Janmashtami was a wonderful festival with a vibrant mood throughout the day and many devotees participating in the midnight arati. Although the second Janmashtami was admittedly a huge endeavor considering how short-staffed we are and how many pilgrims and visitors we have been hosting this year, we really wanted to be able to offer that to our congregational members who love Radha Vrindaban Chandra as much as we do but can’t drive six hours out here on a weekday. We wanted to reassure them that the spirit of Janmashtami would be alive for them so that they, too, could bathe the deities, worship the cows, and fully honor Krishna’s sacred appearance on the weekend. A big, heartfelt thank you to everyone who went the extra mile to host a wonderful second Janmashtami festival for our guests.
The Vyasa Puja of Srila Prabhupada on Pavilion Hill - on the 50th anniversary of the Bhagavat Dharma Discourses - was exceptionally sweet. Many devotees had the opportunity to share their realizations and glorifications of Srila Prabhupada. We especially appreciate those devotees who were present in 1972 who came to share their memories of Srila Prabhupada’s presence and lectures during that historic time.
Photos of the festival
The festival season continues with Radhastami to be celebrated on this Saturday, September 3. Due to the many pilgrims expected for the Labor Day weekend, the Radhastami Festival for Sri Sri Radha Gopinath and Sri Sri Radha Vrindaban Chandra will be held in parallel in the morning. You will be able to join the abhisheka at the temple at 10:30am and move to the Sri Sri Radha Gopinatha festival at the Palace lotus pond afterwards.
On the following weekend, September 9-11, the Man-tra Retreat will be held in New Vrindaban followed by the Festival of Colors on September 17. Mahatma Prabhu will facilitate a Japa Retreat on September 30-October 2, and the weekend after that will usher in the most auspicious month of Kartik. We hope you all will be able to relish the unique opportunities for association and service during these special events.
New Developments
Construction work at different sites is continuing, slower than expected due to the limited availability of outside contractors and supplies, but we are happy to report that:
· The inside work of the Sri Sri Radha Gopinath temple is finished except the window frames and carpentry work. An outside contractor is currently setting up the outside walls with beautiful red stones. The pavers around the temple will be set once the scaffolding for the stone setting is gone. Despite delays with the roof and dome, the inauguration of the temple is expected to happen in the spring.
· The foundation for the ten new one-bedroom apartments is set, the water connected, the basic plumbing in the basement done, and the electricity connection defined with AEP. A generator will be set to avoid any outages. The apartments will be connected to the current propane tank. We expect that the construction work will intensify after the basic setup is done and hope to make them available in March 2023.
· The preparation work for the new cabins at Govardhan Village, around the water tank road, and the tiny house sites is almost finished. The board approved the budget for the utilities (water and wastewater) to be installed. It is expected that the construction work will start soon, and the cabins and tiny house sites will also be available in March 2023.
· Vrindaville is currently working on the utilities and road for the twenty plots available for sale, and ECO-V will soon start to work on the plots for sale at the Bahulaban Village.
Devotees will have ample choices for housing once the apartments, the cabins, tiny house sites, and the plots at Vrindaville and Bahulaban Village are ready. The Land and Housing Committee will soon work on rules for the tenants of the new apartments, cabins and tiny house sites and present it to the INV board for approval.
Utilities
It became obvious during the planning for the utilities for the cabins and tiny house sites that the best solution is to connect these sites to the New Vrindaban water system as the PSD3 rules and regulations would have asked for substantial investment.
The INV board decided to switch the temple campus in its entirety to the public water due to the fact the current water tank was not approved by the Health department. Reasons for this include a failed tank liner, insufficient water pressure of the INV water for the new cabins and tiny homes, the sulfuric taste of the water, the limited water in case of fire, the liability by serving water to the public, the potential loss of water supply in case of longer outages, etc.
The expenses for the public water will be offset by savings on electricity that would have been used to pump the water up the hill, chemicals, testing, and work to maintain the water system. The public water will be connected at Prabhupada’s Palace of Gold and from there distributed to the different sites. The board decided to maintain the current water system to be able to switch back at any time. We are also looking forward to significantly decrease the number of plastic water bottles each department is currently using.
A Time of Growth
It is enlivening to see New Vrindaban growing in so many ways, with increased visitors, a growing devotee community, long-awaited projects coming to fruition, and new initiatives taking off. Of course, with growth comes growing pains, and we are aware that there will be inevitable inconveniences, but we hope that these will be seen as good problems and that together we can make the necessary adjustments so that New Vrindaban can continue to grow and flourish for the pleasure and glory of Srila Prabhupada.