Gaura Purnima 2011 Report

Hare Krsna!

We would like to extend our heartfelt greetings and well-wishes to all devotees, friends and well-wishers on the occasion of the Gaudiya Vaishnava New Year Day, the Gaura Purnima 2011 which was observed with great pomp and show at the Sri Krishna Mandir on the 19th of March, 2011.

This year kicks off the 525th Gaurabda year. That means it has been 525 years since the appearance of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in this world.



The festivities started at 7pm and went all the way until about 11pm with a grand Sandhya Arati, Abhishek, cultural show (including a drama on the pastime of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu known as "The deliverance of Jagai and Madhai") and Prasadam. About 200 people attended the festival.

We pray that the message of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu spread far and wide this year and reach new heights. It is our fervent prayer that the doctrine of Lord Caitanya become famous in this world as the genuine platform of real religion. May He engage all of us in this great mission to the best of our abilities.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the devotees and well-wishers for their contributions of various kinds in making this festival a success.

Hare Krsna!

SKM Extends its wings to as far as Vrndavan, India

During the devotees’ stay at Vrindavan, as part of their annual pilgrimage tour, the devotees were hosted by His Grace Vraja Vilasa Prabhu who happened to be the ex- temple president of the Nagpur branch of ISKCON. He had received his initiation, sometime in the 90s, from Lokanath Swami Maharaj, who is a prominent ISKCON Guru.

During the six day stay in Vrindavan, His Grace Sundar Gopal prabhu took the opportunity to enlighten Vraja Vilasa Prabhu about the existing problems in today’s ISKCON due to violation of Srila Prabhupad’s order regarding the system of initiation. The latter seemed to be very naïve to all these issues and expressed his utmost disgust for the gurus after he had heard all the truth about them.

After a 2-hour discussion it was not very surprising that he rejected Lokanath swami and wanted to identify himself as a servant and disciple of Srila Prabhupada. In fact, he has even expressed his willingness to open a temple in Vrindavan, under the banner of ‘Sri Krishna Mandir’ and work in cooperation with Singapore temple.

Indeed he also shared with us some of the bitter experiences that he had had with his “guru”. He conducts Preaching Programs in many places all over India. We can say that he is a stalwart in that field and each of his sessions would be attended by at least 300 to 500 people. As people were requesting for more and more of his programs, his “guru”, on the other hand did not seem to be very happy and felt insecure. So he actually went to the extent of cancelling one of the sessions that was to be held on board a cruise ship to Singapore and Malaysia, even without Vraja Vilasa Prabhu’s knowledge. This and many other incidents made him lose his respect for his “Guru”.

So this incident shows how the ISKCON “gurus” have been putting their followers in complete ignorance, about the actual system that Srila Prabhupada wanted, and totally misleading them. If anyone were to know the falsity in the “gurus” behaviour, it would only result in them being rejected out of disgust he very next moment.

Wishing A Happy New Year 2011 To All Of You

Hare Krishna!!

We, at Sri Krishna Mandir, would like to wish all the devotees a happy new year 2011!

Although we always wish that we have a happy new year or month or day, difficulties always arise and we are thus more and more entangled in materialistic life. All these difficulties are nothing but reactions to sinful activities that we perform. How to come out of all these difficulties?

Lord Krishna declares in the Bhagavad Gita (18.66):

sarva-dharman parityajya
mam ekam saranam vraja
aham tvam sarva-papebhyo
moksayisyami ma sucah

TRANSLATION

Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear.

This is the only way to become truly happy. So therefore, if one really wants a happy new year, one must chant

| Hare Krishna Hare Krishna |

|| Krishna Krishna Hare Hare ||

| Hare Rama Hare Rama |

|| Rama Rama Hare Hare ||

Rtvik Initiation In Melaka

Hare Krishna!

Dear devotees, members & well-wishers,

There is always so much to tell from the pavilion of Sri Krishna Mandir but time seems to be a constraint.

Nevertheless, the last weekend is worth mentioning as some new developments transpired in regards to preaching in Malaysia.



On the Friday last, Raghupati Prabhu, Bhakta Pancha Tatva and our humble self left for the Malaya Giri Dham to stay for the night. The next morning, on the 13th of November, 2010, we had our lunch Prasadam at the Malaya Giri Dham and left for Melaka. A program was scheduled by Svarat Prabhu, the President of Pedas temple, in Melaka wherein 7 new devotees were to get initiated and one devotee took Brahmana initiation. That night we had a yajna and 7 devotees took initiation (became disciples of Srila Prabhupada) from Srila Prabhupada through the Rtvik system of initiation as authorized by Srila Prabhupada. His Grace Sundar Gopal Prabhu acted as the Rtvik representative of Srila Prabhupada and conducted the ceremony on his behalf. The yajna was conducted by His Grace Sacisuta Prabhu. All the new initiates were happy to accept Srila Prabhupada as their spiritual master and work under the direction of their respective temple presidents just as Srila Prabhupada wanted.

The next day, we observed the Govardhana Puja at Taman Sentosa, Klang. Almost 60 to 70 devotees attended the festival. Owing to the shifting the temple from Bujit Tinggi to Taman Sentosa, the devotees at Klang could not celebrate the festival on the actual date, that is on the 7th of Nov, 2010.



Stay tuned for more!

Hare Krishna!

A Month Of Ecstasy - Book Distribution Marathon

Hare Krishna!

We are excited after one month of heavy book distribution. Every year, we put up a stall in the Deepavali Fair opposite the Mustafa Centre along Serangoon Road.

We had a lot of interesting people come by at the fair. The real nectar of devotional life is book distribution. Srila Prabhupada's books are the most powerful weapons against the merciless onslaught of Maya, especially in Kali Yuga.

We pray to Srila Prabhupada that he give more and more opportunities to distribute his books profusely. If the world has to become any better, it is possible only through his books.

Jaya Srila Prabhupada!

Deepavali Book Fair

Deepavali (or Diwali) is popularly known as the "festival of lights". This is the biggest national festival in India. Singapore celebrates Deepavali with grand and grandiloquent by the Hindus and other faith as well.

Little India in Serangoon Road which is the heartland of Indian community is beautiful adorned with colorful decoration, gralands, numerous lights and stalls. Just One month before the Deepavali day street lights up in Serangoon Road which marks the beginning of vibrant colorful celebration.

Every year Sri Krishna Mandir is taking opportunity of auspicious and festive occasion set up a stall in Deepavali Expo which constitutes numerous other stalls, located opposite Mustafa Shopping centre (Serangoon Plaza). We term it as yearly book Distribution Marathon. The stall will be open from 7th Oct 2010 to 5th Nov 2010.


In the stall we sell umpteen varieties of items such as spiritual books, souvenoir, perfumed incenses stick, paraphernalia for worshipping, New year calendar and many more.

During this time, we distribute quite a number of Srila Prabhupada books at a very reasonable price for benefit of entire human society. Srila Prabhupada said “The More such literatures are read and distributed, the auspicity will be there in the world.”

We are trying our best in our attempt to bring peace and auspiciousness in the world and make this festival more splendid and colorful.

We would request you all, please rush into our stall (no 118) and grab the matchless gifts for you and your dear ones, on this auspicious and magnificent celebration of Deepavali Festival.

Wish you all a Happy Deepavali

Hare Krsna

Yours ever well wisher
Sri Krishna Mandir

Vyasa Puja '10 - Festival Report

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The day following Janmashtami was Srila Prabhupad's Vyasa Puja. Grand celebrations for organized for this festival also. Celebrations included Mahabhishekam, kirtan, homages from disciples and not to forget the wonderful prasadam! 108 delicious preperations were offered to Srila Prahbupada on the day!

This particular day being the appearance day of the Spiritual master is much more important for all the disciples than Janmashtami itself. Many people fail to understand the importance of this day. It is to be understood that without the help of the Spiritual master, there is no question of understanding Krishna. Therefore it is mandatory for every disciple to submit a written offering to Srila Prabhupada expressing their gratitude, as ordered by Srila prabhupada.

On the occasion, Sri Krishna Mandir also released their book - Vyasa Puja '10, which is a compilation of wriiten offerings from all those people whose lives were changed by Srila Prabhupada. Devotees were given the oppurtunity to read out their offerings in front of the beautifully decorated Prabhupada Murti. Sumptuous prasadam was served, which marked the end of the program.

Janmashtami Celebrations Draws Hundreds

Hare Krishna!

Dear Devotees,

We are pleased to inform you that the devotees at Sri Krishna Mandir hosted very grand celebrations on the occasion of Sri Krishna Janmashtami on Thursday, the 2^nd of September. It was very encouraging to see such an attendance even on a weekday.

After the usual morning program, members of the congregation took turns to read Lord Krishna’s pastimes from the Krsna book. The reading went on all the way till the cultural program in the evening. The Lord sported a dark green outfit with wonderful decorations. The temple was beautifully decorated with flowers of different kinds. The temple also sported a completely new look for the festival with a new altar and a few other changes in the temple room. The devotees worked on the interiors of the temple without any sleep for two consecutive nights.

In the evening that day, there was cultural program and Mahabhishekam. The drama by the Krishna mandir’s Vaikunta players became the highlight of the show. Apart from that, there were bhajans, dance and a children’s program. The cultural program was followed by the Mahabhishekam which went on till 11:30pm. It was followed by a Maha-arati at 12:00am(early hours of 3^rd). The Maha-arati was very ecstatic with loud Kirtan being led by His Grace Raghupati Prabhu. The temple room was fully packed with hundreds of devotees for the last arati. We noticed a considerable increase in attendance for our Janmashtami celebrations compared to last year. After the celebrations, devotees broke fast with ekadasi prasadam.