CHAR - DHAM VISITED BY HIMALAYAN SIZED FLOODING

Char-dham Visited by Himalayan-sized Flooding BY: SUN STAFF Jun 20, 2013 — CANADA (SUN) — Uttarakhand: Hundreds feared dead, thousands missing, countless villagers and pilgrims trapped, as choppers try to reach Kedarnath. A tremendous disaster scene is unfolding in the Char-dham region of the Himalayan state, Uttarakhand. While the ancient Kedernath temple has survived tsunami-like flooding and landslide, virtually everything around the temple has been destroyed. Highlights from the many reporting news agencies include the following: Kedarnath, the epicentre of the devastation, remains near-impossible to reach. Bad weather this morning prevented military helicopters from landing there. At least eight villages around the Holy Dham are feared washed away. With the Supreme Court's blessing, battalions of helicopters are being deployed to rescue flood more than 70,000, who are trapped in terrible circumstances with little food, potable water or medicine. Over 5,000 people remain trapped in and around the famous Kedarnath temple. Pilgrims were visiting the 1,000 year-old shrine before it closed for the monsoon season, which arrived two weeks early and with relentless force. Another 15,000 are stuck at Badrinath, and pilgrims are no doubt also trapped at the less-visited Gangotri and Yamunotri Dhams.

CATURMASYA VRATA

Rama and Lakshmana Wait Out the Monsoon
Jodhpur, Rajasthan, c. 1775

Jun 21, 2013 — CANADA (SUN) — June 23rd marks the beginning of Caturmasya (Purnima System).

Nectar of Devotion Chapter 9, observance of the period of Caturmasya is described as follows:

"The Caturmasya ceremony is observed during the four months of the rainy season in India (approximately July, August, September and October), beginning from Sravana. During these four months, saintly persons who are accustomed to travel from one place to another to propagate Krsna consciousness remain at one place, usually a holy place of pilgrimage. For the first month, devotees abstain from eating green leafy vegetables.

During these times, there are certain special rules and regulations which are strictly followed. It is stated in the Skanda Purana that during this period, if someone circumambulates the temple of Visnu at least four times, it is understood that he has traveled all over the universe. By such circumambulation, one is understood to have seen all the holy places where the Ganges water is flowing, and by following the regulative principles of Caturmasya one can very quickly be raised to the platform of devotional service."

In Light of the Bhagavata, Text 46, we read:

THE TRAVELING TEMPLE TOUCHES HEARTHS IN GERMANY

By Madhava Smullen for ISKCON News on 13 Jun 2013

A crowd begins to gather in Frankfurt

A brand new outreach project is spreading Krishna consciousness around Germany with joy, color and enthusiasm that’s simply infectious.

All six core members of Der Fahrende Tempel—or The Traveling Temple—are celibate monks called brahmacharis. Seven years back, they started ISKCON Leipzig, which quickly became the most active temple in Germany with lots of outreach, book distribution, and festivals. Yet as the temple grew and became a more family-centered project, the brahmacharis decided they needed to hit the road for more adventure.

Visionary Sadbhuja Das and fellow preachers Dvarakadish, Citta Hari, Jaya Nitai, Godruma, and Bhakta Viktor first relocated to the Bavarian forest community of Simhachalam. There, in January of this year, they purchased a 1971 motorhome and set to work transforming it into a “Sankirtan Bus.”

A morning program on the bus

“We put in an altar for Sri Sri Gaura Nitai, bigger windows, a stove, solar panels on top, and a big sound system, with amplifiers,” says Sadbhuja. “We also added a platform on the front that can sleep five people as well as the seven or eight inside. For programs, we can have up to fifteen people, maybe twenty.”

For the past four weeks, The Traveling Temple has been on tour around Germany and other nearby countries with a plan to continue through the summer until August.

The core six brahmacharis, sometimes joined by other local or traveling devotees, began their journey in Radhadesh, Belgium, where they presented their Sankirtan Bus to their guru Kadamba Kanana Swami on the occasion of his birthday.