Hare Krishna Valley has been buzzing with activity as 2010 ended. During September’s Sunday Feast program we offered a new hand-carved altar to our presiding Deities Sri-Sri Gaura-Nitai. Their new altar was carved personally by Bhaktin Ronnie. Ronnie is a talented Irish devotee-sculptor who has carved in England’s Windsor Palace for Queen Elizabeth II. Because Sri-Sri Gaura-Nitai’s new altar is so exceptionally beauti-ful, we feel always it is a transcendental stimulant (uddipaka) to Their regular daily worship.
Besides that, many exalted vaishnavas – including Aniruddha, Acintya Rupa Matiji, Narasimha Kavacha, Gangesh-vara and Mathura Manohara Prabhus – graced our celebration. The assembled devotees glorified Their Lordships, bathed Them elaborately in a traditional abhiseka, and offered Them a sumptuous feast of bhoga cooked by Vaishnava Charana Prabhu. Then – accompanied by a sweet kirtana – we offered our first arati to Sri-Sri Gaura-Nitai on Their new altar. Afterwards we served a delicious feast of the Lords’ maha-prasadam to all our guests.
Our ongoing service at the farm is continuously enthused by warm memories of The Lords’ delightful celebration. Factually we can feel as Srila Prabhupada explains to us that in order to make our lives successful, we need to place Krishna in the centre. As we continue to ensure that Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai preside over all of the activities in Hare Krishna Valley and dedicate all our services to pleasing Them, The Lords free us from suffering material miseries and restore us to blissful transcendental relationships engaged in Their loving devotional service.
The farm community is currently liaising with the local council in an attempt to construct more buildings on the farm, so that more devotees can come and join us in living with Sri-Sri Gaura-Nitai in the future.
When more devotees live in the valley, the productivity of The Lords’ farm will increase. In this way we can drive an economy and employ even more of the devotees who wish to live at Hare Krishna Valley permanently.
For example, we intend to increase the productivity of our market garden, which regularly supplies vegetables not only to Sri-Sri Gaura-Nitai and Their servants, but to Melbourne temple, and Crossways and Gopal’s restaurants. Since we sell our excess vegetables at Footscray market, and soon we’ll achieve organic certification for the property, this will mean our vegetables will be able to attract higher market prices.
Due to popular demand, in October we held a second Bhakti Yoga Cooking Retreat with Kurma Prabhu. Twentytwo new guests from the local area and beyond enjoyed a weekend experience of wonderful Vedic culture and cuisine! In 2011 we will host even more of such popular retreats at Hare Krishna Valley. So we will really need more devotees serving here to care for the increasing numbers of guests enjoying our improved facilities. Watch out for the retreat programs as they are advertised at http://www.harekrishnavalley.com.au, http://www.iskcon.net.au, at Melbourne temple, and at the farm.
So you can see that a strong momentum is developing at Hare Krishna Valley. We warmly invite all of you to visit, participate, and to lend a hand with your various talents and abilities. There are so many things to do to that will please Srila Prabhupada and Sri-Sri Gaura-Nitai, and it is extremely fulfilling working in a peaceful country environment. If you are interested in becoming more involved, please contact Keshava on 0405-577-453 or keshava.tkg@pamho.net.
We look forward to seeing you at Hare Krishna Valley soon!