More News from Philly
BY: VISHNUGADA DASA
Mar 24, PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, USA (SUN) — This is in response to the recent articles about the goings on at ISKCON Philadelphia by Chaitanya Simha dasa and Bhakta Mike. I am not part of the management there and what I have written below shouldn't be taken as a reflection of the temple management's position. I attend the temple often and do some service there. I know there are a number of kind, dedicated, and sincere devotees in the Philadelphia area and I appreciate their association.
I spoke to Haryasva Prabhu, who runs Govinda's Gourmet to Go in Philadelphia, about the allegations made in the article about the restaurant. He was not at all defensive and was happy to answer questions.
There are two sections of the restaurant. The take-out portion, where vegetarian sandwich wraps are made, and the sit-down portion where a buffet and full dinner are served. He said that each day there is a morning and afternoon offering to the presiding Panca Tattva Deities there. Both offerings are cooked by devotees. He has three devotee cooks on staff: Brihaspati, Rajendra, and Jiva Goswami prabhus. Sandwiches are offered in the morning and dinner preparations are offered in the afternoon. As is done in many devotee restaurants, an item is offered once a day and when the same preparation is made the rest of the day it is considered offered.
Haryasva was surprised to hear that there was apparently someone who didn't know about the offering procedure. He said he was pretty sure all the workers there know about the offerings, even those who aren't initiated devotees. If you have further questions, feel free to contact him at govindasvegetarian@gmail.com. The restaurant is also a center for a number of other activities including a Tuesday evening Bhagavad-Gita class, Sunday morning Japa meditation class, and first Friday Kirtan. It also supports Rubal Dua and Nidhi in their prasadam distribution at the University of Pennsylvania program on Wednesday evenings.
I was shocked to hear the claim that the Sunday Feast is being cooked by non-initiated devotees. I have often helped cook the feast. There are teams of devotees who are scheduled to cook the feast in cycles of about two months. On each team there are initiated and non-initiated devotees who are following ISKCON's principles. I have been to many temples in the USA and I would say the Sunday Feast prasadam in Philadelphia is consistently some of the best. Many devotees have regularly helped to make the offerings pleasing to Srila Prabhupada and Sri Sri Radha Saradbehari. Among these prabhus are (I apologize to those I have left out): Hrishikesha, Madhurya Lila Prabhu, Nidhi Sharma, Arvind Sharma, Kaivalya, Vikukshi, Chaitanya Chandra, Archana Arya, Hanuman, Vibhishana, Vraja Dhama, Krishna Patro, Svapna Patro, Dronacharya, Gangamantri, Surya Kolluru, Ramcharan, Revati, Jay Nair, Prabha Nair, Pravesh, Siddhartha, Shashi, Ramana, Murali Rangam, Kalavati, Gautam Patel, Vikram, Renu, Avinash, Ashvin, Manju, Vina Pani, Vamanadeva, Vijay Makadia, Ila Makadia, and Sarangi.
After reading the article, I wondered if there might have been a little racism mixed into the article's criticism. Many of the above devotees are from India. Sometimes Americans tend to think they are better than devotees of other nationalities. To be sure, an Indian initiated devotee is an initiated devotee.
It is true that parts of the Philadelphia temple building are in disrepair, particularly the entrance breezeway. On a more positive note though, in the past few years almost $100,000 of repairs have been made by replacing the two roofs on the main buildings, renovating four bathrooms, replacing the kitchen hood, ventilation, and sprinkler system, and rebuilding the pujari room. Yatin Patel, Hanuman, and Rushi recently laid a new marble tile floor in the 2nd floor prasadam room. Yes, there is still lots that has to be done. If either Caitanya Simha or Bhakta Mike would like to donate some lakshmi or labor to help with any aspect of the temple improvement, they are welcome to contact the temple at (215) 247-4825.
Food for Life is run by Devi Deva. My understanding is that it is not associated with ISKCON's name at present, and hasn't been for many years.
The incident about a brahmacari viewing pornographic material occurred about three years ago. A congregational member saw him one night through the window of the temple office looking at it on the computer there. Controls were put on the computer shortly thereafter. I have not heard of anything similar occurring since.
There have been bedbugs on the 3rd floor of the main temple building for a while. Monthly professional fumigation has been going on for more than a year, which has reduced but not completely eradicated the problem. Apparently the bedbugs are very difficult to get rid of and are a problem for several apartment buildings, homes, and temples on the eastern seaboard.
I agree that some of the problem areas cited in the article should be addressed. There is always room for improvement. Hopefully what I have written above provides some clarification. One thing that wasn't mentioned was the Philadelphia Ratha Yatra, usually scheduled in September. Many devotees I have spoken to have appreciated it and some have even commented it is one of the best in the US.
