He decided to show his mercy onto Bali Maharaja. Vamanadeva entered the place wheresacrifice was being done, holding His rod, umbrella and a pot full of water and was look-ing very attractive. He was wearing a belt of straw, a sacred thread, an upper dress ofdeerskin, and matted locks of hair. Bali Maharaja was very happy on seeing the Lord andwelcomed him and worshipped him by washing his feet. After the hearty welcome andrespectful obeisances he asked Lord about purpose of His visit and what he could do forthe Lord.

The Lord Vamanadeva was happy with the king’s wonderful and religiousbehaviour. The Lord also praised him for being a true descendant of PrahladaMaharaja and being the son of Maharaja Virocana. Vamanadeva then asked for threesteps of land from the king as measured by His footsteps. Bali Maharaja was surprisedat this request andthought Vamanadeva to be not so intelligent since He could have asked for anythingmore. Sukracarya, who was Bali Maharaja’s spiritual master, was very learned andun- derstood Lord’s plans and tried to convince Bali Maharaja to not agree to Hisrequest. Bali Maharaja realized that Vamanadeva was cheating him but he still agreedto giveeverything to The Lord in charity as ihe didn’t want to break his promise to a brahmacari.Sukracarya cursed him for not listening to his orders but Bali Maharaja did not changehis mind.Vamanadeva immediately started growing and changed himself into a universal body. Hebecame so large that he covered the entire surface of the world with his first step and withhis second footstep he covered the entire upper planetary system, the Brahmaloka andhad no place for His third footstep. At this time, Bali Maharaja had nothing else left forhim and the demons were very angry about this. Even though Bali Maharaja tried to stopthem, the demons fought with the Lord and got defeated. When Bali Maharaja couldnot find a place for Lord’s third foot step he was punished by being bound by ropes like aprisoner.Bali Maharaja’s determination was fixed and he kept his promise to a Brahnmana-dwarf and gave his head to place the third footstep and in this way he surrendered to theSu-preme personality of Godhead. Prahlada Maharaja came there and Lord Brahma and BaliMaharaja’s wife sang glories of the Lord and asked him to release Bali.

The Lord was very pleased with Bali and gave his disc to protect him and promised toremain with him. In this way, Bali Maharaja got the highest gain in life, the devotional

service under the shelter of the Lord’s lotus feet in full surrender. Sukracharya alsobe- came free from his sins by chanting the holy name.

“Spectacular” ISKON Celebration

ISKCON Detroit’s 2009 celebration of Srila Prabhupada Vyasa-puja was

nothing short of spectacular. Vyasa-puja, which always falls the day after Sri Krishna

Jan- mastami, is the celebration of Srila Prabhupada’s appearance into this world in

1896.

Devotees congregate in temples or homes to remember and honor Srila Prabhupada’s

memory with stories, Srila Prabhupada’s pastimes, books, and more, and the

traditional guru-puja bhajan is sang at noon. It is most important that we remember

Srila Prabhu-

pada not only for bringing Krishna Conciousness to the west but for demonstrating the

necessity of having a guru to look to as an example of what we must strive to be. There

are many different ways of serving Krishna, but it is most difficult to advance fully with-

out seeking the shelter and guidance of a spiritual master. We use vyasa puja‖ since the

spiritual master is a representative of Vyasadeva, Krishna’s incarnation in literature.

Pushpanjali is offered to Srila Prabhupada by reading verses that glorify his name.

UPCOMING EVENTS:Srila Prabhupad Nite on October 24th at 4:30pm