I finished university study in Germany in October and left for Mayapur shortly afterwards. Several devotees I spoke to had already participated in the Bhakti-sastri course in Mayapur and recommended it to me.

During the time of my secular studies, I never really deeply absorbed myself in the nectar of studying Srila Prabhupada’s books. Not having much association of devotees made it more difficult to keep up regular reading the way I wanted.

Now I am looking back, and the Bhakti-sastri course is not what I thought it would be – it is much better! I knew that I was going to acquire knowledge of the essential books of Krishna conscious philosophy, but I didn’t guess how much it would go beyond that.

It’s fun being an older student. You inspire the younger students, and you can also help the teacher. So not long after this year’s Bhakti Shastri course started in November, our senior facilitator, Atul Krishna Prabhu, asked me to assess the students’ sloka-learning for each unit. An old sloka-walla of sorts, I happily complied.

Part of the ethos at the Mayapur Institute is a lifelong commitment to learning, so when I began to assess the students’ sloka-learning, I became concerned. While some took to sloka-learning well, too many weren’t taking it to heart; they were cramming the slokas for their assessment. So on Saturday, November 23rd, after a wonderful Prabhupada seminar by HG Hari-sauri Prabhu in the MI courtyard, I took the mike and, to the tune of the old 1962 Shirelles hit “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow,” I sang the students a little song.

If you weren’t lucky enough to grow up in Krsna consciousness, you may remember trying hard to enjoy (bhoga) on the weekend after trying hard to study (tyaga) during the week. At the Mayapur Institute, the pleasure of bhakti-rasa, devotional service to Krsna, never ends – only the pace changes. After intensely worshiping the Lord by their intelligence (Bg.18.70) during the week, the students use the weekend to relax on parikrama, or right away on the MI courtyard grass.

Relax on the grass? How long can the students do that without falling asleep? Not a problem when they’re listening to Hari Sauri Prabhu, who is transporting them back to the days when Srila Prabhupada walked this earth, expanding Krsna Consciousness everywhere with every step. Last sunday, drawing from his Transcendental Diary, expanded by Prabhupada’s vast vani, Hari Sauri Prabhu gave everyone an introductory taste, then asked us to vote which theme we’d like to hear him continue. The power of association won hands-up, so for two more hours Hari Sauri Prabhu regaled us with the power of Prabhupada’s sanga during his worldwide travels with His Divine Grace.

A Center of Learning

Sri Dham Mayapur is famous throughout the world as the birthplace of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. This land – in the Vedas celebrated as the center of the Universe – five hundred years ago was also celebrated the most important center of learning in India, after Benares.

Empowered personalities such as Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, and especially in modern times His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, have re-established Mayapur’s glory and restored her supreme spot on the spiritual global map.

Making Mayapur a Learning Center again

In the last ten years, Mayapur has begun to re-emerge as a very important center of learning. Well-educated people from different parts of the world now come to Mayapur not only for purification but also to deepen their knowledge and realization.

The principal tool that Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has used to make this possible is His Mayapur Institute (MI).

When Srila Prabhupada incorporated the first ISKCON temple in 1966, he stated the first purpose of ISKCON as follows: “To systematically propagate spiritual knowledge to society at large and to educate all peoples in the techniques of spiritual life in order to check the imbalance of values in life and to achieve real unity and peace in the world.”

The Mayapur Institute’s revised VTE Bhakti-sastri course curriculum, to be piloted in Mayapur this November 9th, deals with the main subjects of Bhakti-sastri in seven distinct units. These seven units reflect the fundamental principles of learning presented in ISKCON’s first purpose and in the VTE (Vaisnava Training and Education) approach to education, wherein students progressively learn knowledge (“spiritual knowledge”), skills (“techniques of spiritual life”) and values (“check the imbalance of values...”) in a systematic manner.

If you are meditating on improving your spiritual life, increasing your contribution to Srila Prabhupada’s movement, or are unsure how to pass the tests Krishna is giving you, then please consider taking Srila Prabhupada’s powerful darshan in Sridham Mayapur.

Srila Prabhupada’s darshan that we are referring to here is in his books and more specifically in his “personal ecstasies” within his Bhaktivedanta purports. The power of this darshan will be fully experienced in the sanga of advanced Vaisnavas this coming November when the Mayapur Institute for Higher Education and Training will launch newly re-designed VTE Bhakti-sastri and VTE Bhaktivaibhava Courses. Senior ISKCON educators predict these courses will revolutionize sastric study in our movement.

A team of senior devotees will facilitate these courses sharing their realizations in an interactive format designed to empower devotees as preachers, leaders, and lifetime servants of ISKCON.

(Appeared in Back to Godhead Magazine - September/October 2004)

By the shores of the Ganges in Mayapur, West Bengal, an educational institution is arising to fulfill a global prophesy of ISKCON’s founder-acarya, Srila Prabhupada.

Although his friends in Melbourne, Australia, went to Krishna schools, Mahamantra Dasa always attended public schools and visited the local temple only on the weekends. But when he reached puberty, Mahamantra started to see what Srila Prabhupada meant when he referred to materialistic schools as “slaughterhouses.”

“Sexual promiscuity was the norm,” he says, “both inside and outside the classroom.”

After he finished the ninth grade, his devotee parents gave him permission to leave school and move into the temple as a full-time brahmacari.