By Ananda Tirtha das
After the three-day session on strategic planning and the team-building day, February 19-21 saw a return to regular meeting mode. The 19th was largely devoted to straw voting and final voting on previously-discussed topics, such as Resolution 311 of last year and the appointment of Devakinandan Das as Minister for Fund Development.
Apart from the daily plenary meetings, it is noteworthy that there are many other meetings of sub-committees, ministries, and regional GBC bodies. These mostly occur in the afternoons or evenings, making it a very full day for many attendees.
A highlight of February 20 was the presentation by Sannyasa Minister, Prahladananda Swami, regarding the current candidates for sannyasa. Six devotees–Jagat-caksur Das, Yadunandana Das, Sarvaisvarya Das, Brhat Mrdanga Das, Jaya Govinda Das, and Vasudeva Das–are to take sannyasa this year. Jagat-caksur Prabhu is a disciple of Srila Prabhupada from Venezuela and Latin American preacher, Yadunandana Prabhu the headmaster of the Bhaktivedanta College in Radhadesh, and Sarvaisvarya Prabhu a leader based in South India. Africa will have three new sannyasis: Brhat Mrdanga, the South-African based preacher and educator, Jaya Govinda, a preacher in Botswana, and Vasudeva, an academic preacher originally from Nigeria.
Ten other devotees are on the sannyasa “waiting list”, the newest additions being, on the two-year waiting list, Abhay Das, who preaches in the UK and Russia, and on the five-year list, the GBC Executive Committee’s very own secretary, Lilasuka Das.
Next, Prasanta Dasi presented a slideshow on the recent fantastic temple opening in Aravade, Lokanath Swami’s home town in Maharashtra. Several GBC members, such as Bhakti Purusottama Swami, Gopal Krishna Goswami, Bhakti Caitanya Swami, Radhanath Swami and Malati Dasi, had been in attendance and enthusiastically attested to the superbly-organized festival and impressive temple project.
The morning session ended on a light-hearted note with the annual visit by the school children, this year from the Sri Mayapur International School. All the GBC members symbolically relinquished their seats to the children who then voted themselves into power and were served prasadam snacks by the “former” GBC members. Prominent among the children was Nandanandana, who promptly grabbed the chairman’s seat, and Harivilas Prabhu’s three grandchildren.
The afternoon session began with Anuttama Prabhu reporting about the ongoing development of the Spiritual Leadership Seminar, “Being A Guru in ISKCON.” This course is now mandatory for devotees taking up the service of diksa-guru and focuses on topics such as peer support, parallel lines of authority, disciple care, and introspection. The second level of this initiative, a retreat for ISKCON gurus, will be launched in Ujjain in October.
Anuttama also conducted an assessment exercise for the GBC members which was interrupted with the news of HH Jayapataka Maharaja’s imminent arrival to Mayapur. This was Maharaja’s first visit to Mayapur after his critical illness which incidentally occurred during the October GBC meetings in Mumbai. As a mark of respect towards this senior GBC member and dear servant of Srila Prabhupada, Ramai Swami, Chairman, decided to break the meeting so the GBC members could greet Jayapataka Maharaja at his reception in the temple.
Despite his weakened condition, Jayapataka Maharaja made it a point to attend some portions of the meetings every day. He first came on the 21st during a presentation on kirtana standards by Janananda Goswami. Again, the meeting was temporarily adjourned as the GBC members greeted Maharaja, following which he thanked the GBC members for supporting him during his illness, stating that he considered that as being “the deciding factor” that Krsna allowed him to survive. He further expressed his appreciation for his Godbrothers, saying, “I value your association so I wanted to come to take your association this year. You don’t know how dear all of you are to me. . . .”
On behalf of the GBC, EC member Madhu Sevita Prabhu responded by thanking Maharaja for coming to the meetings and expressed that he feels that Srila Prabhupada wants Jayapataka Maharaja to fully recover and stay actively serving ISKCON with his Godbrothers for many more years to come. “Where would we be without the historical depth and memory of Jayapataka Maharaja?”, he said. “You will help us to remain sober and balanced in our decisions and to avoid mistakes. . . .” Several other GBC members similarly expressed their appreciation for Jayapataka Maharaja.
At the end of the session, the GBC members gathered around Maharaja for a group photo
