Vedic Oasis for Inspiration Culture and Education

Issue: 002 Date: 21/07/07 The VOICE Messenger

Srila Prabhupada Uvacha…...

Srila Prabhupäda: “This Krisna consciousness movement means preaching. Without preaching, one can have no
taste. And without taste, you won’t be able to go on with this Hari Hari Bol. If you don’t preach, in a few years
after I leave, there will be no more Hare Krisna movement. Because no one is preaching in the churches, they
are all closing up. So why don’t you get serious about this preaching work? Practically speaking, my Guru
Mahäräja has invented this movement for that purpose. My ambition is that you make a revolution against this
godless society. That is my mission. That is why I continue on, even at this advanced age. We want to guide
everyone. So you have to know my books. Read and preach—both things must be there—then you will have
potency. Preaching means fighting” (Conversation, 12/12/73)

VOICE/YOGA Summer Camps 2007…….

Vaishnava Training workshop (VTW) NIT Warangal, IT BHU, NIT Jamshedpur, Pune
attended the program. Simultaneously a new
& Software Training workshop (STW) additional aspect of software training in C, C++ and
JAVA, was arranged by final year IIT Devotees.
.. A Historic Event...
“VTW/STW is one of the most special annual VTW/STW- 2007
events hosted by Krishnagatipur VOICE, which This time one-month VTW/STW was held from
aims at training the youths nationwide in the 20th May to 24th June. The main attraction of STW
Vaishnava culture and philosophy along with other was to have IIT Professors for teaching the devotees
skills like software aptitude and personality in software skills utilizing computer facility of labs
development. Public speaking, dramas, interactive and course certification by IIT. If this could be
lectures, classes in cooking and music skills, done, then anyone would be happy to join our
services, management, etc and all aspects of the life STW-VTW program every year as it affords a
of a trainee devotee get enriched leading to amazing spiritual and academic advantage. By the hard work
advancement”, says Sattyadarshi a second year Prof. Kanchan Chowdhary Pr, Bh Pavan VSK and
student of B.tech from IIT Kharagpur. Bh Ashish Agrawal, Prof. Rajadatta of Electronics
dept. agreed to the proposal “This conforms, KC is
Highlights of the past years: very amazing and full of adventures”, says Ashish
Initially the workshop started in Dec 2004 holidays Agarwal, a 4th Yr student of Mechanical
for two weeks with 15 KGP and IT-BHU students. engineering from IIT Kharagpur.
In 2005 the workshop was arranged for one month Another specialty was for the first time
duration. During the workshop HG Jananivas Pr accommodation for most of the students was
visit was very special. Last year 65 first year arranged in IIT hostel, where Prasadam was made
students from various institutes like NIT Suratkal, available in the mess.

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VTW-2007 (20th to 28th May) sultry scorching summers of Kharagpur nectarine.
Life was busy at Krishnagatipur VOICE. After an By the mercy of the Lord we could clearly see in
enjoyable morning program lectures for both every leaving devotee the qualities that would make
seniors and 1st year devotees encouraged him a worthy leader for spreading the mission of
participation by involved group assignments, topics Prabhupada and Lord Chaitanya,” says Bh Pankaj a
starting from basic philosophy to various qualities 2nd year engineering student from COEP Pune. The
of devotees like humility, Vaishnava relationships very next day, boys left to Mayapur for annual
were discussed. UTKARSH festival.
-Report Submitted by Bh Ashish Agarwal and Bh Aporav
Daytime included preparatory ‘C’ classes by Bh
(Krishnagatipur VOICE)
Indresh (KGP VOICE Alumni) & Bh Satyadarshi
(2nd yr IIT KGP) whereas Bhagavatam classes were
arranged for the seniors. The weekly Boys VOICE Preachers and Managers Forum
meetings helped many students in gaining “In order to execute any task one needs special
confidence for speaking what they learnt in spiritual abilities and skills. It is therefore necessary to fan
life and giving public presentations. Sadhna card the spark if one possesses it. This Preachers and
system was introduced to regularize the spiritual Managers forum will be the step towards training
life. tomorrow’s leaders”, says Bh Rammohan, Project
Manager Infosys. The speaker HG Radheshyam pr
STW-2007, (29th May to 15th June) discussed three points in the first meeting,
Course Inaugurated by Dean – IIT
1) Need of management for a spiritualist-
At ISKCON, we want to propagate the substance of
KC to a larger society. We want to first learn,
practice and then preach it through the medium of
book distribution, Govindas, Festivals, College
program, Children programs etc. Such outreach to
people involves organizational effort. Thus hard
work combined with management skills to
channelise those efforts, guided by a great vision to
reach out to the masses becomes necessary.

The most fascinating event was the course

inauguration at Electronics Dept, by Prof. Bani
Chatterjee - Dean Continuing Education and HOD
Electronics Dept, Prof. Raja Dutta. Bh Pavan VSK
– represented the VOICE and gave presentation on
objectives of the workshop. The cause was aptly
appreciated by IIT authorities who were happy at
such an endeavor. Dean thanked VOICE for
organizing the course and said “VOICE has given a
chance to IIT Kharagpur to help students from
various prestigious colleges of India”.
The course included intensive Software Training
during daytime followed by 2 hr study slot
regularly. The course was concluded with 2) Preaching manager and managing manager
Certificate distribution by HOD, Electronics Dept. Preaching manager is one who preaches to the
people, delights in studying and speaking scriptures
“With a hope to come again, we left Kharagpur
and thus he manages. Whereas managing manager
with many added facets in our spiritual lives and
will have a brahminical board that will give
missing the rare association, which made even the
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spiritual knowledge but he himself will be a then person becomes inside & outside same.
manager. The speaker HG Radheshyam pr presented eight
In order to manage efficiently one needs inner practical tips for positive thinking, which are
strength, ability, and integrity. He mentioned that, 1. Give up unreasonable expectation
management has to be kept minimum and preaching 2. Right definition of success
maximum… shravanam kirtanam smaranam 3. Give-up unhealthy comparison.
3) Leader, Manager and producer 4. Count the blessings of god upon you.
A Leader is visionary and a Manager manages a 5. Don't be bothered about what world thinks of you
group of devotees to make that vision happen. A 6. Tolerate the svabhava or nature of others.
producer is one who expertly does the work, 7. Give up blame game: see sunny side of people
himself. 8. Desires should not be expressed/ suppressed, but
HG Radheshyam Prabhu mentioned that “actual should be sublimated.
preaching is-to instill faith in heart of people to The speaker mentioned that there is a wide gap
chant the Holy Name. He also pointed out that, between expectations and actual reality because of
before going for action we should first have clear this stress and in turn fear is created. Instead of
vision”. We want to become servant leaders to becoming greedy we should count the blessings
accomplish great goals for the pleasure of Srila which God has given to us. We need to learn to
Prabhupad. transfer material desires to spiritual ones. He clearly
mentioned who is poor and rich. If our assets are
1st Saturday youth meeting less than our desires then we are poor. He
Topic: Eight practical tips for positive thinking concluded at the end “if we give positive inputs
In the modern times people are going on externals then positive outputs are expected”.
ex. shaking hand, plastic smile etc. When one has
qualities/virtues like truthfulness, honesty, loyalty
Preaching in Kota-July 2007
Why preach in Kota?
Kota is situated in south eastern Rajasthan and is the second biggest city after Jaipur. Students preparing for
IIT-JEE, AIEEE and various other competitive exams including medical come here from every part of India in
the hope of getting their dreams fulfilled. There are around 1 lakh students here in the age group of 17-22.
There are about 35,000 students preparing for IIT-JEE alone.
Most of the students who prepare for IIT-JEE either end up in one of the IIT’s or the top NIT’s and colleges
like IT-BHU etc. Since we have VOICE centers in some of the top NIT’s, IIT KGP, IT-BHU and many more
will come up in the future, preaching in Kota has long term benefits and every VOICE can benefit with some
readymade devotees coming in from.
Realizing the tremendous potential for preaching here, HG Acharyaratna Pr came last year with a group of
six devotees and organized a two day program for the boys.

Activities and Events, July 2007

Day Special Events
DAY 1 ¾ Wonderful drama in the beginning itself (the story of the very famous bhola bhala who
fell prey to the tricks of his mind but whose mind later on became a devotee)
¾ ‘MIND YOUR MIND’ PPT by HG Chaitanya Charan Pr.
¾ Inspiring talk by ten IIT devotees who spoke their realizations on “Why chant Hare
Krishna?” fallowed by Mantra meditation in chorus for 5 minutes.
DAY 2 ¾ Seminar on the topic of “Time Management” presented by the IIT KGP devotees
¾ Two small skits to further illustrate the Housekeeping and Time Wasting concepts.
fallowed by Mantra meditation in chorus for 5 minutes.

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DAY 3 ¾ Counseling session where IIT student devotees interacted personally with students.
¾ We presented Study Tips on “How to study for IIT-JEE & exam day analysis” prepared
from the valuable tips given by some of our experienced devotees who had prepared for
JEE in Kota.
¾ We also gave them modified version of our sadhana card to help them manage their time &
asked them to sms or mail their scores to us every week or month to keep them accountable.
Special Features
¾ The talk by IIT devotees on “Why chant hare Krishna?” was a big hit with the students. Since the
students were looking for ways to improve their concentration, memory power etc the devotees
presented the process of mantra meditation as the best means to improve memory, focusing ability.
These are some insignificant by-product benefits that chanting Hare Krsna gives, although it’s real
goal is to offer the chanter Krsna prema, Love of God.
¾ After the chanting session a total of 238 beads were sold.
¾ Despite heavy rains, the programs received an overwhelming response with many students staying
back to ask questions after the sessions.
Sl No Session No of participants
1 MIND YOUR MIND – morning session 250
2 MIND YOUR MIND – evening session 150
3 TIME MANAGEMENT – morning session 180
4 TIME MANAGEMENT – afternoon session 150
5 COUNSELING – morning session 16
6 COUNSELING – afternoon session 14

¾ The book sales was also excellent with HG Chaitannya Charan Prabhu’s latest release
“Spiritual Scientist – Selected Newspaper Articles” being the best seller.
Sl No Name of book Number distributed
1 Stress Management 239
2 AOMC 275
3 PTMC 97
4 DYS 53
5 Spiritual Scientist newspaper articles book 50
Nectar:
¾ HG CCP spoke the ESCAPE formula to control the mind :
E – Give up unrealistic Expectations,
S – Have right definition of Success,
C – Give up unhealthy Comparison,
A – Appreciate God’s blessings,
P – Be Principled; don’t worry too much about worldly opinion,
E – Endure difficulties through faith.

Some Benefits of chanting Hare Krishna as explained by IIT devotees:

One devotee mentioned that the mind is like a swift flowing river, very difficult to control and the two banks
are like our parents and teachers who guide us; the third most important factor in controlling river flow is a dam
which is compared to God who can help us in controlling our mind. So we must build the dam of God to
control our mind by mantra meditation.
Another devotee mentioned that along with physics, chemistry and mathematics there is another vital factor
in getting through JEE, that is mental stability. There are so many cases of brilliant students getting tensed in exam
& going completely blank or unable to perform to their expectations. And the best way to achieve mental stability
is by chanting Hare Krishna.
-Report Submitted by Bh Arjun (Krishnagatipur VOICE)
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Special Achievements…….
1) Bh Vivek Agrawal (3rd Year Computer Engg) from GGD VOICE has got placed in TCS
2) Bh Manish Singh (3rd Year Chemical Engg) from GGD VOICE has got placed in Wipro
3) Bh Rambharat K from NIT Jamshedpur VOICE got placed in TCS.
4) Bh Gaurav Srivastav from NIT Jamshedpur VOICE got placed in Wipro.
5) Bh Ravinandan Prasad from NIT Jamshedpur VOICE got placed in Accenture.
6) Bh Nirajkumar from NIT Jamshedpur VOICE got placed in BOC.
7) Bh Saurabh Khatri with CGPA 8.6 Topped for 1st Year in Electrical Engg from COEP Pune.
8) Bh Omkar got 3rd rank with CGPA8.23, 1st Year in Electrical Engg from COEP Pune.
.
Hare Krishna to you…birth day celebrations

Sr. No Name Of Devotee Birth date VOICE / YOGA

1 Bh Dnynesh Kabra 15 July GGD VOICE
2 Bh Ullas 19 July Krsihnagatipur VOICE
3 Bh Sravan Reddy 27 July Krsihnagatipur VOICE
4 Bh Raghav 30 July Krsihnagatipur VOICE

Upcoming Events… HG Krsihna Smaran Pr’s visit to Pune

Sr. No Name Of Event Date Time

1 Preachers and Mangers Forum –“Qualities of a KC 28 July 8:00 am to 9:30 am
Leader”-By HG Krishna smaran Pr
2 Youth meet on “Mercy”- By HG Krsihna smarana Pr“ 28 July 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm
(For all 16 rounder devotees)
3 4th Saturday Youth Meeting on “TRANSFORM …..your 28 July 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Worst Enemy into your best Friend” By HG Chaitannya
Charan Pr
4 Sunday feast Lecture on “Realizations in KC-What is the 29 July 10:30 am to 12:30
secret”? By HG Krishnasmaran Pr pm

“Arpan” for NVCC……

Sr. No No of Sq fetes collected VOICE/YOGA

1 50 Vrindavan
2 40 Mithila
3 14 Murlidhar
4 08 Karunasindhu
5 05 Atmanivedan

-Overall report prepared by Bh Rajshekhar

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kindly send email to [email protected] and [email protected]

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