“SRI SURABHI” APP LAUNCHING MAKARA SANKRANTI – JANUARY 15, 2018

tratavyah prathamam gavas

tratas trayanti ta dvijan |

gobrahmana paritrane

paritratam jagad bhavet ||

“First of all cows should be protected.

Cows thus protected, will in turn protect the brahmanas.

Thus when protection of cows and brahmanas is achieved,

then the whole world is protected.” [1]

[1] Harivamsha Maha Puranam, Part I, Harivamsha Parva //1. 55.31

HH RP Bhakti Rāghava Swāmi, Minister IDVM-India, welcomed all the devotees personally present and those who were online to witness the launch of Sri Surabhi App—a maiden effort by the Ministry—to educate about not only cow care or attention but also about the whole “cow culture”. Vedic culture is based on cow culture and cow economy as well. The App is being launched today coinciding with the auspicious occasion of Makara Sankranti.

I thank the few donors who made this possible especially the major donors comprising of Sri Krishna Purushottama prabhu, Sridam prabhu, and Sripati prabhu.  We also have a small team headed by Shubhananda Hari prabhu and a few other devotees like Yadhava Hari prabhu from Indonesia in helping coordinate the development of the App. This is the first time this is being tried and it requires still some work to be completed nicely. The Sri Surabhi App will serve mainly as a “FRIEND RAISER” (involving devotees in various activities related to the OM Sri Surabhi Campaign) as well as a “FUND RAISER” (to support local village/rural projects and campaign initiatives).

The App will also provide information to various events that are taking place. One important section in the App is participation as members of Varnāsrama Research Teams (VRT). These teams are meant to meet on a regular basis along the lines of a “bhakti vriksha”, simply it will be more centered on the varnsarama theme. A special feature of the App will be a new rendering of the OM Sri Surabhi mantra that is being made available by a group of devotees from Bali in Indonesia.

Today we are having a soft launching of the App and we plan to have a major launching in Mayapur sometime in middle of February 2018, the details of which will be made available later.

One of the other features of the App will be weekly quotes not only from Srila Prabhupāda but from other members of society also. In addition, we will also share the contents from an important book compiled by Hare Krishna dasi, “Speaking About Varnāsrama”—a collection of various conversations and instructions of Srila Prabhupāda on varnāsrma dharma.

We take this opportunity to invite all the devotees to download and also share the Sri Surabhi App with your friends. The App also has various links to our Video Presentations and PPTs produced during the Golden Jubilee celebrations of ISKCON in the year 2016. We also plan to share many other videos recorded in the past and also fresh videos on various themes relating to the Varnāsrama Mission. I invite devotees to share details either in video format or PPTs on activities relating to rural projects, Varnāsrama College or Gurukulas.

To conclude, I once again thank all the devotees who are involved now and will be involved in the future to promote this mission. Please send your feedback on any improvements or any items to be included.

We plan to expand the App in the coming months. For now, various levels of membership are available only to devotees in India due to logistic reasons although our Basic Membership is open to all as of now. Devotees may download the App from Google Play.

Thank you all for participating in this important event.

Srila Prabhupāda ki Jai!

“Save our Cows”, “Save our Villages”, “Save our Culture”

Prepared by Rasa Mandala dasa