Vedic Oasis for Inspiration Culture and Education

Issue: 015 Aug–Sep’ 08 The VOICE Messenger

In This Issue…
India has to give- Krsna Consciousness… 1 HG R S P V i s i t t o U S A 4
Utkarsh Camp for Pune VOICEs 1 Shrestha report – Aman Prabhu 5
VTW report 3 Your valuable contribution – EASY 6

India has something to give - Krsna Consciousness…

News Flash
So my Guru Maharaja’s desire and Chaitanya Maha Prabhu’s prediction is now being
• VOICE inaugurated
fulfilled. At least, it has begun to be fulfilled. So it is a genuine movement, authorized
at COEP college,
movement, and India's original culture. So our appeal to the Indian people, that "You should
Pune
take seriously about this movement and try to cooperate with us." That will be glorification
for Indian culture. At the present moment, India is known as very poor, poverty-stricken • Youth centre
country. People are under impression that "They are beggars. They have got nothing to give. inaugurated at VIT
They simply come here to beg." Actually, our ministers go there and, for some begging colleges, Pune.
purpose: "Give us rice, give us wheat, give us money, and give us soldiers." That is their • Preaching started
business. But this movement, for the first time, India is giving something to them. It is not a at BMS college,
begging propaganda; it is giving propaganda because they are hankering after this substance, Bangalore
Krsna consciousness. They have enjoyed enough of this material consciousness. • HG RSP returns to
--- From a lecture by His Divine Grace given in Gorakhpur on February 15, 1971 INDIA after an
inspiring preaching
VO I CE S T U D EN TS D IS CO V ER T HE REAL GO L D GIV EN tour to the west.
B Y T H E GO LD EN AV AT AR
• Preaching resumed
The UTKARSH camp for the up-coming devotees from Pune in various places
VOICEs took place this year from June 17th-25th, starting at • Janmashtami is
Pune for 4 days. HG RSP spoke to the boys on “Importance of
celebrated with
faith and danger of doubting; Importance of doubting and
verve and devotion
danger of blind faith”, which give them a logical perspective
at ISKCON, Pune
on the importance of putting faith on a bona fide authority. He
spoke on “Why do we put faith in the spiritual world”, in which
he told the boys to aspire for ‘the world of myth and merry’. Hearing about
“Greatness and sweetness of Lord Sri Krishna”, the boys were captivated by the news about spiritual
world and Krishna’s sweet loving pastimes. Ankit of Mayapur VOICE
exclaims, “How relishable the path of Krsna consciousness is!”.
Miraculously, though the Ajadhind train by which they were supposed
to go to Howrah on 21st June got cancelled, they were very determined and
managed to get confirmed tatkal tickets for the next train by the divine will
of the Lord. A few of them did not even mind the trouble to travel by general
bogie to reach the holy abode. When the train reached Bilaspur, the entire
railway station was spiritualized by the roaring Kirtans lead by HG Mandali
Bhadra pr, along with book distribution by the students. Throughout the
journey, the devotees very well utilized the time, by Srila Prabhupad book
studying, discussions, Kirtans and lectures exhibiting the principle of ‘avyartha kalatvam’
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 Vedic Oasis for Inspiration Culture and Education
On the way from Howrah to Mayapur also, the devotees enthusiastically had morning program in
the bus itself. The bus swayed to and fro as the devotees danced inside. Later HG CCP spoke on ‘Golden
Avatar for the Iron age’ along with ppt where he described
the over whelming magnanimity of the Lord on the fallen
souls of kali yuga. The entered the Divine land at 12:30
noon, honored prasad at Gada kitchen and got ready for
the next events.
At Srila Prabhupad Samadhi auditorium, the
debates by various groups were held where students from
BVP raised the argument, “does worshipping God without
working give food?”, for which HG CCP answered, “How
much ever hard we work, if God does not give food we
can't get it”.

A glimpse of spiritual
world was experienced by the devotees on having the divine darshan
of Their Lordships Sri Radha Madhav, Sri Pancatattva, and Lord
Narsimhadev, while the temple hall was resounding with Bengali
accented sweet kitrans. This experience of first darshan went deep
into the hearts of all the devotees. Inspired by such atmosphere, the
boys enthusiastically woke up very early at 3:30 am daily, though
they were not used to. The quality of chanting was polished by the
“Japa workshop” seminars given by various senior brahmacharis.
At Gurukul, when they heard about the life style and schedule of the gurukul boys which was
completely vedic, Vaibhav from Mayapur VOICE repented, “How nice! If was
here from my childhood...!”. Many others also felt the same. However, they
were pacified and jubilant to hear HGCCP in the session “VOICE-Jet age
gurukul”, where he said that VOICE is serving the same purpose as a gurukul
in our colleges. HG Atul Krsna pr spoke on the topic ‘Bharat bhumite haila
manusa janma yara..’, where he told,
“Since Indians can tolerate inconveniences,
they can also tolerate the six urges and are
thus capable of guiding the whole world”. When the devotees went
through the diorama exhibition of pastimes of Srila Prabhupad, they
expressed deep gratitude for him for the sacrifice he did to save each
one of them. Drenched by the caranamrith of the Lord, the devotees
relished Ganges bath and offered
heartfelt prayers. Playing with the
cute calves at Goshala, the
boys felt, “How wonderful Devotees increase their chanting
Gokula dham would be, in the after the camp
company of cowherd boys!”. No of 16 rounder devotees 12
Devotees did not miss the No of 12 rounder devotees 7
opportunity and filled their No of 8 rounder devotees 7
bags with varieties of spiritual No of 4 rounder devotees 8
things like bead bags, deity laminations, maha prasad and carried their
sweet memories back to their home. Anurag from Mayapur VOICE said, “Before the golden avatar, gold
has no value. I am happy even though the schedule was a bit hectic”
- HG Revati pati pr

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 Vedic Oasis for Inspiration Culture and Education
Vaisnava Training Workshop – 2008
A day after the Utkarsh camp over 80 junior devotees and over 40 senior devotees from IITKGP,
NITJ, ITBHU, NITR, NITK and NITW reached Kharagpur (Krishnagatipur VOICE) for the most awaited VTW.
The event began on 17th May with wonderful lectures of HG Radheshyam Prabhu on Teachings of Prahlad
Maharaj on the eve of “Narasimha caturdashi”. Then the lectures on “Past life of Narada muni” enthused
devotees to render more and more services.
All junior devotees were divided in to four groups- Krsna,
Balaram, Gaur and Nitai. Each day began with Shiksastakam in early
morning hours followed by chanting, ecstatic Mangala arotik and morning
class. In the later part of the day, all the 4 groups were engaged in four
different vaisnava activities - cooking, singing, playing musical
instruments and cleanliness. Cooking was directed by HG Sankirtananda
Prabhu assisted by Ramanaraja, cooking in charge. Devotees learnt how
to cook halva, sweet rice, chapatti, few sabji and other special dishes
along with other kitchen services like sabji cutting and preparing milk.
HG Sundarshyam Pr mentored singing group along with Mukesh,
singing in charge. Apart from singing Nrisimha stuti, they have also
learnt various tunes. Simultaneously HG Sadayogi Pr taught the
enthusiastic devotees playing kartala and mridangam. Depicting the
principle that “Cleanliness is Godliness”, HG Amalpuran Pr delivered
special lectures on “Cleanliness”. The most amusing part of this part
is that lectures were actually demonstrations in the more messy areas
like cloth-line areas.
In the 12 day VTW, the four groups were trained in all the four
activities for 3 days each. While the junior devotees are learning ways
to practice lifestyle of a vaisnava and hearing lectures on various
other topics, senior devotees were engaged in services like prasadam serving, cleaning and cooking. Apart
from hearing lectures, there were Group presentations by all devotees on different topics in the Faith and
Doubt sessions.Devotees were also blessed with the association of HG Gauranga Pr with a Prerana lecture
on “Art of Happiness”. Weekends were spent with “Public Speaking Sessions” in which each devotee gives
a quarter-hour presentation followed by assessment by Bramhachari devotees. Many scored a good figure
out of 100.
One of the special features of this VTW is “Feasting and fasting”, which includes engagement to
everyone in kitchen services during regular feasting and fasting on the occasion of “Pandava Ekadashi”, a
new experience for all first year devotees. Another feature of VTW is dramas on various pastimes of Lord
and importance of Pandava Ekadashi or “Bheema Nirjala Ekadashi”.
Finally “Software Training Workshop” (STW) began on 2nd of
June. All the future engineers have learnt basic programming
languages like C++ and Java from leading professors of IIT Kharagpur.
Classes were accompanied with laboratory practice for half a day.
Devotees had a compact schedule during STW which lasted until 20th
of June. This hit the climax of the most important camp for all first year
devotees, VTW.
Apoorv Prakash, a senior devotee from IIT KGP says, “I am
delighted to see all the first years very enthusiastic and happy with
constant engagement in all kinds of services for the pleasure of Sri Sri
Radha Kunjabihari and Sri Sri Gaur Nitai”. Tushar Gupta, a devotee
from ITBHU says, “The way in which senior devotees cared for wellbeing of each and every junior devotee
was simply awe inspiring. They used to help us wake up, check our health, help us in any way they could
to make us feel better. They would even sleep on floors to let us sleep on beds. It was really a display of
true will and endeavor to please Guru and Gauranga and it yet again gives us all an inspiration that
how we can elevate ourselves in the process of Krsna Consciousness”.
VTW, which gives tremendous boost for a growing devotee would not have been a success without
hardships of many senior devotees from all VOICE’s and support of all first year devotees. Thanks to HG
Radheshyam Pr , HG Gauranga Pr, HG Advaita Acharya Pr, HG Chaitanya Charan Pr, HG Sankirtananda Pr,
HG Amalpuran Pr, HG Kesavananda Pr and all others who are involved in making VTW-2008 a great
success. “So let us engineer our lives with the tool of K.C. ” -Bh.Dhikshith Reddy, KGP VOICE

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-
Janma sardhaka kari kara para upakara
HG Radhe Shyam Prabhu’s visit to London and USA was brightly lit up
with his vigor in preaching and beautified with the spiritual enthusiasm of
devotees of the west who extended a warm welcome to him with immense
love and gratitude, where ever he went.
HG RSP at London:
Inspired to see the ‘Bhaktivedanta Manor’ at London, which was
donated by George Harrison to Srila Prabhupada and ‘Srila Prabhupada's
quarters’ where he stayed in 1977 before leaving this world, he said, “It is
spiritually very vibrant”. He got the opportunity to reach out to millions of
people through various TV and radio programs which were broadcasted in popular channels like BBC and
‘Deepam’ Tamil channel. He was very appreciative of pucca traffic system in London, seeing which he
said, “We can learn how to organize our things like these people, in a pucca way for Krishna's pleasure.
He offered guidance to devotees at Cambridge and Oxford universities on preaching policies for
youths to try in the six universities at London. The sadhana card which he introduced at ISKCON Pune
received immense appreciation by the devotees there. All Brahmachari
both at London and New York were cheered up and amazed to hear
that devotees at Pune get 80% plus in such a sadhana card. They all
agreed to put it into implementation there also.
HG RSP at New York: He went to Srila Prabhupada's 'Matchless Gift'
store, saw Srila Prabhupada's room on first floor behind the storefront,
saw that historical tree under which SP did the first Harinam and
gathered hundreds of youths. “At 'Matchless gift' storefront, I chanted
one round with full desperation for mercy and empowerment to preach
to modern youths” said HG RSP. He said “when I sang, 'Paashcaatya
desha taarine' I felt the presence of Srila Prabhupada very strongly, as
this is the place he made this statement true by fulfilling the order of his guru”.
With a grateful heart HG Lokadhyaksha pr, a devotee whose house HG RSP visited said, “We feel
that your coming to our house has been a turning point in our lives. We
always desired and prayed to Krishna that some day we can get trained
by one of your servants in Krishna consciousness and preaching. We
desired that if we can't get the opportunity in this life, then let us be
reborn as a brahmachari in your temple.”
Cornell University: He summarized his purpose of going there -“I came
here to get a first hand experience and knowledge of college, culture,
feasibility of preaching etc and to meet the handful of sincere students
connected to Anoop”. There he was excited to find bright preaching
prospects like enthusiastic students and possibility of getting a room in
the church campus for a VOICE building because they're open minded to offer facilities for spiritually
interested students.
Seattle: He was very happy to hear from devotees, their deep heartfelt
gratitude to HG Tulasi pr and his good wife, who inspired all of them
through their weekly programs, personal behavior, Vaisnava qualities,
love and care. All through their trip, HG Govinda P, HG Gauranga p and
HG RSP relished one another’s association, shared their realizations and
had many transcendental exchanges.
Arizona state university: he delivered seminar to a group of youths. He
was very appreciative of strenuous and dedicated efforts of HG Govinda
Dutta pr in preaching single handedly at ASU. Stanford University also
became a venue of his preaching to over 70-80 youths, who he felt were
the best and largest well received youth program in USA.

HG RSP then visited New Vrindavan, where he took exclusive time to visit holy places of Guru Maharaja’s
pastimes. At Chicago, he met HH RNSM, who received him with big smile and a warm embrace. Though
Guru Maharaj is fully busy with his second book, on 'Bhakti Wisdom in Vedic scriptures', he gave
association to HG RSP. HH RNSM offered them the service of setting up the temple hall for 3 hrs, and they

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did it very blissfully. They all honored Prasad with maharaja at the same
table where he used to take in his childhood days. Maharaja told him to
go on such visits to west once a year. When they came to London back,
at Bhakti Vedanta manor, HH Lokanath Swami Maharaj drowned all of
them in nectarine kirtans and at the end glorified HG RSP for his sweet
singing and asked him to lead the kirtan.

Concluding the wonderful trip, he said “This travel gave me a

glimpse of how a sannyasi's life must be. My Lord! I just travelled just for
one month and sannyasis and gurus travel throughout the year like this!
How selfless they must be!”

-Sudhir, Mumbai

Shreshtha – Aman Prabhu

NAME : Bh. Aman Jain
About Aman : Aman is one of the dynamic devotees in IYF Pune, I
introduced to the path of Krsna Consciousness at IIT KGPVOICE during M.Tech.
Academic background: He has done M.Tech dual degree from IIT Kharagpur in
Electronics. During his IIT days, he interned at University of Notre dame near
Chicago in USA and also at University of Bologna, Italy. Based on the research
work, his published a paper in SPIE International Conference in Orlando, USA.
He was also the captain of IIT KGP lawn tennis team.
Spiritual interests: Preaching, associating with devotees, serving Prasad,
reading SP books.
Let us hear from dear Aman Prabhu about his experiences in Krsna Consciousness.
Q: Hare Krsna Aman pr! How were you introduced to KC?
Aman: I came to KC in my fourth year of college. Before coming, I had no interest in God and religion.
One of my good friends told me that we get puri sabji in Voice, so I came for a weekly program by HG
RSP. When I saw HG RSP for the first time, I was immediately attracted to his powerful personality and
his wonderful presentation of KC philosophy.
Q: How did VOICE help in your personal life?
Aman: After coming to Voice, my heart was really touched seeing the wonderful dealings between
devotees. I had stayed over 3 years in hostel, so I was used to all kinds materialistic ways of life,
centered on selfishness. But at VOICE, I saw how devotees were so loving, caring and personnel to each
other. They were so soft and gentle hearted people always encouraging one another. Also after coming to
KC, we get the knowledge to derive the essence from everything. We may work in big MNC get a good
salary but do not caught in the vicious bad habits like other young IT people. Rather we are able to
contribute to society in a better way, giving regular donation to temple and organizing programs for IT
people.
Q: How did the association of devotees benefit you?
Aman: HG Revatipati pr & HG ARP really gave me lot of love and care and helped me to gradually
understand and apply the sublime KC philosophy in my life. I made special friendship with HG BGP and
because of his merciful association, I was able to come out of the gutter of hostel life and embrace the
pure & selfless Krishna conscious lifestyle at VOICE
Q: What are your experiences in KC after your college life?
Aman: Now having been practicing KC for almost 5 years, when I look back I see KC has helped in all my
different phases of life. I spent more than 1 year staying in Mathura Voice and preaching in MIT College.
It was a really blissful experience preaching the wonderful KC philosophy to young college students. We
used to go early morning to hostel and wake up the boys and get them for Mangala Aarti in Voice. I could
really see myself evolving as a preacher giving DYS sessions to so many students. Especially one gets
such amazing satisfaction in seeing others getting transformed and accepting the wonderful process of
KC.
Q: Can you tell us about your Krishna Conscious life after you got married?

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Aman: I got married 5 months back. Really I have seen that by putting Krsna in the centre of our homes,
life becomes so blissful. I heard a beautiful statement “Between the couple there is divine couple”. My
conviction in the process of KC has really increased after marriage. KC is not simply philosophy but it is a
complete culture. Every Friday evening, my wife takes a program for children and I take a youth program
for students of AIT. It is such a wonderful life where both of us are trying to become instruments in the
hands of Guru and Krsna others. Also we learn to tolerate and forgive others which are very important
aspects of married life. Materialists because of not being trained in KC culture run into so much problems
in their family life. Thanks to Srila Prabhupad!
In the end I would say “KC is the process which is an abode of fulfillment of all our desires”.
Thank you Aman pr!

EASY Monthly membership schemes:

Diamond member : 25% of monthly earnings
Platinum member : 20% of monthly earnings
Golden member : 15% of monthly earnings
Silver member : 10% of monthly earnings
Bronze member : 05% of monthly earnings

Editorial Board
HG Radheshyam Das, M.Tech, IIT Bombay & Director, VOICE
HG Chaitanyacharan Das, B.E, COEP, Pune
Siddharth, Ph.D, Arizona state university, USA
Anurag Kumar Pandey, Arabinda, Sandeep Gera, Sudhir
2024 readers this month! To invite your friends mail to anurag.1987@gmail.com
For helping us Enlighten (more) Aimless Suffering Youth, contact EASY@voicepune.com or +919881235254
Vedic Oasis for Inspiration Culture and Education (VOICE),
4-Tarapore Road, next to Dastur’s Boys School, Camp Pune-01

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