FALL/WINTER 2013

Janmashtami is the day Lord Krishna appeared on Earth. It is the most important festival of the year. This year, we celebrated it on August 28th 2013.

The day started with a morning program at the temple.

There was Mangala Arati at 5:00AM, followed by Chanting, Guru-puja and a recorded lecture by Srila Prabhupada. There were around 30 devotees at the morning program.

From 9:00AM (when the morning program ended) to 6:00PM

there were preparations going on for the festival. The devotees were putting up the tents, decorating the altar, making bhoga and much more. A lot of devotees came to help.

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Janmashtami 2013 by Ram Goel

DISTRIBUTING PRASADAM BHARATNATYAM DANCE MIDNIGHT KIRTAN

ISKCON PORTLAND YOUTH NEWSLETTER

Bhakti-yoga is the best way to attain love of Godhead. There are nine processes of bhakti-yoga as described by Prahalad Maharaj in the Srimad Bhagavatam 7.5.23-24:

śravan am kīrtanam visn oh smaran am pāda-sevanamarcanam vandanam dāsyam sakhyam ātma-nivedanam

iti pum sārpitā visn au bhaktiś cen nava-laks an ā kriyeta bhagavaty addhā tan manye 'dhītam uttamam

Prahlāda Mahārāja said: Hearing and chanting about the transcendental holy name, form, qualities, paraphernalia and pastimes of Lord Visnu, remembering them, serving the lotus feet of the Lord, offering the Lord respectful worship with sixteen types of paraphernalia, offering prayers to the Lord,

becoming His servant, considering the Lord one's best friend, and surrendering everything unto Him (in other words, serving Him with the body, mind and words) — these nine processes

are accepted as pure devotional service. One who has dedicated his life to the service of Krsna through these nine

methods should be understood to be the most learned person, for he has acquired complete knowledge.

As seen from these verses, the nine processes are:1. sravanam (hearing), 2. kirtanam (chanting), 3. smaranam (remembering), 4. pada-sevanam (serving the lotus feet), 5. arcanam (worshiping), 6. vandanam (offering prayers), 7. dasyam (serving), 8. sakhyam (becoming best of friends) and 9. atma-nivedanam (surrendering everything).

Sravanam, or hearing, is one of the most important processes of Bhakti. It is recommended to be the first step in devotional life. The most important forms of hearing are hearing of the Srimad Bhagavatam and of the Holy name. One must be careful though to hear from a pure devotee of the Lord and must avoid hearing from non-devotees. Reading books is also considered as hearing.

The second process is kirtanam, or chanting the Holy name of the Lord. In Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s Śikṣāṣṭaka, it is said:

trnad api sunīcena taror api sahisnunaamanina manadena kirtaniyah sada harih

"One can chant the holy name of the Lord in a humble state of mind, thinking himself lower than the straw in the street. One should be more tolerant than the tree, devoid of all sense of false prestige and ready to offer all respects to others. In such a state of mind one can chant the holy name of the Lord constantly."

These are the qualifications that make the chanting of the holy name much easier. It does not matter if someone has physical problems or is considered lower in caste by others. Anybody

can chant the holy name. But one must be careful because he may be caught by the ten offenses. These are offenses against the holy name, namely nama-aparadha. One should always avoid these offenses.

After the core of one’s heart is cleansed by hearing and chanting, smaranam (or remembering) is recommended. There are five kinds of smaranam – researching one type of worship of the Lord, concentrating on one subject and stopping all other activities, concentrating on a particular form of the Lord, constantly concentrating on the form of the Lord (meditation) and having a desire and likening to concentrate upon a particular form (samadhi).

After hearing, chanting and remembering, pada-sevanam (serving the lotus feet of the Lord) may be performed. Pada sevanam is the highest point of smaranam, when the devotee constantly remembers the Lord’s lotus feet. Serving the devotees, Tulsi, Yamuna and Ganges are all considered as pada-sevanam.

The next process is arcanam (Deity worship). One must take shelter of a bonafide spiritual master. The Narada Pancharata is the recommended book for Deity worship. Arcanam is meant for everyone but especially should be performed by opulent householders. Vandanam (offering prayers), the sixth process is also part of arcanam.

The seventh process is dasyam. This is becoming the servant of the Lord. Even if one thinks that he is the servant of the Lord, he attains perfection. The eighth process is sakhyam (becoming best of friends). After hearing and chanting, one wants to become the Lord’s friend, so he resides in the temple in devotional life. Friendship indicates strong love, therefore it is better than dasyam.

The last process, namely atma-nivedanam, is when one surrenders everything. The devotee becomes like a cow, cared by it’s master.

Any one of these nine processes can assure success alone. It does not matter which process we take up to, but we must perform it sincerely.

The Nine Processes of Bhakti by Gopal Goel

I am going to present to you my interview with Steven Prabhu who is a very sweet devotee who is a great help in the Portland congregation. Not only he helps in a lot of services in the temple, he also helps in conducting art workshops for the Sunday school kids. Without further ado, here it is!

Srikar: Hare Krishna Prabhuji!

Steven Prabhu: Hare Krishna! Are you going to ask me some questions?

Srikar: Yes. Are you ready Prabhuji?

Steven Prabhu: Sure.

Srikar: How did you get into Krishna Consciousness?

Steven Prabhu: Well, a friend in India contacted me through Facebook and he told me to read the Bhagavad Gita. So on December of 2012, I read the book. I finished the book by the end of December. I realized that this was what I was looking for in my life, and I realized that Srila Prabhupada was a genius!

Srikar: When did you start your chanting? And when did you start doing 16 rounds?

Steven Prabhu: I started doing chanting in January. I started with 4 in the morning and 4 in the night, and by the end of February or March, I could do 16 rounds, 8 in the morning and 8 in the night.

Srikar: What is your favorite thing in Krishna Consciousness?

Steven Prabhu: My favorite thing is Kirtan with the association of devotees.

Srikar: Do you have a daily schedule in Krishna Consciousness?

Steven Prabhu: I just chant first thing in the morning. I have Gaura Nitai deities so I take care of them.

Srikar: How often do you do art?

Steven Prabhu: I do Krishna Conscious art every day. I have a lot of projects.

Srikar: Do you have anything else to add?”

Steven Prabhu: I am very happy to be in Krishna Consciousness and I love being with the devotees in the temple. They are just like my family! And I love the Kirtan!

Srikar: Thank You for everything Prabhu!

Steven Prabhu: No Problem, Hare Krishna!

Devotee Interview with Steven Prabhu interviewer: Srikar Valluri

STEVEN PRABHU’S ART

New Temple Project by Tulsi Patel

By the mercy of Sri Guru and Gauranga, the ISKCON Hillsboro, Oregon congregation is honored to present the New Temple Project for Sri Nitai Sacinandana! The ISKCON Hillsboro congregation has been in a rented building for more than 10 years, following Srila Prabhupada’s mission in distributing books and expanding the congregation. The estimated amount for the New Temple Project is $500,000. They have currently raised about $50,000.The devotees have been looking for properties primarily in the Hillsboro/Beaverton area, led by Bala Nitai Das and Jaisacinandana Das.Their motivation is the fact that they have been waiting for years, with exquisite marble Radha-Krishna deities anticipating the day that they will be installed so they can bestow their mercy upon everyone. As stated in the Srimad Bhagavatam 11.27.51,

“One who offers the Deity, gifts of land, market, cities and villages so that the regular daily worship and special festivals of the deity may go on continually will achieve opulence equal to My own. “

If you would like to donate towards this goal, please contact Raasmurari Das or Jaisacinandana Das.

JANMASTAMI 2013

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Finally, at 6:30PM, the evening program started with abhishek of Radha Shyamsundar and jhulan of Radha Govinda inside the temple. Outside, there were tents set up for different things. There was a welcome stall, in which the devotees were distributing free calendars. In the Sunday school booth, kids were making Krishna conscious buttons. There was a books and gifts tent and also a prasadam stall.

The cultural program started at 7:30 PM. It included a drama by the older kids about Govardhan Lila, a kirtan by Gauri and Keshav, a performance by little kids about Dashavatar and a Bharatnatyam dance. After the cultural program ended, prasadam was served to all the visitors. The prasadam was very good, especially the srikhand.

While the prasadam was being served, the devotees did non-stop kirtan, which went on until midnight.

At midnight, there was Maha-Arati. The altar opened again and there was kirtan by Visnujana Prabhu, which went on up to 1:00AM. After that, Ekadasi prasadam was served to the devotees who were fasting the whole day.

Then, most of the devotees started leaving but some stayed and cleaned up the temple, put down the tents, and did other things to wrap up. The cleaning went on till 4:00AM and then everybody left.

This year, we had the most number of visitors (around 1000) at our temple for Janmashtami. It was a great success because everything went well. We hope we can please Lord Krishna even more next year.