Friends of the BBT Newsletter – July 07

In this issue…

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Spotlight

Krishna Consciousness:
The Next Generation

by Madhava Smullen

Krishna consciousness is entering a new era. Times change, and with them, methods of spreading spiritual knowledge also change.

Krishna.com is one of those new methods. Arriving on the scene in 1996, when the Internet was still in its larva stage, the website invited young blood for a young project, and ISKCON’s first and second generations worked together to create a truly impressive achievement.

Radha, a second generation devotee and Krishna.com’s store manager, isn’t afraid to let anyone know, either. When I asked her how long she’s worked there, she replies with her usual good-humored swagger, “In years? Who can tell? But in unique web visitors? Then probably 43 million. Satisfied customers? Then we’re looking at 14,000, give or take a few. I’ve worked at Krishna.com for 29,000 books sold—that’s over a quarter of a million dollars worth—and for 1.8 million people reading BTG.”

Nagaraja Dasa, editor of Back to Godhead magazine, has also championed inviting youth to be part of the team. “I think the second generation wants to do something substantial to spread Krishna consciousness, and Krishna.com is a great tool for them, because they’re naturally at home in the digital world. I like working with the youth,” he adds, “They bring energy and a fresh perspective.”

The second generation return the feeling. “There’s lots of laughter here, which is the most important measure of a workplace,” says Radha. “And I love that I’m constantly challenged to try new things, or old things in a new way.”

Challenges are indeed coming thick and fast at Krishna.com these days, with a re-imagined version of the site set to launch by Janmastami 2007. Improving on all the usual favorite elements, the new site will be more dynamic and multimedia-driven. Two new sections will also be added: Connect, a community section, and Experience, providing the path to experiencing Krishna consciousness beyond Krishna.com.

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News in Brief

Annual BBT Trustees Meeting

The current BBT trustees and directors met in L.A. from May 23 through May 25 this year, along with a number of other BBT staff. Directors and staff were treated to a leadership and communications seminar by ISKCON communications minister Anuttama Dasa to further hone their skills. Friends of the BBT was also featured with an update on the development of the Friends of the BBT website, newsletter and membership programs. The meetings themselves dealt with many management, administration, and financial issues, as well as unveiling several exciting new projects.

Brand New Chinese Bhagavad-gita: The Chinese BBT has printed 5,000 copies of their new fourth edition of Bhagavad-gita As It Is, for the Taiwan and Hong Kong markets. Translated and laid out by husband and wife team Jahnava Dasi and Ekachakra Dasa, the book also includes a CD with MP3 files of the verses narrated in Chinese.

Vanipedia – A New Approach to finding Srila Prabhupada Online Few Internet users will not be familiar with Wikipedia, the vast online encyclopedia compiled by volunteering users. Well, soon you may be able to look up any aspect of Srila Prabhupada’s instructions and teachings in the same way! Using the same software as Wikipedia, The Prabhupada Vani Research Academy, based in Radhadesh, Belgium, is developing a comprehensive encyclopedia of Prabhupada’s teachings. These will be predominantly available via www.vanipedia.org, and may later appear as a series of books printed by the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, who are collaborators on the project. The site is designed as a lotus flower, with six “petals” including Vanibooks, Vaniquotes, Vaniversity, Vanimedia, Vanisource, and Vanictionary.

Krishna-Lila-Stava: A mock-up of the new BBT book Krishna-Lila-Stava, featuring prayers by Sanatana Goswami, was unveiled at the trustees meetings. With pre-production now complete, the book is on its way to the printer, and should find its way into your hands by mid-August.

Swasti Cafe

Friends of the BBT and Bhaktivedanta Gurukula & International School have combined efforts to open Swasti, a new café that will donate half its profits to the BBT’s Sanskrit School at Govardhana and the other half to the Gurukula.

A clean, bright and friendly eatery, the café opened in Vrindavana in March 2007 and is already enjoying considerable success.

“Swasti means wellbeing,” explains Vrindavana Gurukula principal Ananda-Vrindavana Dasi. “And here you’ll get double the wellbeing—clean, healthy food, and a good feeling, because you know you’re supporting education by eating here.”

She adds, “This is an essential project, as education is one of ISKCON’s most important links to the future.”

The future does look bright for the

Sanskrit School, which will also get a share of the profits from the café’s adjoining Blue Cow gift store.

Friends of the BBT at L.A. Prabhupada Festival

Friends of the BBT made its first public appearance at the sixteenth annual Prabhupada Festival in L.A. on May 26 and 27, following the BBT trustees meetings. Our visual presentation on the BBT was shown to the assembled devotees and was very well-received. Following this, director Pancharatna Dasa could be seen beaming out from behind our very own stall, where he gave out beautiful framed pictures of Prabhupada as gifts to all devotees who came and subscribed to our newsletter. Delighted, many immediately became contributing members to Friends of the BBT on the spot.

We would like to thank our esteemed chair, Gopal Bhatta Dasa, for sponsoring these gifts and enabling Friends of the BBT to celebrate the Prabhupada festival in our own special way.

People Profile

Dravida Dasa

Involved in the anti-war and civil rights movements right from the beginning, Dravida was a true child of the 60s. “I was convinced the revolution was coming,” he says.

And he was right. It just wasn’t quite the kind he was expecting.

It all started when he fell ill with hepatitis in 1972. To get his health back, he joined an impersonalist yoga society, which told him that he could choose whatever path to enlightment he wanted, and any meditation mantra he wanted. When he found a booklet explaining the Hare Krishna mantra, he loved it, and chose it to meditate with. And, being a good student, he also chose the path he wanted: Krishna consciousness.

With enough natural talent to make up for his lack of editorial education, Dravida didn’t waste time getting to his life’s work. As soon as he joined the Brooklyn temple, where the BBT was based at the time, he began proofreading. “I read the Krishna book, and pointed out a huge list of mistakes to the production manager,” he recalls. “He just handed me a red pen, and I started marking.”

Since then, Dravida has worked on most BBT projects, including:
Back to Godhead magazine, Caitanya-Caritamrita, all the Vyasa Puja books to date, and Cantos 3, 4, and 5 of Srimad-Bhaga vatam, as well as completing the series with Hridayananda Goswami. Most recently, he’s proofread the Brihad-Bhavatamrita and Krishna-Lila Stava.

“I’ve always loved my service,” he says. “As well as being the perfect use for my analytical brain, it’s a great way for someone who could never quite get into street book distribution to be part of the sankirtana mission.”

For someone with an analytical brain, Dravida is extremely creative, with several audio recordings of poetry to his name. “I love Sanskrit, so I decided to put some of it into English verse, so that other devotees could relish it too.” This desire yielded poems derived from the Siksastaka, Kesavastaka from Rupa Goswami’s Stava Mala, and Kevalastaka, eight verses about the holy name. “Devotees love them and always ask me where the book is. So the next plan is to leave a legacy of the written word.”

Dravida, of course, also holds the BBT’s legacy as top priority. With three study guides, for the Isopanisad, Nectar of Devotion, and Bhagavad-gita already completed and awaiting production, he’s moving on to other new projects. His expert help is invaluable for the translators currently working on the new Russian edition of Caitanya-caritamrita for the North European BBT. And he’s editing Nature’s IQ, a brand new book by devotee scientists in Hungary that presents the Krishna conscious take on “Intelligent Design.”

He calls on ISKCON’s second generation to continue this work. “Soon, it’ll be up to the youth to maintain Prabhupada’s books and to create new books and new ways of presenting the philosophy.” He beams his trademark grin. “I’m passing on the holy grail to the next generation.”

Anger is the Foremost Enemy

by Yogindra Dasa

While I was distributing Srimad-Bhagavatams in a small town in Sweden, a woman with a mentally-disabled daughter passed by without taking a book. But the little girl grabbed one and adamantly refused to return it to me, despite her mother’s objections. Finally, the mother had little choice but to purchase it from me. A little later, I spotted a gentleman marching towards me, holding the book. I immediately expected trouble, and sure enough, he was enraged, loudly claiming I had cheated his wife and demanding that I return their money. “This book is not even in Swedish,” he yelled, although, excluding the Sanskrit, it was.

I calmly reassured the man that I would return the donation. “But please just look at any page in the book and see if it is in Swedish or not,” I requested. He agreed, and opened the third Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam completely at random, to chapter eleven. He read verse 31 aloud to me: “My dear King, just consider what I have said to you, which will act as medicinal treatment upon disease. Control your anger, for anger is the foremost enemy on the path of spiritual realization. I wish all good fortune unto you. Please follow my instructions.”

The man closed the book, put it under his arm and walked away—taking with him the instructions of Svayambhuva Manu to Dhruva Maharaja.

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