Radhe-Syama stole the lotuses of our hearts this morning. They stole fully blossoming ones from some and just opening ones from others. They put them on and went to the bank of the Yamuna to perform Their pastimes there in the daytime.

We had kirtana with Them led by Sivarama Maharaja and the temple room echoed the maha-mantra and devotees called out ‘Jaya Radhe-Syama’.

Govardhana-Lala couldn’t be left out of any sweet pastimes. He took a joyful dip in the river and also put on a lotus-dress. A butterfly became so atteched to the sweetness of His smile that it stayed with Him as an inseparable companion of the best among the servants of Radhe-Syama.

The pink lotus flowers meanwhile took a dip too in the silky water of Yamuna and danced around Syama’s lotus feet. During the kirtana they imbibed the Supreme Personality’s aroma which is a mix of aguru, camphor and musk and  locked  the vision of His supreme Tribhanga form into their hearts and hid the sweet melody of His flute into their ears. Absorbed in transcendental meditiation they then got carried by the waves of Yamuna. They slowly passed the borders of Vraja and flowed on towards other parts of the 3 worlds.

Yamuna-devi, sometimes as a lonely stream, sometimes joined by another one, is flowing towards her big sister, the Danube. She must hurry up as she wants to reach Budapest by Tuesday so that she could offer her pink, sweet aromatic lotus flowers as dance-floor for Radhe-Syama, her cooling water to quench the thirst of the sankirtana-calves, joining this way the devotees’ kirtana so that they can turn the  area of the Parliament  into the spiritual world.

Each morning for the last few weeks, a sheet has been put on the Vyasasana.  They are mysterious because they face downwards so they make us curious to find out just what’s written on them.

Devotees giving class have been very merciful: sensing the eagerness of the assembled devotees to find out what’s on each sheet, they reveal it before starting the class, saying: ‘Marathon sankirtana scores for the pleasure of Radhe-Syama and Srila Prabhupada.:-)

The brijbasis flooded Hungary and Europe too on November 7th and they’ve been distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books since.  6-700 pieces daily!! The mood has captured NVD.  One morning even Radhe-Syama put on Their ‘Book-dress’ and Govardhana-Lal also filled His trolley with books.

What else could we do than just serving Them that way? We place Them on the lotuses of our hearts and go out to do books with Them! We do it at the weekends at the parking lot of Kaposvar: Radhanama, Panni,  bhn.Gizi and Vaidarbhi go out regularly. Radhanama sold a book even to the security guy!:-) Last weekend 5 of us joined them! Kaposvar residents couldn’t complain that they didn’t get much spiritual association!:-) That day re-ignited the sankirtana spirit in Karnikara’s heart so now she wants to go out every Sunday!:-) She is doing better each time.

There are some impatient souls who can’t wait any longer to meet a sankirtana devotee:  inspite of fog and cold, they knock on the door of the Divine Couple’s residence for spiritual enlightment. So we serve Them in the temple too. 2 weeks ago, while Cintamani and Raghunatha were sweeping the floor, all of a sudden they were forced to transform into  sankirtana devotees. An enthusiastic man from a nearby place wanted to distribute BG to people in his village so he was gonna buy 50 books. There were only 42 availevable in the temple shop:-) Unfortunately I was in Eger at that time so couldn’t invite him for Gita-jayanti.

Last week it happened twice that while I was chanting in the temple room Radhe-Syama arranged to engage me in some different service. They must have found me chanting inattentively. On one occasion 3 well-dressed genltemen entered the temple-room. They were on their way from one town to the other for a meeting and stopped to take darshan of Krishna. Did they think that would make the meeting go well?:-)

On the second occasion a young woman and her daughter arrived early afternoon. Asked them where they were from. Was surprised to find out they only drove here from Budapest to see NVD! The woman asked me if we had some fairy-tale like book on Krishna for kids. ‘Yes, sure’-I said. ‘The Krishna-book’. But first I needed to find one! Got 15 minutes for that while they were visiting the Goshala. Called Vaidarbhi, afterall she’s our book stock keeper. Sure enough she didn’t answer the phone! She wasn’t at home either. Just at that time I needed to pick up some printed pages from the office so I dropped by. Who do I see there? Vaidarbhi! In a deep conversation with Radha Radhya prabhu. Had to figure how to get that book in 5 minutes. Asked her what about starting her next day sankirtana with a Krishna book. She didn’t object.:-) Was glad to hand the book over to the woman after the 4 o’clock arati.:-)

Syamasundara came to this world in the form of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and absorbed in the mood of Srimati Radharani, He chanted and sang the Holy Name and spread Krishna’s glory. His bhava has been captivating devotees ever since and they join the sankirtana like metal gets pulled by a magnet. Their devotional service inspires Radhe-Syama to join to this unique pastime which in turn attracts more and more devotees to the sankirtana. We preach Their glory on the wavelenght of love and hope, from the bottom of our hearts that the personal association, the hearing of the Holy Name and Srila Prabhupada’s book will ease the suffering of people in this material world and they become happy by finding out their spiritual identity and reality.

Transportation

If you contact us well in advance (a month before), we can organize airport transports for individuals and for groups also.

Fees
Car (1-3 person) 30.000 HUF
Minibus (max 8 persons) 36.000 HUF
(extra fee for waiting after 45min)

Contact: Koda Nitai das
Tel: +36 30 371 69 52
Email: knd@1108.cc

Coming with your own Car or Hire Car From Budapest

The trip from Budapest to New Vraja Dham is about 200km (2.5 hours) Leave Budapest going south west towards to Balaton on the M7 (you will need to purchase a sticker for the motorway at any petrol station). Leave the M7 motorway at the Lengyeltóti turnoff  (at sign 150, there is an other road in sign 143 but 150 turnoff is much better!!) , go to Somogyvár, turn left in Somogyvár to Somogyvámos where you should see the signposts to New Vraja Dhama. You can see the location here on Google Maps

Coming by Public transport from Budapest

TRAIN from Budapest – You can plan your trip by train from this website (English, German and Hungarian). http://elvira.mav-start.hu

Get off the train at Fonyod, and if the service is available go to Somogyvar. From Somogyvar  train station, there are buses available.

BUS from Budapest – You can plan your trip by train from this website (English, French and Hungarian). http://ujmenetrend.cdata.hu/uj_menetrend/en/index.php

Buses leave from Népliget at either 6.45am or 3.15pm – the journey is around 2-2.5 hours – get off the bus at Öreglak. Ask the driver or another passenger to alert you when the bus is at Öreglak.

Accommodation

GUESTHOUSES
Contact: Koda Nitai das
Tel: +36 30 371 69 52
Email: knd@1108.cc

Laxmi

Due to heavy daily fluctuations in the valuation of the Hungarian Forint against other world currencies we request that devotees bringing Laxmi to New Vraja Dham (to pay festival fees / accommodation fees and prasadam), do so in Hungarian currency.There is no facility to change Laxmi into Hungarian currency at New Vraja Dham – nor in Somogyvamos village.

There are ATM services in Somogyvar, Marcali and Lengyeltoti

Devotee prasadam (food) prices

Breakfast: 400 HUF
Lunch: 900 HUF
Sunday lunch 1.300 HUF

Festival prasada has different fee.
There is a 100 Ft fee for a paper plate/cup/spoon set.

Darshan times

Mangala arti: 04:30
Deity greeting / Guru Puja: 07:00
Morning dhoop arati: 08:20
Mid-day arati: 12:40
Afternoon dhoop arati: 16:00
Gaura arati: 18:00
Evening arati: 19:30

Where can I find?

• Toilets There are 3 doors at the front of the main temple building, the large central door is the main entrance, the Ladies bathroom is situated just inside the left hand side door & the Gents bathroom is situated just inside the right hand side door.
• Tilak, soap, toothpaste… etc…The temple shop supplies all essentials – it is open from 10am till 5pm

Presents for Sri Sri Radhe Syamasundara

We encourage everyone to bring presents for the Sri Sri Radha Syamasundara – the following list is from Asta Sakhi mataji, the head pujari and it shows things that would be very useful if devotees bring.In addition to the list she notes: If devotees want to bring some jewelry it would be more practical if they only donate so we can purchase, as more than often we can not use jewelry that devotees bring.

- food-paints (many colours)
- glitter for food-painting (many coours)
- quality perfumes
- Brasso liquid for polishing Sri Nrsimhadeva
- Brasso metal polishing paste
- Silver polishing paste
- fresh vegetables (mango, korella, okra, coriander etc)
- ghur- mango-pulp

Advance bookings:
Contact: Koda Nitai das
Tel: +36 30 371 69 52
Email: knd@1108.cc
Airport transfer & guest infos

The guest houses will be opened from the 1st of March, 2013.

Gurudeva bhavan guest house

Gurudeva bhavan guest house is the closest building to the temple in Nava vraja dhama. It was donated by Radha jivana prabhu, in memory of his spritual master, HH Tamala Krishna Goswami. You can use electricity and internet, WIFI there.  (In Krishna-valley there is no electricity and internet, except in the office) There are three rooms: a single, one with two beds, family room with four beds (upstairs).  All are en suite.

Check-in time: from 14:00-18:00
Check-out time: until 10:00

Fee

8.000 HUF/person/night

(Because of the intense change of the exchange rates, we recommend you to pay in HU Forint.)

Bhajan kutir guest house

(Sanatana Goswami’s)

This new guest house is located where Sanatana Goswami’s bhajan kutir is. This is an Eco-quaters, where you can experience Krishna-valley lifestyle. There is no electicity here, you can use wood for heating.  Here the guests are doing the heating and the waterheating. There are four rooms: two with three beds, two with four beds. All are en suite.

Check-in time: from 14:00-18:00
Check-out time: until 10:00

Fee

3.500 HUF/person/night

(Because of the intense change of the exchange rates, we recommend you to pay in HU Forint.)