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Seeking Francis Gardner by S. Keshavjee Posted July 26, 2008
If anyone knows Francis Gardner, English origin, who became a devotee in Nairobi, Kenya, around 1980, and then went on to live in the temple in Toronto, and then I believe to Winnipeg, please, please let me know how you think I may get a hold of him or his parents in England. email: sosurya@sbcglobal.net.
Dear fellow members of ISKCON, Please accept my humble obeisances as I roll in the dust of your collective lotus feet. I do hope that all of you have read Prabhu Dina Bandhu's invitation to visit Vrinda Kund in Vrindavana We have just received a letter that Kirtananada Swami has lung cancer and will begin chemotherapy. Whenever we hear the name "Kirtanananda" there are multifarious caveats dealing with his involvement with all the allegations made in Hubner's "classic expose" Monley On A Stick about the New Vrindavana legal (and illegal!) cases, ...and caveats aplenty are seen even the letter requesting prayers for K just received. K Swami is a hot potato, but a Vaishnava sent me a letter and it deserves a Vaishnava response for which I am happy to oblige. For some strange reason, Prabhupada loved K with all his heart, and he was always very affectionate to his "Kitchenananada". Personally, I always liked K. and appreciate all that he has done for my own advancement in Krishna consciousness. Like the time he scooped me out of the Ohio hospital when my back was broken in two places in a sankirtan van wreck. (Anyone out there in Internet land ever hears about "sankirtan vans"!) Hence I will choose to agree with the letter requesting happy thoughts on behalf of K Swami, despite the litany of sins he is accused of. I beg the Lord of the Universe Jgadishwara Shri Krishna to relieve me of my usual tendency to find fault so repugnant to true Vaishnavas. So herewith I offer my prayers to Shri Krishna the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for the final salvation of Kirtananda, a man whose legacy few would be proud to have (for fear of the paperwork join their portfolio held by Yamaraja). My prayers (and I am sure those of my dearly beloved wife who is always miraculously 99% in synch with my own thoughts) are: ... that Kirtanananda Prabhuji goes back to Godhead, to the eternal Vrindavana, oldest of the old, not the New version in WVa. I hope that my prayers for K Swami are registered in Vaikuntha even as I write, though I may be overestimating my own power of talking to Transcendence Personified. Life here is fragile and this Universe is but an eggshell. But Shrila Prabhupada gave us the means to transcend the malicious activities of this life though our sins are innumerable, and our acts of devotion are miniscule. For that we must pray to the tune of the holy name Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
For the ultimate elevation in bhakti, in the mood if the individual atma surrendering himself in bhakti before the feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Shri Radha Krishna, Whom we know to be God by the grace of Guru and Gauranga
While my husband and I were off preaching in Northern Arizona for a few days, I got a call from one of our temple devotees that a devotee who used to live at New Vrindavan named Jaya Rishi das, was mingling with our temple new devotees and guests, trying to convince them to go with him to Badger, California to see Narayan Maharaj. At first he didn't expose his agenda. and as he said that he himself was a Prabhupada disciple on his way to Los Angeles (he made it sound like he was on his way to the L.A. Iskcon temple), our temple devotees allowed him to stay over night and even invited him to give Bhagavatam class the next morning. Jaya Rishi das was accompanied by two other unknown devotees he had picked up at the festival of inspiration in New Vrindavan and from the Houston temple. When during the class he started to inject some things said by Narayan Maharaj, the devotees present quickly became aware of his real position and challenged his viewpoints. All this was relayed to us by our temple devotees. While we don't have anything personal against Narayan Maharaj or his followers, we do object to followers like Jaya Rishi das, trying to take advantage of Prabhupada's temples to canvas and even prey on Iskcon's young devotees and temple guests, trying to sway them over to Narayan Maharaj's camp, leaving their temple services. This unfortunately seems to be an unending and ongoing policy of some of the Narayan Maharaj's followers. We never heard of Srila Prabhupada ordering what to speak of condoning his disciples to go to the other Gaudiya Math temples in Mayapur and try to convince their devotees or followers that they should come to the Iskcon camp and follow the pure devotee Srila Prabhupada. That would be unthinkable behavior for an acarya like Srila Prabhupada. We do feel this unchecked type of infiltrating Iskcon temples and canvassing on behalf of Narayan Maharaj or anyone else, is very offensive to Srila Prabhupada who personally resides in all his temples such as this one in Tucson. and that it is disrespectful to Lord Caitanya, Who Himself taught the vaishnava etiquette, trinadapi sunicena taror api sahisnuna.
We had to ask Jaya Rishi to leave our temple, and his two hoped-to-be converts he picked up along his way also both decided to return to their places of origin. If people are happy serving Krishna under the umbrella of Iskcon, then why should anyone show envy, pride, or maybe insecurity, in trying to push their beliefs on those content devotees. Perhaps they haven't heard, "Vaishnava etiquette is the ornament of the devotee" - Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
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The Passing of a Vaisnava Family Member by Chaitanya Mangala dasa Posted June 27, 2008 It is with much sadness that I inform you of the passing of Gokulananda dasa (Kevin Michael Simmons), a member of the Gurukuli Community. On Friday, June 20th 2008 Gokulananda died by suicide in Marina Del Rey, CA USA. The news of his departure was conveyed to his family and Gurukuli peers by his long-time girlfriend, Michelle LeMay. There will be a memorial service to celebrate and honor his life on Sunday, June 29th at Michelle's place in Marina Del Rey. Gokulananda was 36 years old. He attended gurukula in New Vrindaban, WV and Mayapura, India. He had been living in Los Angeles for the past 5 1/2 years. His mother is Mahidhara dasi, his sister Jayanti dasi and brother Nanda Kishore dasa. Please join in remembering Gokulananda's bright spirit, wishing condolences to his family and friends, and offering him sincere prayers of peace and love on his journey.
For more information, please contact me at the following email address: chaitanya.mangala@gmail.com.
I am looking for a devotee named Caitanya Chandra das . His old adress was 921 graham Avenue in Dallas. If anybody has a clue where he is, I would greatly appreciate hearing from you at murlidar@live.co.uk. Thanks for your attention.
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