19th issue - Nitya-seva Newsletter

 April, 2017

 Dear Devotees,

The most outstanding event of April was the appearance day of Lord Ramacandra.  Syamasundara enchanted the minds of the devotees holding His bow, and Radha-Syama received a new evening outfit for the occasion.  The reign of Lord Ramacandra, the rama-rajya, is a benchmark even today thousands of years later.  This was what we remembered during the morning class:  we compiled the reasons why people were so happy during the reign of Lord Rama, and tried to decide how to apply the same principles in our community, so everyone could do their duties with peaceful minds.

Although the 'first grazing' festival of Krishna Valley is not connected to the Vaisnava calendar, it’s very popular amongst local devotees.  Every year more visitors are attracted to come and participate.  Radha-Syama’s favourite animals are the cows, but the climate of Hungary doesn’t allow them to be in the pastures all year long.  So they spend the winter in the goshala until spring time comes, when again they can graze the fresh green grass with much happiness.  When the grass gets long enough on the surrounding fields (usually in April), after the morning program we accompany Govardhana-lal to the goshala and watch the fun together, as the cows go to pasture for the first time.  Going? They are eagerly running,  jumping in the air and playing… and with much delight enjoying the lush green Vraja grass, which makes their milk even more delicious for the pleasure of Radha-Syama.  Please try to come at least once to witness this wonderful festival, you won’t regret it!

This year the auspicious day of Aksaya Tritiya was also in April. The word akshaya means "endless, that which never diminishes”.  This day is famous for many events:  the appearance day of Lord Parasurama, and it is said that Vedavyas and Lord Ganesh started to write down the great epic Mahabharata on this day.  Also believed is that on Akshaya Tritiya every endeavor begun will grow and bring prosperity.  Inspired by this, a kind Hungarian couple and a devotee from Azerbaijan started to pay a full amount of Nitya-seva on this auspicious day, and many devotees timed the paying of their regular installments or their occasional Nitya-seva donations also on this day.

And because Radha-Syama’s attraction and the devotion of the devotees know no bounds, at the end of the month an American family - who have been Radha-Syama’s donors for a long while now - also committed themselves to paying a full amount of Nitya-seva.  And actually many of you are Radha-Syama’s original donors, giving in the past years to different projects… thank you so much for your continuous contributions and you can be assured that the blessings of Radha-Syama accompany your efforts.

Let us prove this with the following story we heard from one of the Hungarian donors recently.  He paid a Nitya-seva donation by the previous system, but when the amount was increased in 2015, he set up a scheme for paying the rest of the laksmi in instalments, which he planned to finish by the end of 2016.  Before paying the last installment (which was the greater amount) he really had to consider either giving that amount of money in one go, or waiting to pay part of it later.  He decided though to be brave and put his trust in Krishna… so he gave the full amount. The very next day he received a contract with the same amount of laksmi of that last payment. Radha-Syama reciprocated with his faith he put in Them.

Regarding the available Nitya-seva days: the first three weeks of May are quite full. These are the days which haven’t been taken yet:

6th and 7th, 13th and 14th, 17th and 18th and 21st of May. After 23rd of May all days are free to book!
We look forward to seeing you soon for the upcoming festivals! Jaya Radha-Syama!

10th May, 2017., New Vraja Dhama

In the name of the Nitya-seva team your servant,
Syamajiu dasi