We hope this newsletter finds you, your family and friends in good health and spirits.
It’s been a busy and enlivening month at the farm with all of the festival celebrations. Thank you to everyone who came and joined in these celebrations and who also made generous donations
to the temple.
Due to new laws surrounding the current pandemic guests visiting the farm are now required, upon arrival, to sanitise their hands, provide their name and number for our records and have their
temperature taken. We thank you for your patience and understanding as we implement this new procedure.
We look forward to seeing you soon at the farm, enjoying this beautiful spring weather.
Best regards,
The New Gokula Team
Whats been happening at the farm?
Janmashtami Celebrations
Although the temple was restricted by the amount of guests we could accomodate for the Janmashtami Celebration, it was still a wonderful day. Citrupa Prabhu, temple devotees and lots of helpers
spent hours making flower decorations and turning the temple into a majestic palace. The deities looked beautiful in their new outfits surrounded by opulent garlands. Shyamananda Krishna
Prabhu gave a class in the temple and there was hours of delightful kirtan led by Amiyarasa Prabhu leading up to the special midnight Arti.
His Divine Grace Srila Prabupada’s Appearance Day
On Srila Prabhupada’s Appearance day the kitchen was full of devotees working together to make 108 different preparations for Prabhupada. We were also blessed to have two Prabhupada disciples
staying at the farm, Prasuti Devi Dasi and Surabhi Devi Dasi, who shared with us their heartfelt appreciations and personal homages to ISKCON’s Founder-Acharya. The temple then came alive
with an ecstatic kirtan followed by a spectacular feast.
Surabhi Devi Dasi
Surabhi Devi Dasi, a Prabupada disciple with nearly 50 years experience in the Bhakti Yoga tradition, has been staying at the farm for a few weeks.
Surabhi is a dynamic devotee with an endless amount of enthusiasm and energy for serving Krishna and the devotees. In her short stay at the farm she has uplifted devotee spirits. In following
the training she received from Srila Prabhupada she has imparted knowledge to the devotees on how they can improve their own devotional service. Surabhi has been engaging the devotees
in a Maha cleanup of the temple, raising money for a new flower garden near the Tulsai house and she even managed to get all the devotees dancing in the temple through her energetic kirtan
and mridanga playing. Thankyou for inspiring us Surabhi Devi Dasi.
A new hothouse for the farm
Citrupa Prabhu and Stuart Prabhu have constructed a hothouse to grow flowers for garlands, festival decorations and to decorate the temple. This new structure is to save the flowers, not
only from the weather conditions but from our peacocks who love to eat the flower buds. They are currently growing marigolds, dahlias and carnations.
Shravanam Week
In ISKCON temples all around the world from the 3rd-9th of September was Shravanam Week. The purpose of this project called “Books are the Basis” was to significantly increase the regular
reading of Śrīla Prabhupāda books amongst ISKCON devotees. To try and encourage more people to take shelter in Śrīla Prabhupāda’s words, the ISKCON Ministry of Education has begun an
initiative aimed at making it easier to start and maintain online reading groups through the provision of useful resources. For more information visit the ISKCON Ministry of Education
website here.
Please take the time to watch this inspiring video about the project.
World Holy Name Week Is Now World Holy Name Festival 17-23 SEPTEMBER 2020
Jayasri Devi Dasi, who is part of the management team at New Gokula Farm, has been busy recently organising an impressive photo collage of the 74 cows and bulls who live at the farm. The collage is being displayed in the main dining hall at the temple and allows guests to have a close up view of all of the cows and bulls.
New Gokula Farm is committed to creating awareness around the importance of cows and bulls to society through Go-Raksha, our Cow Protection Program.
Our herd of 76 cows and bulls are lovingly cared for, creating a symbiotic relationship between humans and these beautiful animals. Please support us to protect cows and help spread the message
that cows and bulls are God’s gift to human society.
They are precious and sentient beings that deserve our love and protection.
Cow Sponsorship is $365+ per year and goes towards cow feed, veterinary charges, fencing, pasture management, water supply and associated costs for our herd.If you would like to sponsor a
cow, contact us via newgokula@gmail.com
The Bhakti Tree
The Bhakti Tree is now able to accommodate 20 guests in the restaurant so come on in and enjoy a delicious vegetarian meal!
They are open 6 days, TUESDAY to SUNDAY 11.30-2pm and 6-8pm
Scrumptious South Indian Specials are also on the menu SATURDAY and SUNDAY.
The Bhakti Tree is located at 410 Maitland Road, Mayfield. Call Brett on 0448 908 612 to make a booking.
Devotee Spotlight
Aniruddha Devi Dasi
Aniruddha met the devotees in Central Park, New York in 1982 at an anti nuclear protest. They gave her some very delicious blueberry halava and this spiked her interest straight away. On
talking to the devotees Aniruddha felt an instant connection. The philosophy they presented her with aligned with her values and lifestyle as she realised she was already following the
four regulative principles. She had grown up within a family of strict catholics and these principles were very much apart of her life. So Aniruddha went with the devotees to visit the
temple and quickly decided that Krishna Consciousness was her path. She starting chanting the Maha mantra straight away and when her job finished up she moved into the temple where she
lived for a year. After being married she moved to Pensilvania and was involved in the temple community there. Initially she received first and second initiation by Bhavananda Swami and
was given the name Ashoka Devi Dasi. After some time Bhavananda Swami discontinued being an initiating guru so in 1993 she took initiation by Romapada Swami and was given the name Aniruddha
Devi Dasi. Aniruddha had two children, Arjuna and Subhadra, and then moved to Australia in 2002 where she lived in a few different places including Bega for a number of years. While she
hasn’t always lived near a temple or had association with the devotees, Aniruddha has remained strong in her faith in Krishna consciousness through her regular chanting, reading of the
scriptures and listening to her gurus lectures online. In 2017 she moved to Cessnock to be closer to the New Gokula farm. It is here that she has received training to become a Pujari
at the temple. Aniruddha is a wonderful cook and is well known at the temple for making fantastic cakes and pastries. She is also a talented seamstress and her bags and book covers can
be found in the temple shop. She also enjoys making jewellery for the deities. Aniruddhas favourite service is doing the Raj Bhoga Arti and serving the devotees in any way she can. Thank
you for your service Aniruddha.
