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La Cienega as New Dwaraka

By early May the New York temple has also caught the sankirtana fever. Inspired by the success of Los Angeles, they also have a sankirtana party going out to chant daily. Prabhupada encourages them to continue going out; "That is our life and soul." In one weekend they collect almost $500. The La Cienega temple is still ahead, however, as they collect $250 every day. Because of their opulence, Prabhupada names the temple New Dwaraka. The New Dwaraka Sunday Love Feast is the most popular in ISKCON. Its sixteen courses have yet to be equaled. With Prabhupada's permission, they begin charging an admission fee. For $1.25 a person can enjoy a play or puppet show, kirtan, lecture and a sumptuous feast. In anyone's book, it's definitely a bargain. Still, Vishnujana and Tamal want to make it even better. They decide to fashion every Sunday feast around a central theme, turning the whole program into a grand festival with a distinct mood. Prabhupada helps by giving them ideas from Krishna lila, like nauka-bihar- the boat lila of Krishna and the gopis, and rairaya-the day the gopis make Radharani into a Queen. She is seated on a gorgeous throne, and Krishna is the doorman of Her palace, standing by the throne with a sword. So there is feasting, dancing, and singing for the coronation of Srimati Radharani. Every Sunday now becomes a festival with a distinct theme. Srimati makes two beautiful Radha and Krishna dolls, which are utilized for the nauka-bihara pastime. A little house is also made using a latticed framework wherein Radha and Krishna sit together. The audience is requested to cover the latticework with fresh roses from the garden. The rose bushes planted by Jayananda are now in full bloom and ablaze in color. One by one the guests insert rose after rose, until the flower house is complete. The scene is so enchanting that many are overcome by exhilarating spiritual emotions seeing the Divine Couple, forgetting that They are only dolls. Photos are sent to Srila Prabhupada, who is similarly charmed. This picture becomes the cover for the next Back To Godhead, number twenty-eight.

Vishnujana, Tamal, and Silavati begin the Sunday love Feast on Tuesday by deciding on the theme and planning it out. They involve the whole temple by focusing on the theme all week long. On Wednesday they begin the bhoga shopping, and a flyer is prepared depicting the theme to be celebrated. On Thursday the flyer is being distributed on sankirtana, and certain preparations are begun that need a few days. By Friday everything is in full swing, and decorations are made ready. On Saturday the temple is completely decorated, and more preparations are readied. Everyone in the whole temple is focused on the Love Feast. On Sunday Vishnujana organizes the program. He takes the devotees to Griffith Park to chant, dance, and hand out invitations to bring people back to the temple, where he again leads kirtan and puts on a puppet show or drama to complete the evening's festivities. Factually, he does almost everything himself. By totally absorbing himself in the mood of the Sunday Festival program, Vishnujana becomes even more blissful. Mohanananda: You couldn't help notice that Vishnujana was absolutely filled with love of God. From the moment you saw him, it was as if an angel had appeared. From the way he looked, the way he chanted, his natural passion, the light in his eyes, the compassion in his heart, there was no doubt about it. He had the quality like he'd always been a devotee. You could never imagine him outside being anything else but a devotee. He was so immersed. Vishnujana's big play was the Narada Muni play, and we began to think he was the incarnation of Narada Muni, especially a novice like myself, just then joining. He had written songs that he would sing in the various plays he was involved in. I wasn't active in the theater at that point. I was just a spell-bound young pup. As my confidence grew, I wanted to be as powerful as Vishnujana, and as respected as Karandhara. I just thought they were the greatest thing on earth. For us, the new bhaktas, Vishnujana was the spiritual soul of the movement.

Sacidevi: I remember him doing Narada Muni quite a bit. It was like every moment, being in that temple, was ecstasy. What can I say? When Vishnujana would speak, he would actually have tears welling up in his eyes, and his voice would choke a lot. He was like that 24-hours-a-day with whomever he came in contact, whether it was Tamal Krishna, or Gargamuni, or Brahmananda, or with a brand new devotee, or whether we were out on sankirtana. Vishnujana carried us. You know how Prabhupada carried the devotees, how Prabhupada empowered the devotees to do things beyond even surprising the devotees themselves. Vishnujana also carried us in that way. By his bhakti, he imbued the atmosphere so that everyone was just carried by his enthusiasm. Later on, other programs developed. Deity worship developed; Spiritual Sky incense developed. A lot of departments came into being and many of us stayed back. So the kirtan party was not the only focus. In the temple room women could stand wherever we wanted to. It was like brother and sister. It was very pure. I consider myself very fortunate to have experienced Krishna consciousness there.

Nanda Kumar: He was real good with the kids. I remember the puppet shows. He had a certain voice, a certain inflection, and I can still hear his voice, full of animation. I mean he would become the part, and it captivated everyone, kids and adults, because he had that childlike innocence himself. That was what made him so beautiful, and so charismatic. He wasn't caught up in politics; he wasn't caught up in judgments; he wasn't caught up in anything. He was just an innocent, childlike, beautiful servant. A flower child yet very wise and very high in consciousness. So kids were automatically attracted. Srimati's energy was a lot like his, too. She was real, and very non-critical. I remember she used to eat the prasadam from the trash cans on Sunday from the guest plates, and she would cry. There were tears in her eyes because she felt, "This is such a holy thing, such a great wonderful opportunity, and I hate to see it go to waste."

With the success of the festivals, more and more devotees are made. After only six months, the La Cienega temple is already burgeoning with over sixty devotees living there full time. It becomes obvious that soon they will need an even bigger facility. With the lease terminating in December they will have to begin looking for a more suitable place right away. Seeing the success of La Cienega, Tamal Krishna maps out a plan for preaching in the major cities within a 150-mile radius of Los Angeles. Tamal is always organizing. Although Dayananda is the temple president, Tamal actually runs the show. He likes to be in charge. Noticing that San Francisco temple has seriously diminished since the departure of so many devotees for London and Los Angeles, Tamal wants to help. Prabhupada is encouraged by his preaching attitude and requests him to try and reinstate the temple to its former glory. He also suggests Tamal stay in San Francisco to help arrange the upcoming Ratha-yatra Festival. Around this time Prabhupada begins to think about initiating sannyasis who can simply travel and lecture on the philosophy of Krishna consciousness. He approaches Brahmananda about making this commitment, but Brahmananda feels that he needs time to think about taking such an important step. Prabhupada then brings the subject up with Tamal Krishna, who, like Brahmananda, also decides to wait.

With the movement expanding beyond expectations, Prabhupada realizes it is simply the potency of the Holy Name. He originally came with only one pair of kartals, and now there are hundreds of pairs of kartals resounding throughout the streets of America. He therefore emphasizes street sankirtana as the most important activity. Seeing the student community as the best source of new devotees, he wants everything to be arranged around sankirtana and college preaching. When Prabhupada sees Rayarama having difficulty maintaining his consciousness, he wants to ensure that every devotee is able to maintain spiritual strength. My advice to you under the circumstances is that at least for one hour you must all go to have sankirtana outside on the streets or in the park. That is your life and soul, first business. The next business is completing the chanting of 16 rounds every day. The next business is your editing, and if you find extra time, then you can attend the temple ceremonies. Otherwise you can stop these activities, but outdoor kirtan, your editing work and chanting of 16 rounds must be done. Outdoor kirtan must be done, even at the cost of suspending all editorial work. That is your first and foremost business. Temple worship is not so important. If need be, the whole temple can be locked, but the outdoor kirtan cannot be stopped. Letter to Rayarama, May 17, 1969 In this letter Prabhupada lays the greatest emphasis on the kirtan party, and sixteen rounds of japa comes next. Service to the brihat-mridanga is third, followed by temple programs. This is the formula to save a weak devotee from falling back into material life. By this instruction Prabhupada supports the shastric view, harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam,kalau nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyatha. Unfortunately, Rayarama doesn't follow this advice and subsequently leaves the movement.



Reference: Radha Damodara Vilasa by Vaiyasaki Dasa