Welcome
Over the years, we have often thought of producing a newsletter to keep our students and well-wishers abreast of our accomplishments and developments. Now seems like a great time to start because there is so much to report. We sincerely hope you enjoy this first issue.
In this issue:
- A New Name
- Scholarship
- Upcoming Course News
- VTE Bhakti-sastri Course
- Studying the Bhagavatam
- Sat-Sanga Seminars
- Mentoring System
- Women's Ashram
- Free Lunch Prasadam
- New Parikrama Program
Our New Name
To add emphasis to the Devotional and Life Skills Training Program within our ethos, our name has expanded to the Mayapur Institute for Higher Education & Training. At the same time, to keep things simple, we will often just call ourselves the Mayapur Institute. A professional logo is underway and we look forward to sharing this with you in our next issue.
Introducing the Mentoring System
We are implementing a mentoring system for our Bhakti-sastri Course, in which 10 to 14 students, who are reasonably senior and experienced, will each look after four or six less senior devotees. The mentors will work closely with our Bhakti-sastri Course Coordinator, Gaura Krishna dasa, and will help those in their charge as much as possible. We feel this Bhakti-sastri Mentoring System will add a valuable element of personal care to our students' educational experiences. Mentors will support students in their sadhana, homework, sloka learning, and personal challenges.
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Scholarship Program
With the support of our donors, we will be providing partial and full scholarships for devotees who are qualified, but lack the financial capability to attend our courses - Bhakti-sastri, Bhaktivaibhava, and Gaura Purnima Courses. The Mayapur Institute will give priority to devotees from developing countries and from financially distressed temples. Any devotee desiring to apply for a scholarship or contribute to the scholarship fund should contact us.
News about Upcoming Courses
A Strong New Team of Senior Devotees for the Bhakti-sastri Course.
We are very excited with our team of senior devotees for the 2006 - 2007 Bhakti-sastri course. Bhakti Caru Swami and Srimati devi dasi will teach Nectar of Instruction. Jayadvaita Swami, Laxmimoni devi dasi and Su-gita Vani devi dasi will teach Bhagavad-gita. Kadamba Kanana Swami and Shyamala Sakhi devi dasi will teach Nectar of Devotion. And Sri Isopanisad will be taught by Lokanath Swami and Nanda devi dasi
We are immensely grateful to these devotees who have committed such significant time and energy for the success of these courses. We are confident students will gain many deep realizations as they proceed through this course, taking the intimate darshan of Srila Prabhupada in his Bhaktivedanta Translations and Purports guided by our expert teachers.
If you would like to attend this course, which starts on November 2 and ends on February 6, please register online at http://www.mihet.org/
Piloting a Unique Approach to Studying the Bhagavatam
The Mayapur Institute will offer a study course on the 4th Canto of the Srimad-Bhagavatam from November 2, 2006 to January 17, 2007. This course will be a continuation of the current Mayapur Institute's Bhaktivaibhavacourse, but will introduce a new system in which students will attend five morning Structured Learning Classes and three evening Thematic Discussions per week.
Senior devotees such as Bhakti Caru Swami, Jayadvaita Swami, Kadamba Kanana Swami, Hari Sauri dasa, Laxmimoni devi dasi, and Srimati devi dasi will conduct the Thematic Discussions. Whereas, Atul Krishna dasa, Tara dasa, and Gaura Krishna dasa will facilitate the Structured Learning Classes.
Please visit http://www.mihet.org/ for details and to register online.
Sat-sanga Seminars
During the 2006 Gaura Purnima Festival, the Mayapur Institute offered the Sat-sanga Seminars for the first time. In these sponsored seminars, leaders and other senior devotees from around the world offered 24 seminars ranging in subjects from life and devotional skills to applying sastra in our daily lives to in-depth sastric appreciations. Over 3,000 ecstatic devotees attended the 2006 Sat-sanga Seminars.
The feedback was so overwhelming positive from the 2006 seminars that the Mayapur Festival Committee (MFC) has requested the Mayapur Institute to expand this program for the 2006 Gaura Purnima Festival, which the MFC has named "Gaura Purnima 2007: The Festival of Loving Exchanges". With Vaisnava loving exchanges as the festival theme, the Mayapur Institute will follow suite and will encourage the Sat-sanga Seminars facilitators to focus part, if not all, of their seminars on this theme.
If you would like to present a seminar, please contact us.
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New Women's Ashram
Many ISKCON parents with daughters in their late teens and early twenties have expressed an interest in sending their daughters to take the Bhakti-sastri Course in Mayapur, if the Mayapur Institute would adequately protect their daughters by providing appropriate ashram facilities with mature ashram leaders. The Mayapur Institute now has such facilities with senior Vaisnavis, such as Laxmimoni devi dasi, Nanda devi dasi, and Racitambara devi dasi, involved to make sure proper systems are in place.
Eat to Your Full Satisfaction
During the Bhakti-sastri and Bhaktivaibhava courses that begin on November 2, all students and teachers may honor Monday through Friday free, delicious lunch prasadam, which we have arranged through a sponsorship program. This prasadam will be specifically prepared for our students and teachers so that they will stay in the best of health while they are studying.
Parikramas: Discovering the Dhama
Devotees who have taken the Mayapur Institute's Bhakti-sastri and Bhaktivaibhava Courses over the years have found them to be deeply inspiring and an opportunity for tremendous personal growth. Still the course can be intense and many students have felt they could have used more transcendental breaks throughout their courses.
With this in mind, the Mayapur Institute has developed a Navadvipa Dhama Parikrama Program led once a week by our teachers and other senior Vaisnavas. Of course, not only will our students get breaks that will deeply satisfy their hearts, but they will also enter more deeply into their relationships with Navadvipa Dhama and with the Vaisnavas who are revealing the Dhama.
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