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We, at Cedar Rapids, Iowa have a devotee congregation, a team of devotees, sincerely trying to share the message of Lord Chaitanya, by following the path recommended by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, the founder-acharya of ISKCON.
On request, His Holiness Radhanath Swami Maharaj entitled the group as "Kamyavan Bhakta Vrinda"("the group of devotees in Kamyavana") after one of the famous forests of Vrindavana. There are 12 main forests in Vraja dhama.
Kama means "desires". The Adi Varaha Purana states that this is the forest where all the spiritual desires of the devotees are fulfilled. In this Kamyavana, Krishna performed enchanting pastimes.
Mughal emperor Aurangzeb destroyed the famous temples of Vrindavan, Mathura and other locations in Vraja. At that time, the Maharaja of Jaipur, who was a great devotee, brought the famous deities of Vraja to Jaipur. These included Govinda, Gopinatha, Radha-Damodara and Radha-Madan-mohana. On his way, he rested for some days in Kamyavana. The deities were taken from the chariots and kept at various locations where regular services to Them were performed, such as bathing, offering bhoga and putting Them to rest. They were later carried to Jaipur and other places. Eventually, large temples were constructed at the places where the deities of Radha-Govinda, Radha-Gopinatha and Radha-Madan-mohana had stayed in Kamyavana.
This group's activities were initiated in November 2008 by Prasanna Kulkarni, HG Rupanuga Krishna Das and HG Vrindapati Das. Kamyavan Bhakta Vrinda is a local chapter of ISKCON.
The main objective of the group is to provide a platform for the association of devotees to engage in the service of the Lord thru the practice of the yuga-dharma of chanting the holy names of Krishna, to share the glories of the Lord as explained in Bhagavad gita and Srimad Bhagavatam and to distribute prasadam – sanctified food, prepared and offered with love to the Lord.
Within a short period of time many more devotees joined hands to carry forward the activities of the group. Kamyavan Bhakta Vrinda thanks the following devotees who were instrumental in establishing its objectives:
- HG Vrindapati dasa (Vinod Khedkar)
- HG Vrindarani devi dasi (Vandana Khedkar)
- Prasanna Kulkarni
- Arti Kulkarni
- HG Rupanuga Krishna dasa (Ravi Kompella)
- HG Vanamalini Manjari devi dasi (Vani Kompella)
- HG Radhikesh dasa (Raghu Suryanarayan)
- HG Anand Jagannath dasa (Anand Subramanian)
- HG Murlidhara Keshava dasa (Murli Chiliveri)
- HG Vijaya Vrindavanesvari devi dasi (Samatha)
We would like to express our sincere heartfelt gratitude to Babasaheb Patil, Rajeev Makhija and Srikanth Vangala for donating us the sound system.
We have been conducting many programs (Monthly and Weekly) for the benefit of the residents of Cedar Rapids. We celebrate major festivals like the Janmashtami, Gaura Purnima, Govardhana puja etc during our monthly programs.
We conduct a weekly Bhagavad gita class every Wednesday from 7 to 9 pm.
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