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By Subhavilasa Dasa
Devotees in the greater Detroit area were blessed by association of H.H Bhakti Raghava Swami who concluded the tour of east coast of North America last month. During his three day stay at Detroit, apart from a house program and a temple program he also graciously agreed to be part of the opening ceremony of the Krishna House.
Deva Madhava Das and his wife Phalguni Radhika Devi Dasi have been working tirelessly since last few months to find a place where everyone can come and establish their lost connection with Krishna. Krishna House at Ypsilanti, Michigan was purchased on the auspicious day of Gopastami. Ypsilanti is less than half an hour away from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor. Proximity to a famous university town will definitely help students to explore the path of spirituality. Few student bhaktas have already made Krishna house as their home. Opening ceremony was done in Vedic way with fire yajna and purusa sukta prayers which was followed by an ecstatic Kirtan. Her Grace Malati matajee was also present on this auspicious occasion.
During his present North America visit H.H Bhakti Raghava Swami has been talking about a theme which centers on – Land, Cows and Krishna. His Holiness talked about the importance of cow protection and traditional education. He said that unless we understand the essence of what education is, and the basics of what makes an ideal society (varnasrama), any attempt to develop effective, and meaningful educational system will fail. Likewise, our endeavors for a peaceful and harmonized society will also prove to no avail. It is of crucial and paramount importance to understand the intimate working relationships between education and society, not only in formative years, but indeed throughout one’s entire life. He emphasized that re-establishing varnasrama-dharma is central to Srila Prabhupada’s mission. He briefly outlined both the need for varnasrama-dharma and practical measures for gradually implementing it, beginning with education. He argued how varnasrama-dharma is the standard, ideal educational institution- eternally ordained by the supreme Lord for organizing humanity and deviating from this system, mankind consequently embraces adharma, the subtle but extremely pernicious effects of which will inevitably lead to severe individual and societal anomalies and calamities.
He also unveiled the “Om Sri Surabhi Campaign” logo. It is geared towards invoking global auspiciousness centering around the Surabhi Cow, our universal mother. He emphasized on the urgent need to give total and absolute care, protection and maintenance to our mother cow who supplies all of humanity’s necessities of life. He told that every act of cruelty to our mother cow, we are committing the most heinous and unlawful acts that are destined to bring about, without a shadow of doubt, our imminent destruction.
His Holiness was very pleased to know that devotees in greater Detroit area have already taken a baby step towards protecting cow. With effort of His Holiness disciple Bhaktavatar Prabhu and other devotees they have been getting around 100 gallons of “Ahimsa milk (milk from protected cows) from Gita-Nagri, Pennsylvania on weekly basis. Also, the goal is to offer only Ahimsa milk to His Lordships – Radhakunja Bihari at ISKCON Detroit.
Let’s hope one day Lord Caitnaya’s mercy and reverence for Our Mother cow will spread in all cities and towns of the world.
More information about the “Om Sri Surabhi Campaign” and ISKCON Daiva Varnasrama ministry can be found at www.iskconvarnasrama.com.