5th issue - Nitya-seva newsletter

February, 2016 - 5th issue

 The winter months are quiet in New Vraja-dhama. Guests rarely come to visit Radha-Syama, and in December, during the book-distribution marathon, even most of the devotees leave to fulfil Radha-Syama’s desire: they distribute Their mercy in the form of Srila Prabhupada’s books. Radha-Syama’s surroundings are peaceful and quiet, but Their worship is still full of excitement: the pujaris and their helpers keep coming up with fresh ideas how to decorate Their Lordships so nicely even on ordinary weekdays to enchant the minds of the devotees, and they make tireless efforts to engage everyone in Radha-Syama’s pastimes. And what kind of pastimes are going on around here these days?

Although the weather is unusually warm, still we had one big snowfall that gave Govardhana-lal the opportunity to go sledding. The children accompanied Him on their own sleds, and while the adults performed kirtana, they stopped once in a while to throw snowballs and to play in the snow around the sled of Govardhana-lal. The pujaris created a lovely mood on the altar.

Vasant Pancami is the first day of spring in the Vaisnava calendar. In Hungary we rarely ever feel the approach of spring, though. As per tradition, Radhe-Syama dress in a yellow outfit, They are decorated with yellow paint and yellow flowers, and the altar decorations are also yellow. The devotees, who also dressed in yellow garments, had a special darshan this year too. 

Soon after, we celebrated the appearance day of Lord Nityananda: during the colourful programs in the temple the pace quickened behind the scenes also. Devotees started cooking at dawn, continued making tasty preparations until noon, and we had offerings each hour for the pleasure of Their Lordships.

2016 marks the twentieth anniversary of Radhe-Syama’s installation. In 2013, we celebrated the 20th anniversary of the inauguration of Krisna Valley. That year during morning programs devotees told stories about Radha-Syama from the beginning days. It was so special to remember the adventures, to live through the experiences again, and from today’s perspective to laugh at the difficulties the devotees had to go through at that time.

Similarly, we try to get the devotees to speak again this year: not just those who live here, but those devotees too, who serve Radha-Syama elsewhere. After all, Radha-Syama are not just the Deities of New Vraja-dhama but of the entire universe. Their servants speak about their personal experiences, share their realisations and stories in connection to Them. If you are curious how to explore the treasure of their devotion towards Radha-Syama from the bottom of their hearts, you can also watch the videos we made of devotees speaking on the Radhe-Syama Nitya-seva Facebook page. You can witness how Radha-Syama inundate with Their causeless mercy anyone who has the slightest contact with Them... and how They fulfil the innermost spiritual desires of those who serve Them.

Our desire is that this year everyone remember Them as much as possible, and we would like to place a special offering at Their lotus feet: our aim is to have the worship of 100 days fully covered by the end of 2016. We would like to thank all of you for your continued efforts in this regard and we are requesting you to make this aim your meditation, part of your prayers, to step forward and, if possible, engage others so that this goal is achieved.