OUT OF THIS WORLD

October was another good month here at Pandavas Paradise. The rains came, the flowers bloomed, and our garden provided many delicious items for offering to our beautiful deities of Sri Yoga Nrsimha and Sri Sri Gaura Nitai.

In our modern society, people struggle to enjoy the complicated and unsatisfying fruits of the industrial food industry, filled with added artificial flavourings, contaminated by pesticides, and packaged in non-biodegradable plastic. Meanwhile, with just a little effort our simple organic garden gives great rewards. One of the greatest satisfactions in life is to eat fresh, healthy foods from your own garden. Even more satisfying is to understand that this food has been provided by God himself through his natural arrangements in this world, and to offer it to God with love before we eat.

This month’s tasty offerings included

Blackberries:

Strawberries:

Mulberries:

Chilies:

as well as bananas, tomatoes, carrots, beetroot, and many varieties of herbs.

Our altar decorations included

Plumeria/frangipani (these are the pink ones, but we also have the white/yellow ones):

Jasmine:

Roses:

Our night Jasmine was also in bloom and would fill the temple with its intoxicating fragrance during our evening arati.

We weren’t the only ones enjoying the opulence of nature. One day I got caught in the rain, and sheltered by one of our guesthouse buildings. The rain brought out the insects, and the birds swept through the air catching the insects to eat. This reminded me of how Krishna provides for everyone, even the birds.

Here is a related verse from the Srimad Bhagavatam, along with Srila Prabhupada’s very relevant purport:

SB 4.14.20
The Supreme Personality of Godhead is worshiped by the great demigods, controllers of universal affairs. When He is satisfied, nothing is impossible to achieve. For this reason all the demigods, presiding deities of different planets, as well as the inhabitants of their planets, take great pleasure in offering all kinds of paraphernalia for His worship.

PURPORT
All Vedic civilization is summarized in this verse: all living entities, either on this planet or on other planets, have to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead by their respective duties. When He is satisfied, all necessities of life are automatically supplied. In the Vedas it is also stated: eko bahunam yo vidadhati kaman (Katha Upanisad 2.2.13). From the Vedas we understand that He is supplying everyone’s necessities, and we can actually see that the lower animals, the birds and the bees, have no business or profession, yet they are not dying for want of food. They are all living in nature’s way, and they all have the necessities of life provided — namely eating, sleeping, mating and defending.

Human society, however, has artificially created a type of civilization which makes one forgetful of his relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Modern society even enables one to forget the Supreme Personality of Godhead’s grace and mercy. Consequently modern civilized man is always unhappy and in need of things. People do not know that the ultimate goal of life is to approach Lord Visnu and satisfy Him. They have taken this materialistic way of life as everything and have become captivated by materialistic activities. Indeed, their leaders are always encouraging them to follow this path, and the general populace, being ignorant of the laws of God, are following their blind leaders down the path of unhappiness. In order to rectify this world situation, all people should be trained in Krsna consciousness and act in accordance with the varnasrama system. The state should also see that the people are engaged in satisfying the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is the primary duty of the state. The Krsna consciousness movement was started to convince the general populace to adopt the best process by which to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead and thus solve all problems.

Introduction
The Devi Ashram is a new International Vaishnavi Training and Retreat Centre in Brazil that will offer ladies of all ages an opportunity to come and learn or teach all aspects of a Krishna conscious lifestyle, or just relax and read/study Srila Prabhupada’s books in a good devotional atmosphere. The resident students at the ashram will receive training in the philosophy of the Bhagavad-gita and Srimad Bhagavatam, and learn to cook, give classes, worship deities, preach, play our traditional instruments, lead kirtans, even grow their own vegetables, and more. Those who come for reading retreats will be free to participate in all student activities or simply relax and study Prabhupada’s books. All the ladies at the Devi Ashram will also be able to take advantage of our nature trails, fresh water pools and waterfalls.

We are an ISKCON project located in the beautiful natural surroundings of Pandavas Paradise (Paraíso dos Pândavas) at Chapada dos Veadeiros, a famous eco-tourism and spiritual-tourism destination about two hours from Brasilia, the capital of Brazil. The temperatures are warm all year round, the air is clean, and the water at our natural pools and waterfalls is crystal clear. We have various nature trails for taking walks in the most bio-diverse savanna on the planet, and many types of fruits and vegetables are growing in our organic garden.

Ashram leader wanted
We are looking for a female ashram leader to begin in December 2009 or January 2010. This is a temporary position for 6 months only.

The main duties of the ashram leader will be to
- oversee the daily activities of the other ashram members, students and guests
- provide some spiritual guidance to those under her care
- give classes on Bhagavad-gita and Srimad Bhagavatam
- teach some basic practical aspects of Krishna conscious life
- ensure that all the ashram members are following the rules of the ashram
- participate and assist in our regular spiritual retreats

The ideal candidate will be initiated, have some ashram experience, be well-read in Srila Prabhupada’s books, be able to work with ladies of all ages from all backgrounds and at all levels of experience in Krishna consciousness, and speak either Spanish or Portuguese as well as English.

In return for her service, the ashram leader will receive healthy prasada, comfortable single room accommodation and basic maintenance during her stay with us. We will also pay in full for her round trip to Brasilia provided she stays for a whole six months.

This is a great opportunity for anyone looking to perform some pioneering preaching service in a unique and exciting new project.

Openings for ashram residents and students
We are also open for applications from potential ashram residents and students for stays of up to 6 months beginning January 2010 or later. The main qualifications for acceptance are
- a serious commitment to the process of Krishna consciousness
- a desire to serve Srila Prabhupada’s ISKCON

The main duties of ashram residents and students are to:
- participate in the ashram’s training activities and temple programs
- follow the rules of the ashram and the ashram leader
- participate and assist in retreats at Pandavas Paradise
- study Prabhupada’s books independently for at least 1.5 hours every day

Ashram residents will be expected to pay a minimal monthly fee in return for the training, accommodation and prasada that they receive. Some yoga classes will also be provided.

We are able to cater to individual requirements in terms of study, service, diet, sleeping arrangements etc. – your stay with us will be highly personalized.

Visit us
Anyone interested in visiting the Devi Ashram for a short-term spiritual retreat, study break or to teach a course is also welcome to contact us for further information.

Contact
To apply or for further information on any of the above, please contact us through Carana Renu Dasi: cr@pandavas.org.br.

I am currently working toward establishing a unique and exciting new project for ISKCON: the Devi Ashram, an International Vaishnavi Training and Retreat Centre.

Based in the beautiful natural environment of Pandavas Paradise (Paraíso dos Pândavas, Brazil), the Devi Ashram will offer ladies of all ages an opportunity to come and learn or teach all aspects of a Krishna conscious lifestyle, or just relax and read/study Prabhupada’s books in a good devotional atmosphere. The resident students at the ashram will receive training in the philosophy of the Bhagavad-gita and Srimad Bhagavatam, and learn to cook, give classes, worship deities, preach, play our traditional instruments, lead kirtans, even grow their own vegetables, and more. Those who come for reading retreats will be free to participate in all student activities or simply relax and study Prabhupada’s books. All the ladies at the Devi Ashram will also be able to take advantage of our nature trails and crystal clear water pools and waterfalls.

The infrastructure for the Devi Ashram is already in place. We have the rooms, beds, bathrooms, kitchen, temple room etc. What we need now are the teachers, students and visitors. I will be sending out a more official announcement and invitation for applications soon, but if you happen to be reading this un-official preview and you are interested in spending some time at the Devi Ashram, please contact me! (Carana.Renu.DAS@pamho.net) As an international centre, our main languages will be English, Portuguese and Spanish.

At Pandavas Paradise we are fortunate to have very comfortable temperatures all year round. We are able to cater to individual requirements in terms of study, service, diet, sleeping arrangements etc. – we offer a highly personalized program. We expect that most of our teachers and students will spend somewhere between 1-6 months with us (the maximum stay in Brazil for people from most countries is 6 months) but visitors will be welcome at any time for shorter periods.

So, if you think you might like to apply, visit, get involved, or just want to find out more, please contact me, Carana Renu dasi, at Carana.Renu.DAS@pamho.net or leave a comment below!

Tomorrow marks one year since the passing of His Grace Sadaputa Prabhu. To honor this occasion I have decided to share some of my memories of him.

About 10 years ago, after finishing my master’s degree in astrophysics, I took a gap-year and travelled. While backpacking around the world that year, I discovered Prabhupada’s books and I soon began to associate with devotees. The devotees would usually, upon discovering my scientific background, tell me about Sadaputa Prabhu, and guide me to his books. This happened practically everywhere I went. “What do you do?” the devotee would ask. “Oh, I am a scientist“ I would reply. The next line, usually spoken very enthusiastically, always went something like “Did you know we have this great scientist in ISKCON called Sadaputa dasa, Richard L. Thompson? You should read his book Mechanistic and Non-Mechanistic Science , or Vedic Cosmography and Astronomy.” I could see that devotees all over the world were very proud of their ISKCON scientist, so I thought I had better check him out. I bought a copy of his Vedic Cosmography book somewhere on my travels and began to read.

I was impressed by the book. It was clear to me that Sadaputa Prabhu was a good mathematician and scientist, and his book certainly increased my interest in reading the Srimad Bhagavatam. I tried to contact him by email to ask if I could correspond with him, but unfortunately received no reply.

I had to wait a few more years before I would meet this great ISKCON scientist. It happened after I became involved in research work for the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium (TOVP). In early 2004 I met Pancharatna Prabhu who invited me to get involved in the project. At that time there was no official research group for the Vedic Planetarium. There had been earlier efforts, mainly by Sadaputa Prabhu, which resulted in his book on Vedic cosmography and later his Mysteries of the Sacred Universe, but, after the management and finances for the TOVP project collapsed in the late 90s, there was no organized research going on. I could see from the beginning that this was a huge subject area to research, and that it was not a one man (or one woman) job. I began to contact various qualified ISKCON scholars I knew for their advice. Sadaputa Prabhu was an obvious choice. He replied enthusiastically – he was keen to contribute. I could tell even from the beginning that the TOVP project was very important to him; not as an academic exercise, more like a life-mission; not for his own intellectual prestige, but for the pleasure of his spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada.

I drew up a list of research goals and objectives for the Vedic Planetarium research project, then Ravindra Svarupa Prabhu was recruited as the Project Leader and together we invited Sadaputa Prabhu and others to form a research committee. In the beginning I only knew Sadaputa through his emails.

I finally met Sadaputa in person when the research committee first met in 2006 in Gainesville. My first impression was that he was gentle and humble – quite a rare thing for a scientist. He was also funny. When Brahmatirtha Prabhu introduced him as Sadaputa, he added with a smile “or Sada-Putana as the local gurukulis call me.” During the meetings, it was interesting for me to see how he would approach each subject with his own unique perspective. He would analyse the issues with extreme concentration, and present relevant observations that came from a fresh and often unexpected angle. Practically everything he spoke was deep and profound, spoken with such concentration and intensity . I lost count of how many times I heard Ravindra Svarupa Prabhu use the words “wow” and “far out” in those meetings. There was certainly something very mysterious and sage-like about Sadaputa Prabhu, but at the same time something very human and likable. He was extremely broad minded, but not arrogant as some/many scientists can be.

During the meetings, he contributed from his years of experience and knowledge and helped to refine the research plan. After that we continued to exchange emails on subjects such as the problems of geocentrism, relativity, interpretations of the Fifth Canto and Puranic cosmology in general.

I was fortunate to meet Sadaputa again in December 2007 at the ISKCON Academy of Arts and Sciences Conference in New Vrindaban, where he gave a presentation entitled “Interpretation and the Srimad Bhagavatam.” He gave insights into sections of the Bhagavatam based on his scientific background. He used the calculation of time from the atom (3rd Canto) as one example, and Bhumandala (5th Canto) as another.

At the end of the conference session in which he spoke, I went over to talk with him and he showed me the calculation he had been making during the talk that followed his. He had scribbled it on a napkin in typical scientist fashion. I don´t remember the exact calculation now, but it was connected with the size of the paramanu. Here are a couple of photos of that discussion – he is holding his scribbled calculation in hand.

I was planning to meet with Sadaputa Prabhu again in Gainesville last October, but sadly he passed away shortly before that. It was a great shock for me to hear of his passing. I am certainly missing him and his brilliant insights.

Sadaputa was one of Prabhupada’s very few scientist disciples. He was a true pioneer and I expect that, 10, 50, or 100 years from now, devotees in ISKCON will look back and realize, more than we do now, the value and importance of the foundation he laid for the scientific presentation of Krishna consciousness.

Recently we have divided some land into 10 plots for devotees to live in Pandavas Paradise. The designated land is in-between the temple and the waterfalls, with about 10 minutes walk either way. GD and I are hoping to build a house there too and we have already chosen our plot.

Here is a view from one of the plots:

Here is a photo overlooking our plot:

We are currently based in Brasilia, about 260km away, but we would like to spend more of our time in Pandavas Paradise. Life in the city can be a lot more convenient for our material needs – internet, banks, shops etc., but life in a peaceful and devotional, countryside community is a lot more convenient for our spiritual needs.

As missionary types we are concerned about reaching people. In spreading Krishna consciousness, most of the people that we want to reach happen to be concentrated in cities, and, therefore, cities tend to be the most active preaching grounds. At Pandavas Paradise however, we are fortunate that the city folks come to us looking for a some fresh air and, more often than not, a spiritual alternative to their daily grind. They usually find out about us through the internet. When they come to Pandavas Paradise they spend time in our beautiful natural surroundings and they chant Hare Krishna with us, participate in our temple activities, and learn the spiritual knowledge of Krishna consciousness. So even without living in the city, we are still able to reach the city people. And these people usually come from not just one city but from various cities all over Brazil.

In between retreats, GD and I focus on our service of teaching, writing, and internet preaching. Most of this could be done in Pandavas Paradise if we had a good enough internet connection, but right now we only have weak mobile internet there, so it might be some time before we are able to make it our main home. And, for now, we still want to be in Brasilia for “Krishna Sanga” (our weekly Sunday event) and the monthly “Gita Sunday” (6 hours of Gita study with the Brasilia group).

So far only one other devotee has chosen his plot in Pandavas Paradise. He will be retiring in a year or so and looks forward to living there as a vanaprastha. There are several other devotees still considering the possibilty of building a home, or week-end cabin there.

Pandavas Paradise continues to grow, and we are looking forward to finding out what Krishna has in store for us in the future. We are already planning many exciting projects there, including two temples, an International Brahmacharini Training Centre and an Ayurvedic Spa! But more on all that later.

Recently our Srila Prabhupada murti made an appearance in the local newspaper, along with his Bhagavad-gita, Srimad Bhagavatam, my husband, and even our Gaura Nitai deities in the background:

The article was short but sweet and the reporter got almost everything right, including key terms like Krishna, Hare Krishna, ISKCON, Vrindavana, and Mayapura. It was part of a larger section about India.

Brazilians are crazy about India these days, partly because one of the big Brazilian TV channels has a very popular new soap opera that is set in India. Due to this we are seeing an increased interest in Krishna consciousness here. People come to Krishna for a variety of reasons and we are happy to receive them all.

(…continued from Part 1)

Pandavas Paradise is a 400 hectare (almost 1000 acres) retreat centre/nature reserve/temple situated in the Cerrado, the vast tropical savanna ecoregion of Brazil. The Cerrado is known as the world´s most biodiverse savanna with about 10,000 different species of vascular plants, over 160 mammal species, 867 bird species, thousands of species of butterfly, and much more. Of course, the Cerrado covers a huge area (about 2 million square kilometers) and not all of those species of plant and animal species exist in Pandavas Paradise, but the huge biodiversity is obvious. It is estimated that in each hectare of Cerrado you will find about 400 different species of plants. Every time I visit I find so many new plants and animals that I hadn´t seen before. Everywhere I look I see so many different species living side by side. It gives me great opportunity to wonder at Krishna´s creation, and remember that this is just a spark of his splendor.

In Pandavas Paradise we have a lot of field arnica (the Cerrado endemic, Lychnophora ericoides, not the other arnica):

We pick some and use it to make tea. It is used in traditional medicine as an anti-inflammatory. The bees like it too when it is in bloom:

Here are just a few of the other interesting species I photographed during a recent visit as I walked around the various trails:

This frog was sitting on the deck outside our chalet:

“…the most alluring illusory material energy is His smile. This great ocean of material creation is but the casting of His glance over us.” (Srimad Bhagavatam 2.1.31)

Pandavas Paradise has only been operational for three years and, for now, it is mainly used for retreats and festivals . I will write more later about how we plan to develop its other aspects – a bigger temple and a devotional community.

Last week I spent a few days at Pandavas Paradise (Paraíso dos Pândavas). My husband and I try to go there every couple of weeks to get out of the city and spend some time with the beautiful deities in their beautiful natural surroundings.

Here is one of the photos I took last week of the view from the simple wood chalet we stay in while we are there:

The area is well-known in Brazil for its “spiritual vibrations” and has become a hub for all kinds of spiritual seekers. It is on a bed of quartz crystals, at an altitude of about 1300m, and it is still quite unspoilt by modern, industrial agricultural methods.

When we are there we have more time and space and peace to reflect on spiritual subjects.

In the mornings we walk down to the small forest near the chalet to chant japa. There is a small stream there that makes a sweet and peaceful sound and we sit next to it and chant:

In the evenings we go to the temple where we have small deities of Gaura Nitai and Yoga Nrisimha:

There are no devotees living at Pandavas Paradise full time so the deities are only worshipped when we visit and during the retreats. My husband decorates the altar (with flowers that grow around the temple) while I set up the arati paraphernalia; sometimes he sings bhajan while I perform the puja and sometimes we swap. After the arati, we sit before the deities and sing the Maha-mantra together.

Here is a view through the window of the pujari room at sunset:

During the day we read, go for walks, bathe in the waterfalls… more in Part 2.

I am currently in Belém, at the mouth of the Amazon river in the North of Brazil. Belém is in the state of Pará, famous for its Brazil nuts (which are actually known as Pará nuts here in Brazil).

I am here with my husband (aka Giridhari Das, aka GD) as he is speaking at the World Forum on Theology and Liberation this weekend, and the World Social Forum later next week. He´ll also be giving various presentations at the local Hare Krishna Centre while we are here. Today we had the day off and did some sight-seeing.

In the morning we visited the Rodrigues Alves Botanical Garden with our tour guide, Sridhar Prabhu.

GD and Sridhar admiring the greenery:

There were many Amazonian plants and animals. Here are some of the animals we saw:

There were some interesting telephones too:

We had a quick lunch at the Hare Krishna Centre before visiting the historic centre of the city.

This region of Brazil is famous for its fruits. Here are some of the more exotic looking ones we found in the city´s famous open market, Ver-O-Peso:

One of the most popular fruits here is Cupuaçu:

It has a strange taste, but I like it.

Here you can also buy your Brazil nuts. They are not easy to open, but the locals seem to have mastered it with a really big knife:

There was a good selection of local Amazonian crafts for sale, and rows upon rows of local herbal medicine for a variety of purposes such as curing diabetes, attracting love, getting rid of bad spirits, and even some natural Viagra:

Later we visited some old churches, including the Igreja da Sé:

Brazil is a very religious country. The Catholic churches we visited today were very beautiful. Once a year, for the day of the “Nossa Senhora” (Virgin Mary) festival, Belém gets about 2 million pilgrims. Belém is also the Portuguese name for Bethlehem.

Srila Prabhupada ki jai!

The latest design for the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium, based on the architecture of the U.S. Capitol building, has been subject to a lot of controversy since it was shown to the world through this video on Dandavats.com. The groundwork for the construction of this temple is due to begin very soon.

This week, a serious call to change this design has begun to circulate. The call has been put out by Tattvavit Dasa (disciple of Srila Prabhupada and editor) and Janaki Rama Dasa (recent PhD in Science and Religion from the University of Oxford). They present 9 reasons to change the design.

One of the main arguments, put forward by the design team, in favour of keeping the present design for the temple is that Srila Prabhupada wanted the temple to look like the U.S. Capitol. In their call for change, Tattvavit and Janaki Rama present the three available quotes in which Prabhupada mentions the U.S. Capitol in relation to the temple, and they argue that it cannot be proved that Srila Prabhupada favoured a temple that looked so much like the Capitol. They also include other quotes which suggest that such a design would not meet Prabhupada´s expectations for the temple, and show that, even after making his statements about the Capitol building in relation to the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium, Prabhupada was enthusiastic about quite a different design.

Tattvavit and Janaki Rama have also written to the GBC executive committee to propose that this issue of changing the present design be put to a vote at the upcoming GBC meeting in Mumbai in October. Bhanu Swami has supported their proposal. Whether or not this issue will make it to the agenda for the October meeting will be decided by the GBC Executive Committee in about two weeks from now.

A public ballot is now underway to gauge public opinion on the matter, in the hope that a significant number of votes for changing the design will influence the GBC to accept the proposal.

The letter that includes the call for change, the 9 reasons, instructions on how to place a vote, and the Prabhupada quotes can be found as a pdf file here.

In July I spent a week at Pandavas Paradise, a retreat centre/nature reserve/temple in the most beautiful surroundings at Chapada dos Veadeiros, Goias, Brazil. I was helping to teach the JIVA course (Jornada Intensiva de Vaisnavismo), a one-week intensive training course for people who want to learn more about Krishna consciousness and how to practice it at home.

The topics covered included basic philosophy from the Bhagavad-gita and Srimad Bhagavatam; how to prepare, offer and honour prasadam; Vaisnava etiquette; temple songs; deity worship etc. The course was the first of its kind here in Brazil.

The participants came from various parts of Brazil, from the very North to the very South, and they were of various ages, from fourteen to almost fifty. They were extremely grateful for the opportunity to learn, and the transformation in them was clear by the end of the week.

Some had not chanted even one round before the course, but, during the week we were there, they chanted 16 rounds every day. Some were eating meat before the course, but they went home not only as vegetarians but as prasadatarians. One of the students had been around devotees, attending Sunday Feast etc., for over 20 years, but somehow had not taken the next step. By the end of the course, she too felt transformed and expressed that she now felt that she was able to practice Krishna consciousness fully.

Click here to see the course photos, including some shots of the beautiful natural environment and wildlife at Pandavas Paradise.

Here is a video (in Portuguese) with some testimonials from the participants, filmed on the final day of the course.

Sign up for next year´s course here (in Portuguese).

Last night my home was blessed by the virtual presence of a very special virtual guest, His Holiness Hridayananda dasa Goswami. We also hosted 10 other devotees from Brasilia who came to hear his class via Oovoo and Skype. Other devotees in various parts of Brazil, namely Recife, Salvador, Marilha, Niterói, and Pindamonhangaba also gathered in their respective places to hear the class via the internet.

Currently, Skype only allows video conferencing between two users, however with Oovoo it is possible to link up to six users. We haven´t had much luck with the sound quality of Oovoo, so for last night´s class we used Oovoo and Skype simultaneously – Oovoo for video and Skype for audio. We could see and hear His Holiness and he could see and hear us. Well, for part of the time we were on audio only because there were too many groups. Also, as you can see from the picture below we had to watch the last part of the class on a small laptop screen after the large screen stopped working for some reason!

There were plenty of technical difficulties but it worked out well and Maharaja gave a great class to about 50 eager devotees. He described Krishna consciousness as the perfect, rational alternative to (1)violent, fanatical interpretations of religion and (2)the idea that religion is a psychological tool and whatever makes you feel good is therefore the highest truth. At the end of the class, Maharaja answered questions from the various groups.

Now we are experimenting with some other internet options so that future classes can be broadcast more widely, to anyone around the world who wants to see and hear the class, while still retaining some interaction with specific groups.

Here in Brasilia, after the class finished we sang some bhajan, led by HG Sadhu Sanga dasa . Finally I fed the assembled devotees with samosas, tomato chutney, halava and lemonade. I think they were satisfied.

Sometimes, when I am in the mood for a brief distraction, I search for videos about Krishna on YouTube. I hadn’t done that for a while, but the other day I did, and I was happy to see that the number of Krishna conscious contributions has grown, although there is still scope for a lot more.

As an astrophysicist and as someone who has been studying the Fifth Canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam quite a lot, I was particularly pleased to find the Universal Form on YouTube. Here is the video from Ben Loka who gets his information from the Second Canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam:

The First Stage of God Realisation

OK, so it probably won’t win any Oscars, but I think it is a valuable contribution to YouTube and to spreading knowledge of God around the world. It has over 10,000 hits.

Here is the comical introduction in which Ben Loka apologizes for playing God’s part in the video:

Intro to Universal form video

(well, it made me laugh).

Ben Loka has several entertaining videos and he is quite a popular YouTuber. Here are some more videos he has made with a connection to Krishna consciousness (these links will take you to the videos on YouTube):

A report following his first stay at the temple (the Soho Street temple in London).

Transcendental frog.

Hare Krishna mantra (rock style).

I’ve been here for less than 24 hours but I’m already in love with New Vrindaban. Being in the countryside is great and the people all seem to be very friendly and there is even wireless internet (intermittently in my room). The deities are amazing. Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subadra are HUGE. In general there seems to be a happy, relaxed and Krishna conscious atmosphere here. Malati Prabhu is the perfect hostess and thinks of everything. This morning I had the best breakfast ever – I only tried the kitchri, yogurt and bread but it was totally delicious.

This is an ideal place to visit if you want to be Krishna consciousness. Here it is easy to find someone or something at any moment to remind you of Krishna and remind you of what it means to be a devotee of Krishna.

In the next couple of days many senior devotees and scholars will be arriving, and I am looking forward to their association.