Appeal to noble souls

Dear friends,
Please accept our most respectful Obeisances,
All Glories to Srila Prabhupada.
We are sending out this most urgent appeal in the hope that a Sankirtana project here in Montreal can
be saved. To put the whole thing to context it is helpful for all concerned that we briefly give its
history, the present situtiation and what the devotees involved in this project hope to accomplish in the next few years ahead.
 
       


Some years back a group of devotees opened up a restaurant with an upstairs preaching centre. It was at that time under the name Govinda Jaya Jaya. It was very much instrumental in reaching out to the Montreal public and in time was a well known restaurant and bhakti-yoga centre.

Later however the project faced great financial difficulties and was sold off to a member of that then existing project. In co-operation with a few other devotees he bought the property and thus Krsna Conscious preaching activities were sustained for another year under the name Radha Damodara Temple. Sadly it was again sold due to the same financial difficulties and the Radha Damodara project was then moved into an apartment for another 6 months. During that one and a half years of struggle a few devotees have been cultivated, a Bhakti-yoga club registered in one of the main colleges in Montreal, daily Sankirtana activities and also Sunday Love feasts and other festivals as introduced to us by Srila Prabhupada regularly conducted. At one point at least 20 new hippy people, who have never heard of Krishna before attended one of our festivals and joined in the kirtan for the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada.

Montreal has a great booking system for subway musicians, where devotees can chant daily without disturbance from police and distribute the most important ingredient of Lord Caitanya's movement –the Hare Krsna mahamantra. The subway is such a

 

 

 

 

  

l
Govinda Jaya Jaya Jaya
      
         

these people are hearing about Krsna for the first time
    
       
       

book distribution on Sainte Catherine street

Teaching students how to chant Hare Krsna at Dawson college during their Eastern religions class
  
 

Montreal subway: the abode for harinama
 great spot that sometimes several hundreds of living entities can hear the Lord's name in one session. Many of them dance and also chant if they're very pious spontaneosly without knowing why.
The present situation is that the members meet whenever possible and by Srila Prabhupada's mercy Sankirtana still continues by weekly harinams in the subway and occasional prasadam and Srila Prabhupada's original book distribution and preaching at university. However, the mission has suffered a lot and it is sad but Montreal, which is the third major city Srila Prabhupada established his movement in has no bona fide Hare Krishna temple anymore.
       
Despite these testing times we are still hopeful for the future. We are in search of a modest size storefront in the Montreal city to facilitate the preaching activities and also with the expressed hope of having Srila Prabhupada's sound vibration installed at the centre 24 hours along with a complete set of his original books. In essence the members(presently 5 in number) seek to preserve Srila Prabhupada's original teachings and be instrumental in helping to spread the original mission of His Divine Grace. The members of the Radha Damodara project advocate Srila Prabhupada in the centre as the sole Initiating Spiritual Master as per his July 9 th Policy Document issued 1977 a few months

Hippies and punks getting the mercy of direct association of Srila Prabhupada -just like in the 60's
         




       
chanting continues every weekend without fail

-What is it? -Krsna prasadam. Take it. It's free.
 A part of our plan is therefore to open a new bhakta program for aspring devotees, who want to get an experience of joining a Prabhupada centered temple and encourage them to open a center in their respective town if they have an independent spirit. We feel that by providing a temple to join, we could very soon see new fresh devotees, who might be desiring to join right now, but are unwilling to submit themselves to the deviant lines. It is estimated that the minimum amount to cover
rent on a storefront is $3000 monthly. This appeal is to anyone sympathetic enough to step forward and volunteer to be a steady monthly contributor. We are going to attempt to get a charity status from the Canadian government, so if you're interested your donations could be tax-reductable too. Whatever amount anyone would feel comfortable with on a monthly basis is most welcomed. In this way a centre can be maintained, the activities expanded and devotees invited to join in the bliss. Our plan in this manner is to invite the prospective donors for our festivals, which could be a great opportunity for old and new devotees to meet and share nice realizations of Srila Prabhupada. We would also appreciate books donations or any other input from sympathetic devotees. Please, do not hesitate to contact us at radhadamodar@gmail.com and get to know us better.

Yours in the Service of Srila Prabhupada

The Prabhupadanugas
         





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Govinda Jaya Jaya restaurant-Prabhupada's Montreal center
Sri Sri Radha Damodara temple history
(in photos)
       
Shocked workers cannot believe their eyes...
..it's the Hare Krishnas " back in action"
       
distributing Srila Prabhupada's original books
       
Dear guests from New York: Madhavananda Prabhu...
...and Raja Vidya Prabhu
       
Harer nama harer nama harer nama eva kevalam...
...kalau nasty eva nasty eva nasty
       
eva gathir anyatha
Sad day after selling the restaurant -deconstructing the temple
       
and moving things up...
..to an apartment where kirtan is highly compromised
       
Present: mission is surviving in different apartments
       
Our immunition: prasadam...
       
..and the Holy Name
Thus serving Their Divine LordShips Sri Sri Radha Damodara