{"id":12334,"date":"2014-02-13T08:50:48","date_gmt":"2014-02-13T08:50:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=12334"},"modified":"2014-02-13T08:50:48","modified_gmt":"2014-02-13T08:50:48","slug":"reflections-of-the-past-spiritual-nourishment-for-the-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=12334","title":{"rendered":"Reflections of the Past – Spiritual Nourishment for the Future"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nleft to right : Mr Bob Narandas, Champaklal Soni and Ksudhi Das <\/em>
\n
\nPioneering devotees with Shyamlal Prabhu’s Family<\/em><\/p>\n

By Divesh Maharaj<\/strong><\/p>\n

His Grace Ksudhi Das was in South Africa for a short visit and he was invited together with Bob Narandas and Champak Soni to present a lecture a titled, “Reflections of the Past – Spiritual Nourishment for the Future” as part of the Wednesday outreach programmes at the Sri Sri Radha Radhanath Temple of Understanding in Durban. Ksudhi Das accompanied by Rishi Kumar Swami were the first Hare Krishna devotees to set foot on South African soil in 1972. Narandas and Soni assisted the two young devotees and are counted as pioneers of the Hare Krishna Movement in South Africa.<\/p>\n

Ksudhi Das started his presentation by honouring His Grace Shyamlal Das Adhikari, who recently departed from this world after an illness. He explained that Shyamlal Das was a stalwart devotee of the movement and he was very careful to follow the instructions of his spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, who had asked him in those early days to make life members for ISKCON all over the world. At this point he called for the family of Shyamlal prabhu to come forward and asked for a photograph to be taken. He went on to highlight a few more points relating to the magnanimous contribution of Shyamlal Prabhu to the early development of the Movement in South Africa.<\/p>\n

Ksudhi Das then recounted that memorable day in March 1972 when he had gone to see Srila Prabhupada in Mayapur. Ksudhi Das recalls, I offered my obeisances to him and said, \u201cSrila Prabhupada, I am going to Africa now. I hope this gives me the opportunity to increase my services to you.\u201d. Srila Prabhupada put his hands behind his head and said, \u201cService to Lord Caitanya, service to Lord Caitanya, service to Lord Caitanya.\u201d Ksudhi explained that both himself and Rsi Kumar Swami first went to Switzerland and then travelled to Nairobi, Kenya. While they were in Nairobi, they met several Indian people who supported their cause and Mr Damji Devji was one such person.<\/p>\n

Ksudhi Das explained that Mr Devji gave them letters of introduction to many of his friends and relatives in South Africa and on the plane to South Africa, they met Mr D.P. Desai and Arvind Gokool who recognized the letters from Mr Devji. Ksudhi Das further explained that Arvind Gokool became the first life member of ISKCON in South Africa. He then described the role of Mr Naginbhai Soni and his son Champak as well as Bob Narandas and Mr Ashwin Kara, the manager of the Popatlal Kara stores, in facilitating their early preaching by providing accommodation, and much needed resources. Champak Lal Soni, a well- known jeweller in the Gujarati community of Durban, came forward and offered his beach cottage to the devotees. Ksudhi Das also recalled some of the difficulties they had with the apartheid regime and the secret police services.<\/p>\n

Mr Champak Soni was the next speaker. He also started off by glorifying His Grace Shyamlal Prabhu. He mentioned that he was very pleased to meet the family of Shyamlal prabhu at the programme as he was oversees during the Shyamlal Prabhu\u2019s funeral service. He highlighted the magnanimous role that Shyamlal Prabhu played in unifying the South Africa yatra in the early days. Mr Soni then thanked Ksudhi prabhu for his pioneering spirit and for enduring many hardships in the dark days of apartheid order to establish the roots of the Hare Krishna Movement in South Africa and to prepare for Srila Prabhupada’s imminent visit in 1975.<\/p>\n

Bob Narandas was the final speaker and he also paid tribute to Shyamlal Prabhu. Mr Bob Narandas fondly remembered the white Mercedes-Benz that he had provided for Srila Prabhupada\u2019s transport during his stay in South Africa. He also mentioned the house in Devon Terrace, Westville, which was arranged by Mr J.T. Bhoola for Srila Prabhupada\u2019s preaching programmes. Bob also recollected the details of a spectacular Janmastami celebration at the ISKCON farm in Cato Ridge, that was attended by about 15 000 people and in which he played a major role in assisting to organize. Narandas reminisced how he had engaged many of the senior Gujarati matajis from Victoria Street in Durban to assist in cooking the prasadam for the Cato Ridge festival. Bob, a close friend of Riddha Das, author of the book Mission in the Service of His Divine Grace, also spoke briefly about his input towards the compilation of the book, where he assisted in providing important historic details and photographs.<\/p>\n

In the introduction to his book, Mission in the Service of His Divine Grace, Riddha Das writes, \u201cIn my research, I came to learn of the great sacrifices that had been made by my spiritual brothers and sisters who helped to bring Krishna Consciousness to South Africa. I also realized that many Indian residents of South Africa were instrumental in helping to establish ISKCON. This book provides a glimpse into those sacrifices in the early days, without which Krishna Consciousness would not have flourished in South Africa in the way it did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Due to time constraints the contribution towards the early development of the movement by various other devotees could not be fully covered in the programme. However, these are highlighted in detail in the book \u201cMission in the Service of His Divine Grace\u201d. Devotees such as His Holiness Partha Sarathi Das Goswami, Gokulendra Das, Pusta-Krsna Swami, Tulasi Das, Dhiranga Das, Rocani dasi, Ramanujacarya Das and others who made great sacrifices toward the early preaching activities.<\/p>\n

For further details you can e-mail vaishnava.research@gmail.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Divesh Maharaj<\/strong><\/p>\n

His Grace Ksudhi Das was in South Africa for a short visit and he was invited together with Bob Narandas and Champak Soni to present a lecture a titled, “Reflections of the Past – Spiritual Nourishment for the Future” as part of the Wednesday outreach programmes at the Sri Sri Radha Radhanath Temple of Understanding in Durban. Ksudhi Das accompanied by Rishi Kumar Swami were the first Hare Krishna devotees to set foot on South African soil in 1972<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[90],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12334\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}