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International Society for Krishna Consciousness

Founder Acarya His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

www.iskcondc.com

September ‘10 Issue 13

Rama destroyed Ravana on this day and hence it
FESTIVAL/ EVENTS is celebrated as the day of victory. In burning the
effigies, the people are asked to burn the evil
By Sunethra Ramkumar (10) within them, and thus follow the path of virtue
and goodness, bearing in mind the instance of
Ravana, who despite all his might and majesty,
was destroyed for his evil ways.
Acharya Series 2
Dussehra, falling on the last day of Navaratri, arrives As described in Bhagavad-gita (7.23),
in the month of October. Dussehra literally means
“that which takes away ten sins.” Some these ten sins
that were “antavat tu phalam tesam
Appearance of Radha 3
represented by the tad bhavaty alpa-medhasam”
ten heads of Kund
Ravana includes Men of meager intelligence desire temporary
Kama vasana happiness. We have actually seen that one of the
(Lust), Krodha disciples of Bhaktisiddhänta Sarasvaté Öhäkura
(Anger), Moha Devotional quotes 3
wanted to enjoy the property of his spiritual
(delusion), Lobha master, and the spiritual master, being merciful
(Greed), Mada toward him, gave him the temporary property,
(Pride), and but not the power to preach the cult of Caitanya
Matsara (Jealousy). Lord Rama’s 3
Mahäprabhu all over the world. That special
This festival is mercy of the power to preach is given to a Associates
celebrated all over devotee who does not want anything material
India to mark the defeat of Ravana by Lord Rama. from his spiritual master but wants only to serve
Dussehra symbolizes the triumph of good over evil. him. The story of the demon Rävaëa illustrates Word Scramble 4
The 'Ramlila' - an enactment of the life of Lord Rama, this point. Although Rävaëa tried to abduct the
is held during the nine days preceding Dussehra. On goddess of fortune Sétädevé from the custody of
the tenth day, larger than life effigies of Ravana, his Lord Rämacandra, he could not possibly do so.
The Sétädevé he
Poem - 4
son, and brother—Meghnath and Kumbhakarna, are
set alight. forcibly took “Lord Damodara …”
with him was
Dussehra is one of India's most popular annual not the original
f e s t i v al s , Sétädevé, but an
celebrated all expansion of Recipe 4
over the country mäyä, or
for several Durgädevé. As a
days. King Rama result, instead
heads out with of winning the
his army and favor of the real Verse of the month 5
friends to rescue go dde s s of
his wife Sita from fortune, Rävaëa
the demon king and his whole
of Lanka, family were vanquished by the power of Coloring Corner 5
(modern day Sri Durgädevé (såñöi-sthiti-pralaya-sädhana-çaktir
Lanka) Ravana. ekä). (A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
After a fierce Srimad Bhagavatam 5:18:22 purport.)
battle, Ravana is beheaded and Sita freed.

Lord Rama ki Jai!

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ACHARYA SERIES
Narottama Das Thakur was born in Kheturi in the month of
By Mansi Suresh (9) Magha. His father, Krsnananda, was the local king with
tremendous wealth and land. His mother, Narayani Devi, was a
simple, chaste lady. Their hearts melted when they saw the radiant
face of their beautiful newborn baby. The astrologer, seeing all the
auspicious signs, said that this child will be the greatest of all men; so he will be called “Narottama.” Thousands of
people came for the ceremony and it was celebrated with great pomp. At the time of the grain giving, the child
wouldn’t open his mouth. Then the astrologer said that unless the food is offered to Krsna, the boy will not take it.
Once given after offering, Narottama happily ate it. From that day onwards, his father promised to feed his child
only Krsna prasad.

From his earliest childhood, Narottama was completely detached from the pleasures
of this world. He was only interested in hearing about the pastimes of the Lord. One
night, Lord Nityananda appeared in his dream and instructed him to go to
Padmavati and take a dip, as Caitanya Mahaprabhu had deposited his love for
Radha and Krsna there. Narottama Das immediately left to Padmavati. When he
touched the waters, Padmavati swelled. As he entered, Caitanya Mahaprabhu
embraced him. His heart overflowed with ecstatic love and his dark complexion
turned golden.

Few days later, Caitanya Mahaprabhu appeared in Narottama Das Thakur’s dream
and instructed him to go to Vrndavan and get initiation from Lokanath Maharaj.
While his father was away, Narottama Das Thakur escaped. He chose the desolate
forest route. Although he was worn and tired, seeing Rupa and Sanatana Goswami
in his dream, he felt refreshed.

Finally, he reached Vrndavan. He was very happy to meet the associates of Lord Caitanya. Narottama Das Thakur
served Lokanath Maharaj, who was constantly feeling the pain of separation from Rupa and Sanatana Goswami, in
a very menial way. Every day, early in the morning, he would very nicely and humbly clean the place where
Lokanath Maharaj would pass urine and stool. After a year, Lokanath Maharaj found out that Narottama Das
Thakur was doing this menial service. Deeply moved by his mood of humility, Lokanath Maharaj accepted
Narottama as his disciple.

Lord Caitanya once came in a vision and asked Narottama Das Thakur to take His deity form from a grain storage
filled with snakes and install Him. Narottama Das Thakur went fearlessly to the storage and brought the beautiful
deity. All the poisonous snakes fled. On the installation day, Narottama Das Thakur led an ecstatic kirtan and
danced along with all the assembled senior Vaisnavas. Even the Lord appeared with His associates and danced
with ecstasy as to Narottama Das Thakur’s beautiful singing.

When Narottama Das Thakur decided to go back to the Lord, he asked some of his disciples to pour the Ganges
water on his body. While they were doing this, they found Narottama’s body melting into milk and merging with
the waters of the Ganges. Thus, Narottama Das departed this world to return to Goloka, to serve his beloved Lord.

On this most auspicious day of the disappearance of Srila Narottama Das Thakur, we should beg with
sincerity to this great acharya to bless us with humility, detachment, and love for the Lord and His devotees. In this
way, we can become the servants of the servants of the servants of the Lord and in this way, perform our
devotional service to go back to Godhead.
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Appearance of Radha Kund DEVOTIONAL QUOTES

By Koumudhi Kammari (13) "Even if devotees excuse those who insult
them, Krishna takes a different position and
He is strict on this matter. Krishna will not
After Krishna killed Aristasura, the demon who excuse or tolerate any insult of His devo-
was disguised as a bull, Srimati Radharani and the other tees. If we want to please Krishna, we must
gopis told Krishna that He was now contaminated with
the sin of killing a bull (male cow). Krishna said, “My dear never insult His devotees."
gopis, that was not a bull but a demon in the form of a ~ Srila Prabhupada
bull. Therefore, I didn’t commit a sin.”
Contributed By - Aayushi Jain (10)
Radharani said, “That doesn’t matter. You still
killed a bull; so, You have to go to all the holy places and
take baths in all the holy rivers of the world.”
Krishna said, “Okay. I will take a bath in all the
holy rivers, but what is the use of going to all the holy riv-
ers if they can just By Panchajanya Mungara (10)
come here.” Say-
ing this, He A G W P Q B B Q A H L M N X M
stomped His foot
into the earth and N E I D H A X I O J P W S C N
created a big im- G W L A X H M L N A Q X F R V
pression. Then He
U Z R E O L S A O T T U D B C
invited all the holy
rivers to come and R A S A W S M T X A U T U R C
flow into His kund. T D T S T H V U P Y G H P A M
Krishna then
jumped into the kund and took a bath in it. This kund A V D N S I Y H D U K Y Y H U
that Krishna created is known as Syama Kund, and is H O K K A U S P G E O F C S C
there even today. After taking a bath in Syama Kund,
S K A L F H G D A G N A E S L
Krishna said, “My dear gopis, I have become pure by
bathing in my kund, but now you have become contami- W L P O L B S R J H Q C D W O
nated by siding with the demon, even if he was a demon in O E N K Q N H I I C Y J O Y I
the guise of a bull.”
Q P H I B N M F H V A Y K E G
The gopis then took their bangles off and started
to dig with their bangles. After a while, they made a big Y Q X F B M Z F O B X F I C T
impression, but M A N J O P W F K E I Y Z N U
they did not have
H A N U M A N N X U X V N E H
any water. Seeing
this, Krishna and
the gopas laughed. ANGAD
The gopis then BHARAT
made a line from
HANUMAN
the Manasi Ganga
to Radha’s kund. JATAYU
After sometime, LAKSHMAN
the gopis still did
not fill much of the kund and they were very tired. Then, SHATRUGNA
Krishna, who doesn’t like seeing Radharani sweat, again SITA
requested the rivers to come, only this time to fill Srimati
SUGRIV
Radharani’s kund, Radha Kund. This is how Radha Kund
appeared. VIBHISHAN

Radha Kund’s Appearance Day Ki Jai!!!

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Lord Damodara …
(A Poem) Rasamalai
By Panchajanya Mungara (10)
RECIPE
By Dheeraj Kammari ( 12)

NGREDIENTS
INGREDIENTS
Lord Damodhara… 2 lbs ricotta cheese
1/2 cup sugar
32 oz half & half milk
A pinch of saffron
1/4 tsp crushed cardamom seeds
1/2 cup blanched almonds
2 tbsp crushed green pistachios

Preparation
• Mix the cheese with sugar and little cardamom powder
and spread out on baking tray.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until it sets. It
should not get brown.
• Remove from oven, cool at room temperature and cut
into 2″ squares.
• Place them in a dessert bowl.

Mother Yashoda’s little boy
Full of love and full of joy
His face like the glowing moon
His eyes like lotus petals at full bloom.
• Mix the other ingredients, except the pistachios well in
a separate dish and pour over the squares.
• Decorate the rasmalai with pistachios, chill for 2-3
hours, then offer it to the Lord and honor the prasa-
dam .

He made the twin Arjuna trees fall down,

And freed the two demigods
from the curse of Narada,
By Aayushi Jain(8)
Our loving father
Our eternal Lord.

1. Unscramble each of the clue words.

2. Take the letters that appear in boxes and unscramble

them for the final message!
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Verse of the month

(Verse 4.7 from)
“Bhagavad Gita As It Is” - By His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Sruthi Mungara (13)

“yadā yadā hi dharmasya

glānir bhavati bhārata
abhyutthānam adharmasya
tadātmānaḿ sṛjāmy aham”

TRANSLATION

Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious

practice, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant
rise of irreligion — at that time I descend Myself.

MY REALIZATIONS

In this verse, Lord Krishna establishes that whenever there is

a rise of irreligion, He will personally descend. The Lord, our-
loving father, is so merciful, and yet we have turned away from
Him. When demons like Hiranyakashipu, Ravana, and Kamsa By Pranesh Ambokar (6)
terrorized this world, the Lord incarnated as Lord Nirshi-
madev ,Lord Rama, and Sri Krishna, the darling of Vrindavan.
The Lord incarnates to protect His loving devotees and van-
quish those who cause pain and suffering to them.

Krishna, in the next verse, also establishes the same principle-“

To deliver the pious and annihilate the miscreants, as well as to
reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself appear millen-
nium after millennium.” The Lord who will tolerate an offense
committed to Himself, will not tolerate someone offending His
pure devotees. In Kali Yuga, He came as Lord Caitanya, and
Your feedback and suggestions are very
when Jagai and Madhai offended Lord Nityananda, the
important and valuable for us. Please feel free
Supreme Lord did not tolerate their grave offense. Yet the
to send your feedback/suggestions to
Lord's devotees are so merciful and compassionate.
dc.4r.kids@gmail.com

Editor—Lakshmi (Ramya) Suresh

In Kali Yuga, there is a very rapid decline in religious princi-
ples, and ignorance is gaining reign very fast. Thus, at the end
of this Kali Yuga, the Lord will again incarnate as Kalki avatar
and destroy the miscreants. Therefore, we must strive in this
life time and lead a life full of devotion so we can go back
home, back to Godhead, back to our eternally loving Father.