Newsletter 1.

Seva Opportunities

Many opportunities available to render some service to Their Lordships Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai and Shrila Prabhupada. You may like to make garlands for Their Lordships, assist in preparation of a feast for the devotees, help in cleaning of the temple after Saturday programme, or plant flowers for the Lord's worship in the temple gardens. Some congregational members are now coming and regularly dressing Shrila Prabhupada, which is a very intimate service (for this service devotees must be chanting 16 rounds and following the four pronciples of spiritual life).

There is one nice story where Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur was being asked some very high philosophical questions by a scholar. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta told him to go and ask the pujari because he was busy. The man thought that only Bhaktisiddhanta could answer his question because it was very difficult, but he went anyway to the pujari room. When he arrived the pujari was washing a plate from the Lord's offering, and he asked the scholar to please help him and he would answer the scholar's question after they had finished. Miraculously, the scholar found that as soon as he started to wash the plate in a humble mood of service to the Lord, all the answers to his questions came immediately into his mind and he did not even need to ask the pujari anything.

This is the wonderful potency of performing devotional service to Krishna, that we immediately make so much advancement towards spirtual perfection, just by rendering some simple service to the Lord. Shrila Prabhupada explained that we can also render devotional service in our own homes, and that is very good, but just as the stock exchange is permeated with the mood of business, and therefore businessmen can easily do business there, in the same way the temple is surcharged with a mood of devotion from all the devotional service going on there. Therefore it is especially recommended to regularly perform some devotional service at the temple. For more details just write to brisbane@iskcon.org.au and we can discuss how you can render some seva to the Lord.