OM SRI SURABHYAI NAMAH! OM SRI GURAVE NAMAH!
JULY 2015
Montreal, Ottawa, and Metropolitan Toronto
Every year, July 1 is celebrated as “Canada Day” in the Capital City of Ottawa. After attending this festival I travelled to Toronto for scheduled programs in Brampton, Scarborough and finally at the Toronto temple itself showing our Surabhi Campaign Video Documentary at all three places. At the Montreal temple, we were also able to show our documentary promoting Mother Surabhi.
Scandinavian Bhakti Sangam Festival
From July 10th to 20th I was visiting Sweden having been invited by Devaki mataji to attend their yearly Scandinavian Bhakti Sangam Festival held at the Almvik Village community. After attending the Ratha Yatra festival in Stockholm on July 11th, I spend the remaining days at the Almvik Village where some 150 devotees attended various seminars during the day and held three hours Kirtan Mela every evening. The Evaluation Questionnaire circulated at the end of the seminar I presented on Varnasrama Dharma revealed that many devotees were very much supportive of the need to propagate the need for self-sufficient and sustainable communities as being promoted by the organizers of the OM Sri Surabhi Campaign.
Saranagati Village in Western Canada
After returning to Montreal on the 20th, I planned to visit Western Canada and left Montreal on the 26th to spend a few days at the Vancouver temple and on the 28th traveled to the largest rural community we have in Canada, Saranagati Village, located some 3 hours east of Vancouver. My host at Saranagati was my Godbrother, Sriman Bala Krishna prabhu who made all arrangements for my comfortable stay in one of his Guest Log Cabins. The main event during my stay was the arrival of a new bull to help populate the small herd of zebu cows the devotees had purchased last year. We held a Go Puja and named the bull “Manu”.
Cambodia Video on Go Puja
Devotees in Cambodia are very enthusiastic to protect cows even though till now they don’t have their own cows. They produced their first in a series of documentaries performing Go Puja for the pleasure of Mother Surabhi. Although they don’t have their own Goshala, they have made friendship with local Hindu community who protect cows and have been offering special care and attention to these cows to the great delight of the local owners.
AUGUST 2015
From Saranagati Village, I returned to Vancouver on August 7 and attended the Vancouver temple’s 42nd Ratha Yatra Festival on the 9th of August where we set up a booth promoting various cow products and other varnasrama based literatures. One enthusiastic devotee, disciple of Srila Prabhupada, Radhika mataji, became inspired to make an attractive poster announcing a series of lectures promoting Varnasrmaa College that she will give for the local devotees.
Visiting “Mother Farms” in Moscow and Ukraine
I left for my visit to Russia on August 19th arriving in Moscow the next day, meeting with the Surabhi Campaign Continental Coordinator for Europe, Yamuna Prana prabhu. After spending a few days on his large 1000 hectares farm located some 190 KM from Moscow, on August 22 we traveled to Ukraine by road. The 23rd is a Sunday I attended the Sunday Feast at the ISKCON Kiev temple speaking on the theme of the Surabhi Campaign and that same evening left to visit Yamuna Prana prabhu’s second Mother Farm in Ukraine. Devotees at his farm have their own cows and with the milk from local farmers produce various natural products such as ghee, yogurt, cheese, and butter.
Ukraine Bhakti Sangam Festival
On the 25th both Yamuna Prana prabhu and I traveled to the Bhakti Sangam Festival located at a special resort place some 200 from Kiev joining some 4000 devotees in their annual Kirtan Mela. For the following few days, I gave some seminars promoting our OM Sri Surabhi Campaign and meeting with various devotees eager to know more about our efforts. On the 30th of August, I left for Malaysia where I had to stay a few days to obtain my Visa for Indonesia. I arrived in Yogyakarta on September 4th.
Indonesia Peduli Surabhi Network (IPSN)
On Balarama Jayanti held August 28th, devotees in Bali under the inspiration of Guna Avatara prabhu inaugurated the organization “Indonesia Peduli Surabhi Network” (IPSN) by having 108 Go Puja ceremonies that day with all the temples and various householders all over Indonesia. Part of their effort is to hold a monthly Go Puja on every Purnima. For more details, you may visit the following link on our website: http://www.srisurabhi.org/latestnews/launch-of-ipsn/
SEPTEMBER 2015
“Yogya Surabhi Goshala” Inaugurated
In Yogyakarta devotees have a small Goshala with one bull named Kisora that has been cared for by the devotees for over 12 years. To help increase awareness about care and service to cows, we held a special Go Puja ceremony giving an official name to the Goshala “Yogya Surabhi Goshala”. All the student inmates of Since close to 20 years Yogyakarta, known as the Student Capital of Indonesia, has been the home for the temple’s Narayana Smritih Asrama where devotees from all over Indonesia come and stay. All the students participated in the Go Puja function with great enthusiasm.
First Farm and Cow Conference in India, September 22 to 24
Devotees from IDVM-India and the Ministry for Cow Protection and Agriculture joined forces to organize the very first all India Farm and Cow Conference held from September 22 to 24 at Nilachal Dham, a rural project under the ISKCON Juhu Temple overseen by Sriman Damodar Dulal prabhu who happens to be the Minister for Cow Protection and Agriculture. One can read about the successful event at the following link on our OM Sri Surabhi Campaign website: http://www.srisurabhi.org/conference/report-on-the-1st-national-conference-on-farms-and-cows/
Historical Go Puja in Denpasar, Bali
On August 23, I traveled to Bali staying at the Gaura Hari Ashram in the district of Gianyar meeting with prabhu Kisora who is the National Coordinator for the Surabhi Campaign in Indonesia. I also met with prabhu Guna Avatara who is the Co-National Coordinator for Cambodia. I came to know that the following day, Ekadasi, a special Go Puja was being organized as part of the yearly Ganesh Puja held for the last 9 years at the ancient Jagannatha Pura. A few devotees along with myself arrived just in time for the ceremony. We had an opportunity to meet Dr. Arya Vedakarna, one of the prominent and outspoken figures in Bali, who is Senator and referred to as The King of Bali. He was officiating at the ceremony attended by various dignitaries. During his speech, he strongly spoke for the protection of cows declaring that Bali should become the first province in Indonesia to put a total ban on cow slaughter.
“Gaurahari Surabhi Goshala” Inaugurated
While in Bali, we performed Go Puja at the Sri Sri Radha Govinda temple in Gianyar and gave an official name to their Goshala, GAURA HARI GOSHALA where three cows are protected.
Global Surabhi Go Sevakas
During the month of September we inaugurated the Global Surabhi Go Sevakas group on WhatsApp asking devotees to send the names of their Goshala as well as the name of the Go Sevaka. All devotees having cows are encouraged to make a banner naming their Goshala with the name Surabhi. Devotees from Indonesia have very enthusiastically taken this project to heart and have already designed 7 banners for the following Goshalas in Indonesia:
Lalit Pura Seva Kunja Goshala (3 cows) on the island of Kalimantan
Gaurahari Surabhi Goshala (3 cows) on the island of Bali
Kanai Puri Surabhi Goshala (3 cows) on the island of Sumbawa
Prabhu Jatayu Surabhi Goshala (1 cow) on the island of Sumatra
Sri Sri Radha Rasesvara Goshala (9 cows) on the island of Bali
Nitai Gauranga Surabhi Goshala (4 cows) on the island of Bali
Dharma Vaisnava Surabhi Goshala (1 cow0 on the island of Sumatra
Yogya Surabhi Goshala (1 cow) on the island of Java
By the end of next month, Indonesia should have a head count of all the cows being cared for by devotees and all places will have their banner announcing the name of their local Goshala. We are in the process of expanding this initiative to the entire Asian continent and then globally.
I am sure there are many more activities that took place during this period. For example, a lot of new changes and innovations to our website has been made by our Webmaster Syamananda prabhu. Also, Sri Krishna Purusottama prabhu has been working on the Sustainable Eco Alliance (SEA.Inc.) for which we expect some important news in the months to come. We have been in contact with the four current Continental Coordinators and hope that we can find devotees who can help cover the two remaining continents, namely South America and Australasia.
I request those who have positions as Surabhi Campaign Coordinators (either continental or national) to send in your Bi-Monthly Reports so that all such information can be shared to all concerned.
Thank you for your kind attention. Krsne matir astu.
Surabhi Mata Ki Jaya! Srila Prabhupada Ki Jaya!
Submitted October 3, 2015
RP Bhakti Raghava Swami
