The greatest fortune of knowing ISKCON

I first came to know about ISKCON in Pune at around 1998. My sister informed me about the ISKCON temple on the Janmashtami day. First time when I saw the temple structure from outside I felt that it’s not a traditional temple which is seen in India. That was confirmed when I went inside the temple as to see the devotional attitude and energy in the temple was just fantastic. Till that point I had not seen so much devotional energy anywhere else. All the devotees chanting and dancing in ecstacy in the Gaura Arati – Yes, that was what I witnessed first! Though then I did’nt know what Gaura Arati is and who Lord Gaurachandra is?

The aspect which I liked the most in ISKCON temple which separated it from the other innumerable temples in India was the practical application of Prahlada Maharaja’s instruction which says “Shravanam Kirtanam Vishnoh…” – [SB 7.5.23 – http://srimadbhagavatam.com/7/5/23/en]

That day I was also impressed by the interest the devotees were showing in selling the books and other spiritual paraphernalias like the chanting beads etc and I took Bhagavad Gita As It Is and a chanting bead from the temple.

Then I returned back to Hyderabad (where my parents are still staying) and was visiting the ISKCON temple in Hyderabad, but not that frequently. But, I wanted to read the Bhagavad Gita As It Is fully (which I had purchased from ISKCON, Pune) and was engaged in reading it everyday for a long time and my parents were a bit surprised as to why I was so much interested in it.

I remember having met the congregational members in Hyderabad who were in very nice preaching mood, as all the ISKCON devotees are – and it was nice to see that spirit of preaching. But, in Hyderabad I was not able to establish relationship with the devotees. Probably because I was staying with my parents and visiting the temple for an hour or so only.

Then, the next stage is myself coming to Ireland to work as a Sofware engineer for a Telecom company. After coming here I was looking for a temple. I knew ISKCON is an International Temple (!) and was positive to find one ISKCON temple here. I did a search in the Internet and to my pleasant surprise I saw that there is an island of Govinda! – Govindadwipa, in Ireland and then I made up my mind to visit Govindadwipa.

During that time, initially once we came to visit Dublin and saw the Govindas Restaurant advertisement in the Tourism Office. I knew it had something to do with ISKCON and I again enquired about Govindadwipa from the Govindas and got the pamphlet.

Then I went to Govindadwipa and was amazed by the beauty of the island of Govinda and another amazing thing was all the western devotees (!!!) up at 4.30 am in the morning, wearing dhotis and singing the Guruvashtaka (I did’nt know it was Guruvashtaka then!) with full devotion to Radha-Govinda – There’s nothing in the world which can be compared to that – Of course, because it is a TRANSCENDENTAL experience, transcending all the modes of material nature! One more advantage of visiting the temple here compared to Hyderabad was that I was not with my parents here and hence I got the fortune of staying overnight in Govindadwipa and getting to know devotees.

After that my visits were frequent and I wanted to associate more with the wonderful devotees of Govindadwipa. Due to the mercy and encouragement of devotees like Sri Rupa/ Manu/ Praghosa Prabhu, to name a few, I became more involved and in order to involve more people in the service of Shree Shree Radha-Govinda i’ve started the Yahoo Group called [Govindadwipa] http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Govindadwipa/ where in we discuss Krishna katha as much as we can. Request to the wonderful devotees in Dandavats to please help increase the Krishna katha in the Govindadwipa group by joining it and participating in the discussions..

Dandavat Pranam to all the wonderful devotees here and a sincere request that please be merciful to this conditioned living-entity suffering the three-fold miseries of the material existence.

Hare Krishna!

Dasanudasa, Somesh Kumar

Source:http://www.dandavats.com/?p=930

E-mail me when people leave their comments –

You need to be a member of ISKCON Desire Tree | IDT to add comments!

Join ISKCON Desire Tree | IDT